METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR STORING DATA IN A DATABASE

• US 20130304770A1
• Filed: 05/10/2013
• Published: 11/14/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 05/10/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Siemens AG
• Original Assignee: Siemens AG
• Inventors: BOERO, ANDREA, SELVAGGIO, IGNAZIO
• Granted Patent: US 9,576,006 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/812
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/00 Information retrieval; Database structures therefor; File system structures therefor
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2228 Indexing structures

Abstract

A database has a main table and an auxiliary table. Data are stored by: dividing the data into a sequence of segments each having a size smaller than a predetermined threshold; storing a first segment into a first field of a record of the main table; storing an index indexing the data into a second field of the record of the main table; storing the other segments into first fields of corresponding records of the auxiliary table; generating indexes associated to the other segments and storing each index into a second field of the record of the auxiliary table storing the associated segment of the sequence and also in a third field of the record of the auxiliary table storing a preceding segment in the sequence. A third record of the main table stores the index of a first segment of the sequence which is stored in the auxiliary table.

Claims

1. A method of storing data in a database, the database having a main table and an auxiliary table, the method which comprises:

dividing the data into a sequence of segments each having a size smaller than a predetermined threshold, the sequence of segments including a first segment and further segments;

storing the first segment of the sequence in a first field of a given record of the main table of the database;

storing an index indexing the data in a second field of the given record;

storing the further segments of the sequence in first fields of corresponding records of the auxiliary table of the database;

generating further indexes associated with the further segments and storing each further index thus generated in a second field of a record of the auxiliary table that stores the associated segment of the sequence and also in a third field of the record of the auxiliary table that stores a preceding segment in the sequence; and

storing, in a third field of the given record of the main table, the index of a first segment of the further segments of the sequence that is stored in the auxiliary table.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the dividing step comprises dividing the sequence into segments of equal, predetermined size, except for a last one of the segments having a smaller size.

3. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

storing a NULL index into the third field of the record of the auxiliary table if the segment stored in the record is a last segment of the sequence.

4. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

storing additional information associated with the data into at least one additional field of the record of the main table.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein retrieving the data from the main table comprises:

receiving an ID indexing the data, searching the record including the ID in the main table, extracting the first segment of the data stored in the first field of the searched record, extracting the index stored in the third field of the searched record, searching a following segment in the sequence in the auxiliary table based on the index extracted from the main table.

6. The method according to claim 5, wherein searching the further segments of the data in the auxiliary table comprises:

searching the record whose second field contains the index extracted from the main table;

extracting a segment of the data from the first field of the searched record in the auxiliary table;

extracting the index from the third field of the searched record of the auxiliary table; and

searching the other segments of the sequence in the auxiliary table starting from the extracted index.

7. The method according to claim 1, which comprises retrieving the data from the main table by:

receiving a pattern whose length is less than the predetermined value from a graphical user interface;

searching the first field of the main table whose value matches the pattern; and

returning the matched record of the main table to the GUI.

8. The method according to claim 7, which further comprises:

receiving a segment index number from the GUI, iterating the main table or the auxiliary table to search a corresponding segment of the data based on the segment index number, returning a searched segment of data to the GUI, and displaying the searched segment on a display device by the GUI.

9. A computer system, comprising:

a database for storing data in non-transitory form, the data being divided into a sequence of segments including a first segment and a second segment;

said database including a main table with at least one record and an auxiliary table including at least one record;

the at least one record of the main table including a first field storing the first segment of the sequence, a second field storing a corresponding ID of the data, and a third field storing an index corresponding to the second segment of the sequence, wherein the second segment is stored in the auxiliary table; and

the at least one record of the auxiliary table including a first field storing the second segment, a second field storing the index of the second segment, and a third field storing an index of a next segment in the sequence that is stored in the auxiliary table.

10. The computer system according to claim 9, wherein the auxiliary table further comprises another record storing a third segment of the plurality of segments as a first field, storing an index indicating the third segment as a second field, and storing an index of a next segment of the sequence as a third field thereof.