System and Method to Transform a Complex Database Into a Simple, Faster, and Equivalent Database

• US 20140129514A1
• Filed: 10/30/2013
• Published: 05/08/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 11/06/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SageTea Inc.
• Original Assignee: SageTea Inc.
• Inventors: LONG, David Alexander Harry
• Granted Patent: US 9,361,324 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/609
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/211 Schema design and management

Abstract

There is provided a system and method for representing complex databases having an arbitrary number of tables with a simple database comprising at least two tables, in which each attribute of each object is represented in a first table and in which each object is represented as a list of attributes in a second table. There is also provided a method for converting a complex database in a simple database.

Claims

1. A method for transforming a database comprising a plurality of tables into a simple database, comprising:

providing a first table, said first table having an index column, a name column, a value column;

providing a second table, said second table having an index column and an elements column;

creating a second table entry in the second table for each row of each table of the database;

for each table of the plurality of tables, determining which cells include references to other tables in the plurality of tables;

for each cell of each table of the database which does not include a reference to other tables in the plurality of tables;

creating a first table entry in the first table, wherein the name column includes a column heading of the cell, the value column includes a value of the cell, the first table entry having an index; and

updating the second table entry to include the index of the first table entry; and

for each cell of each table of the database which does include a reference to other tables in the plurality of tables;

determining a reference entry in the second table, the reference entry corresponding to the reference;

creating a first table entry in the first table, wherein the name column includes a column heading of the cell, the value column includes the index of the reference entry, the first table entry having an index; and

updating the second table entry to include the index of the first table entry.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first table further includes a group column, and further comprising:

for each first table entry in the first table, populating the group column with an index of a parent entry in the second table, the parent entry comprising the index of the first table entry.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein said determining which cells include references to other tables in the plurality of tables comprises:

determining whether the cell corresponds to a key value of another one of said plurality of tables.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein said determining a reference entry in the second table comprises:

finding, in the second table, an entry which includes an index of a key entry in the first table, the key entry in the first table having a name corresponding to the key value and a value corresponding to the value of the cell.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising storing, on a non-transitory computer-readable medium, the first table and the second table.

6. A non-transitory computer readable medium for storing computer readable instructions for causing a processor to perform the method of claim 1.

7. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 6, wherein the first table further includes a group column, and further comprising:

for each first table entry in the first table, populating the group column with an index of a parent entry in the second table, the parent entry comprising the index of the first table entry.

8. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 6, wherein said determining which cells include references to other tables in the plurality of tables comprises:

determining whether the cell corresponds to a key value of another one of said plurality of tables.

9. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 6, wherein said determining a reference entry in the second table comprises:

finding, in the second table, an entry which includes an index of a key entry in the first table, the key entry in the first table having a name corresponding to the key value and a value corresponding to the value of the cell.

10. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 6, wherein the method further comprises storing, on a non-transitory computer-readable medium, the first table and the second table.

11. A non-transitory computer readable medium having stored thereon a database, the database comprising:

a first table having an index column, a value column, and an attribute column;

a second table having an index column and an elements column;

wherein each row of the second table defines an object, the object corresponding to the set of entries in the first table referenced in the elements column.

12. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 11, wherein the first table further includes a parent column, wherein a cell of a given row in the parent column stores an index of an object in the second table to which an attribute defined in the given row belongs.

13. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 11, wherein at least one entry in the first table has stored in its value column an index of an entry in the second table.