SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PROVIDING A CLIMATE DATA ANALYTIC SERVICES APPLICATION PROGRAMMING INTERFACE

• US 20160337479A1
• Filed: 05/13/2015
• Published: 11/17/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 05/13/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: United States Of America As Represented By The Administrator Of The National Aeronautics And Space Administration
• Original Assignee: USA Represented By The Administratorof The National Aeronautics and Space Administration
• Inventors: Schnase, John L., Duffy, Daniel Q., Tamkin, Glenn S.
• Granted Patent: US 10,075,562 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/01 Protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/14 Session management for real-time applications in data packet communications networks H04L65/1066

Abstract

A system, method and computer-readable storage devices for providing a climate data analytic services application programming interface. The system includes a programming library that enables client device software to invoke the capabilities of a climate data analytics system through requests to various services supported by the climate data analytics system, and also includes a client-side communications interface that enables the programming library'"'"'s methods to interact with a climate data analytics system'"'"'s server interface to obtain access to the capabilities of the system. In one implementation, the programming library is implemented in Python. The programming library can include basic utilities that call a single, server-side method implemented by one of the various services supported by the climate data analytics system, and extended utilities that call a series of basic utilities and/or other extended utilities that have been placed under programmatic control in order to create client-side convenience methods and workflows.

Claims

1. A system providing a climate data analytic services application programming interface, the system comprising:

a programming library comprising methods that enable software running on a client device to invoke the capabilities of a climate data analytics system through requests to various services supported by the climate data analytics system; and

a client-side communications interface that enables the programming library'"'"'s methods to interact with a climate data analytics system'"'"'s server interface to obtain access to the capabilities of the system.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the programming library is implemented in Python.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the programming library further comprises:

basic utilities that call a single, server-side method implemented by one of the various services supported by the climate data analytics system; and

extended utilities that call a series of basic utilities that have been placed under programmatic control in order to create client-side convenience methods and workflows.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the basic utilities correspond to the International Organization for Standards Open Archival information System Reference Model data flow categories of an operational archive comprising:

ingest methods that input data objects to a service, wherein input parameters specify a name of a target service, the name of an operation supported by the target service, and operation-specific parameters, and output returns a unique session identifier for the operation, a description of the session, and a status message;

query methods that retrieve metadata relating to data objects in a service, wherein input parameters specify the name of a target service, the name of an operation supported by the target service, and operation-specific parameters, and output returns the query result and a status message;

order methods that dynamically create data or subset objects in a service, wherein input parameters specify the name of a target service, the name of an operation supported by the target service, and operation-specific parameters, and output returns a unique session identifier for operation, a description of the session, and a status message;

download methods that retrieve data objects from a service, wherein input parameters specify the name of a target service, the session identifier for the order request that created the downloadable data object, and output returns the downloadable data object and a status message;

execute methods that initiate a service-definable operation, wherein input parameters specify the name of a target service, the name of an operation supported by the target service, and operation-specific parameters, and output returns a unique session identifier for the operation, a description of the operation session, a status message, and the results generated by the operation; and

status methods that check the progress of an order operation, wherein input parameters specify the name of a target service and a unique session identifier, and output returns a unique session identifier for the operation, a description of the session, and a status message.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the data objects represent International Organization for Standards Open Archival Information System Reference Model Submission Information Packages, Archive Information Packages, and Dissemination Information Packages.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the basic utility methods of the client-side communications interface are communicatively linked to a climate data analytics system server device through International Organization for Standards Open Archival Information System Reference Model-based representational state transfer uniform resource locators comprising:

7. The system of claim 3, wherein the basic utilities and the extended utilities of the programming library enable access to the specific capabilities of a climate data analytics system comprising:

a Modern-Era Retrospective Analysis for Research and Applications (MERRA) analytic service; and

a persistence service.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein MERRA analytic service basic utilities provide methods comprising:

order methods that that dynamically creates data objects in the service;

status method for tracking the progress of an order; and

download methods that retrieves the data object generated by an order request.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein order methods comprises a GetVariableByCollection_Operation_TimeRange_SpatialExtent_VerticalExtent request that performs operations comprising:

a maximum operation that determines the maximum value of a climate variable according to user-specified input parameters;

a minimum operation that determines the minimum value of a climate variable according to user-specified input parameters;

a sum operation that determines the sum of the values of a climate variable according to user-specified input parameters;

a count operation that determines the number of instances of a climate variable according to user-specified input parameters;

an average operation that determines the arithmetic mean of a set of climate variables according to user-specified input parameters;

a variance operation that determines the variance of the mean for a set of a climate variables according to user-specified input parameters; and

a difference operation that determines the difference between two climate variables according to user-specified input parameters.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the user-specified input parameters of the GetVariableByCollection_Operation_TimeRange_SpatialExtent_VerticalExtent request comprise:

a request name;

a variable list comprising specific MERRA climate variables of interest;

a name of a target MERRA collection;

an operation to perform;

a start date for a time span to process over;

an end date for a time span to process over;

a minimum longitude in degrees east for a horizontal spatial bounding box lower left corner;

a minimum latitude in degrees north for a horizontal spatial bounding box lower-left corner;

a maximum longitude in degrees east for a horizontal spatial bounding box upper right corner;

a maximum latitude in degrees north for a horizontal spatial bounding box upper right corner;

a start level for a vertical spatial extent;

an end level for a vertical spatial extent;

an optional seasonal time span specification; and

an optional user-supplied job name.

11. The system of claim 9, wherein output of the GetVariableByCollection_Operation_TimeRange_SpatialExtent_VerticalExtent request comprises a unique session identifier for the order session that can be used to retrieve session status information and download results.

12. The system of claim 8, wherein status methods comprise a CheckStatus request that checks on progress of an order request according to user-specified input parameters comprising the MERRA analytic service name and a unique session identifier for the target order request.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein output of the CheckStatus request comprises a unique session identifier for the status session, a one word status update of the session identified by the input session identifier, and a detailed description of the target session.

14. The system of claim 8, wherein download methods comprise a Get request that downloads a data object that has been dynamically created by an order request according to user-specified input parameters comprising the MERRA analytic service name, a unique session identifier for the target order request, and an optional name to be given the resulting data object.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein output of the Get request comprises a resulting data object.

16. The system of claim 7, wherein MERRA analytic service extended utilities include convenience methods comprising:

a Maximum method that determines the maximum value of a climate variable according to user-specified parameters;

a Minimum method that determines the minimum value of a climate variable according to user-specified parameters;

a Sum method that determines the sum of the values of a climate variable according to user-specified parameters;

a Count method that determines the number of instances of a climate variable according to user-specified parameters;

an Average method that determines the arithmetic mean of a set of climate variables according to user-specified parameters;

a Variance method that determines the variance of the mean for a set of a climate variables according to user-specified parameters; and

a Difference method that determines the difference between two climate variables according to user-specified parameters.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the user-specified parameters comprise:

a method name;

a variable list comprising specific MERRA climate variables of interest;

a name of a MERRA collection to process over;

an operation to perform;

a start date for a time span to process over;

an end date for a time span to process over;

a minimum longitude in degrees east for a horizontal spatial bounding box lower left corner;

a minimum latitude in degrees north for a horizontal spatial bounding box lower-left corner;

a maximum longitude in degrees east for a horizontal spatial bounding box upper right corner;

a maximum latitude in degrees north for a horizontal spatial bounding box upper right corner;

a start level for a vertical spatial extent;

an end level for a vertical spatial extent; and

a download destination name.

18. The system of claim 16, wherein output of the extended utilities comprises a resulting data object.

19. The system of claim 7, wherein persistence service basic utilities comprise:

ingest methods that save a data object to the service;

query methods that searches for saved data;

download methods that retrieve a data object;

execute methods that run service-defined operations; and

status methods for tracking the progress of an order.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein ingest methods comprise a Put request that stores a user-specified input payload in the persistence service.