DATABASE SEARCHING USING A GRAPH OF NODES AND EDGES FORMED USING LOG NODE PAIRS

• US 20160350442A1
• Filed: 05/29/2015
• Published: 12/01/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 05/29/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Salesforce.com, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Salesforce.com, Inc.
• Inventors: Crosby, Jed
• Granted Patent: US 10,083,236 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/219 Managing data history or versioning querying versioned data G06F16/2474; querying temporal data G06F16/2477
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2358 Change logging, detection, and notification replication G06F16/27
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24578 using ranking
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques

Abstract

Disclosed are examples of systems, apparatus, methods and computer program products for generating or updating a graph of nodes and edges using logs, where the graph can be used for database searching. In some implementations, a server can identify logs. Based on the identified logs, log nodes can be generated or updated. Log nodes can be sorted in a first ordered list according to each log node'"'"'s key data. Log node pairs can be determined from the log nodes in the first list. The log node pairs can be aggregated and sorted into a second ordered list. A graph of nodes and edges can be generated or updated according to the relative importances of the log node pairs in the second ordered list.

Claims

1. A database system configurable to:

maintain, by a server of the database system, at least one database storing a plurality of logs, each log providing a history of user actions in a computing environment;

identify, by a server of the database system, at least one of the logs as satisfying at least one parameter;

generate or update, by a server of the database system, at least one of a plurality of log nodes based on the identified at least one log, each log node having key data for indexing the log node and having event data representing an accessed data object, the log nodes being sortable in a first ordered list according to the key data of each log node;

determine, by a server of the database system, a plurality of log node pairs of consecutive log nodes in the first ordered list, each log node pair determined based on each log node in the pair having matching key data and different event data;

aggregate, by a server of the database system, the log node pairs, the log node pairs being sortable in a second ordered list, each log node pair having a relative importance in comparison with other log node pairs; and

generate or update, by a server of the database system, a graph of nodes and edges according to the relative importances of the log node pairs in the second ordered list, the graph capable of being processed as part of a database search to return ranked search results of data objects stored in the database system.

2. The database system of claim 1, the database system further configurable to:

adjust, by a server of the database system, a weight contributing to a relative importance of a log node pair, the adjustment based on a time difference between consecutive log nodes of the pair.

3. The database system of claim 1, the database system further configurable to:

identify, by a server of the database system, a plurality of social network users having a plurality of links between and/or among each other; and

update, by a server of the database system, a weight of a log node pair according to a relative importance of at least one of the social network users.

4. The database system of claim 1, the database system further configurable to:

generate or update, by a server of the database system, an inverse pair for a log node pair, the inverse pair inverting an order of log nodes of the log node pair; and

update, by a server of the database system, the graph with the inverse pair for the log node pair, the inverse pair providing bi-directional traversal of the graph.

5. The database system of claim 1, wherein each log node pair comprises or is associated with a first customer relationship management (CRM) record and a second CRM record.

6. The database system of claim 1, wherein each log node has an associated timestamp indicating a time when a log was accessed.

7. The database system of claim 6, the database system further configurable to:

determine, by a server of the database system, a duration between consecutive log nodes of a log node pair based on timestamps associated with the consecutive log nodes;

determine, by a server of the database system, that the duration meets or exceeds a threshold; and

remove, by a server of the database system, responsive to determining that the duration meets or exceeds the threshold, the log node pair from the second ordered list.

8. The database system of claim 6, wherein the log nodes in the first ordered list are further sortable according to the timestamp associated with each log node.

9. The database system of claim 1, the database system further configurable to:

receive, at a server of the database system, a search query comprising at least one criterion;

determine, by a server of the database system, a search result based on a traversal of the graph using at least one log node pair; and

provide, by a server of the database system, the search result to a display device of a user.

10. A method comprising:

maintaining, by a server of a database system, at least one database storing a plurality of logs, each log providing a history of user actions in a computing environment;

identifying, by a server of the database system, at least one of the logs as satisfying at least one parameter;

generating or updating, by a server of the database system, at least one of a plurality of log nodes based on the identified at least one log, each log node having key data for indexing the log node and having event data representing an accessed data object, the log nodes being sortable in a first ordered list according to the key data of each log node;

determining, by a server of the database system, a plurality of log node pairs of consecutive log nodes in the first ordered list, each log node pair determined based on each log node in the pair having matching key data and different event data;

aggregating, by a server of the database system, the log node pairs, the log node pairs being sortable in a second ordered list, each log node pair having a relative importance in comparison with other log node pairs; and

generating or updating, by a server of the database system, a graph of nodes and edges according to the relative importances of the log node pairs in the second ordered list, the graph capable of being processed as part of a database search to return ranked search results of data objects stored in the database system.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

adjusting, by a server of the database system, a weight contributing to a relative importance of a log node pair, the adjustment based on a time difference between consecutive log nodes of the pair.

12. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

identifying, by a server of the database system, a plurality of social network users having a plurality of links between and/or among each other; and

updating, by a server of the database system, a weight of a log node pair according to a relative importance of at least one of the social network users.

13. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

generating or updating, by a server of the database system, an inverse pair for a log node pair, the inverse pair inverting an order of log nodes of the log node pair; and

updating, by a server of the database system, the graph with the inverse pair for the log node pair, the inverse pair providing bi-directional traversal of the graph.

14. The method of claim 10, wherein each log node has an associated timestamp indicating a time when a log was accessed.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

removing at least one log node pair from the first ordered list that exceeds a durational threshold between consecutive log nodes, exceeding the durational threshold being determined by the timestamps of consecutive log nodes.

16. A computer program product comprising computer-readable program code to be executed by one or more processors when retrieved from a non-transitory computer-readable medium, the program code including instructions configured to cause:

maintaining, by a server of a database system, at least one database storing a plurality of logs, each log providing a history of user actions in a computing environment;

identifying, by a server of the database system, at least one of the logs as satisfying at least one parameter;

generating or updating, by a server of the database system, at least one of a plurality of log nodes based on the identified at least one log, each log node having key data for indexing the log node and having event data representing an accessed data object, the log nodes being sortable in a first ordered list according to the key data of each log node;

determining, by a server of the database system, a plurality of log node pairs of consecutive log nodes in the first ordered list, each log node pair determined based on each log node in the pair having matching key data and different event data;

aggregating, by a server of the database system, the log node pairs, the log node pairs being sortable in a second ordered list, each log node pair having a relative importance in comparison with other log node pairs; and

generating or updating, by a server of the database system, a graph of nodes and edges according to the relative importances of the log node pairs in the second ordered list, the graph capable of being processed as part of a database search to return ranked search results of data objects stored in the database system.

17. The computer program product of claim 16, the instructions further configured to cause:

adjusting, by a server of the database system, a weight contributing to a relative importance of a log node pair, the adjustment based on a time difference between consecutive log nodes of the pair.

18. The computer program product of claim 16, the instructions further configured to cause:

identifying, by a server of the database system, a plurality of social network users having a plurality of links between and/or among each other; and

updating, by a server of the database system, a weight of a log node pair according to a relative importance of at least one of the social network users.

19. The computer program product of claim 16, the instructions further configured to cause:

generating or updating, by a server of the database system, an inverse pair for a log node pair, the inverse pair inverting an order of log nodes of the log node pair; and

updating, by a server of the database system, the graph with the inverse pair for the log node pair, the inverse pair providing bi-directional traversal of the graph.

20. The computer program product of claim 16, wherein each log node pair comprises or is associated with a first CRM record and a second CRM record.