QUERY ENGINE FOR RECURSIVE SEARCHES IN A SELF-DESCRIBING DATA SYSTEM

• US 20190332600A1
• Filed: 04/17/2019
• Published: 10/31/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 04/27/2018
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Aras Corporation
• Original Assignee: Aras Corporation
• Inventors: Gillespie, Kevin, Richard, Kevin, McAveney, Robert, Murashko, Sergey, Shapavalau, Valentsin, Samsonau, Andrei
• Granted Patent: US 11,645,285 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2423 Interactive query statement specification based on a database schema
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2448 for particular applications; for extensibility, e.g. user defined types
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24566 Recursive queries
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/248 Presentation of query results
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/26 Visual data mining; Browsing structured data
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/835 Query processing

Abstract

A method for performing recursive searching of items of a data structure having a data mode includes creating an instance of a query definition, the instance of the query definition comprising a unique identifier, specifying one or more elements of the query definition, providing the query definition as an input to a query engine. The method further includes the operations of determining, by the query engine, query execution instructions based on the query definition, the query instructions specifying a recursive level-by-level search until a terminal node of the data structure is reached, obtaining results of a query executed based on the query execution instructions; and outputting query results.

Claims

1. A method for performing recursive searching of items of a data structure having a data model, the method comprising:

creating an instance of a query definition, the instance of the query definition comprising a unique identifier;

specifying one or more elements of the query definition;

providing the query definition as an input to a query engine;

determining, by the query engine, query execution instructions based on the query definition, the query instructions specifying a recursive level-by-level search until a terminal node of the data structure is reached;

obtaining results of a query executed based on the query execution instructions; and

outputting query results.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein outputting the query results comprises at least one of outputting the query results as a flat output, displaying the results in a tree grid view or displaying the results as a graph visualization.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein an element of the query definition is specified by a security rule.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the data model of the data structure is at least one of a hierarchical data model, a dynamic data model or a self-describing data model.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein specifying the elements of the query definition comprises at least one of specifying a query item, a query item selection property, a query item sort property, a query item available property, a query condition or a query reference.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising storing the query definition in the data structure.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the query execution instructions specify at least one of traversing the data structure upwards or traversing the data structure downwards.

8. A query engine, comprising:

a processor;

a memory containing instructions, which when executed by the processor, cause the query engine to;

create an instance of a query definition, the instance of the query definition comprising a unique identifier,

obtain one or more elements of the query definition,

provide the query definition as an input to the query engine,

determine query execution instructions based on the query definition, the query execution instructions specifying a recursive level-by-level search until a terminal node of the data structure is reached,

obtain results of a query executed based on the query execution instructions, and

output the query results.

9. The query engine of claim 8, wherein the memory contains instructions, which when executed by the processor, cause the query engine to output the query results as at least one of outputting the query results as a flat output, displaying the results in a tree grid view or displaying the results as a graph visualization.

10. The query engine of claim 8, wherein an element of the query definition is specified by a security rule.

11. The query engine of claim 8, wherein the data model of the data structure is at least one of a hierarchical data model, a dynamic data model or a self-describing data model.

12. The query engine of claim 8, wherein the elements of the query definition comprise at least one of a query item, a query item selection property, a query item sort property, a query item available property, a query condition or a query reference.

13. The query engine of claim 8, wherein the memory contains instructions, which when executed by the processor, cause the query engine to store the query definition in the data structure.

14. The query engine of claim 8, wherein the query execution instructions specify at least one of traversing the data structure upwards or traversing the data structure downwards.

15. A non-transitory computer-readable medium containing program code, which when executed by a processor, cause a query engine to:

create an instance of a query definition, the instance of the query definition comprising a unique identifier,

obtain one or more elements of the query definition,

provide the query definition as an input to the query engine,

determine query execution instructions based on the query definition, the query execution instructions specifying a recursive level-by-level search until a terminal node of the data structure is reached,

obtain results of a query executed based on the query execution instructions, and

output the query results.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15, comprising program code, which when executed by the processor, cause the query engine to output the query results as at least one of outputting the query results as a flat output, displaying the results in a tree grid view or displaying the results as a graph visualization.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein an element of the query definition is specified by a security rule.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the data model of the data structure is at least one of a hierarchical data model, a dynamic data model or a self-describing data model.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15, the elements of the query definition comprise at least one of a query item, a query item selection property, a query item sort property, a query item available property, a query condition or a query reference.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15, comprising program code, which when executed by the processor, causes the query engine to store the query definition in the data structure.