Distributed database architecture and distributed database management system for open network evolution

• US 5,721,909 A
• Filed: 11/07/1996
• Issued: 02/24/1998
• Est. Priority Date: 03/30/1994
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Siemens Stromberg-Carlson
• Original Assignee: Siemens Stromberg-Carlson
• Inventors: Oulid-Aissa, Mourad, Cole, Charles Allen, Tavanyar, Simon Edwin
• Primary Examiner(s): AMSBURY, WAYNE P
• Application Number:
  US08/739,737
• Time in Patent Office: 474 Days
• Field of Search: 395/610, 395/614, 395/617
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/27 Replication, distribution or synchronisation of data between databases or within a distributed database system; Distributed database system architectures therefor
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99952 Coherency, e.g. same view to multiple users

Abstract

A distributed database management (DDBMS) system for switching applications that combines rapid feature deployment with high real-time performance. The system architecture encompasses a new software boundary between application and database, yet provides the benefits of open standard interfaces and distributed transaction control. To accomplish this dichotomy, an object-oriented schema is used to arrange the DDBMS as an intelligent service provider, separating services from physical location and implementation. A software containment approach is utilized to optimize interfaces based on grouping of data so as to permit application-specific routines to be "plugged-into" the database. The DDBMS is arranged to address extendibility and real-time performance needs of capabilities such as ISDN and IN is switching offices and network nodes.

Claims

1. A distributed database management system, arranged cooperatively with a real-time public switching system including a plurality of processors for servicing a transaction request submitted from a switching system application, the distributed database management system comprising

a database interface module, responsive to the switching system application, for transforming the transaction request to a database request, said database interface module including

a sequencer resident on one of the processors, responsive to the switching system application, for interpreting the transaction request, for locating transaction database data corresponding to the transaction request wherein the transaction database data includes semi-permanent data and transient data, and for generating the database request corresponding to the transaction request,

a controller resident on one of the processors, responsive to the sequencer, for executing concurrency control over the transaction database data by jointly applying optimistic transaction control to the semi-permanent data and by applying pessimistic transaction control to the transient data within the same transaction,

a data dictionary resident on one of the processors, coupled to the database interface module, for interpreting the database request to extract dictionary data contained in the data dictionary in correspondence to the database request, and

a database access module resident on at least one of the processors, coupled to the database interface module and the data dictionary, for processing the dictionary data and the transaction database data to produce a database response and for returning the database response to the database interface module, said database access module including

at least one data file containing physical database data corresponding to the transaction database data, the physical database data being grouped in correspondence to at least one service provided by the database management system, said at least one service providing a data access service under a single invocation from said sequencer, and

at least one service group worker for executing the corresponding one of said at least one service and for operating on the physical database data with only local procedure calls,

said sequencer further including a register listing each corresponding service provided by each at least one service group worker and the location in the processors for accessing each corresponding service group worker,

said database interface module, said data dictionary, and said database access module thereby being cooperatively coupled to provide a location for and access to object classes representative of the physical database data in the distributed database transparently to the transaction request whenever such request involves a view of the database requiring the joinder of multiple object classes,

wherein said database interface module is further arranged for transforming the database response to a transaction response and for returning the transaction response to the switching system application, and

wherein the transaction response controls the public switching system to thereby execute the transaction request.

2. The distributed database management system as recited in claim 1 wherein said data dictionary includes

a translation table, accessible by said database interface module and said database access module through procedure calls, which maps physical database data to transaction database data represented by object class names,

a definition table, accessible by said database interface module and said database access module through procedure calls, which contains the relationships of each of the object names to others of the object names, and

a location table, accessible by said database interface module and said database access module through procedure calls, which maps each processor to object names stored on each processor.

3. The distributed database management system as recited in claim 1 wherein said database access module further includes

a generic data group worker for accessing the data dictionary to provide basic query and update access primitives to the transaction database data, and

at least one data agent, responsive to the data group worker and each service group worker and coupled to the at least one data file, for accessing the physical database data from said at least one data file.

4. A distributed database management system, arranged cooperatively with a real-time public switching system including a plurality of processors for servicing a transaction request submitted from a switching system application, the distributed database management system comprising

a database interface module, responsive to the switching system application, for transforming the transaction request to a transaction database request, said database interface module including

a sequencer resident on at least one of the processors, responsive to the switching system application, for interpreting the transaction request, for locating the transaction database data corresponding to the transaction request wherein the transaction database data includes semi-permanent data and transient data, and for generating the database request corresponding to the transaction request within the same transaction,

a controller resident on at least one of the processors, responsive to the sequencer, for executing concurrency control over the transaction database data by jointly applying optimistic transaction control to the semi-permanent data and by applying pessimistic transaction control to the transient data within the same transaction,

a data dictionary resident on one of the processors, coupled to the database interface module, for interpreting the database request to extract dictionary data contained in the data dictionary in correspondence to the database request, and

a database access module resident on at least one of the processors, coupled to the database interface module and the data dictionary, for processing the dictionary data and the transaction database data to produce a database response and for returning the database response to the database interface module, said database access module including

at least one data file containing physical database data corresponding to the transaction database data, the physical database data being grouped in correspondence to at least one service provided by the database management system, said at least one service providing a data access service under a single invocation from said sequencer,

at least one service group worker for executing the corresponding one of said at least one service and for operating on the physical database data with only local procedure calls,

a generic data group worker for accessing the data dictionary to provide basic query and update access primitives to the transaction database data, and

at least one data agent, responsive to each group worker and coupled to the at least one data file, for accessing the physical database data on said at least one file,

said sequencer further including a register listing each corresponding service provided by each at least one service group worker and the location in the distributed database management system for accessing each corresponding service group worker,

said data dictionary including

a translation table, accessible by said database interface module and said database access module through procedure calls, which maps physical database data to transaction database data represented by object class names,

a definition table, accessible by said database interface module and said database access module through procedure calls, which contains the relationships of each of the object names to others of the object names, and

a location table, accessible by said database interface module and said database access module through procedure calls, which maps each processor to object names stored on each processor,

said database interface module, said data dictionary, and said database access module being cooperatively coupled to provide a location for and access to the object classes representative of the database in the distributed database transparently to the transaction request whenever such request involves a view of the database requiring the joinder of multiple object classes,

wherein said database interface module is further arranged for transforming the database response to a transaction response and for returning the transaction response to the switching system application, and

wherein the transaction response controls the public switching system to thereby execute the transaction request.

5. A distributed database management system, arranged cooperatively with a real-time public switching system including a plurality of processors for servicing a transaction request submitted from a switching system application, the distributed database management system comprising

a sequencer, responsive to the switching system application, for interpreting the transaction request, for locating transaction database data corresponding to the transaction request wherein the transaction database data includes semi-permanent data and transient data, and for generating a database request corresponding to the transaction request,

a controller, responsive to the sequencer, for executing concurrency control over the transaction database data by jointly applying optimistic transaction control to the semi-permanent data and by applying pessimistic transaction control to the transient data within the same transaction,

a data dictionary, coupled to the sequencer, for interpreting the database request to extract dictionary data contained in the data dictionary in correspondence to the database request, and

at least one data file containing physical database data corresponding to the transaction database data, the physical database data being grouped in correspondence to at least one service provided by the database management system, said at least one service providing a data access service under a single invocation from said sequencer,

at least one service group worker, responsive to the sequencer, for executing the corresponding one of said at least one service, for operating on the physical database data with only local procedure calls, for processing the dictionary data and the transaction database data to produce a database response, and for returning the database response to the sequencer whenever the database request invokes said at least one service group worker,

a generic data group worker, responsive to the sequencer, for accessing the data dictionary to provide basic query and update access primitives to the transaction database data, for processing the dictionary data and the transaction database data to produce a database response, and for returning the database response to the sequencer whenever the database request invokes said generic data group worker, and

at least one data agent, responsive to the data group worker and each service group worker and coupled to the at least one data file, for accessing the physical database data on said at least one file,

said sequencer further including a register listing each corresponding service provided by each at least one service group worker and the location in the distributed database management system for accessing each corresponding service group worker,

said data dictionary including

a translation table, accessible by said sequencer and said database access module through procedure calls, which maps physical database data to transaction database data represented by object class names,

a definition table, accessible by said sequencer and said database access module through procedure calls, which contains the relationships of each of the object names to others of the object names, and

a location table, accessible by said sequencer and said database access module through procedure calls, which maps each processor to object names stored on each processor,

said sequencer, said transaction controller, said data dictionary, and said database access module being cooperatively coupled to provide a location for and access to the object classes in the distributed database transparently to the transaction request whenever such request involves a view of the database requiring the joinder of multiple object classes,

wherein said sequencer is further arranged for transforming the database response to a transaction response and for returning the transaction response to the switching system application, and

wherein the transaction response controls the public switching system to thereby execute the transaction request.

6. A distributed database management system, arranged cooperatively with a public switching system composed of at least two nodes, each of the nodes being arranged for servicing a transaction request as submitted from a switching system application executing in one of the nodes, the distributed database management system executing in a plurality of the nodes, the distributed database management system comprising

a plurality of sequencers in correspondence to the plurality of nodes over which the distributed data base management system executes, one of said sequencers being responsive to the switching system application executing in said one of the nodes, each of said sequencers being arranged for interpreting the transaction request, for locating transaction database data corresponding to the transaction request by communicating with the others of said sequencers, wherein the transaction database data includes semi-permanent data and transient data, and for generating a database request corresponding to the transaction request,

a plurality of controllers in correspondence to the plurality of nodes over which the distributed data base management system executes, each of said transaction controllers being responsive to the corresponding one of the sequencers, and being arranged for executing concurrency control over the transaction database data by jointly applying optimistic transaction control to the semi-permanent data and by applying pessimistic transaction control to the transient data within the same transaction,

a data dictionary resident in each of the nodes, coupled to the corresponding sequencer, for interpreting the database request to extract dictionary data contained in the data dictionary in correspondence to the database request, and

a database access module resident in each of the nodes, coupled to the corresponding controller and the corresponding data dictionary, for processing the dictionary data and the transaction database data to produce a database response and for returning the database response to the corresponding sequencer, each said database access module including

at least one data file containing physical database data corresponding to the transaction database data, the physical database data being grouped in correspondence to at least one service provided by the database management system, said at least one service providing a data access service under a single invocation from said sequencer,

at least one service group worker for executing the corresponding one of said at least one service and for operating on the physical database data with only local procedure calls,

a generic data group worker for accessing the data dictionary to provide basic query and update access primitives to the transaction database data, and

at least one data agent, responsive to each group worker and coupled to the at least one data file, for accessing the physical database data on said at least one file,

each of said sequencers further including a register listing each corresponding service provided by each at least one service group worker and the location in the distributed database management system for accessing each corresponding service group worker,

said data dictionary including

a translation table, accessible by said sequencer and said database access module through procedure calls, which maps physical database data to transaction database data represented by object class names,

a definition table, accessible by said sequencer and said database access module through procedure calls, which contains the relationships of each of the object names to others of the object names, and

a location table, accessible by said sequencer and said database access module through procedure calls, which maps each processor to object names stored on each processor,

each said sequencer, each said controller, each said data dictionary, and each said database access module in a corresponding one of the nodes being cooperatively coupled to provide a location for and access to the object classes in the distributed database transparently to the transaction request whenever such request involves a view of the database requiring the joinder of multiple object classes,

wherein said one of the sequencers responsive to the switching system application is further arranged for transforming the database response to a transaction response and for returning the transaction response to the switching system application, and

wherein the transaction response controls the public switching system to thereby execute the transaction request.