Data management system for file and database management

• US 6,094,654 A
• Filed: 06/24/1998
• Issued: 07/25/2000
• Est. Priority Date: 12/06/1996
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Van Huben, Gary Alan, Mueller, Joseph Lawrence
• Primary Examiner(s): Amsbury, Wayne
• Assistant Examiner(s): ALAM, SHAHID AL
• Application Number:
  US09/103,771
• Time in Patent Office: 762 Days
• Field of Search: 707/3, 707/4, 707/8, 707/10, 707/102, 707/103
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/21 Design, administration or maintenance of databases
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2343 Locking methods, e.g. distributed locking or locking implementation details
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/252 between a Database Management System and a front-end application
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99931 Database or file accessing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99933 Query processing, i.e. searching
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99934 Query formulation, input preparation, or translation
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99938 Concurrency, e.g. lock management in shared database
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99943 Generating database or data structure, e.g. via user interface
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99953 Recoverability

Abstract

A design control system suitable for use in connection with the design of integrated circuits and other elements of manufacture having many parts which need to be developed in a concurrent engineering environment with inputs provided by users and or systems which may be located anywhere in the world providing a set of control information for coordinating movement of the design information through development and to release while providing dynamic tracking of the status of elements of the bills of materials in an integrated and coordinated activity control system utilizing a repository which can be implemented in the form of a database (relational, object oriented, etc.) or using a flat file system. Once a model is created and/or identified by control information design libraries hold the actual pieces of the design under control of the system without limit to the number of libraries, and providing for tracking and hierarchical designs which are allowed to traverse through multiple libraries. Data Managers become part of the design team, and libraries are programmable to meet the needs of the design group they service.

Claims

1. A data management control system for managing a plurality of projects as a design control system, comprising:

for each project a control repository and one or more data repositories to store, manage, and manipulate any data object, wherein said control repository communicates with users and the data repositories in numerous ways to support environments ranging from a small user community to a global enterprise with all data and control information tracked in an architecturally centralized environment consisting of said data repository and said control repository using a single logical PFVL paradigm to identify all data in the DMS by Package, File Type, (Data Type), Version and Level, and wherein packages are arbitrary divisions of data, whereby all the data has some common association and

wherein every piece of the design which is associated to a

Library - Variance - Quality Level - View - Cell - Version has all of the data associated as a logical union so that the system ensures every piece of data has all said PFVL attributes associated with said every piece of said data as a PFVL single logical association, permitting every piece of data or attribute of a design element in the Data Management System (DMS), regardless of origin or importance, to be tracked by its PFVL single logical association of every piece of the design.

2. A data management control system according to claim 1 wherein order to use the system together with other systems the system attribute are mapped for conversion to provide the following mapping:

space="preserve" listing-type="tabular">______________________________________ Library - Variance - Quality Level - View - CellName - Version /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ Package - Version - Quality Level - Type - FileName - Iteration. ______________________________________

3. A data management control system according to claim 1 wherein a user can be an owner of a private working area and users control who can access or update their private areas, and an area which allows people performing performing coordination or verification tasks to view data identified by said PFVL single logical paradign with attributes including

Library - Variance - Quality Level - View - CellName - Version.

4. A data management control system according to claim 1 wherein with said PFVL single logical paradign attributes of non-system originated data is tracked and made accessible along with system originated data with a system command.

5. A data management control system according to claim 4 wherein a user call for a system function, third party tool, shell script, perl script, C program, from within a user system may be invoked from a command line.

6. A data management control system according to claim 4 wherein said system has release areas for public libraries, and means for checing data out of public libraries, checking in, promoting to integration and release areas, displaying and browsing data in integration and release areas and easily switching between multiple working areas.

7. A data management control system according to claim 1 wherein there is provided accessible multiple working library levels, and means for extracting data from a public library.

8. A data management control system according to claim 1 wherein an architecturally centralized location does not require that the location be phycially in the same location but requires that the user must perceive the system in a manner by which all data appears to be tracked uniformly which enables the user to do things like find/view all the data associated with the design when multiple pieces of data are in physically disparate locations.

9. A data management control system according to claim 1 wherein all data and control information is tracked in an architecturally centralized location consisting of a data and control repository for a project using a single logical PFVL paradigm, and wherein said system provides a dynamic Bill of Materials Tracker to identify all the desired pieces of a design at a particular Library, Level and Variance to be built into a "model".

10. A data management control system according to claim 1 wherein all data and control information is tracked in an architecturally centralized location consisting of a data and control repository for a project using a single logical PFVL paradigm, and wherein said system provides Automated Library Processing whereby tools, checks, automated tasks can be launched either during movement of data between levels or while data is stable within a level and where results would be associated to the exact data objects used in the process and retained in the Control Repository.

11. A data management control system according to claim 1 wherein all data and control information is tracked in an architecturally centralized location consisting of a data and control repository for a project using a single logical PFVL paradigm, and wherein said system provides External Data Control whereby results obtained from tools run outside of the DMS can be securely incorporated into the DMS with the same data integrity as an Automated Library Process initiated from within the DMS.

12. A data management control system according to claim 1 wherein all data and control information is tracked in an architecturally centralized location consisting of a data and control repository for a project using a single logical PFVL paradigm, and wherein said system provides a Locking mechanism which not only performs simple Check-Out, Check-in to assert ownership, but allows ownership by PFVL, so, two different designers could check out different versions of the piece of a design element at different Quality Levels.

13. A data management control system according to claim 1 wherein all data and control information is tracked in an architecturally centralized location consisting of a data and control repository for a project using a single logical PFVL paradigm, and wherein said system provides Problem Fix Management and Engineering Change Tracking which would provide various utilities to ensure that fixes to problems are contained within the proper EC.

14. A data management control system according to claim 1 wherein the system provides working areas which serve as a private library for a user assigned to a team by a data manager, and wherein, once a user exists on a team, the user may create Working Areas as they desire, and they can locate them anywhere in the system'"'"'s directory structure where permissions serve as the only means of authorization, so the user has complete control over who has access to their data.

15. A data management control system according to claim 1 wherein the system provides working areas which serve as a private library for a user assigned to a team by a data manager, and to perform shared data management each team may have any number of Release Areas, and members of a team, team member may have unlimited Working Areas and the system data manager can create release areas, specify the physical location of the data, and rename or delete the Release Area at any time, and create virtual levels to define the type of structure required for concurrent engineering with multiple levels, promote data between Release Areas and enable a user to look at data in all Release Areas simultaneously.

16. A data management system for file and database management according to claim 1 wherein said library is a grouping of objects which all have common characteristics causing them to belong to the same library grouping, and wherein within a library, data is organized by version, wherein versions allow parallel evolution of the same component data element to coexist in the same library enabling multiple versions of a component data element to be developed in tandem while using the same object name and residing in the same library and at the same level level simultaneously.