Relational database management system having integrated non-relational multi-dimensional data store of aggregated data elements

• US 6,385,604 B1
• Filed: 08/09/2000
• Issued: 05/07/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 08/04/1999
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Intellectual Ventures Assets 114 LLC (Intellectual Ventures LLC), MEC Management, LLC (Three Affiliated Tribes of the Fort Berthold Reservation, North Dakota)
• Original Assignee: HyperRoll Israel Limited (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: Bakalash, Reuven, Shaked, Guy, Caspi, Joseph
• Primary Examiner(s): Homere, Jean R.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Wassum, Luke S
• Application Number:
  US09/634,748
• Time in Patent Office: 636 Days
• Field of Search: 707/1-5, 707/100-104, 709/201, 709/217-219
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: C03B 2203/36 Dispersion modified fibres, e.g. wavelength or polarisation shifted, flattened or compensating fibres (DSF, DFF, DCF)
• CPC Class Codes: C03B 2205/42 Drawing at high speed, i.e. > 10 m/s
• CPC Class Codes: C03B 2205/55 Cooling or annealing the drawn fibre prior to coating using a series of coolers or heaters
• CPC Class Codes: C03B 37/02718 Thermal treatment of the fibre during the drawing process, e.g. cooling coating C03C25/10
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/283 Multi-dimensional databases or data warehouses, e.g. MOLAP or ROLAP
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99933 Query processing, i.e. searching
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99935 Query augmenting and refining, e.g. inexact access
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99943 Generating database or data structure, e.g. via user interface

Abstract

Improved method of and apparatus for joining and aggregating data elements integrated within a relational database management system (RDBMS) using a non-relational multi-dimensional data structure (MDD). The improved RDBMS system of the present invention can be used to realize achieving a significant increase in system performance (e.g. [deceased] decreased access/search time), user flexibility and ease of use. The improved RDBMS system of the present invention can be used to realize an improved Data Warehouse for supporting on-line analytical processing (OLAP) operations or to realize an improved informational database system or the like.

Claims

1. A relational database management system (RDBMS) comprising:

a relational data store storing fact data;

an aggregation module, operatively coupled to the relational data store, for aggregating the fact data and storing the resultant aggregated data in a non-relational multi-dimensional data store;

a query servicing mechanism, operatively coupled to the aggregation module, for servicing query statements generated in response to user input, said query servicing mechanism comprising;

a reference generating mechanism for generating a user-defined reference to aggregated fact data generated by the aggregation module; and

a query processing mechanism for processing a given query statement, wherein, upon identifying that the given query statement is on said user-defined reference, communicates with said aggregation module over an interface therebetween to retrieve portions of aggregated fact data pointed to by said reference that are relevant to said given query statement.

2. The RDBMS of claim 1, wherein said aggregation module includes a query handling mechanism for receiving query statements, and wherein communication between said query processing mechanism and said query handling mechanism is accomplished by forwarding the given query statement to the query handling mechanism of the aggregation module.

3. The RDBMS of claim 2, wherein said query handling mechanism extracts dimensions from the received query statement and forwards the dimensions to the storage handler, and wherein the storage handler accesses locations of the non-relational multi-dimensional data store based upon the forwarded dimensions and returns the retrieved data back to the query servicing mechanism for communication to the user.

4. The RDBMS of claim 1, wherein said aggregation module includes a data loading mechanism for loading at least fact data from the relational data store, an aggregation engine for aggregating the fact data and an storage handler for storing the fact data and resultant aggregated fact data in the non-relational multi-dimensional data store.

5. The RDBMS of claim 4, wherein said aggregation module includes control logic that, upon determining that the non-relational multi-dimensional data store does not contain data required to service the given query statement, controls the data loading mechanism and aggregation engine to aggregate at least fact data required to service the given query statement and controls the aggregation module to return the aggregated data back to the query servicing mechanism for communication to the user.

6. The RDBMS of claim 1, in combination with a data analysis engine to realize an OLAP system.

7. The RDBMS of claim 6, wherein said OLAP system is a ROLAP system.

8. The RDBMS of claim 1, for use as an enterprise wide data warehouse that interfaces to a plurality of information technology systems.

9. The RDBMS of claim 1, for use as a database store in an informational database system.

10. The RDBMS of claim 9, wherein said informational database system is a spreadsheet modeling program.

11. The RDBMS of claim 1, wherein said query statements are generated by a query interface in response to communication of a natural language query communicated from a client machine.

12. The RDBMS of claim 11, wherein said client machine comprises a web-enabled browser to communicate said natural language query to the query interface.

13. The RDBMS of claim 1, wherein said interface that provides communication between said query processing mechanism and said aggregation module comprises a standard interface.

14. The RDBMS of claim 13, wherein said standard interface is selected from the group consisting of OLDB, OLE-DB, ODBC, SQL, JDBC.

15. In a relational database management system (RDBMS) comprising a relational data store storing fact data, a method for aggregating the fact data and providing query access to the aggregated data comprising the steps of:

providing an integrated aggregation module, operatively coupled to the relational data store, for aggregating the fact data and storing the resultant aggregated data in a non-relational multi-dimensional data store;

in response to user input, generating a reference to aggregated fact data generated by the aggregation module; and

processing a given query statement generated in response to user input, wherein, upon identifying that the given query statement is on said reference, communicating with said integrated aggregation module over an interface operably coupled thereto to retrieve [retrieving] from the integrated aggregation module portions of aggregated fact data pointed to by said reference that are relevant to said given query statement.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising the step of extracting dimensions from the given query statement, accessing locations of the non-relational multi-dimensional data store based upon the extracted dimensions, and returning the retrieved data back to the user.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein said aggregation module includes a data loading mechanism for loading at least fact data from the relational data store, an aggregation engine for aggregating the fact data and an storage handler for storing the fact data and resultant aggregated fact data in the non-relational multi-dimensional data store.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein said aggregation module, upon determining that the non-relational multi-dimensional data store does not contain data required to service the given query statement, controls the data loading mechanism and aggregation engine to aggregate at least fact data required to service the given query statement and controls the aggregation module to return the aggregated data back to the user.

19. The method of claim 15, further comprising the step of performing data analysis operations on the retrieved data as part of an OLAP system.

20. The method of claim 19, RDBMS of claim 6, wherein said OLAP system is a ROLAP system.

21. The method of claim 15, wherein said RDBMS is used as an enterprise wide data warehouse that interfaces to a plurality of information technology systems.

22. The method of claim 15, wherein said RDBMS is uses as a database store in an informational database system.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein said informational database system is a spread-sheet modeling program.

24. The method of claim 15, wherein said query statements are generated by a query interface in response to communication of a natural language query communicated from a client machine.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein said client machine comprises a web-enabled browser to communicate said natural language query to the query interface.

26. The method of claim 25, wherein said interface that is operably coupled to said aggregation module comprises a standard interface.

27. The method of claim 26, wherein said standard interface is selected from the group consisting of OLDB, OLE-DB, ODBC, SQL, JDBC.