System, method, and article of manufacture for propagating transaction processing facility based data and for providing the propagated data to a variety of clients

• US 6,714,945 B1
• Filed: 07/17/2000
• Issued: 03/30/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 11/17/1995
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Sabre GLBL Inc. (Sabre Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sabre Incorporated (Sabre Corp.)
• Inventors: Wright, Paul R., Murphy, R. Craig, Foote, William E., Mehovic, Farid M., Tait, Robin B., Luttenberg, Scott A.
• Primary Examiner(s): ALAM, SHAHID AL
• Application Number:
  US09/617,509
• Time in Patent Office: 1,352 Days
• Field of Search: 707/5, 707/10, 707/104.1, 707/3, 707/4, 707/6, 707/9, 707/7, 707/204, 705/5, 705/6, 709/200, 709/206, 709/201, 709/202, 709/203, 709/314, 370/40, 714/5, 714/15
• US Class Current: 707/602
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/258 Data format conversion from or to a database
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/02 Reservations, e.g. for tickets, services or events
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/025 Coordination of plural reservations, e.g. plural trip segments, transportation combined with accommodation
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/922 Communications
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/954 Relational
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/959 Network
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99943 Generating database or data structure, e.g. via user interface
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99945 Object-oriented database structure processing

Abstract

A system, method, and article of manufacture for propagating data from a transaction processing facility (TPF) based computer to a relational database associated with a server computer and providing the propagated data to a variety of clients are presented. A TPF based computer includes TPF data, which is propagated to the server computer. The server computer is coupled to the TPF based computer. The server computer receives the propagated TPF data and generates a structured query language (SQL) statement reflecting the received TPF data. The relational database associated with the server computer is updated by using the generated SQL statement. The propagated data may be provided to a variety of clients.

Claims

1. A data processing system comprising;

a transaction processing facility (TPF) based computer comprising data storage that comprises TPF data;

a server computer, coupled to the TPF based computer, for receiving the TPF data propagated by the TPF based computer from said TPF based computer'"'"'s data storage and for generating a structured query language (SQL) statement reflecting the received TPF data; and

a relational database associated with the server computer and separate from said data storage of said TPF based computer, wherein said relational database comprises data that has been propagated from the TPF based computer'"'"'s data storage and converted into a structure that is different from the structure of the data as stored in the TPF based computer'"'"'s data storage, where the data stored in said relational database is updated by using the generated SQL statement, and can be accessed from said relational database using SQL statements.

2. A data processing system according to claim 1, further comprising a first client terminal, coupled to the TPF based computer, for accessing the TPF data.

3. A data processing system according to claim 2, wherein the first client terminal inputs new data into the TPF based computer, retrieves the TPF data, changes the TPF data, and deletes the TPF data.

4. A data processing system according to claim 2, wherein the first client terminal accesses data from the relational database.

5. A data processing system according to claim 4, wherein the first client terminal retrieves and queries the data stored in the relational database.

6. A data processing system according to claim 1, further comprising a second client terminal, coupled to the server computer, for accessing data stored in the relational database.

7. A data processing system according to claim 6, wherein the second client terminal accesses the data from the relational database independently of the TPF based computer.

8. A data processing system according to claim 7, wherein the second client terminal retrieves and queries the data stored in the relational database.

9. A data processing system according to claim 1, wherein the TPF based computer asynchronously propagates the TPF data to the server computer.

10. A data processing system according to claim 1, wherein the server computer includes a distribution means for receiving the propagated TPF data from the server computer after update of the relational database.

11. A data processing system according to claim 1, wherein the distribution means sends the propagated TPF data in real time to a registered system.

12. A data processing system according to claim 10, wherein the distribution means e-mails the propagated data to a customer.

13. A data processing system according to claim 1, wherein the server computer includes an extraction and transformation means for extracting the data stored in the relational database, transforming the extracted data, and sending of the transformed data to an extraction and transformation client.

14. A data processing system according to claim 13, wherein the extraction and transformation client is chosen from a data mart and a data warehouse.

15. A data propagation method, comprising the steps of:

propagating data from a data storage of a section processing facility (TPF) based computer to a server computer;

generating via the server computer a structured query language (SQL) statement reflecting the propagated data; and

updating a relational database associated with the server computer using the SQL statement, where the relational database is separate from the data storage of the TPF based computer and comprises data that has been propagated from the TPF based computer'"'"'s data storage and converted into a structure that is different from the structure of the data as stored in the TPF based computer'"'"'s data storage, where the data stored in the relational database can be accessed using SQL statements.

16. The method according to claim 15, further comprising the step of accessing data from the TPF based computer using a first client terminal that is coupled to the TPF based computer.

17. The method according to claim 16, wherein the step of accessing data includes inputting new data into the TPF based computer, retrieving the TPF data, changing the TPF data, and deleting the TPF data.

18. The method according to claim 16, further comprising the step of accessing data from the relational database using the first client terminal.

19. The method according to claim 18, wherein the step of accessing includes retrieving and querying the data stored in the relational database.

20. The method according to claim 15, further comprising the step of accessing data from the relational database with a second client terminal that is coupled to the server computer.

21. The method according to claim 20, wherein the step of accessing the data is done independently of the TPF based computer.

22. The method according to claim 21, wherein the step of accessing data includes retrieving and querying the data stored in the relational database.

23. The method according to claim 15, wherein the step of propagating data is performed asynchronously.

24. The method according to claim 15, further comprising the step of receiving propagated data by a distribution means of the server computer after updating the relational database.

25. The method according to claim 24, further comprising the step of sending the propagated data by the distribution means in real time to a registered system.

26. The method according to claim 24, further comprising the step of e-mailing the propagated data by the distribution means to a customer.

27. The method according to claim 15, further comprising the step of extracting the data from the relational database, transforming the extracted data, and sending the transformed data by an extraction and transformation means of the server computer to an extraction and transformation client.

28. The method according to claim 27, wherein the extraction and transformation client is chosen from a data mart and a data warehouse.

29. A data processing system comprising:

a transaction processing facility (TPF) based computer comprising data storage that includes TPF data;

a server computer including a relational database, coupled to the TPF based computer, the relational database being separate from the data storage of said TPF based computer and including a structured replica of the TPF data; and

a client terminal for sending a miscellaneous function management request to the TPF based computer,

wherein the TPF based computer sends the miscellaneous function management request to the server computer, which generates a structured query language (SQL) statement reflecting the miscellaneous function management request, and sends the generated SQL statement to the relational database, where the SQL statement is used to update the relational database.

30. A data processing system according to claim 29, wherein data is retrieved from the relational database by using the generated SQL statement and sent to a customer via e-mail.

31. A miscellaneous function management method, comprising the steps of:

sending a miscellaneous function management request by a client terminal to a transaction processing facility (TPF) based computer, where the TPF based computer comprises data storage that includes TPF data;

sending the miscellaneous function management request by the TPF based computer to a server computer, which includes a relational database separate from the data storage of the TPF based computer that has a structured replica of data stored in the data storage of the TPF based computer; and

generating a structured query language (SQL) statement reflecting the miscellaneous function management request and sending the generated SQL statement by the server computer to the relational database;

updating the relational database based on the SQL statement.

32. The method according to claim 31, further comprising the step of retrieving data from the relational database by using the generated SQL statement and sending the retrieved data to a customer via e-mail.

33. A computer readable medium containing instructions for causing a computer to perform a method for propagating data, comprising the steps of:

propagating data from a data storage of a transaction processing facility (TPF) based computer to a server computer;

generating via the server computer a structured query language (SQL) statement reflecting the propagated data; and

updating a relational database associated with the server computer using the SQL statement where the relational database is separate from the data storage of the TPF based computer and comprises data that has been propagated from the TPF based computer'"'"'s data storage and converted into a structure that is different from the structure of the data as stored in the TPF based computer'"'"'s data storage, where the data stored in the relational database can be accessed using SQL statements.

34. The computer-readable medium according to claim 33, further comprising the step of accessing data from the TPF based computer using a first client terminal that is coupled to the TPF based computer.

35. The computer-readable medium according to claim 34, wherein the step of accessing data includes inputting new data into the TPF based computer, retrieving the TPF data, changing the TPF data, and deleting the TPF data.

36. The computer-readable medium according to claim 34, further comprising the step of accessing data from the relational database using the first client terminal.

37. The computer-readable medium according to claim 36, wherein the step of accessing includes retrieving and querying the data stored in the relational database.

41. The computer-readable medium according to claim 33, wherein the step of propagating data is performed asynchronously.

42. The computer-readable medium according to claim 33, further comprising the step of receiving propagated data by a distribution means of the server computer after updating the relational database.

43. The computer-readable medium according to claim 42, further comprising the step of sending the propagated data by the distribution means in real time to a registered system.

44. The computer-readable medium according to claim 42, further comprising the step of e-mailing the propagated data by the distribution means to a customer.

45. The computer-readable medium according to claim 33, further comprising the step of extracting the data from the relational database, transforming the extracted data, and sending the transformed data by an extraction and transformation means of the server computer to an extraction and transformation client.

46. The computer-readable medium according to claim 45, wherein the extraction and transformation client is chosen from a data mart and a data warehouse.

38. The computer-readable medium according to clam 33, further comprising the step of accessing data from the relational database with a second client terminal that is coupled to the server computer.

39. The computer-readable medium according to claim 38, wherein the step of accessing the data is done independently of the TPF based computer.

40. The computer-readable medium according to claim 39, wherein the step of accessing data includes retrieving and querying the data stored in the relational database.

47. A computer readable medium containing instructions for causing a computer to perform a method for miscellaneous function management, comprising the steps of:

sending a miscellaneous function management request by a client terminal to a transaction processing facility (TPF) based computer, where the TPF based computer comprises data storage that includes TPF data;

sending the miscellaneous function management request by the TPF based computer to a server computer, which includes a relational database separate from he data storage of the TPF based computer that has a structured replica of data stored in the data storage of the TPF based computer; and

generating a structured query language (SQL) statement reflecting the miscellaneous function management request and sending the generated SQL statement by the server computer to the relational database;

updating the relational database based on the SQL statement.

48. The computer-readable medium according to claim 47, further comprising the step of retrieving data from the relational database by using the generated SQL statement and sending the retrieved data to a customer via e-mail.