Methods for abstracting data from various data structures and managing the presentation of the data

• US 6,775,675 B1
• Filed: 04/04/2001
• Issued: 08/10/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 04/04/2001
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Nielsen Company (US), LLC
• Original Assignee: Sagemetrics Corporation
• Inventors: Chaudhury, Supratim Roy, Nwabueze, E. Kenneth, Venkataraman, Siva, Thirumaligai, Appan
• Primary Examiner(s): Metjahic, Safet
• Assistant Examiner(s): Alaubaidi, Haythim J.
• Application Number:
  US09/826,618
• Time in Patent Office: 1,224 Days
• Field of Search: 707/1, 707/102, 707/103.R, 707/100
• US Class Current: 707/600
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/248 Presentation of query results
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/283 Multi-dimensional databases or data warehouses, e.g. MOLAP or ROLAP
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/284 Relational databases
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/954 Relational
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/956 Hierarchical
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/957 Multidimensional
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/958 Data cubes
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/959 Network

Abstract

Methods for accessing relevant data from data sources for presentation, and computer readable media for the same are provided. One exemplary method defines multiple dimensions. Then data sources are identified that contain relevant information for the dimensions. Next the data sources are accessed through an abstraction layer. The abstraction layer performs the operations of transferring portions of the relevant information to a data structure and displaying the selected portions of the relevant information. Some notable advantages of the discussed methods include the ability to create virtual dimensions by building a hierarchical table structure from data in a flat file. The use of an abstraction layer allows for ease of modification and efficiency in presentation, since only the user requested data is presented. In addition, the customer is provided dynamic reports in real-time, thereby allowing for time sensitive and mission critical business decisions to be made with current data.

Claims

1. A method for accessing selected data for presentation as multi-dimensional cubes over a network connection, comprising:

defining dimensions for generating a cube;

acquiring processed data from a flat file, the processed data containing relevant information for the defined dimensions;

storing the acquired processed data in a hierarchical table structure;

generating a cube from the hierarchical table structure;

accessing the cube through an abstraction layer, the abstraction layer performing the operations of,

reading only selected portions of the relevant information for the defined dimensions,

converting the selected portions of the relevant information to a uniform format, and

displaying selected portions of the relevant information without causing non-selected portions of the relevant information to be read and converted.

2. A method for accessing selected data for presentation as multi-dimensional cubes over a network connection as recited in claim 1, wherein the multi-dimensional cubes are displayed by a cube viewer.

3. A method for accessing selected data for presentation as multi-dimensional cubes over a network connection as recited in claim 2, wherein the displayed multi-dimensional cubes include an interactive region and a results region.

4. A method for accessing selected data for presentation as multi-dimensional cubes over a network connection as recited in claim 3, wherein the interactive region includes user manipulation controls that can be arranged for a particular view of the defined dimensions.

5. A method for accessing selected data for presentation as multi-dimensional cubes over a network connection as recited in claim 4, wherein the user manipulation controls include drag and drop icons that can be arranged for the view.

6. A method for accessing selected data for presentation as multi-dimensional cubes over a network connection as recited in claim 1, wherein the hierarchical table structure defines a virtual tree.

7. A method for accessing selected data for presentation as multi-dimensional cubes over a network connection as recited in claim 1, wherein the processed data containing relevant information is stored in a flat file.

8. A method for accessing selected data for presentation as multi-dimensional cubes over a network connection as recited in claim 1, wherein the uniform format is one of extensible markup language, hyper text markup language and standard generalized markup language.

9. A method for accessing selected data for presentation as multi-dimensional cubes over a network connection as recited in claim 1, wherein defining dimensions for generating a cube further comprises:

creating values for the defined dimensions.

10. A method for accessing selected data for presentation as multi-dimensional cubes over a network connection as recited in claim 1, wherein the hierarchical table structure contains virtual dimensions.

11. A method for accessing selected data for presentation as multi-dimensional cubes over a network connection, comprising:

defining a first dimension and a second dimension for generating a cube;

creating a hierarchical table structure from a flat file for the first dimension, the hierarchical table structure containing relevant information to the first dimension;

generating a cube from the hierarchical table structure;

identifying a relational data table for the second dimension, the relational data table containing relevant information to the second dimension;

accessing the cube and the relational data table through an abstraction layer, the abstraction layer performing the operations of,

reading only selected portions of the relevant information for the first and second dimensions,

converting the selected portions of the relevant information to a uniform format, and

displaying selected portions of the relevant information without causing non-selected portions of the relevant information to be read and converted.

12. A method for accessing selected data for presentation as multi-dimensional cubes over a network connection as recited in claim 11, wherein the displaying selected portions of the relevant information without causing non-selected portions of the relevant information to be read and converted further comprises:

presenting the selected portions as a multi-dimensional cube.

13. A method for accessing selected data for presentation as multi-dimensional cubes over a network connection as recited in claim 12, wherein the presented multi-dimensional cube includes an interactive region and a results region.

14. A method for accessing selected data for presentation as multi-dimensional cubes over a network connection as recited in claim 13, wherein the interactive region includes user manipulation controls that can be arranged for a particular view of the defined dimensions.

15. A method for accessing selected data for presentation as multi-dimensional cubes over a network connection as recited in claim 14, wherein the user manipulation controls include drag and drop icons that can be used to generate the view.

16. A method for accessing selected data for presentation as multi-dimensional cubes over a network connection as recited in claim 11, wherein the uniform format is one of extensible markup language, hyper text markup language and standard generalized markup language.

17. A method for accessing selected data for presentation as multi-dimensional cubes over a network connection as recited in claim 11, wherein the hierarchical table structure contains virtual dimensions.

18. A method for accessing selected data for presentation as multi-dimensional cubes over a network connection as recited in claim 11, wherein the displaying selected portions of the relevant information without causing non-selected portions of the relevant information to be read and converted further comprises:

generating the cube in one of a wide area network (WAN), an Internet browser compatible format and an electronic mail file.