Managing results of federated searches across heterogeneous datastores with a federated result set cursor object

• US 6,792,416 B2
• Filed: 09/21/1999
• Issued: 09/14/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 09/21/1999
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Summers, Robert Nelson, Soetarman, Basuki N.
• Primary Examiner(s): Alam, Shahid
• Assistant Examiner(s): FLEURANTIN, JEAN B
• Application Number:
  US09/400,532
• Publication Number:
  US 20030004931A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,820 Days
• Field of Search: 707/1-4, 707/5, 707/9-10, 707/100-104, 707/200-206, 709/303
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2471 Distributed queries
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/256 in federated or virtual databases
• 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 707/99944 Object-oriented database structure

Abstract

A method, apparatus, and article of manufacture for managing results of federated searches across heterogeneous datastores with a federated result set cursor object. One or more commands are executed in a computer to perform a datastore operation at a computer. Data is located in one or more datastores. A cursor is set to the located data in each datastore. A set of cursors to the located data is returned.

Claims

1. A method of executing one or more commands in a computer to perform a datastore operation at a computer, the method comprising the steps of:

locating data in one or more heterogeneous datastores;

setting a cursor to the located data in each heterogeneous datastore; and

returning a federated result set cursor object, said federated result set cursor object aggregating the cursors to the located data.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein one of the cursors is a federated cursor.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein one of the cursors is a native cursor.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving a fetch command to retrieve located data.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the fetch command specifies one of the cursors.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising retrieving located data identified by the specified cursor.

7. An apparatus for executing one or more commands in a computer, comprising:

a computer having a datastore; and

one or more computer programs, performed by the computer, for locating data in one or more heterogeneous datastores, setting a cursor to the located data in each heterogeneous datastore, and returning a federated result set cursor object, said federated result set cursor object aggregating the cursors to the located data.

8. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein one of the cursors is a federated cursor.

9. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein one of the cursors is a native cursor.

10. The apparatus of claim 7, further comprising receiving a fetch command to retrieve located data.

11. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the fetch command specifies one of the cursors.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, further comprising retrieving located data identified by the specified cursor.

13. An article of manufacture comprising a program storage medium readable by a computer and embodying one or more instructions executable by the computer to perform method steps for executing one or more commands to perform a datastore operation at the computer, the method comprising the steps of:

locating data in one or more heterogeneous datastores;

setting a cursor to the located data in each heterogeneous datastore; and

returning a federated result set cursor object, said federated result set cursor object aggregating the cursors to the located data.

14. The article of manufacture of claim 13, wherein one of the cursors is a federated cursor.

15. The article of manufacture of claim 13, wherein one of the cursors is a native cursor.

16. The article of manufacture of claim 13, further comprising receiving a fetch command to retrieve located data.

17. The article of manufacture of claim 16, wherein the fetch command specifies one of the cursors.

18. The article of manufacture of claim 17, further comprising retrieving located data identified by the specified cursor.