System, method, software architecture, and business model for an intelligent object based information technology platform

• US 6,988,109 B2
• Filed: 12/06/2001
• Issued: 01/17/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 12/06/2000
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Melissa Data Corp
• Original Assignee: IO Informatics, Inc. (Melissa Data Corp)
• Inventors: Gombocz, Erich A., Stanley, Robert A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Choules, Jack M.
• Application Number:
  US10/010,086
• Publication Number:
  US 20020198858A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,503 Days
• Field of Search: 707/103, 707/10, 707/103.Y, 707/103.X, 707/103.Z
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/20 of structured data, e.g. relational data
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99944 Object-oriented database structure
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99945 Object-oriented database structure processing

Abstract

In one aspect, the invention provides an architecture and query and processing methodology, advantageously implemented in software, for an information technology platform using Intelligent Molecular Objects or objects of a more general character. In another aspect, it provides intelligent molecular object data or other data for heterogeneous data environments with high data density and dynamic application needs. In yet another, it provides an Object State Engine for intelligent molecular object data technology. In still another, it provides an Object Translation Engine for intelligent molecular object data in heterogeneous data environments with dynamic application needs. In yet another aspect, it provides a handling device including an Intelligent Object Handler for intelligent molecular object data in heterogeneous data environments with high data density and dynamic application needs. In even still another aspect, the invention provides a data pool architecture and an Intelligent Object Pool for intelligent molecular object data in heterogeneous data environments with high data density and dynamic application needs. An architecture for an information technology platform using Intelligent Molecular Object software is provided, which addresses all steps of data processing from data acquisition through diverse sources and instrumentation to final output of diverse data analysis results.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented informatics system for data structuring via data structuring objects executed by a computer, wherein a data structuring object includes a presentation interface, program code executable by a computer to structure data, program code executable by a computer to query data using a graphical interface, wherein the querying is done on raw data, the informatics system comprising:

an object handler for supporting the data structuring objects;

a generator for generating a data structuring object to be associated wit the raw data;

at least one description data structure within the data structuring object, wherein a description data structure describes the raw data associated with the data structuring object;

at least one subset vector within the data structuring object, wherein a subset vector describes a proper subset of the associated raw data and wherein at least one subset vector is user-defined, thereby allowing for structuring data in the context of raw data without requiring restructuring of the data or programming; and

an object translation engine for generating definition tables usable for translating data structuring objects into a presentation form.

2. The informatics system of claim 1, wherein the at least one subset vector comprises a direct pointer to addressed content, further comprising a binary pointer structure to link addressed content to the definition tables, to provide a binary-encoded look-up source for information of relevance to each data structuring object.

3. The informatics system of claim 1, wherein the object translation engine comprises look-up tables organized by user, to allow for custom definition tables for a plurality of users.

4. The informatics system of claim 1, wherein at least one subset vector is a multidimensional vector.

5. The informatics system of claim 1, wherein the at least one subset vector is represented by a matrix according to a matrix structure descriptor that maps data subsets defined within each of the data structuring objects to data within the associated raw data.

6. The informatics system of claim 5, wherein the data subsets within data structuring objects include extracted meta-data, annotated meta-data, detected content element subsets or defined content workspace subsets.

7. The informatics system of claim 1, further comprising logic to support a plurality of subset views simultaneously for multiple users according to one or more of user preference, level, group and environment definition settings.

8. The informatics system of claim 7, further comprising:

means for enabling content access; and

means for routing data.

9. The informatics system of claim 1, further comprising:

program code to query data using a graphical interface; and

program code for interacting with other entities of the informatics system according to information provided by the subset vectors and content description workspaces.

10. The informatics system of claim 1, wherein each of the data structuring objects further comprises:

program code for graphical presentation;

program code for element detection;

program code for workspace subset detection and definition; and

program code for association of meta-data and the raw data associated with the data structuring object.

11. The informatics system of claim 1, wherein each of the data structuring objects further comprises:

program code for controlling access privileges to the data structuring object and its associated raw data, wherein access privileges are represented by tuples comprising unique data structuring object identification, user identification, and a content subset definition.

12. The informatics system of claim 1, wherein each of the data structuring objects further comprises program code for processing data from a plurality of distinct data sources and maintaining a log of processing steps, thereby allowing monitoring and roll back of processing steps.

13. A system as in claim 1, wherein each of the data structuring objects further compnses program code for extraction, normalization and analysis of data content and relationships among the data, including:

program code for reading raw data associated with the data structuring object;

program code for translating information content of the raw data into a common data format;

program code for presenting the information content into the common data format;

program code for normalizing information from a plurality of raw data sources to a compatible format;

a master query component enabling user and rule-driven queries to external databases and to information contained within a pooi of data structuring objects.

14. The informatics system of claim 13, wherein the information being normalized comprises extracted meta-data, annotated meta-data, detected content element subsets or defined content workspace subsets.

15. The informatics system of claim 13, further comprising:

program code for generating reports as data content for data structuring objects;

program code for report auditing of data structuring object state and processing history;

program code for providing selected security for distribution, by granting or denying access to all or subsets of data content according to user permission determined by one or more off user identity, environment variables, group association, and level management designation;

program code for linking data structuring objects to each other according to their content definitions and positions within the ontology for providing query optimization, weighted clustering and relevancy ranking;

program code for linking, using vectors, source data as paths for subsequent queries;

a data link definition interface enabling selection of information presented by one or several databases and/or data structuring objects and definition of relationships between selected information as well as outputs and processes to be triggered according to the status of selected information; and

program code for monitoring and synchronizing data objects according to their status and context.

16. The informatics system of claim 15, further comprising:

a status management component comprising binary triggered listening flags set on each object and logic for communicating with a centralized state management engine; and

logic for activating communication between objects and applications on the operating system level to pipeline and replay multi-step processes defined within a data structuring object applications view.

17. The informatics system of claim 13, wherein the master query component is configured to search for data objects satisfying a search criteria and to identify data objects interconnected to those data objects satisfying the search criteria.

18. The informatics system of claim 13, wherein the master query component is configured to search multiple database fields residing in one or more similar or heterogeneous relational databases using meta-fields created by selecting and mapping fields presented by the relational databases through a visual interface.

19. The informatics system of claim 13, wherein the master query component is configured to search multiple database fields residing in one or more similar or heterogeneous web databases using meta-fields created by selecting and mapping fields presented by the web databases through a visual interface.

20. The informatics system of claim 13, further comprising a knowledge extraction engine to perform statistical analysis of queries and to assist in data mining.

21. The informatics system of claim 13, further comprising a distributed learning engine to validate and rank search results and to utilize report information to optimize query efficiency.

22. The informatics system of claim 13, further comprising a neural network for creating weighted links between objects, for use in optimizing searching and analysis of interconnected data objects.

23. A computer-implemented method of organizing and searching data on an informatics server, comprising:

instantiating a data object on the informatics server for each data item to be organized and searched, the data object including at least one pointer to a source of the data item;

for each data object, providing a graphical user interface on a user computer system to receive object descriptors from a user to define at least a presentation layer for the data item;

in response to a user search query, accessing the source of the data item using at least the pointer;

accessing proper subsets of data pointed to by at least one subset vector and corresponding to the data item in a raw data format;

translating data into an intermediate data format from the raw data format;

performing a search for data attributes and object descriptors of the data item using the intermediate data format; and

presenting search results for the search query using the presentation layer on the user computer system.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein accessing content subsets of data comprises traversing painters to data in the raw data format, the pointers comprising one or more of a URL, a meta-data link, an SQL expression, a file path or a vector.

25. The method of claim 23, further comprising:

determining interconnected data objects having direct information interchange of at least one component of a multi-dimensional data vector; and

expanding the search query to analyze the data associated with the data objects determined to the interconnected.

26. The method of claim 23, further comprising using boundary protocols comprising program code and administrative information for controlling access to bets of data structuring objects.

27. The method of claim 23, further comprising generating a first search result limiting the search to data objects having object descriptors defined by the user in the search query.

28. The method of claim 23, further comprising knowledge extraction for statistical analysis of queries.

29. The method of claim 23, further comprising using a neural network enabling definition and weighting of linkages for optimizing analysis of interconnected data objects.