System and method for synchronizing and/or updating an existing relational database with supplemental XML data
First Claim
1. A method for synchronizing and updating a relational database containing existing data with supplemental data, the relational database having a set of tables defined by a relational schema, the supplemental data comprising formatted data having a document type definition representative of the relational schema, the method comprising the steps of:
- receiving at least one proposed data update representative of the supplemental data from a source external to the relational database, the supplemental data being represented by a document object; and
propagating the received at least one proposed data update into the relational database in a manner which ensures compliance with both the relational database relational schema and the document type definition without requiring reloading the existing data in the relational database, said propagating step comprising the sub-steps oftraversing the document object to determine at least one path expression identifying at least one element of the document object, said at least one element being identified by said at least one proposed data update, andusing said at least one path expression to determine relational identifiers of data to be updated in the relational database.
3 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A system and a method for synchronizing and updating a relational database with supplemental data in which the relational database has a set of tables defined by a relational schema. The supplemental data preferably comprises data in a tagged format having a document-type definition representative of the relational schema and is represented in a document object. The system and method preferably ensure record-by-record updating and synchronization of the relational database with the at least one proposed data update by receiving at least one proposed data update from a source external to the relational database; and propagating the received at least one proposed data update into the relational database. In this matter, the compliance with both the relational database relational schema and the tagged data document type definition is ensured without requiring reloading existing data in the relational database.
362 Citations
68 Claims
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1. A method for synchronizing and updating a relational database containing existing data with supplemental data, the relational database having a set of tables defined by a relational schema, the supplemental data comprising formatted data having a document type definition representative of the relational schema, the method comprising the steps of:
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receiving at least one proposed data update representative of the supplemental data from a source external to the relational database, the supplemental data being represented by a document object; and propagating the received at least one proposed data update into the relational database in a manner which ensures compliance with both the relational database relational schema and the document type definition without requiring reloading the existing data in the relational database, said propagating step comprising the sub-steps of traversing the document object to determine at least one path expression identifying at least one element of the document object, said at least one element being identified by said at least one proposed data update, and using said at least one path expression to determine relational identifiers of data to be updated in the relational database. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27)
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28. A method for both generating a relational schema for a relational database corresponding to a document having a document-type definition and data complying with the document-type definition, the document-type definition having content particles representative of the structure of the data and loading the data into the relational database in a manner consistent with the relational schema, the method comprising the steps of:
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extracting metadata representative of the document-type definition from the document-type definition; generating the relational schema from the metadata, thereby defining via the metadata at least one table in the relational database corresponding to at least one of the content particles of the document-type definition; loading the data into the at least one table according to the relational schema and in a manner driven by the metadata; and updating the relational database with at least one proposed update associated with supplemental data represented by a document object, said updating step comprising the sub-steps of traversing the document object to determine at least one path expression identifying at least one element of the document object, said at least one element being identified by said at least one proposed data update, using said at least one path expression to determine relational identifiers of at least a subset of the data in the relational database, and applying at least one relational operation to said at least a subset of the data in the relational database to update said at least a subset of the data in accordance with said at least one proposed update. - View Dependent Claims (29, 30, 31, 32)
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33. A system for synchronizing and updating a relational database containing existing data with supplemental data, the relational database having a set of tables defined by a relational schema, the supplemental data comprising formatted data having a document type definition representative of the relational schema, comprising:
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a translator for receiving at least one proposed data update representative of the supplemental data from a source external to the relational database, the supplemental data being represented by a document object; and an execution device operably connected to the translator for propagating the received at least one proposed data update into the relational database in a manner which ensures compliance with both the relational database relational schema and the document type definition without requiring reloading the existing data in the relational database, said execution device being configured to perform the steps of; traversing the document object to determine at least one path expression identifying at least one element of the document object, said at least one element being identified by said at least one proposed data update; and using said at least one path expression to determine relational identifiers of data to be updated in the relational database. - View Dependent Claims (34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60)
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61. A system for both generating a relational schema for a relational database corresponding to a document having a document-type definition and data complying with the document-type definition, the document-type definition having content particles representative of the structure of the data and loading the data into the relational database in a manner consistent with the relational schema, comprising:
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an extractor for creating metadata representative of the document-type definition from the document-type definition; a generator for forming the relational schema from the metadata, thereby defining via the metadata at least one table in the relational database corresponding to at least one of the content particles of the document-type definition; a loader for loading the data into the at least one table according to the relational schema and in a manner driven by the metadata; and a synchronizer for updating the relational database with at least one proposed update from a second document containing related data without requiring the reloading of the data already in the relational database by the loader, said synchronizer being configured to; traverse the second document to determine at least one path expression identifying at least one element of the second document, said at least one element being identified by said at least one proposed data update; use said at least one path expression to determine relational identifiers of at least a subset of the data in the relational database; and apply at least one relational operation to said at least a subset of the data in the relational database to update said at least a subset of the data in accordance with said at least one proposed update. - View Dependent Claims (62, 63, 64)
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65. A method of synchronizing and updating existing data of a relational database, the method comprising:
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receiving a proposed data update from a source external to the relational database, said proposed data update being represented by a document object; translating said proposed data update into a set of update primitives; executing said set of update primitives to transform at least one element of the document object in accordance with said proposed data update; traversing the document object to determine a path expression identifying said at least one element of the document object; using said path expression to determine relational identifiers identifying data in the relational database; and propagating said proposed data update into the relational database by mapping said set of update primitives to relational operations and applying said relational operations to said data identified by said relational identifiers. - View Dependent Claims (66, 67, 68)
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Specification