Accessing heterogeneous data in a standardized manner
First Claim
1. In a computer system that manages two or more different types of data structures, each type of data structure being organized in accordance with a set of rules and corresponding to an identity, a method for directly operating on data structures in a generic manner regardless of the type of data structure being operated upon and without requiring dedicated executable code for manipulating data structures of a particular data type, the method comprising the following:
- an act of recognizing a common set of command methods that operate on data structures of a number of different data types corresponding to a plurality of applications and to a plurality of identities that control access to the data structures;
an act of accessing a request to execute a command method on at least a portion of a data structure of a particular data type corresponding to one or more applications and to a particular identity, the command method being one of the common set of command methods, and the request to execute the command method identifying the data structure by identifying (i) the particular identity, (ii) a set of rules associated with the particular data type, and (iii) an instance to be operated upon from among more than one instance of the particular data type for the particular identity; and
a step for executing the command method on at least a portion of the data structure in accordance with a set of rules associated with the particular data type.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Directly operating on data structures in a generic manner regardless of the type of data structure being operated upon and without requiring dedicated executable code for manipulating data structures of the particular data type. A common set of commands (e.g., insert, delete, replace, update, query) are recognized that may be used to operate on data structures of a number of different data types. A navigation module accesses a request to execute one of the common command methods on at least an identified portion of an identified data structure. Then, the navigation module accesses a navigation assistance module to access a set of rules associated with the particular data type, the set of rules allowing the navigation module to find the portion of the data structure that is to be operated on. If appropriate, the command operation is then executed on the identified portion of the data structure.
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Citations
48 Claims
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1. In a computer system that manages two or more different types of data structures, each type of data structure being organized in accordance with a set of rules and corresponding to an identity, a method for directly operating on data structures in a generic manner regardless of the type of data structure being operated upon and without requiring dedicated executable code for manipulating data structures of a particular data type, the method comprising the following:
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an act of recognizing a common set of command methods that operate on data structures of a number of different data types corresponding to a plurality of applications and to a plurality of identities that control access to the data structures; an act of accessing a request to execute a command method on at least a portion of a data structure of a particular data type corresponding to one or more applications and to a particular identity, the command method being one of the common set of command methods, and the request to execute the command method identifying the data structure by identifying (i) the particular identity, (ii) a set of rules associated with the particular data type, and (iii) an instance to be operated upon from among more than one instance of the particular data type for the particular identity; and a step for executing the command method on at least a portion of the data structure in accordance with a set of rules associated with the particular data type. - View Dependent Claims (2)
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3. A system for directly operating on data structures in a generic manner regardless of the type of data structure being operated upon and without requiring dedicated executable code for manipulating data structures of a particular data type, the system comprising:
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a data structure of a particular data type corresponding to one or more applications, the data structure organized in accordance with a set of rules and associated with an identity; a navigation module configured to recognize a common set of command methods that are used to operate on data structures of a number of different data types corresponding to a plurality of applications and to a plurality of identities that control access to the data structures, including the data structure of the particular data type, the navigation module identifying the data structure by identifying (i) the identity, (ii) the set of rules associated with the identity, and (iii) an instance to be operated upon from among more than one instance of the particular data type for the identity, wherein the navigation module is communicatively coupled to the data structure in order to navigate through the data structure using the set of rules and perform any of the common set of command methods on the data structure; and a navigation assistance module communicatively coupled to the navigation module, the navigation assistance module containing the set of rules that describe the organization of the data structure. - View Dependent Claims (4)
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5. In a computer system that manages two or more different types of data structures, each type of data structure being organized in accordance with a set of rules and corresponding to an identity, a method for directly operating on data structures in a generic manner regardless of the type of data structure being operated upon and without requiring dedicated executable code for manipulating data structures of a particular data type, the method comprising:
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an act of accessing a request to execute a command method on at least a portion of a data structure of a particular data type corresponding to one or more of a plurality of applications and to a particular identity that controls access to the data structure, the request identifying the data structure by identifying (i) the particular identity, (ii) a set of rules associated with the particular data type, and (iii) an instance to be operated upon from among more than one instance of the particular data type for the particular identity; an act of accessing the set of rules associated with the particular data type, the set of rules defining how data structures of the particular data type are organized; and an act of executing the command method on a portion of the data structure determined by interpreting the request in light of the set of rules. - View Dependent Claims (6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. In a computer system that manages two or more different types of data structures, each type of data structure being organized in accordance with a set of rules and corresponding to an identity, a method for directly operating on data structures in a generic manner regardless of the type of data structure being operated upon and without requiring dedicated executable code for manipulating data structures of a particular data type, the method comprising the following:
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an act of recognizing a common set of command methods that operate on data structures of a number of different data types corresponding to a plurality of applications and to a plurality of identities that control access to the data structures; an act of accessing a request to execute a command method on at least a portion of a data structure of a particular data type corresponding to one or more applications and to a particular identity, the command method being one of the common set of command methods, and the request to execute the command method identifying the data structure by identifying (i) the particular identity, (ii) a set of rules associated with the particular data type, and (iii) an instance to be operated upon from among more than one instance of the particular data type for the particular identity; and a step for executing the command method on at least a portion of the data structure in accordance with a set of rules associated with the particular data type. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43)
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44. A computer program product for use in a computer system that manages two or more different types of data structures, each type of data structure being organized in accordance with a set of rules, the computer program product for executing a method for directly operating on data structures in a generic manner regardless of the type of data structure being operated upon and without requiring dedicated executable code for manipulating data structures of a particular data type, the computer program product comprises one of more physical storage media having stored thereon:
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computer-executable instructions for recognizing a common set of command methods that operate on data structures of a number of different data types corresponding to a plurality of applications and to a plurality of identities that control access to the data structures; computer-executable instructions for accessing a request to execute a command method on at least a portion of a data structure of a particular data type corresponding to one or more applications and to a particular identity, the command method being one of the common set of command methods, and the request to execute the command method identifying the data structure by identifying (i) the particular identity, (ii) a set of rules associated with the particular data type, and (iii) an instance to be operated upon from among more than one instance of the particular data type for the particular identity; computer-executable instructions for accessing the set of rules associated with the particular data type, the set of rules defining how data structures of the particular data type are organized, and what portions of data structure of the particular data type are allowed to have what commands executed thereon; computer-executable instructions for finding the portion of the data structure that is to be operated upon by interpreting the request in light of the set of rules; computer-executable instructions for determining that the command method is allowed to be implemented on the portion of the data structure by consulting the set of rules; and computer-executable instructions for executing the command method on the found portion of the data structure. - View Dependent Claims (45, 46, 47, 48)
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Specification