Reporting engine for data warehouse
First Claim
1. A method of generating a customized report from relational data stored in a database, said method comprising:
- providing metadata associated with the data in the database, said metadata describing the data according to one or more characteristics of the data, said metadata being associated with one or more attributes and measures;
defining a plurality of tables according to the characteristics of the data in the database as described by the metadata;
estimating a size of each of the defined tables;
receiving a request for information from a user, said request specifying search criteria, said search criteria specifying at least one of said one or more attributes and measures; and
executing a predefined procedure for comparing the search criteria specified by the received request to the metadata and identifying at least one of the defined tables containing data described by metadata associated with substantially all of the attributes and the greatest number of measures specified in the search criteria, said procedure further constructing a query based on the identified at least one of the defined tables having the smallest estimated size, said query retrieving selected data from the at least one of the defined tables having the smallest estimated size in response to the request for information as a function of the characteristics of the data as described by the metadata for optimizing retrieval of the selected data.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A reporting engine for generating customized reports from relational data stored in a database. Metadata associated with the data in the database describes the data according to one or more characteristics of the data. One or more of tables organizing the metadata is exposed as a dimension having at least one column of attributes. The reporting enging compares search criteria, specified by a request from a user, to the metadata attributes, and executes a predefined procedure for retrieving selected data from the database. The procedure constructs a query as a function of the comparison between the search criteria and the metadata attributes for implementing the query to optimize retrieval of the selected data from the database. Other aspects of the invention are directed to computer-readable media for use in connection with the reporting engine.
62 Citations
49 Claims
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1. A method of generating a customized report from relational data stored in a database, said method comprising:
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providing metadata associated with the data in the database, said metadata describing the data according to one or more characteristics of the data, said metadata being associated with one or more attributes and measures; defining a plurality of tables according to the characteristics of the data in the database as described by the metadata; estimating a size of each of the defined tables; receiving a request for information from a user, said request specifying search criteria, said search criteria specifying at least one of said one or more attributes and measures; and executing a predefined procedure for comparing the search criteria specified by the received request to the metadata and identifying at least one of the defined tables containing data described by metadata associated with substantially all of the attributes and the greatest number of measures specified in the search criteria, said procedure further constructing a query based on the identified at least one of the defined tables having the smallest estimated size, said query retrieving selected data from the at least one of the defined tables having the smallest estimated size in response to the request for information as a function of the characteristics of the data as described by the metadata for optimizing retrieval of the selected data. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21)
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22. A method of constructing a query for retrieving selected data from a database in response to a request from a user for information, said method comprising:
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defining metadata to describe data in the database according to one or more characteristics of the data, said metadata being associated with one or more attributes and measures; defining a plurality of tables according to the characteristics of the data in the database as described by the metadata; estimating a size of each of the defined tables; comparing search criteria specified by the request for information to the metadata attributes, said search criteria specifying at least one of the one or more attributes and measures; and executing a predefined procedure in response to the request for information to identify at least one of the defined tables containing data described by metadata associated with substantially all of the attributes and the greatest number of measures specified in the search criteria, said procedure further generating a set of structured query language (SQL) statements based on the identified at least one of the defined tables having the smallest estimated size, said query retrieving selected data from the at least one of the identified tables having the smallest estimated size as a function of the characteristics of the data as described by the metadata to optimize retrieval of the selected data from the database. - View Dependent Claims (23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31)
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32. One or more computer-readable media having computer-executable components for generating a report from data stored in a database, said computer-readable media comprising:
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a metadata component for describing the data in the database according to one or more characteristics of the data, said metadata component further defining a plurality of tables according to the characteristics of the data in the database as described by the metadata, said metadata being associated with one or more attributes and measures, said metadata component further estimating a size of each of the defined tables; an interface component for receiving a request for information from a user, said request specifying search criteria, said search criteria specifying at least one of the one or more attributes and measures; and a procedure component responsive to the request for information for constructing a query to retrieve selected data from the database, said procedure component comparing the search criteria specified by the received request to the metadata and identifying at least one of the defined tables containing data described by metadata associated with substantially all of the attributes and the greatest number of measures specified in the search criteria, said procedure further constructing the query based on the identified at least one of the defined tables having the smallest estimated size, said query retrieving selected data from the database in response to the request for information as a function of the characteristics of the data as described by the metadata for optimizing retrieval of the selected data. - View Dependent Claims (33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49)
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Specification