Efficiently storing indented threads in a threaded discussion application

• US 7,171,429 B2
• Filed: 05/07/2004
• Issued: 01/30/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 02/28/2002
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: BEA Systems Incorporated (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: Frieden, Kurt, Srikhanta, Prasunna
• Primary Examiner(s): PANNALA, SATHYANARAYA R
• Application Number:
  US10/841,022
• Publication Number:
  US 20040267817A1
• Time in Patent Office: 998 Days
• Field of Search: 707/104.1, 707100-102, 707 1- 3
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/30 of unstructured textual data document management systems G06F16/93
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/81 Indexing, e.g. XML tags; Data structures therefor; Storage structures
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/109 Time management, e.g. calendars, reminders, meetings or time accounting
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99931 Database or file accessing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99932 Access augmentation or optimizing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99933 Query processing, i.e. searching
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99937 Sorting
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99942 Manipulating data structure, e.g. compression, compaction, compilation
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99943 Generating database or data structure, e.g. via user interface
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99944 Object-oriented database structure
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99945 Object-oriented database structure processing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99948 Application of database or data structure, e.g. distributed, multimedia, or image

Abstract

A method, apparatus, and computer-readable media for retrieving records in a hierarchical set of the records having a plurality of hierarchical levels and a plurality of hierarchical depths, each of the records having a tag that is unique within the hierarchical set of the records, comprises identifying one of the records in the hierarchical set of the records; modifying the tag, thereby producing a key; indexing the hierarchical set of the records only once, thereby selecting one or more of the records within the hierarchical set of the records, wherein indexing the hierarchical set of the records only once comprises applying the key to the hierarchical set of the records; and retrieving the selected records.

Claims

1. A method of tagging a datum in a hierarchical data set having a plurality of hierarchical levels and a plurality of hierarchical depths, the method comprising:

(1) presenting a datum of an indented threaded discussion on a display;

(2) determining a hierarchical level of the datum;

(3) determining a hierarchical depth of the datum;

(4) assigning a tag to the datum, comprising;

(i) determining the immediate parent of the datum;

(ii) selecting a tag of the immediate parent of the datum, wherein the tag is a number having multiple digits each representing one of the hierarchical depths of the hierarchical data set;

(iii) selecting a digit of the selected tag that represents the hierarchical depth of the datum;

(iv) assigning a value to the selected digit, the value representing the hierarchical level of the datum;

(v) determining the number of children of the immediate parent of the datum that have already been tagged;

(vi) incrementing the number of children to obtain an incremented number; and

(vii) setting the value of the selected digit to equal the value of the incremented number; and

(5) storing an entry in a table as processor-readable code embedded within one or more mass storage devices, said table entry including the assigned tag, the selected digit representing the hierarchical depth, the assigned value representing the hierarchical level, and information pertaining to the datum.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein:

each datum represents a message;

the child of a datum represents a reply to the message represented by the datum; and

the parent of a datum represents a message, a reply to which is represented by the datum.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein:

each datum represents a container;

the child of a datum represents a container within the container represented by the datum; and

the parent of a datum represents a container which contains the container represented by the datum.

4. At least one computer including a processor programmed to execute a process for tagging a datum in a hierarchical data set having a plurality of hierarchical levels and a plurality of hierarchical depths, the process comprising:

(1) presenting a datum of an indented threaded discussion on a display;

(2) determining a hierarchical level of the datum;

(3) determining a hierarchical depth of the datum;

(4) assigning a tag to the datum, comprising;

(i) determining the immediate parent of the datum;

(ii) selecting a tag of the immediate parent of the datum, wherein the tag is a number having multiple digits each representing one of the hierarchical depths of the hierarchical data set;

(iii) selecting a digit of the selected tag that represents the hierarchical depth of the datum;

(iv) assigning a value to the selected digit, the value representing the hierarchical level of the datum;

(v) determining the number of children of the immediate parent of the datum that have already been tagged;

(vi) incrementing the number of children to obtain an incremented number; and

(vii) setting the value of the selected digit to equal the value of the incremented number; and

(5) storing an entry in a table as processor-readable code embedded within one or more mass storage devices coupled with the computer, said table entry including the assigned tag, the selected digit representing the hierarchical depth, the assigned value representing the hierarchical level, and information pertaining to the datum.

5. The computer of claim 4, wherein:

each datum represents a message;

the child of a datum represents a reply to the message represented by the datum; and

the parent of a datum represents a message, a reply to which is represented by the datum.

6. The computer of claim 4, wherein:

each datum represents a container;

the child of a datum represents a container within the container represented by the datum; and

the parent of a datum represents a container which contains the container represented by the datum.

7. An apparatus including a processor for tagging a datum in a hierarchical data set having a plurality of hierarchical levels and a plurality of hierarchical depths, the apparatus further comprising:

(1) presenting a datum of an indented threaded discussion on a display;

(2) determining a hierarchical level of the datum;

(3) determining a hierarchical depth of the datum;

(4) assigning a tag to the datum, comprising;

(i) determining the immediate parent of the datum;

(ii) selecting a tag of the immediate parent of the datum, wherein the tag is a number having multiple digits each representing one of the hierarchical depths of the hierarchical data set;

(iii) selecting a digit of the selected tag that represents the hierarchical depth of the datum;

(iv) assigning a value to the selected digit, the value representing the hierarchical level of the datum;

(v) determining the number of children of the immediate parent of the datum that have already been tagged;

(vi) incrementing the number of children to obtain an incremented number; and

(vii) setting the value of the selected digit to equal the value of the incremented number; and

(5) means for storing an entry in a table as processor-readable code embedded within one or more mass storage devices coupled with the apparatus, said table entry including the assigned tag, the selected digit representing the hierarchical depth, the assigned value representing the hierarchical level, and information pertaining to the datum.

8. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein:

each datum represents a message;

the child of a datum represents a reply to the message represented by the datum; and

the parent of a datum represents a message, a reply to which is represented by the datum.

9. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein:

each datum represents a container;

the child of a datum represents a container within the container represented by the datum; and

the parent of a datum represents a container which contains the container represented by the datum.

10. Computer-readable media embodying instructions executable by a computer including a processor to perform a method for tagging a datum in a hierarchical data set having a plurality of hierarchical levels and a plurality of hierarchical depths, the method comprising:

(1) presenting a datum of an indented threaded discussion on a display;

(2) determining a hierarchical level of the datum;

(3) determining a hierarchical depth of the datum;

(4) assigning a tag to the datum, comprising;

(i) determining the immediate parent of the datum;

(ii) selecting a tag of the immediate parent of the datum, wherein the tag is a number having multiple digits each representing one of the hierarchical depths of the hierarchical data set;

(iii) selecting a digit of the selected tag that represents the hierarchical depth of the datum;

(iv) assigning a value to the selected digit, the value representing the hierarchical level of the datum;

(v) determining the number of children of the immediate parent of the datum that have already been tagged;

(vi) incrementing the number of children to obtain an incremented number; and

(vii) setting the value of the selected digit to equal the value of the incremented number; and

(5) storing an entry in a table as processor-readable code embedded within said computer-readable media, said table entry including the assigned tag, the selected digit representing the hierarchical depth, the assigned value representing the hierarchical level, and information pertaining to the datum.

11. The media of claim 10, wherein:

each datum represents a message;

the child of a datum represents a reply to the message represented by the datum; and

the parent of a datum represents a message, a reply to which is represented by the datum.

12. The media of claim 10, wherein:

each datum represents a container;

the child of a datum represents a container within the container represented by the datum; and

the parent of a datum represents a container which contains the container represented by the datum.