Method and apparatus for creation and maintenance of database structure
First Claim
1. A method for configuring a database system to store information regarding a plurality of items for purchase in electronic commerce, said method comprising:
- establishing a database on a computer system;
establishing within said database a first product object corresponding to a first item of the plurality of items;
generating within said first product object a plurality of product object fields;
associating a product object field identifier with each product object field of said plurality of product object fields;
capturing information related to a second item;
determining, based on querying said database, whether said information related to said second item corresponds said first product object;
responsive to determining that said information related to said second item corresponds to said first product object, creating, in said database, a vendor object corresponding to said information related to said second item;
establishing within said vendor object a plurality of vendor object fields; and
associating said vendor object with said first product object, said database configured, in response to a change to at least one field of said plurality of product object fields of said first product object, to update said vendor object.
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Abstract
The invention provides a method for configuring a database system to store information regarding a plurality of items, the method comprising: establishing a database on a computer system; establishing within the database a first object corresponding to a first item of the plurality of items; generating within the first object at least one field; associating a field identifier with each the field; and storing at least a portion of the information within each the field; the database system configured to store information regarding a plurality of items, each item in the plurality of items having at least one item attribute, the database system comprising a computer having memory, a database stored in said memory, a first object in said database corresponding to one item of the plurality of items, said first object corresponding to the first item, at least one field in said first object, a field identifier associated with each said field, and information regarding said first item stored in said first object.
48 Citations
16 Claims
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1. A method for configuring a database system to store information regarding a plurality of items for purchase in electronic commerce, said method comprising:
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establishing a database on a computer system; establishing within said database a first product object corresponding to a first item of the plurality of items; generating within said first product object a plurality of product object fields; associating a product object field identifier with each product object field of said plurality of product object fields; capturing information related to a second item; determining, based on querying said database, whether said information related to said second item corresponds said first product object; responsive to determining that said information related to said second item corresponds to said first product object, creating, in said database, a vendor object corresponding to said information related to said second item; establishing within said vendor object a plurality of vendor object fields; and associating said vendor object with said first product object, said database configured, in response to a change to at least one field of said plurality of product object fields of said first product object, to update said vendor object. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5)
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6. A method of configuring a database system to store information regarding a plurality of items, the method comprising:
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(a) receiving information related to a first plurality of items; (b) providing a template database, storing a plurality of item templates, each of the plurality of item templates corresponding to an information structure; (c) determining an information structure for each item of the first plurality of items; (d) retrieving a template of the plurality of templates for each item of the first plurality of items based on the information structure of each item of the first plurality of items; (e) applying the template related to each item to parse the information related to each item; and (f) capturing the parsed information. - View Dependent Claims (7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. A method of adding information about items to a database holding information concerning a plurality of items, the method comprising:
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a) detecting and capturing information about a product from a provider computer system; (b) querying a product database to determine whether the product database contains a product object corresponding to the product; (c) determining that the product database does not include the product object corresponding to the product; and (d) creating a new product object corresponding to the information about the product. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16)
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Specification