Method and system for discovery and modification of data cluster and synonyms

• US 7,962,486 B2
• Filed: 01/10/2008
• Issued: 06/14/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 01/10/2008
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Adair, Gregery Gene, Hunt, Brand Lee
• Primary Examiner(s): Wong; Don
• Assistant Examiner(s): Nguyen; Kim T
• Application Number:
  US11/972,496
• Publication Number:
  US 20090182755A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,251 Days
• Field of Search: 707/737, 707/738
• US Class Current: 707/737
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/22 Indexing; Data structures therefor; Storage structures
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/285 Clustering or classification

Abstract

Discovery and modification of data clusters such as synonyms. In one aspect, a method for clustering data includes receiving information on a system, the information manipulating one or more data attributes stored or to be stored in a database accessible by the system, where the information and manipulation does not explicitly relate to data clusters. A data cluster is automatically adjusted based on the received information, the data cluster including multiple data attributes and including at least one of the data attributes manipulated by the received information. The data cluster is adjusted dynamically and in response to the information being received.

Claims

1. A method for clustering data, the method comprising:

receiving information on a system, the information including one or more data attributes, wherein the system is configured to manipulate data stored in a database based on the one or more data attributes in the information, the manipulation includes creating one or more data clusters and using the one or more data clusters to find one or more database entities that share at least one of the one or more data attributes, wherein the information and the manipulation do not explicitly relate to the one or more data clusters; and

automatically adjusting a data cluster in the database based on the one or more data attributes in the information, the data cluster including a plurality of data attributes and including at least one of the one or more data attributes included in the information, wherein the data cluster is adjusted dynamically in response to receiving the information,

wherein the data cluster is a grouping of selected data attributes of the one or more database entities in the database.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the information includes the one or more data attributes to be stored in the database with stored data accessible by the system, wherein the adjusted data cluster is a new data cluster and the adjusting includes discovering and forming the new data cluster to include at least one of the one or more data attributes.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the adjusted data cluster is an existing stored data cluster accessible by the system and the adjusting includes modifying the existing data cluster.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the modifying includes removing at least one data attribute from the existing data cluster based on the information and based on a current data in the database.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the removing includes determining that the at least one data attribute has become generic, wherein a data attribute becomes generic when the data attribute appears in more than a selected number of the one or more database entities.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the data cluster is adjusted based on a current number of occurrences of at least one of the one or more data attributes in the database.

7. The method of claim 3, wherein a plurality of stored existing data clusters are accessible by the system, wherein the existing data clusters only include data attributes that were manipulated by past information received by the system, the past information not specifically related to data clusters.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the existing data clusters are stored in a table and are modified dynamically in response to the information.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the data cluster is a synonym data cluster for use in finding at least one candidate entity from a plurality of entities stored by the database, each candidate entity having a plurality of associated data attributes, wherein the synonym data cluster is an group of two or more data attributes that have appeared commonly together at more than one place in the database.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the associated plurality of data attributes in the data cluster are of a plurality of different types.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the adjusting the data cluster includes:

finding a plurality of stored existing data clusters that include at least one of the one or more data attributes;

finding a first plurality of candidate data entities in the database, that each include one or more of the existing data clusters;

finding a second plurality of candidate data entities that each include any of the one or more data attributes not included in the existing data clusters; and

determining whether a data attribute should be removed from the existing data clusters based on the first and second candidate data entities and the information.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein adjusting the data cluster further comprises determining that a plurality of received data attributes in the one or more data attributes form a new data cluster, wherein the plurality of received data attributes in the new data cluster appear in a threshold percentage number of the candidates that include at least one of the plurality of received data attributes, and further comprising adding the new data cluster to each of the candidate data entities that include the plurality of received data attributes.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the adjusting the data cluster further comprises determining that at least one of the one or more data attributes is to be added to an existing data cluster, wherein the at least one added data attribute and existing synonym appear in a threshold percentage number of candidate data entities that include at least one of the one or more data attributes in the existing data cluster or include the at least one of the one or more data attributes to be added.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein determining whether any attributes should be removed from existing data clusters includes determining whether the number of candidate data entities has fallen below a threshold percentage number of candidate data entities based on the one or more data attributes.

15. The method of claim 11, further comprising adding a new data cluster or removing a existing data cluster from at least one adjusted candidate data entity, and evaluating data attributes of the at least one adjusted candidate data entity to check whether the at least one adjusted data cluster has updated data clusters.

16. A method for clustering data, the method comprising:

receiving information on a system, the information including a plurality of received data attributes to be stored in at least one of a plurality of data entities in a database accessible by the system, the at least one a plurality of data entities is selected based on an associative relationship between existing data attributes of the at least one data entity and the plurality of received data attributes; and

modifying one or more data clusters based on the information, each of the one or more data clusters including a plurality of data attributes and including at least one of the plurality of received data attributes, wherein the modifying includes removing a particular data attribute from the one or more data clusters,

wherein each of the one or more data clusters is a grouping of selected data attributes of one or more of the plurality of data entities stored in the database.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the removing is performed in response to determining that the information reduces below a predetermined threshold a percentage of candidate data entities in the database that currently have the particular data attribute.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein modifying the one or more data clusters includes:

finding a plurality of stored existing data clusters that include at least one of the plurality of received data attributes;

finding a first plurality of candidate data entities in the database that include the existing data clusters;

finding a second plurality of candidate data entities that include any of the plurality of received data attributes not included in the existing data clusters; and

determining whether a data attribute should be removed from existing data clusters based on the first and second candidate data entities and the information.

19. A method for discovering synonyms, the method comprising:

receiving information on a system, the information including a plurality of received data attributes associated with a particular data entity having data attributes stored in a database, the plurality of received data attributes to be stored in one or more data entities stored in the database, wherein the information and the plurality of received data attributes do not explicitly relate to synonyms data associated with the one or more data entities; and

automatically forming a synonym based on the plurality of received data attributes and the synonyms data, wherein the forming includes examining a plurality of candidate data entities in the database which include at least one of the plurality of received attributes, and wherein the synonym is formed dynamically in response to the information, wherein the synonym is an group of two or more of the plurality of data attributes that have appeared commonly together at more than one place in the database, the synonym is different from any of the plurality of candidate data entities.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the forming the synonym further includes determining whether the one or more of the plurality of received data attributes appear with other data attributes in different data entities sufficiently frequently to form a synonym from the one or more of the plurality of received data attributes.

21. A non-transitory computer readable medium storing program instructions to be executed by a computer and for clustering data, the program instructions performing steps comprising:

receiving information on a system, the information including one or more data attributes, wherein the system is configured to manipulate data stored in a database based on the one or more data attributes in the information, the manipulation includes creating one or more data clusters and using the one or more data clusters to find one or more entities in that share at least one of the one or more data attributes, wherein the information and the manipulation do not explicitly relate to the one or more data clusters; and

automatically adjusting a data cluster in the database based on the one or more attributes in the information, the data cluster including a plurality of data attributes and including at least one of the one or more data attributes included in the information, wherein the data cluster is adjusted dynamically and in response to receiving the information,

wherein the data cluster is a grouping of selected data attributes of the one or more database entities in the database.

22. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 21, wherein the adjusted data cluster is a new data cluster and the adjusting includes discovering and forming the new data cluster to include at least one of the data attributes.

23. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 21, wherein the adjusted data cluster is an existing stored data cluster accessible by the system and the adjusting includes removing at least one data attribute from the existing data cluster based on the information and based on current data in the database.

24. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 21, wherein the data cluster is adjusted based on a current number of occurrences of at least one of the one or more data attributes in the database.

25. A system for clustering data, the system comprising:

a database storing a plurality of database entities, each of the plurality of database entities including a plurality of stored data attributes;

an application server including a synonym processing module, the synonym processing module is configured to receive information on a system, the information includes a first plurality of data attributes, the synonym processing module is further configured to manipulate data stored in the database based on the first plurality of data attributes, the synonym processing module is configured to create one or more data clusters and using the one or more data clusters to find one or more database entities in the plurality of database entities that share at least one of the plurality of stored data attributes, wherein the information and manipulation do not explicitly relate to the one or more data clusters; and

the synonym processing module is further configured to automatically adjust a data cluster based on the received information, the data cluster including a second plurality of data attributes and including at least one of the first plurality of data attributes included in the received information, wherein the data cluster is adjusted dynamically in response to the received information, wherein the data cluster is a grouping of selected data attributes of the one or more database entities in the database.