Creating data in a data store using a dynamic ontology

• US 7,962,495 B2
• Filed: 11/20/2006
• Issued: 06/14/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 11/20/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Palantir Technologies Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Palantir Technologies Incorporated
• Inventors: Jain, Akash, Gettings, Nathan, McGrew, Robert J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Wong; Don
• Assistant Examiner(s): Brown; Sheree N
• Application Number:
  US11/602,626
• Publication Number:
  US 20090228507A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,667 Days
• Field of Search: 707/102, 706/12
• US Class Current: 707/755
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/21 Design, administration or maintenance of databases
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/213 with details for schema evolution support
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/22 Indexing; Data structures therefor; Storage structures
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2219 Large Object storage; Management thereof
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2365 Ensuring data consistency and integrity
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/245 Query processing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/367 Ontology
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/205 Parsing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/211 Syntactic parsing, e.g. based on context-free grammar [CFG] or unification grammars
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/226 Validation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/284 Lexical analysis, e.g. tokenisation or collocates

Abstract

In one embodiment, a method comprises creating and storing an ontology for a data store in response to receiving first user input defining the ontology, wherein the ontology comprises a plurality of data object types and a plurality of object property types; creating one or more parser definitions in response to receiving second user input defining the parser definitions, wherein each of the parser definitions specifies one or more sub-definitions of how to transform first input data into modified input data that is compatible with one of the object property types; and storing each of the one or more parser definitions in association with one of the plurality of object property types.

Claims

1. A method comprising performing a machine-executed operation involving instructions, wherein said instructions are instructions which, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform certain steps including:

creating and storing an ontology for a data store in response to receiving first user input defining the ontology, wherein the ontology comprises a plurality of data object types and a plurality of object property types;

wherein each object property type, of the plurality of object property types, includes a data type of data that is associated with said each object property type;

creating one or more parser definitions in response to receiving second user input defining the parser definitions, wherein each of the parser definitions specifies one or more sub-definitions of how to transform first input data into modified input data that is compatible with one of the object property types of the ontology for the data store;

storing each of the one or more parser definitions in association with one of the plurality of object property types of the ontology for the data store;

wherein the machine-executed operation is at least one of (a) storing said instructions onto a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium, and (b) executing the instructions;

wherein the method is performed by one or more computer systems.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving the first input data;

determining whether the first input data matches one of the parser sub-definitions;

using a matching one of the parser sub-definitions, creating and storing the modified input data;

storing the modified input data in a property of the property type that is identified in the matching one of the parser sub-definitions.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein creating and storing one or more parser definitions comprises creating and storing one or more program code modules, wherein each of the code modules comprises computer program code which when executed causes transforming the first input data into the modified input data.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein creating and storing one or more parser definitions comprises creating and storing one or more transformation expressions, wherein each of the transformation expressions comprises one or more syntactic patterns and a property type identifier associated with each of the syntactic patterns.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein creating and storing one or more parser definitions comprises creating and storing one or more transformation expressions, wherein each of the transformation expressions comprises one or more syntactic patterns and a property type identifier associated with each of the syntactic patterns, and further comprising:

receiving the first input data;

determining whether the first input data matches one of the syntactic patterns;

using a matching one of the syntactic patterns, creating and storing modified input data;

storing the modified input data in a property of the property type that is identified by the property type identifier associated with the matching one of the syntactic patterns.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein creating one or more parser definitions comprises creating one or more parser definitions comprising a constraint on the modified input data that is compatible with one of the object property types.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein creating one or more parser definitions comprises creating one or more parser definitions comprising a default value to substitute for a component of the modified input data.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving the first input data;

determining whether the first input data matches one of the parser sub-definitions;

using a matching one of the one of the parser sub-definitions, using the transformation expressed in the sub-definition to transform portions of the input to components of the object property to create and store the modified input data;

storing the modified input data in a property of the property type that is identified in the matching one of the parser sub-definitions.

9. A data storage system, comprising:

one or more processors;

a data store;

an ontology coupled to the data store and comprising a plurality of data object types and a plurality of object property types;

wherein each object property type, of the plurality of object property types, includes a data type of data that is associated with said each object property type;

a parser coupled to the ontology and configured to receive input data and transform the input data into modified data to store in a property specified by one of the property types according to one or more parser definitions;

wherein each of the object property types comprises one or more of the parser definitions, wherein each of the parser definitions specifies one or more sub-definitions of how to transform portions of first input data into modified input data that is to be stored in components of one of the object property types of the ontology for the data store.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the parser further comprises logic which when executed by the one or more processors in the system causes the one or more processors to perform:

receiving the first input data;

determining whether the first input data matches one of the parser definitions;

using the transformation expressed in the matching parser definition to transform portions of the input to components of the object property to create and store the modified input data;

storing the modified input data in a property of the property type that is identified in the matching one of the parser definitions.

11. The system of claim 9, wherein the one or more parser definitions comprise one or more program code modules, wherein each of the code modules comprises computer program code which when executed causes transforming the first input data into the modified input data.

12. The system of claim 9, wherein the one or more parser definitions comprise one or more transformation expressions, wherein each of the transformation expressions comprises one or more syntactic patterns and a property type identifier associated with each of the syntactic patterns.

13. The system of claim 9, wherein the one or more parser definitions comprise one or more transformation expressions, wherein each of the transformation expressions comprises one or more syntactic patterns and a property type identifier associated with each of the syntactic patterns, and wherein the parser further comprises logic which when executed causes receiving the first input data;

determining whether the first input data matches one of the syntactic patterns;

using a matching one of the syntactic patterns, creating and storing modified input data;

storing the modified input data in a property of the property type that is identified by the property type identifier associated with the matching one of the syntactic patterns.

14. The system of claim 9, wherein the one or more validator definitions comprise a constraint on how to transform first input data into modified input data that is compatible with one of the object property types.

15. The system of claim 9, wherein the one or more parser definitions comprise a default value to substitute for a component of the modified input data.

16. The system of claim 9, wherein the parser further comprises logic which when executed causes:

receiving the first input data;

determining whether the first input data matches successive different ones of the one or more sub-definitions until a matching sub-definition is identified;

using the matching one of the one or more sub-definitions, creating and storing the modified input data;

storing the modified input data in a property of the property type that is identified in the matching one of the one or more sub-definitions.

17. An apparatus, comprising:

one or more processors;

means for creating and storing an ontology for a data store in response to receiving first user input defining the ontology, wherein the ontology comprises a plurality of data object types and a plurality of object property types;

wherein each object property type, of the plurality of object property types, includes a data type of data that is associated with said each object property type;

means for creating one or more parser definitions in response to receiving second user input defining the parser definitions, wherein each of the parser definitions specifies one or more sub-definitions of how to transform first input data into modified input data that is compatible with one of the object property types of the ontology for the data store;

means for storing each of the one or more parser definitions in association with one of the plurality of object property types of the ontology for the data store.

18. The apparatus of claim 17, further comprising:

means for receiving the first input data;

means for determining whether the first input data matches one of the parser definitions;

means for, creating and storing the modified input data using a matching one of the parser definitions;

means for storing the modified input data in a property of the property type that is identified in the matching one of the parser definitions.

19. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the means for creating and storing one or more parser definitions comprises means for creating and storing one or more program code modules, wherein each of the code modules comprises computer program code which when executed causes transforming the first input data into the modified input data.

20. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the means for creating and storing one or more parser definitions comprises means for creating and storing one or more transformation expressions, wherein each of the transformation expressions comprises one or more syntactic patterns and a property type identifier associated with each of the syntactic patterns.

21. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the means for creating and storing one or more parser definitions comprises creating and storing one or more transformation expressions, wherein each of the transformation expressions comprises one or more syntactic patterns and a property type identifier associated with each of the syntactic patterns, and further comprising:

means for receiving the first input data;

means for determining whether the first input data matches one of the syntactic patterns;

means for using a matching one of the syntactic patterns, creating and storing modified input data;

means for storing the modified input data in a property of the property type that is identified by the property type identifier associated with the matching one of the syntactic patterns.

22. The apparatus of claim 17, further comprising:

means for receiving the first input data;

means for determining whether the first input data matches successive different ones of the parser sub-definitions until a matching parser sub-definition is identified;

means for creating and storing the modified input data using a matching one of the parser sub-definitions;

means for storing the modified input data in a property of the property type that is identified in the matching one of the parser sub-definitions.