Conversion program search system and conversion program search method

• US 8,275,783 B2
• Filed: 07/30/2008
• Issued: 09/25/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 08/01/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: NEC Corporation
• Original Assignee: NEC Corporation
• Inventors: Kusumura, Yukitaka, Kamiya, Toshiyuki
• Primary Examiner(s): Saeed, Usmaan
• Application Number:
  US12/671,001
• Publication Number:
  US 20100191760A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,518 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 707/758
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/258 Data format conversion from or to a database

Abstract

To provide a conversion program search system that can increase the reusability of conversion programs as well as can find a solution to a data connection problem in a short time. A first-signature generation means 71 generates a first signature indicating, in a binary manner, whether one piece of data meets each of predetermined multiple description formats. A second-signature generation means 72 generates a second signature of a conversion program, based on the difference between the first signatures of conversion-source data and post-conversion data. When a conversion path candidate generation means 74 generates a candidate for a solution to a data connection problem, an evaluation value calculation means 75 calculates the evaluation value of the candidate using the second signature. A conversion path identification means 76 tries conversion paths to serve as a solution in the descending order of the evaluation values.

Claims

1. A conversion program search system that, according to a name of conversion-source data, a name of post-conversion data, and a conversion example including the conversion-source data and the post-conversion data, identifies a conversion path which is information indicating a relationship among the conversion-source data, the post-conversion data, input data of one or more conversion programs, and output data outputted by the one or more conversion programs, the conversion program search system comprising:

hardware including a processor;

first-signature generation unit implemented at least by the hardware and that generates a first signature which is information indicating, in a binary manner, whether one piece of data meets each of a predetermined plurality of description formats;

second-signature generation unit implemented at least by the hardware and that generates a second signature based on a difference between the first signature of the conversion-source data and the first signature of the post-conversion data generated by the first-signature generation unit, the second signature being metadata about the conversion program;

program information storage unit implemented at least by the hardware and that stores names of input data and output data of the conversion program, execution definition information for executing the conversion program, and the second signature generated by the second-signature generation unit;

program candidate selection unit implemented at least by the hardware and that, when receiving the name of the conversion-source data, the name of the post-conversion data, and the conversion example including the conversion-source data and the post-conversion data, selects candidates for conversion programs to be used in a data conversion process, based on a similarity between the received conversion-source data name and the name of the input data of the conversion program and a similarity between the received post-conversion data name and the name of output data of the conversion program;

conversion path candidate generation unit implemented at least by the hardware and that, with respect to combinations of the candidates selected by the program candidate selection unit, associates the name of the conversion-source data with the name of input data of the conversion program and associates the name of output data of the conversion program with the name of the post-conversion data and that, when a combination of the selected candidates includes a plurality of conversion programs, generates a conversion path candidate by associating the name of output data of the conversion program with a name of input data of another candidate conversion program;

evaluation value calculation unit implemented at least by the hardware and that calculates evaluation values of conversion path candidates based on the second signature of the conversion program and the conversion example, the conversion program having associated names of input data and output data with a name of another piece of data; and

conversion path identification unit implemented at least by the hardware and that selects the conversion path candidates in a descending order of the evaluation values, converts the received conversion-source data in an order of conversion programs determined by the selected conversion path and, when a result of the conversion is the received post-conversion data, identifies the selected conversion path candidate as the conversion path matching the received conversion-source data name, post-conversion data name, and the conversion example.

2. The conversion program search system according to claim 1, further comprising:

pair identification unit that receives a conversion-source schema including attribute names of a plurality of attributes defining an object or event, a set of records that is a combination of attribute values corresponding to the attribute names of the conversion-source schema, a post-conversion schema obtained by converting the conversion-source schema, and a set of records that is a combination of attribute values corresponding to attribute names of the post-conversion schema and identifies a pair having a highest similarity among pairs of an attribute name of the conversion-source schema and an attribute name of the post-conversion schema;

record identification unit that compares an attribute value of a conversion-source attribute name of the identified pair with an attribute value of a post-conversion attribute name of the identified pair and identifies records including an identical attribute value among conversion-source records and post-conversion records; and

attribute value extraction unit that extracts attribute values contained in the conversion-source records and attribute values contained in the post-conversion records identified by the record identification unit in the descending order of the similarities of the attribute name pairs,

wherein the program candidate selection unit selects a conversion path candidate while using the attribute values extracted from the conversion-source records and the post-conversion records by the attribute value extraction unit as a conversion example and using attribute names of the attribute values extracted from the conversion-source records and attribute names of the attribute values extracted from the post-conversion records as names of pieces of conversion-source data and names of pieces of post-conversion data, respectively.

3. The conversion program search system according to claim 1, further comprising conversion program registration unit that considers the conversion path identified by the conversion path identification unit as a new conversion program and stores names of input data and output data of the conversion path and execution definition information in the program information storage unit,

wherein the second-signature generation unit generates a second signature with respect to the conversion path and stores the second signature in the program information storage unit.

4. The conversion program search system according to claim 1, further comprising:

dictionary program storage unit that stores a dictionary program for obtaining post-conversion data from pre-conversion data using a specified dictionary;

dictionary generation unit that, when receiving an attribute value of an attribute serving as a primary key and an attribute value of another attribute corresponding to the primary key, generates a dictionary associating the attribute value of the primary key with the attribute value of the another attribute while using the attribute value of the primary key as pre-conversion data and the attribute value of the another attribute as post-conversion data; and

conversion module generation unit that, by providing specification of the dictionary generated by the dictionary generation unit to a dictionary program, generates a new conversion program having the specified dictionary and stores names of input data and output data of the new conversion program and execution definition information in the program information storage unit,

wherein the second-signature generation unit generates a second signature with respect to the new conversion program and stores the generated second signature in the program information storage unit.

5. The conversion program search system according to claim 1, wherein the conversion path candidate generation unit generates a first group including names of pieces of conversion-source data and a second group including a conversion module and names of pieces of post-conversion data, associates the names contained in the first group with names of pieces of input data of the conversion module contained in the second group, eliminates the associated names from the first group and adds names of pieces of output data of the conversion module to the first group, and when there is no longer conversion module in the second group, generates conversion path candidates by associating the names contained in the first group with the names of the pieces of post-conversion data contained in the second group.

6. A conversion program search method for, according to a name of conversion-source data, a name of post-conversion data, and a conversion example including the conversion-source data and the post-conversion data, identifying a conversion path which is information indicating a relationship between the conversion-source data, the post-conversion data, input data of one or more conversion programs, and output data outputted by the one or more conversion programs, the conversion program search method comprising:

generating a first signature with respect to each of the conversion-source data and the post-conversion data, by using first-signature generation unit, the first signature being information indicating, in a binary manner, whether one piece of data meets each of a predetermined plurality of description formats;

generating a second signature based on a difference between the first signature of the conversion-source data and the first signature of the post-conversion data generated by the first-signature generation unit, by using second-signature generation unit, the second signature being metadata about the conversion program;

storing the second signature in program information storage unit, by using the second-signature generation unit, the program information storage unit previously storing names of input data and output data of the conversion program and execution definition information for executing the conversion program;

when receiving a name of conversion-source data, a name of post-conversion data, and the conversion example including conversion-source data and post-conversion data, selecting a conversion program candidate to be used in a data conversion process, based on a similarity between the received conversion-source data name and a name of input data of the conversion program and a similarity between the received post-conversion data name and a name of output data of the conversion program, by using program candidate selection unit;

with respect to combinations of the candidates selected by the program candidate selection unit, associating a name of conversion-source data with the name of input data of the conversion program and associating the name of output data of the conversion program with a name of a post-conversion data, by using conversion path candidate generation unit and, when a combination of the selected candidates contains a plurality of conversion programs, generating a conversion path candidate by associating the name of output data of the conversion program with a name of input data of another candidate conversion program, by using the conversion path candidate generation unit;

calculating an evaluation value of the conversion path candidate based on the second signature of the conversion program and the conversion example, by using evaluation value calculation unit, the conversion program having associated names of input data and output data with a name of another piece of data; and

selecting a conversion path candidate in a descending order of the evaluation values, converting the received conversion-source data in an order of conversion programs determined by the selected conversion paths, by using conversion path identification unit and, when a result of the conversion is the received post-conversion data, identifying the selected conversion path candidate as the conversion path matching the received conversion-source data name, post-conversion data name, and the conversion example, by using the conversion path identification unit.

7. The conversion program search method according to claim 6, further comprising:

when receiving a conversion-source schema including attribute names of a plurality of attributes defining an object or event, a set of records that is a combination of attribute values corresponding to the attribute names of the conversion-source schema, a post-conversion schema obtained by converting the conversion-source schema, and a set of records that is a combination of attribute values corresponding to attribute names of the post-conversion schema, identifying a pair having a highest similarity among pairs of an attribute name of the conversion-source schema and an attribute name of the post-conversion schema, by using pair identification unit;

comparing an attribute value of a conversion-source attribute name of the identified pair with an attribute value of a post-conversion attribute name of the identified pair and identifying records including an identical attribute value among conversion-source records and post-conversion records, by using record identification unit; and

extracting the attribute values contained in the conversion-source records and the attribute values contained in the post-conversion records identified by the record identification unit in the descending order of the similarities of the attribute name pairs, by using attribute value extraction unit,

wherein the program candidate selection unit selects a conversion path candidate while using the attribute values extracted from the conversion-source records and the post-conversion records by the attribute value extraction unit as a conversion example and using attribute names of the attribute values extracted from the conversion-source records and attribute names of the attribute values extracted from the post-conversion records as names of pieces of conversion-source data and names of pieces of post-conversion data, respectively.

8. The conversion program search method according to claim 6, further comprising considering the conversion path identified by the conversion path identification unit as a new conversion program and storing names of input data and output data of the conversion path and execution definition information in the program information storage unit, by using conversion program registration unit,

wherein the second-signature generation unit generates the second signature with respect to the conversion path and stores the second signature in the program information storage unit.

9. The conversion program search method according to claim 6, further comprising:

previously storing a dictionary program for obtaining post-conversion data from pre-conversion data using a specified dictionary, by using dictionary program storage unit;

when receiving an attribute value of an attribute serving as a primary key and an attribute value of another attribute corresponding to the primary key, generating a dictionary associating the attribute value of the primary key with the attribute value of the another attribute, by using dictionary generation unit while using the attribute value of the primary key as pre-conversion data and using the attribute value of the another attribute as post-conversion data; and

by providing specification of the dictionary generated by the dictionary generation unit to the dictionary program, generating a new conversion program having the specified dictionary and storing names of input data and output data of the new conversion program and execution definition information in the program information storage unit, by using conversion module generation unit,

wherein the second-signature generation unit generates the second signature with respect to the new conversion program and stores the generated second signature in the program information storage unit.

10. The conversion program search method according to claim 6, wherein the conversion path candidate generation unit generates a first group including names of pieces of conversion-source data and a second group including a conversion module and names of pieces of post-conversion data, associates the names contained in the first group with names of pieces of input data of the conversion module contained in the second group, eliminates the associated names from the first group and adds names of pieces of output data of the conversion module to the first group, and when there is no longer conversion module in the second group, generates a conversion path candidate by associating the names contained in the first group with the names of the pieces of post-conversion data contained in the second group.

11. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium recording a conversion program search program for causing a computer to, according to a name of conversion-source data, a name of post-conversion data, and a conversion example including the conversion-source data and the post-conversion data, identify a conversion path which is information indicating a relationship among the conversion-source data, the post-conversion data, input data of one or more conversion programs, and output data outputted by the one or more conversion programs, the computer including program information storage unit storing a names of input data and output data of a conversion program and execution definition information for executing the conversion program, the conversion program search program causing the computer to perform:

a first signature generation process of generating a first signature with respect to each of the conversion-source data and the post-conversion data, the first signature being information indicating, in a binary manner, whether one piece of data meets each of a predetermined plurality of description formats;

a second signature generation process of generating a second signature based on a difference between the first signature of the conversion-source data and the first signature of the post-conversion data generated in the first-signature generation process, the second signature being metadata about the conversion program;

a second signature storage process of storing the second signature in program information storage unit;

a program candidate selection process of, when receiving the name of the conversion-source data, the name of the post-conversion data, and the conversion example including the conversion-source data and the post-conversion data, selecting candidates for conversion programs to be used in a data conversion process, based on a similarity between the received conversion-source data name and a name of input data of the conversion program and a similarity between the received post-conversion data name and a name of output data of the conversion program;

a conversion path candidate generation process of, with respect to combinations of the candidates selected in the program candidate selection process, associating the name of the conversion-source data with the name of the input data of the conversion program and associating the name of the output data of the conversion program with the name of the post-conversion data and, when a combination of the selected candidates contains a plurality of conversion programs, generating conversion path candidates by associating the name of the output data of the conversion program with a name of input data of another candidate conversion program;

an evaluation value calculation process of calculating evaluation values of the conversion path candidates based on the second signature of the conversion program and the conversion example, the conversion program having associated names of input data and output data with a name of another piece of data; and

a conversion path identification process of selecting a conversion path candidate in a descending order of the evaluation values, converting the received conversion-source data in an order of conversion programs determined by the selected conversion path, and, when a result of the conversion is the received post-conversion data, identifying the selected conversion path candidate as the conversion path matching the received conversion-source data name, post-conversion data name, and the conversion example.

12. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium according to claim 11, the conversion program search program causing the computer to further perform:

a pair identification process of, when receiving a conversion-source schema including attribute names of a plurality of attributes defining an object or event, a set of records that is a combination of attribute values corresponding to the attribute names of the conversion-source schema, a post-conversion schema obtained by converting the conversion-source schema, and a set of records that is a combination of attribute values corresponding to attribute names of the post-conversion schema, identifying a pair having a highest similarity among pairs of an attribute name of the conversion-source schema and an attribute name of the post-conversion schema;

a record identification process of comparing an attribute value of a conversion-source attribute name of the identified pair with an attribute value of a post-conversion attribute name of the identified pair, and identifying records including an identical attribute value among conversion-source records and post-conversion records; and

an attribute value extraction process of extracting the attribute values contained in the conversion-source records and the attribute values contained in the post-conversion records identified by the record identification process in the descending order of the similarities of the attribute name pairs,

wherein in the program candidate selection process, the conversion program candidates are selected while using the attribute values extracted from the conversion-source records and the post-conversion records as a conversion example and using attribute names of the attribute values extracted from the conversion-source records and attribute names of the attribute values extracted from the post-conversion records as names of pieces of conversion-source data and names of pieces of post-conversion data, respectively.

13. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium according to claim 11, the conversion program search program causing the computer to further perform:

a conversion program registration process of considering the conversion path identified in the conversion path identification process as a new conversion program and storing names of input data and output data of the conversion path and execution definition information in the program information storage unit; and

a process of generating the second signature with respect to the conversion path and storing the second signature in the program information storage unit.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium according to claim 11, the computer including dictionary program storage unit storing a dictionary program for obtaining post-conversion data from pre-conversion data using a specified dictionary, the conversion program search program causing the computer to further perform:

a dictionary generation process of, when receiving an attribute value of an attribute serving as a primary key and an attribute value of another attribute corresponding to the primary key, generating a dictionary associating the attribute value of the primary key with the attribute value of the another attribute while using the attribute value of the primary key as pre-conversion data and the attribute value of the another attribute as post-conversion data;

a conversion module generation process of, by providing specification of the dictionary generated by the dictionary generation process to the dictionary program, generating a new conversion program having the specified dictionary and storing names of input data and output data of the new conversion program and execution definition information in the program information storage unit; and

a process of generating the second signature with respect to the new conversion program and storing the generated second signature in the program information storage unit.

15. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium according to claim 11, wherein in the conversion path candidate generation process, the conversion program search program causes the computer to generate a first group including names of pieces of conversion-source data and a second group including a conversion module and names of pieces of post-conversion data, associate the names contained in the first group with names of pieces of input data of the conversion module contained in the second group, eliminate the associated names from the first group and add names of pieces of output data of the conversion module to the first group, and when there is no longer conversion module in the second group, and generate conversion path candidates by associating the names contained in the first group with the names of the pieces of post-conversion data contained in the second group.

16. A conversion program search system that, according to a name of conversion-source data, a name of post-conversion data, and a conversion example including the conversion-source data and the post-conversion data, identifies a conversion path which is information indicating a relationship among the conversion-source data, the post-conversion data, input data of one or more conversion programs, and output data outputted by the one or more conversion programs, the conversion program search system comprising:

hardware including a processor;

first-signature generation means implemented at least by the hardware and that generates a first signature which is information indicating, in a binary manner, whether one piece of data meets each of a predetermined plurality of description formats;

second-signature generation means implemented at least by the hardware and that generates a second signature based on a difference between the first signature of the conversion-source data and the first signature of the post-conversion data generated by the first-signature generation means, the second signature being metadata about the conversion program;

program information storage means implemented at least by the hardware and that stores names of input data and output data of the conversion program, execution definition information for executing the conversion program, and the second signature generated by the second-signature generation means;

program candidate selection means implemented at least by the hardware and that, when receiving the name of the conversion-source data, the name of the post-conversion data, and the conversion example including the conversion-source data and the post-conversion data, selects candidates for conversion programs to be used in a data conversion process, based on a similarity between the received conversion-source data name and the name of the input data of the conversion program and a similarity between the received post-conversion data name and the name of output data of the conversion program;

conversion path candidate generation means implemented at least by the hardware and that, with respect to combinations of the candidates selected by the program candidate selection means, associates the name of the conversion-source data with the name of input data of the conversion program and associates the name of output data of the conversion program with the name of the post-conversion data and that, when a combination of the selected candidates includes a plurality of conversion programs, generates a conversion path candidate by associating the name of output data of the conversion program with a name of input data of another candidate conversion program;

evaluation value calculation means implemented at least by the hardware and that calculates evaluation values of conversion path candidates based on the second signature of the conversion program and the conversion example, the conversion program having associated names of input data and output data with a name of another piece of data; and

conversion path identification means implemented at least by the hardware and that selects the conversion path candidates in a descending order of the evaluation values, converts the received conversion-source data in an order of conversion programs determined by the selected conversion path and, when a result of the conversion is the received post-conversion data, identifies the selected conversion path candidate as the conversion path matching the received conversion-source data name, post-conversion data name, and the conversion example.