Scalable computer arrangement and method

• US 8,386,442 B2
• Filed: 05/10/2012
• Issued: 02/26/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 10/12/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: CliniComp International, Inc.
• Original Assignee: CliniComp International, Inc.
• Inventors: Haudenschild, Chris A., Lin, Senmao, Chen, Yumin
• Primary Examiner(s): Hoang, Son T
• Application Number:
  US13/469,043
• Publication Number:
  US 20120246119A1
• Time in Patent Office: 292 Days
• Field of Search: 707/690, 707/694
• US Class Current: 707/690
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/213 with details for schema evolution support
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24 Querying
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/245 Query processing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24532 of parallel queries
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2471 Distributed queries
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/289 Object oriented databases

Abstract

A scalable computer arrangement and method enables the accessing of stored information by utilizing algorithms. The validity of the algorithms and/or retrieved data are determined by a validity management module. The algorithm and/or the retrieved data may be updated, whereby self correction occurs dynamically over time with changing stored information. In another embodiment, the computer arrangement and method enable networked computer systems each including hyper objects employing embedded algorithms or rules for accessing information across the network in a standardized manner, even though the networked computer system databases may employ different schema and formats.

Claims

1. A method for operating a computer system for a scalable network of computers to interact with certain information stored in a group of networked databases, at least some of which having different schema, comprising:

providing for each one of the computers in the scalable network a similar network member computer system having a standardized database access system storing a group of standardized algorithms to enable data to be accessed in a standardized manner from the group of networked databases;

analyzing validity of given data accessed by a given one of the algorithms in a given standardized data access systems by using a rule validity management module and a data management module in a given network member computer systems;

the analyzing including comparing the given data accessed with the given algorithm by the rule validity management module to determine if the given algorithm is invalid;

in response to the given algorithm is determined to be invalid by the rule validity management module in the given network member computer system, updating the given algorithm to thereby correct the invalidity of the given algorithm;

the analyzing including determining the given data accessed to be inconsistent with the given algorithm by the data validity management module to determine if the given data accessed is invalid;

in response to the given data accessed determined to be invalid by the data validity management module in the given network member computer systems, updating the given data to thereby correct the invalidity of the given algorithm; and

whereby self-corrections occur dynamically over time with changing stored information.

2. The method according to claim 1, further including providing update information for updating corresponding other algorithms or data in other computers in the scalable network.

3. The method according to claim 1, further including updating both the given algorithm and given data accessed in other computers in the scalable network.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the given algorithm is updated by adjusting its attributes.

5. The method according to claim 1, further including subsequently determining the updated algorithm no longer provides valid data, and then repeating the algorithm updating.

6. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

storing the group of standardized algorithms in hyper objects;

sending a hyper object query to a hyper object query language (HOQL) engine of the given standardized access system for, in turn, generating an HOQL query;

selecting at least one data identification information key hyper object from a hyper object library in response to the HOQL query from the HOQL engine;

sending a request for desired data via the at least one selected data identification key hyper object to interact with identification information of the desired data stored in the group of networked databases via their respective adapters; and

using the requested data according to an algorithm associated with the selected data identification key hyper object to provide a desired standardized output in a form of a unique updated desired identifier for the given standardized access system to assist in retrieving of the desired data from the group of networked databases.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein the standardized algorithms are rules embedded in hyper objects in the computers of the scalable network, and the hyper objects include at least one data hyper object and at least one context hyper object, the context hyper object retrieving context data from the group of networked databases to provide a transform command to be used by a transform portion of a selected data hyper object.

8. The method according to claim 1, further including adapting a data request to conform to a given database structure.

9. The method according to claim 1, further including storing the standardized algorithms in hyper objects, and creating a new hyper object in response to a query.

10. The method according to claim 1, wherein desired standardized outputs are generated.

11. The method according to claim 9, further including customizing the outputs using a presentation unit.

12. The method according to claim 1, wherein the standardized algorithms are rules embedded in hyper objects and further including updating the hyper objects.

13. A database access computer system for accessing data from a database, comprising:

a hyper object library storing a group of hyper objects, at least some of the hyper objects each containing a different algorithm in a form of at least one embedded rule;

the hyper objects including a plurality of data hyper object objects and a plurality of context hyper objects;

a hyper object query language (HOQL) engine for receiving a HOQL query;

the HOQL engine for selecting at least one of the plurality of data hyper objects and at least one of the plurality of context hyper objects in response to the HOQL query;

an adapter coupled to the database for communicating between the hyper objects and the database;

the selected at least one context hyper object for requesting context data from the database via the adapter;

the selected at least one context hyper object responsive to the requested context data for generating a rule transform command to be used by a transform portion of the selected data hyper object for transforming at least one embedded rule of the selected data hyper object;

the selected at least one data hyper object for sending data requests in accordance with the at least one transformed embedded rules to retrieve data from the database via the adapter;

the selected at least one data hyper object for receiving data corresponding to the data requests from the database via the adapter to be used by the at least one selected data hyper object according to the at least one transformed embedded rules associated with the at least one selected data hyper objects to provide desired standardized outputs;

wherein the adapter sends the data requests via the at least one selected data hyper objects to retrieve the requested data from the database; and

wherein the adapter receives the requested data from the database to be used by the at least one selected data hyper object.

14. The system according to claim 13, further including:

a presentation unit for using the requested data according to an embedded rule associated with the selected data hyper object to provide the desired standardized outputs.

15. The system according to claim 13, wherein the plurality of context hyper objects retrieving the context data from the database to provide the rule transform command to be used by the transform portion of the at least one selected data hyper object.

16. The system according to claim 13, further including the HOQL engine for creating a new hyper object in response to the HOQL query.

17. The system according to claim 14, wherein the desired standardized outputs comprise a report, and wherein the presentation unit customizes the report.

18. A method for operating a scalable computer system to interact with certain information stored in a database, comprising:

providing at least one given algorithm stored in the scalable computer system to interact with given data accessed by the given algorithm;

analyzing the validity of the given algorithm, by providing at least one rule validity management module and at least one data management module;

if the given algorithm is determined by the rule module to be invalid, updating the given algorithm to thereby cause the invalidity of the given algorithm to be corrected;

the analyzing including determining the given data accessed to be inconsistent with the given algorithm by the data validity management module to determine if the given data accessed is invalid;

if the given data accessed is determined to be invalid by the data validity management module in the scalable computer system, updating the given data accessed to thereby correct the invalidity of the given algorithm; and

whereby self-corrections occur dynamically over time with changing stored information.

19. The method according to claim 18, wherein each one of the at least one given algorithm is updated by adjusting its attributes.

20. The method according to claim 18, wherein each one of the at least one algorithm is a rule embedded in an object.