Extended database search

• US 8,442,982 B2
• Filed: 11/05/2010
• Issued: 05/14/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 11/05/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Jacobson, Eric, Thomas, Les, Zhang, Gang
• Primary Examiner(s): Truong, Dennis
• Application Number:
  US12/941,026
• Publication Number:
  US 20120117116A1
• Time in Patent Office: 921 Days
• Field of Search: 707/765, 707/736, 707/722, 707/713, 707/711, 707/707, 707/706, 707/999.003, 707/741
• US Class Current: 707/741
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2272 Management thereof
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2458 Special types of queries, e.g. statistical queries, fuzzy queries or distributed queries
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/256 in federated or virtual databases
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/3331 Query processing

Abstract

Methods, program products, and systems implementing integrated repository of structured and unstructured data are disclosed. An integrated environment is provided for accessing structured data (e.g., data of a relational database) and unstructured data (e.g., data stored in a text or binary file), including creating, managing, modifying, and searching the structured data and unstructured data. The integrated environment can include an integrated user interface, a set of commands and application programming interface (API), and storage for a relational database and a document repository. The integrated environment can include a database abstraction layer that allows database operations on both the structured data and the unstructured data.

Claims

1. A method executed by a computer, comprising:

receiving a search request including a query term;

based on the query term, creating one or more first queries targeting structured data and one or more second queries targeting unstructured data, wherein creating the one or more first queries and one or more second queries comprises;

retrieving, based on the query term and from a combined index that includes a first index of structured data and a second index of unstructured data, a list of identifier records, each identifier record having a row identifier field and a file identifier field and including at least one of a row identifier of the structured data in the row identifier field or a file identifier of the unstructured data in the file identifier field; and

, after retrieving at least a portion of the list of identifier records;

creating the one or more first queries using at least one row identifier in the identifier records retrieved from the combined index, the one or more first queries operable to retrieve a first result from the structured data; and

creating the one or more second queries using at least one file identifier in the identifier records retrieved from the combined index, the one or more second queries operable to retrieve second result from the unstructured data independent of the first queries;

receiving the first result in response to the one or more first queries and the second result in response to the one or more second queries;

expanding the first result using the second result; and

providing the expanded first result and the second result as a response to the search request.

2. The method of claim 1, where:

the structured data include data in a relational database; and

the unstructured data include one or more documents.

3. The method of claim 2, where retrieving the list of identifier records comprises simultaneously searching the first index and the second index.

4. The method of claim 3, where each identifier record includes a data tuple comprising the row identifier identifying a row of data in the relational database, the file identifier identifying a document from the one or more documents, and a hit position representing a first hit position in the identified document.

5. The method of claim 3, where providing the expanded first result and the second result as a response to the search request includes providing the expanded first result and the second result for display in an integrated display environment.

6. The method of claim 1, where expanding the first result using the second result comprises:

creating a search hit context of the second result, the search hit context identifying a portion of unstructured data in the second result that matches the query term; and

inserting the search hit context into the first result.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving an upload of the unstructured data;

storing the unstructured data separate from a database storing the structured data;

extracting metadata of the unstructured data; and

inserting the metadata and a document reference that refers to the unstructured data into a table of the database.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining the row identifier in the structured data, the row identifier identifying a row of data in a table of a database storing the structured data, the row of data including a reference to the unstructured data; and

associating the second index with the first index using the row identifier.

9. The method of claim 8, where the reference to the unstructured data includes a document name.

10. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing a computer program product operable to cause one or more processors to perform operations comprising:

receiving a search request including a query term;

based on the query term, creating one or more first queries targeting structured data and one or more second queries targeting unstructured data, wherein creating the one or more first queries and one or more second queries comprises;

retrieving, based on the query term and from a combined index that includes a first index of structured data and a second index of unstructured data, a list of identifier records, each identifier record having a row identifier field and a file identifier field and including at least one of a row identifier of the structured data in the row identifier field or a file identifier of the unstructured data in the file identifier field; and

, after retrieving at least a portion of the list of identifier records;

creating the one or more first queries using at least one row identifier in the identifier records retrieved from the combined index, the one or more first queries operable to retrieve a first result from the structured data; and

creating the one or more second queries using at least one file identifier in the identifier records retrieved from the combined index, the one or more second queries operable to retrieve second result from the unstructured data independent of the first queries;

receiving the first result in response to the one or more first queries and the second result in response to the one or more second queries;

expanding the first result using the second result; and

providing the expanded first result and the second result as a response to the search request.

11. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 10, where:

the structured data include data in a relational database; and

the unstructured data include one or more documents.

12. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 11, where:

creating the one or more first queries includes creating a database query for searching the relational database using the query term; and

creating the one or more second queries includes creating a text search query for searching the one or more documents and a metadata search query for searching metadata relating the one or more documents to the data in the relational database.

13. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 10, the operations further comprising:

receiving an upload of the unstructured data;

storing the unstructured data separate from a database storing the structured data;

extracting metadata of the unstructured data; and

inserting the metadata and a document reference that refers to the unstructured data into a table of the database.

14. A system comprising:

one or more processors configured to perform operations comprising;

receiving a search request including a query term;

based on the query term, creating one or more first queries targeting structured data and one or more second queries targeting unstructured data, wherein creating the one or more first queries and one or more second queries comprises;

retrieving, based on the query term and from a combined index that includes a first index of structured data and a second index of unstructured data, a list of identifier records, each identifier record having a row identifier field and a file identifier field and including at least one of a row identifier of the structured data in the row identifier field or a file identifier of the unstructured data in the file identifier field; and

, after retrieving at least a portion of the list of identifier records;

creating the one or more first queries using at least one row identifier in the identifier records retrieved from the combined index, the one or more first queries operable to retrieve a first result from the structured data; and

creating the one or more second queries using at least one file identifier in the identifier records retrieved from the combined index, the one or more second queries operable to retrieve second result from the unstructured data independent of the first queries;

receiving the first result in response to the one or more first queries and the second result in response to the one or more second queries;

expanding the first result using the second result; and

providing the expanded first result and the second result as a response to the search request.

15. The system of claim 14, the operations further comprising:

receiving an upload of the unstructured data;

storing the unstructured data separate from a database storing the structured data;

extracting metadata of the unstructured data; and

inserting the metadata and a document reference that refers to the unstructured data into a table of the database.

16. The system of claim 14, where retrieving the list of identifier records comprises simultaneously searching the first index and the second index.

17. The system of claim 14, where each identifier record includes a data tuple comprising the row identifier identifying a row of data in the relational database, the file identifier identifying a document from the one or more documents, and a hit position representing a first hit position in the identified document.