Conditioned distribution of data in a lattice-based database using spreading rules

• US 8,909,678 B2
• Filed: 12/31/2009
• Issued: 12/09/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 09/30/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Red Hat, Inc. (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Red Hat, Inc. (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Inventors: Williamson, Eric
• Primary Examiner(s): Lewis, Alicia
• Assistant Examiner(s): BROMELL, ALEXANDRIA Y
• Application Number:
  US12/651,171
• Publication Number:
  US 20110161374A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,804 Days
• Field of Search: 707/802, 707/959
• US Class Current: 707/802
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/27 Replication, distribution or synchronisation of data between databases or within a distributed database system; Distributed database system architectures therefor
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/959 Network

Abstract

Embodiments relate to systems and methods for the conditioned distribution of data in a lattice-based database using spreading rules. A data store can store data in a lattice-based database or other three-dimensional hierarchical format. Higher-level data, such as yearly profit, may be desired to be spread from parent nodes at different levels or points in the lattice structure to lower nodes or locations, such as quarters. Parent nodes can be associated with a set of programmatic placeholder nodes. A spreading tool can insert child nodes representing quarters, months, or other insertion point(s) represented or encoded by a set of placeholder nodes, dividing, combining, or otherwise distributing quantities appropriately. In aspects, data can be spread from multiple parents and/or multiple target child nodes, at once. In aspects, the spreading tool can access or host sequence logic to ensure data spreading in an order that takes dependencies, formatting, or other factors into account.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving, by a processor, data to be inserted in a lattice-based database;

associating, by the processor, child nodes in the lattice-based database with at least one parent node in the lattice-based database;

accessing, by the processor, spreading rules to determine data conditioning required to distribute the data from the parent node to the child nodes, wherein the spreading rules comprise a rule to divide a quantity stored as a number from the data in the parent node into multiple sub-quantities that each correspond to a different one of the child nodes, wherein the child nodes are located below the parent node in at least one dimension of the lattice-based database, and wherein the rule to divide the quantity is applied across the child nodes for the dimension;

generating, by the processor, a conditioned distribution of the data based on the spreading rules; and

distributing, by the processor, the data from the parent node into the child nodes based on the conditioned distribution, wherein distributing the data comprises distributing each of the sub-quantities to a corresponding one of the child nodes.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the spreading rules comprise at least one of rules related to data dependencies in the data, rules related to formatting of the data, or rules related to routing of output of the child nodes to other nodes.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the spreading rules comprise rules related to data dependencies in the data, and the rules related to the data dependencies in the data comprise sequence rules specifying an order of distribution of the data to the child nodes.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein distributing the data comprises distributing the data via placeholder nodes associated with the parent node.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the placeholder nodes encode inheritance classes defining the child nodes.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the data comprises at least one of medical, technical, scientific, or financial data.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the lattice-based database comprises at least one of an online analytical processing (OLAP) data source or an extensible markup language (XML) based data source.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the parent node comprises at least two parent nodes.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the data distributed from the at least two parent nodes to the corresponding child nodes is the same.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the at least two parent nodes are located at different three-dimensional positions of the lattice-based database.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein at least two child nodes in the child nodes are located at different three-dimensional positions of the lattice-based database.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the conditioned distribution of the data from the parent node into the corresponding child nodes comprises distributing the data in three dimensions of the lattice-based database.

13. A system comprising:

an interface to a lattice-based database; and

a processor to communicate with the interface and execute a database engine to;

receive data to be inserted in the lattice-based database,

associate child nodes in the lattice-based database with at least one parent node in the lattice-based database,

access spreading rules to determine data conditioning required to distribute the data from the parent node to the child nodes, wherein the spreading rules comprise a rule to divide a quantity stored as a number from the data in the parent node into multiple sub-quantities that each correspond to a different one of the child nodes, wherein the child nodes are located below the parent node in at least one dimension of the lattice-based database, and wherein the rule to divide the quantity is applied across the child nodes for the dimension,

generate a conditioned distribution of the data based on the spreading rules, and

distribute the data from the parent node into the child nodes based on the conditioned distribution, wherein distribute the data comprises distribute each of the sub-quantities to a corresponding one of the child nodes.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the spreading rules comprise at least one of rules related to data dependencies in the data, rules related to formatting of the data, or rules related to routing of output of the child nodes to other nodes.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the spreading rules comprise rules related to data dependencies in the data, and the rules related to the data dependencies in the data comprise sequence rules specifying an order of distribution of the data to the child nodes.

16. The system of claim 13, wherein the processor is to distribute the data via placeholder nodes associated with the parent node.

17. The system of claim 13, wherein the lattice-based database comprises at least one of an online analytical processing (OLAP) data source or an extensible markup language (XML)—

based data source.

18. The system of claim 13, wherein the parent node comprises at least two parent nodes that are located at different three-dimensional positions of the lattice-based database.

19. The system of claim 13, wherein at least two child nodes in the child nodes are located at different three-dimensional positions of the lattice-based database.

20. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium having instructions stored thereon that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising:

receiving, by the processor, data to be inserted in a lattice-based database;

associating, by the processor, child nodes in the lattice-based database with at least one parent node in the lattice-based database;

accessing, by the processor, spreading rules to determine data conditioning required to distribute the data from the parent node to the child nodes, wherein the spreading rules comprise a rule to divide a quantity stored as a number from the data in the parent node into multiple sub-quantities that each correspond to a different one of the child nodes, wherein the child nodes are located below the parent node in at least one dimension of the lattice-based database, and wherein the rule to divide the quantity is applied across the child nodes for the dimension;

generating, by the processor, a conditioned distribution of the data based on the spreading rules; and

distributing, by the processor, the data from the parent node into the child nodes based on the conditioned distribution, wherein distributing the data comprises distributing each of the sub-quantities to a corresponding one of the child nodes.