Systems and user interfaces for dynamic and interactive simultaneous querying of multiple data stores

• US 9,116,975 B2
• Filed: 10/01/2014
• Issued: 08/25/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 10/18/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Palantir Technologies Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Palantir Technologies Incorporated
• Inventors: Shankar, Ankit, Ash, Andrew, Stowe, Geoff, Petracca, Thomas, Duffield, Benjamin
• Primary Examiner(s): HICKS, MICHAEL J
• Application Number:
  US14/504,103
• Publication Number:
  US 20150112998A1
• Time in Patent Office: 328 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/22 Indexing; Data structures therefor; Storage structures
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/242 Query formulation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2425 Iterative querying; Query formulation based on the results of a preceding query
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2452 Query translation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2455 Query execution
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2471 Distributed queries
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/248 Presentation of query results
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/252 between a Database Management System and a front-end application
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/256 in federated or virtual databases
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/322 Trees
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9024 Graphs; Linked lists G06F16/9027 takes precedence

Abstract

Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to a computer system and interactive user interfaces configured to enable efficient and rapid access to multiple different data sources simultaneously, and by an unskilled user. The unskilled user may provide simple and intuitive search terms to the system, and the system may thereby automatically query multiple related data sources of different types and present results to the user. Data sources in the system may be efficiently interrelated with one another by way of a mathematical graph in which nodes represent data sources and/or portions of data sources (for example, database tables), and edges represent relationships among the data sources and/or portions of data sources. For example, edges may indicate relationships between particular rows and/or columns of various tables. The table graph enables a compact and memory efficient storage of relationships among various disparate data sources.

Claims

1. A search system configured to execute a search query, the search system comprising:

one or more computing devices having hardware processors configured to execute instructions in order to;

access a first data store of a first type storing at least a first data table;

access a second data store of a second type different than the first type, the second data store storing at least a second data table;

generate a table graph comprising;

a first node associated with the first data table;

a second node associated with the second data table;

a first link between the first node and the second node, the first link indicating a first field of the first data table that is associated with a second field of the second data table; and

a second link between the second node and the first node, the second link indicating a third field of the second data table that is associated with a fourth field of the first data table;

execute a search query on said table graph by;

looking up first information associated with the search query in the first data table;

looking up second information associated with the first information in the second data table by reference to the first link, wherein the first and second information together comprise a direct hit of the search query; and

looking up third information associated with the second information in the first data table by reference to the second link, wherein the third information is different from the first information, and wherein the third information comprises an indirect hit of the search query; and

provide, for display by the search system, at least;

the second information and a first indication that the second information comprises the direct hit of the search query; and

the third information and a second indication that the third information comprises the indirect hit of the search query.

2. The search system of claim 1, wherein at least one of the first field and the second field are full-text searchable.

3. The search system of claim 1, wherein the first link between the first node and the second node is a bi-directional link.

4. The search system of claim 1, wherein the first type and the second type each include one or more of a relational data store, an object-oriented data store, a proprietary data store, a file-based data store, a hierarchical data store, a network data store, or an elastic-search data store.

5. The search system of claim 1, wherein the table graph is generated via an application programming interface configured to format the second information and the third information as one or more data objects, wherein the data objects further comprise attributes and values defined by a user.

6. The search system of claim 1, wherein the search query includes one or more regular expression rules.

7. The search system of claim 1, wherein the table graph further comprises a third node associated with a third data table and wherein executing the search query on the table graph further comprises:

concurrently looking up the first information in the first data table and looking up fourth information in the third data table.

8. The search system of claim 7, wherein the lookups in the first data table and the third data tables are executed concurrently in response to the one or more computing devices automatically determining that the lookups are suitable for concurrent execution based on at least one of:

query dependency, query complexity, history of query execution duration, usage statistics of the first, second, and/or third data stores, and/or predicted usage demand of the first, second, and third data stores.

9. The search system of claim 1, wherein the first and fourth fields of the first data table are the same.

16. The search system of claim 9, wherein the second and third fields of the second data table are the same.

10. A table graph system configured to electronically communicate with at least one data store, the table graph system comprising:

one or more physical computing devices having hardware processors configured to execution instructions in order to;

receive instructions to add a first data table as a first node in a table graph;

receive instructions to add a second data table as a second node in the table graph, wherein the first data table and the second data table are of different types;

upon receiving instructions to add a first relationship between the first and second nodes, add the first relationship, wherein the first relationship indicates a first field of the first data table is to be associated with a second field of the second data table;

upon receiving instructions to add a second relationship between the second and first nodes, add the second relationship, wherein the second relationship indicates a third field of the second data table is to be associated with a fourth field of the first data table; and

upon receiving instructions to execute a search query on the table graph, execute the search query by;

looking up first information associated with the search query in the first data table;

looking up second information associated with the first information in the second data table by reference to the first relationship, wherein the first and second information together comprise a first hit of the search query, the first hit comprising a direct hit of the search query;

looking up third information associated with the second information in the first data store by reference to the second link, wherein the third information is different from the first information, and wherein the third information comprises a second hit of the search query, the second hit comprising an indirect hit of the search query; and

providing, for display by the search system, at least;

the second information and a first indication that the second information comprises the direct hit of the search query; and

the third information and a second indication that the third information comprises the indirect hit of the search query.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the one or more physical computing devices are further configured to:

receive instructions to add a third node linked with the first node and/or the second node; and

receive instructions to indicate the first node and the third node as concurrently processable, wherein the first node and the third node are executable concurrently in response to execution of the search query on the table graph.

12. The system of claim 10, wherein the one or more physical computing devices are further configured to:

receive instructions to add a third node linked with the first node and/or the second node;

receive instructions to execute at least two of the nodes concurrently; and

automatically determine an order of executing the at least two of the nodes concurrently.

13. The system of claim 10, wherein the one or more physical computing devices are further configured to automatically add one or more relationships between the first and second nodes.

14. The system of claim 10, wherein the one or more physical computing devices are further configured to receive instructions to change the relationship between the first and second nodes from a one-directional link to a bi-directional link.

15. The system of claim 10, wherein the first data table and the second data table are located remotely from each other.