Tolerant and extensible discovery of relationships in data using structural information and data analysis

• US 20060282429A1
• Filed: 06/10/2005
• Published: 12/14/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 06/10/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Roth, Mary Ann, Yan, Lingling, Hernandez-Sherrington, Mauricio Antonio, Ho, Ching-Tien
• Granted Patent: US 9,792,351 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/288 Entity relationship models

Abstract

Various embodiments of a method, system and article of manufacture to discover relationships among a first set of elements and a second set of elements are provided. At least one metric algorithm is identified based on a metric selection parameter. A raw result is determined based on the at least one metric algorithm, a first specified structural description of the first set of elements and a second specified structural description of the second set of elements. The raw result comprises a plurality of relationship measurements and the raw result is ordered. In some embodiments, a balanced result is produced based on the raw result and a matching strategy algorithm. In other embodiments, the matching strategy algorithm is identified based on a matching strategy selection parameter.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method of discovering relationships among a first set of elements and a second set of elements, comprising:

identifying at least one metric algorithm based on a metric selection parameter; and

determining a raw result based on said at least one metric algorithm, a first specified structural description of said first set of elements and a second specified structural description of said second set of elements, said raw result comprising a plurality of relationship measurements, wherein said raw result is ordered.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

producing a balanced result based on said raw result and a matching strategy algorithm.

3. The method of claim 2 further comprising:

identifying said matching strategy algorithm based on a matching strategy selection parameter.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein said identifying said at least one metric algorithm is also based on a resource budget parameter.

5. The method of claim 3 wherein said identifying said matching strategy algorithm is also based on a resource budget parameter.

6. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

retrieving sample data based on sample data connection information, wherein said at least one metric algorithm uses said sample data.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein said first structural description and said second structural description have a native format, and further comprising:

translating said first structural description and said second structural description to a common format if said native format is not said common format.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein said common format is an extensible Markup Language Schema Definition (XSD) model.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein said raw result is ordered in accordance with values of said relationship measurements.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein said determining also processes said plurality of relationship measurements in accordance with a measurement composition parameter to provide said raw result.

11. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

providing a plurality of metric algorithms;

wherein said identifying identifies said at least one metric algorithm from said plurality of metric algorithms; and

adding one or more additional metric algorithms to said plurality of metric algorithms.

12. An article of manufacture comprising a computer usable medium embodying one or more instructions executable by a computer for performing a method of discovering relationships among a first set of elements and a second set of elements, said method comprising:

identifying at least one metric algorithm based on a metric selection parameter; and

determining a raw result based on said at least one metric algorithm, a first specified structural description of said first set of elements and a second specified structural description of said second set of elements, said raw result comprising a plurality of relationship measurements, wherein said raw result is ordered.

13. The article of manufacture of claim 12 wherein said method further comprises:

producing a balanced result based on said raw result and a matching strategy algorithm.

14. The article of manufacture of claim 13 wherein said method further comprises:

identifying said matching strategy algorithm based on a matching strategy selection parameter.

15. The article of manufacture of claim 12 wherein said identifying said at least one metric algorithm is also based on a resource budget parameter.

16. The article of manufacture of claim 14 wherein said identifying said matching strategy algorithm is also based on a resource budget parameter.

17. The article of manufacture of claim 12 wherein said method further comprises:

retrieving sample data based on sample data connection information, wherein said at least one metric algorithm uses said sample data.

18. The article of manufacture of claim 12 wherein said first structural description and said second structural description is translated to a common format if not already in said common format.

19. An article of manufacture of claim 12 wherein said determining also processes said plurality of relationship measurements in accordance with a measurement composition mode parameter to provide said raw result.

20. The article of manufacture of claim 12 wherein said raw result is ordered in accordance with values of said relationship measurements.

21. The article of manufacture of claim 12 wherein said parameters further comprise a naming custom parameter associated with at least one of said first and second structural descriptions, said naming custom parameter associating at least one specified sequence with a mapping sequence, and said determining said raw result also replaces said at least one specified sequence with said mapping sequence.

22. A computer system that discovers relationships between a first set of elements and a second set of elements, comprising:

a discovery engine that receives parameters comprising at least one and any combination of;

a first structural description of said first set of elements, and a second structural description of said second set of elements, and a metric selection parameter; and

a metric component that provides a raw result, said metric component being associated with a plurality of metric algorithms, each metric algorithm to determine one or more measurements based on said first and second structural descriptions, said raw result being based on at least one selected metric algorithm of said plurality of metric algorithms, said at least one selected metric algorithm being selected from said plurality of metric algorithms based on said metric selection parameter.

23. The computer system of claim 22 wherein said parameters further comprise a naming custom associated with at least one of said first and second structural descriptions, and said at least one of said metric algorithms applies said naming custom to said at least one of said first and second structural descriptions.

24. The computer system of claim 22 wherein said parameters further comprise at least one or any combination of sample data connection information and a matching strategy selection, and further comprising at least one or any combination of:

a model manager, associated with one or more transformers, each transformer to translate said first structural description and said second structural description from a native format to a common format;

a sample manager, associated with one or more sample modules, each sample module to provide sample data using based on said sample data collection information in response to said one at least one selected metric algorithm using sample data; and

a matching component, associated with one or more matching strategy algorithms, each matching strategy algorithm to determine a balanced result based on said raw result and a selected matching strategy algorithm that has been selected based on said matching strategy selection.

25. The computer system of claim 22 wherein said parameters further comprise a measurement composition mode parameter that specifies compose by weight or compose by order, and in response to said measurement composition mode specifying compose by weight said metric component produces a single measurement for each pair of elements from said first and second structural descriptions based on the measurements associated with that pair, and in response to said measurement composition mode specifying compose by order, said metric component orders said measurements associated with each pair of elements.

26. The computer system of claim 22 wherein said metric component further comprises:

an extension point that associates said plurality of metric algorithms with said metric component.

27. The computer system of claim 24 wherein said parameters further comprise a resource budget and said discovery engine selects said matching strategy algorithm based on said matching selection and said resource budget.

28. The computer system of claim 24 wherein said matching component further comprises:

an extension point that associates said plurality of matching strategy algorithms with said metric component.

29. The computer system of claim 24 wherein said sample manager further comprises:

an extension point that associates said one or more sample modules with said sample manager.

30. The computer system of claim 24 wherein said model manager further comprises:

an extension point that associates said one or more transformers with said model manager.