SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR HIERARCHICAL AGGREGATION OF MULTI-DIMENSIONAL DATA SOURCES

• US 20100057700A1
• Filed: 08/28/2008
• Published: 03/04/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 08/28/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Red Hat, Inc. (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Red Hat, Inc. (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Inventors: Williamson, Eric
• Granted Patent: US 8,495,007 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: N/A
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/283 Multi-dimensional databases or data warehouses, e.g. MOLAP or ROLAP

Abstract

Embodiments relate to systems and methods for the hierarchical aggregation of multi-dimensional data sources. A set of applications such as online analytical processing (OLAP) applications can access the combined data of a set of multi-dimensional data sources via a transform engine. The set of data sources can be configured with diverse dimensions and associated data, which in general do not reflect a strictly hierarchical structure. In embodiments, the transform engine can combine or aggregate the set of data sources using common dimensions or data points, and build an index into a transform table reflecting the hierarchical level of dimension from each data source in a combined hierarchical mapping. An OLAP or other application can therefore perform searches, sorts, and/or other operations on the combined hierarchical mapping based on the resulting ordering of data, even when the original multi-dimensional data sources do not contain an explicit common hierarchy.

Claims

1. A method of generating a hierarchical mapping of multi-dimensional data, comprising:

receiving a data request from at least one application;

identifying a set of multi-dimensional data sources containing data corresponding to the data request;

extracting data corresponding to the data request from the set of multi-dimensional data sources; and

aggregating the extracted data from the multi-dimensional data sources into a hierarchical mapping, the hierarchical mapping combining at least a plurality of the dimensions of the data sources in an ordered hierarchy.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one application comprises at plurality of applications.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one application comprises an online analytical processing (OLAP) application.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the set of multi-dimensional data sources comprises a set of online analytical processing (OLAP) data sources.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the set of multi-dimensional data sources comprises a set of structured three-dimensional data sources.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the hierarchical mapping comprises a set of ordered nodes.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein nodes of the set of ordered nodes correspond to levels in the hierarchical mapping.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the aggregating comprises generating a transform table recording an index representing a level of each node.

9. A system for generating a hierarchical mapping of multi-dimensional data, comprising:

an interface to receive a data request from at least one application;

a transform engine, communicating with the interface, the transform engine being configured to—

identify a set of multi-dimensional data sources containing data corresponding to the data request,

extract data corresponding to the data request from the set of multi-dimensional data sources, and

aggregate the extracted data from the multi-dimensional data sources into a hierarchical mapping, the hierarchical mapping combining at least a plurality of the dimensions of the data sources in an ordered hierarchy.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the at least one application comprises at plurality of applications.

11. The system of claim 9, wherein the at least one application comprises an online analytical processing (OLAP) application.

12. The system of claim 9, wherein the set of multi-dimensional data sources comprises a set of online analytical processing (OLAP) data sources.

13. The system of claim 9, wherein the set of multi-dimensional data sources comprises a set of structured three-dimensional data sources.

14. The system of claim 9, wherein the hierarchical mapping comprises a set of ordered nodes.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein nodes of the set of ordered nodes correspond to levels in the hierarchical mapping.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the aggregating comprises generating a transform table recording an index representing a level of each node.

17. A hierarchical data store, the hierarchical data store being generated by a method comprising:

receiving a data request from at least one application;

identifying a set of multi-dimensional data sources containing data corresponding to the data request;

extracting data corresponding to the data request from the set of multi-dimensional data sources; and

aggregating the extracted data from the multi-dimensional data sources into a hierarchical mapping, the hierarchical mapping combining at least a plurality of the dimensions of the data sources in an ordered hierarchy.

18. The hierarchical data store of claim 17, wherein the at least one application comprises an online analytical processing (OLAP) application.

19. The hierarchical data store of claim 17, wherein the set of multi-dimensional data sources comprises a set of online analytical processing (OLAP) data sources.

20. The hierarchical data store of claim 17, wherein the hierarchical mapping comprises a set of ordered nodes.

21. The hierarchical data store of claim 20, wherein nodes of the set of ordered nodes correspond to levels in the hierarchical mapping.

22. The hierarchical data store of claim 21, wherein the aggregating comprises generating a transform table recording an index representing a level of each node.