FLEXIBLE DATABASE AND ITERATIVE SPATIAL SEARCH PROCESS

• US 20130185281A1
• Filed: 01/17/2012
• Published: 07/18/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 01/17/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Joppa, Lucas Neal, Roberts, Andrew Bryan, Williams, Richard James
• Granted Patent: US 9,223,745 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/714
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 15/16 Combinations of two or more digital computers each having at least an arithmetic unit, a program unit and a register, e.g. for a simultaneous processing of several programs coordinating program control therefor G06F9/52; in regulating and control system G05B
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/29 Geographical information databases

Abstract

A flexible database and iterative spatial search process is described. In an embodiment, a flexible database server is described which takes input queries in the form of XML strings describing a search specification and parses them using a stored procedure. Searching is performed by generating a temporary table for each term in the search specification and then comparing the temporary tables to pre-existing tables within the database to identify datasets that meet the search specification. An application is also described which generates the XML string in response to user input and which displays the results to a user. The application provides a user interface which enables users to select attributes of results, such as the spatial data associated with a dataset, to include in a second search specification and to trigger this new search.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving, at a database server, an input query comprising an XML string generated by a search application in response to user input defining a search specification;

passing the XML string as a parameter to a stored procedure to generate one or more temporary tables;

performing a search of the database server by comparing each temporary table with a pre-existing table stored in the database server to identify any datasets satisfying the input query; and

returning results comprising the identified datasets and attributes associated with each identified dataset.

2. A method according to claim 1, wherein one temporary table is generated for each search term within the XML string.

3. A method according to claim 1, further comprising:

storing a plurality of datasets at the database server, each dataset having an associated node ID; and

storing one or more vocabularies at the database server, each vocabulary for use in classifying datasets, and

storing attributes associated with a dataset indexed by node ID, wherein each attribute comprises spatial data or references an element within a vocabulary.

4. A method according to claim 3, wherein performing a search of the database server by comparing each temporary table with a pre-existing table stored in the database server to identify any datasets satisfying the input query comprises:

joining each temporary table with a pre-existing table stored in the database server to identify node IDs of datasets satisfying a term in the input query; and

where there is more than one temporary table, combining the results of the joining operations to identify node IDs of datasets satisfying the complete input query.

6. A method according to claim 1, further comprising ranking the results returned based on the attributes associated with each identified dataset and attributes within the input query.

7. A method according to claim 1, further comprising:

providing, at a host server, a user interface for searching;

receiving a first user input, at the host server via the user interface, defining a first search specification; and

generating an XML string encapsulating the search specification and communicating the XML string to the database server via an interface service running on the host server.

8. A method according to claim 7, further comprising:

receiving, at the host server, the results generated by the database server in response to the XML string;

displaying the results to a user in the user interface;

receiving a second user input, at the host server via the user interface, selecting one or more attributes associated with an identified dataset and

generating a second XML string encapsulating a second search specification, the second search specification comprising the selected one or more attributes, and communicating the second XML string to the database server via the interface service.

9. A method according to claim 8, further comprising:

receiving, at the database server, a second input query comprising the second XML string;

parsing the second XML string using a stored procedure to generate one or more temporary tables;

performing a search of the database server by comparing each temporary table with a pre-existing table stored in the database server to identify any datasets satisfying the second input query; and

returning a second set of results comprising the identified datasets and attributes associated with each identified dataset.

5. A method according to claim 5, wherein the one or more vocabularies comprise at least one system-defined vocabulary and at least one user-defined vocabulary.

10. A method comprising:

providing, at a host server, a user interface for searching;

receiving a first user input, at the host server via the user interface, defining a first search specification;

generating an XML string encapsulating the search specification;

communicating the XML string to a database server via an interface service running on the host server;

receiving, at the host server, results generated by the database server in response to the XML string, the results comprising one or more datasets satisfying the search specification and attributes associated with each dataset;

displaying the results to a user in the user interface;

receiving a second user input, at the host server via the user interface, selecting one or more attributes associated with an identified dataset and

generating a second XML string encapsulating a second search specification, the second search specification comprising the selected one or more attributes, and communicating the second XML string to the database server via the interface service.

11. A method according to claim 10, wherein providing, at a host server, a user interface for searching comprises:

providing, at a host server, a user interface for spatial searching.

12. A method according to claim 10, wherein each attribute comprises spatial data associated with a dataset or references an element within a vocabulary and wherein a vocabulary comprises a schema for classifying datasets.

13. A method according to claim 12, further comprising:

providing a second user interface for entry of vocabularies; and

receiving user inputs defining a user-specified vocabulary; and

generating an XML string describing the user-specified vocabulary and communicating the XML string to the database server via the interface service.

14. A method according to claim 13, further comprising:

providing a third user interface for data entry and classifying each dataset entered according to a vocabulary;

generating an XML string describing the classification of the dataset; and

communicating the dataset and the XML string describing the classification of the dataset to the database service via the interface service.

15. An application at least partially stored in memory and at least partially executed on a processor to perform a method as recited in claim 10.

16. A system comprising a database server and a host server, wherein the database server comprises:

an input arranged to receive an input query comprising an XML string generated by a search application in response to user input defining a search specification;

a stored procedure arranged to receive an XML string as a parameter and to generate one or more temporary tables based on the XML string received;

a processor;

memory arranged to store a plurality of datasets and attributes associated with those datasets in a plurality of tables and further arranged to store device-executable instructions that, when executed by the processor, direct the database server to perform a search by joining each temporary table with a table stored in the memory to identify any datasets satisfying the input query; and

an output arranged to return results comprising the identified datasets and attributes associated with each identified dataset.

17. A system according to claim 16, wherein each dataset comprises spatial data.

18. A system according to claim 16, wherein the memory is further arranged to store at least one vocabulary comprising a schema for classifying datasets and wherein each attribute comprises spatial data associated with a dataset or references an element within a vocabulary.

19. A system according to claim 16, wherein the host server comprises:

a processor;

an input for receiving first user input data from a user browser, the first user input data defining a first search specification; and

memory arranged to store device-executable instructions that, when executed by the processor, direct the processor to provide a user interface for searching and in response to receiving first user input data, to generate an XML string encapsulating the search specification; and

an output for communicating the XML string to the database server.

20. A system according to claim 19, wherein:

the input is further arranged to receive the results generated by the database server in response to the XML string;

the memory is further arranged to store device-executable instructions that, when executed by the processor, direct the processor;

to display the results to a user in the user interface; and

in response to receiving second user input data via the input, the second user input data identifying one or more attributes associated with a dataset from the results, to generate a second XML string encapsulating a second search specification, the second search specification comprising the selected one or more attributes, and

wherein the output is further arranged to communicate the second XML string to the database server to trigger a further search.