Object management system for digital libraries
First Claim
1. An object management system for storing objects having a predetermined structural type, comprising:
- an object vault;
a storage unit; and
a structural type manager, wherein the object vault, the structural type manager and the storage unit are connected to each other, and the object vault stores the object in the storage unit based on information in the structural type manager and according to the structural type of the object.
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Accused Products
Abstract
An object management system for storing persistent object oriented objects, includes an object vault, a structural type manager and a digital library. The object vault is connected to the structural type manager and the digital library is connected to the structural type manager. An application program is connected to the object vault. Objects to be stored are represented as a Key Value Dictionary (KVD) in which attributes, or metadata, relating to the objects are stored as key-value pairs. Objects are categorized as having different structural types in which certain attributes for objects having the same structural type are cataloged to facilitate indexing and searching for the objects. The structural type manager maintains a mapping between structural types and a subset of keys for the structural types as well as corresponding database references for cataloging the object attributes. Also disclosed is a method of storing objects in the digital library where the corresponding database references for the subset of keys are retrieved from the structural type manager. The values corresponding to the subset of keys are retrieved from the Key Value Dictionary and stored in the library catalog. The Key Value Dictionary is serialized and stored in the digital library, and a signature is returned. The object stored in the digital library is retrieved by locating the objected based on the cataloged key values. Preferably the persistent objects are Java programming language objects.
279 Citations
21 Claims
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1. An object management system for storing objects having a predetermined structural type, comprising:
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an object vault; a storage unit; and a structural type manager, wherein the object vault, the structural type manager and the storage unit are connected to each other, and the object vault stores the object in the storage unit based on information in the structural type manager and according to the structural type of the object. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. A method of storing an object in an object management system having an object vault, a storage unit and a structural type manager, the method comprising:
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(a) receiving the object at the object vault; (b) retrieving from the object a value indicating a structural type of the object; (c) retrieving from the structural type manager an indicator of an attribute associated with the structural type of the object, wherein the attribute is to be stored in the digital library; (d) identifying a location where a value of the indicated attribute is to be stored; (e) retrieving from the object the value of the indicated attribute; (f) storing the retrieved value of the object in the identified location; and (g) storing the object in the storage unit. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
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20. In an object management system having an object vault, a storage unit and a structural type manager, a method of retrieving an object comprising:
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(a) sending to the object vault a signature corresponding to the object; (b) querying the storage unit in response to the signature, to locate the object in the storage unit and identifying an attribute and a corresponding value satisfying the query; (c) retrieving from the digital library a binary large object (blob) corresponding to the located object; and (d) constructing the object from the retrieved blob.
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21. A computer program product for an object management system including an object vault, a structural type manager and a storage unit having an object server and a library server employing a database;
- wherein the object vault is connected to the structural type manager and the digital library, and the structural type manager is connected to the digital library;
the computer program product including a computer readable medium comprising;a computer-readable object vault code; and a computer-readable structural type manager code; wherein the object vault code causes a value of a structural type indicator of the object to be sent to the structural type manager code in response to the object vault receiving an object for storage in the storage unit; wherein the structural type manager includes a mapping of the structural type indicator to a location within the database, and in response to receipt of the value of the structural type indicator the structural type manager code causes an attribute for the structural type and a database identifier for the database in which a value of the attribute is to be stored, to be returned to the object vault; and wherein the object vault code directs storage of the value of the object associated with the returned attribute into the database location according to the database identifier, the object vault codes causes the object to be stored in the storage unit; and
returns a identifier for the stored object.
- wherein the object vault is connected to the structural type manager and the digital library, and the structural type manager is connected to the digital library;
Specification