System and method for information warehousing supporting the automatic, real-time delivery of personalized informational and transactional data to users via content delivery device

• US 6,662,195 B1
• Filed: 01/21/2000
• Issued: 12/09/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 01/21/2000
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Microstrategy Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Microstrategy Incorporated
• Inventors: Langseth, Justin, Talwar, Ajay, Fishman, Phillippa J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Alam, Shahid Al
• Assistant Examiner(s): NGUYEN, TAM V
• Application Number:
  US09/488,565
• Time in Patent Office: 1,418 Days
• Field of Search: 707/1, 707/3, 707/4, 707/5, 707/10, 707/101, 707/102, 707/103.R, 707/104, 707/203, 709/223, 709/203, 709/217, 709/201, 709/202, 709/106, 709/218, 709/219, 379/67.1, 379/83, 379/88.25, 379/88.26, 379/88.27, 379/88.13, 379/88.17, 379/112
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/283 Multi-dimensional databases or data warehouses, e.g. MOLAP or ROLAP
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99945 Object-oriented database structure processing

Abstract

A data warehousing system stores the raw data population for an underlying delivery system for a personal intelligence network that actively delivers highly personalized and timely informational and transactional data collects and distributes e-mail and other content from a hub-and-spoke style source architecture. The architecture of the data storage system includes a data distribution depository warehousing the raw data, and a data distribution control server monitoring the state of the data for fault and other conditions. For instance, data may revert to the next-most recent state when a corruption is detected. Furthermore, data may be collected continuously but the data image of the repository may be frozen during subscriber inquiries, to avoid inconsistent output.

Claims

1. A system for warehousing information for the realtime generation and delivery of personalized intelligence to a plurality of subscribers, comprising:

a data distribution repository, the data distribution repository receiving and storing at least one service for each of the plurality of subscribers, the at least one service to be processed using information from at least one channel database containing informational data, the data distribution repository further storing SQL and procedures to retrieve data from the channel database for the at least one service and storing filters to be applied to the data from the channel database for the plurality of subscribers; and

a data distribution control server, communicating with the data distribution repository, the data distribution control server detecting state information of the data distribution repository, including any updates occurring to the data stored in the data distribution repository to maintain coherency and integrity of the retrieval and transmission of the personalized intelligence to the subscribers during the processing of the at least one service based on the SQL, procedures, and filters stored in the data distribution repository.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the data distribution repository comprises a database accessible by OLAP inquiry.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the state information comprises at least one of integrity information of the at least one service, database coherency information, hardware fault information, and integrity of subscriber inquiry information.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the integrity of subscriber inquiry information indicates the pendency of a subscriber inquiry, and the data distribution control server suspends an updating action of the data distribution repository during the pendency of the subscriber inquiry.

5. The system of claim 3, wherein the integrity of the information of the at least one service indicates the presence of corrupt data from the data service, and the data distribution control server suspends at least one of an updating action of the data distribution repository and a subscriber inquiry against the data distribution repository when corrupt data is indicated.

6. The system of claim 3, wherein the hardware fault information indicates at least one of an invalid database record, invalid data feed from the at least one service and power fault condition, and the data distribution control server executes a failure backup action upon the detection of a hardware fault.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the data distribution control server substitutes at least one backup server in the data distribution repository upon the detection of a hardware fault.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the subscribers receive the personalized intelligence by at least one of telephone messaging, email messaging, and network-enabled voice messaging.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the data distribution repository comprises a redundant data storage facility.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the redundant data storage facility comprises a plurality of RAID devices communicating with a plurality of database servers.

11. A method for warehousing information for the realtime generation and delivery of personalized intelligence to a plurality of subscribers, comprising:

a) receiving at least one service for each of the plurality of subscribers using information from at least one channel database containing information data and data stored in a data distribution repository, the data distribution repository storing SQL and procedures to retrieve data from the channel database for the at least one service and storing filters to be applied to the data from the channel database for the plurality of subscribers; and

b) detecting state information of the data distribution repository including any updates occurring to the data stored in the data distribution repository to maintain coherency and integrity of the retrieval and transmission of the personalized intelligence to the subscribers to retrieval and transmission of the personalized intelligence to the subscribers during the processing of the at least one service based on the SQL, procedures, and filters stored in the data distribution repository.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the data distribution repository comprises a relational database accessible by OLAP inquiry.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the state information comprises at least one of integrity information of the at least one service, database coherency information, hardware fault information, and integrity of subscriber inquiry information.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the integrity of subscriber inquiry information indicates the pendency of a subscriber inquiry, and further comprising a step of (c) suspending an updating action of the data distribution repository during the pendency of the subscriber inquiry.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein the integrity information of the at least one service indicates the presence of corrupt data from the data service, and further comprising a step of (d) suspending at least one of an updating action of the data distribution repository and a subscriber inquiry against the data distribution repository when corrupt data is indicated.

16. The method of claim 13, wherein the hardware fault information indicated at least one of an invalid database record, invalid data feed from the at least one service and power fault condition, and further comprising a step of (e) executing a failure backup action upon the detection of a hardware fault.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the step (f) of executing a failure backup action comprises a step of (g) substituting at least one backup server in the data distribution repository upon the detection of a hardware fault.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising a step of (h) delivering the personalized intelligence to the subscribers by at least one of telephone messaging, email messaging, and network-enabled voice messaging.

19. The method of claim 11, wherein the data distribution repository comprises a redundant data storage facility.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the redundant data storage facility comprises a plurality of RAID devices communicating with a plurality of database servers.