Tracking usage of resources of a database system

• US 6,938,044 B1
• Filed: 12/28/2001
• Issued: 08/30/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 12/28/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Teradata US, Inc. (Teradata Corporation)
• Original Assignee: NCR Corporation
• Inventors: Milby, Gregory H.
• Primary Examiner(s): Robinson, Greta
• Assistant Examiner(s): LEWIS, CHERYL RENEA
• Application Number:
  US10/035,742
• Time in Patent Office: 1,341 Days
• Field of Search: 707 1- 5, 707/100, 704/10, 715/532
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2291 User-Defined Types; Storage management thereof
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/145 Payments according to the detected use or quantity
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/16 for devices exhibiting advertisements, announcements, pictures or the like
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99933 Query processing, i.e. searching

Abstract

A database system is capable of storing data according to a user-defined data type (UDT). Usage of the user-defined data type is tracked, with an indication of the tracked usage provided to enable calculation of royalty to be paid. Optionally, usage of methods associated with the user-defined data type and/or user-defined functions is tracked. Alternatively, or in addition to, usage of other database system resources are also tracked.

Claims

1. A process for use in a database system, comprising:

receiving a query for data in the database system;

determining if one or more resources are accessed in response to the query;

tracking an amount of usage of the accessed one or more resources; and

storing an indication of the tracked amount of usage.

2. The process of claim 1, further comprising communicating the indication to a routine for calculating a royalty.

3. The process of claim 1, wherein determining if the one or more resources are accessed comprises determining if at least one of a user-defined data type, user-defined data type method, and user-defined function is accessed.

4. The process of claim 1, wherein storing the indication comprises storing the indication in a data dictionary.

5. An article comprising at least one storage medium containing instructions that when executed cause a database system to:

receive a query for data in the database system;

determine if one or more resources are accessed in response to the query;

track an amount of usage of the accessed one or more resources; and

store an indication of the tracked amount of usage.

6. The article of claim 5, wherein the instructions when executed cause the database system to further communicate the indication to a routine for calculating a royalty.

7. The article of claim 5, wherein the instructions when executed cause the database system to determine if the one or more resources are accessed by determining if at least one of a user-defined data type, user-defined data type method, and user-defined function is accessed.

8. The article of claim 5, wherein the instructions when executed cause the database system to store the indication in a data dictionary.

9. A process for use in a database system, comprising:

storing data according to a user-defined data type in the database system;

tracking usage of the user-defined data type; and

storing an indication of the tracked usage.

10. The process of claim 9, further comprising communicating the indication to a routine for calculating a royalty.

11. The process of claim 9, further comprising providing a flag to indicate whether usage of the user-defined data type is to be tracked.

12. The process of claim 11, further comprising accessing the flag in response to a query for creating a table that contains an attribute according to the user-defined data type.

13. The process of claim 12, further comprising receiving the query, the query comprising a Structured Query Language CREATE TABLE statement.

14. The process of claim 11, wherein providing the flag comprises storing the flag in a table of a data dictionary.

15. The process of claim 14, further comprising:

storing data according to second user-defined data type; and

storing a second flag associated with the second user-defined data type in the table to indicate whether to track usage of the second user-defined data type.

16. The process of claim 11, wherein providing the flag comprises providing the flag having a state set to one of at least two values, a first value indicating tracking of usage of the user-defined data type, and a second value indicating tracking of usage of the user-defined data type and methods associated with the user-defined data type.

17. The process of claim 9, further comprising:

providing a method associated with the user-defined data type;

tracking usage of the method; and

storing a second indication of the tracked usage of the method.

18. The process of claim 17, wherein storing the indications comprises storing the indications in a data dictionary.

19. The process of claim 18, wherein storing the indications comprises storing the indications in respective tables in the data dictionary, the tables comprising a first table containing information defining the user-defined data type, and a second table containing information defining the method.

20. The process of claim 17, further comprising:

providing a user-defined function; and

tracking usage of the user-defined function.

21. The process of claim 20, further comprising:

associating an authorization code with at least one of the user-defined data type, method, and user-defined function; and

using the authorization code to determine if access of the at least one user-defined data type, method, and user-defined function is allowed.

22. An article comprising at least one storage medium containing instructions that when executed cause a database system to:

track usage of a user-defined data type object, the user-defined data type object comprising at least one of a user-defined data type attribute and a user-defined data type method; and

store an indication of usage of the user-defined data type object.

23. The article of claim 22, wherein the instructions when executed cause the database system to further communicate the indication to a module for calculating royalty based on the indication of usage.

24. The article of claim 22, wherein the indication comprises a count, and wherein the instructions when executed cause the database system to further increment the count each time a table is created containing the user-defined data type attribute.

25. The article of claim 22, wherein the indication comprises a count, and wherein the instructions when executed cause the database system to further increment the count each time the user-defined data type method is invoked.

26. The article of claim 22, wherein the instructions when executed cause the database system to store the indication in a data dictionary.

27. The article of claim 26, wherein the instructions when executed cause the database system to further provide a flag in the data dictionary to indicate that usage of the user-defined data type object is to be tracked.

28. The article of claim 27, wherein the instructions when executed cause the database system to further access the flag each time a table containing the user-defined data type attribute is created.

29. The article of claim 27, wherein the instructions when executed cause the database system to further access the flag each time the user-defined data type method is invoked.

30. The article of claim 29, wherein the instructions when executed cause the database system to further track usage of a user-defined function.

31. A database system, comprising:

a storage subsystem to store a table; and

a controller adapted to;

create the table containing an attribute according to a user-defined data type; and

update an indication representing usage of the user-defined data type in response to creating the table.

32. The database system of claim 31, wherein the controller is adapted to further:

create a second table containing another attribute according to the user-defined data type, and

update the indication in response to creating the second table.

33. The database system of claim 32, wherein the indication comprises a count incremented by the controller.

34. The database system of claim 31, the storage subsystem to store a data dictionary,

the indication contained in the data dictionary.

35. The database system of claim 34, wherein the data dictionary further contains a flag indicating that the user-defined data type is to be tracked.

36. The database system of claim 31, wherein the controller is adapted to further:

create a second table containing an attribute according to a second user-defined data type, and

update a second indication representing usage of the second user-defined data type in response to creating the second table.

37. The database system of claim 31, further comprising plural access modules to access plural portions of the table in parallel.

38. The database system of claim 31, further comprising a method associated with the user-defined data type,

the controller adapted to track usage of the method.

39. The database system of claim 38, wherein the controller is adapted to track usage of the method by incrementing a count in response to each innovation of the method.

40. The database system of claim 38, further comprising a user-defined function, the controller adapted to track usage of the user-defined function.