Optimized storage for measurement data

• US 7,191,184 B2
• Filed: 05/02/2002
• Issued: 03/13/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 05/02/2001
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: National Instruments Corporation (Emerson Electric Company)
• Original Assignee: National Instruments Corporation (Emerson Electric Company)
• Inventors: Pierce, David Mark, Romainczyk, Stefan, Haub, Andreas Peter, Helpenstein, Helmut J., Laborde, Guy Vachon
• Primary Examiner(s): Pardo; Thuy N.
• Application Number:
  US10/137,723
• Publication Number:
  US 20030154192A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,776 Days
• Field of Search: 707/102, 707/4, 707/204, 707/101, 707/103.R, 707/104.1, 702/12, 702/104, 702/123
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/22 Indexing; Data structures therefor; Storage structures
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99942 Manipulating data structure, e.g. compression, compaction, compilation
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99943 Generating database or data structure, e.g. via user interface
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99944 Object-oriented database structure
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99945 Object-oriented database structure processing

Abstract

A system and method for storing measurements. Each measurement may include bulk data and attribute data. The bulk data and the attribute data may be stored using different storage mechanisms. In one embodiment, relational database technology may be used to store the attribute data. Relational database technology may facilitate querying or searching on the attribute data. The bulk data may be stored in a database specialized for storing bulk data.

Claims

1. A method for storing a measurement, the method comprising:

receiving bulk data associated with the measurement;

receiving one or more attribute values associated with the measurement, wherein the one or more attribute values associated with the measurement specify one or more of;

a date for when the bulk data was acquired;

a time for when the bulk data was acquired;

a name of a person controlling acquisition of the bulk data;

a serial number of a unit under test; and

an engineering unit with which the bulk data was acquired;

storing the bulk data in a first data store; and

storing the one or more attribute values in a second data store;

wherein the first data store is a different type of data store than the second data store.

2. The method of claim 1,

wherein the first data store comprises a database specialized for storing bulk data.

3. The method of claim 1,

wherein the first data store provides compressed real-time storage of the bulk data.

4. The method of claim 1,

wherein the first data store comprises one or more files.

5. The method of claim 1,

wherein the second data store comprises a relational database.

6. The method of claim 1,

wherein said storing the one or more attribute values in the second data store comprises storing the one or more attribute values as a row in a table of a relational database.

7. The method of claim 6,

wherein the table includes a first column for storing links to bulk data;

wherein the method further comprises storing a value in the first column for the row to link the one or more attribute values associated with the measurement to the bulk data associated with the measurement.

8. The method of claim 1,

wherein the measurement is structured according to a data model;

wherein said receiving bulk data associated with the measurement comprises receiving bulk data defined by the data model;

wherein said receiving one or more attribute values associated with the measurement comprises receiving values for one or more attributes defined by the data model.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

storing the data model.

10. The method of claim 9,

wherein said storing the data model comprises storing the data model in one of the first data store or the second data store.

11. The method of claim 9,

wherein said storing the data model comprises storing the data model in a third data store;

wherein the third data store is different than the first data store and the second data store.

12. The method of claim 1,

wherein said receiving bulk data associated with the measurement comprises receiving data acquired from one or more hardware devices.

13. The method of claim 1,

wherein the bulk data comprises waveform data.

14. The method of claim 1,

wherein the measurement is a first measurement;

wherein the method further comprises;

receiving bulk data associated with a second measurement;

receiving one or more attribute values associated with the second measurement;

storing the bulk data in a third data store; and

storing the one or more attribute values in the second data store;

wherein the third data store is a different type of data store than the second data store.

15. The method of claim 1,

wherein the measurement is a first measurement;

wherein the method further comprises;

receiving bulk data associated with a second measurement;

receiving one or more attribute values associated with the second measurement;

storing the bulk data in the first data store; and

storing the one or more attribute values in a third data store;

wherein the third data store is a different type of data store than the first data store.

16. The method of claim 1,

wherein said storing the bulk data comprises:

storing a first portion of the bulk data in a first data store; and

storing a second portion of the bulk data in a third data store;

wherein the first data store and the third data store are each a different type of data store than the second data store.

17. A method for storing data, the method comprising:

receiving the data, wherein a first portion of the data comprises attribute data and a second portion of the data comprises bulk data, wherein the attribute data comprise one or more attribute values specifying one or more of;

a date for when the bulk data was acquired;

a time for when the bulk data was acquired;

a name of a person controlling acquisition of the bulk data;

a serial number of a unit under test; and

an engineering unit with which the bulk data was acquired;

storing the second portion of the data comprising the bulk data in a first data store; and

storing the first portion of the data comprising the attribute data in a second data store;

wherein the first data store is a different type of data store than the second data store.

18. The method of claim 17,

wherein said storing the second portion of the data and storing the first portion of the data comprises storing the second portion of the data and storing the first portion of the data such that the attribute data is associated with the bulk data.

19. The method of claim 17,

wherein the first data store comprises a database specialized for storing bulk data.

20. The method of claim 17,

wherein the first data store provides compressed real-time storage of the bulk data.

21. The method of claim 17,

wherein the second data store comprises a relational database.

22. The method of claim 17,

wherein the data is structured according to a data model;

wherein the bulk data is defined by the data model;

wherein the attribute data is defined by the data model.

23. The method of claim 22, further comprising:

storing the data model.

24. The method of claim 17,

wherein the data comprises measurement data.

25. The method of claim 17,

wherein the bulk data comprises one or more of:

waveform data;

trace data;

data representing a user interface element;

a blob (Binary Large OBject);

audio data;

video data.

26. A system comprising:

a storage for measurement data, wherein the measurement data comprises bulk data and attribute data,

wherein the attribute data comprises one or more attribute values associated with the measurement specifying one or more of;

a date for when the bulk data was acquired;

a time for when the bulk data was acquired;

a name of a person controlling acquisition of the bulk data;

a serial number of a unit under test; and

an engineering unit with which the bulk data was acquired; and

wherein the storage comprises;

a relational storage for storing the attribute data; and

a compressed real-time storage for storing the bulk data; and

an interface to the storage, wherein the interface is operable to retrieve one or more units of the bulk data and the attribute data based on a search query submitted to the interface.