Systems and methods for extensions and inheritance for units of information manageable by a hardware/software interface system

• US 7,590,643 B2
• Filed: 10/24/2003
• Issued: 09/15/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 08/21/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Thompson, J. Patrick, Whitney, Robert T., Demiroski, Bekim, Nori, Anil K.
• Primary Examiner(s): Corrielus; Jean M
• Application Number:
  US10/693,574
• Publication Number:
  US 20050050073A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,153 Days
• Field of Search: 707/101, 707/102, 707/103.R, 707/200, 707/203, 717/11, 717/116, 717/165, 709/203, 709/225, 709/229
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/178 Techniques for file synchronisation in file systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/284 Relational databases
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/4492 Inheritance
• 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

Abstract

By modeling real-world application objects with complex structures, behaviors, and operations described by a schema which is enforced by the hardware/software interface system, various embodiments of the present invention provide rich sub-typing functionality by extending Items (and Item types) using “Extensions” which provide additional data structures (Properties, Relationships, etc.) to already existing Items type structures. Extensions are strongly typed instances that cannot exist independently and must be attached to an Item or a Nested Element. Extensions are also intended to address “multi-typing” issues by enabling the overlap of type instances (e.g., a Document may be a “legal document” as well a “secure document”).

Claims

1. A method of customizing a discrete storable unit of information, the method comprising the following steps:

defining a discrete storable unit of information having a type structure and a first identifier;

defining an extension type representative of a desired additional data structure;

defining an extension instance of the extension type, the extension instance being identified by the first identifier and an extension identifier and stored in a computer readable storage medium and accessible separately from the discrete storable unit of information; and

creating a customized discrete storable unit of information that is stored in the computer readable storage medium and accessible separately from the discrete storable unit of information, wherein creating the customized discrete storable unit of information comprises attaching the extension instance of the extension type to the discrete storable unit of information.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said extension cannot exist independently from said type structure of said customized discrete storable unit of information.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising the following steps:

defining a plurality of extensions, wherein each extension is representative of a desired additional data structure; and

,

attaching the extensions to the type structure of the discrete storable unit of information.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein said plurality of extensions are used to model overlapping type instances.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the discrete storable unit of information is an Item.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the discrete storable unit of information is a Nested Element.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the extension represents a specified property.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the extension represents a specified relationship.

5. A hardware/software interface system for manipulating a plurality of discrete storable units of information, said system comprising:

a processor configured to execute processor-executable instructions;

a memory in communication with the processor, the memory storing the processor-executable instructions; and

a subsystem residing in the memory and comprising processor-executable instructions for;

defining discrete storable units of information having a type structure and respective first identifiers;

defining at least one extension type representative of a desired additional data structure;

defining at least one extension instance of the at least one extension type, the at least one extension instance being identified by a respective first identifier of a discrete storable unit of information to which the at least one extension instance is attached and a respective extension identifier, the at least one extension instance being stored and accessible separately from the discrete storable units of information; and

,

creating customized discrete storable units of information that are stored and accessible separately from the discrete storable units of information, wherein creating the customized discrete storable units of information comprises attaching the at least one extension instance of the at least one extension type to the discrete storable units of information.

6. The hardware/software interface system of claim 5, wherein the at least one extension cannot exist independently from said type structure of the customized discrete storable units of information to which the at least one extension is attached.

7. The hardware/software interface system of claim 5, said system further comprising a subsystem residing in the memory and comprising processor-executable instructions for:

defining a plurality of extensions, wherein each extension is representative of a desired additional data structure; and

,

attaching the extensions to the type structure of the discrete storable units of information.

13. The hardware/software interface system of claim 5, wherein the discrete storable units of information are Items.

14. The hardware/software interface system of claim 5, wherein the discrete storable units of information are Nested Elements.

15. The hardware/software interface system of claim 5, wherein the extensions represent a specified property.

16. The hardware/software interface system of claim 5, wherein the extensions represent a specified relationship.

8. A computer-readable storage medium comprising computer-readable instructions configured to perform a method of customizing a discrete storage unit of information, the method comprising the steps:

defining a discrete storable unit of information having a type structure and a first identifier;

defining at least a first extension type and a second extension type, the first extension type representative of a first desired additional data structure required by a first application and the second extension type representative of a second desired additional data structure required by a second application;

defining a first extension instance of the first extension type, the first extension instance being identified by the first identifier and a first extension identifier;

defining a second extension instance of the second extension type, the second extension instance identified by the first identifier and a second extension identifier, the first extension instance and the second extension instance being stored and accessible separately from the discrete storable unit of information; and

creating at least two customized discrete storable units of information that are stored and accessible separately from the discrete storable unit of information, wherein creating the at least two customized discrete storable units of information comprises attaching the first extension instance of the first extension type to the discrete storable unit of information to create a first customized discrete storable unit of information and, separately, attaching the second extension instance of the second extension type to the discrete storable unit of information to create the second customized discrete storable unit of information.