Method and apparatus for providing automatic controlled value expansion of information

• US 8,271,433 B2
• Filed: 12/30/2009
• Issued: 09/18/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 12/30/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nokia Technologies Oy (Nokia Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Nokia Corporation
• Inventors: Boldyrev, Sergey, Honkola, Jukka, Luukkala, Vesa Veikko
• Primary Examiner(s): Le, Uyen T.
• Application Number:
  US12/649,534
• Publication Number:
  US 20110161285A1
• Time in Patent Office: 993 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 707/609
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/27 Replication, distribution or synchronisation of data between databases or within a distributed database system; Distributed database system architectures therefor

Abstract

An approach is provided for automatic controlled value expansion of information. A value expansion controller detects a request at a device to perform an information operation on a set of data elements of an information space, wherein the request identifies the set by a name and the information operation applies to each data element within the set. The value expansion controller intercepts the request based on the detection and determines the location of the data elements within a communication network based on the name. The value expansion controller retrieves the data elements from the location and populates an expansion table with the retrieved data elements, wherein the expansion table is correlated to the set. The value expansion controller performs the information operation on each data element in the expansion table and causes transmission of one or more results of the information operation to the device.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

in response to a request, processing and/or facilitating by an apparatus performance of an information operation on a set of data elements of an information space, wherein the request identifies the set by a name and the information operation applies to one or more data elements within the set;

determining, by the apparatus, a location of the one or more data elements based on the name;

causing, at least in part, by the apparatus retrieval of the one or more data elements from the location;

processing and/or facilitating by the apparatus populating an expansion table with at least the retrieved data elements, wherein the expansion table is at least substantially correlated to the set; and

processing and/or facilitating by the apparatus performance of the information operation on all or a portion of the retrieved data elements in the expansion table.

2. A method of claim 1, further comprising:

causing, at least in part, interception of the request.

3. A method of claim 1, wherein the information operation applies to the set and another set of data elements of the information space, the method further comprising:

determining another location of one or more data elements of the another set;

causing, at least in part, retrieval of the one or more data elements of the another set from the another location;

processing and/or facilitating populating another expansion table with the retrieved data elements of the another set; and

processing and/or facilitating performance of the information operation on permutations of one or more data elements of the expansion table and one or more data elements of the another expansion table.

4. A method of claim 1, further comprising:

processing and/or facilitating synchronization of the one or more data elements with the location; and

causing, at least in part, storage of the synchronized data elements locally,

wherein the information operation is performed on the locally stored data elements.

5. A method of claim 1, wherein the expansion table is stored in one or more logically separated areas of memory.

6. A method of claim 1, wherein the name is appended with a command, the method further comprising:

processing and/or facilitating performance of the command with respect to data elements in the information space before performing the information operation,

wherein the command includes create, abolish, update, delete, read, or a combination thereof.

7. A method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining an access right corresponding to the one or more data elements,

wherein the retrieval of the one or more data elements is based, at least in part, on the determined access rights.

8. A method of claim 1, wherein the request is an internal request, an external request, or a combination thereof.

9. A method of claim 1, wherein the name is a Universal Resource Identifier (URI).

10. An apparatus comprising:

at least one processor; and

at least one memory including computer program code,

the at least one memory and the computer program code configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to perform at least the following,

in response to a request, process and/or facilitate performance of an information operation on a set of data elements of an information space, wherein the request identifies the set by a name and the information operation applies to one or more data elements within the set;

determine a location of the one or more data elements based on the name;

cause, at least in part, retrieval of the one or more data elements from the location;

process and/or facilitate populating an expansion table with at least the retrieved data elements, wherein the expansion table is at least substantially correlated to the set; and

process and/or facilitate performance of the information operation on all or a portion of the retrieved data elements in the expansion table.

11. An apparatus of claim 10, wherein the apparatus is further caused to:

cause, at least in part, interception of the request.

12. An apparatus of claim 10, wherein the information operation applies to the set and another set of data elements of the information space, and the apparatus is further caused to:

determine another location of one or more data elements of the another set;

causing, at least in part, retrieval of the one or more data elements of the another set from the another location;

process and/or facilitate populating another expansion table with the retrieved data elements of the another set; and

process and/or facilitate performance of the information operation on permutations of one or more data elements of the expansion table and one or more data elements of the another expansion table.

13. An apparatus of claim 10, wherein the apparatus is further caused to:

process and/or facilitate synchronization of the one or more data elements with the location; and

cause, at least in part, storage of the synchronized data elements locally,

wherein the information operation is performed on the locally stored data elements.

14. An apparatus of claim 10, wherein the expansion table is stored in one or more logically separated areas of memory.

15. An apparatus of claim 10, wherein the name is appended with a command, and the apparatus is further caused to:

process and/or facilitate performance of the command with respect to data elements in the information space before performing the information operation,

wherein the command includes create, abolish, update, delete, read, or a combination thereof.

16. An apparatus of claim 10, wherein the apparatus is further caused to:

determine an access right corresponding to the one or more data elements,

wherein the retrieval of the one or more data elements is based, at least in part, on the determined access rights.

17. An apparatus of claim 10, wherein the request is an internal request, an external request, or a combination thereof.

18. An apparatus of claim 10, wherein the name is a Universal Resource Identifier (URI).

19. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium carrying one or more sequences of one or more instructions which, when executed by one or more processors, cause an apparatus to at least perform the following steps:

in response to a request, processing and/or facilitating performance of an information operation on a set of data elements of an information space, wherein the request identifies the set by a name and the information operation applies to one or more data elements within the set;

determining a location of the one or more data elements based on the name;

causing, at least in part, retrieval of the one or more data elements from the location;

processing and/or facilitating populating an expansion table with at least the retrieved data elements, wherein the expansion table is at least substantially correlated to the set; and

processing and/or facilitating performance of the information operation on all or a portion of the retrieved data elements in the expansion table.

20. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 19, wherein the information operation applies to the set and another set of data elements of the information space, and the apparatus is caused to further perform:

determining another location of one or more data elements of the another set;

causing, at least in part, retrieval of the one or more data elements of the another set from the another location;

processing and/or facilitating populating another expansion table with the retrieved data elements of the another set; and

processing and/or facilitating performance of the information operation on permutations of one or more data elements of the expansion table and one or more data elements of the another expansion table.