Visualization of Combined Table Data

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2017147643-A1
Application number	US-201514946549-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Nov 19, 2015
Priority date	Nov 19, 2015
Publication date	May 25, 2017
Grant date	—

Abstract

Embodiments effect the combination of data from different tables (e.g., of an underlying database), and the visualization of that combined table data in an incremental manner. Columns from a second table may be selectively combined with those of a first table, manually by user selection and/or automatically by best guess matching. Such matching may be based upon commonalities between table column headers. A menu may allow user selection of specific table(s)/table column(s) to be combined with a first table, as well as a manner of that combination (e.g., particular types of SQL join operations). The table data combination process is visualized step-by-step (e.g., allowing toggling and forward/backward navigation between interface screens), ensuring the user is able to follow data migration in the combined workflow, and appreciate/recognize changing values resulting therefrom. Particular embodiments may leverage the processing power of an in-memory database engine to accomplish combination and/or visualization of table data.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A computer-implemented method comprising:
displaying a first database table; in response to a first instruction, an engine adding a column to the first database table from a second database table; in response to a second instruction, the engine populating fields of the column with stored values; in response to a third instruction, the engine performing a combination operation of the column with another column of the first database table; and in response to a fourth instruction, the engine displaying the fields with updated values resulting from the combination operation.

2 . A method as in claim 1 wherein the first instruction comprises the column recommended by a suggestion component.

3 . A method as in claim 2 wherein the column is recommended based upon matching a header of the column by the suggestion component.

4 . A method as in claim 1 wherein the first instruction comprises the column selected by a user.

5 . A method as in claim 4 wherein the first instruction is received from a menu.

6 . A method as in claim 1 wherein the combination operation comprises a Structured Query Language (SQL) join operation.

7 . A method as in claim 6 wherein the combination operation specifies a type of the SQL join operation.

8 . A method as in claim 1 wherein:
the first table is stored in an in-memory database;
the second table is stored in the in-memory database; and
the engine comprises an in-memory database engine.

9 . A method as in claim 1 wherein the engine is located in an application.

10 . A non-transitory computer readable storage medium embodying a computer program for performing a method, said method comprising:
displaying a first database table; in response to a suggestion resulting from matching of a second database table, an engine adding a column to the first database table from the second database table; in response to a first instruction, the engine populating fields of the column with stored values; in response to a second instruction, the engine performing a combination operation of the column with another column of the first database table; and in response to a third instruction, the engine displaying the fields with updated values resulting from the combination operation.

11 . A non-transitory computer readable storage medium as in claim 10 wherein the suggestion results from matching a header of the column.

12 . A non-transitory computer readable storage medium as in claim 10 wherein the suggestion is received from a suggestion component of the engine.

13 . A non-transitory computer readable storage medium as in claim 10 wherein the suggestion is received from a suggestion component of an application layer.

14 . A non-transitory computer readable storage medium as in claim 10 wherein:
the first table is stored in an in-memory database;
the second table is stored in the in-memory database; and
the engine comprises an in-memory database engine.

15 . A computer system comprising:
one or more processors; a software program, executable on said computer system, the software program configured to cause an in-memory database engine to: display a first database table from an in-memory database add a column to the first database table from a second database table, in response to a first instruction; populate fields of the column with stored values in response to a second instruction; perform a combination operation of the column with another column of the first database table in response to a third instruction; and display the fields with updated values resulting from the combination operation, in response to a fourth instruction.

16 . A computer system as in claim 15 wherein the first instruction comprises the column recommended by a suggestion component.

17 . A computer system as in claim 16 wherein the column is recommended based upon matching of a header of the column by the suggestion component.

18 . A computer system as in claim 16 wherein the suggestion component is part of the engine.

19 . A computer system as in claim 16 wherein the suggestion component is separate from the engine.

20 . A computer system as in claim 16 wherein the suggestion component is in an application layer overlying the in-memory database.

Assignees

• Business Objects Software Ltd

Inventors

• Zaidi Huma
• Visser Marjolein
• Poon Madison

Classifications

• G06F17/30466 Primary

  Physics · mapped topic

• G06F17/30398

  Physics · mapped topic

• G06F16/24544 Primary

  Join order optimisation · CPC title

• G06F16/2428 Primary

  Query predicate definition using graphical user interfaces, including menus and forms (G06F16/2423 takes precedence) · CPC title