Merging data queries to reduce duplicate queries

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2026093696-A1
Application number	US-202418901030-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Sep 30, 2024
Priority date	Sep 30, 2024
Publication date	Apr 2, 2026
Grant date	—

Abstract

During computer operation, it is sometimes necessary for the computer to retrieve data by performing a query. There may be situations in which multiple queries may need to be executed. In some embodiments, when multiple individual queries need to be executed, instead of executing each individual query to obtain data requested by each individual query, a single query may be generated from the individual queries. The single query encompasses all the data requests in each individual query and may therefore be referred to as a “merged query”. The merged query is then executed, and the data returned is mapped to responses for the individual queries. Technical benefits may include the reduction or elimination of duplicate data fetching, e.g. fewer query operations/data fetches, while still fetching all data requested by all of the individual queries.

First claim

1 : A computer-implemented method comprising:
executing different applications responsive to one or more events occurring during computer operation, each application of at least some of the applications requiring the execution of a respective one or more data queries associated with the application; rather than executing all of the data queries, for at least a plurality of individual data queries associated with different applications:
generating a merged data query that includes, for each data request in each individual data query of the plurality of individual data queries, a corresponding data request in the merged data query, wherein for two or more of the plurality of individual data queries each requesting same particular data, only a single corresponding data request requesting the particular data is included in the merged data query;
executing the merged data query to obtain a merged response having the data requested by the merged data query; and
for each individual data query:
mapping the data in the merged response that is requested by the individual data query to a response for the individual data query; and
providing the data requested by the individual data query by providing the response for the individual data query.

2 : The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , further comprising:
generating and storing, for each individual data query, a map that indicates which data from the merged response is to be included in the response for the individual data query.

3 : The computer-implemented method of claim 2 ,
wherein, for each individual data query, the individual data query specifies one or more data requests by specifying one or more objects and, for at least one object, by specifying one or more fields of the object; wherein the merged data query also specifies one or more objects and, for at least one object, specifies one or more fields of the object, wherein the specified one or more objects and the specified one or more fields in the merged data query encompass every object and field specified in the individual data queries; and wherein, for two or more of the individual data queries that request the same particular data by each specifying a same particular field within a same particular object, the merged query only specifies the particular object once and only specifies the particular field once within the particular object;
the method further comprising:
for each individual data query, generating the response for the individual data query, including providing in the response respective data mapped from the merged response for each of the one or more fields specified by the individual data query.

4 : The computer-implemented method of claim 3 ,
wherein a structure of the individual data query, including the one or more objects and the one or more fields specified by the individual data query, defines a response structure of the response for the individual data query; and wherein generating the response for the individual data query comprises generating the response to have the response structure defined by the structure of the individual data query.

5 : The computer-implemented method of claim 4 , wherein the response structure for the individual data query is in JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) format, and the map indicates, for each field of the one or more fields specified by the individual data query, which data from the merged response is to be included for that field in the response for the individual data query.

6 : The computer-implemented method of claim 2 , wherein responsive to multiple individual data queries of the plurality of individual data queries each requesting a same contextual data field, the method further comprises:
including, in the merged data query, multiple requests for the contextual data field, each request of the multiple requests associated with a respective tag that uniquely links the request back to a corresponding individual data query; and for each corresponding individual data query, including in the map for the corresponding individual data query an indication of the respective tag that is associated with the request for the contextual data field in the merged data query.

7 : The computer-implemented method of claim 6 , wherein prior to the one or more events occurring during the computer operation, processing at least some of the plurality of individual data queries, wherein the processing comprises:
for each individual data query that requests the contextual data field, identifying the request for the contextual data field and modifying the individual data query to include an instruction to associate the unique tag with the request for the contextual data field.

8 : The computer-implemented method of claim 7 , wherein the processing further comprises:
for each individual data query of the plurality of individual data queries, validating the individual data query against a schema used to retrieve the data requested in the individual data query.

9 : The computer-implemented method of claim 8 , wherein each individual data query of the plurality of individual data queries is associated with a respective application that, when executed, utilizes data in the response for the individual data query, and wherein the processing is performed responsive to deployment of the respective application.

10 : (canceled)

11 : The computer-implemented method of claim 2 , wherein a particular individual data query includes a particular data request that requires providing an identifier (ID) as part of the data request, the ID associated with the particular individual data query, and wherein the method further comprises:
including, in the merged data query, the particular data request and the ID; and including, in the map for the particular individual data query, an indication of the ID to associate the particular data request in the merged data query with the particular individual data query.

12 : The computer-implemented method of claim 2 , wherein a particular individual data query includes a custom name for particular data, and wherein the map for the particular individual data query indicates a mapping back to the custom name from the corresponding data in the merged response.

13 : The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein executing the merged data query to obtain the merged response comprises transmitting the merged data query to an application programming interface (API) and receiving the merged response from the API in JSON format.

14 : A system comprising:
at least one processor; and a memory storing processor-executable instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the system to:
execute different applications responsive to one or more events occurring during computer operation, each application of at least some of the applications requiring the execution of a respective one or more data queries associated with the application;
rather than executing all of the data queries, for at least a plurality of individual data queries associated with different applications:
generate a merged data query that includes, for each data request in each individual data query of the plurality of individual data queries, a corresponding data request in the merged data query, wherein for two or more of the plurality of individual data queries each requesting same particular data, only a single corresponding data request requesting the particular data is included in the merged data query;
execute the merged data query to obtain a merged response having the data requested by the merged data query; and
for each individual data

Assignees

• Shopify Inc

Inventors

• Petro Adam
• Walkinshaw Scott
• Cameron David

Classifications

• G06F16/24526

  Internal representations for queries · CPC title

• G06F16/24534 Primary

  Query rewriting; Transformation · CPC title