System and method of generating reusable distance measures for data processing

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9058345-B2
Application number	US-64095809-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 17, 2009
Priority date	Dec 17, 2009
Publication date	Jun 16, 2015
Grant date	Jun 16, 2015

Abstract

In one embodiment the present invention includes a computer-implemented method of analyzing data. The method includes storing, by a computer system, a column definition that includes metadata that defines a column. The method further includes generating, by the computer system, a distance measure for the column. The method further includes storing, by the computer system, the distance measure for the column as part of the metadata for the column in the column definition. In this manner, improvements may result in the areas of reuse, delegation, usability, and precalculation.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A computer-implemented method of analyzing data, comprising:
storing, by a computer system, a column definition that includes metadata that defines a column;
generating, by the computer system, a user interface that receives selection of a distance measure function for the column;
storing, by the computer system, the distance measure function for the column as part of the metadata for the column in the column definition, wherein the distance measure function stored in the metadata for the column corresponds to rules for comparing a plurality of data values of the column, wherein the distance measure function stored in the metadata for the column corresponds to a function that compares the plurality of data values of the column;
receiving, by the computer system, a request to compare the plurality of data values of the column;
accessing, by the computer system after receiving the request, the distance measure function stored in the metadata for the column;
generating, by the computer system after receiving the request, a plurality of distance measure results by applying the distance measure function stored in the metadata for the column to the plurality of data values; and
displaying, by the computer system, a comparison between the plurality of distance measure results,
wherein storing the distance measure function includes:
receiving a first type for the distance measure function for the column,
generating a first set of distance measure results that corresponds to the first type for the distance measure function,
saving the distance measure function having the first type in the metadata for the column,
receiving a second type for the distance measure function for the column, wherein the first type and the second type are two of a derived type, a distance along a hierarchy type, an axis distortion and automatic binning type, a categorical type, a routine type, and a measurement-specific adoption rule type,
generating a second set of distance measure results that corresponds to the second type for the distance measure function, and
saving the distance measure function having the second type in the metadata for the column.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the distance measure function is a norm function stored in the metadata for the column, further comprising:
calculating, by the computer system, a norm for the column according to the norm function.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the distance measure function is a metric function stored in the metadata for the column, further comprising:
calculating, by the computer system, a metric for the column according to the metric function.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the column includes a plurality of component columns that include a plurality of distance measure functions, respectively, and wherein the distance measure function is derived from the plurality of distance measure functions of the plurality of component columns, respectively.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the distance measure function stored in the metadata for the column is generated according to a distance along a hierarchy.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the distance measure function stored in the metadata for the column is generated according to axis distortion and automatic binning.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the distance measure function stored in the metadata for the column is generated according to a categorical metric.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , further comprising:
storing representations of the plurality of data values of the column, wherein the Representations are suited for comparison of the values.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , further comprising:
reading, by the computer system, all the plurality of data values from a Database prior to generating the plurality of distance measure results.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the distance measure function stored in the metadata for the column includes external hierarchy information stored in the column definition.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the distance measure function stored in the metadata for the column includes aggregated column information stored in the column definition.

12. A computer program, embodied on a tangible non-transitory recording medium, for controlling a computer system to analyze data, the computer program comprising:
a database management program that is configured to control the computer system to store, in the computer system, a column definition that includes metadata that defines a column;
a distance measurement generator program that is configured to control the computer system to generate a user interface that receives selection of a distance measure function for the column; and
a comparison program,
wherein the database management program is further configured to control the computer system to store the distance measure function for the column as part of the metadata for the column in the column definition, wherein the distance measure function stored in the metadata for the column corresponds to rules for comparing a plurality of data values of the column, and wherein the distance measure function stored in the metadata for the column corresponds to a function that compares the plurality of data values of the column,
wherein the comparison program is configured to control the computer system to receive a request to compare the plurality of data values of the column,
wherein the database management program is further configured to control the computer system to access, after receiving the request, the distance measure function stored in the metadata for the column,
wherein the comparison program is further configured to control the computer system to generate, after receiving the request, a plurality of distance measure results by applying the distance measure function stored in the metadata for the column to the plurality of data values, and
wherein the comparison program is further configured to control the computer system to display a comparison between the plurality of distance measure results,
wherein storing the distance measure function includes:
the database management program being further configured to control the computer system to receive a first type for the distance measure function for the column,
the database management program being further configured to control the computer system to generate a first set of distance measure results that corresponds to the first type for the distance measure function,
the database management program being further configured to control the computer system to save the distance measure function having the first type in the metadata for the column,
the database management program being further configured to control the computer system to receive a second type for the distance measure function for the column, wherein the first type and the second type are two of a derived type, a distance along a hierarchy type, an axis distortion and automatic binning type, a categorical type, a routine type, and a measurement-specific adoption rule type,

the database management program being further configured to control the computer system to generate a second set of distance measure results that corresponds to the second type for the distance measure function, and
the database management program being further configured to control the computer system to save the distance measure function having the second type in the metadata for the column.

Assignees

• Rinneberg Thomas
• Sap Se

Inventors

• Rinneberg Thomas

Classifications

• G06F16/217 Primary

  Database tuning (G06F16/2282 takes precedence; database performance monitoring G06F11/3409) · CPC title

• G06F16/2465

  Query processing support for facilitating data mining operations in structured databases · CPC title

• G06F16/258

  Data format conversion from or to a database · CPC title

• G06F17/30306 Primary

  Physics · mapped topic

• G06F17/30569

  Physics · mapped topic