Mapping entities in data models

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9251225-B2
Application number	US-201313949761-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 24, 2013
Priority date	Jul 24, 2012
Publication date	Feb 2, 2016
Grant date	Feb 2, 2016

Abstract

Mapping information that specifies attributes of destination entities in terms of attributes of source entities is received. At least some source entities correspond to respective sets of records in one or more data storage systems. The mapping information is processed to generate a procedural specification for computing values corresponding to attributes of destination entities. Collections of nodes are generated, each including a first node representing a first relational expression associated with a specified attribute. At least some collections form a directed acyclic graph that includes links to one or more other nodes representing respective relational expressions associated with at least one attribute of at least one source entity referenced by a relational expression of a node in the graph. At least two of the collections are merged with each other to form a third collection based on comparing relational expressions of nodes being merged.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for processing data in one or more data storage systems, the method including:
receiving mapping information that specifies one or more attributes of one or more destination entities in terms of one or more attributes of one or more source entities, at least some of the one or more source entities corresponding to respective sets of records in the one or more data storage systems; and
processing the mapping information to generate a procedural specification for computing values corresponding to at least some of the one or more attributes of one or more destination entities, the processing including
generating a plurality of collections of nodes, each collection including a first node representing a first relational expression associated with an attribute specified by the mapping information, and at least some collections forming a directed acyclic graph that includes links to one or more other nodes representing respective relational expressions associated with at least one attribute of at least one source entity referenced by a relational expression of a node in the directed acyclic graph, and
merging at least two of the collections with each other to form a third collection based on comparing relational expressions of nodes being merged.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the mapping information includes a first mapping rule that defines a value of an attribute of a destination entity in terms of a value of an attribute of a first source entity and a value of an attribute of a second source entity.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein a first collection of nodes associated with the first mapping rule includes: a first node representing a first relational expression including a relational algebra operation that references the first source entity and the second source entity, a second node linked to the first node representing a relational expression including the first source entity, and a third node linked to the first node representing a relational expression including the second source entity.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the mapping information includes a second mapping rule that defines a value of an attribute of a destination entity in terms of a value of an attribute of the first source entity.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the merging includes merging the first collection with a second collection of one or more nodes associated with the second mapping rule, including merging the second node with a node of the second collection representing a relational expression that includes the first source entity.

6. The method of claim 3 , wherein the relational algebra operation is a join operation.

7. The method of claim 3 , wherein the relational algebra operation is an aggregation operation.

8. The method of claim 2 , wherein the first source entity and the second source entity are related according to a relationship defined in a schema.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the schema includes multiple entities, and relationships between the entities include one or more of: a one-to-one relationship, a one-to-many relationship, or a many-to-many relationship.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein generating the procedural specification includes generating a dataflow graph from the third collection, the dataflow graph including components configured to perform operations corresponding to relational expressions in respective nodes of the third collection, and links representing flows of the records between output and input ports of components.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein generating the procedural specification includes generating a query language specification from the third collection, the query language specification including query expressions to perform operations corresponding to relational expressions in respective nodes of the third collection.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein generating the procedural specification includes generating a computer program from the third collection, the computer program including functions or expressions to perform operations corresponding to relational expressions in respective nodes of the third collection.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein the computer program is specified in at least one of the programming languages: Java, C, C++.

14. The method of claim 1 , further including processing the records in the one or more data storage systems according to the procedural specification to compute values corresponding to at least some of the one or more attributes of one or more destination entities.

15. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing a computer program for processing data in one or more data storage systems, the computer program including instructions for causing a computing system to:
receive mapping information that specifies one or more attributes of one or more destination entities in terms of one or more attributes of one or more source entities, at least some of the one or more source entities corresponding to respective sets of records in the one or more data storage systems; and
process the mapping information to generate a procedural specification for computing values corresponding to at least some of the one or more attributes of one or more destination entities, the processing including
generating a plurality of collections of nodes, each collection including a first node representing a first relational expression associated with an attribute specified by the mapping information, and at least some collections forming a directed acyclic graph that includes links to one or more other nodes representing respective relational expressions associated with at least one attribute of at least one source entity referenced by a relational expression of a node in the directed acyclic graph, and
merging at least two of the collections with each other to form a third collection based on comparing relational expressions of nodes being merged.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15 , wherein the mapping information includes a first mapping rule that defines a value of an attribute of a destination entity in terms of a value of an attribute of a first source entity and a value of an attribute of a second source entity.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 16 , wherein a first collection of nodes associated with the first mapping rule includes: a first node representing a first relational expression including a relational algebra operation that references the first source entity and the second source entity, a second node linked to the first node representing a relational expression including the first source entity, and a third node linked to the first node representing a relational expression including the second source entity.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 17 , wherein the mapping information includes a second mapping rule that defines a value of an attribute of a destination entity in terms of a value of an attribute of the first source entity.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 18 , wherein the merging includes merging the first collection with a second collection of one or more nodes associated with the second mapping rule, including merging the second node with a node of the second collection representing a relational expression that includes the first source entity.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 19 , wherein the relational algebra operation is a join operatio

Assignees

• Ab Initio Technology Llc

Inventors

• Stanfill Craig W

Classifications

• G06F16/25 Primary

  Integrating or interfacing systems involving database management systems · CPC title

• G06F17/30557 Primary

  Physics · mapped topic