Enhanced use of tags when storing relationship information of enterprise objects

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9501474-B2
Application number	US-17383508-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 16, 2008
Priority date	Jul 16, 2008
Publication date	Nov 22, 2016
Grant date	Nov 22, 2016

Abstract

A computing system provided according to an aspect of the present invention stores tags associated with relationships specified among objects. The tags can then potentially be used to search for objects of interest. In an embodiment, a search request is received indicating a first object, a second object and a search tag. A response is provided containing a sequence of objects and a sequence of relationships connecting the first object with the second object, with each relationship having an associated tag matching the search tag.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A computing system comprising:
a database server to store data organized according to a plurality of object types and a plurality of relationship types, wherein each of said relationship types is designed to specify relationship between a pair of object types contained in said plurality of object types;
a server system to store a plurality of object instances in said database server, each of said plurality of object instances being one of said plurality of object types,
wherein pairs of object instances are related by a relationship type corresponding to the object types of the pair to form a plurality of relationships,
wherein each of said plurality of object instances and the corresponding ones of said plurality of relationships are created and stored in said database server in response to processing corresponding transactions; and
a tag tool operable to:
maintain a tag data containing a plurality of tags, said tag tool to add corresponding set of tags to said plurality of tags in response to processing each transaction, each tag being in the form of text identifying object instances and relationships created for processing a related subset of transactions, wherein each tag is stored associated with a corresponding subset of said plurality of relationships created for processing a corresponding related subset of transactions;
receive a search request containing a first object instance, a second object instance and a search tag, wherein said search tag is in the form of a first text;
determine a sequence of ordered pairs of object instances, wherein each ordered pair of object instances has a corresponding one of a sequence of relationships, wherein each of said sequence of relationships has an associated tag containing said first text representing said search tag,
each ordered pair of object instances containing a first entry and a second entry, the first entry of a first ordered pair of said sequence of ordered pairs equaling said first object instance, the second entry of a last ordered pair of said sequence of ordered pairs equaling said second object instance, the first entry of each of said sequence of ordered pairs equaling the second entry of a previous ordered pair in said sequence of ordered pairs; and
send said sequence of ordered pairs of object instances and said sequence of relationships as a response to said search request, such that a user can be displayed a manner in which said first object instance is related to said second object instance in the context of a desired subset of transactions identified by said search tag.

2. The computing system of claim 1 , wherein said server system is designed to execute an enterprise application designed to process transactions, and during processing of corresponding transactions to create and store said plurality of object instances and said plurality of relationships in said database server,
said enterprise application also designed to form said plurality of tags as said tag data and to interface with said tag tool to store said tag data associated with respective related subset of transactions during processing of the related subset of transactions.

3. The computing system of claim 2 , wherein said plurality of relationships is of a relationship type selected from a group of ‘contains’, ‘created’, ‘requested by’, ‘assigned to’, ‘revises’ and ‘is_also’,
wherein said enterprise application is designed to implement processing of change order transactions,
wherein each of said plurality of of object instances is of a object type selected from a group of ‘change_order’, ‘revised_item_line’, ‘user’, ‘item’, ‘item_revision’ and ‘customer’.

4. The computing system of claim 3 , wherein said first object instance is of said ‘customer’ type and specifies a name value,
said second object instance is of said ‘item’ type and specifies an item identifier,
said search tag specifies a search text,
wherein each of said sequence of relationships has an associated tag containing text matching said search text,
said sequence of ordered pairs of object instances and said sequence of relationships indicating at least one potential relation between a customer with said name value and an item with said item identifier.

5. The computing system of claim 2 , to examine said tag data, said tag tool being operable to:
select a matching set of relationships, each having a corresponding associated tag matching the content of said search tag;
identify a first level of relationships contained in said matching set of relationships, wherein each of said first level of relationships has said first object instance as one of the pair of object instances comprising the relationship;
form a first level of intermediate objects comprising the other ones of the pair of objects comprising each of said first level of relationships;
determine whether said second object instance is present in said first level of intermediate objects;
if said second object instance is determined to be not present,
iteratively continue to identify a subsequent level of relationships and to form a corresponding subsequent level of intermediate objects until said second object instance is determined to be present, wherein said subsequent level of relationships is contained in said matching set of relationships and each of said subsequent level of relationship has at least one of a previous level of intermediate objects as one of the pair of object instances comprising the relationship; and
otherwise include one intermediate object at each level which leads to the determination of said second object instance to connect said first object instance to said second object instance.

6. The computing system of claim 5 , wherein said tag tool is designed to maintain a setup data specifying a set of relationship types that can exist among a set of object types, wherein each of said plurality of object instances is of one of said set of object types and each of said plurality of relationships is one of said set of relationship types, wherein said enterprise application is further operable to:
receive a transaction requiring formation of a set of objects;
determine an object type corresponding to each of said set of objects, said object type being contained in said set of object types;
form said set of objects, wherein said set of objects are thereafter comprised in said plurality of object instances, and wherein each of said set of objects is associated with a corresponding identifier;
create a set of entries by examining said setup data and data received associated with said transaction, wherein each entry contains corresponding object types and identifiers of a source object and a destination object comprised in said set of objects, the entry further containing a corresponding associated tag and a relationship type, said associated tag being based on the data received associated with the transaction, said corresponding relationship type being contained in said set of relationship types; and
add said set of entries to said tag data.

7. A non-transitory machine readable medium storing one or more sequences of instructions causing a system to provide a search facility, wherein execution of said one or more sequences of instructions by one or more processors contained in said system causes said system to perform the actions of:
storing information in the form of a plurality of object instances and a plurality of relationships, each of said plurality of relationships specifying a pair of object instances having the corresponding relationship type,
wherein each of said plurality of object instances and the corresponding ones of said plurality of relationships are created and stored in response to processing corresponding transactions;
providing a

Assignees

• Gopalakrishnan Prasanth
• Oracle Int Corp

Inventors

• Gopalakrishnan Prasanth

Classifications

• G06F16/00 Primary

  Information retrieval; Database structures therefor; File system structures therefor · CPC title

• G06F17/30 Primary

  Physics · mapped topic