Transmitting and receiving data between databases with different database processing capabilities

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9600501-B1
Application number	US-201314088283-A
Country	US
Kind code	B1
Filing date	Nov 22, 2013
Priority date	Nov 26, 2012
Publication date	Mar 21, 2017
Grant date	Mar 21, 2017

Abstract

A server system having one or more processors and memory sends, to a first database, a first request for data based on first data-retrieval criteria. The first database is schemaless and operates in accordance with first database processing capabilities. The server system receives, in response to the first request, a first set of data from the first database, where the first set of data is selected by the first database in accordance with the first data-retrieval criteria. The server system generates a second database from the first set of data selectively retrieved from the first database. The second database has an associated schema and operates in accordance with second database processing capabilities different from the first database processing capabilities. The server system provides access to the first set of data in the second database in accordance with the second database processing capabilities.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
at a respective server system having one or more processors and memory storing one or more programs that when executed by the one or more processors cause the respective server system to perform the method, the method comprising:
sending, to a first database, a first request for data based on first data-retrieval criteria, wherein the first database is schemaless and operates in accordance with first database processing capabilities;
receiving, in response to the first request, a first set of data from the first database, wherein the first set of data is selected by the first database in accordance with the first data-retrieval criteria;
generating a second database from the first set of data selectively retrieved from the first database, wherein the second database has an associated schema and operates in accordance with second database processing capabilities different from the first database processing capabilities;
providing access to the first set of data in the second database in accordance with the second database processing capabilities;
receiving, from a client, a query that can be processed using data in the second database;
processing the query using data in the second database to generate a response; and
transmitting the response to the client;

wherein
processing the query uses at least a respective database processing capability of the second database processing capabilities that is not one of the first database processing capabilities; and
the respective database processing capability of the second database processing capabilities is a database processing capability selected from the set consisting of:
a capability that is contingent upon the schema being strictly enforced;
a capability to process at least one respective query having a query-syntax that is not supported by the first database;
a capability to search within content of one or more entities in accordance with one or more query terms provided in the query;
a capability to compare a stored metadata value for a data entity to multiple bounding parameters to determine whether the metadata value satisfies a query component corresponding to the multiple bounding parameters;
a capability to combine entities from a plurality of different tables of the second database in accordance with criteria specified in the query; and
a capability to reject the query in accordance with a determination that the query does not conform to the schema associated with the second database.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein:
the second database is a relational database; and
the first database is not a relational database.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein:
the query is received prior to sending the first request to the first database; and
the first data-retrieval criteria are defined in accordance with the query.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein:
the second database is generated prior to receiving the query; and
the method further comprises, prior to receiving the query, providing the client with information indicating that the second database is available for processing data requests.
a capability to reject the query in accordance with a determination that the query does not conform to the schema associated with the second database.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first database processing capabilities are database processing capabilities that enable the first database to perform data operations against large sets of data more efficiently than the second database.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first database processing capabilities include a first set of database processing capabilities not included in the second database processing capabilities, the first set of database processing capabilities including database processing capabilities selected from the set consisting of:
a capability that is contingent upon the first database including a plurality of sorted indexes adapted for retrieving data from a schemaless database;
a capability to generate a sorted response to a query, wherein data in the sorted response is sorted in accordance with predefined criteria without performing a sorting operation after retrieving the data;
a capability to retrieve data, wherein a computational cost to retrieve the data scales with a number of results retrieved rather than a number of entities stored in the first database; and
a capability to store data distributed across a number of storage devices, wherein a subset of the data can be retrieved from one of the storage devices without accessing all of the storage devices across which the data is distributed.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving from the first database a second set of data, wherein:
the second set of data is selected by the first database in accordance with the first data-retrieval criteria; and
the second set of data includes modifications to the first set of data; and

modifying the first set of data in the second database in accordance with the second set of data.

8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving, from a client, instructions to modify the first set of data;
in response to the instructions to modify the first set of data, modifying the first set of data; and
sending, to the first database, information indicative of modifications to the first set of data.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein:
the second database has a first portion and a second portion; and
the method further comprises:
accessing the first portion of the second database on a first storage device; and
accessing the second portion of the second database on a second storage device that is different from the first storage device.

10. A method comprising:
at a respective server system having one or more processors and memory storing one or more programs that when executed by the one or more processors cause the respective server system to perform the method, the method comprising:
sending, to a first database, a first request for data based on first data-retrieval criteria, wherein the first database is schemaless and operates in accordance with first database processing capabilities;
receiving, in response to the first request, a first set of data from the first database, wherein the first set of data is selected by the first database in accordance with the first data-retrieval criteria;
generating a second database from the first set of data selectively retrieved from the first database, wherein the second database has an associated schema and operates in accordance with second database processing capabilities different from the first database processing capabilities; and
providing access to the first set of data in the second database in accordance with the second database processing capabilities;

wherein:
the second database is incapable of storing data in excess of a predefined size limit; and
the first database processing capabilities are database processing capabilities that enable the first database to perform data operations against a set of data having a size greater than the predefined size limit.

11. A method comprising:
at a respective server system having one or more processors and memory storing one or more programs that when executed by the one or more processors cause the respective server system to perform the method, the method comprising:
sending, to a first database, a first request for data based on first data-retrieval criteria, wherein the first database is schemaless and operates in accordance with first database processing capabilities;
receiving, in response to the first request, a first set of data from the first database, where

Assignees

• Google Inc

Inventors

• Fuller Alfred R K

Classifications

• G06F16/27 Primary

  Replication, distribution or synchronisation of data between databases or within a distributed database system; Distributed database system architectures therefor · CPC title

• G06F16/213 Primary

  with details for schema evolution support · CPC title

• G06F17/30289 Primary

  Physics · mapped topic