Row-based data filtering at a database level

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9665603-B2
Application number	US-201514816601-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 3, 2015
Priority date	Mar 14, 2013
Publication date	May 30, 2017
Grant date	May 30, 2017

Abstract

A database management system provides row based filtering of data at a database level by evaluating content of at least one record of a write data request received from an application for a particular table from among at least one table of a database, against at least one filter rule specified for the particular table. The database management system selects, for the at least one record, whether to store the at least one record of the write data request as a separate row in the particular table based on a separate action triggered for the at least one record when evaluated against the at least one filter rule specified for the particular table, each record not selected for storage being silently discarded.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for filtering data in an incoming write data request, comprising:
a computer adding, through a request interface of a database management system, an additional filter rule for a particular table from among a plurality of tables of a database to a particular filter list comprising at least one filter rule by receiving an alter table request specified with an insert filter call comprising the additional filter rule and a sequence number for the additional filter rule;
the computer, in response to receiving a write data request through the request interface of the database management system, evaluating content of the at least one record of the write data request received from an application for the particular table against the at least one filter rule and the additional filter rule sequentially according to an order of each separate sequence number assigned to the at least one filter rule and to the additional filter rule; and
the computer selecting whether to store the at least one record of the write data request as a separate row from among a plurality of rows in the particular table based on a separate action triggered for the at least one record when evaluated against the at least one filter rule and the additional filter rule specified for the particular table, each record not selected for storage being silently discarded.

2. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising:
the computer receiving a request at the request interface of the database management system for managing the database;
the computer determining, at the request interface, whether a type of the request is the write data request or is an alter table request;
the computer, responsive to the request interface detecting that the type of the request is the write data request in a structured query language format, passing the write data request to the filter write controller in a control layer of the database management system, wherein the filter write controller selects, for the at least one record in the write data request, whether to allow storage of the at least one record of the write data request as the separate row in the particular table based on the separate action triggered for the at least one record when evaluated against the at least one filter rule specified for the particular table, wherein the separate action comprises one of allow the record to be written to the particular table, deny the record to be written to the particular table and silently discard the record, and trigger a fail controller; and
the computer, responsive to the request interface detecting that the type of the request is the alter table request, passing the alter table request to an alter table interface, wherein the alter table interface handles alter table requests comprising at least one filter call.

3. The method according to claim 2 , wherein the computer, responsive to the request interface detecting that the request is an alter table request, passing the alter table request to an alter table interface, wherein the alter table interface handles alter table requests comprising at least one filter call, comprises:
responsive to receiving the alter table request at the alter table interface, determining whether the alter table request comprises a filter request for the particular table;
responsive to the alter table request comprising the filter request and comprising an insert filter request, specifying a particular filter rule and a sequence number, inserting the particular filter rule and the sequence number in the particular filter list associated with the particular table specified in the alter table request, wherein the at least one filter rule in the particular filter list associated with the particular table is evaluated in order according to each sequence number;
responsive to the alter table request comprising the filter request and comprising an edit filter request, specifying an updated filter rule and the sequence number, editing a selected filter rule within the particular filter list identified by the specified sequence number with the updated filter rule;
responsive to the alter table request comprising the filter request and comprising a remove filter request, specifying a particular sequence number, removing an identified filter rule assigned the particular sequence number from the particular filter list;
responsive to the alter table request comprising the filter request and comprising a remove all filters request, removing the at least one filter rule from the particular filter list; and
responsive to the alter table request comprising the filter request and comprising a show all filters request, returning a record of each at least one filter rule from the particular filter list.

4. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising:
the computer receiving, by the database management system, the write data request from the one or more applications external to the database management system, wherein each at least one application compiles the at least one record with at least one additional record into a row collection comprising a plurality of records directed in the write data request for storage in the particular table.

5. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the computer evaluating content of at least one record of the write data request for the particular table, against the at least one filter rule specified for the particular table in the particular filter list comprises:
the computer evaluating, by the filter write controller, whether content of a first record of the at least one record matches the same content specified in a first conditional rule of a first filter rule of the at least one filter rule;
the computer, responsive to the conditional rule being true for the first record, triggering a particular action paired with the conditional rule in the first filter rule for the first record; and
the computer, responsive to triggering the particular action paired with the conditional rule in the first filtering rule for the first record, not evaluating the first rule against any remaining rules in the particular filter list;
the computer, responsive to the conditional rule not being true for the first record, determining whether any rules remain in the particular filter list;
the computer, responsive to detecting no rules remain in the particular filter list, automatically selecting to allow the first record to be inserted into the particular table; and
the computer, responsive to detecting at least one rule remains in the particular filter list, evaluating whether content of the first record matches the same content specified in a second conditional rule of a second filter rule of the at least one filter rule.

6. The method according to claim 1 , the computer evaluating content of at least one record of the write data request for the particular table, against the at least one filter rule specified for the particular table in the particular filter list comprises:
the computer evaluating, by the filter write controller, whether content associated with a particular column attribute of the at least one record matches the same content specified in a first conditional rule for the particular column attribute of a first filter rule of the at least one filter rule; and
the computer, responsive to the particular column attribute of the at least one record matching the same content specified in the first conditional rule for the particular column attribute of the first filter rule, setting the separate action to a particular action paired with the first conditional rule for the particular column attribute in the first filter rule, wherein the particular action comprises one of an allow action to allow storage, a deny action to deny storage and return an error message, and

Assignees

• IBM

Inventors

• Bester Karla
• Chandler Allan T
• Shewell Mark A
• Yates Stephen J

Classifications

• G06F17/3051

  Physics · mapped topic

• G06F17/30345

  Physics · mapped topic

• G06F17/30595

  Physics · mapped topic

• G06F17/30303 Primary

  Physics · mapped topic

• G06F17/30699

  Physics · mapped topic