Data processing: database and file management or data structures – Database design – Data structure types
Reexamination Certificate
2001-08-22
2004-08-31
Corrielus, Jean M. (Department: 2172)
Data processing: database and file management or data structures
Database design
Data structure types
C707S793000, C707S793000, C707S793000, C707S793000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06785685
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to database management systems, and more particularly, to the transforming of documents to and from data objects in the database management systems.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The use of database management systems to manage information is well known in the art. For complex data management, object-oriented approaches are generally used. The term “object-oriented” refers to a software design method which uses “classes” and “objects” to model abstract or real objects. An “object” is the main building block of object-oriented programming, and is a programming unit which has both data and functionality (i.e., “methods”). A “class” defines the implementation of a particular kind of object, the variables and methods it uses, and the parent class it belongs to. Some known programming tools that can be used for developing search and result-management frameworks include C++ and Java.
FIG. 1
illustrates a content management object oriented framework, the Enterprise Information Portal (EIP). The EIP
100
comprises a plurality of class libraries
102
, including a dynamic data object (DDO) class
104
. The DDO is a database-neutral representation of an object's persistent data. Its purpose is to contain the data for a single object. The DDO comprises a set of attributes and is a self-describing data object. Some of the DDO attributes could be of the extended data object (XDO) type. The XDO is used to hold content which is usually a large object (LOB). The DDO class has methods to support persistent operation on its data content, i.e., add, delete, update, and retrieve the data. These methods are used to bring data objects in and out of the persistent store. In these operations, the content or LOB will also be made persistent as well. The DDO specification is further described in the industry standard as established by the Object Management Group (OMG).
The EIP
100
also comprises datastores
107
. A datastore is a term used to refer to a generic data storage facility, such as a relational data base, flat-file, hierarchical data base, etc. For example, for the CONTENT MANAGER, developed by INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION, the EIP datastores
106
comprises a content manager datastore
108
. The content manager datastore
108
would store the different types of data managed by the Content Manager.
However, the EIP
100
is not able to import documents with the extensible markup language (XML) format into its framework as data objects. The use of the XML document format has received widespread adoption by the industry. This approach provides numerous advantages, such as interchanging electronic documents between document repositories, automating business-to-business and business-to-consumer transactions, and allowing application programs to communicate regardless of programming languages and computing platforms where the applications run. Because the EIP
100
cannot import XML documents as data objects, it cannot exploit these advantages.
Accordingly, there exists a need for a method and system for transforming XML documents to and from data objects in an object oriented framework. The present invention addresses such a need.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
A method and system for transforming XML documents to and from data objects in an object oriented framework includes: importing the XML document; parsing the XML document; building a DOM tree from the parsed XML document; constructing at least one DDO or at least one XDO based on the DOM tree; and storing the DDO or XDO in a datastore. The present invention provides a transformation bridge connecting the XML world and the object world, allowing conversions from XML documents to data objects and vice versa to be performed seamlessly. It enhances the existing framework with a feature to process XML documents utilizing the existing framework facilities. Application developers can thus exploit the key advantages of XML representation as well as object orientation.
REFERENCES:
patent: 5924100 (1999-07-01), Chang et al.
patent: 6061689 (2000-05-01), Chang et al.
patent: 6083276 (2000-07-01), Davidson et al.
patent: 6154738 (2000-11-01), Call
patent: 6170081 (2001-01-01), Fontana et al.
patent: 6226675 (2001-05-01), Meltzer et al.
patent: 6233586 (2001-05-01), Chang et al.
patent: 6418441 (2002-07-01), Call
patent: 6480865 (2002-11-01), Lee et al.
patent: 6560633 (2003-05-01), Roberts et al.
patent: 6585778 (2003-07-01), Hind et al.
patent: 11306205 (1999-05-01), None
patent: 0056033 (2000-03-01), None
patent: 0073941 (2000-05-01), None
patent: 0101300 (2000-06-01), None
Suzuki et al., “Toward the interoperable software design models: Quartet of UML, XML, DOM and CORBA”, pp. 1-8.*
Terry A. Scott, “An Xml Assignment for a programming languages course”, ACM, pp. 163-171.*
Li et al., “Compiler support for efficient processing of XML datasets”, ACM, pp. 42-52.*
Salmimen et al., “Requirements for XML document database systems”, ACM, pp. 85-94.*
Pietriga et al., “VXT: A Visual approach to XML transformations”, ACM, pp. 1-10.*
Patel, Bhavini C. et al., “Querying Web Data: An Object-Oriented Approach,” Dept. of Computer Science, Georgia State University, Atlanta, Georgia, pp. 253-261.
Gaedke, Martin et al., “Web Content Delivery to Heterogeneous Mobile Platforms,” ER '98 Workshops on Data Warehousing and Data Mining, Mobile Data Access, and Collaborative Work Support and Spatio-Temporal Data Management, Singapore, Nov. 19-20, 1998 Proceedings, Springer, pp. 204-217.
Shimura, Takeyuki et al., “Storage and Retrieval of XML Documents Using Object-Relational Databases,” 10thInternational Conference, DEXA'99 Florence Italy, Aug. 30-Sep. 3, 1999 Proceedings, Springer, pp. 206-217.
“Persistent Object Service Specification,” Common Object Services Specification, vol. 1, Chap. 6, Mar. 1, 1994 & Oct. 12, 1994, pp. i-ii, 113-160.
IEEE 9thInternational Workshops on Enabling Technologies: Infrastructure for Collaborative Enterprises, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD, Jun. 14-16, 2000, IEEE Computer Society, pp. 255-259.
Bernstein, Philip A. et al., “A Vision for Management of Complex Models,” SIGMOD Record, Dec. 2000, vol. 29, No. 4, pp. 55-63.
Chen, Li et al., “SERFing the web: The Re-Web approach for web re-structuring,” World Wide Web 3, 2000, pp. 95-109.
Yeh, Ching-Long, “A Logic Programming Approach to Supporting the Entries of SML Documents in an Object,” Practical Aspects of Declarative Languages, Second International Workshop, PADL 2000, Boston, MA, Jan. 17-18, 2000, Proceedings, pp. 278-292.
e.V. von, Herausgegeben et al., “Sprache und Datenverarbeitung,” International Journal for Language Data Processing, vol. 23, Feb. 1999, pp. 36-61.
An Larry
Lin James
Monica Subodh
Soetarman Basuki
Summers Robert
Corrielus Jean M.
International Business Machines - Corporation
Sawyer Law Group LLP
LandOfFree
Approach for transforming XML document to and from data... does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Approach for transforming XML document to and from data..., we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Approach for transforming XML document to and from data... will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-3307842