Data processing: database and file management or data structures – Database design – Data structure types
Reexamination Certificate
2000-06-02
2003-02-25
Mizrahi, Diane D. (Department: 2175)
Data processing: database and file management or data structures
Database design
Data structure types
C707S793000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06526406
ABSTRACT:
CROSS-REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
Not Applicable
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a database access system which delivers and stores information in response to accesses from a plurality of users. More particularly, this invention relates to a database access method whereby it is possible to build a database which may have various data structures, without requiring new programs to be prepared for those structures, thereby reducing the time, labor and cost required for the preparation of such programs, and relieving the database builder of technical knowledge usually required for such database construction, a database access system based on that method, and a recording medium to record computer programs related with such a database access system, capable of being read by a computer.
2. Description of the Related Art including information disclosed under 37 CFR 1.97 and 1.98
To build a system enabling the use of a database, it is common to determine the table constitution at first, and then prepare a computer program, so that data can be entered and extracted into and from a database according to the name of tables, column headings, etc.
However, with such a system, if any element of the table constitution or any column heading is modified, it will be necessary, even if the new system is similar in function, to modify the program in association with the modification. Moreover, if it becomes necessary to modify any element of the table constitution or column heading after the system has been run, it will be necessary to reenter data as well as to modify the program. Such a system has another problem that, even though the system remains the same, if the language used for describing the name of table or column heading which has been compatible with the language of the database server is substituted for another, it will be also necessary to modify the program.
To meet such problems, a method has been proposed like the present invention wherein complex data comprising a number of elements are fed and extracted to and from a database, and structure defining data are introduced independently of a physical table carrying a database, thereby ensuring the structural alterability and diversity of the complex data. Such a method is disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Nos. 11-249952 and 11-265395. The invention of Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-249952 provides complex data as an object whose attribute is alterable, while the invention of Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-265395 provides the complex data as a virtual table whose relation to the real table is alterable.
However, with these two inventions, the types of elementary data are not defined independently of the types of complex data, contrary to the present invention. Further, both the inventions do not give a solution to the problem involved in the substitution of the database server language for another.
With the invention of Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-249952, an attribute is independent of the object which constitutes. With the invention of Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-265395, the column heading of a virtual table is directly related with the column heading of a real table. Accordingly, with the former invention, different kinds of objects can not share a common attribute. With the latter invention, because the real column data are directly related with the virtual column data, it will be impossible to express that different columns in different virtual tables contain same contents. It will be also impossible to search through different data masses over different types of complex data using an elementary data value put under a common data category. For example, with the latter method, a case is incompatible with the system where complex data types A, B and C have the date of data registration as an data category, and manages data masses using that date of registration data element, while the rest complex data types don't, nor a case where different data masses are searched over plural complex data types using a period during which data registration has been made.
Take, as an example, management files of companies. Various personnel files may include the name of employees, ID No., etc. in common, while various design files may include the project code, storage period, etc. in common. There often occur a plurality of common data items among different files, and if such commonness is not introduced in the system to allow the user to search across different data masses using a common data value, it will be very inconvenient.
Further, with the inventions of Japanese Patent Laid-Open Nos. 11-249952 and 11-265395, although the structure defining data are introduced to ensure the alterability and diversity of database structure, the structure management data are not managed in relation to users. Because of this, the access authorization to the structure definition cannot be controlled based on the grouping of users. This functional shortage causes various inadequate data management, e.g., a management file of a company whose access should be limited to specified departments or authorized groups will be accessible to any employees, or an employee will have to run through numerous, useless data before he will be able to reach a particular kind of data.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention has been proposed to give a solution to the above problems, and aims at providing a database access system whereby it is possible to construct a database, even when the database is to contain complex data with various configuration, without requiring separate or new programs for those variety of data configurations, by only altering the content of definition tables, thereby reducing the time, labor and cost required for the preparation of such programs, and relieving the database builder of technical knowledge usually required for such database construction.
The first invention specified here provides a database access method to deliver and store information from and in a database in response to instructions through accesses from a plurality of users, wherein single data blocks constituting the database or their clusters are made elements; data masses each comprising at least one element are prepared; data structures are defined for the data masses; elementary data type definitions are introduced to define the type of various data collected in the database at least by the data category and ID; complex data type definitions are introduced to define the complex of elementary data type definitions; the various data masses available to users are defined by specifying complex data types and assigning ID codes to the data masses; feeding individual data into the database occurs by preserving an area in the storage space of the database for each elementary data type, and storing data in a corresponding area together with the ID code defining the data mass it constitutes; and access to individual data in the database occurs by specifying the ID code for data mass, and the related complex data type definition. This forms a solution to the above problem. When locating data in a database by this method, direct notification of the names of corresponding table and column heading is not required. Accordingly, the language used for description of tables and column headings may be put aside from consideration, which relieves the database builder of a burden of changing table names or column heading names in the program which is required whenever the database server is substituted to support an incompatible language. This forms another solution to the above problem.
Further, with the database access method representing the first invention, the database information comprises electronically stored documents; the complex data type definitions are a stored assembly of format documents to serve as a model for document preparation, accompanied with typical attributes to be given to a prepared document, and document-related information files; to prepare a document, any one is selected f
Kawamoto Masataka
Namimoto Hideyo
Suzuki Kenji
Kawasaki Steel Systems R & D Corporation
Mizrahi Diane D.
Mofiz Apu M
Oliff & Berridg,e PLC
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