Method and system for providing business intelligence web...

Data processing: database and file management or data structures – Database design – Data structure types

Reexamination Certificate

Rate now

  [ 0.00 ] – not rated yet Voters 0   Comments 0

Details

C707S793000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06658432

ABSTRACT:

FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates generally to systems and methods for a layered web-business intelligence server architecture for use in a reporting system, decision support system, business intelligence system and on-line analytical processing (OLAP) system to enable the efficient exchange of business intelligence information.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Decision support systems (DSS) have been developed to efficiently retrieve selected information from data warehouses, thereby providing business intelligence information to the organization. One type of decision support system is known as an on-line analytical processing system (“OLAP”). In general, OLAP systems analyze the data from a number of different perspectives and support complex analyses against large input data sets.
In conventional web-based OLAP access systems, the exchange of business intelligence information between World Wide Web client computer systems and business intelligence server computer systems requires substantial processing capabilities and resources on the individual client computer systems. Often, the interface between the client and the server systems require the client systems to download, install and run a plurality of web browser plugin utilities in order to view or effectively interact with the exchanged information. By requiring the client-side systems to perform a substantial portion of the information processing, server-side applications were able to effectively manipulate the large quantities of data typically in business intelligence or OLAP environments. However, the ever changing landscape of browser and plugin software (e.g., java) makes it difficult for client-side systems to remain current with every element of technology necessary to interact with the server-side applications providing the business intelligent information. Further, for individuals who routinely use more than one client-side machine to access information, ensuring that each machine includes all required elements is difficult and sometimes impossible
Accordingly, existing business intelligence systems fail to provide a method and system for exchanging business intelligence information over a computer network wherein client-side processing and software requirements are reduced to a level compatible with virtually all client-side systems.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention overcomes the problems noted above, and provides additional advantages, by providing for a system for enabling the exchange of business intelligence information over a computer network including at least one client computer system for requesting and receiving the business intelligence information. According to the present invention, users access business intelligence information over the Internet and World Wide Web to one of a plurality of web servers that balance the incoming and outgoing load. In a preferred embodiment, the user system comprises a standard browser and communicates with the web servers without downloading any plugins or other programs to execute reports. Web server/user communication preferably occurs through use of HTML/DHTML only without program downloading.
The web servers are then connected to one or more business intelligence server system that perform analysis using databases and data warehouses. According to a preferred embodiment, the web servers do not have a direct access to any of the databases or data warehouses on which business intelligence operations occur. Rather, the web servers pass report requests via XML to the business intelligence servers to perform the work with the databases. The business intelligence servers convert reports into XML and provide the XML-based version to the web server. The web server then transmits an HTML or DHTML report back to the client over the web.
By using such a layered architecture, a more efficient and secure system is provided. In particular, because the web server does not have direct access to the database, the system is less exposed to potential exposure to persons without authorization. Moreover, the layered architecture enables the provision of a “light” client system such that the client system only uses a browser. This is important for user devices with low processing power and memory (e.g., PDAs, WAP phones, etc.) and also reduced transmission time because the user device does not have to have a plugin downloaded with the report to be able to view the report. The system also provides better efficiency because the business intelligence server systems are higher powered and thus able to handle the processor-intensive report requests.
Other advantages of the present invention will be appreciated by those of ordinary skill in the art from the detailed description that follows.


REFERENCES:
patent: 4688195 (1987-08-01), Thompson
patent: 4829423 (1989-05-01), Tennant
patent: 5197005 (1993-03-01), Shwartz
patent: 5276870 (1994-01-01), Shan
patent: 5418943 (1995-05-01), Borgida
patent: 5421008 (1995-05-01), Banning
patent: 5555403 (1996-09-01), Cambot
patent: 5584024 (1996-12-01), Shwartz
patent: 5664182 (1997-09-01), Nierenberg
patent: 5692181 (1997-11-01), Anand
patent: 5737592 (1998-04-01), Nguyen
patent: 5864856 (1999-01-01), Young
patent: 5914878 (1999-06-01), Yamamoto
patent: 5974441 (1999-10-01), Rogers
patent: 6154766 (2000-11-01), Yost
patent: 6247008 (2001-06-01), Cambot
patent: 6279033 (2001-08-01), Selvarajan
patent: 6408292 (2002-06-01), Bakalash et al.
patent: 6424979 (2002-07-01), Livingston et al.
J. Emigh, Information Builders, Inc. Launches WebFocus Suite, pp. 1-3, Mar. 10, 1998.
Kurz, A. et al., Data warehousing within intranet: prototype of a web-based executive information system, IEEE Database and Expert Systems Applications, pp. 627-632, Sep. 1, 1997.
Robert C. Stern, Bruce M. Anderson and Craig W. Thompson, A Menu-Based Natural Language Interface to a Large Database, Texas Instruments Incorporated, P. O. Box 660246, MS 238, Dallas, Texas 75266, NAECON: National Aerospace & Electronics Conference, Dayton, Ohio, May 20-24, 1985.
Harry R. Tennant, Kenneth M. Ross, Richard M. Saenz, Craig W. Thompson, and James R. Miller, Computer Science Laboratory, Central Research Laboratories, Texas Instruments Incorporated, Dallas, Texas, 21st Annual Meeting of the Association for Computational Linguistics, MIT, Jun. 1983, pp 151-158.
Harry R. Tennant, Member, IEEE, Roger R. Bate, Member, IEEE, Stephen M. Corey, Lawrence Davis, Paul Kline, LaMott G. Oren, Malipatola Rajinikanth, Richard Saenz, Daniel Stenger, Member, IEEE, and Craig W. Thompson, Software Innovations for the Texas Instruments Explorer Computer, Proceedings of the IEEE, vol. 73, No. 12, Dec. 1985.
Craig W. Thompson, Kenneth M. Ross, Harry R. Tennant and Richard M. Saenz, Building Usable Menu-Based Natural Language Interfaces to Databases, Proceedings of the Ninth International Conference on Very Large Data Bases, Florence, Italy, Oct. 31-Nov. 2, 1983, pp 43-55.
Craig W. Thompson, John Kolts, and Kenneth W. Ross, A Toolkit for Building “Menu-Based Natural Language” Interfaces, Texas Instruments Incorporated, P. O. Box 226015, MS 238, Dallas, Texas 75265, 1985.
Craig Warren Thompson, M.A., B.A., Using Menu-Based Natural Language Understanding to Avoid Problems Associated with Traditional Natural Language Interfaces to Databases, Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of The University of Texas at Austin, May 1984.
Microstrategy Announces DSS Web, First Relational OLAP Interface for Accessing Data Warehouses Via the World Wide Web.
Microstrategy Announces DSS Web 4.1, Latest Version Provides Web-Based Warehouse Users With More Complex Ad Hoc analysis Capabilities Than any Product Available.
Microstrategy Announces DSS Web 5.0, DSS Web Introduces the Web-Cast of Decision Support.
Microstrategy Addresses Customer Needs With DSS Web 5.1, New Version Provides a Bridge Between Active and Passive Decision Support Environments and Eases the Global Implementation and Deployment Process.
Microstrategy Introduces DSS Web Standard Edition, Web Interface Provides Powerful, Easy

LandOfFree

Say what you really think

Search LandOfFree.com for the USA inventors and patents. Rate them and share your experience with other people.

Rating

Method and system for providing business intelligence web... does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.

If you have personal experience with Method and system for providing business intelligence web..., we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Method and system for providing business intelligence web... will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

     

Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-3135442

  Search
All data on this website is collected from public sources. Our data reflects the most accurate information available at the time of publication.