1995-01-17
1998-03-10
Black, Thomas G.
395603, 395201, 39520008, 39520009, G06F 1730
Patent
active
057272018
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a data retrieval system.
2. Description of the Related Art
Data retrieval systems are well known which enable system users to gain access to data stored on a central database from remote terminals. One simple example of such a system is a conventional telephone number directory system in which the name of a telephone subscriber, the address of that subscriber, the postcode of that subscriber and the telephone number of that subscriber are stored. Data is generally organised in such systems in alphabetical name order to enable simple access by entering a subscriber's name and searching through the stored names for a match with the entered name. If a match is located, or a similar name is located, the associated address and telephone number dam can be retrieved. It will of course be appreciated that on such a database the data could be searchable in for example telephone number order or postcode order, depending on what users required. However the data is organised, it is fundamental to such systems that search terms (for example names) are organised in a logical order (for example alphabetical order) so that the database can be rapidly and reliably searched to find a match with an entered search term.
It is conventional practice with data retrieval systems exemplified by the telephone directory service mentioned above to provide a single central "host" computer which stores all of the relevant data, and a distributed series of subscriber terminals from which access to the host computer can be gained to obtain the data required. The host computer is a sophisticated mainframe computer capable of rapidly searching through the stored dam in response to a large number of simultaneous requests, whereas the subscriber terminals are relatively "dumb" machines which so far as the searching process is concerned act as simple input and output devices. This system structure has been adopted for two very good reasons. Firstly, it is vital to be able to update databases on a regular basis, and this means that updating must be controlled at a central location. It is simply not practical to distribute updated information to a large number of terminals in a reliable manner. Secondly, as the economics of data retrieval systems are generally based on the principle of charging users in proportion to their use of the system, it is very important that the system operator retains full control of access to the stored data. For this reason it is highly undesirable to provide subscriber terminals with copies of significant portions of the database.
Thus, in the conventional data retrieval systems, the user keys in a search term, that search term is transmitted to the host computer, the host computer then searches through its database for an exact or close match to the keyed in search term, and the host computer then transmits to the subscriber terminal any data which has been located. As the size of databases has increased, and the number of access requests which databases have to handle has increased, it has been necessary to enhance the performance of the host computing system to keep pace with demand. The time taken for a request for data to be processed is fundamental to the economics of such systems. Accordingly system designers have concentrated on reducing the time taken for each data retrieval request to be processed so as to keep pace with users' demands, and many sophisticated solutions to the problems encountered in this development process have been proposed. Unfortunately, as fast as software and hardware system improvements are discovered, the demands on the system increase.
It is an object of the present invention to obviate or mitigate the problems outlined above.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
According to the present invention, there is provided a dam retrieval system comprising a host computer in the memory of which data to be retrieved is stored, and a plurality of user terminals from which requests for data are transmitted to th
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Alam Hosain T.
Black Thomas G.
Phonelink PLC
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