Patent Application
20070192287
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a method and architecture that allows for the dynamic growth of and for the extension of the attributes that describe objects.
2. Description of the Related Art
An object is a programmatic construct that can be used to describe a product, a person, a document, and other items. Object records define a specific object in detail. For each object, an object record exists. The typical object record can contain descriptive category headings, termed fields or attributes. For each attribute, a set number of values are made possible; the set number of values are the domain of the attribute. For example, for the attribute “color,” the domain of values can be “blue, white, and red.” In the case of personal computers, an attribute for “microprocessor speed” can exist, with the domain for “microprocessor speed” being “greater than 250 megahertz (MHz),” thus excluding speeds below 250 MHz and remaining open ended for speeds greater than 250 MHz.
As users find a need to know more information about objects, there is an increase in the need to have more descriptive attributes. Table 1 illustrates an example of an object record table. This particular object record table is typical of records in databases and other architectures that store object information.
In Table 1, a list of items is illustrated. The items can include goods, services, people or other data. Items can be similar or dissimilar from one another. In this particular example four attributes exist: “Attribute 1,” “Attribute 2,” “Attribute 3,” and “Attribute 4.” Some of the items are described by certain attributes, although certain attributes do not apply to particular items. In the case of Item 3, “Attribute 2” and “Attribute 3” are applicable; Item 3 is “Blue” and has an “Attribute 3” value of “2.” “Attribute 1” and “Attribute 4” do not apply to Item 3, and so the entries for these attributes are left blank for Item 3's record.
If one desires to provide greater information regarding the Objects of Table 1, additional attributes must be added. Attributes are added subsequent to “Attribute 4.” With each attribute added, a new column is introduced into the table. The new attributes can or can not apply to existing items. The new attributes can be needed to introduce a new set of dissimilar items to the table. If an attribute does not apply to an item, the attribute entries are left empty for the individual object record.
As new items are introduced, for example when a business expands its product line, there is the need to add products to the table, and if the products require specific attributes to accurately describe them, these new attributes and new attribute columns must be added.
With the addition of new, dissimilar items that add new attributes which are not applicable to pre-existing items, more unused (blank) entries are created in the table. The blank entries are a waste of resources, resources that could be used to store actual information. Additional waste of resources takes place when the number of records is increased.
A record table such as Table 1 typically is maintained by a single entity (e.g. a central database manager). That person, group, or company has the discretion to add additional attribute columns. That entity also has the responsibility to determine how to properly allocate resources when resources are limited. In other words, the entity determines whether there is an ability to add additional columns, given the limited storage capacity, and then prioritize columns and attributes to be added. Further, there is the concern of adding new attributes that affect existing item records. For example, a new attribute can be introduced that conflicts with an existing attribute. The entity decides what descriptive attributes are important and which are not. Entities that have the ability add new items are limited in their ability to describe the items, by the existing attributes that are in place.
Therefore, there is the need to provide a method and architecture that makes minimizes or eliminates wasteful use of empty attribute or field entries, and also allows different parties to add additional descriptive attributes to a record without wasting resources or affecting other entries.
What is needed and is disclosed herein is an invention that provides for a method and an architecture that arranges objects in a class hierarchy structure. Objects can be members or associated with a particular class. A class can have attributes where child or lower level classes inherit the attributes from parent and higher level classes, for example.
In certain embodiments, attributes are defined by a domain which describes a set of values that describes the attribute. The domain value set can be modified in subsequent lower classes with the lower level classes further modifying the domain of the parent or higher level classes.
In certain embodiments, the class hierarchy can be extended horizontally, allowing classes to be added to an existing class level or levels. In other instances, embodiments provide for vertical expansion, adding new child classes to classes that were considered the lowest existing class.
In one embodiment of the present invention, a hierarchical class architecture of objects is disclosed. The hierarchical class architecture includes an upper level class, a lower level class and an attribute. The attribute is assigned to the upper level class and describes the objects. The objects are members of at least one of the upper level class and the lower level class. The lower level class is configured to inherit the attribute.
In another embodiment of the present invention, a method of arranging objects is disclosed. The method includes setting a class hierarchy (which includes an upper level class and a lower level class), assigning an attribute to the top level class and inheriting of the attribute by the lower level class. The objects are members of at least one of the upper level class and the lower level class, and the attribute describes the objects.
The foregoing is a summary and thus contains, by necessity, simplifications, generalizations and omissions of detail; consequently, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the summary is illustrative only and is not intended to be in any way limiting. Other aspects, inventive features, and advantages of the present invention, as defined solely by the claims, will become apparent in the non-limiting detailed description set forth below.
The present invention may be better understood, and it's numerous objects, features and advantages made apparent to those skilled in the art by referencing the accompanying drawings. The use of the same reference number throughout the figures designates a like or similar element.
While the invention is susceptible to various modifications and alternative forms, specific embodiments thereof are shown by way of example in the drawings and will herein be described in detail, it should be understood, however, that the drawings and detailed description thereto are not intended to limit the invention to the particular form disclosed but on the contrary, the intention is to cover all modifications, equivalents, and alternatives falling within the scope of the present invention as defined by the appended claims.
Objects can be arranged in different classes with a hierarchical system that starts with a general description or general class, and progresses down with sub-classes that provide more specific details of certain objects.
The lower classes of truck 110, cars 120 and motorcycles 130 all have motors, a color and wheels, and so can inherit the attributes of motor 102, color 104, and wheels 106 from the higher level class vehicle 100. Classes trucks 110, cars 120, and motorcycles 130 can also have specific attributes that are unique to objects contained in their classes. Class trucks 110 can have different items that have four-wheel drive or two-wheel drive, and therefore an attribute of drive 112 is added to class trucks 110. In addition, trucks can come with two doors or four doors, so an attribute of doors 114 is added to class trucks 110. An item in class trucks 110 can be described by motor 102, color 104, and wheels 106, attributes that are inherited from class vehicle 100. In addition, class trucks 110 has attributes drive 112 and doors 114 that describe individual items in class trucks 110.
Likewise, class cars 120 can have an attribute transmission 122 and attribute drive 124. Attribute transmission 112 can describe either by an automatic or a standard transmission. Attribute drive 124 can be similar to attribute drive 112, describing whether the drive is four-wheel or two-wheel drive. Since class trucks 110 and class cars 120 both share common attributes, it is possible to use another class between class vehicle 100 and classes trucks 110 and cars 120.
Class motorcycles 130 is a sub-class of class vehicle 100, however, items in class motorcycles 130 may have unique characteristics that conflict with attributes that are inherited from class vehicle 100. For example, although classes trucks 110 and cars 120 can have the same domain of attribute motor 102, items in class motorcycles 130 may not be available with the same domain value set. In other words, motorcycles may not be available with the following motors: V-8, Turbo 4, and Inline 6, motors that are part of the domain value set in attribute motor 102. Therefore, a different motor attribute (motor attribute 132) is given to class motorcycles 130. Attribute motor 132 supercedes attribute motor 102 that was inherited from class vehicle 100. In addition, an attribute accessories 134 is added to class motorcycles 130.
Additional classes can exist below other classes, which further categorize and define items. Below class cars 120 are classes sedans 140 and coupes 150. A class both contains and describes individual items. For a car that is in the class sedans 140, a certain interior color may be available, and an attribute interior color 142 is thus provided. Class sedans 140 can be further defined by whether they are luxury or economy sedans, and an attribute luxury 144 is provided to describe this characteristic. In class coupes 150, coupes can be further defined by an attribute sports 152 that designates a high end sports coupe or an economy coupe. Additionally, there can be an attribute package 154 that provides additional information regarding the value packages that are available.
Additional classes can also be added to the class hierarchy. A manufacturer or supplier of vehicles that uses the class hierarchy of
Items, and their item records, can exist at or relate to any class level. For example, if it is sufficient to describe a vehicle as being blue, with 13 inch wheels, and a inline 6 motor, that item can be a member of the class vehicle 100. The attributes needed to describe this item include motor 102, color 104, and wheels 106. If desired, the item can be a member of a class further down the hierarchy. For example, to further describe the example in which the vehicle that is blue, with 13 inch wheels, and an inline 6 motor, the vehicle can be a member of the class sedans 140. The vehicle can be further described with an automatic transmission from attribute transmission 122, with two wheel drive from attribute drive 124, with a blue interior from attribute interior color 142, and an economy edition from attribute luxury 144.
An item, to have the attributes necessary to describe the item, associates itself with a particular class. In the preceding example, when the item is a member of the general class of vehicle 100, the item record appears as in Table 3. The object is identified as an item ABC. ABC can be the model number or other reference number related to the particular item.
When item 123 is related to the more definitive class sedans 140, the item record for item 123 appears as in Table 4.
To further illustrate the inheritance of attributes from higher level classes, the example classes and the attributes that exist for the particular class are described in Table 5.
An item, to be properly described (in as much or as little detail as required) associates itself to a particular class. Association to the class provides the appropriate number of attributes to the particular item. Items (or object records describing items) therefore use only the required number of entries. No blank entries exist as a result of items having attributes that are not relevant to that item.
Attributes associated with each class can be inherited from the parent class, the attributes can be new attributes in the class, or the attributes can be overriding attributes as described in the previous example regarding vehicles. Table 7 illustrates certain attribute relationships.
Class I 200 includes an Attribute 1202 and an Attribute 204. The domain of Attribute 1 is “red, green, and blue.” Class A 210 inherits Attribute 1 from class I. Class A, however, overrides the domain value set of Attribute 1 by restricting the domain to the color choice of “red and green.” Class A 210 further inherits Attribute 2204, however, the domain remains the same with values from 100-200. Class B 220 also inherits Attribute 1 from class I; however, class B modifies the domain set to values 100-200. Class A 210 further adds a new Attribute 3212 with a domain value set of “Hard top or Soft top.” A child class cannot remove an inherited attribute from a parent class, but can make the domain more specific or restrictive. For example, within the class convertibles 160, only the colors blue and green are available, although the attribute colors 104 has been inherited that includes the domain “red, green, and blue.”
In embodiments of the invention, metadata relationships will be seen to exist. Metadata is data about data, and describes a particular set of data and how the data is used or formatted. In embodiments of the preferred invention, if a child class is identified, the parent class is also identified. A child class inherits the attributes that exist in the parent class and may also add unique attributes. Since attributes also are unique and descriptive, like classes, they are considered metadata. Identifying an attribute identifies the class and classes associated with the attribute. Multiple classes can be related to the attribute, since the attribute can be inherited from parent classes.
As discussed in the previous example of vehicles, an object or item is associated with a particular class. The class association provides the number of attributes that are available to describe the particular item. Table 8 illustrates object and class association.
The items are treated as specific instances in relation to the classes. This is an open-ended list, so additional object records can be added as illustrated by the record of indefinite item N in Table 8.
Further object item definition is illustrated in Table 9, which provides an association of an item to a particular attribute, and provides a value from the domain of the attribute. Table 9 further illustrates how storage resources are efficiently used, with no blank entries.
An Example Computing and Network Environment
One or more of client computers 520(1)-(N) and/or one or more of servers 510(1)-(N) may be, for example, a computer system of any appropriate design, in general, including a mainframe, a mini-computer or a personal computer system. Such a computer system typically includes a system unit having a system processor and associated volatile and non-volatile memory, one or more display monitors and keyboards, one or more diskette drives, one or more fixed disk storage devices and one or more printers. These computer systems are typically information handling systems which are designed to provide computing power to one or more users, either locally or remotely. Such a computer system may also include one or a plurality of I/O devices (i.e., peripheral devices) which are coupled to the system processor and which perform specialized functions. Examples of I/O devices include modems, sound and video devices and specialized communication devices. Mass storage devices such as hard disks, CD-ROM drives and magneto-optical drives may also be provided, either as an integrated or peripheral device. One such example computer system, discussed in terms of client computers 520(1)-(N) is shown in detail in
Bus 612 allows data communication between central processor 614 and system memory 616, which may include both read only memory (ROM) or flash memory (neither shown), and random access memory (RAM) (not shown), as previously noted. The RAM is generally the main memory into which the operating system and application programs are loaded and typically affords at least 66 megabytes of memory space. The ROM or flash memory may contain, among other code, the Basic Input-Output system (BIOS) which controls basic hardware operation such as the interaction with peripheral components. Applications resident with computer system 610 are generally stored on and accessed via a computer readable medium, such as a hard disk drive (e.g., fixed disk 644), an optical drive (e.g., CD-ROM drive 640), floppy disk unit 636 or other storage medium. Additionally, applications may be in the form of electronic signals modulated in accordance with the application and data communication technology when accessed via network modem 647 or interface 648.
Storage interface 634, as with the other storage interfaces of computer system 610, may connect to a standard computer readable medium for storage and/or retrieval of information, such as a fixed disk drive 644. Fixed disk drive 644 may be a part of computer system 610 or may be separate and accessed through other interface systems. Many other devices can be connected such as a mouse 646 connected to bus 612 via serial port 628, a modem 647 connected to bus 612 via serial port 630 and a network interface 648 connected directly to bus 612. Modem 647 may provide a direct connection to a remote server via a telephone link or to the Internet via an internet service provider (ISP). Network interface 648 may provide a direct connection to a remote server via a direct network link to the Internet via a POP (point of presence). Network interface 648 may provide such connection using wireless techniques, including digital cellular telephone connection, Cellular Digital Packet Data (CDPD) connection, digital satellite data connection or the like.
Many other devices or subsystems (not shown) may be connected in a similar manner (e.g., bar code readers, document scanners, digital cameras and so on). Conversely, it is not necessary for all of the devices shown in
Moreover, regarding the signals described herein, those skilled in the art will recognize that a signal may be directly transmitted from a first block to a second block, or a signal may be modified (e.g., amplified, attenuated, delayed, latched, buffered, inverted, filtered or otherwise modified) between the blocks. Although the signals of the above described embodiment are characterized as transmitted from one block to the next, other embodiments of the present invention may include modified signals in place of such directly transmitted signals as long as the informational and/or functional aspect of the signal is transmitted between blocks. To some extent, a signal input at a second block may be conceptualized as a second signal derived from a first signal output from a first block due to physical limitations of the circuitry involved (e.g., there will inevitably be some attenuation and delay). Therefore, as used herein, a second signal derived from a first signal includes the first signal or any modifications to the first signal, whether due to circuit limitations or due to passage through other circuit elements which do not change the informational and/or final functional aspect of the first signal.
The foregoing described embodiment wherein the different components are contained within different other components (e.g., the various elements shown as components of computer system 610). It is to be understood that such depicted architectures are merely examples, and that in fact many other architectures can be implemented which achieve the same functionality. In an abstract, but still definite sense, any arrangement of components to achieve the same functionality is effectively “associated” such that the desired functionality is achieved. Hence, any two components herein combined to achieve a particular functionality can be seen as “associated with” each other such that the desired functionality is achieved, irrespective of architectures or intermediate components. Likewise, any two components so associated can also be viewed as being “operably connected”, or “operably coupled”, to each other to achieve the desired functionality.
Referring to
Although the present invention has been described in connection with several embodiments, the invention is not intended to be limited to the specific forms set forth herein, but on the contrary, it is intended to cover such alternatives, modifications, and equivalents as can be reasonably included with in the scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.
