Transformation of a physical query into an abstract query

Patent 7333981 Issued on February 19, 2008. Estimated Expiration Date:

December 17, 2024. Estimated Expiration Date is calculated based on simple USPTO term provisions. It does not account for terminal disclaimers, term adjustments, failure to pay maintenance fees, or other factors which might affect the term of a patent.

Abstract Claims Description Full Text

Patent References

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Inventors

Assignee

International Business Machines Corporation

Application

No. 11016201 filed on 12/17/2004

US Classes:

707/4, Query formulation, input preparation, or translation707/5, Query augmenting and refining (e.g., inexact access)345/440, Graph generating707/101, Manipulating data structure (e.g., compression, compaction, compilation)707/3, Query processing (i.e., searching)707/100DATABASE SCHEMA OR DATA STRUCTURE

Examiners

Primary: Breene, John
Assistant: Le, Thong

Attorney, Agent or Firm

Peterson & Sheridan, LLP

International Class

G06F 17/30

Abstract

Embodiments of the invention provide methods, systems, and articles of manufacture for transforming a physical query (e.g., written in SQL) into an abstract query than can be run against an abstract database described by a database abstraction model. In one embodiment, the transformation occurs as a multiple step process: first, transformation of the physical query into an intermediate representation, such as an abstract query plan, and second, transformation of the intermediate representation into an abstract query. There are thousands upon thousands of existing physical (e.g., SQL) queries. Rather than just abandon these existing queries in favor of an abstract database, embodiments of the present invention provide for reverse query processing, that is, for creating an abstract query of the abstract database from a physical query (e.g., an SQL query) of the physical database underlying the abstraction.

Other References

Dettinger et al., IBM U.S. Appl. No. 11/005,418, filed Dec. 6, 2004, “Abstract Query Plan”.
Dettinger et al., IBM U.S. Appl. No. 10/083,075, filed Feb. 26, 2002, “Application Portability and Extensibility Through Database Schema and Query Abstraction”.