Patent · US Expired

Method and apparatus for mapping objects to a data source

US5873093A · kind A · utility

209Cited by
10References
20Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateMay 28, 1997
Grant dateFeb 16, 1999
Priority date
Expiry dateMay 28, 2017

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC Y)Emerging Cross-Sectional Technologies
  • CPC primaryY10S707/99944
  • WIPO fieldComputer technology
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

The present invention creates a model that maps object classes in an object-oriented environment to a data source. The model maps the relationship between properties of each object class and data of the data source. The present invention can be used with a data source such as a relational database, user interface, file system, or object-oriented database. An application's object classes and data source schema are designed independent of the other since the model can be used to map one to the other. The model is comprised of entities and attributes. An entity maps to an object class and to at least one table of the DBMS. An entity contains attributes either simple or derived. A simple attribute maps to a DBMS column. A derived attribute is a combination of other attributes and does not directly map to a DBMS column. A relationship creates a link between entities of the model. A relationship can be used to flatten an attribute or flatten a relationship. A flattened attribute is an attribute of one entity that is added to another entity. A flattened relationship is created by the elimination of intermediate relationships between two entities. Relationships can be either unidirectional…

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.