Patent · US Expired

Data lineage data type

US6434558B1 · kind B1 · utility

86Cited by
6References
17Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateDec 16, 1998
Grant dateAug 13, 2002
Priority date
Expiry dateDec 16, 2018

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC Y)Emerging Cross-Sectional Technologies
  • CPC primaryY10S707/99942
  • WIPO fieldComputer technology
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

A system for tracking the lineage of data in a database. Data within the tables are tracked by attaching lineage information to the data, preferably, by adding a lineage identifier to each row in a table. Data that share a common lineage can be identified by virtue of sharing a common lineage identifier. The lineage identifier can then be used to trace the source of the data, i.e., data having a common identifier share a common history. Preferably, the lineage data type is an identifier that is universally unique and is optimized to provide little impact on the performance of the database. For example, by providing a sufficient size identifier to ensure its uniqueness while minimizing storage size. More preferably, the data lineage data type is a sixteen-byte number.

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