| Database optimization apparatus and method -> Monitor Keywords |
|
|
 
Database optimization apparatus and methodRelated Patent Categories: Data Processing: Database And File Management Or Data Structures, Database Or File Accessing, Access Augmentation Or OptimizingDatabase optimization apparatus and method description/claimsThe Patent Description & Claims data below is from USPTO Patent Application 20070073644, Database optimization apparatus and method. Brief Patent Description - Full Patent Description - Patent Application Claims
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION [0001] This patent application is a continuation of "Database Optimization Apparatus and Method", Ser. No. 10/075,651 filed on Feb. 02, 2002, which is incorporated herein by reference. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0002] 1. Field of the Invention [0003] This invention generally relates to computer systems, and more specifically relates to apparatus and methods for accessing data in a computer database. [0004] 2. Background Art [0005] Since the dawn of the computer age, computers have evolved and become more and more powerful. In our present day, computers have become indispensable in many fields of human endeavor including engineering design, machine and process control, information storage and retrieval, and office computing. One of the primary uses of computers is for information storage and retrieval. [0006] Database systems have been developed that allow a computer to store a large amount of information in a way that allows a user to search for and retrieve specific information in the database. For example, an insurance company may have a database that includes all of its policy holders and their current account information, including payment history, premium amount, policy number, policy type, exclusions to coverage, etc. A database system allows the insurance company to retrieve the account information for a single policy holder among the thousands and perhaps millions of policy holders in its database. [0007] Many databases include data that has existed for decades, often outliving the software applications that originally created the data. New applications are often developed that need to access the data. The way that data is stored in a database affects the performance of applications that access the data. If the data is stored as a particular data type, but an application requires a different data type, the data must typically be read, then converted to the desired data type. This problem arises, for example, when data that was originally created by legacy applications in one data type now needs to be accessed by new languages and APIs that expect a different data type. [0008] Legacy applications often store integer data in fields that are in a format known as PACKED DECIMAL, which is one way to represent numeric data. Like the PACKED DECIMAL data type, the data types SMALLINT, INTEGER, and BIGINT are other alternative ways to represent numeric data. In a Java and JDBC programming paradigm, it is widely recognized that retrieval of data from database columns that have a type of SMALLINT, INTEGER, or BIGINT will perform significantly better than retrieval of data from a column that has a type PACKED DECIMAL. The format of the data stored in the database results in performance penalties for any application that needs to access the data, but could run faster if the data were of a different type. Changing the data type to accommodate the new applications is generally not an acceptable option, because changing the data type would require significant manual rework. This problem is especially apparent as companies with existing applications and databases become internet-enabled, which is commonly done using Java to access data in existing databases. Using Java to access data in less-than-optimal data types in older databases results in performance penalties that are significant. Without an apparatus and method that allows a database to dynamically evolve according to the applications accessing its data, the computer industry will continue to suffer from excessive overhead in porting existing data to new applications, such as web-enabled applications. BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION [0009] According to the preferred embodiments, a database optimizer collects statistics regarding which types of applications are accessing the database, and makes one or more changes to the database schema to optimize performance according to the collected statistics. In a first embodiment, the optimizer detects when a certain type of application accesses the database a percentage of time that exceeds a predefined threshold level, and if the data in the database is stored in a less-than-optimal format for the application, the data type of one or more columns in the database is changed to a more optimal format for the application. This means that the database optimizer must recognize when a different type of application requests data from any changed column, and must potentially perform a conversion from the new data type to the old data type before returning the requested data. In a second embodiment, the optimizer detects when one type of application accesses a column a percentage of time that exceeds a first predefined threshold level and that accesses the column a percentage of time that is less than a second predefined threshold level. In this case, a new column is created in the database so the data is present in both formats, thereby optimizing the performance of both old and new applications that access the data. The database optimizer looks at what type of application requested data, and returns the data in the format optimized for that type of application. [0010] The foregoing and other features and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following more particular description of preferred embodiments of the invention, as illustrated in the accompanying drawings. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWING(S) [0011] The preferred embodiments of the present invention will hereinafter be described in conjunction with the appended drawings, where like designations denote like elements, and: [0012] FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an apparatus in accordance with the preferred embodiments; [0013] FIG. 2 is a sample database query in Structured Query Language (SQL); [0014] FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the relationship between the database and database manager of FIG. 1, and between the database manager and applications that need to access the database; [0015] FIG. 4 is a flow diagram of a method in accordance with the preferred embodiments; [0016] FIG. 5 is a sample menu display window that allows a user to set customization settings for the database manager of the preferred embodiments; [0017] FIG. 6 is a sample menu display window that allows a user to set threshold levels that determine the function of the database manager of the preferred embodiments; [0018] FIG. 7 is a sample employee table for illustrating the function of the database manager of the preferred embodiments; FIG. 8 is the employee table of FIG. 7 after adding reflective columns for each of the columns in FIG. 7; [0019] FIG. 9 is the employee table of FIG. 8 after deleting the original columns in FIG. 7; [0020] FIG. 10 is a table of tables that represents prior art metadata for the employee table of FIG. 7; Continue reading about Database optimization apparatus and method... Full patent description for Database optimization apparatus and method Brief Patent Description - Full Patent Description - Patent Application Claims Click on the above for other options relating to this Database optimization apparatus and method patent application. ###  How KEYWORD MONITOR works... a FREE service from FreshPatents1. Sign up (takes 30 seconds). 2. Fill in the keywords to be monitored. 3. Each week you receive an email with patent applications related to your keywords. Start now! - Receive info on patent apps like Database optimization apparatus and method or other areas of interest. ### Previous Patent Application: Apparatus and method for identifying relationship mismatches during profiling of multiple data sources Next Patent Application: Method and system for improving search results Industry Class: Data processing: database and file management or data structures ### FreshPatents.com Support Thank you for viewing the Database optimization apparatus and method patent info. IP-related news and info Results in 0.13512 seconds Other interesting Feshpatents.com categories: Novartis , Pfizer , Philips , Polaroid , Procter & Gamble , 174 |
 * Protect your Inventions * US Patent Office filing 
PATENT INFO |
|
