US5375234A
Expired / Lapsed
US
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Data dictionary manager for maintaining an active data dictionary
Assignee: International Business Machines Corp
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Filing: 1994-01-28
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Granted: 1994-12-20
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Expires: 2014-01-28
Abstract
Abstract The data dictionary manager takes advantage of the computer system's journaling capability enhanced to allow users and application programs to manipulate system objects without the use of the data dictionary's built-in utilities. As used here, journaling capability is an internal tracking facility which exists in a somewhat limited form on many computer systems. Typical journaling mechanisms maintain a repository of information about some of the activities that have taken place on the computer system. The information is usually stored in a record called an audit journal. Since many computer systems have limited journaling mechanisms already in place, these mechanisms can be enhanced to add the ability to record information about changes to system objects. Examples of system object changes included in the audit journal are deletes, creates, renames, and moves. Once the information has been logged in the audit journal, the data dictionary manager retrieves the information from the audit journal and ensures that the changes are accurately reflected in the data dictionary. Since the audit journal can be made accessible to several processes, it is possible to have different instances of the data dictionary manager responsible for different data dictionaries. Alternatively, it is possible to have a single data dictionary manager that is responsible for all of the computer system's data dictionaries.
Inventors
- 👤 William S. Davidson
- 👤 Kurt W. Eggerling
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
US
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-11-02 06:39
CPC Classifications
G; G06; G06F; G06F16/00; G06F16/20; G06F16/23; G06F16/2365; G06F16/2358; Y; Y10; Y10S; Y10S707/00; Y10S707/953; Y10S707/955; Y10S707/99951; Y10S707/99952; Y10S707/99953
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 30
Claim 1
Independent Claim
92 words
A method for maintaining a synchronized data dictionary comprising the steps of: accessing objects coordinated by said dictionary, said objects being contained in a data base and accessed by an application program; affecting changes upon said objects, said objects being changed by an application program; recording information about said changes in a record which is separate from said data dictionary and from said data base, said information being recorded by a journaling mechanism; and updating said data dictionary to reflect said changes, said data dictionary being updated by a data dictionary manager.
Claim 2
Independent Claim
92 words
A method for maintaining a synchronized data dictionary comprising the steps of: accessing objects coordinated by said dictionary, said objects being contained in a data base and accessed by an application program; affecting changes upon said objects, said objects being changed by an application program; recording information about said changes in a record which is separate from said data dictionary and from said data base, said information being recorded by a journaling mechanism; and updating said data dictionary to reflect said changes, said data dictionary being updated by a data dictionary manager.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
29 words
The method of claim 1 wherein said recording step comprises the step within said journaling mechanism of placing an entry in an audit journal for each of said changes.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
39 words
The method of claim 2 wherein said updating step comprises tile steps within said data dictionary manager of: retrieving said information about said changes from said audit journal; and ensuring that said information is reflected by said data dictionary.
Claim 5
Independent Claim
107 words
A method for maintaining a data dictionary across a system failure, said method comprising the steps within a data dictionary manager of: marking am audit journal with a first mark, said audit journal containing audit journal entries, said audit journal entries containing information about changes to a data bse, said first mark being used to indicate the location of a last audit journal entry processed; validating said last entry processed with a second mark; returning to the first instance of said first mark that has been validated by said second mark; and updating said data dictionary so that said data dictionary is synchronized with said data base.
Claim 6
Independent Claim
107 words
A method for maintaining a data dictionary across a system failure, said method comprising the steps within a data dictionary manager of: marking am audit journal with a first mark, said audit journal containing audit journal entries, said audit journal entries containing information about changes to a data bse, said first mark being used to indicate the location of a last audit journal entry processed; validating said last entry processed with a second mark; returning to the first instance of said first mark that has been validated by said second mark; and updating said data dictionary so that said data dictionary is synchronized with said data base.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
17 words
The method of claim 4 wherein said marking step comprises the step of using a checkpoint entry.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
17 words
The method of claim 4 wherein said validating step comprises the step of using a commit entry.
Claim 9
Independent Claim
106 words
A method for adjusting the synchronization of a data dictionary, said method comprising the steps: within a journaling mechanism of: recording information about changes to system objects in an audit journal, where said information its in the form of one entry per change; within a data dictionary manager of: accepting as prompts synchronization requests, where said synchronization requests are requests to process said entries of said edit journal; waking whenever a timer expires, said timer being set to an adjustable timeout value; and responding to said synchronization requests and said timer expiration by retrieving said entries from said audit journal and updating said data dictionary accordingly.
Claim 10
Independent Claim
106 words
A method for adjusting the synchronization of a data dictionary, said method comprising the steps: within a journaling mechanism of: recording information about changes to system objects in an audit journal, where said information its in the form of one entry per change; within a data dictionary manager of: accepting as prompts synchronization requests, where said synchronization requests are requests to process said entries of said edit journal; waking whenever a timer expires, said timer being set to an adjustable timeout value; and responding to said synchronization requests and said timer expiration by retrieving said entries from said audit journal and updating said data dictionary accordingly.
Claim 11
Independent Claim
69 words
An apparatus for maintaining a synchronized data dictionary comprising: means for accessing objects coordinated by said dictionary, said objects being contained in a data base and accessed via an application program; means for affecting changes upon said objects; means for recording information about said changes in a record separate from said data dictionary and from said data base; and means for updating said data dictionary to reflect said changes.
Claim 12
Independent Claim
69 words
An apparatus for maintaining a synchronized data dictionary comprising: means for accessing objects coordinated by said dictionary, said objects being contained in a data base and accessed via an application program; means for affecting changes upon said objects; means for recording information about said changes in a record separate from said data dictionary and from said data base; and means for updating said data dictionary to reflect said changes.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
25 words
The apparatus of claim 8 wherein said means for recording comprises means for placing an entry in an audit journal for each of said changes.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim
36 words
The apparatus of claim 9 wherein said means for updating comprises: means for retrieving said information about said changes from said audit journal; and means for ensuring that said information is reflected by said data dictionary.
Claim 15
Independent Claim
109 words
An apparatus for maintaining a data dictionary across a system failure, said apparatus comprising: means for marking an audit journal with a first mark, said audit journal containing audit journal entries, said audit journal entries containing information about changes to a data base, said first mark being used to indicate the location of a last audit journal entry processed; means for validating said last entry processed with a second mark; means for returning to the first instance of a said first mark that has been validated by a said second mark; and means for updating said data dictionary such that said data dictionary is synchronized with said data base.
Claim 16
Independent Claim
109 words
An apparatus for maintaining a data dictionary across a system failure, said apparatus comprising: means for marking an audit journal with a first mark, said audit journal containing audit journal entries, said audit journal entries containing information about changes to a data base, said first mark being used to indicate the location of a last audit journal entry processed; means for validating said last entry processed with a second mark; means for returning to the first instance of a said first mark that has been validated by a said second mark; and means for updating said data dictionary such that said data dictionary is synchronized with said data base.
Claim 17
Dependent Claim
14 words
The apparatus of claim 11 wherein said means for marking comprises a checkpoint entry.
Claim 18
Dependent Claim
14 words
The apparatus of claim 11 wherein said means for validating comprises a commit entry.
Claim 19
Independent Claim
104 words
An apparatus for adjusting the synchronization of a data dictionary, said apparatus comprising: a journaling mechanism which comprises means for recording information about changes to system objects in an audit journal, where said information is in the form of one entry per change; and a data dictionary manager which comprises: means for accepting as prompts synchronization requests, where said synchronization requests are requests to process said entries of said audit journal; means for waking whenever an adjustable timeout occurs; and means for responding to said synchronization requests and said timeout by retrieving said entries from said audit journal and updating said data dictionary accordingly.
Claim 20
Independent Claim
104 words
An apparatus for adjusting the synchronization of a data dictionary, said apparatus comprising: a journaling mechanism which comprises means for recording information about changes to system objects in an audit journal, where said information is in the form of one entry per change; and a data dictionary manager which comprises: means for accepting as prompts synchronization requests, where said synchronization requests are requests to process said entries of said audit journal; means for waking whenever an adjustable timeout occurs; and means for responding to said synchronization requests and said timeout by retrieving said entries from said audit journal and updating said data dictionary accordingly.
Claim 21
Dependent Claim
67 words
A data dictionary manager comprising: means for accessing objects coordinated by said dictionary, said object being contained in a data base and accessed via an application program; means for affecting changes upon said objects; means for recording information about said changes in a record which is separate from said data dictionary and from said data base; and means for updating said data dictionary to reflect said changes.
Claim 22
Dependent Claim
67 words
A data dictionary manager comprising: means for accessing objects coordinated by said dictionary, said object being contained in a data base and accessed via an application program; means for affecting changes upon said objects; means for recording information about said changes in a record which is separate from said data dictionary and from said data base; and means for updating said data dictionary to reflect said changes.
Claim 23
Dependent Claim
27 words
The data dictionary manager of claim 15 wherein said means for recording comprises means for placing an entry in an audit journal for each of said changes.
Claim 24
Dependent Claim
38 words
The data dictionary manager of claim 16 wherein said means for updating comprises: means for retrieving said information about said changes from said audit journal; and means for ensuring that said information is reflected by said data dictionary.
Claim 25
Dependent Claim
112 words
A data dictionary manager which maintains a data dictionary's integrity across a system failure, said data dictionary manager comprising: means for marking an audit journal with a first mark, said audit journal containing audit journal entries, said audit journal entries containing information about changes to a data base, said first mark being used to indicate the location of a last audit journal entry processed; means for validating said last entry processed with a second mark; means for returning to the first instance of a said first mark that has been validated by a said second mark; and means for updating said data dictionary such that it is synchronized with said data base.
Claim 26
Dependent Claim
112 words
A data dictionary manager which maintains a data dictionary's integrity across a system failure, said data dictionary manager comprising: means for marking an audit journal with a first mark, said audit journal containing audit journal entries, said audit journal entries containing information about changes to a data base, said first mark being used to indicate the location of a last audit journal entry processed; means for validating said last entry processed with a second mark; means for returning to the first instance of a said first mark that has been validated by a said second mark; and means for updating said data dictionary such that it is synchronized with said data base.
Claim 27
Dependent Claim
16 words
The data dictionary manager of claim 18 wherein said means for marking comprises a checkpoint entry.
Claim 28
Dependent Claim
16 words
The data dictionary manager of claim 18 wherein said means for validating comprises a commit entry.
Claim 29
Dependent Claim
120 words
A data dictionary manager which allows for the adjusting of the synchronization of a data dictionary, said data dictionary manager comprising: means within said data dictionary manager for recording information about changes to system objects in an audit journal, where said information is in the form of one entry per change; means within said data dictionary manager for accepting as prompts synchronization requests, where said synchronization requests are requests to process said entries of said audit journal; means within said data dictionary manager for waking whenever an adjustable timeout occurs; and means within said data dictionary manager for responding to said synchronization requests and said timeout by retrieving said entries from said audit journal and updating said data dictionary accordingly.
Claim 30
Dependent Claim
120 words
A data dictionary manager which allows for the adjusting of the synchronization of a data dictionary, said data dictionary manager comprising: means within said data dictionary manager for recording information about changes to system objects in an audit journal, where said information is in the form of one entry per change; means within said data dictionary manager for accepting as prompts synchronization requests, where said synchronization requests are requests to process said entries of said audit journal; means within said data dictionary manager for waking whenever an adjustable timeout occurs; and means within said data dictionary manager for responding to said synchronization requests and said timeout by retrieving said entries from said audit journal and updating said data dictionary accordingly.
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USPTO Annuity & Maintenance Windows
| Annuity Stage | Window Opens | Payment Deadline | Surcharge Period Until | Estimated Fee | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3.5 Years (Year 4) | 1997-12-19 | 1998-06-20 | 1998-12-20 | $2000.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 7.5 Years (Year 8) | 2001-12-19 | 2002-06-20 | 2002-12-20 | $3760.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 11.5 Years (Year 12) | 2005-12-19 | 2006-06-20 | 2006-12-20 | $7700.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |