US5899997A — Object-oriented query mechanism

Claim 1

Independent Claim 84 words

A method of query processing in a database to combine data using a sending object and a receiving object, said method comprising: (a) sending a join message from the sending object to the receiver object within the database, said join message specifying a criteria for a join; and (b) processing the join message by a function associated with the receiving object to form a result, wherein said sending object does not wait for a reply from the receiving object for continuation of subsequent processing.

Claim 2

Independent Claim 84 words

A method of query processing in a database to combine data using a sending object and a receiving object, said method comprising: (a) sending a join message from the sending object to the receiver object within the database, said join message specifying a criteria for a join; and (b) processing the join message by a function associated with the receiving object to form a result, wherein said sending object does not wait for a reply from the receiving object for continuation of subsequent processing.

Claim 3

Dependent Claim 31 words

The method of claim 1, wherein the result from the receiving object proceeds to another object as another join message so that said result can be acted on by another function.

Claim 4

Dependent Claim 19 words

The method of claim 1, wherein the result from the receiving object is stored in an electronically readable medium.

Claim 5

Dependent Claim 19 words

The method of claim 1, wherein the result from the receiving object is displayed to a graphical user interface.

Claim 6

Dependent Claim 31 words

The method of claim 1, wherein the join message includes data attributes to be returned in the result from the receiving object when the criteria in the join message is satisfied.

Claim 7

Independent Claim 57 words

A method of creating non-blocking joins in a database, said method comprises: (a) sending a join message from a plurality of sending objects to a join message queue, the join message specifying a criteria for a join; and (b) processing the join message in the join message queue by a receiving object to form a result message.

Claim 8

Independent Claim 57 words

A method of creating non-blocking joins in a database, said method comprises: (a) sending a join message from a plurality of sending objects to a join message queue, the join message specifying a criteria for a join; and (b) processing the join message in the join message queue by a receiving object to form a result message.

Claim 9

Dependent Claim 26 words

The method of claim 6, wherein the result message is stored in a result queue and a result object is created associated with each result message.

Claim 10

Dependent Claim 36 words

The method of claim 6, wherein to process the join message the receiving object retrieves an attribute within its own record structure and compares to the criteria of the join to determine whether to filter itself.

Claim 11

Dependent Claim 27 words

The method of claim 6, wherein the join message is associated with semantics data for the query, said semantics data defining the meaning of the join message.

Claim 12

Dependent Claim 21 words

The method of claim 6, wherein the join message facilitates retrieval of data by the receiving object from the sending object.

Claim 13

Dependent Claim 23 words

The method of claim 8, wherein the receiving object is filtered using a filtering criteria established outside of the criteria for the join.

Claim 14

Dependent Claim 30 words

The method of claim 11, wherein data from the join message is copied into a the result message when the filtering criteria and the criteria for the join are satisfied.

Claim 15

Dependent Claim 24 words

The method of claim 11, wherein the receiving object stops processing when either the filtering criteria fails or the criteria for the join fails.

Claim 16

Dependent Claim 24 words

The method of claim 9, further comprising the step of storing the semantics data from the join message associated with the join message queue.

Claim 17

Dependent Claim 31 words

The method of claim 6, wherein the join message is sent to an intermediate storage mechanism; the receiving object retrieving and processing asynchronously the join message from said intermediate storage mechanism.

Claim 18

Dependent Claim 29 words

The method of claim 15, wherein the intermediate storage mechanism is organized for retrieval based on a technique selected from the group consisting of: hash buckets, B-tree, and bit-indexes.

Claim 19

Dependent Claim 127 words

In a distributed database having network nodes, the improvement in query processing comprises: (a) sending at least one message from a sending object on a first node to at least one receiving object on a second node; (b) said message being acted upon by a function associated with the receiving object to form at least one result; (c) each said result proceeding independently for further processing; (d) each sending object that has sent the message not awaiting for a reply from the receiving object; (d) maintaining a message count of unprocessed outstanding messages generated in steps (a) through (c) at each node that receives such messages, and (e) causing such node to notify all other nodes that have sent it messages when its local processing is complete.

Claim 20

Dependent Claim 127 words

In a distributed database having network nodes, the improvement in query processing comprises: (a) sending at least one message from a sending object on a first node to at least one receiving object on a second node; (b) said message being acted upon by a function associated with the receiving object to form at least one result; (c) each said result proceeding independently for further processing; (d) each sending object that has sent the message not awaiting for a reply from the receiving object; (d) maintaining a message count of unprocessed outstanding messages generated in steps (a) through (c) at each node that receives such messages, and (e) causing such node to notify all other nodes that have sent it messages when its local processing is complete.

Claim 21

Dependent Claim 41 words

The method of claim 17, wherein the step of further processing includes sending the result to another object as another join message so said result can be acted on by a function of such other object to form a further result.

Claim 22

Dependent Claim 19 words

The method of claim 18, wherein the step of further processing includes sending the result to a results object.

Claim 23

Independent Claim 130 words

A method of query processing in a database to combine and retrieve data using at least two objects; said method comprising: (a) sending at least one message from a first object to at least one second object within the database, said message specifying criteria for a join; (b) said message being acted upon by a function associated with the second object to form at least one output from each second object that has relevant data, each such output containing relevant data or a pointer to such relevant data; and (c) each said output proceeding independently either to another object as another message so said output can be acted up on by the method of such other object to form a further output or to a results object that stores results.

Claim 24

Independent Claim 130 words

A method of query processing in a database to combine and retrieve data using at least two objects; said method comprising: (a) sending at least one message from a first object to at least one second object within the database, said message specifying criteria for a join; (b) said message being acted upon by a function associated with the second object to form at least one output from each second object that has relevant data, each such output containing relevant data or a pointer to such relevant data; and (c) each said output proceeding independently either to another object as another message so said output can be acted up on by the method of such other object to form a further output or to a results object that stores results.

Claim 25

Dependent Claim 24 words

The method of claim 20, in which data which is related or potentially related to the data sought is sent to a results object.

Claim 26

Dependent Claim 52 words

A method as claimed in claim 20, in which an object having data which is related or potentially related to the query sends a pointer to the results object, whereby the results object can locate the object with the potentially useful data should the data be required to respond to the query.

Claim 27

Dependent Claim 28 words

A method as claimed in claim 20, in which a message is sent out in step (a) of claim 1 to all objects within a class of objects.

Claim 28

Dependent Claim 58 words

A method as claimed in claim 20, in which a plurality of messages is sent out during step (a) of claim 1, and some such messages are sent to individual objects and others are sent to groups of objects, and each said second object which receives both types of messages processes both types of messages from a queue.

Claim 29

Dependent Claim 34 words

A message as claimed in claim 24, in which the messages are accorded different priorities for processing according to whether they are messages to a group of objects or to said individual second object.

Claim 30

Dependent Claim 37 words

A method as claimed in claim 20, in which some messages as set out in step (a) of claim 1 are accorded different priorities, and such priorities are used to order messages in a queue for processing.

Claim 31

Dependent Claim 103 words

A method as claimed in claim 20, including the step of coordinating the processing of messages directed to groups of objects with the processing of messages directed to individual objects so that an individual second object is retrieved from physical storage to be processed by a thread, all messages directed to that individual object and directed to the groups of objects which include that object are processed as they relate to that object, and one or more output messages are generated by that object as set out in step (b) of claim 17 prior to processing of another second object by the thread.

Claim 32

Dependent Claim 37 words

The method of claim 20, which includes the additional step of maintaining counts of unprocessed outstanding messages generated in steps (a), through (d) and reporting that the query has been completed when such counts are all zero.

Annuity Stage	Window Opens	Payment Deadline	Surcharge Period Until	Estimated Fee	Status
3.5 Years (Year 4)	2002-05-03	2002-11-02	2003-05-04	$2000.00	Window Closed / Lapsed
7.5 Years (Year 8)	2006-05-03	2006-11-02	2007-05-04	$3760.00	Window Closed / Lapsed
11.5 Years (Year 12)	2010-05-03	2010-11-02	2011-05-04	$7700.00	Window Closed / Lapsed

Object-oriented query mechanism

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