Relational database management of multi-dimensional data

Claim 3

The method of claim 1 above, wherein the multi-dimensional database comprises data blocks.

Claim 4

The method of claim 2 above, wherein the data blocks comprise cells and each cell holds a data value associated with an intersection of one member from each dimension defined in the outline.

Claim 5

The method of claim 2 above, wherein the relational database contains rows of data and wherein each of the data blocks corresponds to one or more rows of data in the relational database.

Claim 6

The method of claim 4 above, wherein the step of accessing further comprises the steps of: accessing rows of data from the relational database; and mapping the accessed rows of data to a data block.

Claim 7

The method of claim 5 above, wherein the step of creating a relational database further comprises the steps of: creating a dimension table for each dimension in the outline; and creating a fact table containing rows, each row being a unique combination of selected dimensions.

Claim 8

The method of claim 6 , wherein the step of accessing data further comprises the step of joining selected dimension tables with the fact table.

Claim 11

The apparatus of claim 8 above, wherein the multi-dimensional database comprises data blocks.

Claim 12

The apparatus of claim 9 above, wherein the data blocks comprise cells and each cell holds a data value associated with an intersection of one member from each dimension defined in the outline.

Claim 13

The apparatus of claim 9 above, wherein the relational database contains rows of data and wherein each of the data blocks corresponds to one or more rows of data in the relational database.

Claim 14

The apparatus of claim 11 above, wherein the means for accessing further comprise: means for accessing rows of data from the relational database; and means for mapping the accessed rows of data to a data block.

Claim 15

The apparatus of claim 12 above, wherein the means for creating a relational database further comprises: means for creating a dimension table for each dimension in the outline; and means for creating a fact table containing rows, each row being a unique combination of selected dimensions.

Claim 16

The apparatus of claim 13 , wherein the means for accessing data further comprises the means for joining selected dimension tables with the fact table.

Claim 17

An article of manufacture comprising a program storage medium readable by a computer and embodying one or more instructions executable by the computer to perform method steps for executing a command to perform a database operation on a relational database stored on a data storage device, the method comprising the steps of: (a) defining a multi-dimensional database using an outline that contains one or more dimensions, each dimension having a list of one or more members; (b) defining a relational schema based on the defined multi-dimensional database; (c) creating a relational database based on the defined relational schema, wherein the relational database includes a fact table and one or more related dimension tables for storing data from the multi-dimensional database, wherein one of the dimension tables is an anchor dimension table that does not intersect the fact table with a common column and wherein the remaining dimension tables are non-anchor dimension tables, each of which intersects the fact table with a common column; and (d) accessing the created relational database using access mechanisms provided by the defined multi-dimensional database and the created relational database.

Claim 18

An article of manufacture comprising a program storage medium readable by a computer and embodying one or more instructions executable by the computer to perform method steps for executing a command to perform a database operation on a relational database stored on a data storage device, the method comprising the steps of: (a) defining a multi-dimensional database using an outline that contains one or more dimensions, each dimension having a list of one or more members; (b) defining a relational schema based on the defined multi-dimensional database; (c) creating a relational database based on the defined relational schema, wherein the relational database includes a fact table and one or more related dimension tables for storing data from the multi-dimensional database, wherein one of the dimension tables is an anchor dimension table that does not intersect the fact table with a common column and wherein the remaining dimension tables are non-anchor dimension tables, each of which intersects the fact table with a common column; and (d) accessing the created relational database using access mechanisms provided by the defined multi-dimensional database and the created relational database.

Claim 19

The method of claim 15 above, wherein the multi-dimensional database comprises data blocks.

Claim 20

The method of claim 16 above, wherein the data blocks comprise cells and each cell holds a data value associated with an intersection of one member from each dimension defined in the outline.

Claim 21

The method of claim 17 above, wherein the relational database contains rows of data and wherein each of the data blocks corresponds to one or more rows of data in the relational database.

Claim 22

The method of claim 18 above, wherein the step of accessing further comprises the steps of: accessing rows of data from the relational database; and mapping the accessed rows of data to a data block.

Claim 23

The method of claim 19 above, wherein the step of creating a relational database further comprises the steps of: creating a dimension table for each dimension in the outline; and creating a fact table containing rows, each row being a unique combination of selected dimensions.

Claim 24

The method of claim 20 , wherein the step of accessing data further comprises the step of joining selected dimension tables with the fact table.