Abstract: A pattern recognition method applicable to unique associated pattern recognition in a structured information system or structured database is presented. The process may be used to find patterns in a column which are associated with unique data values in another column, or to find the number of unique values in the second column which are paired with the same associated pattern in the first column. The technique is easily extended to more general cases in which both the condition field and the associated pattern field may be two groups of fields.

Abstract: An object-oriented framework mechanism for persistent storage systems provides an infrastructure that embodies the steps necessary for a framework consumer (i.e., user) to define persistent storage for any type of data not supported in an object-oriented system by extending the framework to fit a particular persistent storage environment. Certain core functions are provided by the framework, which interact with extensible functions. A user may thus define extensible functions that allow the framework to support many different types of persistent data stored in datastores capable of storing the persistent data.

Abstract: A method of organizing information in which the search activity of users is monitored and such activity is used to suggest additional key terms for addition to a search query. The invention operates by assigning scores to key term groupings in an index. As users enter search queries of two or more key terms, the scores are altered. The scores are then used in subsequent searches to suggest other key terms which can be added to the search query to narrow the search. As millions of people use the Internet and type in millions of search queries, the invention learns which key terms should be suggested for addition to a search query through an evolutionary process.

Abstract: A method for preventing multiple pings. An embodiment of the invention detects requests of data blocks entailing pings likely to cause additional pings. The servicing of requests involving a pings likely to cause additional pings is deferred until a service enabling conditions occurs. Another embodiment of the invention detects situations where by further updating a data block before pinging the data block use of resources on the remote node requesting the data block are reduced. The servicing of the request for the data block is deferred until a service enabling conditions occurs.

Abstract: Techniques for maintaining a random sample of a relation in a database in the presence of updates to the relation. The random sample of the relation is referred to as a "backing sample," and it is maintained in the presence of insert, modify and delete operations involving the relation. When a new tuple is inserted into the relation, a sample of the given tuple is added to the backing sample if the size of the backing sample is below an upper bound. Otherwise, a randomly-selected tuple of the backing sample is replaced with the new tuple if a sample of the new tuple must be inserted into the backing sample to maintain randomness or another characteristic. When a tuple in the relation is the subject of a modify operation, the backing sample is left unchanged if the modify operation does not affect an attribute of interest to an application which uses the backing sample. Otherwise, a value field in a sample of the tuple in the backing sample is updated.

Abstract: A method of provisioning databases in a telecommunications system includes storing data for a telephony service in a plurality of redundant database nodes. An operation to be performed in the redundant database nodes is received and broadcast to the redundant database nodes for execution. Responses are received from the redundant database nodes. Each response includes an identification of the redundant database node transmitting the response and a result of executing the operation in the redundant database node. The results of the responses are automatically stored. In response to an event, the stored results are automatically queried to determine a status of the operation. The status of the operation is automatically reported.

Abstract: A computer-implemented database and method providing an efficient, ordered reduced space representation of multi-dimensional data. The data values for each attribute is stored in a manner that provides an advantage in, for example, space usage and/or speed of access, such as in sort order and/or condensed form. Instances of each data value for an attribute are identified by instance elements, each of which is associated with one data value. Connectivity information is provided for each instance element that uniquely associates each instance element with a specific instance of a data value for another attribute.

Abstract: A postal delivery system equipped with a computer database system, input peripheral devices, user input devices, a printer, and a terminal. The computer database system processes the data generated from the input peripheral device and generates sorted database output in according to the user selected sorting option. The mail or package is delivered to the appropriate designation following the sorted database output.

Abstract: A method of organizing information in which the search activity of a user is monitored and such activity is used to organize articles in a subsequent search by the same or another user who enters a similar search query. The invention operates by assigning scores to articles under the key terms in the index. As users enter search queries and select articles, the scores are altered. The scores are then used in subsequent searches to organize the articles that match a search query. As millions of people use the Internet, type in millions of search queries, and display or select from the many articles available over the Internet, the ranks the information available over the Internet through an evolutionary process. The invention includes additional embodiments which incorporate category key terms and rating key terms.

Abstract: A document retrieval system where a user can enter a query, including a natural language query, in a desired one of a plurality of supported languages, and retrieve documents from a database that includes documents in at least one other language of the plurality of supported languages. The user need not have any knowledge of the other languages. Each document in the database is subjected to a set of processing steps to generate a language-independent conceptual representation of the subject content of the document. This is normally done before the query is entered. The query is also subjected to a (possibly different) set of processing steps to generate a language-independent conceptual representation of the subject content of the query. The documents and queries can also be subjected to additional analysis to provide additional term-based representations, such as the extraction of information-rich terms and phrases (such as proper nouns).

Abstract: A database accessing system wherein a data transformer is provided to make it possible to access data between one or more different databases storing and retrieving information in a predetermined and heterogeneous format. The system has one or more data providers for accessing information stored in at least one of the databases, each data provider having a set of predetermined entry points and having a unique identifier assigned. One or more data manipulators are provided which call a particular data provider by its identifier and provides the data provider with the set of predetermined entry points associated with that particular data provider and performs some manipulation on the information provided by the data providers. One or more data transformers are also provided which intercept calls intended by data manipulators for data providers and provide the data manipulator the information requested in the format requested.

Abstract: A system and method selects rows from a fact table in a dimensional database containing a fact table, a time dimension table and other dimension tables. The other dimension tables each contain rows containing a time invariant attribute to identify an item described by the row, an effective time attribute for the row, and other attributes. If an attribute for an item changes, a new row is added to the dimension table containing the time-invariant attribute for the item and current attributes for the item, without deleting or overwriting any existing rows for that item. Such dimension tables can be selected or used to create other tables using one or more time attributes of the dimension tables. The tables created can be selected or used to create still other tables using one or more time attributes of those tables.

Abstract: The software tool of this invention estimates the costs of an application program accessing a database. These costs may be execution costs of the application or of a transaction, SQL statement, and/or a utility. Execution costs include CPU time, I/O time and minimum elapsed time. For estimating the execution costs, the tool receives simplified and partial definitions of tables, utilities, SQL statements, transactions, and applications. The estimator tool requires only a minimal amount of information to calculate the various execution costs.

Abstract: A system and method for the optimized storage and retrieval of video data at distributed sites calls for the deployment of "Smart Mirror" sites throughout a network, each of which maintains a copy of certain data managed by the system. Every user is assigned to a specific delivery site based on an analysis of network performance with respect to each of the available delivery sites. Generalized network performance data is collected and stored to facilitate the selection of additional delivery sites and to ensure the preservation of improved performance in comparison to traditional networks.

Abstract: A system for compressing and decompressing sequential records to store only those parts of a record which differ from the previous record. The system for compressing includes a bit map which indicates which parts of a record if any are the same as the preceding record. The system enables compression and decompression of records without the need to access additional blocks and perform additional disk I/Os to obtain the expanded version of a given compressed record.

Abstract: Data is digitally sampled at intervals, and these samples are stored for a fixed period. During this period the samples are also processed to select certain characteristics, such as maximum, minimum, average, etc., and these abstract indicators are stored and updated. Then, at some longer interval, the abstract is stored in another data block, and this data block of abstracts is also continuously monitored to select the maximum, minimum, etc., to produce a higher abstracted sample. The process of storage of samples and continuous selection can be repeated for even higher abstraction. Thus, the important characteristics are preserved, but the quantity of data to be stored is greatly reduced.

Abstract: In a novel approach for retrieving information a set of sub-documents first is established based upon a set of documents. A query is processed which operates on the set of sub-documents, causing a score to be generated for each sub-document. The score for each sub-document is indicative of the relevance of the corresponding sub-document to the query. The scores are reviewed and the best sub-document is retrieved. According to one aspect of the invention, the best sub-document has a score that indicates the highest relevance between the sub-document and the query. According to another aspect of the invention, in response to a user selection, the next best sub-document is identified and retrieved. The sub-documents are also presented to the user in an order based upon the scores. According to another aspect of the invention, the document containing the sub-document having the best score is displayed and automatically scrolled to the location of the sub-document having the best score.

Abstract: A linked list structure in a computing system includes a first entry and additional entries. Each additional entry includes a link reference to a prior entry in the linked list. The link reference for each additional entry all are stored within a content addressable memory. Each additional entry is accessible by performing a content search using the link reference to the prior entry. The linked list is traversed by accessing the first entry in the linked list. A second entry in the linked list is accessed by searching the content addressable memory with an index of the first entry. A third entry in the linked list is accessed by searching the content addressable memory with an index of the second entry.

Abstract: User data records, such as health or financial data, are stored in a data base at one or more remote facilities, for example, at one or more hospitals or one or more central processing facilities. For each of a card-holding group of users a card is provided. The card is preferably a "smart card," which has a memory and, preferably, an onboard processor. The card is encoded with the respective user's identifying information, as well as with information that identifies at least one remote network address of at least one remote facility where the user's records are stored. The user uses the card to activate a local processor, which then automatically accesses a network, generates and applies to the network a remote record request corresponding to the activating user's identification code, along with the appropriate remote network address(es).

Abstract: The system, method, and program of this invention collects multi-column statistics, by a database management system, to reflect a relationship among multiple columns of a table in a relational database. These statistics are stored in the system catalog, and are used during query optimization to obtain an estimate of the number of qualifying rows when a query has predicates on multiple columns of a table.A multi-column linear quantile statistic is collected by dividing the data of multiple columns into sub-ranges where each sub-range has approximately an even distribution of data, and determining a frequency and cardinality of each sub-range. A multi-column polygonal quantile statistic is collected by dividing the data of multiple columns into sub-spaces where each sub-space contains approximately the same number of tuples, and determining a frequency and cardinality of each sub-space.