Patents by Inventor Christopher Clayton McConnell

Christopher Clayton McConnell has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Patent number: 7346626
    Abstract: A system and method for connecting to a set of phrases joining multiple schemas is disclosed. A phrase identifying particular content corresponding to a particular schema is submitted by an affiliated data provider to a portal. The portal matches the phrase to a set identifying particular content corresponding to multiple schemas. The portal may match the phrase to the same set as another phrase identifying the particular content in the particular schema. The portal may match the phrase to a set in a particular group of sets identifying content across common schemas. The portal may match the phrase to a set in the same group as another phrase identifying content in the particular schema. The portal may match the phrase to a previously established set or to a newly established set.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 2, 2005
    Date of Patent: March 18, 2008
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Christopher Clayton McConnell, David Dawson
  • Patent number: 7346598
    Abstract: A relational database management system having an XML storage implementation to reduce overhead associated with consuming data from multiple data providers, where each having proprietary database schemas. The XML storage solution allows data from any arbitrary relational database schema to be loaded, rearranged and retrieved. The present invention is directed to an implementation of an edge table such that large volumes of XML data of any structure can be stored effectively. The edge table may be designed as one large XML document where the schema information is stored separately from the instances, and relationships and constraints are expressed using foreign keys. The edge table further provides for full type support and validation. Indices and clustering provide efficient data access and query execution.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 28, 2002
    Date of Patent: March 18, 2008
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Siddhartha Cingh Arora, Christopher Clayton McConnell
  • Patent number: 7310642
    Abstract: An authoring tool (or process) to facilitate the performance of an annotation function and an indexing function. The annotation function may generate informational annotations and word annotations to a database design schema (e.g., an entity-relationship diagram or “ERD”). The indexing function may analyze the words of the annotations by classifying the words in accordance with a concordance and dictionary, and assign a normalized weight to each word of each of the annotations based on the classification(s) of the word(s) of the annotation. A query translator (or query translation process) to (i) accept a natural language query from a user interface process, (ii) convert the natural language query to a formal command query (e.g., an SQL query) using the indexed annotations generated by the authoring tool and the database design schema, and (iii) present the formal command query to a database management process for interrogating the relational database.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 14, 2005
    Date of Patent: December 18, 2007
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Christopher Clayton McConnell, Par Jonas Barklund
  • Patent number: 7043498
    Abstract: A system and method for connecting to a set of phrases joining multiple schemas is disclosed. A phrase identifying particular content corresponding to a particular schema is submitted by an affiliated data provider to a portal. The portal matches the phrase to a set identifying particular content corresponding to multiple schemas. The portal may match the phrase to the same set as another phrase identifying the particular content in the particular schema. The portal may match the phrase to a set in a particular group of sets identifying content across common schemas. The portal may match the phrase to a set in the same group as another phrase identifying content in the particular schema. The portal may match the phrase to a previously established set or to a newly established set.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 30, 2002
    Date of Patent: May 9, 2006
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Christopher Clayton McConnell, David Dawson
  • Patent number: 6999963
    Abstract: An authoring tool (or process) to facilitate the performance of an annotation function and an indexing function. The annotation function may generate informational annotations and word annotations to a database design schema (e.g., an entity-relationship diagram or “ERD”). The indexing function may analyze the words of the annotations by classifying the words in accordance with a concordance and dictionary, and assign a normalized weight to each word of each of the annotations based on the classification(s) of the word(s) of the annotation. A query translator (or query translation process) to (i) accept a natural language query from a user interface process, (ii) convert the natural language query to a formal command query (e.g., an SQL query) using the indexed annotations generated by the authoring tool and the database design schema, and (iii) present the formal command query to a database management process for interrogating the relational database.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 3, 2000
    Date of Patent: February 14, 2006
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventor: Christopher Clayton McConnell
  • Patent number: 6996571
    Abstract: A relational database management system having an XML storage implementation to reduce overhead associated with consuming data from multiple data providers, where each having proprietary database schemas. The XML storage solution allows data from any arbitrary relational database schema to be loaded, rearranged and retrieved. The system is adapted to receive and managing data from external content providers by exposing a predetermined provider content file formats. These formats use XPath as a schema reference, as a definition of legal combinations, and as a pattern to match other XPaths.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 28, 2002
    Date of Patent: February 7, 2006
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventor: Christopher Clayton McConnell
  • Patent number: 6993475
    Abstract: An authoring tool (or process) to facilitate the performance of an annotation function and an indexing function. The annotation function may generate informational annotations and word annotations to a database design schema (e.g., an entity-relationship diagram or “ERD”). The indexing function may analyze the words of the annotations by classifying the words in accordance with a concordance and dictionary, and assign a normalized weight to each word of each of the annotations based on the classification(s) of the word(s) of the annotation. A query translator (or query translation process) to (i) accept a natural language query from a user interface process, (ii) convert the natural language query to a formal command query (e.g., an SQL query) using the indexed annotations generated by the authoring tool and the database design schema, and (iii) present the formal command query to a database management process for interrogating the relational database.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 3, 2000
    Date of Patent: January 31, 2006
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Christopher Clayton McConnell, Pär Jonas Barklund
  • Publication number: 20040205585
    Abstract: A relational database management system having an XML storage implementation to reduce overhead associated with consuming data from multiple data providers, where each having proprietary database schemas. The XML storage solution allows data from any arbitrary relational database schema to be loaded, rearranged and retrieved. The system is adapted to receive and managing data from external content providers by exposing a predetermined provider content file formats These formats use XPath as a schema reference, as a definition of legal combinations, and as a pattern to match other XPaths.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 28, 2002
    Publication date: October 14, 2004
    Applicant: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventor: Christopher Clayton McConnell
  • Publication number: 20040002939
    Abstract: A relational database management system having an XML storage implementation to reduce overhead associated with consuming data from multiple data providers, where each having proprietary database schemas. The XML storage solution allows data from any arbitrary relational database schema to be loaded, rearranged and retrieved. The present invention is directed to an implementation of an edge table such that large volumes of XML data of any structure can be stored effectively. The edge table may be designed as one large XML document where the schema information is stored separately from the instances, and relationships and constraints are expressed using foreign keys. The edge table further provides for full type support and validation. Indices and clustering provide efficient data access and query execution.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 28, 2002
    Publication date: January 1, 2004
    Applicant: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Siddhartha Cingh Arora, Christopher Clayton McConnell
  • Publication number: 20040002971
    Abstract: A system and method for connecting to a set of phrases joining multiple schemas is disclosed. A phrase identifying particular content corresponding to a particular schema is submitted by an affiliated data provider to a portal. The portal matches the phrase to a set identifying particular content corresponding to multiple schemas. The portal may match the phrase to the same set as another phrase identifying the particular content in the particular schema. The portal may match the phrase to a set in a particular group of sets identifying content across common schemas. The portal may match the phrase to a set in the same group as another phrase identifying content in the particular schema. The portal may match the phrase to a previously established set or to a newly established set.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 30, 2002
    Publication date: January 1, 2004
    Inventors: Christopher Clayton McConnell, David Dawson