Abstract: A technique is disclosed for implementing electronic commerce transactions via a data network. A regulated item selected by a customer is identified. The regulated item may correspond to an item which satisfies predetermined criteria, indicating that the regulated item is prohibited from being purchased by the customer. Action is then taken to prohibit the purchase of the selected item, via the data network, by the customer. According to one embodiment, the action taken to prohibit the purchase of the regulated item is automatically implemented at a server system configured to implement electronic commerce transactions between an on-line merchant and the customer. According to a specific implementation, the predetermined criteria correspond to regulations which restrict sales of the regulated items to persons in a particular jurisdiction based upon certain criteria such as, for example, time of day, day of week, age of the customer, type of product being sold, etc.

Abstract: A technique for effecting electronic commerce using a data network is described. The data network includes a plurality of subsystems which, together, form an integrated system for receiving customer orders for selected items via a data network, fulfilling the customer orders, and delivering the ordered products to the customers. Moreover, according to a specific embodiment, the integrated nature of the system architecture of the present invention allows the on-line merchant to provide a guarantee to the customer that the ordered items will be available to be delivered to the customer at the specified delivery date, time, and location.

Abstract: A technique is disclosed for implementing electronic commerce transactions via a data network. A regulated item selected by a customer is identified. The regulated item may correspond to an item which satisfies predetermined criteria, indicating that the regulated item is prohibited from being purchased by the customer. Action is then taken to prohibit the purchase of the selected item, via the data network, by the customer. According to one embodiment, the action taken to prohibit the purchase of the regulated item is automatically implemented at a server system configured to implement electronic commerce transactions between an on-line merchant and the customer. According to a specific implementation, the predetermined criteria correspond to regulations which restrict sales of the regulated items to persons in a particular jurisdiction based upon certain criteria such as, for example, time of day, day of week, age of the customer, type of product being sold, etc.

Abstract: A technique for effecting electronic commerce using a data network is described. The data network includes a plurality of subsystems which, together, form an integrated system for receiving customer orders for selected items via a data network, fulfilling the customer orders, and delivering the ordered products to the customers. Moreover, according to a specific embodiment, the integrated nature of the system architecture of the present invention allows the on-line merchant to provide a guarantee to the customer that the ordered items will be available to be delivered to the customer at the specified delivery date, time, and location.

Abstract: Methods and apparatus for scheduling delivery of an order via a wide area network. A computer system associates a customer point value with each customer according to a customer point system. The customer point values is determined with reference to customer order data. The computer system then divides the customers into customer groups, each of which has a range of customer point values. The system determines an actual capacity allocation distribution among the customer groups based on the customer order data. The system adjusts the range of customer point values for customer groups to cause the actual capacity allocation distribution to converge to a target capacity allocation distribution.

Abstract: Methods and apparatus for scheduling delivery of an order via a wide area network. A computer system associates a customer point value with each customer according to a customer point system. The customer point values is determined with reference to customer order data. The computer system then divides the customers into customer groups, each of which has a range of customer point values. The system determines an actual capacity allocation distribution among the customer groups based on the customer order data. The system adjusts the range of customer point values for customer groups to cause the actual capacity allocation distribution to converge to a target capacity allocation distribution.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for presenting and modifying data from a set of tables in a database is provided. A view that is defined is based on a set of one or more tables that may include relational tables or object tables. The view defines a presentation of data from the one or more tables as a set of objects that reside in the database. Data is read from the one or more rows of the tables based on the view, and is presented as a set of objects that reside in the database. An object id that is based on data from the one or more rows is generated and associated with each object presented. The view may specify which columns from the one or more tables contain values used to generate the object ids. A trigger may associated with the view. The set of objects presented may be presented as objects having an attribute that is a column object. Column objects include user specified object types, collection objects (e.g. nested tables and variable arrays), or references to objects.

Abstract: Methods and apparatus for scheduling delivery of an order via a wide area network. A computer system associates a customer point value with each customer according to a customer point system. The customer point values is determined with reference to customer order data. The computer system then divides the customers into customer groups, each of which has a range of customer point values. The system determines an actual capacity allocation distribution among the customer groups based on the customer order data. The system adjusts the range of customer point values for customer groups to cause the actual capacity allocation distribution to converge to a target capacity allocation distribution.

Abstract: A mechanism is described for processing requests to specify operations to database objects. A request to perform an action on a set of multiple objects is received by a database system. The request includes references to each object in the set, each reference indicating a table where the respective object resides. The reference is used to locate the object, and once located, the action is performed on the object. The reference may indicate a table using a unique table id not used in any of a plurality of databases to identify a table. The action request may be to modify the object, the references may include references to objects that reside in different database systems.

Abstract: Memory for complex objects is maintained in pools of dynamic memory on a “per-duration” basis. Each duration is assigned its own area or areas of the heap, and all the memory allocation for a specific duration comes from those assigned areas of the heap. Memory allocation for a complex object is performed with respect to a single duration and, hence, memory is allotted for the complex object from the corresponding memory pool. When a duration is terminated, the memory allocated for its corresponding heap is freed, thereby releasing memory for all the complex object using the memory from the memory pool for that duration. Management of other resources for complex objects such as opening and closing files may also be duration-based. In one aspect, the memory management of complex objects is located in an automatically generated client stub routine for a remote procedure call.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for generating references to a set of objects which reside in a plurality databases is described. Each object is associated with a table from a plurality of tables that are contained in the plurality of databases. An object id is associated with each object; the object id uniquely identifies the object relative to the objects in the set of objects. A table id is associated with each table; the table id uniquely identifies the table relative to tables in the plurality of tables. A table containing an object is located based on the table id associated with the table, and the object is located in the table based on the object id associated with the object. A table mapping is generated. The table mapping maps a set of tables to databases associated with the set of tables. The set of tables are from the plurality of tables. References to objects from the set of object are generated. Each reference comprises data that identifies an object.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for presenting and modifying data from a set of tables in a database is provided. A view that is defined is based on a set of one or more tables that may include relational tables or object tables. The view defines a presentation of data from the one or more tables as a set of objects that reside in the database. Data is read from the one or more rows of the tables based on the view, and is presented as a set of objects that reside in the database. An object id that is based on data from the one or more rows is generated and associated with each object presented. The view may specify which columns from the one or more tables contain values used to generate the object ids. A trigger may associated with the view. The set of objects presented may be presented as objects having an attribute that is a column object. Column objects include user specified object types, collection objects (e.g. nested tables and variable arrays), or references to objects.

Abstract: A method, system and computer-readable medium is provided for grouping database objects into logical groupings in order to simplify administrative and other operations that need to be performed by the database server. Such operations can be performed once at the logical group level for a group of related objects, as opposed to at the individual database object level. For increased flexibility, the logical groupings need not dictate the format, schema or location of their members. A hierarchy may be established between the logical groupings, where child groupings inherit some or all of the properties of the parent groupings. A correspondence may be established between some groupings and operating system directories, allowing identifiers associated with the groupings to be used as aliases for the full operating system paths to the corresponding directories.

Abstract: The present invention provides interprocess communication in a DBMS. The present invention provides the ability for these processes to communicate with other DBMS processes or processes external to the DBMS. A pipe is implemented as an object of the general purpose object cache. The general purpose object cache resides in the systems shared memory space. It is concurrently accessible by many sessions, or processes. A pipe is located in a shared global memory area. The present invention provides the ability to send a message (i.e., record) to a pipe, and receive a message (i.e., record) from a pipe. A pipe is located in shared memory. Shared memory can contain multiple pipes. Each pipe is comprised of a linked list of records, and linked list of sessions, an exclusivity indicator, and a session waiting indicator. Multiple sessions can access the same pipe, and each pipe can contain multiple messages. A message is sent by a sending session to a local buffer. The contents of the local buffer is sent to a pipe.