Abstract: Methods and apparatus are provided for identifying constraint violation repairs in data that is comprised of a plurality of records, where each record has a plurality of cells. A database is processed, based on a plurality of constraints that data in the database must satisfy. At least one constraint violation to be resolved is identified based on a cost of repair and the corresponding records to be resolved and equivalent cells are identified in the data that violate the identified at least one constraint violation. A value for each of the equivalent cells can optionally be determined, and the determined value can be assigned to each of the equivalent cells. The at least one constraint violation selected for resolution may be, for example, the constraint violation with a lowest cost. The cost of repairing a constraint is based on a distance metric between the attributes values.

Abstract: Methods and apparatus are provided for incremental update of an XML tree defined from a recursive XML view of a relational database. A method comprises the steps of detecting at least one change to the relational database; providing one or more queries to the relational database to map the change to the relational database into changes to the XML tree, wherein at least one component of a definition of the one or more queries is executed a plurality of times in traversing a path through the XML tree; and applying the mapped change to the XML tree. A bud-cut method and a reduction approach are presented.

Abstract: Methods and apparatus are provided for detecting data inconsistencies. Methods are disclosed for determining whether a set of conditional functional dependencies are consistent; determining a minimal cover of a set of conditional functional dependencies and detecting a violation of one or more conditional functional dependencies in a set of conditional functional dependencies. The conditional functional dependencies comprise one or more constraints that data in a database must satisfy including at least one pattern with data values.

Abstract: Methods and apparatus are provided for mapping XML source documents to target documents using schema embeddings. According to one aspect of the invention, one or more edges in the one or more source schemas are mapped to one or more paths in at least one target schema. The disclosed mapping techniques ensure that (i) one or more source documents that conform to one or more of the source schemas can be recovered from one or more target documents that conform to the at least one target schema, if a mapping exists between the one or more of the source schemas and the at least one target schema; (ii) queries on one or more source documents that conform to one or more of the source schemas in a given query language can be answered on one or more target documents that conform to the at least one target schema; and (iii) the one or more target documents conform to a target schema.

Abstract: Methods and apparatus are provided for propagating functional dependencies with conditions. Propagation covers are computed using an SPC view of a dataset, wherein the SPC view comprises selection, projection and Cartesian product operations. Selection operations are processed to extract equivalence classes. Cartesian product operations are processed to obtain a renamed set of the plurality of conditional functional dependencies, that have attributes appearing in the SPC view. Domain constraints from the equivalence classes are applied to the renamed set to remove attributes not in the SPC view. Projection operations are processed using a reduction by resolution procedure to identify inferences that can be propagated to the SPC view from the conditional functional dependencies having attributes that do not appear in the SPC view. Domain constraints of the equivalence classes are converted to conditional functional dependencies; and a minimal cover of the SPC view is determined.

Abstract: Methods and apparatus are provided for discovering minimal conditional functional dependencies (CFDs). CFDs extend functional dependencies by supporting patterns of semantically related constants, and can be used as rules for cleaning relational data. A disclosed CFDMiner algorithm, based on techniques for mining closed itemsets, discovers constant minimal CFDs. A disclosed CTANE algorithm discovers general minimal CFDs based on the levelwise approach. A disclosed FastCFD algorithm discovers general minimal CFDs based on a depth-first search strategy, and an optimization technique via closed-itemset mining to reduce search space.

Abstract: Methods and apparatus are provided for evaluating XPath filters on fragmented and distributed XML documents. According to one aspect of the invention, a method is disclosed for evaluating a query over a tree having a plurality of fragments distributed over a plurality of sites. The method comprises the steps of identifying the plurality of sites storing at least one of the plurality of fragments of the tree;providing the query to the plurality of identified sites, wherein each of the identified sites partially evaluates the query against one of more fragments of the tree stored by the respective site; obtaining partial results from the plurality of identified sites; and composing the partial results to compute a result to the query. The query may be, for example, a boolean XPath query The method can be performed, for example, by a coordinating site that stores a root fragment of the tree.

Abstract: Methods and apparatus are provided for detecting data inconsistencies. Methods are disclosed for determining whether a set of conditional functional dependencies are consistent; determining a minimal cover of a set of conditional functional dependencies and detecting a violation of one or more conditional functional dependencies in a set of conditional functional dependencies. The conditional functional dependencies comprise one or more constraints that data in a database must satisfy including at least one pattern with data values.

Abstract: Methods and apparatus are provided for rewriting view queries into equivalent queries on the source document. According to one aspect of the invention, methods are provided for processing a view query on a database view. The method comprises the steps of translating the view query to a mixed finite state automata representation of a document query on one or more documents underlying the database view; and evaluating the document query on the one or more documents to obtain a result to the view query. The view query may be, for example, a regular XPath query.

Abstract: Method for providing controlled access to an XML document includes defining at least one access control policy for a user of the XML document, deriving a security view of the XML document for the user based upon said access control policy and schema level processing of the XML document and translating a user query based on the security view of the XML document to an equivalent query based on the XML document. An apparatus for same includes means for defining an access control policy for a user of the XML document and means for deriving a security view of the XML document for the user based on said access control policy and schema level processing of the XML document. Also included are means for translating a user query based on the security view of the XML document to an equivalent query based on the XML document.

Abstract: A method and data-processing apparatus for storing data from an XML document in a relational database, wherein the XML document conforms to an XML schema which specifies the types of elements which may be included in the XML document and child element types of the said element types, and wherein the relational database conforms to a relational schema, the method comprising the steps of, in respect of element types in the XML schema which have child element types, determining at least one rule in relation to the said element types, wherein the at least one rule specifies how to compute the value of attributes associated with child elements of an instance of an element of that type, taking into account at least the value of either or both an attribute associated with an instance of an element of that type and PCDATA of text children of an instance of an element of that type, wherein at least some of the said rules in relation to at least some of the said element types in the XML schema specify how to calculate

Abstract: The invention provides a system and method for translating XPATH queries into SQL queries with a simple least fixpoint (LFP) operator, which is already supported by most commercial RDBMS. The method comprises the steps of (a) rewriting an input query into a regular query, which is capable of capturing both DTD recursion and XPATH queries in a uniform framework; and (b) translating the regular query to an SQL query with LFP. The invention further provides optimization techniques for reducing the use of the LFP operator. As a result, the invention is capable of answering a large class of XPATH queries by means of only low-end RDBMS features already available in most RDBMS.

Abstract: Methods and apparatus are provided for improved schema mapping of source documents to target documents. A list of matches are generated between at least one source table and at least one target table. One or more of the matches are annotated with a logical condition providing a context in which the match applies. Matches can be annotated with a logical condition, for example, by generating a set of candidate view conditions, C, to be applied to the one or more source tables. A schema match algorithm can generate the list of matches. Candidate logical conditions can be identified, for example, by (i) creating a set of views for categorical attributes in the tables and adding a view for each partitioning of the attribute values; (ii) using a classifier built on target attribute values; or (iii) evaluating internal features of a source table.

Abstract: A grammar for mapping a first grouping of XML data into a second grouping of XML data and a method for accomplishing same to incorporate the first grouping into the second grouping. The grammar includes a first rule for computing a first child element attribute and a second rule for computing a second parent element attribute. The first rule and second rule vary according to a production of an element type of the first grouping. The element types include PCDATA, disjunctive, conjunctive and Kleene star, each having a unique rule set for defining inherited and synthesized attributes of the parent and child elements. The method includes the step of executing a mapping of a first grouping having at least one parent element and a set of corresponding child elements into a second grouping in accordance with the grammar rules based on the production of the element type.

Abstract: Methods and apparatus are provided for processing updates to an XML document. Updates are converted into one or more complement queries that can be performed on the XML document. The complement queries provided by the present invention allow (i) virtual views of XML data to be updated; (ii) updates and queries to be composed; and (iii) the XML document to be updated using an XML query engine. The XML document can be recursively processed to determine for each node whether the node is affected by the update and implementing the update at the affected nodes.

Abstract: Methods and apparatus are provided for mapping XML source documents to target documents using schema embeddings. According to one aspect of the invention, one or more edges in the one or more source schemas are mapped to one or more paths in at least one target schema. The disclosed mapping techniques ensure that (i) one or more source documents that conform to one or more of the source schemas can be recovered from one or more target documents that conform to the at least one target schema, if a mapping exists between the one or more of the source schemas and the at least one target schema; (ii) queries on one or more source documents that conform to one or more of the source schemas in a given query language can be answered on one or more target documents that conform to the at least one target schema; and (iii) the one or more target documents conform to a target schema.

Abstract: Methods and apparatus are provided for incremental update of an XML tree defined from a recursive XML view of a relational database. A method comprises the steps of detecting at least one change to the relational database; providing one or more queries to the relational database to map the change to the relational database into changes to the XML tree, wherein at least one component of a definition of the one or more queries is executed a plurality of times in traversing a path through the XML tree; and applying the mapped change to the XML tree. A bud-cut method and a reduction approach are presented.

Abstract: Methods and apparatus are provided for identifying constraint violation repairs in data that is comprised of a plurality of records, where each record has a plurality of cells. A database is processed, based on a plurality of constraints that data in the database must satisfy. At least one constraint violation to be resolved is identified based on a cost of repair and the corresponding records to be resolved and equivalent cells are identified in the data that violate the identified at least one constraint violation. A value for each of the equivalent cells can optionally be determined, and the determined value can be assigned to each of the equivalent cells. The at least one constraint violation selected for resolution may be, for example, the constraint violation with a lowest cost. The cost of repairing a constraint is based on a distance metric between the attributes values.

Abstract: Method for providing controlled access to an XML document includes defining at least one access control policy for a user of the XML document, deriving a security view of the XML document for the user based upon said access control policy and schema level processing of the XML document and translating a user query based on the security view of the XML document to an equivalent query based on the XML document. An apparatus for same includes means for defining an access control policy for a user of the XML document and means for deriving a security view of the XML document for the user based on said access control policy and schema level processing of the XML document. Also included are means for translating a user query based on the security view of the XML document to an equivalent query based on the XML document.

Abstract: A framework is provided for integrating data from multiple relational sources into an XML document that both conforms to a given DTD and satisfies predefined XML constraints. The framework is based on a specification language, designated Attribute Integration Grammar (AIG), that extends a DTD by (1) associating element types with semantic attributes, (2) computing these attributes via parameterized SQL queries over multiple data sources, and (3) incorporating XML keys and inclusion constraints. The AIG uniquely operates on semantic attributes and their dependency relations for controlling context-dependent, DTD-directed construction of XML documents, and, as well as checks XML constraints in parallel with document-generation.