Customizable Result Sets for API Data Access
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing application program interfaces (APIs) return data in a fixed schema, leading to excessive network bandwidth and memory usage, as well as increased complexity and traffic due to the need for multiple API calls to access conceptually related data, which complicates data access for third parties.
Innovation Solution
Implementing a result customization system that allows third parties to specify attributes and relationships in their results through customizable result set definitions, which parses these definitions to determine the necessary API calls and data transformations, thereby returning only relevant data and minimizing network traffic and computational complexity.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If APIs return data in a fixed schema, then data access is simplified for the API provider, but network bandwidth and memory usage increase due to returning excessive data attributes
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the parameter of data schema from fixed to customizable by introducing result set definitions that allow third parties to specify desired attributes and relationships. This enables the API to return only the necessary data attributes requested by the third party, reducing network bandwidth usage while maintaining ease of access through the standardized API interface.
2Device complexity
If APIs return data in a fixed schema, then the API structure remains simple, but multiple API calls are required to access conceptually related data, increasing complexity and traffic
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges multiple API calls into a single call by introducing result set definitions that can specify relationships between different data entities. Instead of requiring separate API calls to access conceptually related data, the system combines multiple data sources and relationships into one customized result set, reducing both the number of calls and the time required to access related data.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces result set definitions as an intermediary layer between the third party and the API data sources. This intermediary allows the third party to specify complex data requirements including relationships between entities, and the system translates these specifications into the appropriate data retrieval operations, simplifying the interface while handling complexity internally.
3Loss of energy
If customizable result set definitions are implemented, then network traffic and computational complexity are reduced, but the system requires parsing and processing of result set definitions
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by pre-defining result set definitions that capture the structure, attributes, and relationships of desired data. These definitions are created and validated in advance, allowing the system to efficiently process requests by matching them against predefined result set templates rather than parsing ad-hoc queries, thereby reducing processing complexity while maintaining customization benefits.
Data Source
AI summary
Disclosed are various embodiments for custom result set definitions. A result set definition is obtained responsive to a request from a client. A result customization application generates and executes application program interface calls to generate response data having a fixed schema. The result customization application performs transformations on the response data to generate a result set conforming to the result set definition.