Database Subset Extraction via Entity Graph Traversal
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing methods for extracting a subset of data from multiple tables in databases often result in large subsets or fail to maintain referential integrity, especially in complex schemas with multiple relationships.
Innovation Solution
A method that generates a minimal referentially intact subset by traversing an entity graph starting from top-most criteria entities without revisiting any directed edge, ensuring that referential integrity is maintained while minimizing the subset size.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If traversal schemes use union operations to ensure all records are selected, then completeness is improved, but subset size increases beyond what is required
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies partial action by using intersection operations instead of union operations during graph traversal. This selects only the necessary records that satisfy all criteria across multiple tables, rather than selecting all possible records. The intersection operation ensures that only records present in all required tables are included, achieving the minimum necessary subset while maintaining referential integrity.
2Reliability
If Major/Minor relationships are defined to ensure all referring records are selected, then referential integrity is improved, but subset size increases significantly in complex schemas
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the complex schema into an entity graph where tables are nodes and relationships are edges. By traversing this graph structure, the system identifies only the specific paths and records necessary to maintain referential integrity for the requested subset, rather than selecting all records that would be required by Major/Minor relationship definitions in complex schemas.
3Reliability
If multiple join operations are performed to traverse complex schemas, then completeness is improved, but device complexity and processing requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an entity graph as an intermediary structure between the complex database schema and the subset extraction process. The graph represents tables as nodes and relationships as edges, providing a simplified traversal path that avoids the complexity of multiple join operations. This intermediary structure enables efficient navigation through the schema to identify necessary records without requiring complex join logic.
Data Source
AI summary
An apparatus, computer-readable medium, and computer-implemented method for extracting a subset, including receiving a request comprising one or more criteria indicating one or more criteria tables in a plurality of tables of the database, storing an entity graph corresponding to a schema of the database and the one or more criteria, determining one or more top-most criteria entities in the entity graph, and generating the subset from the plurality of tables by traversing the entity graph starting at the one or more top-most criteria entities without traversing any directed edge more than once.