GINA Information Object Model for Distributed Data Interoperability
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current computing technologies face challenges in interoperability across multiple applications and information systems, leading to fragmented information management, lack of organization-wide standards, and difficulty in managing complex, distributed networks, especially in large organizations with diverse information resources and varying user perspectives.
Innovation Solution
The Global Information Network Architecture (GINA) manages information objects through configurable components and Vector-Relational Data Modeling (VRDM), enabling multi-level access control, user-specific views, and seamless integration across networks, using a GINA application that represents information objects as services, properties, and relationships, allowing for dynamic configuration and secure data management.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If multiple independent applications are developed to manage different information systems, then each application can be optimized for its specific function, but interoperability between applications deteriorates and information fragmentation increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements a universal information object model that can represent diverse information from multiple applications in a unified framework. Information objects serve as universal containers that can hold data from different sources (databases, files, web services) while maintaining a consistent interface, enabling interoperability across previously independent applications without sacrificing their specialized functionality
Solution Approach 2:
The GINA architecture introduces information objects as intermediary entities between different applications and data sources. These information objects act as mediators that standardize access to heterogeneous information, allowing applications to interact through a common interface rather than requiring direct integration between each pair of applications
2Adaptability or versatility
If information is distributed across multiple locations and formats in large organizations, then information can be stored close to its source systems, but access and integration of this information deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments information access into two independent layers: the physical distribution layer (where information objects are stored across multiple locations in various formats) and the access layer (where a unified interface provides consistent access). This segmentation allows information to remain distributed for local optimization while providing centralized access control and standardization through the information object model
Solution Approach 2:
The information object model provides a universal access mechanism that works across all distributed information sources. A single information object interface can represent data from databases, files, web services, and other sources, allowing users to access distributed information through a consistent method regardless of the underlying storage location or format
3Ease of operation
If traditional directory services are used to manage information access, then basic access control can be implemented, but support for complex user perspectives and contextual information deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements local quality by allowing different users to see different aspects (properties) of the same information object based on their roles and context. Each user perspective is customized by selecting which properties of an information object are visible and accessible, enabling the same information to be presented differently to different users without requiring separate directory structures for each user
4Reliability
If integration solutions are implemented to connect diverse information systems, then information interoperability can be improved, but system complexity and integration costs increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the complexity of integration by separating it into a distinct layer. Rather than embedding integration logic within each application, the information object model extracts and centralizes integration concerns in a unified framework that handles data access, transformation, and presentation, simplifying the overall system architecture while maintaining interoperability
Data Source
AI summary
When users, whether human or machine, want information, it is often unimportant to them where that information resides. A collection of information aggregation environments, such as the Universal Information Object Management Environment of the specification, becomes far more useful to users if information aggregated in one environment is easily aggregated by another. By assigning a virtual globally unique identifier to each object that is made available by any information aggregator in a way that captures the information necessary to get that information from the information aggregator in a common way, all of the information aggregation environments can use any of the data in any information aggregation environment transparently.