Gridded Database Protocol Cylindrical Data Blocks
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing methods for storing and retrieving gridded data, such as weather forecasts, are inefficient for quick access to data for specific locations, requiring numerous read operations and excessive processing resources due to the need to extract values from multiple separate grids.
Innovation Solution
A high-performance gridded database protocol that organizes data into cylindrical blocks, grouping related grid cells together to minimize read operations, allowing a single read operation to retrieve a whole stack of relevant data for a location, and incorporates features like tiling and a 'time to live' mechanism to optimize data storage and retrieval.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If gridded data is stored as separate grids for each parameter and time period, then data storage and generation are efficient, but data extraction for specific locations becomes time-consuming and resource-intensive
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges data from multiple separate grids (different parameters, time periods, and grid cells) into a single consolidated data structure. Instead of storing and accessing thousands of separate grid files, the invention combines relevant data into unified structures that can be retrieved in a single operation, dramatically reducing extraction time for specific locations
Solution Approach 2:
The patent performs preliminary organization of gridded data into optimized data structures during the data ingestion phase. By pre-grouping and consolidating data by location rather than by parameter or time period, the system prepares data in advance for efficient extraction, eliminating the need to open and process multiple separate files when data is requested
2Ease of operation
If each grid is stored as a separate file, then data organization for generation is simple, but the number of read operations required for extraction increases significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines multiple separate grid files into consolidated data structures organized by geographic location. This merging reduces the number of individual file operations from thousands (one per grid) to a minimal number of operations, simplifying the retrieval process while maintaining data accessibility
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the organizational dimension of the data from parameter-based or time-based grouping to location-based grouping. This dimensional shift transforms the data access pattern, allowing retrieval operations to target specific locations directly without navigating through multiple parameter-specific or time-specific file structures
3Quantity of substance
If grids are stored in compressed format to save space, then storage efficiency improves, but extraction requires additional decompression processing time
Solution Approach 1:
The patent consolidates data from multiple compressed grids into unified data structures, reducing the total number of decompression operations required. By merging data at the storage level rather than keeping separate compressed files, the system minimizes the cumulative processing overhead of opening, decompressing, and closing multiple individual files
Data Source
AI summary
A high-performance gridded database protocol for storing, arranging, and extracting gridded data includes associating values for a single grid cell and storing them together to extract as many useful values as possible from a single read operation. Gridded data is stored in a geographically-indexed cylindrical grid that permits efficient data extraction for a particular location while maximizing efficiency of read operations. Cylinders of values are built by grouping grids that are related to each other so that when data for a location is to be extracted, a minimal number of read operations is needed to retrieve an entire stack of data relevant to the location.