Information Model Data Storage for Cross-Application Access
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing data storage and access methods using files or file hierarchies face issues such as incompatibility across different software applications, difficulty in accessing and managing data, and challenges in querying and managing relationships, leading to inconsistent and unsynchronized data.
Innovation Solution
Storing data in an information model using assets, components, and relationships, where each asset is a container for components, and components store data according to a schema, allowing data to be accessed and queried across different software applications.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If data is stored in files or file hierarchies, then data can be stored and transferred, but different software applications cannot access the data due to different file formats
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an information model as an intermediary layer between data storage and software applications. This information model serves as a universal interface that translates between different application-specific formats and a standardized internal representation, enabling any application to access data without needing to understand the underlying storage format of other applications.
Solution Approach 2:
The information model provides a universal data representation that can be accessed by multiple different software applications simultaneously. By establishing a common data ontology and standardized access protocols, the system enables multi-functional access where various applications can read and write data through the same standardized interface despite having different native formats.
2Ease of operation
If data is stored in files or file hierarchies, then data can be stored, but the stored data is difficult to access and use requiring manual file searching and data aggregation
Solution Approach 1:
The system implements automated feedback mechanisms where the information model continuously tracks and indexes data across all files and applications. When data is written to or read from any file, the information model automatically updates its understanding of data locations and relationships, enabling rapid retrieval without manual searching.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces the mechanical manual process of searching through files and aggregating data with an automated computational system. The information model uses computer algorithms to automatically discover, track, and aggregate data across the entire system, substituting human manual operations with automated digital processing.
3Adaptability or versatility
If data is stored in files or file hierarchies, then data can be stored, but querying and managing relationships between files is difficult and requires awareness of format dependencies
Solution Approach 1:
The information model acts as an intermediary that automatically manages relationships between data across different files and applications. It maintains a centralized understanding of data dependencies and relationships, shielding users from the complexity of underlying file format dependencies while providing standardized relationship querying capabilities.
Solution Approach 2:
The system dynamically adapts to different data formats by automatically detecting and interpreting the schema of incoming data. The information model changes its internal representation parameters based on the actual data format, allowing it to manage relationships between files with different formats without requiring explicit knowledge of each format's dependencies.
4Reliability
If data is stored in files or file hierarchies, then data can be stored, but versioned data becomes unsynchronized and inconsistent across collaborative workflows
Solution Approach 1:
The information model implements real-time feedback mechanisms that track version changes across all data and automatically propagate updates throughout the system. When data is modified in any application or file, the information model receives feedback about the change and automatically updates all dependent data and relationships, ensuring consistency across collaborative workflows.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent merges all versioned data into a unified information model that maintains a single source of truth. By combining data from multiple files and applications into a centralized representation with unified version tracking, the system eliminates the complexity of managing separate version histories across different file formats while ensuring all collaborators see consistent, synchronized data.
Data Source
AI summary
Techniques are disclosed for storing and accessing data in an information model. In some embodiments, data is stored in the information model using assets, components, and relationships, or using any other suitable transformation of the data. Each asset is a container for components. Each component stores data according to a schema that defines the organization of data in the component. Assets and components can be related to other assets and/or other components. A file can be imported into the information model by extracting data from the file, creating assets and components in the information model based on the extracted data, and wiring together the created assets and components. In addition or alternatively, an application can invoke an API to write data to the information model. An application can also invoke the API to query the information model, such as to read data from the information model.