Smart Additive Packaging for Software Package Customization
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional database systems lack the ability to connect and upgrade packages and their corresponding customizations together, leading to inefficient and error-prone processes during distribution, testing, and deployment in on-demand services environments.
Innovation Solution
The implementation of a smart additive packaging mechanism that bundles packages with their customizations, forming a tightly connected 'additive package' that can move and be upgraded together, ensuring dependencies are maintained throughout various processes.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If packages and customizations are distributed separately using conventional techniques, then distribution flexibility is maintained, but connection and coordination between package and customization are lost
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines the package and its customizations into a single additive package unit. The packaging mechanism merges these previously separate components, ensuring they move and are upgraded together while maintaining their individual identities and functionality within the unified package structure.
Solution Approach 2:
The customization is nested within the package structure, forming a hierarchical relationship where the customization is contained within and associated with its parent package. This nesting ensures the customization remains connected to the package while allowing the package to maintain its core functionality.
2Productivity
If packages are upgraded independently, then upgrade speed is improved, but errors occur due to broken dependencies with customizations
Solution Approach 1:
By merging the package and customization into a single additive package, upgrades are performed on the unified unit rather than separately. This maintains dependency relationships while enabling coordinated upgrades, preventing the broken dependency errors that occur with independent upgrades.
Solution Approach 2:
The packaging mechanism performs preliminary actions by pre-establishing the dependency relationships between package and customization within the additive package structure. This preliminary configuration ensures that when upgrades occur, the dependencies are already properly configured to maintain integrity.
3Productivity
If manual tracking of package-customization relationships is used, then system simplicity is maintained, but efficiency and accuracy of tracking deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The additive package structure is self-describing, containing inherent metadata that identifies its components and relationships. The package automatically tracks its own customization dependencies through its internal structure, eliminating the need for external manual tracking mechanisms while maintaining simplicity.
Solution Approach 2:
The packaging mechanism acts as an intermediary that automatically manages the tracking of package-customization relationships. It mediates between the package and customization components, maintaining accurate dependency information without requiring manual intervention from users or complex external tracking systems.
Data Source
AI summary
Techniques and structures to provide smart packaging in a database environment. A package and a set of customizations corresponding to the package are detected. The package with the set of customizations are bundled to form an additive package such that the additive package provides for the set of customizations to remain bonded with the package throughout one or more processes including testing, deploying, and/or updating of the package.