Compound XML Document Management via Hierarchical Subdocument Segmentation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing content repositories face challenges in managing large XML documents, particularly in applying access control and versioning at a granularity lower than the document level, leading to inefficient handling of changes and updates.
Innovation Solution
A declarative mechanism is introduced to manage large documents by sectioning them into subdocuments linked by a parent document, allowing for finer granularity in access control and versioning, and enabling compound documents to be queried as a single unit or independently.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If access control is applied at the document level only, then implementation is simple, but granularity is insufficient for large documents with multiple contributors
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments large XML documents into smaller subdocuments organized in a hierarchical structure. A parent document contains multiple child subdocuments, each representing a logical section (e.g., chapters in a book). This segmentation enables fine-grained access control at the subdocument level while maintaining the logical integrity of the complete document through the parent-child relationship structure.
2Productivity
If versioning is applied to the entire document, then version control is simple, but efficiency is reduced when only small portions change
Solution Approach 1:
The versioning mechanism is segmented to operate at the subdocument level rather than requiring entire document versioning. When a subdocument changes, only that specific subdocument is versioned and updated, while other subdocuments remain unchanged. This selective versioning dramatically improves update efficiency for large documents where only portions change, eliminating the need to recreate entire document versions.
Solution Approach 2:
Instead of versioning the entire document (excessive action), the system applies versioning only to the specific subdocuments that have changed (partial action). This partial versioning approach maintains version control integrity while minimizing the overhead of copying and managing large unchanged portions of the document.
3Productivity
If large XML documents are stored as single units, then storage management is simple, but processing and access control become inefficient
Solution Approach 1:
Large XML documents are segmented into hierarchical subdocuments (parent and child elements) that can be independently processed, stored, and managed. The parent document maintains references to child subdocuments, allowing the system to process only relevant portions rather than entire large documents, significantly improving processing efficiency while maintaining logical document integrity.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a hierarchical dimension to document structure, organizing content in parent-child relationships rather than flat single-unit storage. This dimensional change enables multi-level access and processing, where operations can target specific hierarchical levels (parent or children) based on needs, improving efficiency without sacrificing the ability to treat the complete structure as a unified document when necessary.
Data Source
AI summary
A declarative mechanism is used to manage large documents within a repository. The large documents are sectioned into subdocuments that are linked together by a parent document. The combination of the parent document and subdocument is referred to as a compound document. There are multiple options for configuring rules to break up a source document into a compound document and naming the subdocuments. The compound documents may be queried using statements that treat the compound document as a single XML document, or the parent document of a subdocument may be queried and treated independently. Access control and versioning can be applied at the finer granularity of the subdocument.