A computerized system and method for electronically storing, retrieving, separating, comparing and interrelating data which is maintained in a predetermined classification scheme. Data is electronically stored under the predetermined classification scheme in the form of hierarchal information trees. Data corresponding to a selected attribute may be found in an information tree by using a CRT terminal to scan the various levels of the hierarchy of the tree. As the various levels of the tree are scanned, nodes in each level of the tree are selected in accordance with the desired attribute which is being searched. The selection of various nodes in the levels of the information tree defines one or more concurrent paths through the tree which provide access to all data classified under the information tree corresponding to the attribute being searched. A CPU generates an encoded representation for each set of concurrent paths that are searched through the information tree. Each set of encoded paths is identified by a keyword that corresponds to one of the searched attributes and each keyword with its associated set of encoded paths is stored. The stored keywords and their associated encoded paths may be selectively retrieved and combined in a logical arithmetic unit to produce a particular set of encoded paths which provides concurrent multiple path access through the hierarchal information tree to all data corresponding to a desired combination of attributes. Alternatively, each retrieved set of paths may be used to identify an attribute that is stored in a hierarchal decision table tree, thereby providing access through the decision table tree to all data corresponding to the desired combination of attributes. A special purpose module is also provided which operates to compact the format of the encoded path representations prior to their storage and which also operates to re-expand the format of the encoded path representations after their retrieval and prior to manipulation in the logical arithmetic unit.
A computer system for electronically storing and retrieving data files which have been linked together to form a hierarchal information tree having a plurality of mutually exclusive branches corresponding to the information represented by the data files and which has been classified at various levels in the hierarchal structure of the tree. The computer system has a central processing unit that is electronically coupled to input/output apparatus which includes a keyboard, a CRT screen, a printer and, if desired, an analog/digital input device. An electronic storage means is electronically coupled to the CPU. The storage means contains a system control program together with the data base of files linked together to form the expandable hierarchal tree. A separate portion of the storage means, or a second storage device also contains a system control program together with addressable files which may be used to store information which is retrieved as the CPU searches the data base.
A data structure and search method for a data base management system. The structure and method allow the locating of a stored record in a massive system in a controlled and small number of mass memory accesses. The data structure is arranged into a plurality of search trees, each defining patent nodes and terminal nodes. The nodes of a tree are hierarchically arranged, and the trees are hierarchically arranged as a whole into levels. The initial search tree and an initial subset of trees, in some cases, are designed to be maintained in a main fast access memory. The remaining trees are kept in mass memory. A plurality of first storage files maintained in the mass memory are associated with terminal nodes of each of the trees except the final trees in the hierarchical structure. Terminating storage files, which are the ultimate repository for information, are associated with terminal nodes of the final trees. An input search parameter is partitioned into a plurality of subparameters, one for each level of search trees. The subparameters are used to search a tree in each level of the data structure until the location of a terminating file is determined.
A system and method is provided which represents hierarchical relationships. These relationships are statically stored in a compact manner that allows for easy determination of relations (such as dominance) between any two entities defined to the hierarchy. This stored information is referred to a dominance key or a DOMKEY. DOMKEYs, rather than storing the actual relationship between entities defined to the hierarchical structure, store a representation of the structure itself. In a preferred embodiment, the present invention is applied to computer security systems such as the RACF system and is embedded in a RACF administrator such as Vanguard Integrity Professionals VRA RACF Administrator.
An improved method for indexing and accessing data stored in a computer storage system, comprising a multi-way tree structure having interconnected branch nodes and leaf nodes. The leaf nodes contain a large number of distinction bits, rather than a smaller number of search keys as known in the prior art. A distinction bit is determined by comparing two selected search keys and determining the ordinal number of the first bit that is different between the two keys. The density of distinction bit entries in the leaf nodes permits shorter access times to obtain data records in a computer storage system.
To perform a binder through retrieval on binders which are set out on an optical disk and have different title structures, those binders containing the same key attribute data as a designated retrieval key are retrieved. When binders to be linked are selected from the retrieved binders, only those keys containing the same attribute data as the designated key are extracted from the selected binders. The extracted keys are sequentially arranged in the extracted order, thereby creating a title table for a link binder on a magnetic disk. This title table is retrieved to provide desired image imformation. Alternatively, a binder number/key correlation table is created on the magnetic disk, in accordance with the selection of the binders to be linked. This binder number/key correlation table includes the quantity of linked binders, the number of retrieval keys, the number of each binder and information relating to linked keys for each one of the linked binders. The title table of a binder associated with the designated key or keys, which is indicated by the binder number/key correlation table, is retrieved to provide the desired image information.
