Patent ID: 6775674
Filing Date: 2004-08-10
Classification: G06F,Y10S

Abstract:
In a computer system including a database system wherein queries to the database system can be specified by selecting a first object and a second object, with a query result being based on a relationship between the first object's metadata and the second object's metadata, a method of generating the relationship comprising the steps of:automatically populating a relationship matrix having relation cells therein from pre-defined relationships, thereby defining a subset of the relation cells in the relationship matrix; and for at least one of the relation cells in the relationship matrix not defined in the step of automatically populating, completing the at least one relation cell by: a) identifying at least one relationship path between metadata of the objects associated with the at least one relation cell, wherein each path comprises at least one link between objects, each link having a weight associated therewith; b) if only one path is identified, populating the at least one relation cell with a relation defined by the one path; and c) if more than one path is identified, populating the at least one relation cell with a relation defined by a preferred path selected from the more than one path, the preferred path being determined based on respective sums of the weights associated with each link in the more than one path.