Patent ID: 7873669
Filing Date: 2011-01-18
Classification: G06F

Abstract:
1. At a computer system including a processor and system memory, a method for querying a data cube, the method comprising: querying a data cube for results based on a proposed data update to the data cube, portions of the data cube being accessible at different storage layers in a hierarchy of storage layers, the storage layers including a top storage layer, one or more intermediate storage layers, the intermediate layers being configured to output query information relating to a “what if” query without affecting data at any of the storage layers, and a lowest session storage layer, the granularity of the data accessible at each layer varying from more granular at the session storage layer to less granular at the top storage layer, wherein data at a higher layers is aggregated from data at lower layers and data at lower layers is disaggregated from data at higher layers, the storage hierarchy being separate from any dimensional hierarchy of the data cube, wherein querying further comprises receiving a “what if” query from a user, the “what if” query including data for modifying a cell data value of a first cell in a data cube so as to overwrite a current cell data value in the first cell with an updated cell data value, the first cell accessible at a specified storage layer within the hierarchy of storage layers; maintaining original data cell information for the first cell in a write back data partition, wherein changed data values generated as a result of the “what if” query are stored in a session cache; inferring one or more actions that the user desires to be performed based on a classifier function that maps a user input to a confidence that the input belongs to a certain class of inputs; determining a delta value for the first cell, the delta value being the difference between the updated cell data value and the current cell data value; determining one or more additional delta values for one or more additional cell data values respectively based on the determined delta value, each additional cell data value being associated with an additional cell, the one or more additional cells being accessible at storage layers differing from the specified storage layer in the hierarchy of storage layers, at least one of the one or more additional cells being accessible at a storage layer above the specified storage layer; the processor updating the first cell with the updated cell data value in isolation from the other one or more additional cells data values, wherein the updating is performed as a result of the action inference and is performed at a higher granularity level than the level at which the original data was entered via the “what if” query and is performed without aggregating the updated cell data value with cell data values of other cells at the specified storage level for access at storage layers above the specified storage layer and without deaggregating the updated cell data value for access at storage layers below the specified storage layer; and outputting the delta value to the user as a result of the “what if” query.