Patent ID: 7346635
Filing Date: 2008-03-18
Classification: G06F,Y10S

Abstract:
1. A client-server system for transferring a database from a server to a client over the Web, the system comprising: a server connectable to the Web including a Web server; a source database of a first database type accessible to the server having metadata and database data stored therein, the server associating a structure object with the metadata and a data object with the database data; a client automatically downloaded from the server and automatically installed in a Web browser connectable to the Web for communication with the Web server, the client connectable to a database for storing a copy of the source database in a target database of a second database type; a graphical user interface operable at the client for causing the generation and population of the target database, initiation of a database transfer via the graphical user interface requiring only identifying the source database, identifying the target database, and use of a selector to initiate the database transfer; the server having a programming interface including an interface corresponding to each of a plurality of known databases stored thereon, the server programmed to automatically identify and load the interface corresponding to the source database for accessing the source database and retrieving the metadata and at least a portion of the database data and storing the retrieved metadata in the structure object and the database data in the data object; the server sending the structure object and the data object to the client over the Web via a Web protocol over standard Web channels such that firewall modification is not required at the client; the client including a processor for automatically downloading and installing an interface corresponding to the target database, receiving the structure object and the object from the server, creating the target database using the metadata, and populating the target database with the database data retrieved from the data object including mapping data types from the source database of the first type to that of the target database of the second type; and wherein the client-server system provides for the transfer of the source database of the first database type to the client and target database of the second database type across various database types, vendors and operating systems without user interaction following initiation of the transfer via the graphical user interface, the system being automated such that no programming or scripting is required for initiating or carrying out the transfer and the user is not required to have any knowledge of the source database apart from a name thereof.