Patent Abstract:
A method and apparatus for constructing a memory-based database service platform, in which database can be on-loaded and off-loaded or unloaded as needed, and can reserve schedule and size of memory and other resources, including CPUs, network, backup, mirroring and recovery recourses. With the service platform, multiple different types of databases can be chosen by specifying data storage type and data operation interfaces, such as Relational Database (RDB), Biometric Database (BDB), Time Series Database (TDB), Data Driven Database (DDDB) and File-based Database (FDB) etc. Database types can be chosen either by user directly or by platform automatically or semi-automatically based on data types and data operation characteristics.

Full Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     The present application claims the benefit of the filing dates of U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 60/742,364 entitled “Apparatus and Method for On-Demand In-Memory Database Management System,” and filed on Dec. 5, 2005 
     Other applications that may of relevance to the present application include the following: 
     Invariant Memory Page Pool and Implementation Thereof; U.S. Pat. No. 6,912,641, granted on Jun. 28, 2005; Inventors: Tianlong Chen, Yingbin Wang and Yinong Wei. 
     Memory-Resident Database Management System and Implementation Thereof; Ser. No. 10/347,678; Filed on Jan. 22, 2003; Inventors: Tianlong Chen, Jonathan Vu. 
     Distributed Memory Computing Environment and Implementation Thereof; application Ser. No. 10/347,677, Filed on Jan. 22, 2003; Inventors: Tianlong Chen, Jonathan Vu, Yingbin Wang. 
     Image Indexing Search and Implementation Thereof, U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 60/454,315 filed on Mar. 14, 2003; Inventors: Tianlong Chen, Yi Rui, Yingbin Wang, and Yinong Wei. 
     Apparatus and Method for Biometric Database Management System; application Ser. No. 11/064,266 filed on Feb. 22, 2005; Inventors: Yingbin Wang and Tianlong Chen. 
     Data-Driven Database Management System, Ser. No. 11/044,698 filed Jan. 27, 2005; Inventor: Tianlong Chen. 
     The entirety of each of the aforementioned patent applications is incorporated by reference herein. 
    
    
     STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT 
     Not applicable. 
     FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention is related to on-demand in-memory database platform architecture and its applicable services and its implementation. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     In-memory database has its own characteristics that disk-based database does not have. A memory-based database is often much faster than a disk-based database in data retrieval and data processing; since memory-based database has all or most of data and data structure in memory and data operation and data storage are at the same level, it has more flexibility in manipulating data and data structures than disk-based database; such flexibility is greatly suitable for creating customer definable databases as disclosed in the Patent Application “Data-Driven Database Management System” filed by Tianlong Chen. Since data is already in the memory, most copying procedures in normal disk-based database are not required any more, removing a great deal of operation overheads. 
     Because of the flexibility provided by memory, it is easy to create a variety of different kinds of databases to handle different types of data with their distinguishing data operations. As examples, a biometric database as disclosed in aforementioned Patent Application “Apparatus and Method for Biometric Database Management System” handles biometric data and biometric identification and verification operations using proprietary or open standard interface such as BioAPI as query interface; a relational database handles structured data in table format using SQL as query language; in a more general sense, a file system (such as Network File System or NFS) is also one kind of “general-sense” database, and a variety of different file systems having different characteristics using different accessing protocols (such as SCSI). A disk-based relational database uses either a proprietary storage system (i.e. a proprietary file system) or a regular file system provided by the Operating System to store data. Therefore whether it is a regular-sense database or a general-sense database, they can all be abstracted as an abstract database comprising data storage and interfaces for data access, manipulation and other data operations. 
     Memory is more expensive than hard disk, however it is faster than hard disk and it is more flexible in data manipulation than hard disk; therefore a system with memory-based database is likely to be more expensive than that with a disk-based database. It is not cost-effective to load database all into memory for some business and applications. 
     Such positive and negative characteristics make it possible for a new kind of service architecture—on-demand database platform in which a database can be loaded into memory platform for fast data processing, and be off-loaded or unloaded when it is done. Many other services can be done due to the characteristics, including multiple different types of databases, and customizable databases into such on-demand service. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention disclosed and claimed herein is a method and apparatus for constructing a memory-based database service platform, in which database can be on-loaded and off-loaded or unloaded as needed, and can reserve schedule and size of memory and other resources, including CPUs, network, backup, mirroring and recovery recourses. 
     In still another aspect of the disclosed embodiment of the service platform, a method and apparatus for constructing an on-demand memory-based database service platform, in which multiple different types of databases can be chosen by specifying data storage type and data operation interfaces, such as Relational Database (RDB), Biometric Database (BDB), Time Series Database (TDB), Data Driven Database (DDDB) and File-based Database (FDB) etc. And database types can be chosen either by user directly or by platform automatically or semi-automatically based on data types and data operation characteristics. 
     In still another aspect of the disclosed embodiment of the service platform, a method and apparatus for managing file-based data storage, database-based data storage or other kinds of data storage in a uniform way. 
     In still another aspect of the disclosed embodiment of the service platform, a method and apparatus for constructing a memory-based database service platform, in which CPU and memory can be reserved for databases and data operations; different CPUs can be linked to different data manipulation. 
     In still another aspect of the disclosed embodiment of the service platform, a method and apparatus to enable users to choose data operations in a distributed way in which data is manipulated in parallel at “local” service nodes and fuse the result at a “master” node by collecting the sub-results from “local” nodes. The “local” nodes and “master” nodes can be in the different physical servers or in the same physical server. 
     The present invention disclosed and claimed herein also includes a method for dynamically generating duplicate memory blocks to duplicate query-intensive memory blocks for dividing and redirecting heavy traffic or for other purpose; the duplicated block can be partial or whole block of the source block. After using, such duplicated memory blocks can be dismissed. 
     The present invention disclosed and claimed herein also includes a method for registering and tracking information of related “neighbor” blocks of a block for possible faster access to those neighbor blocks. A first block is a neighbor block of a second block if the first block at least contains an address pointer that points to the second block, or if the first block has any (user-defined) “relationship” with the second block. Remote “neighbor” blocks can be pre-fetched (or pre-cached) to a local server for faster access. 
     The present invention further discloses and claims herein a block-oriented memory-based database system in which “neighborhood” information is tracked and used for better data pre-fetching, data loading and other data operations; and duplicated blocks are used for load balancing and access traffic redirection. 
     The present invention disclosed and claimed herein also includes a method for statically or dynamically configuring destination of a memory block by changing the information of an entry in the Memory Block Server ID Lookup Table or an entry in the Memory Block ID Lookup Table. Through such change, a memory location represented by a DMCE Virtual Address (which was disclosed in the Patent Application of “Distributed Memory Computing Environment and Implementation Thereof” by Tianlong Chen et al.) can be dynamically pointed to one or multiple addresses that are different from the originally pointed address. 
     Still other aspects, features, and advantages of the present invention are readily apparent from the following detailed description, simply by illustrating preferable embodiments and implementations. The present invention is also capable of other and different embodiments, and its several details can be modified in various respects, all without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. Accordingly, the drawings and descriptions are to be regarded as illustration in nature, and not as restrictive. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       For a more complete understanding of the present invention and the advantages thereof, reference is now made to the following description and the accompanying drawings, in which: 
         FIG. 1  illustrates a conceptual block diagram of an on-demand memory database service platform, in the illustrated sample scenario more than one separated databases are loaded into memory platform as needed. It is configurable that the databases that are loaded into memory can have backup and recovery copies. 
         FIG. 2  illustrates a conceptual block diagram of an on-demand memory database service platform, in this illustrated sample scenario two different parts of a database are loaded into memory platform as needed. 
         FIG. 3  illustrates a conceptual block diagram of an on-demand memory database service platform. 
         FIG. 4  illustrates a set of lookup tables in the memory database service platform for managing and manipulating on-demand loaded databases, including account tracking, resource usage, and database types and configuration information. 
         FIG. 5  illustrates a dataflow diagram of loading database or creating a database in the memory database service platform. 
         FIG. 6  illustrates a conceptual block diagram of layered database query and management system. 
         FIG. 7  illustrates a conceptual block diagram of duplicating memory blocks to off-load hot-spot memory blocks from overloaded query traffic. The duplicated memory blocks are registered and tracked. The query access to the original memory block is then distributed to the duplicated memory blocks. When query traffic is decreased to a preset threshold, the number of duplicated memory blocks can be decreased. 
         FIG. 8  illustrates a conceptual block diagram in which memory blocks are tracked with their “neighborhood” information, such neighborhood tracking can be either unidirectional or bidirectional. “Neighborhood” can be due to one block containing address pointers of another block or other user-defined “neighborhood” types. 
         FIG. 9  illustrates a conceptual block diagram in which dynamically change of an entry in the Memory Block ID Lookup table and/or the Memory Server ID Lookup Table will effectively change the physical memory location (address) pointed to by a DMCE Virtual Address. Therefore the query to the same DMCE address that follows the entry-change in the Lookup Tables will be changed from that before. 
     
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
     Unless specifically mentioned, a memory can be either volatile or non-volatile. 
       FIG. 1  illustrates a conceptual block diagram of basic on-demand memory database service platform with memory (RAM)  117  managed by “On-demand Database Platform Management”  115 . “General-sense” databases  101 ,  103 , and  105  are loaded  121 ,  119 ,  123  into memory  117  as memory-based database functional blocks  107 ,  127 ,  109  ready for their respective data operations from different or same users. Among those loaded databases  107 ,  127 , and  109 ,  127  and  109  have backup option enabled to have backup  113  and  111  into a backup/recovery system  125  which may be another memory-based system or a non-volatile backup system. Reference to the Patent “Invariant Memory Page Pool and Implementation Thereof” for such backup and recovery system. 
       FIG. 2  illustrates a conceptual block diagram of another possible operation scenario of the on-demand memory database service platform in which two database functional blocks  201  and  205  of a same database  223  are loaded  203 ,  207  into memory (RAM)  213  as memory-based databases  209  and  211  respectively, and both  209  and  211  having backup and recovery option enabled  215  and  217 . 
       FIG. 3  illustrates a functional block diagram of an on-demand memory database service platform, including four major functional blocks: (1) System Resource Management  301  managing system resources such as memory  323 , CPU  325 , network  327 , archival (hard disk, storage)  329 , and other related resources; (2) Database Administration Management  303  managing database registration  335 , database usage and audit control  337 , security  339  and database toolset  341 , and other database management functionality; (3) Database Layer Management directly managing databases  345 , and other general-sensed databases  347 ; (4) Administration  307  and User Interface  309 . 
     Still referring to  FIG. 3 , the System Resource Management  301  at least further includes managing resource availability, allocation, reservation, scheduling and automated or user-defined resource actions of memory, CPU, network (port, bandwidth, etc.), archival and etc., and also including virtual memory mapping, memory traffic and network balancing, backup, recovery and mirror functionality. An interface layer  331  is provided to Administration  307  or User  309  to control or query various resources, another interface layer  321  is provided to Administration  307  and User  309  to control or query the backup, recovery and mirror functionality. 
     Still referring to  FIG. 3 , the Database Administration Management  303  at least further includes  335  database registration, database type selections including general data type, data operation types, data query language that defines the database available operations; including database usage and audit tracking  337  it so desired, database security configuration  339  of who can access what data at what time with what kinds of operations, etc.; including database toolsets  341  that can be used by user for higher level integrated data manipulation. The Database Administration Management  303  can directly access the resource management functionality  301  through the interface layer  331 , and it also provides an interface  333  for Administration  307  and User  309  to access, and an interface layer  343  to handle and manage the databases  345  and  347 . 
     Still referring to  FIG. 3 , a User Communication Interface layer  349  is provided for Administration  307  and User  309  for access and direct manipulation of databases  345  and  347 . This layer can be transparent or void in different data operation scenarios. 
       FIG. 4  illustrates an exemplary embodiment in which several Lookup Tables in the Database Administration Management ( 303  in  FIG. 3 ) tracking database registration  401 , user account information  405 , database configuration  403 , and resource usage  407 . As illustrated in the Database Configuration Lookup Table  403 , user can choose built-in or user-defined database types  423  (e.g. standard SQL based relational database, or BioAPI as query language based biometric database as depicted in the Patent Application of “Apparatus and Method for Biometric Database Management System” by Yingbin Wang et al.), storage type  425  (e.g. tree, hash, file-based, block-based, array, etc.; the storage includes the indexation data storage), query interface  427  (such as SQL, direct API, file access protocol, embedded function call, etc.), toolset  429  (e.g. integrated higher level analysis tool package, an example of such package is a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software package), security setup  431  (e.g. who can access what kinds of data at what time with what kind of actions, role or rule-based security access control, etc.). 
       FIG. 5  illustrates an exemplary data flow diagram (which is straightforward and self-explainable to those who are skilled with state of the art) of loading a database into the on-demand service platform or creating a database in the service platform starting from step  501 , user can start with either querying the availability of resource  503  and  505  or let the platform automatically check the resource availability. A Database type can be a built-in one or a user-defined one which defines a collection of at least main data type, database operations, data query interfaces, and optionally security types. An example of such database type is a (built-in) Standard Relation Database which includes what standard SQL-92 (or later version of SGL) has, and SQL-92 compliant SQL query language, a set of default user access models as seen in most of current commercial relational database systems. An example of such database type is an Oracle Relational Database which may include most functions of a Standard Relational Database and some additional Oracle specific functions. 
       FIG. 6  illustrates a logical functional layer structure from a database point of view in which user access the database (from up to bottom in the diagram) through Database Query and Management Interface  601 , database system includes at least data storage structure  603 , index storage structure  607  and embedded logic storage structure (or logic functions)  605 . An optional I/O Communication layer  609  which provides certain I/O protocol such as SCSI, or Remote DMA to access data or data storage. A memory management layer  611  provides virtual memory mapping scheme between data storage and actual physical memory  613  which may spread over one or multiple servers. The I/O communication layer  609  may be part of the memory management layer  611 . 
       FIG. 7  illustrates a conceptual block diagram of an exemplary memory block replication/duplication working scenario. Memory is used to store data or is used for data manipulation. To off-load the data query traffic especially those heavy data-read traffic, one or multiple duplicate memory blocks  703 ,  705  can be created to off-load the heavy access traffic  707  to the original single memory block  701 , redirecting some of the access traffic from original memory block  701  to its duplicated memory blocks  703  and  705 . The memory blocks  703  and  705  may duplicate partial or whole content of memory block  701  depending on user or system setup. Reference to the Patent “Invariant Memory Page Pool and Implementation Thereof” and the Patent “Distributed Memory Computing Environment and Implementation Thereof” for DMCE virtual memory mapping, duplication information  719 ,  721  can be tracked as an exemplary embodiment in the Memory Block Lookup Table  711 . The duplicated memory blocks  703  and  705  may be on different physical servers, in which case the duplication information may be included in Server ID Lookup Table (again reference to the two patents aforementioned in this paragraph). Off-loading scheduling can be Round-Robin (i.e. each memory block  701 ,  703  and  705  takes care of query access in turn) or other styles. The number of duplicated memory blocks can be decreased and duplicated blocks can be removed when access traffic  707  decreased or controlled by other user-defined or system-defined rules. When a duplicated memory block is removed, its associated duplication information in the Lookup Table  711  will also be removed. Note, such working scheme can be best used for memory block, but it can also be used for the situation that involves other non-volatile storage block. 
       FIG. 8  illustrates a conceptual block diagram of an exemplary memory block neighborhood working scenario. Memory is used to store data or is used for data manipulation. A memory block  803 ,  805  is a neighbor of another memory block  801  if the memory block  803 ,  805  contains a reference (such as address pointer) to the memory block  801  or the memory blocks are logically adjacent to block  801 , or other user or system defined real or virtual reference to memory block  801 . Such neighborhood relationship can be either unidirectional  821  (in which case block  803  is the neighbor of block  801 , but block  801  is not a neighbor of block  803 ) or bidirectional  823  (in which case block  801  and  805  are the neighbor of each other). Referring to the Patent “Distributed Memory Computing Environment and Implementation Thereof” for DMCE virtual memory mapping, the neighborhood information may be tracked as an exemplary embodiment in the Memory Block Lookup Table  807  or other similar manor, showing bidirectional neighborhood  817  of memory block  801  and  805 , and unidirectional neighborhood  815  of memory block  801  to  803 . Such neighborhood information provides better logical adjacent information for data pre-fetching, data loading and other data operations. Based on the neighborhood information and required data operation, it may not necessary to load the whole database to memory for data operation such as in the present on-demand memory database service platform, but only load the neighbor blocks for related data access to avoid load unrelated data block into work space (mainly memory) for access which wastes time. Pre-fetching the neighbor blocks can make possibly related data ready (if they are not yet) for access to accelerate data access speed. 
     Still referring to  FIG. 8  and the Patent “Distributed Memory Computing Environment and Implementation Thereof”, the Patent “Invariant Memory Page Pool and Implementation Thereof”, the neighborhood information makes it easier to build a more flexible block-oriented database management in which database storage is spread among multiple blocks, ideally smaller blocks. In archive mode, database blocks in a database are stored in non-volatile storage environment or other backup or secondary memory or non-memory based storage system (collectively called “secondary system”); in running mode, given a data query and based on neighborhood information, only relevant database blocks (i.e. partial portion of a database) are loaded from storage into memory for data operations. Note such neighborhood working scheme can well be used in non-volatile based database system too. 
       FIG. 9  illustrates a DMCE virtual address mapping scheme which has been disclosed in the Patent “Distributed Memory Computing Environment and Implementation Thereof”. Based on the two lookup tables  901  and  905 , it is possible to dynamically reconfigure an actual physical location pointed to by a DMCE address  903 . By changing the memory block starting address  913  of an entry in Memory Block ID Lookup Table  901 , the actual physical location pointed by the DMCE address  903  will be changed from a location in a server to another location of the same server. By changing the server information  953  in an entry in the Memory Server ID Lookup Table  905 , the actual physical location pointed by the DMCE address  903  will be changed from a location of a server to a similar location in a different server. Therefore, the data access to a physical location is dynamically changed to a different location after the entry change in either or both Lookup tables  901  and  905 . In the Memory Block ID Lookup Table  901 , it is possible for two or multiple entries to have the same memory block starting address  913  and same other information  915 , therefore two or multiple entries actually points to the same physical block. Similarly in Memory Server ID Lookup Table  905 , it is possible for two or multiple entries to have the same server information, therefore two or multiple entries actually points to the same server. Such features are extremely useful in the cases of system recovery, mirror and backup such that the query traffic is dynamically and transparently redirected to another blocks or different servers without shutdown data operation. 
     The foregoing description of the preferred embodiment of the invention has been presented for purposes of illustration and description. It is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise form disclosed, and modifications and variations are possible in light of the above teachings or may be acquired from practice of the invention. The embodiment was chosen and described in order to explain the principles of the invention and its practical application to enable one skilled in the art to utilize the invention in various embodiments as are suited to the particular use contemplated. It is intended that the scope of the invention be defined by the claims appended hereto, and their equivalents. The entirety of each of the aforementioned documents is incorporated by reference herein.

Technology Classification (CPC): 6