The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Nov. 09, 1993
Filed:
Nov. 05, 1990
Charles A Asmuth, Princeton, NJ (US);
David Saroff Research Center, Inc., Princeton, NJ (US);
Abstract
A multi-step method enables a user to extract useful information from a complex relational database without needing to construct elaborate Structured Query Language statements or to become familiar with details of the particular data model involved. In particular, the method generates a table of output data from a relational database having one or more database tables made up of columns of attributes, rows instances, and one or more keys composed of one or more attributes each as elements. In the method, the steps include selecting an attribute from one of the database tables upon which to base an intermediate table, displaying a key of the database table containing the selected attribute, selecting an attribute element of that key for constraint, generating and displaying a list of alternative attribute sets the members of any of which when constrained will constrain the selected attribute element, selecting a set from that list of alternative attribute sets, generating and displaying a list of combinations of values for the selected attribute set, selecting one of the combinations of values from the list of value combinations, generating an intermediate table in accordance with the selected combinations of values from the list of value combinations, and generating the table of output data from the intermediate table. The intermediate table has only keys whose values have not been constrained.