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:
Jun. 21, 2005
Filed:
Sep. 20, 2001
Paul N. Weinberg, Los Angeles, CA (US);
Ariel Hazi, Los Angeles, CA (US);
Dave L. Sullivan, North Hollywood, CA (US);
Philip A. Tinari, Beverly Hills, CA (US);
Alexander K. Alexandrov, Sherman Oaks, CA (US);
David E. Brookler, Los Angeles, CA (US);
Paul N. Weinberg, Los Angeles, CA (US);
Ariel Hazi, Los Angeles, CA (US);
Dave L. Sullivan, North Hollywood, CA (US);
Philip A. Tinari, Beverly Hills, CA (US);
Alexander K. Alexandrov, Sherman Oaks, CA (US);
David E. Brookler, Los Angeles, CA (US);
SAP Aktiengesellschaft, Waldorf, DE;
Abstract
The invention describes a method and apparatus for structuring, maintaining, and using families of data. According to the invention, given one or more sets of partitioning data, one may construct a set of families based on the values of fields and attributes of the records in a database system. The families are stored and managed in separate tables. The records in data tables are identified as belonging to one or more families. Furthermore, families may be represented in a hierarchical structure. Families may also inherit from each other based on a parent to child relationship also stored in the database. The invention provides means for fast and organized retrieval of sets data from a database. These and other features greatly facilitate automatic and consistent document generation.