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:
Apr. 28, 2009
Filed:
Jun. 21, 2005
Aaron S. Meyers, Provo, UT (US);
Christopher Alan Hays, Monroe, WA (US);
Jason D. Carlson, Redmond, WA (US);
Robert Alan Meyers, Redmond, WA (US);
Aaron S. Meyers, Provo, UT (US);
Christopher Alan Hays, Monroe, WA (US);
Jason D. Carlson, Redmond, WA (US);
Robert Alan Meyers, Redmond, WA (US);
Microsoft Corporation, Redmond, WA (US);
Abstract
A preferred path between two selected entities is determined. Initially, there is provided a representation of the data structure in the form of a plurality of entities having relations between them indicative of roles and the relations reflecting a cardinality of one of a one-to-one, one-to-many and a many-to-one relationship between the entities. A query is entered that provides an indication of a first selected entity and a second selected entity. A preferred path is selected through the entities and relations that couples the first selected entity to the second selected entity. The preferred path is selected from a plurality of paths as a function of the number of changes in cardinality along the plurality of paths and a indicator indicative of a preferred role relating two entities.