GB2378004A

GB2378004A - Macro data and software management

Info

Publication number: GB2378004A
Application number: GB0118304A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Jeffrey Steven Lenton
Original assignee: FINANCIAL SERVICES DOT COM PLC
Current assignee: FINANCIAL SERVICES DOT COM PLC
Priority date: 2001-07-27
Filing date: 2001-07-27
Publication date: 2003-01-29
Also published as: GB0118304D0

Abstract

A method and apparatus for providing multiple user access to two or more databases in which database characteristics capable of causing compatibility limitations are reduced by the compilation of an access database using computer means. The access database offers unified compatibility requirements. It can be compiled in a modest timeframe so that, once done, access is substantially enhanced in terms of access speed, while compatibility limitations are substantially reduced.

Description

MACRO DATA AND SOFTWARE MANAGEMENT This invention relates to a system including a method and apparatus for macro data and software management.

Prior proposals in this field include: US 5,319542 (King), relating to a system for ordering items using an electronic catalogue; and WO 93/15467 (F. E. T. S. Inc) relating to credit management for an electronic brokerage system.

Systems for electronic data access and provision of software are many and varied and the internet system provides universal access to many of these. Indeed, the greater the access to the internet and the greater the number of available sources of data and software, the more the problems with which the present invention is concerned seem to multiply for users of the internet system.

All users of computer systems will be aware of problems of compatibility of systems, user-friendliness of systems and cost-effectiveness of systems for access to data and software. Indeed, the more the internet is used, the more the available systems diverge and lead to difficulties for users in terms of cost effective availability of data and software through user friendly systems having an adequate degree of compatibility.

Subscribers to business organisations offering data in relation to the legal and the financial services market are usually currently supplied with the relevant data in printed or CD-ROM format.

Subscribers to systems for provision of business software such as client management systems and accounting systems and the like are currently supplied with the software usually in CD-ROM format likewise the software being loaded either onto a standalone PC or onto a network server device with single or multi-user access gained via a local area network (LAN) using thin client connection

technology.

There are many business and legal organisations which subscribe to such systems or would subscribe to such systems but find that the current mode of delivery via CD-ROMs to LAN servers is inefficient, unreliable and not cost effective. Indeed, recent market place indications are that some suppliers are beginning to withdraw the distribution and delivery of such systems by CD-ROM, and there is a clear market place need for some improved system which is more in tune with current market place requirements.

The costs incurred in providing for and supporting users (whether as individuals or as groups of users connected to a LAN) add significantly to the deployment, distribution, control, management and maintenance overheads of any system and for mission critical information to be delivered or accessed. In the embodiments below, the single point of access provided by the portal removes the need for large server installations or information databases to be connected to the LAN or indeed even required.

We have discovered that subject to certain provisos as to scale, there can be provided a technical solution to the problems of compatibility of computer systems and software in relation to the provision of macro scale data and software availability. Indeed, our research shows that macro scale data and software availability, such as would arise from the data and software portfolios of multiple publishing and software houses could be handled on the basis of an access portal system of the kind disclosed below, despite the current cost implications of such technology. Indeed, our calculations show that the use of portal means in this manner offers the availability of data and software hither to restricted to CD-ROM delivery, distributed by LAN thin client technology and/or printed format and with compatibility and accessibility parameters which were hitherto restricted to single source data and software providers. In other words, the embodiments offer access to multiple large scale data and software sources with much improved freedom and satisfaction of compatibility

requirements.

In the embodiments, the provision of the portal means as defined and disclosed herein enables the practical satisfaction of these long felt needs in the information technology field, and yet without the need for a radical redesign of hardware/software systems which would normally be required for a step change in systems functional capability of this kind.

This step resulting from our investigations and research is to an appreciable extent a result of a reevaluation of the data and software handling capabilities of systems not requiring substantial redevelopment, and the integration of same with a network of data and software suppliers and corresponding consumers/users so as to form a integrated networked supply chain capable of the macro data and software supply capabilities which are currently not available without all the limitations and aggravating shortcomings of present systems, thereby offering the market place a step forward which has long been needed, and yet without the technical difficulties so often associated with the solution of a systems shortcoming widely recognised by most if not all users.

In the embodiments, the data/information or software providers need only maintain their products in a single location (i. e. via the portal) which then provides immediate availability via the internet exclusively to individuals having a valid user identity and user password. This method of providing controlled and managed access removes the opportunity for fraudulent and unlicensed use of all products delivered or accessed via the portal. It also provides the opportunity to monitor portal usage by individuals or groups of individuals.

Additional system functions allow for product owners to change the physical aesthetic appearance of products enabling reselling of existing products under a new image or brand. This removes the need for extensive re-development works on the products themselves and provides an economical route to new user markets.

In the embodiments, the portal means itself provides the key functionality leading to these advances by permitting the combination of the macro data and software handling capabilities in relation to multiple macro scale suppliers and yet without the inherent system limitations which are accepted as universal in the day to day IT systems experience of users needing to gain access to currently available data and software supply systems, and with a reduced requirement for local area networks as the individual users gain access to the portal individually.

More specifically, in the embodiments, the shortcomings of present systems in terms of limitations relating to formats and media management and search engine functionality limitations, and data version management not to mention system vulnerability to software transmission of almost any kind, is taken care of by the availability in the portal means of the (to express the size element which is important) macro provision of knowledge engine means effective to facilitate the web enablement functions in relation to data and software as discussed above.

We have discovered that there is the potential for significant improvements in database accessibility if the approach is adopted of making available database access or portal means which selectively (for example on the basis of a fee payment) makes available multiple databases in a manner which removes the previously commonplace accessibility limitations, whereby users/subscribers would find that chosen databases became as accessible as they could reasonably wish, whereby the much-vaunted database accessibility available via on-line services becomes a practical reality, and one for which significant fees would be considered acceptable.

With this object in view, our approach proposes and provides the step of creating an access database by the use of data processing means programmed to adopt in the case of two or more otherwise distinct databases the creation for each of an access database compatible with data-processing

search means giving equally effective and compatible access to each of the two or more databases to any suitable number of subscribers requiring access to those databases.

In this way there is provided, at the price of the dedication of a certain amount of computer time to the creation of the necessary unified access databases, a significant step forward in data logistics of the kind discussed above and which has been long-needed in the marketplace.

The creation of the access database need not be a process which (when its creation is effected by data processing means of reasonable data-handling capacity) needs to represent a particularly significant investment in terms of computer time or related costs. Indeed, the salient point with regard to such time is that the time factor is critical mainly only in relation to search execution time and there will usually be no shortage of time in relation to the preliminary task of access database establishment. This fact shows in somewhat sharper perspective the significance of the step offered by the invention in relation to the basic logistics of data handling. In simple terms, the invention offers a trade-off as between data accessibility and compatibility requirements (which are improved), and the price to pay for these in terms of dedicating certain time and cost to the creation of the access database (but such is not a very substantial cost, and is to be set against the demonstrable advantages of the system for which appreciable access fees would be likely to be willingly paid).

Significant in relation to aspects of the compatibility advantages discussed above are compatibility aspects of the search instructions. It will be understood that a high standard of performance in terms of search engine compatibility with multiple databases will be negated and rendered somewhat useless from the user point of view if the time taken to establish a clear and acceptable set of search instructions is unacceptably high and attended by frequent error messages and related aggravations. What is required, in short, is user-friendliness in terms of the search

instructions flexibility and ability to accept any reasonable search instruction format and language for the type of user concerned. In this regard, the provision of access database means for each of several substantial databases, such access database creation being effected either by or for use with a common search engine access facility enables that same access search facility to provide likewise a common and high degree of user friendliness in relation to search instructions.

Embodiments of the invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: Fig 1 shows, diagrammatically, a system for multiple user database access via an access portal and search engine means to a computer-compiled unified access database.

The embodiment provides a method for the provision of multiple-user access to two or more databases having data characteristics capable of causing compatibility limitations with respect to the users.

As shown in Fig 1, users 1 to N 10 of the system 12 for such provision of multiple-user access to corresponding databases 1 to N identified at 14 are provided with such access via access portal means identified at 16.

Fig 1 also shows computer means in the form of a search engine 18 and a unified access database 20.

The construction and operation of these building blocks of the system 12 will now be described in more detail.

Turning first to users 1 to N identified at item 10 in Fig 1, typically, such users will be business subscribers to a data access system of the kind currently offered by technical and other publishers through the medium of the CDRom system discussed above. However, the system is likely to be capable of operation at a number of different levels so that subscription to such a scheme will by no means be confined to business users, and may well include private individuals and many other categories of user.

The databases 1 to N identified at 14 will, as is evident from the above, typically comprise a series of

databases of the kind currently made available by publishers in the technical and other fields via CD-Rom and otherwise to subscribers requiring relatively rapid access to published data in defined technical and other areas.

There is shown at 22,24, 26 a diagrammatic indication of the so-called compatibility limitations as between users 10 and databases 14 as experienced as a day to day matter of routine difficulty when attempts are made to obtain access to such databases direct.

The origin of such compatibility limitations is a matter of day-to-day familiarity for those involved in computer systems trouble-shooting and derives from a whole variety of possible causes which do not need to be enumerated here, since these are by-passed by the approach adopted by the present invention wherein the individual technical issues arising from such compatibility shortcomings is approached and solved in this embodiment by seeking not so much to tackle the individual (and often several in number) technical issues as such, but by adopting a different approach altogether wherein the database data itself is modified in order to respond to the previous compatibility shortcomings by the adoption of a unified approach to the recordal of the data by use of a computerbased compilation technique whereby the data of each of several databases is generally uniformly recorded in terms of the principal parameters of data recordal and accessibility. This has the result that the thus-produced database possesses a uniformity of data presentation which enables the user to have access to all the data of databases 1 to N identified at 14, with a uniformity of access and compatibility which has hitherto been available, mainly, for example, in relation to access to a single CD-Rom database from a single data publisher.

Accordingly, system users 1 to N, as identified at 10, have access, typically via personal computers, modems and telephone lines 28,30 and 32 to access portal means 16, which represents a common dial-in point for access for System 12.

Portal 16 itself provides direct access for individual subscribers to computer means/search engine 18 and onwards to the unified access database 20. It will be understood that in terms of presentation to users, it will be a matter of simplified presentation to indicate that the portal 16 in fact incorporates the search engine and access database (insofar as these need to be mentioned as such to users) as part of the portal means).

Thus far it can be seen that system 12 offers the multiple users 10 access to the search engine means 18 via portal means 16 as a preliminary step towards providing access to the data of databases 1 to N, identified at 14.

The unified access database 20 is provided from the data of databases 1 to N, identified at 14, by a series of compilation steps in which the data is compiled into the unified access database 20 by the computer means/search engine 18 in a manner so as to provide the required unity of presentation and unity of access.

It will be understood that the compilation exercise itself is one which can be performed by the computer means 18 (and such compilation is indicated diagrammatically at 34) in terms of the indicated data interchange between the databases and the computer means, and this can be done in a number of relatively straightforward ways. It is to be understood that the unified database compilation exercise requires not any specificity of data handling, but rather, it requires general uniformity of data handling and data recordal in the unified database. Thus, the period taken for the preparation for a unified database from a typical nonunified such database may be a matter of a significant number of hours or indeed of days, or possibly some weeks. In the scale of such operations, such a period is not particularly significant. What matters is that following the compilation exercise, the end user has relatively rapid and easy access to the compiled data without the compatibility limitations which have hitherto been the norm.

It will be understood that users 10 of system 12 will, where appropriate, be provided with access to the system on

a subscriber basis. Likewise, data providers in the form of commercial organisations offering databases 1 to N will also be offered on a subscriber basis, access to the system 12, on acceptance of which the compilation steps indicated at 34 would be performed on the relevant database so that, in each case of a new subscriber, that subscriber's data would then become unified in terms of compatibility with those of existing subscribers.

It is an important aspect of the system that such unified compatibility of the databases offers to subscribers 10 to the system a facility which has hitherto not been available, namely the provision of unified compatibility features and thus ease of access to the multiple database data sources. It will be appreciated that the offering of such a system to existing non-subscribing database providers will represent a significant business opportunity, since the access portal 16 represents to a data provider a means for using the feature of access to multiple such databases as a means for attracting more interest in the database of one's own company than would be possible on the basis of that database alone. In other words, the access to the other databases will increase business use of one's own database simply because users of the other databases are quite likely to find the need for such access useful once it is available, and vice versa.

Therefore, it can now be seen that portal 16 provides simply on the basis of the use of computer means to compile an accessible unified database from multiple non-unitary databases, the facility to add significantly to the use and attractiveness of such databases in a synergistic way.

The compilation steps themselves are matters which the technically competent person in the data compilation branch of the computer art will be able to carry out without substantial difficulty assuming provision of adequate facilities. It is to be understood that the present invention embraces all suitable compilation steps known or developable by competent persons in the field accordingly.

Claims

CLAIMS 1. A method of providing multiple-user access to two or more databases having data characteristics capable of causing compatibility limitations with respect to said users, said method comprising providing search engine means adapted to search data of said databases, and the step of providing said multiple users with access to said search engine means, characterised by the step of compiling at least one searchable access database from said two or more databases, said access database having compatibility characteristics with respect to said multiple users, such that said compatibility limitations with respect to said multiple users are reduced.
2. A method of providing multiple-user access to two or more databases characterised by compiling a searchable access database having compatibility characteristics, such that compatibility limitations of said databases with respect to multiple users are reduced.
3. A method according to claim 1 characterised by causing said step of compiling said searchable access database to be carried out by said search engine means.
4. A method of providing multiple-user access to two or more databases having data characteristics capable of causing compatibility limitations with respect to said users, said method comprising providing search means adapted to search data of said databases, and the step of providing said multiple users with access to said search means, characterised by the step of employing computer means to compile a unified accessible database comprising data from said two or more databases and having correspondingly unified compatibility requirements.
5. A method of providing multiple user access to two or more databases characterised by employing computer means to compile a unified accessible database comprising data from said two or more databases and having unified compatibility requirements.

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6. A method according to claim 4 or claim 5 characterised by the step of providing access to said database for said multiple users on a subscriber basis.
7. A method according to claim 4 or claim 5 characterised by the step of offering to data providers on a subscriber basis said database compilation service on the basis of the provision of correspondingly unified compatibility requirements with a plurality of other databases, whereby users can have the benefit of unified compatible access to a plurality of databases at a single search site.
8. A method of providing multiple user access to two or more databases according to claim 1 substantially as described herein with reference to the accompanying drawings.
9. A method of providing multiple user access to two or more databases according to claim 4 substantially as described herein with reference to the accompanying drawings.
10. A method of providing multiple user access to two or more databases substantially as described herein with reference to the accompanying drawings
11. Apparatus adapted to carry out a method according to any one of the preceding claims.