Processing messages of a plurality of devices

A tangible non-volatile storage medium comprising computer- readable instructions which, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform a method for processing messages received from a set of devices, the method comprising:

• accessing a mapping table and a fact table in a relational database, the mapping table comprising mappings, each mapping assigning message fields to columns of the fact table based on data formats of the message fields corresponding to data formats of the columns of the fact table, wherein the message fields represent a plurality of different types of parameters;
• and
• for each of the received messages:
• determining all fields of the received message;
• analyzing the mapping table to determine whether the mapping table comprises a mapping that assigns each of the determined fields of the message to respective ones of the columns of the fact table;
• in response to determining that the mapping table does not comprise the mapping that assigns each of the determined fields of the message to the respective ones of the columns of the fact table, automatically generating a new mapping, the new mapping assigning each of the determined fields of the message to the respective ones of the columns of the fact table, and storing the new mapping in the mapping table;
• identifying in the mapping table an identified mapping that assigns each of the determined fields of the message to the respective one of the columns of the fact table;
• and
• storing field values of the message in the fact table in accordance with the assignment of fields to fact table columns of the identified mapping, wherein one or more fact table columns each store values from at least two fields from messages of different device types, wherein the values from the at least two fields have a same data format and represent different types of parameters, and wherein a quantity of columns of the fact table is less than a quantity of the plurality of different types of parameters to be stored in the fact table.

A system comprising a computer system, the computer system comprising a message processing application, the message processing application being operatively coupled to a relational database and to a set of devices via a network, the message processing application being configured for:

• accessing a mapping table and a fact table in the relational database, the mapping table comprising mappings, each mapping assigning message fields to columns of the fact table based on data formats of the message fields corresponding to data formats of the columns of the fact table, wherein the message fields represent a plurality of different types of parameters;
• and
• for each of the received messages:
• determining all fields of the received message;
• analyzing the mapping table to determine whether the mapping table comprises a mapping that assigns each of the determined fields of the message to respective ones of the columns of the fact table;
• in response to determining that the mapping table does not comprise the mapping that assigns each of the determined fields of the message to the respective ones of the columns of the fact table, automatically generating a new mapping, the new mapping assigning each of the determined fields of the message to the respective ones of the columns of the fact table, and storing the new mapping in the mapping table;
• identifying in the mapping table an identified mapping that assigns each of the determined fields of the message to the respective one of the columns of the fact table;
• and
• storing field values of the message in the fact table in accordance with the assignment of fields to fact table columns of the identified mapping, wherein one or more fact table columns each store values from at least two fields from messages of different device types, wherein the values from the at least two fields have a same data format and represent different types of parameters, and wherein a quantity of columns of the fact table is less than a quantity of the plurality of different types of parameters to be stored in the fact table.