# US 2010/0076931 A1 · Recording Information About an Item > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 2010/0076931 A1 - Document ID: US20100076931A1 - Status: Published application - Kind: A1 - Application number: 12/207,628 - Filed: 2008-09-10 - Published: 2010-03-25 - Earliest claimed: 2008-09-10 - Assignees: Sap SE - Inventors: Christof Bornhoevd; Horst Werner - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US20100076931A1 ## CPC - G06F 16/2329: {using versioning} - G06F 16/219: {Managing data history or versioning (querying versioned data G06F16/2474; querying temporal data G06F16/2477)} - G06Q 10/06: Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling - G06Q 30/00: Commerce - G06F 11/1471: involving logging of persistent data for recovery - G06F: ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING (computer systems based on specific computational models G06N) - G06Q: INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES; SYSTEMS OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR ## Abstract Among other disclosed subject matter, a computer program product is tangibly embodied in a computer-readable storage medium and includes instructions that when executed by a processor perform a method for recording information about an item. The method includes assigning a unique identifier to an item in a repository, the item supporting versioning and being subject to a data model having no predefined schema for items. The method includes associating a first attribute with the unique identifier, the first attribute being part of the item and being configured for modification. The method includes associating the first attribute with a version number, wherein the versioning is supported without recording in the repository a time period when the first attribute is valid. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A computer program product tangibly embodied in a computer-readable storage medium and comprising instructions that when executed by a processor perform a method for recording information about an item, the method comprising: assigning a unique identifier to an item in a repository, the item supporting versioning and being subject to a data model having no predefined schema for items; associating a first attribute with the unique identifier, the first attribute being part of the item and being configured for modification; and associating the first attribute with a version number, wherein the versioning is supported without recording in the repository a time period when the first attribute is valid. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the first attribute includes at least a URI, a type identifier and a source of the first attribute. ### Claim 3 (depends on 1) The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the version number is obtained by incrementing by a predetermined amount an earlier version number associated with an earlier version of the first attribute. ### Claim 4 (depends on 1) The computer program product of claim 1, further comprising: adding an association to the item in the repository, the association comprising that the item is associated in the repository with another item also subject to the data model; and associating the association with an association version number. ### Claim 5 (depends on 1) The computer program product of claim 1, further comprising: associating also a second attribute with the unique identifier, the second attribute being part of the item and being configured for modification; and associating the second attribute with a second-attribute version number, without recording in the repository a time period when the second attribute is valid. ### Claim 6 (depends on 1) The computer program product of claim 1, further comprising: deriving a schema for the item in accordance with the data model, the schema reflecting at least that the first attribute is part of the item. ### Claim 7 (depends on 1) The computer program product of claim 1, further comprising: asynchronously updating another repository about the version number, the other repository storing version numbers for a plurality of items organized by cycle numbers. ### Claim 8 (depends on 7) The computer program product of claim 7, wherein the repository and the other repository are configured so that: updating the item to a previous version number is performed using the repository without accessing the other repository and without querying the repository based on a time stamp; and obtaining a past state relating to the item and at least one associated item is performed using the other repository to obtain a valid version number for the associated item corresponding to a version number the item had in the past state. ### Claim 9 (depends on 1) The computer program product of claim 1, further comprising: synchronously updating another repository about the version number, the other repository storing version numbers for a plurality of items organized by cycle numbers. ### Claim 10 A computer program product tangibly embodied in a computer-readable storage medium and comprising instructions that when executed by a processor perform a method for obtaining an earlier version of an item, the method comprising: identifying an item for which an earlier version is to be obtained, the item being subject to a data model having no predefined schema for items; obtaining, from a repository and using a version number associated with the earlier version, attribute information having an association with the item, wherein a time period when the association is valid is not recorded in the repository; and generating the earlier version based on the attribute information. ### Claim 11 (depends on 10) The computer program product of claim 10, wherein the association of the attribute information includes a unique identifier of the item. ### Claim 12 A computer program product tangibly embodied in a computer-readable storage medium and comprising instructions that when executed by a processor perform a method for recording versioning information about an item, the method comprising: identifying an item associated with a new version number, the item having an item identifier and being subject to a data model having no predefined schema for items; assigning a cycle number to the item based on an earlier cycle number associated with an earlier version of the item; and storing the cycle number and the version number in a repository, in association with the item identifier. ### Claim 13 (depends on 12) The computer program product of claim 12, wherein assigning the cycle number comprises incrementing an earlier cycle number by a predetermined amount, the earlier cycle number and an earlier version number being associated with the item identifier. ### Claim 14 (depends on 12) The computer program product of claim 12, wherein the repository tracks a time when the item has the version number. ### Claim 15 (depends on 12) The computer program product of claim 12, wherein identifying the item comprises: receiving the item identifier and the new version number at a cycle server, the item identifier and the new version number being forwarded asynchronously from a system that records information about the item for performing versioning. ### Claim 16 (depends on 15) The computer program product of claim 15, wherein the repository is configured so that: updating the item to a previous version number is performed using the system without accessing the repository and without querying the system based on a time stamp; and obtaining a past state relating to the item and at least one associated item is performed using the repository to obtain a valid version number for the associated item corresponding to a version number the item had in the past state. ### Claim 17 (depends on 12) The computer program product of claim 12, wherein identifying the item comprises: receiving the item identifier and the new version number at a cycle server, the item identifier and the new version number being forwarded synchronously from a system that records information about the item for performing versioning. ### Claim 18 A computer program product tangibly embodied in a computer-readable storage medium and comprising instructions that when executed by a processor perform a method for identifying earlier versions of associated items, the method comprising: identifying a first item having a version number, wherein a past state relating to the first item and at least one associated item is to be obtained, the items being subject to a data model having no predefined schema for items; obtaining an identifier for the associated item; and obtaining from a repository at least one version number for the associated item valid for the version number of the first item, the repository storing version numbers for a plurality of items organized by cycle numbers. ### Claim 19 (depends on 18) The computer program product of claim 18, further comprising: obtaining from another repository information about the first item and the associated item, the repository supporting versioning without recording in the repository a time period when an attribute of the first item is valid, the information obtained using the version number and the version number for the associated item. ### Claim 20 (depends on 19) The computer program product of claim 19, further comprising: generating a snapshot of the past state using the information obtained from the other repository.