Inheritance in dynamic hierarchical systems
AssigneeSap SE
InventorsRaghavendra Rao M G, Maximilian Stefanac
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Abstract
Methods and apparatus are disclosed for representing a dynamic hierarchical system as a composite graph data structure. Members of a system are represented as primary nodes of a tree. Multiple system states have respective trees, which can be overlaid to obtain a composite graph. The composite graph can be augmented with secondary nodes for member attributes, and further nodes for state-dependent values of the attributes. Methods of processing bottom-up, top-down, and filtered queries are disclosed. Applications to military, manufacturing, and communication networks are provided.
Claims20
A computer-implemented method comprising:
- building a composite graph data structure representing a system, the composite graph data structure comprising a plurality of primary nodes representing respective components of the system, wherein the primary nodes are organized, for a plurality of states of the system, as distinct respective rooted trees and are associated with data items which are values of respective attributes of the primary nodes;
- receiving, from a client, a query for a given node of the primary nodes in a given state of the states, wherein the given node is not a root of the respective rooted tree of the given state;
- initializing a query response;
- traversing an inheritance path of the given node in the respective rooted tree of the given state, wherein the inheritance path comprises first nodes of the primary nodes;
- using the data items associated with the first nodes to update the query response;
- and
- transmitting the query response to the client.
One or more computer-readable media storing instructions which, when executed by one or more hardware processors, cause the hardware processors to perform actions comprising:
- receiving a composite graph data structure representing a system, the composite graph data structure comprising a plurality of primary nodes organized, for a plurality of states of the system, as distinct respective trees, wherein the primary nodes represent respective components of the system and are associated with data items which are values of respective attributes of the primary nodes;
- receiving, from a client, a query for a given component of the system in a given state of the system, wherein the given component is represented by a given node of the primary nodes that is not a leaf of the respective tree of the given state;
- initializing a query response;
- traversing a subtree, of the respective tree, rooted at the given node;
- using the data items associated with respective nodes of the primary nodes of the subtree to update the query response;
- and
- transmitting the query response to the client.
A system comprising:
- one or more hardware processors with memory coupled thereto;
- computer-readable media storing instructions executable by the one or more hardware processors, the instructions comprising:
- first instructions to retrieve nodes or edges of a composite graph data structure of a plurality of primary nodes organized, for a plurality of states, as distinct respective rooted trees;
- second instructions to traverse a subtree of a given rooted tree of the composite graph data structure;
- and
- third instructions to traverse successive nodes joining a given node to its root node in the composite graph data structure;
- and
- fourth instructions to receive queries from one or more clients and, subsequent to processing each of the queries using the composite graph data structure, return a corresponding query response to a corresponding client of the one or more clients.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.