Object oriented database management system

The database management system, comprising:

• an object oriented representation of information describing the characteristics of existing instances organized in a parent-child/class-subclass structure, wherein the internal representation of an instance is dependent upon the information that is locally available from a class to which that instance belongs plus inherited attributes from a parent class;
• means for querying said object oriented representation in a guided and iterative manner;
• means for displaying search results,
• means for selecting particular information pertaining to the characteristics which are to be displayed by the means for displaying;
• and,
• wherein at least one class in said object oriented representation of information is represented as a class object having a handle, said class object having a parent handle identifying the parent class of said class object, said class object having a subclass list, said subclass list comprising an array of class handles identifying the subclasses of said class object, said class object including an attribute list comprising a list of handles which may be used to identify attributes of said class object, said class object including a subtree instance count, said subtree instance count comprising a numeric indication of the total number of instances that belong to said class object and that are present in all descendants of said class object.

A database management system, comprising:

• an object oriented representation of information describing the characteristics of existing instances organized in a parent-child/class-subclass structure wherein the internal representation of an instance is dependent upon the information that is locally available from a class to which that instance belongs plus inherited attributes from a parent class,
• means for querying said object oriented representation in a guided and iterative manner;
• means for displaying search results, said means for displaying search results includes means for displaying a numeric value corresponding to a subtree instance count providing a numeric indication of the total number of instances that are present in a class that a user is navigating in a search and all descendants of said class;
• and
• means for selecting particular information pertaining to the characteristics which are to be displayed by the means for displaying.

A network having a client/server architecture, comprising:

• a knowledge base server, the knowledge base server including a dynamic class manager, a connection manager, a query manager, a handle manager, a units manager, a database manager, and a file manager;
• an object oriented hierarchical schema representing classes of instances as objects arranged in a hierarchy, said schema being fully connected with each class object including information as to any class object that is a parent in the hierarchy, and class objects that are descendants in the hierarchy, said class objects being managed by said dynamic class manager;
• and,
• an application programming interface to permit a client application to access the object oriented hierarchical schema.

A parts management system, comprising:

• a processor;
• a display having a screen, the display being coupled to the processor;
• a mouse coupled to the processor;
• a knowledge base accessible by the processor, the knowledge base having descriptive information for a plurality of parts corresponding to products of an organization, the knowledge base comprising a hierarchical schema of parts information representing classes of instances, the hierarchical schema of parts information having a root class, the hierarchical schema of parts information having a plurality of levels of descendant classes, the root class being a parent of a plurality of first level descendent classes, at least some of the first level descendant classes being first level parent classes of respective second level descendent classes, at least some of the second level descendant classes being second level parent classes of respective third level descendent classes, the classes and instances having a plurality of attributes, wherein a class at a level "n" in the hierarchical schema of parts information inherits attributes from its parent class at a level "n-1" in the hierarchical schema;
• means for displaying a graphical tree hierarchy in a tree display area of the screen, the graphical tree hierarchy representing classes in a currently selected portion of the hierarchical schema of parts information, said classes having individually associated icons for individual classes displayed in the tree display area of the screen;
• means for navigating the graphical tree hierarchy by clicking with the mouse on selected locations in the tree display area representing a portion of the hierarchical schema of parts information;
• and,
• means for displaying attributes in an attribute display area of the screen, the attribute display area being distinct from the tree display area, the means for displaying attributes being coordinated with the means for displaying classes such that the attributes displayed in the attribute display area are the corresponding attributes for a currently selected location in the hierarchical schema of parts information.

A database system for management of information relating to component parts, comprising:

• a knowledge base of information describing characteristics of instances of component parts, where an instance belongs to a class and classes are logically associated in a class-subclass structure, wherein attributes of an instance include attributes that are associated with the class to which that instance belongs, and when the class to which that instance belongs is a subclass of another class, the attributes of the instance include inherited attributes associated with said another class;
• programmed computer circuits for querying the information in a guided and iterative manner to locate component parts having attributes that are compatible with attributes that are desired by a searcher querying the information;
• a display coupled to said computer circuits for displaying query results, the display being operative to display a window showing a graphical representation of the class-subclass structure, the display being operative to simultaneously display a window showing attributes of a class that has been selected by a searcher, the window showing attributes of a class including fields which are displayed in proximate relation to individual attributes that are displayed, the fields providing an area in which search criteria for an attribute may be entered by the searcher;
• and,
• said display is operative to display a numeric value corresponding to a subtree instance count providing a numeric indication of the total number of instances that satisfy any search criteria for attributes entered by the searcher which belong to a class that the searcher has selected plus the total number of instances that belong to all direct and indirect subclasses of the class that the searcher selected which satisfy any search criteria for attributes entered by the searcher, the subtree instance count providing the searcher with feedback as to how many component parts correspond to a currently selected set of query criteria, the display being operative to display the subtree instance count simultaneously with the window showing a graphical representation of the class-subclass structure and the window showing attributes of the class that the searcher has selected.

In a parts management system having a knowledge base server, and having a client connectable to the knowledge base server, wherein the client has a display and a pointing device operatively associated with the display so that a user can use the pointing device to point and click on items displayed on the display, a method of providing user interaction with the knowledge base server comprising the steps of:

• providing a knowledge base on the knowledge base server, the knowledge base having descriptive information for a plurality of parts, at least a portion of the knowledge base being logically organized as classes of parts information, and a plurality of classes are logically organized as subclasses of another class, the knowledge base having instances wherein a instance represents information about a part, and instances in the knowledge base being logically associated with classes such that an instance is a member of a class;
• connecting the client to the knowledge base server via a network;
• displaying a graphical representation of the logical organization of classes in a tree display area of the display;
• and,
• displaying in an attribute display area of the display information relating to attributes corresponding to a currently selected location in the graphical representation of the logical organization of classes, the attribute display area being distinct from the tree display area, the attribute display area and the tree display area being viewable simultaneously.