Synonym ring

Abstract: Metadata may be associated with media objects by providing media objects for display, and accepting input concerning the media objects, where the input may include at least two different types of metadata. For example, metadata may be in the form of tags, comments, annotations or favorites. The media objects may be searched according to metadata, and ranked in a variety of ways.

Abstract: Arbitrary content-files on arbitrary computing platforms are enclosed by content-wrappers. The content-wrapper also binds searchable metadata that describes the content-files within the content-wrapper, as well as user-defined metadata. The metadata can include a title, author, date, and keywords that describe the content-file. The metadata provides searchable text for arbitrary content-files, including non-textual content-files such as graphics, audio, video, and multimedia content. Thus non-textual as well as textual data can be searched. The format of the original content-file is unimportant since the content-file is wholly embedded within the content-wrapper, or a reference (such as a URL) to the content is embedded within the content-wrapper. Content-wrappers can thus enclose any kind of file or even a data stream. Content-wrappers are designed for different computers and operating systems such as Microsoft-Windows-based PC's, UNIX workstations, and Apple Macintosh computers. Since the searchable metadata resides with the content-files on distributed platforms, a centralized search database is not needed. Instead, a search is conducted by successively reading the searchable metadata in wrappers on each computer connected to a network. A mapping metadata tag is used to provide a broad category that groups together various local names for metadata tags with similar meaning. Different applications can use different local names for metadata, yet the mapping metadata tag allows these local names to be searched together as a single criteria.

Abstract: Disclosed is a method, system, and program for query processing. Metadata for a facts metadata object and one or more dimension metadata objects that are associated with the facts metadata object is stored. A view with columns for one or more measures in the facts metadata object and one or more attributes in the one or more dimension metadata objects is constructed. Additional metadata that describes roles of columns in the fact and dimension metadata objects is generated. Also disclosed is a computer-readable medium for storing data for access by a program. A data structure stored in the computer-readable medium includes data for use by the program. The data includes a cube model metadata object that includes a facts metadata object, one or more dimension metadata objects, and one or more join metadata objects that describe how one or more tables in the facts metadata object and one or more tables in the one or more dimension metadata objects are joined. The data also includes a cube metadata object that represents a subset of the cube model metadata object and comprises a view with columns for one or more measures of one of the facts metadata objects and one or more attributes of one or more of the dimension metadata objects and a document that describes roles of columns in the facts metadata object and the one or more dimension metadata objects.

Abstract: The present invention relates to a system (10) for generating and maintaining virtual and physical metadata layers in a MetaBase metadata repository (110b) in order to simplify and optimize the retrieval of data from a plurality of disparate information sources (130a-130c). The system stores in a physical metadata layer of a MetaBase metadata repository a plurality of physical metadata elements, wherein each one of the physical metadata elements corresponds to the metadata elements in the plurality of information sources. Logical metadata elements are stored in the virtual metadata layer and are linked to the physical metadata elements in order to maintain the relationships therebetween. By maintaining the relationships between the physical metadata elements, users can initiate a data query request for data corresponding to a logical metadata element, and the system is configurated to retrieve the desired data from the relevant information sources, even in the event that relevant information sources maintain the data in fields having different data field names, that the information sources employ incompatible data formats, and that the relevant information sources employ different query languages.