ONLINE MODIFICATIONS OF RELATIONS IN MULTIDIMENSIONAL PROCESSING

摘要

A method/operator is disclosed that adjusts measurements during processing in a multidimensional data cube. The online "depth-of-field" operator disclosed varies the density of points in a representation of the multidimensional cube. The operator may be applied to any collection of dimensions and relations supported by the dimensions, using hierarchical structures to control the adjustments. It allows one to experiment online with the definition of relations during multidimensional processing, thereby controlling the output of the synthesizing process. The operator may be used to equate attributes based on their hierarchical positions when processing measurements in a hypercube. Furthermore, it may be used to reveal hidden dependencies between variables when working with measurements with varying levels of granularity. As is the case when processing health related data for individuals or when processing heterogeneous relations from different sources such as a combination of measurements about individuals, their ancestors and the environment. The methods disclosed are generic and applicable to any data warehouse design and enable OLAP for a wider variety of data and structures than current implementation schemas.