VIEWCACHE: AN INCREMENTAL DATABASE ACCESS METHOD FOR DISTRIBUTED LIBRARY SYSTEMS

WE PROPOSE TO BUILD A MICRO-BASED VERSION OF NASA'S RECON CITATION SYSTEM. THIS WILL ENABLE NASA TO DECENTRALIZE THE RECON DATABASE AND THUS GREATLY ENHANCE ITS POWER. THE PRODUCT WILL EMPLOY OUR INNOVATIVE "VIEWCACHE" STORAGE APPROACH WHICH USES A REVOLUTIONARY DATABASE ACCESS METHOD FOR INCREMENTAL SEARCH IN A LIBRARY OF CITATIONS. THIS SYSTEM WILL BE DESIGNED AS AN ADD ON ENHANCEMENT OF THE DISTRIBUTED ACCESS VIEW INTEGRATION DATABASE (DAVID) SYSTEM CURRENTLY BEING DEVELOPED AT NASA'S GODDARD SPACE FLIGHT CENTER. THE VIEWCACHE APPROACH USES A VERY CONCISE AND PERSISTENT DATA STRUCTURE THAT OPTIMIZES TEMPORARY OR "CACHE" STORAGE. THIS TYPE OF STORAGE IS PARTICULARLY USEFUL FOR THE INTERMEDIATE RESULTS BUILT DURING THE SEARCH OF A DATABASE. IN PARTICULAR, IT IS ESPECIALLY SUITABLE FOR COMPUTER SEARCHING OF LIBRARY CITATION SYSTEMS SUCH AS IN THE RECON SYSTEM. THE INCREMENTALLY CREATED PERSISTENT CACHE STRUCTURES ARE INTEGRATED INTO A LOCAL SEARCH SCHEMA THAT UTILIZES THE COMMONALITY OF THE SEARCH PATHS AND PROVIDES A VERY EFFICIENT ENVIRONMENT TAILORED TO THE LOCAL USERS NEEDS.