Flexible assignment of media advertising orders to broadcast inventory
An automated planning system obtains media advertising order specifications associated with media placement orders, wherein the media advertising order specifications include flexibility attributes associated with media items referenced in the media placement orders. The planning system generates an orders table including order information associated with individual orders, an inventory table including inventory information associated with individual inventory items, and an association table including association scores indicating levels of association between the individual inventory items and the individual orders, wherein the association scores are based on the flexibility attributes. The media placement orders are booked into a plan lineup based, at least in part, on the association scores.
1 . A method for use in a data storage and retrieval system for a computer memory, the method comprising:
generating a first table according to a database schema employing weighted associations, the first table storing first information;
generating a second table according to the database schema employing weighted associations, the second table storing second information; and
generating a third table according to a database schema employing weighted associations, the third table storing a weighted association establishing a flexible link between the first information stored in the first table and the second information stored in the second table.
2 . A data storage and retrieval system for a computer memory, the data storage and retrieval system comprising:
a memory; and
a processor coupled to the memory, the processor configured to generate a database in accordance with a database schema employing weighted associations, and store the database in the memory, wherein generating the database in accordance with the database schema includes
generating a first database table storing first information,
generating a second database table storing second information, and
generating a third database table storing a weighted association establishing a flexible link between the first information stored in the first database table and the second information stored in the second database table.
3 . An improved data storage and retrieval system for a computer memory, wherein the improvement comprises:
configuring the computer memory according to a database schema employing weighted associations, each weighted association establishing a flexible link between information stored in a plurality of different tables.
4 . The improved data storage and retrieval system of claim 3 , wherein each weighted association indicates a degree of flexibility of the flexible link.
5 . The improved data storage and retrieval system of claim 3 , wherein the database schema specifies storing the weighted associations in association tables different from the plurality of different tables.
6 . The improved data storage and retrieval system of claim 5 , wherein the database schema specifies storing, in the association table, information identifying other tables to which the flexible link applies.
7 . The improved data storage and retrieval system of claim 6 , wherein the database schema specifies storing information restricting application of the flexible link in at least one of the other tables.
8 . The improved data storage and retrieval system of claim 7 , wherein the database schema specifies storing at least a portion of the information restricting application of the flexible link in a restriction-type field included in one of the other tables.
9 . The data storage and retrieval system of claim 2 , wherein the weighted association indicates a degree of flexibility of the flexible link.
10 . The data storage and retrieval system of claim 2 , wherein the processor generates the database in accordance with a database schema by storing, in the third database table, information identifying other tables to which the flexible link applies.
11 . The data storage and retrieval system of claim 10 , wherein the processor generates the database in accordance with a database schema by storing information restricting application of the flexible link in at least one of the first database table or the second database table.
12 . The data storage and retrieval system of claim 11 , wherein the processor generates the database in accordance with a database schema by storing at least a portion of the information restricting application of the flexible link in a restriction-type field included in the at least one of the first database table or the second database table.
13 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the weighted association indicates a degree of flexibility of the flexible link.
14 . The method of claim 1 , wherein generating the third table according to the database schema employing weighted associations includes storing, in the third table, information identifying other tables to which the flexible link applies.
15 . The method of claim 14 , wherein generating the first table according to the database schema employing weighted associations includes storing information restricting application of the flexible link in the first table.
16 . The data storage and retrieval system of claim 15 , wherein generating the first table according to the database schema employing weighted associations includes storing at least a portion of the information restricting application of the flexible link in a restriction-type field included in the first table.