System and method for receiving and loading fare and schedule data
View Patent ↗The present invention relates to a system and method for receiving and loading new data sets into a system provided for searching such data sets in order to return elements of data that correspond to user defined search criteria. The system includes a master database, a data loading master server, a network file transfer server, and a search engine server operable to simultaneously process search queries on an old data set and a new data set. The method according to the present invention includes the steps of receiving a new data set, setting a flag to indicate that the new data set has been received, requesting a file transfer and transferring the new data set to a data loading master server, selectively copying portions of the new data set to a search engine server, and processing first and second queries in response to a user request simultaneously. The first query is processed on an old data set, and the second query is processed on the new data set.
1. A method of loading a new data set on a system configured to search a data set for data that meet user defined search criteria, wherein the system includes a master database, a data loading master server, a network file system server, a search engine operable to simultaneously process search queries on an old data set and on a new data set simultaneously, the method comprising the steps of:
receiving a new data set and storing the new data set in the master database;
setting a flag to indicate that the new data set is available;
requesting a file transfer from the master data base to the data loading master server when the flag indicates that the new data set is available and transferring the new data set to the data loading master server;
transferring the new data set from the data loading master server to the network file system server;
running a first search process searching the old data set;
running a second search process searching the new data set;
processing queries in response to user search requests using the first search process prior to receiving a command to switch to a new data set; and
processing queries in response to user requests using the second search process after receiving the command to switch to the new data set.
2. The method of loading a new data set on a system configured to search a data set for data that meet user defined search criteria of claim 1 , wherein the system further includes a global distribution system, the method further comprising the steps of: monitoring the global distribution system to determine whether the global distribution system is operating with data corresponding to the old data set or the new data set; issuing the command to switch to the new data set when the global distribution system begins operating with data corresponding to the new data set.
3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the data comprising the old and new data sets comprise airline flight schedule and fare data.