Database management system with improved indexed accessing

Claim 3

The method of claim 1 wherein said step of assigning disjunct numbers includes the step of assigning an individual disjunct number to an IN list predicate.

Claim 4

The method of claim 1 wherein said step (a) of evaluating includes the steps of associating predicates to clusters and associating clusters to disjunct numbers.

Claim 11

A computer system for storing and providing user access to data in stored database objects, said system comprising: a memory for storing said database objects; a communications interface through which user database queries are relayed to said computer system from a user workstation, and through which query results from said computer system are made available to the user workstation; a processor for controlling interactions between said memory and said communications interface in response to a search query received from a user workstation and specifying predicate values corresponding to values of preselected columns of a multi-column table; a computer program for causing said processor to construct individual search keys in accordance with a search query specifying predicate values corresponding to values of preselected columns of the table, the search keys including names of the preselected columns of the table and associated predicate values, said computer program including a first procedure for evaluating the predicate values specified by the search query; a second procedure for assigning equivalent range values for each predicate value specified in the search query as a range of values, to the corresponding preselected column; a third procedure for assigning equivalent values for each predicate value specified in the search query as an IN list of values, to the corresponding preselected column; a fourth procedure for assigning a range of values to the corresponding preselected column for each unspecified predicate value; and a fifth procedure for constructing individual search keys from the equivalent values assigned by the first through fourth procedures; wherein a search query includes a plurality of disjuncts; and wherein said first procedure causes said processor to assign a unique disjunct number to each of the plurality of disjuncts in the search query.

Claim 12

A computer system for storing and providing user access to data in stored database objects, said system comprising: a memory for storing said database objects; a communications interface through which user database queries are relayed to said computer system from a user workstation, and through which query results from said computer system are made available to the user workstation; a processor for controlling interactions between said memory and said communications interface in response to a search query received from a user workstation and specifying predicate values corresponding to values of preselected columns of a multi-column table; a computer program for causing said processor to construct individual search keys in accordance with a search query specifying predicate values corresponding to values of preselected columns of the table, the search keys including names of the preselected columns of the table and associated predicate values, said computer program including a first procedure for evaluating the predicate values specified by the search query; a second procedure for assigning equivalent range values for each predicate value specified in the search query as a range of values, to the corresponding preselected column; a third procedure for assigning equivalent values for each predicate value specified in the search query as an IN list of values, to the corresponding preselected column; a fourth procedure for assigning a range of values to the corresponding preselected column for each unspecified predicate value; and a fifth procedure for constructing individual search keys from the equivalent values assigned by the first through fourth procedures; wherein a search query includes a plurality of disjuncts; and wherein said first procedure causes said processor to assign a unique disjunct number to each of the plurality of disjuncts in the search query.

Claim 13

The system of claim 7 wherein the first procedure causes said processor to assign an individual disjunct number to an IN list predicate.

Claim 14

The system of claim 7 wherein the first procedure causes said processor to associate predicates to clusters and associate clusters to disjunct numbers.

Claim 15

A computer system for storing and providing user access to data in stored database objects, said system comprising: a memory for storing said database objects; a communications interface through which user database queries are relayed to said computer system from a user workstation, and through which query results from said computer system are made available to the user workstation; a processor for controlling interactions between said memory and said communications interface in response to a search query received from a user workstation and specifying predicate values corresponding to values of preselected columns of a multi-column table; a computer program for causing said processor to construct individual search keys in accordance with a search query specifying predicate values corresponding to values of preselected columns of the table, the search keys including names of the preselected columns of the table and associated predicate values, said computer program including a first procedure for evaluating the predicate values specified by the search query; a second procedure for assigning equivalent range values for each predicate value specified in the search query as a range of values, to the corresponding preselected column; a third procedure for assigning equivalent values for each predicate value specified in the search query as an IN list of values, to the corresponding preselected column; a fourth procedure for assigning a range of values to the corresponding preselected column for each unspecified predicate value; and a fifth procedure for constructing individual search keys from the equivalent values assigned by the first through fourth procedures; wherein the equivalent range values assigned by the processor in response to the second procedure are specified as the lo and hi values of the corresponding predicate column.

Claim 16

A computer system for storing and providing user access to data in stored database objects, said system comprising: a memory for storing said database objects; a communications interface through which user database queries are relayed to said computer system from a user workstation, and through which query results from said computer system are made available to the user workstation; a processor for controlling interactions between said memory and said communications interface in response to a search query received from a user workstation and specifying predicate values corresponding to values of preselected columns of a multi-column table; a computer program for causing said processor to construct individual search keys in accordance with a search query specifying predicate values corresponding to values of preselected columns of the table, the search keys including names of the preselected columns of the table and associated predicate values, said computer program including a first procedure for evaluating the predicate values specified by the search query; a second procedure for assigning equivalent range values for each predicate value specified in the search query as a range of values, to the corresponding preselected column; a third procedure for assigning equivalent values for each predicate value specified in the search query as an IN list of values, to the corresponding preselected column; a fourth procedure for assigning a range of values to the corresponding preselected column for each unspecified predicate value; and a fifth procedure for constructing individual search keys from the equivalent values assigned by the first through fourth procedures; wherein the equivalent range values assigned by the processor in response to the second procedure are specified as the lo and hi values of the corresponding predicate column.

Claim 17

A computer system for storing and providing user access to data in stored database objects, said system comprising: a memory for storing said database objects; a communications interface through which user database queries are relayed to said computer system from a user workstation, and through which query results from said computer system are made available to the user workstation; a processor for controlling interactions between said memory and said communications interface in response to a search query received from a user workstation and specifying predicate values corresponding to values of preselected columns of a multi-column table; a computer program for causing said processor to construct individual search keys in accordance with a search query specifying predicate values corresponding to values of preselected columns of the table, the search keys including names of the preselected columns of the table and associated predicate values, said computer program including a first procedure for evaluating the predicate values specified by the search query; a second procedure for assigning equivalent range values for each predicate value specified in the search query as a range of values, to the corresponding preselected column; a third procedure for assigning equivalent values for each predicate value specified in the search query as an IN list of values, to the corresponding preselected column; a fourth procedure for assigning a range of values to the corresponding preselected column for each unspecified predicate value; and a fifth procedure for constructing individual search keys from the equivalent values assigned by the first through fourth procedures; wherein the fifth procedure causes said processor to eliminate conflicting predicate values from the same column to reduce the number of potential predicate values for searching that column.

Claim 18

A computer system for storing and providing user access to data in stored database objects, said system comprising: a memory for storing said database objects; a communications interface through which user database queries are relayed to said computer system from a user workstation, and through which query results from said computer system are made available to the user workstation; a processor for controlling interactions between said memory and said communications interface in response to a search query received from a user workstation and specifying predicate values corresponding to values of preselected columns of a multi-column table; a computer program for causing said processor to construct individual search keys in accordance with a search query specifying predicate values corresponding to values of preselected columns of the table, the search keys including names of the preselected columns of the table and associated predicate values, said computer program including a first procedure for evaluating the predicate values specified by the search query; a second procedure for assigning equivalent range values for each predicate value specified in the search query as a range of values, to the corresponding preselected column; a third procedure for assigning equivalent values for each predicate value specified in the search query as an IN list of values, to the corresponding preselected column; a fourth procedure for assigning a range of values to the corresponding preselected column for each unspecified predicate value; and a fifth procedure for constructing individual search keys from the equivalent values assigned by the first through fourth procedures; wherein the fifth procedure causes said processor to eliminate conflicting predicate values from the same column to reduce the number of potential predicate values for searching that column.

Claim 19

A computer system for storing and providing user access to data in stored database objects, said system comprising: a memory for storing said database objects; a communications interface through which user database queries are relayed to said computer system from a user workstation, and through which query results from said computer system are made available to the user workstation; a processor for controlling interactions between said memory and said communications interface in response to a search query received from a user workstation and specifying predicate values corresponding to values of preselected columns of a multi-column table; a computer program for causing said processor to construct individual search keys in accordance with a search query specifying predicate values corresponding to values of preselected columns of the table, the search keys including names of the preselected columns of the table and associated predicate values, said computer program including a first procedure for evaluating the predicate values specified by the search query; a second procedure for assigning equivalent range values for each predicate value specified in the search query as a range of values, to the corresponding preselected column; a third procedure for assigning equivalent values for each predicate value specified in the search query as an IN list of values, to the corresponding preselected column; a fourth procedure for assigning a range of values to the corresponding preselected column for each unspecified predicate value; and a fifth procedure for constructing individual search keys from the equivalent values assigned by the first through fourth procedures; The system of claim 8 wherein the fifth procedure causes said processor to eliminate redundant values specified by the disjuncts in order to minimize the number of search keys required to fulfill the search query.

Claim 20

A computer program product comprising a computer usable medium having computer readable code embodied therein for constructing individual search keys for searching a multi-column table in a database, the search keys being constructed in accordance with a search query specifying predicate values corresponding to values of preselected columns of the table, the search keys including names of the preselected columns of the table and associated predicate values, the computer program product comprising: first computer readable program code devices configured to cause a computer to evaluate the predicate values specified by the search query and corresponding to the values of the preselected columns of the table; second computer readable program code devices configured to cause a computer to assign, for each predicate value specified as a range of values, equivalent range values to the corresponding preselected column; third computer readable program code devices configured to cause a computer to assign, for each predicate value specified as an IN list of values, equivalent values to the corresponding preselected column; fourth computer readable program code devices configured to cause a computer to assign, for each unspecified predicate value, a range of values to the corresponding preselected column; and fifth computer readable program code devices configured to cause a computer to use said equivalent values to construct individual search keys; wherein a search query includes a plurality of disjuncts; and wherein said first computer readable program code devices are configured to cause a computer to assign a unique disjunct number to each of said plurality of disjuncts.

Claim 21

A computer program product comprising a computer usable medium having computer readable code embodied therein for constructing individual search keys for searching a multi-column table in a database, the search keys being constructed in accordance with a search query specifying predicate values corresponding to values of preselected columns of the table, the search keys including names of the preselected columns of the table and associated predicate values, the computer program product comprising: first computer readable program code devices configured to cause a computer to evaluate the predicate values specified by the search query and corresponding to the values of the preselected columns of the table; second computer readable program code devices configured to cause a computer to assign, for each predicate value specified as a range of values, equivalent range values to the corresponding preselected column; third computer readable program code devices configured to cause a computer to assign, for each predicate value specified as an IN list of values, equivalent values to the corresponding preselected column; fourth computer readable program code devices configured to cause a computer to assign, for each unspecified predicate value, a range of values to the corresponding preselected column; and fifth computer readable program code devices configured to cause a computer to use said equivalent values to construct individual search keys; wherein a search query includes a plurality of disjuncts; and wherein said first computer readable program code devices are configured to cause a computer to assign a unique disjunct number to each of said plurality of disjuncts.

Claim 22

The computer program product of claim 13 wherein the computer is caused to assign an individual disjunct number to an IN list predicate.

Claim 23

The computer program product of claim 13 wherein said first computer readable program code devices are configured to cause the computer to associate predicates to clusters and clusters to disjunct numbers.

Claim 24

A computer program product comprising a computer usable medium having computer readable code embodied therein for constructing individual search keys for searching a multi-column table in a database, the search keys being constructed in accordance with a search query specifying predicate values corresponding to values of preselected columns of the table, the search keys including names of the preselected columns of the table and associated predicate values, the computer program product comprising: first computer readable program code devices configured to cause a computer to evaluate the predicate values specified by the search query and corresponding to the values of the preselected columns of the table; second computer readable program code devices configured to cause a computer to assign, for each predicate value specified as a range of values, equivalent range values to the corresponding preselected column; third computer readable program code devices configured to cause a computer to assign, for each predicate value specified as an IN list of values, equivalent values to the corresponding preselected column; fourth computer readable program code devices configured to cause a computer to assign, for each unspecified predicate value, a range of values to the corresponding preselected column; and fifth computer readable program code devices configured to cause a computer to use said equivalent values to construct individual search keys; wherein the equivalent range values assigned by the computer in response to said second computer readable program code devices are specified as the lo and hi values of the corresponding predicate column.

Claim 25

A computer program product comprising a computer usable medium having computer readable code embodied therein for constructing individual search keys for searching a multi-column table in a database, the search keys being constructed in accordance with a search query specifying predicate values corresponding to values of preselected columns of the table, the search keys including names of the preselected columns of the table and associated predicate values, the computer program product comprising: first computer readable program code devices configured to cause a computer to evaluate the predicate values specified by the search query and corresponding to the values of the preselected columns of the table; second computer readable program code devices configured to cause a computer to assign, for each predicate value specified as a range of values, equivalent range values to the corresponding preselected column; third computer readable program code devices configured to cause a computer to assign, for each predicate value specified as an IN list of values, equivalent values to the corresponding preselected column; fourth computer readable program code devices configured to cause a computer to assign, for each unspecified predicate value, a range of values to the corresponding preselected column; and fifth computer readable program code devices configured to cause a computer to use said equivalent values to construct individual search keys; wherein the equivalent range values assigned by the computer in response to said second computer readable program code devices are specified as the lo and hi values of the corresponding predicate column.

Claim 26

A computer program product comprising a computer usable medium having computer readable code embodied therein for constructing individual search keys for searching a multi-column table in a database, the search keys being constructed in accordance with a search query specifying predicate values corresponding to values of preselected columns of the table, the search keys including names of the preselected columns of the table and associated predicate values, the computer program product comprising: first computer readable program code devices configured to cause a computer to evaluate the predicate values specified by the search query and corresponding to the values of the preselected columns of the table; second computer readable program code devices configured to cause a computer to assign, for each predicate value specified as a range of values, equivalent range values to the corresponding preselected column; third computer readable program code devices configured to cause a computer to assign, for each predicate value specified as an IN list of values, equivalent values to the corresponding preselected column; fourth computer readable program code devices configured to cause a computer to assign, for each unspecified predicate value, a range of values to the corresponding preselected column; and fifth computer readable program code devices configured to cause a computer to use said equivalent values to construct individual search keys; wherein the fifth computer readable program code devices are additionally configured to cause the computer to eliminate conflicting predicate values from the same column to reduce the number of potential predicate values for searching that column.

Claim 27

A computer program product comprising a computer usable medium having computer readable code embodied therein for constructing individual search keys for searching a multi-column table in a database, the search keys being constructed in accordance with a search query specifying predicate values corresponding to values of preselected columns of the table, the search keys including names of the preselected columns of the table and associated predicate values, the computer program product comprising: first computer readable program code devices configured to cause a computer to evaluate the predicate values specified by the search query and corresponding to the values of the preselected columns of the table; second computer readable program code devices configured to cause a computer to assign, for each predicate value specified as a range of values, equivalent range values to the corresponding preselected column; third computer readable program code devices configured to cause a computer to assign, for each predicate value specified as an IN list of values, equivalent values to the corresponding preselected column; fourth computer readable program code devices configured to cause a computer to assign, for each unspecified predicate value, a range of values to the corresponding preselected column; and fifth computer readable program code devices configured to cause a computer to use said equivalent values to construct individual search keys; wherein the fifth computer readable program code devices are additionally configured to cause the computer to eliminate conflicting predicate values from the same column to reduce the number of potential predicate values for searching that column.

Claim 28

A computer program product comprising a computer usable medium having computer readable code embodied therein for constructing individual search keys for searching a multi-column table in a database, the search keys being constructed in accordance with a search query specifying predicate values corresponding to values of preselected columns of the table, the search keys including names of the preselected columns of the table and associated predicate values, the computer program product comprising: first computer readable program code devices configured to cause a computer to evaluate the predicate values specified by the search query and corresponding to the values of the preselected columns of the table; second computer readable program code devices configured to cause a computer to assign, for each predicate value specified as a range of values, equivalent range values to the corresponding preselected column; third computer readable program code devices configured to cause a computer to assign, for each predicate value specified as an IN list of values, equivalent values to the corresponding preselected column; fourth computer readable program code devices configured to cause a computer to assign, for each unspecified predicate value, a range of values to the corresponding preselected column; and fifth computer readable program code devices configured to cause a computer to use said equivalent values to construct individual search keys; wherein said fifth computer readable program code devices are additionally configured to cause the computer to eliminate redundant values specified by the disjuncts to minimize the number of search keys required to fulfill the search query.

Claim 29

A computer program product comprising a computer usable medium having computer readable code embodied therein for constructing individual search keys for searching a multi-column table in a database, the search keys being constructed in accordance with a search query specifying predicate values corresponding to values of preselected columns of the table, the search keys including names of the preselected columns of the table and associated predicate values, the computer program product comprising: first computer readable program code devices configured to cause a computer to evaluate the predicate values specified by the search query and corresponding to the values of the preselected columns of the table; second computer readable program code devices configured to cause a computer to assign, for each predicate value specified as a range of values, equivalent range values to the corresponding preselected column; third computer readable program code devices configured to cause a computer to assign, for each predicate value specified as an IN list of values, equivalent values to the corresponding preselected column; fourth computer readable program code devices configured to cause a computer to assign, for each unspecified predicate value, a range of values to the corresponding preselected column; and fifth computer readable program code devices configured to cause a computer to use said equivalent values to construct individual search keys; wherein said fifth computer readable program code devices are additionally configured to cause the computer to eliminate redundant values specified by the disjuncts to minimize the number of search keys required to fulfill the search query.