Specifying indexes by evaluating costs savings for improving operation in relational databases

Patent 6182079 Issued on January 30, 2001. Estimated Expiration Date:

June 19, 2018. Estimated Expiration Date is calculated based on simple USPTO term provisions. It does not account for terminal disclaimers, term adjustments, failure to pay maintenance fees, or other factors which might affect the term of a patent.

Abstract Claims Description Full Text

Patent References

Retrieval of related records from a relational database
Patent #: 4805099
Issued on: 02/14/1989
Inventor: Huber

Data base optimizer using most frequency values statistics
Patent #: 4956774
Issued on: 09/11/1990
Inventor: Shibamiya, et al.

Database index design based upon request importance and the reuse and modification of similar existing indexes Patent #: 5404510
Issued on: 04/04/1995
Inventor: Smith, et al.

Inventor

Lenzie, Robert Stephen

Assignee

British Telecommunications public limited company

Application

No. 091601 filed on 06/19/1998

US Classes:

707/101, Manipulating data structure (e.g., compression, compaction, compilation)707/100, DATABASE SCHEMA OR DATA STRUCTURE707/104.1Application of database or data structure (e.g., distributed, multimedia, image)

Examiners

Primary: Black, Thomas G.
Assistant: Trinh, William

Attorney, Agent or Firm

Nixon & Vanderhye P.C.

Foreign Patent References

0 351 388 EP. 01/13/1990

International Class

G06F 017/30

Foreign Application Priority Data

1995-12-20 GB

Abstract

An index set for a databse is specified by analyzing a sample (718) of SQL statements applied to the database (701). Indexes (707) are identified that could assist in the execution of the analyzed statements and levels of improved operation are evaluated for each of said indexes. The evaluated levels are then processed (708) to specify an index set for inclusion on the database. The database may not include sufficient storage (702) for all of the specified indexes to be included, therefore the available storage space is allocated and indexes are selected on a prioritized basis.