Patent · US Expired

Database sort and merge apparatus with multiple memory arrays having alternating access

US5210870A · kind A · utility

84Cited by
10References
1Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateMar 27, 1990
Grant dateMay 11, 1993
Priority date
Expiry dateMar 27, 2010

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC Y)Emerging Cross-Sectional Technologies
  • CPC primaryY10S707/99952
  • WIPO fieldComputer technology
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

A processor functioning as a coprocessor attached to a central processing complex provides efficient execution of the functions required for database processing: sorting, merging, joining, searching and manipulating fields in a host memory system. The specialized functional units: a memory interface and field extractor/assembler, a Predicate Evaluator, a combined sort/merge/join unit, a hasher, and a microcoded control processor, are all centered around a partitioned Working Store. Each functional unit is pipelined and optimized according to the function it performs, and executes its portion of the query efficiently. All functional units execute simultaneously under the control processor to achieve the desired results. Many different database functions can be performed by chaining simple operations together. The processor can effectively replace the CPU bound portions of complex database operations with functions that run at the maximum memory access rate improving performance on complex queries.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.