Patent · US Expired

Method and system for histogram determination in a database

US6691099B1 · kind B1 · utility

38Cited by
2References
53Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventor

Key dates

Filing dateMay 31, 2001
Grant dateFeb 10, 2004
Priority date
Expiry dateSep 11, 2021

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC Y)Emerging Cross-Sectional Technologies
  • CPC primaryY10S707/99934
  • WIPO fieldComputer technology
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

A method and system for determining when to collect, save, and/or utilize histograms is disclosed. A mechanism for automatically deciding when to collect histograms upon request from the user is provided. The histogram collection decision is based on the columns the user is interested in, the role these columns play in the queries as submitted to the system, and the underlying distribution for these columns, e.g., as seen in a random sample. The user specifies which columns are of interest, and the database is configured to collect column usage information that describes how each column is being used in the workload. This column usage information could be stored in memory and periodically flushed to disk. Given a set of potential columns, the distribution of those columns is viewed in combination with the usage information to determine which columns should have histograms.

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