System and method for multirecord compression in a relational database
First Claim
1. A method of processing information, comprising the steps of:
- a) constructing a plurality of binary objects, each binary object including portions of multiple records of a first unnormalized database table, the multiple records being related by shared attribute values;
b) compressing each of the binary objects constructed in step (a) independently, in a manner that allows the exact reconstruction of original data; and
c) constructing a second database table which is still unnormalized from the binary objects constructed in step (a), each row of the second database table comprising the shared attribute values and a corresponding compressed binary object constructed in step b), wherein the second database table stores the shared attribute values and information required to access the compressed binary objects.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
The invention is a system and method for database compression which creates partial indexing into compressed sub table blocks of databases. Table rows with the same or related indexing parameters are grouped as "sub-table blocks" and are stored as compressed binary objects, with the indexing fields stored in the same row, external to the binary block. The binary object expands to multiple database rows when accessed via the sub table block interface, thus forming a hierarchical, pre-joined database organization. Mechanisms are provided for creating, accessing, and manipulating the data blocks, and a date-based versioning mechanism. The compression employed is the known Vdelta package, which operates at a byte level to provide a useful compromise between speed and compression efficiency, even for relative short compression blocks. In realistic tests, the I/O time gained through compression results in a time saving which exceeds the processing penalty. The overall compression ratio is data dependent, but in a realistic test it averages about 4.
-
Citations
24 Claims
-
1. A method of processing information, comprising the steps of:
-
a) constructing a plurality of binary objects, each binary object including portions of multiple records of a first unnormalized database table, the multiple records being related by shared attribute values; b) compressing each of the binary objects constructed in step (a) independently, in a manner that allows the exact reconstruction of original data; and c) constructing a second database table which is still unnormalized from the binary objects constructed in step (a), each row of the second database table comprising the shared attribute values and a corresponding compressed binary object constructed in step b), wherein the second database table stores the shared attribute values and information required to access the compressed binary objects. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
-
-
13. A system for processing information, comprising:
-
a first unnormalized database table; a plurality of binary objects, the binary objects including portions of multiple records of the first unnormalized database table, the multiple records being related by shared attribute values; a compression unit for independently compressing the binary objects so that the compressed binary objects can be exactly reconstructed into the binary objects; and a second database table, comprising the binary objects, each row of the second database table comprising the shared attribute values and a corresponding compressed binary object, wherein the second database table stores the shared attribute values and information required to access the compressed binary objects. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24)
-
Specification