Indexing management for hierarchical main memory

• US 6,763,347 B1
• Filed: 10/19/2001
• Issued: 07/13/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 10/19/2001
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Ipedo, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Ipedo, Inc.
• Inventors: Zhang, Nick
• Primary Examiner(s): CHOULES, JACK M
• Application Number:
  US10/032,782
• Time in Patent Office: 998 Days
• Field of Search: 707/1, 707/2
• US Class Current: 711/117
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/217 Database tuning G06F16/2282 takes precedence; database performance monitoring G06F11/3409
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/22 Indexing; Data structures therefor; Storage structures
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24552 Database cache management
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24561 Intermediate data storage techniques for performance improvement
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/956 Hierarchical
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99932 Access augmentation or optimizing

Abstract

The present invention is a system and method for selectively loading indexes into main memory to improve hierarchical database performance, called hot indexing. The most frequently accessed portions of database contents or indexes are loaded into memory. By not loading the entire database into main memory, the size of the database is not limited by the size of the memory. At the same time, targeting the most frequently accessed portion ensures that the desired database content or index is in the faster main memory as opposed to the slower disk based memory. Moving the entire portion into memory, as opposed to making disk based queries to content, speeds up the entire data mining process dramatically. A synchronization method guarantees that changes made to the portion in main memory are reflected in the more permanent disk-based memory.

Claims

1. A system, comprising:

a permanent memory storage device containing a hierarchical database; and

a main memory containing selectively chosen index structures and contents of the hierarchical database, the selectively chosen index structures and contents loaded prior to querying.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the selectively chosen index structures are chosen based on an attribute.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein a user specifies the attribute at configuration.

4. The system of claim 2, wherein a user specifies more than one attribute at configuration.

5. The system of claim 2, wherein the attribute is chosen at configuration based on statistical preference data.

6. The system of claim 2, wherein a choice of attribute evolves based on user query activities.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the selectively chosen index structures belong to sub-trees of the hierarchical database.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein a user specifies which sub-trees are loaded into the main memory at configuration.

9. The system of claim 7 wherein the sub-trees are chosen at configuration based on statistical preference data.

10. The system of claim 7, wherein a choice of sub-tree is changed to better suit user query activities.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein alterations to the selectively chosen index structures and contents in the main memory are synchronized with the hierarchical database in the permanent memory storage system.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the alterations to the selectively chosen index structures and contents in the main memory are simultaneously made to the hierarchical database in the permanent memory storage system.

13. The system of claim 11, wherein the alterations to the selectively chosen index structures and contents in the main memory are made to the hierarchical database in the permanent memory storage system upon completion of the alterations in the main memory.

14. The system of claim 11, wherein the alterations to the selectively chosen index structures and contents in the main memory are made to the hierarchical database in the permanent memory storage system when a prescribed set of criteria have occurred.

15. A method, comprising:

storing a hierarchical database in a permanent memory storage device; and

loading selectively chosen index structures and contents of the hierarchical database into a main memory prior to querying.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising choosing the chosen index structures based on an attribute.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising allowing a user to specify the attribute at configuration.

18. The method of claim 16, further comprising allowing a user to specify more than one attribute.

19. The method of claim 16, further comprising choosing the attribute at configuration based on statistical preference data.

20. The method of claim 16, further comprising changing the chosen attribute based on user query activities.

21. The method of claim 15, wherein the selectively chosen index structures belongs to sub-trees of the hierarchical database.

22. The method of claim 21, further comprising allowing a user to specify which sub-trees are loaded into the main memory at configuration.

23. The method of claim 21, choosing the sub-trees at configuration based on statistical preference data.

24. The method of claim 21, further comprising changing the chosen sub-tree based on user query activities.

25. The method of claim 15, further comprising synchronizing alterations to the selectively chosen index structures and contents in the main memory with alterations to the hierarchical database in the permanent memory storage system.

26. The method of claim 25, further comprising making the alterations to the selectively chosen index structures and contents in the main memory simultaneous with alterations to the hierarchical database in the permanent memory storage system.

27. The method of claim 25, further comprising making alterations to the hierarchical database in the permanent memory storage system upon completion of making the alterations in the main memory.

28. The method of claim 25, further comprising making alterations to the hierarchical database in the permanent memory storage system when a prescribed set of criteria have occurred.

29. A machine-readable storage medium tangibly embodying a sequence of instructions executable by the machine to perform a method comprising:

storing a hierarchical database in a permanent memory storage device; and

loading selectively chosen index structures and contents of the hierarchical database into a main memory prior to querying.

30. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 29, wherein the selectively chosen index structures are value index structures.

31. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 29, further comprising choosing the chosen index structures based on an attribute.

32. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 31, further comprising allowing a user to specify the attribute at configuration.

33. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 31, further comprising allowing a user to specify more than one attribute.

34. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 31, further comprising choosing the attribute at configuration based on statistical preference data.

35. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 31, further comprising changing the chosen attribute based on user query activities.

36. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 29, wherein the selectively chosen index structures belongs to sub-trees of the hierarchical database.

37. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 36, further comprising allowing a user to specify which sub-trees are loaded into the main memory at configuration.

38. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 36, choosing the sub-trees at configuration based on statistical preference data.

39. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 36, further comprising changing the chosen sub-tree based on user query activities.

40. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 29, further comprising synchronizing alterations to the selectively chosen index structures and contents in the main memory with alterations to the hierarchical database in the permanent memory storage system.

41. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 40, further comprising making the alterations to the selectively chosen index structures and contents in the main memory simultaneous with alterations to the hierarchical database in the permanent memory storage system.

42. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 40, further comprising making alterations to the hierarchical database in the permanent memory storage system upon completion of making the alterations in the main memory.

43. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 40, further comprising making alterations to the hierarchical database in the permanent memory storage system when a prescribed set of criteria have occurred.