International Business Machines Corporation

Gene Y C Fuh

Yun Yu Wang

Brian Thinh-Vinh Tran

Nelson Mendonca Mattos

Michelle Mei-Chiou Jou

Hsin Pan

Stefan Dessloch

Ping Li

Daniel Tsunfang Lee

Shahrokh Talmoud

Chung-Sheng Li

John Richard Smith

Sriram Kolinjivadi Padmanabhan

Bruce Gilbert Lindsay

Yuan-Chi Chang

Jian J Xu

Lawrence David Bergman

Hui-I Hsiao

Josephine Miu Cheng

David Mun-Hien Choy

Jyh-Herng Chow

Jy-Jine James Lin

Anant Deep Jhingran

Linda Gail DeMichiel

Robin Williams

Raiko Nitzsche

Kamilla Kazimierowicz

Methods and apparatus for providing a multi-tier object-relational database architecture are disclosed. In one illustrative embodiment of the present invention, a multi-tier database architecture comprises an object-relational database engine as a top tier, one or more domain-specific extension modules as a bottom tier, and one or more universal extension modules as a middle tier. The individual extension modules of the bottom tier operationally connect with the one or more universal extension modules which, themselves, operationally connect with the database engine. The domain-specific extension modules preferably provide such functions as search, index, and retrieval services of images, video, audio, time series, web pages, text, XML, spatial data, etc. The domain-specific extension modules may include one or more IBM DB2 extenders, Oracle data cartridges and/or Informix datablades, although other domain-specific extension modules may be used.

Methods and apparatus for constructing and implementing a universal extension module for processing objects in a database

Method and apparatus for indexing structured documents with rich data types

A method, apparatus, and article of manufacture for a computer-implemented embedded storage mechanism for structured data types. A statement is stored in a database stored on a data storage device connected to a computer. At compile-time, specific methods for a structured data type are mapped to generic methods using parse trees. At run-time, an in-memory representation of the structured data type is generated using information conveyed in the parse trees. Then, linearization of the generated in-memory representation is performed.

Embedded storage mechanism for structured data types

A new approach to indexing semi-structured, non-traditional data uses an external search engine accessible to a database engine through a standardized interface. An external index managed by an external search engine maps object identifiers associated with the non-traditional data to row identifiers for a table stored in the relational database. In response to a query, one or more of the object identifiers are retrieved from the external index by the external search engine. The object identifiers returned by the external search engine are then used by the database engine to retrieve one or more row identifiers from an index in the relational database. The row identifiers are then used to retrieve one or more rows from the table in the relational database.

Relational database extender that supports user-defined index types and user-defined search

A method, apparatus, and article of manufacture for a computer-implemented integrated architecture for user-defined search. A statement is executed in a database stored on a data storage device connected to a computer, and the database contains data. Under control of the database, a statement is received that requests manipulation of the data. The statement includes a user-defined function. An index of a user-defined index type is used to access the data. The user-defined function is processed with the accessed data.

Fully integrated architecture for user-defined search

A method, apparatus, and article of manufacture for a computer-implemented model for user-defined search in Relational Database Management Systems. A statement is executed in a database stored on a data storage device connected to a computer. Data that is qualified by user-defined functions is located based on a model that supports user-defined search.

User-defined search using index exploitation

A method, apparatus, and article of manufacture for computer-implemented exploitation of database indexes. A statement is executed in a database stored on a data storage device connected to a computer. The database contains data. A model based on pattern matching for a user-defined predicate and selection of an index exploitation rule based on a matched user-defined predicate is provided to be used for exploiting an index to retrieve data from the database.

Generalized model for the exploitation of database indexes

A method, apparatus, and article of manufacture for computer-implemented support of database indexes based on a generalized B-tree index. The index is stored in a B-tree on a data storage device connected to a computer. In particular, multiple key sources are processed using key transformation. Then, a plurality of key targets are generated based on the processed key sources.

Supporting database indexes based on a generalized B-tree index

A method, apparatus, and article of manufacture for a computer-implemented multiple-stage evaluation of a user-defined predicate. A statement is executed in a database stored on a data storage device connected to a computer. The statement is received containing a user-defined predicate with a user-defined function. Then, multiple-stage evaluation of the user-defined predicate is performed.

Multiple-stage evaluation of user-defined predicates

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San Jose, CA, United States of America

Gene Y C Fuh