The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jul. 16, 2002
Filed:
Jun. 16, 1999
Micahel John Groeschel, Hampton, MN (US);
Scott Dennis Helt, Rochester, MN (US);
Rebecca Nan Brady Legler, Rochester, MN (US);
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY (US);
Abstract
An apparatus, program product and method for estimating the number of keys within an index key range over an index using page pointers to pages in the index comprises a program configured for scanning the index, from a divergence point of the key range, until a page pointer is found and incrementing a counter for each found page pointer. The program is further configured for determining if the page pointer points to a leaf page in the index, and if it does, continuing the scan to find the next page pointer without going to the corresponding leaf page. Otherwise, the program continues the scan to find the next page pointer and continues the scan for page pointers and increments the counter until the index is scanned for the entire key range. Upon completion of the scan, the program determines an estimate of the number of keys utilizing the counter.