IP Library Granted Patent US 7,577,679
Granted Patent B2
US 7,577,679 · App. 11/648,331 · Granted Aug 18, 2009

Techniques for extending database date statistics

View Patent ↗
Loading inventors, assignments & file history…
Monitor This Case
Get email alerts when status or documents change.
Order Certified Copies
Most orders are placed with the USPTO same day — all within 24 business hours.
Order via The Patent Place →
Pre-filled with this patent's details
Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 7,577,679
App. No.
11/648,331
Granted
Aug 18, 2009
Kind
B2
Abstract

Techniques for extending database date statistics are provided. A data dictionary houses existing date statistics for information housed in a column of a database table. The existing statistics housed in the data dictionary are used to project estimated statistics for the column for a target date that is not yet represented in the data dictionary and the data dictionary is updated with the estimated statistics.

Claims (22)

1. A method implemented in a computer-readable medium and executed by a process device for performing the method, comprising:

receiving a request to extend date statistics for a date column of a table, wherein a data dictionary associated with a database includes existing date statistics for the date column;

determining a last day when the existing date statistics were last updated for the date column in the data dictionary;

retrieving the existing date statistics from the data dictionary and validating selective information associated with the existing date statistics; and

projecting estimated date statistics from the existing date statistics for the days between the last day up until a day previous to a current day.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising, biasing the estimated date statistics.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein retrieving further includes extrapolating a last interval for which the existing date statistics were recorded for the date column in the data dictionary.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein projecting further includes averaging the existing date statistics for the last interval to acquire the estimated date statistics.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein projecting further includes supplying the estimated date statistics as current statistics for use by other services.

6. The method of claim 1 further comprising, updating the data dictionary with the estimated date statistics.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein updating further supplying the estimated date statistics to a database optimizer service via the updated data dictionary.

8. A method implemented in a computer-readable medium and executed by a processing device for performing the method, comprising:

accessing a data dictionary of a database to acquire date sensitive statistics for a column of a database table;

determining a last date recorded for the date sensitive statistics in the data dictionary;

projecting estimated statistics for a target date in response to the date sensitive statistics of the last date and based on an interval of days that precedes the last date and which includes other date sensitive statistics for the column; and

updating the data dictionary with the estimated statistics for the target date.

9. The method of claim 8 further comprising, initiating a database optimizer service to develop plans for operations that are to be processed against the database and providing the updated data dictionary having the estimated statistics for the target date.

10. The method of claim 8 , wherein determining the last date further includes recognizing the last date as a day associated with being at least one day prior to a target day associated with the target date, and wherein the target day is at least one day prior to a current day.

11. The method of claim 8 , wherein projecting further includes averaging the date sensitive statistics of the last day with the other date sensitive statistics of the interval to resolve the estimated statistics for the target date.

12. The method of claim 8 , wherein projecting further includes biasing the estimated statistics for the target date.

13. The method of claim 8 further comprising, updating total statistics for the column within the data dictionary.

14. The method of claim 8 further comprising, iterating the processing of the the method for a new date, wherein the target date becomes the last date and the new date becomes the target date.

Assignments (2)
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Mar 18, 2008
From: NCR CORPORATION
To: TERADATA US, INC.
Reel/Frame 020666/0438 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Mar 16, 2007
From: SINCLAIR, PAUL
To: NCR CORPORATION
Reel/Frame 019059/0860 →