Denice A Desimone

US Patent:

6345271, Feb 5, 2002

Filed:

Nov 25, 1998

Appl. No.:

09/200291

Inventors:

Richard L. Dempsey - Los Gatos CA
Denice A. DeSimone - San Jose CA
Anne C. Fockler - San Jose CA
Tri Q. Ha - San Jose CA
Mimi P. Vo - San Jose CA

Assignee:

International Business Machines Corporation - Armonk NY

International Classification:

G06F 1730

US Classification:

707 4, 707 5

Abstract:

A method, apparatus, article of manufacture, and a memory structure for transforming a query to reduce the need for merging the results from a number of result lists. The method comprises the steps of forming at least one subquery from the query, executing the formed subquery to generate a result list comprising a plurality of first result elements, and replacing the executed subquery with a logical combination of the first result elements to form a transformed query. The apparatus comprises a means for forming at least one subquery from the query, a means for executing the formed subquery to generate a plurality of first result elements, and a means for replacing the executed subquery with a logical combination of the first result elements to form a transformed query. In one embodiment, the invention comprises a program storage device, tangibly embodying a sequence of instructions for performing the method steps described above.