Patent ID: 11860835
Assignee: AMAZON TECHNOLOGIES, INC.
Field: Computer technology (Electrical engineering)
Classification: CPC G | IPC G

Claim 0:
1. A system, comprising:
at least one processor; and
a memory, storing program instructions that when executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to implement a non-relational database system;
wherein the non-relational database system stores a table in a first data store, wherein the table comprises a plurality of items that respectively comprise a plurality of attributes, wherein at least two of the plurality of items in the table respectively include a same named attribute, wherein at least a different one of the plurality of items does not include the same named attribute and wherein the non-relational database system does not enforce a strict schema that requires values for every column in the table; and
wherein the non-relational database system is configured to:
receive a drop column request to remove the same named attribute from the table as if the same named attribute were stored in a column of the table; and
responsive to receipt of the request:
cause, at the first data store for the table, filtering of the same named attribute from responses to client read requests to the table that read from the at least two items;
create a backup of the table in a second data store that is separate from the first data store, the backup comprising respective copies of the plurality of items stored in the table including the at least two items of the plurality of items that include the same named attribute and the different one of the plurality of items that does not include the same named attribute;
send one or more requests to the second data store storing the backup of the table that cause a scan of the respective copies of the plurality of items in the backup to identify the at least two items that include the same named attribute, limiting interference with client requests that access the table; and
send one or more delete requests to the first data store, wherein the one or more delete requests specify the identified at least two items to delete the same named attribute from the at least two identified items in the table.