Patent ID: 9372882
Filing Date: 2016-06-21
CPC Classification: G06F,Y10S

Claim Text:
1. A method, implemented at a distributed database system that includes one or more processors and system memory, for dropping rows of data within the distributed database system, the distributed database system storing a federated table comprising a plurality of rows across a plurality of database partitions of a federated database, the plurality of database partitions including a first database partition that stores a first subset of the plurality of rows and a second database partition that stores a second different subset of the plurality of rows, each of the plurality of rows being identified by a corresponding federation key value, the first database partition storing the first subset of rows based on the corresponding federation key value of each row in the first subset of rows being within a first specified subset of a plurality of federation key values, the second database partition storing the second subset of rows based on the corresponding federation key value of each row in the second different subset of rows being within a second specified subset of the plurality of federation key values, the method comprising: receiving a drop directive indicating a third specified subset of the plurality of federation key values to drop, the third specified subset of federation key values comprising: (i) one or more first federation key values from the first specified subset of federation key values, and (ii) one or more second federation key values from the second specified subset of federation key values; and executing a drop operation to drop rows corresponding to the third specified subset of federation key values while the plurality of database partitions remain online, including: