Patent ID: 8666991
Filing Date: 2014-03-04
Classification: G06F

Abstract:
1. A method of counting items in a database system comprising: at the database system having one or more nodes comprising, identifying an M number of items; counting unique items of the M number of items; determining a logcount for the unique items of the M number of items; and storing the logcount for the unique items, wherein determining a logcount comprises, partitioning each of the unique items of the M number of items into a set of N number of parts, wherein each N part includes a subset of the unique items of the M number of items and wherein each subset of unique items is expressed as a bit value; finding a lowest unset bit in each of the N number of parts for each subset of the M number of items; setting the lowest bit in N intermediate values for each subset of unique items in the set of N parts; averaging the lowest unset bit values of the N intermediate values for each set of N parts; and applying the averaged value as a log value expressed in powers-of-two.