Patent ID: 6795821
Filing Date: 2004-09-21
Classification: G06F,Y10S

Abstract:
A relational database system comprising:a database management system; a database having a plurality of partitioned tables, the plurality of partitioned tables including at least two entity tables and a relationship table, the relationship table having a child-to-parent relationship to each of the at least two entity tables; and a plurality of keys and indices that are defined for the entity tables and the relationship table and that are configured so that the database management system can maintain referential integrity between the relationship table and the at least two entity tables to thereby enforce the child parent relationship, wherein the plurality of keys and indices comprise: a primary key comprising one or more columns of a corresponding entity table other than columns which are used only for partitioning the entity table; a super key comprising the columns of the primary key of a corresponding entity table and one or more columns of the entity table which are used only for partitioning the entity table; a super key index of the corresponding entity table based on the super key; a primary key corresponding to the relationship table comprising the primary keys of the at least two entity tables and one or more columns of the relationship table used for partitioning the relationship table; a primary key index of the relationship table based on the primary key corresponding to the relationship table; and a plurality of foreign keys of the relationship table, each foreign key corresponding to a primary key of one of the at least two entity tables.