Abstract:
This invention encodes information (such as the field values of a database record, or the words of a text document) so that the original information may be efficiently searched by a computer. An information object is encoded into a small &#34;signature&#34; or codeword using a method. A base or &#34;leaf&#34; signature S1 34 is computed by a known technique such as hashing. The logical intersection (AND) of each possible combination of pairs of bits of the base signature is computed, and the result is stored as one bit of a longer combinatorial signature CS1 42. The bit-wise logical union (bit-OR) of the combinatorial signatures of a group of records produces a second-level combinatorial signature CS2 52 representing particular field values present among those records. Higher-level combinatorial signatures CS3 60, CS4, etc. are computed similarly. These combinatorial signatures avoid a &#34;saturation&#34; problem which occurs when signatures are grouped together, and a &#34;combinatorial error&#34; problem which falsely indicates the existence of nonexistent records, thereby significantly improving the ability to reject data not relevant to a given query. When the combinatorial signatures are stored in a hierarchical data structure, such as a B-tree index of a database management system, they provide means for more efficiently searching database records or document text by eliminating large amounts of nonmatching data from further consideration.

Description:
This is a continuation of copending application Ser. No. 07/300,636 filed on Jan. 23, 1989, now abandoned. 
    
    
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Technical Field 
     This invention relates to computerized data processing, and more particularly to structures and methods for storing and searching data using encoded signatures representing that data. 
     2. Description of the Prior Art 
     Methods for coding and organizing data to allow for faster searching are important to information systems. Signature coding is one such method. To understand the problems solved by this invention, we begin by explaining the signature generation or encoding process. We will use the term &#34;record&#34; to indicate a generic data object such as a database record or a text fragment within a document. 
     The actual encoding process consists of computing a short signature S1 containing only 1&#39;s and 0&#39;s for each record. Various known &#34;hashing&#34; techniques may be used for generating these signatures, and will not be discussed in detail. The resulting signature for each record is usually much smaller than the original record. The signature and identifier of the record (called a TID) are stored on &#34;pages&#34; for later retrieval. A page is a fixed sized unit of storage which can contain key and signature data and may be in memory or on disk. 
     To locate a record or text fragment containing one or more values, a signature is computed from the search terms by using the same encoding process. This &#34;query&#34; signature is then compared against the stored signatures. When the stored signature contains a 1 bit in each position in which there is a 1 bit in the query signature, the record associated with the signature is identified as potentially satisfying the query. The TID stored with the signature is then used to retrieve the record. The data fields in the record (or words in the text fragment) are precisely matched against the search values using a conventional string compare algorithm to determine if a match has occurred. Records which satisfy the precise match conditions are then returned to the user. 
     To accommodate large numbers of records, &#34;parent&#34; signatures are computed for &#34;groups&#34; of records. Higher level (e.g., grandparent) signatures are organized similarly for groups of lower-level signatures. These signatures can then be organized into a hierarchical (multi-level) file structure. One well-known method for computing a new parent signature is to superimpose or &#34;bit-OR&#34; a group of individual signatures. A query signature is then compared to this parent signature first before it is compared to individual signatures. If a 1 bit occurs in any position of the query signature without a corresponding 1 in the patent signature, the entire group of lower-level (child) signatures and their associated records need not be accessed for further examination. This process allows a parent signature to filter out a large number of non-matching signatures and records. 
     Unfortunately, when this technique is used, both saturation and combinatorial errors occur. As more signatures are superimposed into the parent signature, more bits are set to 1. At some point, saturation occurs and the parent signature contains all 1&#39;s. The parent signature then becomes useless, because it will match any query signature and never be rejected. Since several methods are known to control this saturation problem, it will not be discussed in detail. 
     The second problem is that since the bits of a signature represent fields of the original records, the parent signature represents not only all existing individual records, but also nonexistent &#34;virtual&#34; records which appear to contain data formed by combining values from among the records in the group represented by the parent. These virtual records do not exist in the data, but are falsely indicated as existing by the parent signature. For example, assume records contain simple last name, title field pairs (Chang, Engineer), (Schek, Scientist), (Yost, Manager), and (Lohman, Scientist). Signatures for these might be (00111010), (01110100), (10110000), and (01010100). A parent signature (11111110) formed by bit-ORing these four signatures would correctly indicate the presence of the above records, but would also incorrectly indicate the presence of non-existent virtual records (Chang, Scientist), (Schek, Manager), (Yost, Engineer), etc. 
     The saturation and combinatorial error effects caused by using the superimposed method of grouping signatures results in records being unnecessarily accessed. Unnecessary accesses of records are also called &#34;data false drops&#34;. When a parent signature causes a set of child signatures to be accessed unnecessarily, this is called a &#34;signature false drop&#34;. 
     Parent signatures indicate a superset of records over which an exact test must be performed. Ideally, the size of this set should match the size of the correct answer set (i.e., no false drops.) Due to imperfections in hashing, and because of various saturation and combinatorial effects, this is not the case. Thus, the number of data and signature false drops is a crucial indicator of the effectiveness of any such coding scheme in eliminating non-matching records from further consideration. Several different multi-level signature organizations have already been investigated by Roberts (1979), Pfaltz (1980), Deppisch (1986), Sacks-Davis (1987), and others in attempts to solve these problems. 
     Pfaltz documents a multi-level signature organization using a sparse signature encoding scheme. Signatures with a low ratio of 1&#39;s to 0&#39;s are bit-OR&#39;ed to form group signatures. While this helps the saturation problem, a combinatorial error remains. Queries composed of combinations of record values from the same group result in unnecessary accesses of record signatures. In addition to this combinatorial error, the sparse encoding scheme by Pfaltz results in an inefficient use of the signature space. 
     Roberts first proposed and implemented a signature storage method which minimized the combinatorial error effect by using a bit-sliced architecture. In this approach, signatures logically form rows in a matrix, and are physically stored by bit columns. When a query is processed, positions in the query signature where 1&#39;s occur indicate which columns in the matrix should be accessed and examined. The major disadvantage of this method is the high cost of updates and deletions. Since the storage for each bit column is determined by the total number of rows, the storage and update requirements for each column can be tremendous. 
     Sacks-Davis have devised a multi-level block approach improving on the bit-sliced architecture first proposed by Roberts. In this approach, bit-sliced parent &#34;block&#34; signatures are used to reduce saturation. However, the combinatorial error problem is not solved. Furthermore, in environments where updates are frequent update costs of this approach are on the order of several dozen to over a hundred page accesses per signature insert, which is unacceptably high. 
     Deppisch has developed a multi-level method wherein leaf signatures are clustered by similarity of bit patterns. Signatures exhibit slightly less sensitivity to the combinatorial error effect due to the use of signicantly larger data and query signatures. This method has two distinct disadvantages. First, more storage space is required for the larger signatures. Second, significantly more computation is required for the clustering algorithm. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     This invention comprises a method for encoding a signature representing a record of two or more data items. The first step computes a base signature representing at least two of the record&#39;s data items, preferably by hashing. Next, a combinatorial signature having more bits than the base signature is initialized. Bits of the combinatorial signature correspond to respective sets of two or more bits of the base signature. The final step assigns values to bits of the combinatorial signature based on one or more logical operations on the bits of the respective set of the base signature corresponding to the combinatorial signature&#39;s bit being assigned a value. 
     The invention further comprises an improved hierarchical data structure in which combinatorial signatures are stored, and an improved method for searching such a data structure which includes the step of rejecting groups of data without reading such data where the group&#39;s respective combinatorial signature indicates that no data of the group matches the criteria of the search. 
     Other features and advantages of this invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of the presently preferred embodiment of the invention, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     FIG. 1 is a pseudocode implementation of the procedure SIG --  S1 for generating leaf signatures. 
     FIG. 2 is a pseudocode implementation of the procedure SIG --  CS1 for generating combinatorial signatures according to the preferred embodiment. 
     FIG. 3 is a pseudocode implementation of the procedure SIG --  OR for generating second- and higher-level combinatorial signatures. 
     FIG. 4 is a pseudocode implementation of the procedure SIG --  AND for comparing combinatorial signatures. 
     FIG. 5 is a pseudocode implementation of the procedure SIG --  SCAN for scanning a B-tree containing combinatorial signatures according to the preferred embodiment. 
     FIG. 6 is a pseudocode implementation of the procedure SIG --  INSR for inserting a new record into a B-tree containing combinatorial signatures according to the preferred embodiment. 
     FIG. 7 is a pseudocode implementation of the procedure SIG --  DELT for deleting a record from a B-tree containing combinatorial signatures according to the preferred embodiment. 
     FIG. 8 shows a sample data record and its hashed leaf signature according to the preferred embodiment. 
     FIG. 9 shows the computation of the hashed leaf signature of FIG. 8 according to the preferred embodiment. 
     FIG. 10 shows the computation of a combinatorial signature for the record and leaf signature of FIGS. 8 and 9 according to the preferred embodiment. 
     FIG. 11 shows eight sample data records. 
     FIG. 12 shows a single B-tree leaf page including base or &#34;leaf&#34; signatures for the first seven records of FIG. 11. 
     FIG. 13 shows the single page of FIG. 12 split into two leaf pages during the insertion of the eighth record of FIG. 11. 
     FIGS. 14A and 14B show a two-level combinatorial B-tree according to the preferred embodiment, containing the leaf pages of FIG. 13. 
     FIGS. 15A and 15B a three-level combinatorial B-tree according to the preferred embodiment, containing the leaf pages of FIG. 13. 
     FIG. 16 shows a two-level non-combinatorial signature B-tree according to the prior art, containing the data of FIG. 15. 
     FIG. 17 is an implementation in the C programming language of the base signature generation procedure SIG --  S1 of the preferred embodiment of the invention. 
     FIGS. 18A and 18B are an implementation in the C programming language of the preferred combinatorial signature generation procedure, here named SIG --  S1B. 
     FIG. 19 is an implementation in the C programming language of the preferred higher-level signature generation procedure SIG --  OR. 
     FIGS. 20A and 20B are an implementation in the C programming language of the preferred combinatorial signature comparison procedure, here named SIG --  COVR. 
     FIGS. 21A, 21B, 21C, 21D, 21E and 21F are an implementation in the C programming language of the preferred procedure SIG --  SCAN for scanning a B-tree containing combinatorial signatures. 
     FIGS. 22A, 22B, 22C, 22D, 22E, 22F, 22G, 22H, 22I, 22J and 22K are an implementation in the C programming language of the preferred procedure, here named SIG --  LFIN, for inserting a new record into a B-tree containing combinatorial signatures. 
     FIGS. 23A, 23B, 23C, 23D, 23E, 23F, 23G, 23H, 23I and 23J are an implementation in the C programming language of the preferred procedure, here named SIG --  LFDE, for deleting a record from a B-tree containing combinatorial signatures. 
     FIGS. 24A and 24B are an implementation in the C programming language of the preferred procedure, here named SIG --  SRCH, for searching for a matching record in a B-tree containing combinatorial signatures. 
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
     Overview 
     The central idea of this invention is the use of a new signature function that encodes combinations of values rather than single values from a record, i.e., that computes a new signature based on some combination of multiple bits from the original record signature. A signature at the lowest level will be called a &#34;base signature&#34;, or in B-tree terminology a &#34;leaf signature&#34;. A signature of any higher level will be called a &#34;parent signature&#34; or a non-leaf signature. For any data record, S1 will designate a base or leaf signature and CS1 will designate a corresponding first-level combinatorial signature. CS2, CS3, and CS4 will designate the higher level combinatorial signatures for the second, third, and fourth levels. 
     Each leaf page will hold a group of S1 leaf signatures. The first-level combinatorial signatures CS1 for these records are computed as needed to create second-level combinatorial parent signatures CS2, but will not be stored. Each non-leaf page holds a set of these parent combinatorial signatures. The second level combinatorial signatures CS2 on a non-leaf page themselves form a group and have exactly one parent signature, a third-level combinatorial signature CS3. Third-level signatures are grouped in the same way, and this process is continued to the level necessary to encompass all leaf signatures. 
     This new type of combinatorial signature, when used at the non-leaf levels, saturates more slowly than other techniques, and eliminates more lower level groups resulting in fewer page accesses. Again, note that first-level combinatorial signatures CS1 are only computed and accumulated in higher-level combinatorial signatures using the bit-OR operation--they are not permanently stored. To compute a first-level combinatorial signature (hereinafter referred to as simply a &#34;combinatorial signature&#34;) CS1, a leaf signature S1 is computed for each record using a hash algorithm such as Harrison (1971) or other standard method. Techniques for funding the length and hash function for a leaf signature S1 are well-known, as shown by Faloutsos in 1987. For each leaf signature S1, a new larger combinatorial signature CS1 is computed. The combinatorial signature CS1 has more bits than the leaf signature S1, and all of its bits are set to 0. Then, each bit of the combinatorial signature CS1 is set to 1 when all the bits in a specified respective subset of the leaf signature&#39;s bits are equal to 1--a logical operation known as bit-ANDing. For each bit of the combinatorial signature CS1, we choose a different subset of bits in S1. To form a second-level parent combinatorial signature CS2 (hereafter a &#34;second-level signature&#34;) for a group of leaf signatures S1, all of that group&#39;s combinatorial signatures CS1 are superimposed (bit-OR&#39;ed) together. 
     This signature method can be incorporated into any number of multi-level access structures, including B-trees, AVL-trees, tries, or K-D trees. We describe below a generic organization for constructing multi-level signature files using the most common of these access methods, the B-tree index. Using our method, a single leaf signature S1 is inserted in each leaf index-key entry within the B-tree, and a second-level combinatorial signature CS2 is computed and inserted in each non-leaf B-tree index key entry. The higher-level combinatorial signature entries CS2, CS3, CS4, etc. in the interior (non-leaf) B-tree pages serve to reject entire groups of lower level signatures, while leaf signatures S1 in the leaf pages reject specific data records. 
     The invention offers several advantages over existing signature methods. When combinatorial signatures are integrated into a B-tree file they require significantly less maintenance than other multi-level signature structures. For normal queries over ranges of index key values, and for searches for exact key values, the index can be used normally. However, when the query contains search terms (&#34;search criteria&#34;) other than index key values, the B-tree can be searched using a multi-level signature access method. By performing a pre-order traversal (skipping rejected lower level pages) and testing signatures at the leaf pages, data can be quickly searched and tested for matches with the search criteria. This search method offers much improved performance--typically an order of magnitude better than what is possible using relation scans alone--primarily by greatly reducing false drops caused by combinatorial errors in the signatures. 
     Detailed Description of the Preferred Embodiment 
     The preferred embodiment is implemented using components of a conventional database management system (DBMS). It extends the search capabilities of the underlying DBMS by allowing text data to be searched, and provides the DBMS with an alternative to scanning records or using multiple B-tree indexing methods when multiple search terms are `ANDed` together in a query. First, we describe the hashing method used. Next we present strategies for computing the different signatures. Finally, we describe how the signatures are used with B-trees data structures. 
     Hash Algorithm 
     The hash function used in the preferred embodiment provides a means to encode a substring of a record field or text word into a single numeric value within a specified range. The number computed by the hash function identifies a bit position in the leaf signature S1 which is to be set to 1. We use a hash function first described by M. C. Harrison in &#34;Implementation of the Substring Test by Hashing,&#34; Communications of the ACM, Vol. 14, No. 21, (December 1971), although other suitable hash functions may also be used. 
     Signature Generation 
     Once leaf signatures have been created using this hashing technique, different strategies are possible for determining how its bits are grouped into the sets used to compute the combinatorial signatures CS1. We categorize these strategies as either random or systematic. The number of bits for each group and the total number of groups can be analytically or experimentally varied. 
     Assume m denotes the length of a leaf signature S1 and cm denotes the length of a combinatorial signature CS1. In the systematic approach, bit-groups are selected from all or part of the 2 m  possible combinations of bit patterns in S1. The actual length cm of the combinatorial signature CS1 is determined by the number of sets needed from the leaf signature S1. 
     Using the systematic strategy, we identify all possible pairs of bits in the leaf signature S1. The bits in each of these pairs are bit-ANDed, and each result is mapped to a specific bit position in the combinatorial signature CS1. When this is done systematically, the m bits of the leaf signature S1 form m-1 bit partitions in the combinatorial signature CS1. The first partition will be m-1 bits long, the second m-2 and so on. Bit 1 of the combinatorial signature CS1 is set by bit-ANDing bits 1 and 2 of the leaf signature S1. Bit 2 of CS1 is set by bit-ANDing bits 1 and 3 of S1. This process is continued until all bit-pairs have been encoded. 
     The total number of bits required for the combinatorial signature CS1 using this systematic method is equal to: 
     
         (m-1)+(m-2)+(m-3)+. . . +1 
    
     or: 
     
         cm=m(m-1)/2 
    
     To illustrate this, assume that each set consists of exactly two bits, and that the leaf signature S1 is 8 bits long (m=8). The combinatorial signature CS1 representing all possible pairs of bits in the leaf signature S1 will be 28 (7+6+5+4+3+2+1) bits long. 
     We now describe how this scheme works by considering what happens when a query with a combinatorial error is posed. A query signature QS is computed from the fields of the search terms in the same way a leaf signature S1 is computed from the fields of a data record. A combinatorial query signature QCS is then generated from the query signature QS using the same technique used to compute combinatorial signatures CS1 from leaf signatures S1. For a parent combinatorial signature CS2, CS3, etc. to qualify as a candidate, each set bit in combinatorial query signature QCS must correspond to a set bit in the parent signature. Combinatorial signatures CS2, CS3, CS4, etc. which fail this condition can be ignored, and consequently, the entire group of data represented by those signatures can also be ignored. Thus, the combinatorial signature effectively allows us to bypass checking a large number of lower level signatures. 
     B-Tree Description 
     We first describe how a B-tree would organize a set of keys and TIDs, and then describe how signature values are created from the record fields. Since text can be treated as a set of variable length record fields, we will not present a separate discussion for text objects. We will describe how computed signatures are added into standard B-tree keys and then how (Key, Signature, TID) entries are inserted, deleted, and searched in the B-tree index structure. 
     B-trees are commonly found in database systems, and allows records to be easily retrieved by a TID stored with one or more &#34;keys&#34; for each record. A key is a field value (such as a last name) and a TID is a record identifier. (Key, TID) entries are stored in order on pages. The entire set of (Key, TID) entries is always maintained in sorted key order by ordering the leaf pages containing the key entries. The location and range of key values on these leaf pages is maintained by a set of parent (Key, Page-ID) entries stored on parent pages. Pages pointed to by parent pages are called child pages. The parent key for a leaf page is a key value greater than the largest key on the leaf page but less than or equal to the lowest key value of the next leaf page. Parent keys are also sorted and maintained as (Parent-Key, Child-Page-ID) entries in the parent pages. The entries on the parent pages serve to direct the search to the correct leaf page. 
     When a new (Key, TID) entry is added, the correct leaf page is located and the key is added to that page. If the page has no more space, it is split into two pages. Half of the entries stay on the original page, while the other half move to the second page. Page overflow for parent pages is managed in the same manner as for leaf pages. 
     Leaf signatures S1 are stored in the B-tree&#39;s leaf pages, and combinatorial parent signatures CS2, CS3, etc., are stored in its non-leaf pages. This results in (Key, S1, TID) entries for leaf B-tree pages and (Parent-Key, CS2/CS3/ . . . , Child-Page-ID) entries for non-leaf pages. Combinatorial signatures at the top levels of a B-tree serve to reject or filter out entire subtrees which are not relevant to a query. 
     Creation of Leaf Signature S1 
     A leaf signature S1 is formed by setting the indicated bits after the hashing function is applied to field substrings. Field substrings consist of adjoining 3-letter sequences of field values or words in the record. For example, the value &#34;Chang&#34; in field 22 of record 20 of FIG. 8 consists of the 3-letter substring sequences &lt;Cha&gt;, &lt;han&gt;, &lt;ang&gt;. 
     The Harrison hashing algorithm computes a number based on each 3-letter sequence, by summing weighted values of each character. Case is ignored, and values 0-25 are assigned as follows: a=0, b=1, c=2, . . . z=25. The weight 256 0  is given to the last character of the sequence. The weight 256 1  is given to the next to the last character, and the weight 256 2  is given to the first character of each 3-letter sequence. When the character values are weighed and summed, the result is then divided by the largest prime number less than the bit length m of the leaf signature S1. The remainder indicates which bit position in leaf signature S1 is to be set to 1. This process is repeated for all 3-letter substrings to be hashed in the record field. FIG. 2 shows a hash example which is discussed in detail in the Example Section. 
     The procedure SIG --  S1 accepts as input a record, and produces as output a leaf signature S1 of the record. In the procedure, a binary string is first set to all 0s. As each substring of a field of the record is scanned, a bit is selected between the first and last bit position of this string by the hash function, and is set to 1. While hashing, different substrings may cause the same bit to be set to 1. Ideally, the specific hash function should set approximately half of the signature bits to 1. 
     A pseudocode implementation of procedure SIG --  S1 is shown in FIG. 1. The input-data to this procedure is the record or text to be encoded. The output is a new leaf signature S1. Lines 102-106 are initialization steps taken before the scanning process begins. Lines 108-126 form the loop to process all fields in a record. The same hash function is used for all field substrings encountered in line 110. Lines 112-122 form the loop which applies the hash function to each substring in the field. After the hash result is computed (line 114), it is used to set a signature bit in line 118. Line 120 advances the current field to the next field of the record. An implementation in the C programming language of the SIG --  S1 procedure is shown in FIG. 17. 
     The net result of SIG --  S1 is to encode the data in the record into a much smaller, more compact representation. Records can be searched more effeciently by testing a properly formed leaf signature S1 than by comparing field values in the record. 
     Creation of Combinatorial Signatures CS1 
     We next describe how to create the combinatorial signature CS1 from leaf signature S1. The procedure SIG --  CS1 takes as input a leaf signature S1 and computes a combinatorial signature CS1 by examining all possible n-bit groupings in S1. In our implementation n=2, so that pairs of bits are examined. However, larger values may be used, so that triplets, quadruplets, etc. are examined. 
     The pseudocode implementation of SIG --  CS1 shown in FIG. 2 creates an output combinatorial signature CS1 by scanning the bit groups in an input leaf signature S1. Lines 202-206 initialize the combinatorial signature CS1 and set up the loop for scanning the leaf signature S1. The first DO-UNTIL loop between lines 208-258 process each new bit group in leaf signature S1 beginning with the current S1 bit. The test on line 218 skips an S1 bit position if the bit is off. Line 220 initializes the position pointer for scanning the remaining bits of leaf signature S1 for the current S1 bit position. The actual logical operation(s) on the S1 bits are performed in the inner DO-UNTIL loop between lines 222-240. After each successive S1 bit is compared against the current S1 bit on line 224, an output bit is successively set. Lines 228-234 set the combinatorial signature CS1 bit to the result of the selected logical operation(s). 
     In the preferred embodiment, the single logical operation of &#34;bit-ANDing&#34; pairs of bits is used to set a combinatorial signature CS1 bit if and only if the two bits in the respective pair of leaf signature S1 bits are both equal to one. Lines 236-238 advance the S1 and CS1 bit position pointers, respectively. The code shown in lines 244-254 is an optimization to skip over the inner DO-UNTIL loop when the starting leaf signature S1 bit in a group is 0. Since the logical operation or &#34;correlation test&#34; consists of bit-ANDing, if any member of the S1 group is 0, the combinatorial signature CS1 bit for that group will also be 0. FIG. 3 shows how a combinatorial signature CS1 is formed from a leaf signature S1, and is discussed in detail in the Example section below. An implementation in the C language of this SIG --  CS1 procedure (named SIG --  S1B) is shown in FIG. 18. 
     The process of capturing all correlations between leaf signature S1 bits is the key to this invention. By recording which groups of bits are set on in leaf signature S1, the combinatorial signature CS1 encodes the way in which fields in the original record are correlated to each other. Since no other multi-level signature coding invention to our knowledge does this, other methods fail to reject leaf signatures when presented with any query which consists of values taken from different records in the same group of records, and therefore suffer from severe combinatorial errors. 
     Creation of Higher Level Combinatorial Signatures 
     We now describe how parent signatures are created. Up to this point, leaf signatures S1s have been stored and combinatorial signatures CS1s have been computed. In order to use an existing B-tree access method, we will present the necessary procedure to compute the second-level combinatorial signature CS2 for the (Parent-Key, CS2, Leaf Page ID) entries. A second-level combinatorial signature CS2 is created by superimposing or &#34;bit-ORing&#34; individual combinatorial signatures CS1. This procedure will be used repeatedly by other procedures to compute the various second-level, third-level, and higher level signatures CS2, CS3, CS4, etc. 
     A pseudocode implementation of the SIG --  OR procedure is shown in FIG. 3. It superimposes combinatorial signatures CS1 to form a second-level combinatorial signature CS2 (hereafter referred to simply as second-level signature CS2). This procedure is also used to add second-level signatures CS2 into third-level signatures CS3. The input is a combinatorial signature. The output is the computed parent combinatorial signature CS2 (or level i+1) for the next level, based on all of the input combinatorial signatures since the last time the output signature was initialized. The reset flag indicates whether or not to initialize &#34;clear&#34; the output signature. 
     The output signature is cleared if a new group is to be considered (line 302.) Lines 304-306 initialize the loop for scanning both signatures. The DO-UNTIL loop between lines 308-328 sequentially bit-ORs the first (input) signature into the second (output) signature. Note that by using byte, double byte, or four byte units the processing speed of this loop can be easily increased by factors of 8, 16, or 32, respectively. A C-language implementation of the SIG --  OR procedure is shown in FIG. 19. 
     The SIG --  OR procedure allows parent level signatures at any level in the B-tree to be created and updated in one consistent manner. In addition, the bit-OR method of superimposing signatures has the advantage of being very efficient when byte units are used. 
     Since the logical operation used in the preferred embodiment bit-AND&#39;s several bits together, the overall number of bits set in the resulting combinatorial signature (i.e., the ratio of 1&#39;s to 0&#39;s) is significantly lower than with other signature methods. Because of this, a group of combinatorial signatures CS1 will saturate their parent combinatorial signature much more slowly than when conventional leaf signatures are used to form parent signatures. Eventually, though, when the B-tree has enough levels, the upper level parent combinatorial signatures will saturate. Still, this occurs much more slowly, and at a much higher level than with other signature methods. 
     The precise rate of saturation for any hierarchical signature system is: 
     
         parent saturation=100×(1-e.sup.(N×ln(1-leaf density))) 
    
     where 
     N=number of leaf signatures 
     leaf density=% of total bits set to 1 
     Recall that a signature saturated to 100% (all 1&#39;s) is highly nonselective. For example, if the probability is 1/4 that a bit in S1 is 1 (called the S1 bit density), and only 8 leaf signatures S1 are placed in a group (N=8), the parent saturation level is 99.99%. However, in comparison, since a combinatorial signature CS1 bit is formed by bit-ANDing leaf signature S1 bits, the probability of a CS1 bit being 1 will be 1/4×1/4 or 1/16. The parent saturation level is thus 40.33%, which marks a significant improvement. 
     Generating Query Signatures 
     The same signature generation algorithms are used to create both record and query signatures. Thus, the SIG --  S1 and SIG --  CS1 procedures can be used to compute query signatures. An empty record is used to hold the search values provided in a query. That record is then used as the input to the SIG --  S1 routine. The generated leaf signature S1 is termed a query signature QS. This query signature QS is provided to SIG --  CS1 to create the combinatarial query signature QCS. 
     Comparison using combinatorial query signature QCS 
     We now discuss how query signatures are used. In order to compare a combinatorial query signature QCS against a stored parent second or higher level combinatorial signature CS2, CS3, etc., we use an algorithm for quickly comparing any two signatures. To compare signatures we bit-AND the signatures with each other and compare the resulting bit-string with the original combinatorial query signature QCS. If the two are identical, the query and data signatures match and the child signatures or data represented by the non-query combinatorial signature CS2, CS3, etc. should be individually examined. 
     A psuedocode implementation of this SIG --  AND procedure is shown in FIG. 4. The first input to the procedure is a combinatorial query signature QCS. The second input is a data signature which is any second or higher level combinatorial signature CS2, CS3, CS4, etc. 
     Query and data signature bits are compared one at a time until all bits are tested. Lines 402-404 initialize the loop and result variables. The DO-UNTIL loop between lines 406-422 processes both signatures bit by bit. Note again that byte, double byte, or four byte units could be used to speed up the bit-ANDing process. The result of the comparison is returned in line 424. The same procedure is used when query signatures QS are compared against leaf signatures S1, the only difference being that leaf signatures S1 are smaller than the combinatorial signatures. A C-language implementation of this procedure (named SIG --  COVR in the figure) is shown in FIGS. 20A and 20B. A C-language implementation of a procedure IXM --  SRCH used by the SIG --  COVR procedure (and by the IXM --  LFIN and IXM --  LXDE below) is shown in FIGS. 24A and 24B. 
     B-tree Signature Search Operation 
     In this section, we present an algorithm for scanning the signatures stored in a B-tree to process a query. This scanning process is used whenever a query containing search terms must be solved. 
     The SIG --  SCAN returns all records which satisfy the search terms of a query. Searching begins on the top or root page of a B-tree index. A combinatorial query signature QCS is generated using the SIG --  S1 and SIG --  CS1 procedures, and is used to eliminate accesses of non-matching lower level pages (subtrees) within the B-tree. The B-tree is scanned from left to right, visiting lower leaf levels when necessary. This form of tree scanning is also known as a pre-order traversal. The scan algorithm is presented in detail in the pseudocode of FIG. 5. This procedure is called only once, and returns all of the data objects which match the query&#39;s search criteria. 
     The SIG --  SCAN procedure of FIG. 5 searches signatures in a B-tree given a query which contains field values, words or substrings connected by Boolean AND operators. The procedure returns all records which produce an exact match. &#34;Root pointer&#34; is the root page of the B-tree index to be searched. Lines 502-504 compute the query signature QS and combinatorial query signature QCS from the provided search terms. The DO-UNTIL loop from line 508 to 572 causes each third-level signature CS3 (root level) entry to be tested. Each third-level signature CS3 is tested against the combinatorial query signature QCS on line 512. Line 514 contains the test used when third-level signature CS3 indicates that the child signature group consisting of second-level signatures CS2 must be searched. In line 516, the B-tree child page associated with Child-Page-ID is retrieved when the signature test of line 514 is successful. Line 534 initializes the scanning of the CS2 signatures. 
     The DO-UNTIL loop between lines 524-566 contains similar logic to search the next level of signatures. Each second-level signature CS2 is tested on line 528. When this test is successful, the Child-Page-ID associated with that second-level signature CS2 is used to retrieve the leaf B-tree page containing leaf signatures S1. On lines 544-554, if the query&#39;s query signature QS matches a leaf signature S1, the corresponding data record is retrieved using the stored TID and is precisely examined using a standard string match algorithm. When query&#39;s search criteria are exactly met by values in the record, the record (or TID) is returned. Otherwise the record is a false drop and is ignored. A C-language implementation of the SIG --  SCAN procedure is shown in FIGS. 21A-21F. 
     When queries consist of search terms which are combinations of field values, the combinatorial signatures at the higher levels of the B-tree reject lower level signature groups. This results in a reduction of the signature false drop rate. When this rejection occurs near the root of the B-tree, the entire subtree need not be accessed, resulting in reduced disk accesses and improved search performance. 
     Inserting Records and Signatures 
     We now describe how a new (Key, S1, TID) entry is inserted into the B-tree. We do this by presenting a procedure to encode and insert a record object into a B-tree containing signatures. This algorithm is used whenever records in a database table are added or updated. 
     To insert a (Key, S1, TID) entry, the specified record key field is used to locate the correct leaf page. The entry is inserted, and if there is insufficient room on the B-tree page the page is split. If necessary, splits may propagate to the top level, increasing the total number of levels in the B-tree. 
     A pseudocode implementation SIG --  INSR of this insert process is shown in FIG. 6. The input to SIG --  INSR is the record or text to be encoded. TID is a value which is used to retrieve the record, and root pointer is the root page of a B-tree index. When a new record is inserted into the database, the key field(s) of the record are extracted to form a normal B-tree index key (line 602). The leaf signatures S1 and combinatorial signatures CS1 are then computed (lines 604-608). On line 610, a B-tree root-down search is used and existing parent level signatures (e.g., CS3, CS2) along the path to the target leaf page are bit-ORed with the newly computed combinatorial signature CS1. At the leaf level, a leaf page search is performed and the (Key, S1, TID) entry is inserted at the appropriate location if there is enough space (lines 620-622). Line 624 forms the new parent second-level signatures CS2 which will be sent to the parent pages using SIG --  CS1. 
     On line 628, if an out-of-space condition is encountered, a standard B-tree leaf page split operation is started. During this operation a leaf page is physically divided in half and new parent second-level signatures CS2 are computed for the left and right half groups of temporarily computed combinatorial signatures CS1. The (Left-Key, CS2, Left-Child-PageID) entry is then propagated to the original parent page and used to update the old parent entry. The other (Right-Key, CS2, Right-Child-Page-ID) entry is inserted as a new entry on the same parent page. If there is no space on that parent page, a similar splitting operation occurs and new left and right entries are computed and propagated to the next higher level. When there is insufficient space at the root level, a root split causes the B-tree to grow an additional level. A C-language implementation of the SIG --  INSR procedure (named IXM --  LFIN in the figure) is shown in FIGS. 22A-22K. A C-language implementation of a procedure IXM --  SRCH used by IXM --  LFIN (and by IXM --  LFDE below) is shown in FIGS. 24A and 24B. 
     This procedure demonstrates how new key data along with associated signatures are inserted into the B-tree. An advantage of our implementation is that by computing parent signatures for a group of signatures on a lower level page, no modification is needed to the basic B-tree space management strategy of splitting pages. 
     Deleting Records and Signatures 
     We now describe how records are deleted from the B-tree. Different strategies are possible for handling the deletion of keys. We present the general ideas behind each strategy. 
     When signatures are used, each deletion of a leaf (Key, S1, TID) entry should be reflected in the parent second-level signature CS2. We can handle a delete using one of two general strategies. A fuzzy delete strategy eliminates leaf entries without necessarily updating higher level parent signatures (causing the false drop rate to increase as more and more tuples are deleted). A deferred &#34;precise&#34; delete strategy causes a group of leaf deletes to modify all affected parents. The particular strategy chosen depends on the frequency and mix of reads and writes to the database, and may be selected and used by a batch-mode maintenance utility run at appropriate intervals. In a normal index, deletes are usually localized to individual leaf pages until the number of elements in a leaf page drop below some threshold (typically half) and a page merge is then attempted. Index deletes normally do not affect parent keys until a page is actually deleted or merged. 
     A pseudocode implementation of the &#34;fuzzy delete&#34; strategy is shown in FIG. 7. The input to this SIG --  DELT procedure is the record or text to be deleted. TID is a value used to uniquely identify the entry in the event of duplicate keys. Pointer is the root page of a B-tree index. The target B-tree entry is constructed in line 702. The location of the full entry to be deleted is determined using a standard B-tree search algorithm (line 724-726). The entry is then deleted on line 728. If it is the last entry, the leaf page is empty and is merged with the next page. The test on line 730 checks for this condition, and if true then at line 738 the old parent entry (Parent-Key, CS2, Child-Page-ID) is deleted. If this parent level page becomes empty, the process is repeated until the root level is reached (line 742). A C-language implementation of the delete process (named IXM --  LFDE) is shown in FIGS. 23A-23J. 
     This delete procedure shows how the B-tree is maintained when entries are deleted. Like the insert procedure, no major changes are required to the basic B-tree space management strategies when signatures are incorporated. This concludes a detailed description of the B-tree implementation of this invention. 
     Example 
     To demonstrate the operation of the preferred embodiment, we now consider an example where eight records are to be inserted and queried. As each record is inserted into the database, a B-tree key is formed consisting of a (Key, S1, TID) entry. A leaf signature S1 is generated using the SIG --  S1 procedure. 
     The eight data records are shown in FIG. 11. The first record 40 (Chang, Engineer) is used to form a leaf signature S1 34 as shown in FIG. 2. We begin by hashing the field values. Let C=2, h=7, a=0, n=13, and g=6. For the first substring &lt;Cha&gt;, when the character values are weighed and added we get a value of 132864. This result is divided by the largest prime number less than the leaf signature S1 bit length, in this case, 7, and the remainder of 4 is used to indicate which bit position in S1 is set to 1. To keep the examples simple, we have shown the result after hashing only the first two 3-letter sequences for each field. In general, we would hash the entire field using this technique. 
     FIG. 10 shows the computation of the combinatorial signature CS1 42 for the Chang record 40. Each bit except the last one in S1 34 is now paired with its respective remaining bits in S1 to form a group of bits in the combinatorial signature CS1. When this is done, each group of bits 44a-g in CS1 42 represents all possible pairs which can be formed between a corresponding S1 bit and all other remaining S1 bits. The bit-AND operation is used to indicate when both bits in the S1 bit pair are 1&#39;s. When a bit in leaf signature S1 34 is 0, its entire corresponding bit group 44 in combinatorial signature CS1 42 will be 0. 
     After the (Key, S1, TID) entry and combinatorial signature CS1 42 are assembled, a standard B-tree search is used to navigate from the root to the correct leaf page. An empty B-tree is a special case, in that the root page is also a leaf page and no parent pages (or signatures) exist yet. Normally, combinatorial signature CS1 42 is bit-ORed with other combinatorial signatures along the descending path to the leaf page. At the leaf level, the (key, S1, TID) entry is inserted. 
     Now the remaining set of records in FIG. 11 after the Chang record 40 are inserted into the database and B-tree. In practice, records do not have to be inserted in order. Assume that a B-tree leaf page can contain only seven records, as shown in FIG. 12. 
     As seen in FIG. 13, when the eight entry (Yost, 10110000, TID8) 46 is inserted into the B-tree, the root page is split with half the entries remaining on the top (left) page 48 and the rest moved to the lower (right) page 50. The new entry for Yost 46 is then inserted. However, a parent level needs to be created. 
     To create the parent level, second-level signatures CS2 52, 54 for the two leaf pages are computed as shown in FIG. 14. The SIG --  CS1 procedure is applied to the individual leaf signatures S1 on each leaf page 48, 50. These results are then bit-OR&#39;ed together to form the second-level signatures CS2 52, 54 for their respective leaf pages 48, 50. 
     As more entries are added to the B-tree, this splitting process continues, creating a new level each time the current top level page is split. FIG. 15 shows a B-tree which has grown to three levels. As described in the text, deletion of keys is the reverse of the insertion process. When a leaf page contains exactly one entry which is deleted, a standard B-tree merge process is performed and the empty page is released. 
     In FIG. 15, a query consisting of the search terms (&#34;Schek&#34;, &#34;Scientist&#34;) is applied to the three-level B-tree. Using SIG --  S1, a query signature Q 55 is created, and from it a combinatorial query signature QCS 56 is created. The root page 58 of the B-tree is first accessed. Combinatorial query signature QCS 56 is then compared against each root page entry. The SIG --  AND compare procedure would indicate that the QCS 56 and the first third-level signature CS3 60 are a match. The child-page pointer (PTR) field of that root page entry is used to locate its child page 62, and combinatorial query signature QCS 56 is then compared against the second-level combinatorial signature CS2 of each entry on the child page. Recall that the signature test is satisfied only when there is a 1 bit in the data signature corresponding to each 1 bit in the query signature. All of the 1&#39;s in combinatorial query signature QCS 56 have corresponding 1&#39;s in the second-level signature CS2 64 of the first entry of the child page 62 except at position 7 (counting from 0). That entry is thus rejected, and its lower level leaf page 66 is not accessed. 
     When combinatorial query signature QCS 56 is compared to the second-level signature CS2 64 of the second entry on the child page 62, all of the 1&#39;s in QCS 56 have corresponding 1&#39;s. The leaf child page 68 is then accessed using the PTR valve, and the shorter query signature QS 55 is compared against the leaf signature S1 34 of each entry on the leaf child page 68. Only the leaf signature S1 34 for the second entry contains 1&#39;s in all positions in which there are 1&#39;s in query signature QS 55. The TID field (TID6) in that entry is then used to retrieve the associated record, and an exact string compare is made between the search terms in the query and the field values in the retrieved record. Since this is the correct record, it is returned to the user. 
     The next query we consider is one that contains a combinatorial error. In FIG. 15, the second query consists of the search terms &#34;Chang&#34; and &#34;Scientist&#34;, a combination which does not exist in the actual data, but which would appear to exist as a virtual record using non-combinatorial parent signatures. First, the query signature QS 70 is computed for the query. Then combinatorial query signature QCS 72 is computed and compared against each entry of the root page 58. Since combinatorial query signature QCS 72 contains 1&#39;s at positions 22 and 25 and the third-level signature CS3 60 of the root page&#39;s first entry does not, all the lower level pages associated with that entry can be rejected. Similarly, since the combinatorial query signature QCS 72 contains 1&#39;s at positions 20, 22, 23, and 25, and the third-level signature CS3 of the root page&#39;s second entry does not, all the lower level pages associated with that entry can be rejected as well. This correctly reflects that the combination (&#34;Chang&#34;, &#34;Scientist&#34;) does not exist. 
     For comparison, assume that we had used non-combinatorial leaf signatures S1 to construct a two-level signature file, as shown in FIG. 16. Here second-level non-combinatorial signatures 74 are stored for the entries at the root page. Using the same queries as in the example above, we will show that the number of page access is much higher, and consequently the overall performance is much worse, when non-combinatorial signatures are used. 
     To process the first query (NAME=&#34;Schek&#34;, TITLE=&#34;Scientist&#34;), the query signature QS 55 is computed and compared against each entry of the root page. After being tested against the non-combinatorial second-level signature S2 74 of the root page&#39;s first entry, a match is indicated and the child page associated with that entry is retrieved. Query signature QS 55 is then compared against each entry on the child page. Since none match, all entries on that child page are signature false drops, and the access of that page was unnecessary. When query signature QS 55 is compared against the non-combinatorial second-level signature S2 of the second entry of the root page, another match is indicated and the respective child page is retrieved. After comparing query signature QS 55 against the leaf signatures S1s of that page&#39;s entries, only one contains a match. Thus, to solve this query every leaf signature S1 was examined. 
     In the case of the query containing the combinatorial error (NAME=&#34;Chang&#34;, TITLE=&#34;Scientist&#34;), when the query signature QS 70 is used in the two-level signature B-tree of FIG. 16, the non-combinatorial second-level signature S2 74 of the root page&#39;s first entry results in a match with the query signature QS. The corresponding child page is then accessed and all leaf signatures S1s are tested, although none result in a match. The QS does not match the non-combinatorial second-level signature S2 of the second entry on the root page, so that entry&#39;s corresponding child page is skipped. When we compare this query with the equivalent two-level combinatorial approach shown in FIG. 14 and discussed above, we see that combinatorial signatures result in a significant improvement in performance. 
     It will be appreciated that, although a specific embodiment of the invention has been described above for purposes of illustration, various modifications may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. In particular, alternative encoding methods are possible to generate the leaf signatures S1, such as by using different hash functions, or by varying the length of the letter substrings which are encoded. In addition, the combinatorial signature CS1 may also be computed from the leaf signature S1 other than by using the simple logical intersection (AND) of pairs of S1 bits. For example, larger sets of S1 bits (triplet&#39;s, quadruplets, etc.) could be used instead of considering only bit pairs. Further, more complex logical computations might replace the single logical operation (AND) described above. Such signatures would be useful for queries which are more complex than the simple ones used in the example and embodiment discussed herein. Finally, it will be understood that it is not necessary to use the same logical operation on all sets of S1 bits, or to require each set of S1 bits to have the same number of members. The choices of hashing method, set size and membership, and logical operations to be performed on the sets must be made in light of the types of queries most likely to be presented. 
     An alternative to selecting sets of bits in S1 is to always use a preselected random set of bits for each bit in CS1. In the random approach, one would first predetermine the number of S1 bit-groups to be used (typically equal to the number of bits in the combinatorial signature CS1 and then randomly select bits from leaf signature S1 to form a set of S1 bits corresponding to each bit in combinatorial signature CS1. Then, using the single logical operation AND, if all bits in the set are equal to one, set the result equal to one, otherwise set the result equal to zero. Finally, set the corresponding bit in CS1 equal to the result of the logical operation(s). Once the random leaf signature S1 bit sets have been assigned for each combinatorial signature CS1 bit, those assigned selections should be used without change. 
     Finally, the invention may be used with a variety of data structures. While the preferred embodiment uses a B-tree, in general any hierarchical data structure may be used. This includes normal binary trees, &#34;AVL trees&#34;, &#34;trie&#34; structures, and &#34;K-D trees&#34;. In the case of B-trees, a variety of fuzzy or precise deletion strategies are possible for maintaining good signature performance in the B-tree. One variation on the fuzzy delete technique described above is a deferred strategy which periodically recomputes the necessary signatures in the upper levels of the B-tree. This method is straightforward and can be implemented by modifying a standard batch-mode index build utility. 
     Accordingly, the scope of protection of this invention is limited only by the following claims.