Patent ID: 7941408

Claim:
A computer implemented method for displaying past versions of a data item in a database table, comprising: using a computing system that comprises at least one processor and is configured or programmed for performing a process comprising: receiving a request on the database table of a database system for one or more past versions of a data item over an interval, wherein the request comprises a specification of the interval, the database system comprises the database table and a log record which comprises an undo log record for the database system that is stored separately from the database table and is used to reverse one or more changes made to the database table, and the database table comprises the data item; applying a portion of the log record to the database table to create one or more prior-version database tables for the database table that comprise the one or more past versions, wherein each of the database table and the one or more prior-version database tables comprises a single version of the data item retrieving the one or more past versions of the data item over the interval by querying against the one or more prior-version database tables that were created by applying the portion of the log record to the database table to identify the one or more past versions over the interval from the one or more prior-version database tables; and presenting information about the one or more past versions over the interval.