Patent ID: 7392242

Claim:
A method comprising: estimating processing cost for a query on a multidimensional cube, the query having a query range, by: representing a materialized view as a container of tuples; wherein each tuple in the materialized view corresponds to a combination of dimension key values for which data exists in said multidimensional cube; wherein each tuple has a key that is generated based on the set of dimension key values that belong to the tuple; wherein the tuples are sorted by key; stepping through all keys for the query range, starting with a smallest key, said smallest key initially being established as a current key and then, at each step: establishing, as a new current key, a next smallest key that is in the query range, and is greater than or equal to the current key; after establishing the new current key, receiving a resultant tuple that is associated with a resultant key; wherein the resultant key is a key that corresponds to a tuple that exists in the materialized view, and is the smallest key, in the query range key, greater than or equal to the current key; processing said resultant tuple; establishing, as a new current key, a key that is incrementally greater than the resultant key; and estimating the processing cost for the query as equal to the number of tuples upon which said processing was performed during said stepping; and determining whether or not to materialize the query base upon the estimated processing costs.