Patent ID: 7801882

Claim:
A method of processing a data modification statement, comprising: receiving a data modification statement; determining which fields of a base data structure are affected by the data modification statement; designating which fields of the base data structure have a current value that would change as a result of executing the data modification statement and which fields of the base data structure that would not change as a result of executing the data modification statement, wherein executing the data modification statement for fields of the base data structure that would not change is a non-updating update; determining which fields of a dependent data structure depend on the fields of the base data structure that have a current value that would change as a result of executing the data modification statement, wherein a field of the dependent data structure depends on a field of the base data structure if a constraint over the field of the dependent data structure references one or more of the fields of the base data structure; identifying whether the dependent fields of the dependent data structure have a current value that would change as a result of executing the data modification statement; designating indicators for the fields of the dependent data structure that depend on the fields of the base data structure that have a current value that would change as a result of executing the data modification statement, generating an update query plan that identifies the dependent fields and the designated indicators for the fields of the dependent data structure that depend on the fields of the base data structure that have a current value that would change as a result of executing the data modification statement; and during runtime execution of the data modification statement, in accordance with the update query plan, updating the base data structure and dependent data structure in accordance with the indicators in the update query plan to filter out the execution of non-updating updates.