We show how to index mobile objects in one and two dimensions using efficient dynamic external memory data structures. The problem is motivated by real life applications in traffic monitoring, intelligent navigation and mobile communications domains. For the 1-dimensional case, we give (i) a dynamic, external memory algorithm with guaranteed worst case performance and linear space and (ii) a practical approximation algorithm also in the dynamic, external memory setting, which has linear space and expected logarithmic query time. We also give an algorithm with guaranteed logarithmic query time for a restricted version of the problem. We present extensions of our techniques to two dimensions. In addition we give a lower bound on the number of I/O's needed to answer the d-dimensional problem. Initial experimental results and comparisons to traditional indexing approaches are also included. 1 Introduction Traditional database management systems assume that data stored in the database rem...

We propose three indexing schemes for storing a set S of N points in the plane, each moving along a linear trajectory, so that any query of the following form can be answered quickly: Given a rectangle R and a real value t; report all K points of S that lie inside R at time t: We first present an indexing structure that, for any given constant e> 0; uses OðN=BÞ disk blocks and answers a query in OððN=BÞ 1=2þe þ K=BÞ I/Os, where B is the block size. It can also report all the points of S that lie inside R during a given time interval. A point can be inserted or deleted, or the trajectory of a point can be changed, in Oðlog 2 B NÞ I/Os. Next, we present a general approach that improves the query time if the queries arrive in chronological order, by allowing the index to evolve over time. We obtain a tradeoff between the query time and the number of times the index needs to be updated as the points move. We also describe an indexing scheme in which the number of I/Os required to answer a query depends monotonically on the difference between the query time stamp t and the current time. Finally, we develop an efficient indexing scheme to answer approximate

A temporal database contains time-varying data. In a real-time database transactions have deadlines or timing constraints. In this paper we review the substantial research in these two heretofore separate research areas. We first characterize the time domain, then investigate temporal and real-time data models. We evaluate temporal and real-time query languages along several dimensions. Temporal and real-time DBMS implementation is examined. We conclude with a summary of the major accomplishments of the research to date, and list several research questions that should be addressed next. Keywords: object-oriented database, relational databases, query language, temporal data model, time-constrained database, transaction time, user-defined time, valid time 1 Introduction Time is an important aspect of all real-world phenomena. Events occur at specific points in time; objects and the relationships among objects exist over time. The ability to model this temporal dimension of the real worl...

In many massive dataset applications the data must be stored in space and query efficient data structures on external storage devices. Often the data needs to be changed dynamically. In this chapter we discuss recent advances in the development of provably worst-case efficient external memory dynamic data structures. We also briefly discuss some of the most popular external data structures used in practice.

We consider the problems of computing aggregation queries in temporal databases, and of maintaining materialized temporal aggregate views efficiently. The latter problem is particularly challenging since a single data update can cause aggregate results to change over the entire time line. We introduce a new index structure called the SBtree, which incorporates features from both segment-trees and B-trees. SB-trees support fast lookup of aggregate results based on time, and can be maintained efficiently when the data changes. We also extend the basic SB-tree index to handle cumulative (also called moving-window) aggregates. For materialized aggregate views in a temporal database or warehouse, we propose building and maintaining SB-tree indices instead of the views themselves. 1.

Abstract—An efficient multiversion access structure for a transaction-time database is presented. Our method requires optimal storage and query times for several important queries and logarithmic update times. Three version operations}inserts, updates, and deletes}are allowed on the current database, while queries are allowed on any version, present or past. The following query operations are performed in optimal query time: key range search, key history search, and time range view. The key-range query retrieves all records having keys in a specified key range at a specified time; the key history query retrieves all records with a given key in a specified time range; and the time range view query retrieves all records that were current during a specified time interval. Special cases of these queries include the key search query, which retrieves a particular version of a record, and the snapshot query which reconstructs the database at some past time. To the best of our knowledge no previous multiversion access structure simultaneously supports all these query and version operations within these time and space bounds. The bounds on query operations are worst case per operation, while those for storage space and version operations are (worst-case) amortized over a sequence of version operations. Simulation results show that good storage utilization and query performance is obtained. Index Terms—Transaction-time database, multidimensional data, access methods, data structures, indexing, I/O complexity.

Queries on XML documents typically combine selections on element contents, and, via path expressions, the structural relationships between tagged elements. Structural joins are used to find all pairs of elements satisfying the primitive structural relationships specified in the query, namely, parent child and ancestor descendant relationships. Efficient support for structural joins is thus the key to efficient implementations of XML queries. Recently proposed node numbering schemes enable the capturing of the XML document structure us- ing traditional indices (such as B+-trees or R-trees). This paper proposes efficient struc- tural join algorithms in the presence of tag indices. We first concentrate on using B+- trees and show how to expedite a structural join by avoiding collections of elements that do not participate in the join. We then intro- duce an enhancement (based on sibling pointers) that further improves performance. Such sibling pointers are easily implemented and dynamically maintainable. We also present a structural join algorithm that utilizes R-trees.

Spatiotemporal objects, i.e., objects which change their position and/or extent over time appear in many applications. In this paper we examine the problem of indexing large volumes of such data. Important in this environment is how the spatiotemporal objects move and/or change. We consider a rather general case where object movements/changes are defined by combinations of polynomial functions. We further concentrate on "snapshot" as well as small "interval" queries as these are quite common when examining the history of the gathered data. The obvious approach that approximates each spatiotemporal object by an MBR and uses a traditional multidimensional access method to index them is inefficient. Objects that "live" for long time intervals have large MBRs which introduce a lot of empty space. Clustering long intervals has been dealt in temporal databases by the use of partially persistent indices. What differentiates this problem from traditional temporal indexing, is that objects are allowed to move/change during their lifetime. Better ways are thus needed to approximate general spatiotemporal objects. One obvious solution is to introduce artificial splits: the lifetime of a long-lived object is split into smaller consecutive pieces. This decreases the empty space but increases the number of indexed MBRs. We first give an optimal algorithm and a heuristic for splitting a given spatiotemporal object in a predefined number of pieces. Then, given an upper bound on the total number of possible splits, we present three algorithms that decide how the splits are distributed among all the objects so that the total empty space is minimized. The number of splits cannot be increased indefinitely since the extra objects will eventually affect query performance. Usi...

Traditional approaches to versioning semistructured information are edit-based, i.e., subsequent document versions are represented by using edit scripts. This paper proposes a reference-based version management scheme that preserves the logical structure of the evolving document through the use of object references. By preserving the document structure among versions the new scheme facilitates more efficient query support. In particular, we examine queries involving projections and selections on the document versions, as well as queries on the document evolution history. Moreover, we show that the proposed scheme provides an effective representation of multiversioned XML documents, both at the transport and exchange levels. In fact, with the reference-based scheme, a document's history can also be viewed and processed as yet another XML document. Furthermore, we demonstrate the effectiveness of the new scheme at the storage level. In particular, the scheme is enhanced with a usefulness-based page management policy that extends and adapts techniques used in transaction-time databases to ensure efficient clustering of information among versions. An extensive comparison of the reference-based versioning against representations used in temporal databases and persistent object managers depicts the performance advantages of the new approach. Finally it should be noted that reference-based versioning is applicable to other kinds of semistructured information (besides XML documents), and can be used to replace traditional version control schemes, such as the edit-based RCS and the timestamp-based SCCS.

indexing in spatio-temporal databases by using the technique of overlapping is investigated. Overlapping has been previously applied in various access methods to combine consecutive structure instances into a single structure, without storing identical sub-structures. In this way, space is saved without sacrificing time performance. A new access method, overlapping linear quadtrees is introduced. This structure is able to store consecutive historical raster images, a database of evolving images. Moreover, it can be used to support query processing in such a database. Five such spatio-temporal queries along with the respective algorithms that take advantage of the properties of the new structure are introduced. The new access method was implemented and extensive experimental studies for space efficiency and query processing performance were conducted. A number of results of these experiments are presented. As far as space is concerned, these results indicate that, in the case of similar consecutive images, considerable storage is saved in comparison to independent linear quadtrees. In the case of query processing, the results indicate that the proposed algorithmic approaches outperform the respective straightforward algorithms, in most cases. The region data sets used in experiments were real images of meteorological satellite views and synthetic random images with specified aggregation