Tree Form Factors for Faster Hierarchical Subtree Search
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Solution Overview
Problem
Searching for large sample sub-trees in hierarchical trees becomes inefficient and time-consuming as the trees grow in size, particularly in applications like enterprise database applications and cloud-based concurrent processing, where operations such as comparing tree structures and joining portions of trees are costly.
Innovation Solution
A two-step top-down pass method is implemented to determine universal numbers and form factors for each node in a tree, where form factors include depth and width, and these are stored as metadata or in a separate table to facilitate efficient tree search and comparison operations.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If traditional tree search methods are used, then complete tree structure comparison is performed, but search time and computational cost increase significantly as tree size grows
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by pre-computing and storing form factors (depth, width, universal number) for each node in the tree during a first pass before the actual search operation. This allows the search algorithm to quickly filter candidate nodes using these pre-computed attributes without performing complete subtree comparisons, significantly reducing search time while maintaining matching accuracy.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent segments the tree structure into individual nodes with computed form factors, allowing the search to operate on discrete node attributes rather than entire subtrees. By dividing the search problem into node-level form factor comparison and subsequent detailed verification, the system achieves efficient filtering without sacrificing matching precision.
2Productivity
If form factors are pre-computed and stored for all nodes, then search filtering efficiency improves, but additional storage requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by computing form factors only for nodes that are relevant to the search query. Rather than pre-computing attributes for all nodes in the entire tree database, the system calculates form factors selectively for nodes that match the query's form factor criteria, reducing storage requirements while maintaining search efficiency for the relevant subset of nodes.
Data Source
AI summary
A computer-implemented method to determine form factors of a tree includes building an input tree, wherein the input tree includes nodes. The method further includes implementing a first top-down pass to determine a universal number for each node in the input tree. The method further includes implementing a second top-down pass to determine form factors for each node of the input tree, wherein a form factor includes a depth and a width of the tree with a root in a corresponding node. The method further includes storing the form factors as part of node metadata or in a separate table.