ADAPTIVE PROCESSING OF TOP-K QUERIES IN NESTED-STRUCTURE ARBITRARY MARKUP LANGUAGE SUCH AS XML

摘要

A method of adaptively evaluating a top-k query with respect to at least on e document using servers having respective server queues storing candidate answers, processing the candidate answers, and providing a top-k set as a query evaluation. Processing includes adaptively choosing a wining server to whose queue a current candidate answer should be sent; sending the current candidate answer to the winning server's queue; adaptively choosing a next candidate answer to process from the winning server's queue; computing a join between the current candidate answe r and next candidate answers at the winning server, so as to produce a new current candidate answer; and updating the top-k set with the new current candidate answer only if a score of the new current candidate answer exceeds a score of a top -k answer in a top-k set. A method of calculating scores for candidate answers is also provided.