Processing columns in a database accelerator while preserving row-based architecture

摘要

Database processing using columns to present to a processing unit decompressed column data without changing the underlying row-based database architecture. For some embodiments, a database accelerator is used to efficiently process the columns of a database and output tuples to a processing unit's memory, such that the columns can be quickly processed (with the advantages of a column-based architecture) to create tuples of requested data, but without having to depart from a row-based architecture at the processing unit level or having decompressed data scattered throughout the processing unit's memory.

主权项

1. A system for database processing, comprising:
a first processing unit; a first memory associated with the first processing unit and configured to store data associated with a table having a plurality of columns, wherein the data is stored in the first memory as the plurality of columns; a second processing unit; and a second memory associated with the second processing unit, wherein the first processing unit is configured to:
read at least a portion of each of the stored plurality of columns;decompress, in parallel, the read portions of the columns, wherein the first processing unit comprises a column buffer first-in-first-out (FIFO) configured to supply the read portions of the columns for the decompression and wherein the first processing unit is configured to decompress the read portions of the columns according to a finite state machine (FSM) based at least in part on a column number for each of the read portions of the columns;form one or more tuples of the table from the decompressed read portions; andoutput, to the second memory, the tuples for processing by the second processing unit.