LIMITING SCANS OF LOOSELY ORDERED AND/OR GROUPED RELATIONS USING NEARLY ORDERED MAPS

摘要

A large information space is divided into many smaller information extents. These extents are annotated with statistics about the information (100-2) they contain. When a search for information includes a restriction based on value, the desired value ranges can be compared to the value ranges of each extent. If the desired value range lies outside the range of the extent, then the extent cannot hold the desired value and does not need to be included in the search.