A filter index for complex queries on semi-structured data

Answering a query on XML data usually involves breaking it into a number of small components (e.g., edges, paths, twigs, etc.), evaluating them and joining the results. In this paper we propose an alternative technique that uses these components to filter a large part of the database that does not qualify them, before validating the query on the actual data. Our methodology uses a signature index to search fast and prune effectively the search space. The efficiency of the proposed technique is demonstrated by comparison with an existing index, on real data. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2003.link_to_subscribed_fulltex