The decomate result optimizer
J.J.A.C. Hoppenbrouwers · 2000
The Result Optimizer is a relatively independent module in Decomate II that has the task of optimizing the results returned by the main database back end. Optimizing includes result set merging, de-duplication, ranking, and caching. This article explains the design of the Result Optimizer and summarizes most of the algorithms used. 1 Result Optimizing in Decomate II Within the Decomate II Project 1 , a large number of bibliographical and full-text databases have been unified under a generic query protocol and user interface (Place, 1999). The raw results that are returned by the various database back ends through the Multi-Protocol Server (MPS) can be optimized in several ways (Hoppenbrouwers and Paijmans, 2000). Decomate II concentrates on four optimizations: Result Set Merging If a query is sent to multiple databases, each database will return its own result set. The Result Optimizer must merge these separate sets into one virtual result set, while maintaining the individual...