Kristin M Bennett

US Patent:

62633341, Jul 17, 2001

Filed:

Nov 11, 1998

Appl. No.:

9/189229

Inventors:

Usama Fayyad - Mercer Island WA
Kristin P. Bennett - Troy NY
Dan Geiger - Tivon, IL

Assignee:

Microsoft Corporation - Redmond WA

International Classification:

G06F 1730

US Classification:

707 5

Abstract:

Method and apparatus for efficiently performing nearest neighbor queries on a database of records wherein each record has a large number of attributes by automatically extracting a multidimensional index from the data. The method is based on first obtaining a statistical model of the content of the data in the form of a probability density function. This density is then used to decide how data should be reorganized on disk for efficient nearest neighbor queries. At query time, the model decides the order in which data should be scanned. It also provides the means for evaluating the probability of correctness of the answer found so far in the partial scan of data determined by the model. In this invention a clustering process is performed on the database to produce multiple data clusters. Each cluster is characterized by a cluster model.