Efficient Indexing Methods for Temporal Relations

The size of temporal databases and the semantics of temporal queries pose challenges for the design of efhcient indexing methods. The primary issues that affect the design of indexing methods are examined, and propose several structures and algorithms for specific cases. Indexing methods for timebased queries are developed, queries on the surrogate or timeinvariant key and time, and temporal attribute and time. In the latter case, several methods are presented that partition the timeline, in order to balance the distribution of tuple-pointers within the index. The methods are analyzed against alternatives, and present appropriate empirical results. Index Terms -Indexing, physical organization, query processing, searching, temporal databases.