Applying signature filtering technique to join algorithms

Because joins are time-consuming operations in database systems, many researchers have done a lot of research work for improving the performance of join algorithms, including join filtering techniques. This paper presents a new filter, the signature filter, to improve further the performance of various join algorithms. We have carried out experiments in an object-oriented database system to analyze the filtering ability of signature filters and the performance of join algorithms with signature filters. The relationship between signature and bit vector filters is also discussed in this paper.