On the data model and access method of summary data management

A data model and an access method for summary data management are presented. Summary data, represented as a trinary tuple ⟨statistical function, category, summary⟩, are metaknowledge summarized by a statistical function of a category of individual information typically stored in a conventional database. For instance, ⟨average-income, female engineer with 10 years´ experience and master´s degree, $45000⟩ is a summary datum. The computational complexity of the derivability problem has been found intractable in general, and the proposed summary data model, enforcing the disjointness constraint, alleviates the intractable problem without loss of information. In order to store, manage, and access summary data, a multidimensional access method called summary data (SD) tree is proposed. By preserving the category hierarchy, the SD tree provides for efficient operations, including summary data search, derivation, insertion, and deletion