XQUICK: An Efficient Path-Based XML Storage Scheme for Fast Query Processing and Update

Abstract

Due to the inherent flexibility in both structure and semantics, XML documents are massive in nature. The ratio of the size of the XML document to the size of the text data in it is usually large. Apart from data values, the huge size of the XML document is contributed by its tree structure. The structure of the XML document tightly bounded with the data renders the original form of XML less efficient in terms of both time and space. The problem of designing a compressor for XML documents which facilitates both update and query operations has turned the attention of many. In this paper, we propose an efficient storage scheme for XML documents called XQUICK. XQUICK exploits the high regularity of XML documents to compress the tree structure. It also handles updates in an efficient manner with minimum space and time overhead. This paper also describes a novel path-based querying approach that supports fast querying. Additional mechanisms such as indexing are provided to elicit faster query processing. XQUICK can also be used in conjunction with standard parsers like DOM, SAX etc. Experimental results conform to the capabilities of proposed scheme.