US Patent 7272605 Network interface for distributed intelligence database system

A database appliance having multiple internetworked data storage units and central database processing units. The central database processors and storage units communicate as network nodes. Execution of a distributed database application is coordinated by a communication process such that data blocks are passed by using data block reference information. Operations executing within the same context as the communication process may include join, sort, aggregate, restrict, reject, expression evaluation, statistical analysis or other database operations.