US Patent 7376638 System and method for addressing inefficient query processing

A system and method for analyzing predicate usage and proposing solutions to improve query performance. The system comprises a system for collecting performance statistics for database queries; an aggregation system that organizes the performance statistics based on predicate combinations used in the database queries; and an evaluation system that compares the performances of queries having similar predicate combinations. Further features include a problem identification system that identifies a predicate, which when added to a query, results in a low performing query, and a solution proposal system that automatically proposes a solution to address the low performing query.