US Patent 7970756 Generalized partition pruning in a database system

A system for executing a query on data that has been partitioned into a plurality of partitions is provided. The system includes providing partitioned data including one or more columns and the plurality of partitions. The partitioned data includes a limit key value associated with each column for a given partition. The system further includes receiving a query including a predicate on one of the one or more columns of the partitioned data; and utilizing the predicate on the one of the one or more columns in a pruning decision on at least one of the one or more partitions based on the limit key values associated with the plurality of partitions.