MicrosoftPatent applicationChips & hardwareInterest 3/10

Microsoft patents using extra chips to speed up database searches

Patent drawing from the official filing.

Microsoft describes a method where a main computer sends a database search plan to a secondary chip, known as a coprocessor. The system converts the plan into a format the coprocessor understands and chooses the best way to handle each step of the search based on the specific data involved.

Why it mattersThis could make large data searches faster by offloading work from the main processor to specialized hardware, which is useful for companies managing massive amounts of information.

In the filing’s own words

Methods, apparatuses, and products for database query acceleration. Methods include receiving, by a query execution platform, database query plan data from a database host, the database query plan data comprising a query execution plan and one or more database tables, translating the database query plan data into format associated with a coprocessor of the query execution platform, generating a coprocessor query execution plan for the coprocessor based on the query execution plan of the database query plan data, identifying one or more operators for executing the coprocessor query execution plan, selecting an implementation for each of the one or more operators based on one or more characteristics of data on which the one or more operators are to be applied based on the coprocessor execution plan, and executing the coprocessor query execution plan using the coprocessor.

What exactly they claim (claim 1)

1. A method of accelerating database queries, comprising: receiving, by a query execution platform, database query plan data from a database host, the database query plan data comprising a query execution plan and one or more database tables; translating the database query plan data into a format associated with a coprocessor of the query execution platform; generating a coprocessor query execution plan for the coprocessor based on the query execution plan of the database query plan data; identifying one or more operators for executing the coprocessor query execution plan; selecting an implementation for each of the one or more operators based on one or more characteristics of data on which the one or more operators are to be applied based on the coprocessor query execution plan; and executing the coprocessor query execution plan using the coprocessor.

Facts

Company: Microsoft (Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC)
Official title: ACCELERATING DATABASE QUERIES USING A COPROCESSOR
Publication number: US20260320128A1
Application number: 19178107
Filed: Apr 14, 2025
Published: Oct 15, 2026
Inventors: 5
Claims: 20

Classified under

G06F 16/90335 Physics & computing

Read the full filing (official PDF) ↗ Open in the Patent Tracker

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Summaries are simplified from the filing’s own abstract and first claim. A patent filing is not a product announcement.
Patent data and drawings: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Nebula is not affiliated with or endorsed by the USPTO.