Implementing a relational database by means of specialzed hardware

New hardware is described which allows the rapid execution of queries demanding the joining of physically stored relations. The main feature of the hardware is a special store which can rapidly remember or recall data. This data might be pointers from one file to another, in which case the memory helps with queries on joins of files. Alternatively, the memory can help remove redundant data during projection, giving a considerable speed advantage over conventional hardware.