Abstract: A layout in which advertisements are displayed may be determined by auction. Several layouts may be defined, each having one or more slots of different relative values. Bids are received from advertisers, and an auction may be held to determine in which slots the different advertisers are placed, and which layout is to be used. The expected revenue from each layout may be calculated, and the layout may be chosen that maximizes the revenue that is expected to result from showing a particular layout to a user. In one example, there are layouts that offer exclusive and non-exclusive mainlines. Mainline exclusivity may be offered to an advertiser that has bid a sufficiently high amount per click that awarding the mainline exclusively to the advertiser can offset the loss of revenue expected from moving other advertisers off the mainline.

Abstract: A method of mapping data into a table includes identifying pointers of a source portion and target portion and switching the metadata pointers of the target portion to be those of the source portion. Upon switching the metadata pointers, the data of the source portion is mapped into the target portion of the table. The method of mapping exhibits the advantage of performing the mapping operation by moving metadata and not table content data. The method may be used on any portion of a database including files, tables, partitions, and indexes. In one embodiment, the switching of pointers includes copying the target portion metadata into temporary storage, copying source portion metadata into the target portion metadata, and copying metadata from the temporary storage into the source portion metadata.

Abstract: A method of mapping data into a table includes identifying pointers of a source portion and target portion and switching the metadata pointers of the target portion to be those of the source portion. Upon switching the metadata pointers, the data of the source portion is mapped into the target portion of the table. The method of mapping exhibits the advantage of performing the mapping operation by moving metadata and not table content data. The method may be used on any portion of a database including files, tables, partitions, and indexes. In one embodiment, the switching of pointers includes copying the target portion metadata into temporary storage, copying source portion metadata into the target portion metadata, and copying metadata from the temporary storage into the source portion metadata.