US Patent 7293032 Compressing decimal types

A method, computer program, database system and data structure are disclosed for compressing a decimal type field in a database including one or more tables. Each of the one or more tables includes one or more rows. Each of the one or more rows includes an instance of the decimal type field. Space is allocated in one of P amounts to an instance of the decimal type field in a row, the amount being chosen based on the size of the value being stored in the instance of the decimal type field. One or more presence bits are set in the row to identify the amount of space allocated.