This paper provides a comprehensive survey of research on tree patterns (TPs) and related issues for querying XML data over the past 10 years. Tree patterns are graphical representations of queries over data trees that are matched against an input data tree to answer queries. The paper outlines and compares features of different tree pattern models and reviews two main approaches for optimizing tree pattern matching: pattern tree minimization and holistic matching. It aims to give a global overview of the significant research on using tree patterns to query XML data.

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A SURVEY OF XML TREE PATTERNS
ABSTRACT:
The aim of this paper is thus to provide a global and synthetic overview of more than 10 years of
research about TPs and closely related issues with XML becoming a ubiquitous language for
data interoperability purposes in various domains, efficiently querying XML data is a critical
issue.
This has lead to the design of algebraic frameworks based on tree-shape patterns akin to the treestructured data model of XML. Tree patterns are graphic representations of queries over data
trees. They are actually matched against an input data tree to answer a query. Since the turn of
the 21st century, an astounding research effort has been focusing on tree pattern models and
matching optimization.
This paper is a comprehensive survey of these topics, in which we outline and compare the
various features of tree patterns. We also review and discuss the two main families of approaches
for optimizing tree pattern matching, namely pattern tree minimization and holistic matching.
We finally present actual tree pattern-based developments, to provide a global overview of this
significant research topic.