public int compareKeyForNextColumn(ExtendedCell nextIndexed, ExtendedCell currentCell) {
    ColumnCount nextColumn = columns.getColumnHint();
    if (nextColumn == null) {
      return PrivateCellUtil.compareKeyBasedOnColHint(rowComparator, nextIndexed, currentCell, 0, 0,
        null, 0, 0, PrivateConstants.OLDEST_TIMESTAMP, Type.Minimum.getCode());
    } else {
      return PrivateCellUtil.compareKeyBasedOnColHint(rowComparator, nextIndexed, currentCell,
        currentCell.getFamilyOffset(), currentCell.getFamilyLength(), nextColumn.getBuffer(),
        nextColumn.getOffset(), nextColumn.getLength(), HConstants.LATEST_TIMESTAMP,
        Type.Maximum.getCode());
    }
  }
@param nextIndexed the key of the next entry in the block index (if any)
@param currentCell The Cell we're using to calculate the seek key
@return result of the compare between the indexed key and the key portion of the passed cell
hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/regionserver/querymatcher/ScanQueryMatcher.java