The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Mar. 18, 2003
Filed:
Mar. 23, 1999
Barron Cornelius Housel, III, Chapel Hill, NC (US);
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY (US);
Abstract
A method, system, and computer-readable code for embedding a file index among the fixed-length data blocks of a random-access file to which the index pertains. In the preferred embodiment, a B-tree index is used. The nodes of the B-tree are stored using blocks of the random-access file, so that the index records are embedded among the data records to which the index pertains. This technique avoids a number of problems that result when a data file and its index are separately located. Record updates and retrievals operate more efficiently, and the data records remain synchronized with the corresponding index when file operations (e.g., close, flush) complete successfully. In an optional enhancement, synchronization is ensured when record-level operations (write, delete) complete successfully.