Patent ID: 7965290
Filing Date: 2011-06-21
Classification: G06F,G06T

Abstract:
1. A method of progressively loading and further processing data in a multilevel locking-free structure in a computing device having a processing unit and a memory, comprising: (a) defining data having a multilevel locking-free structure, the structure including a first level of data including data segments, each of the data segments forming a second level of data, wherein each of the data segments in the second level of data becomes available for further processing when the data segment is referenced in the first level of data; (b) loading the data into a multilevel locking-free structure in the memory of the computing device and setting a reference in the first level of data to each of the data segments in the second level of data as the data segment is loaded; (c) using the processing unit of the computing device, processing each of the data segments in the second level of data to which a reference is set in the first level of data; and (d) repeating steps (b) and (c) such that progressively more data segments are loaded to become available for further processing; wherein a data segment includes data sub-segments, each of the data sub-segments forms a third level of data, and each of the data sub-segments in the third level of data becomes available for further processing when the data sub-segment is referenced in the second level of data; the loading step (b) further comprises setting a reference in the second level of data to each of the data sub-segments in the third level of data as the data sub-segment is loaded; the processing step (c) further comprises processing each of the data sub-segments in the third level of data to which a reference is set in the second level of data; and the repeating step (d) results in progressively more data sub-segments being loaded to become available for further processing.