Patent ID: 8078591

Claim:
A computer-implemented method for locking data objects in a computer system, the data objects including a plurality of key fields, the method comprising: determining whether a number of the data objects to be locked is less than or equal to a maximum number of locks, wherein the data objects are stored in memory of the computer and the maximum number is greater than 0; creating, when the number of the data objects to be locked is less than or equal to the maximum number of locks, a plurality of lock objects comprising names and values for the key fields; and creating, when the number of the data objects to be locked is greater than the maximum number of locks, a plurality of lock objects comprising names and values for the key fields by applying a heuristic process such that the one or more lock objects include a wildcard value for a key field; the heuristic process including: determining a quantity of different values for the data objects by consecutively determining a quantity of different values for one or more of the key fields until the quantity of different values for one or more of the key fields is greater than the maximum number of locks; determining, when the quantity of the different values for the data objects is greater than the maximum number of locks, a common characteristic of the values of a key field; creating a combination value based on a combination of the common characteristic and a wildcard value; and writing the combination value into a key field of a created lock object.