Patent ID: 7571163

Claim:
A method for performing a weak sort on a data structure representing computer memory allocated by a program from an operating system on a computer, the data structure comprising a plurality of list elements, each list element having an associated data value, with a head element of the data structure having a comparatively lower data value than a data value of a following element in the data structure and a tail element of the data structure having a comparatively higher value than a data value of a previous element in the data structure, the method comprising the steps of: identifying the head element and tail element of the data structure; calculating a weighted mean value by multiplying at least one weighting value with the head element and tail element; and inserting a new list element into the data structure, the location of the insertion into the data structure being dependent upon the data value of the new list element as compared to the weighted mean value, wherein the new list element is inserted immediately behind the head element of the data structure provided that the new list element's data value is less than the weighted mean value and greater than the data value in a current head element.