Patent ID: 7739234

Claim:
A method implemented in a computer-readable medium to execute on a computer, the method, comprising: receiving, by the computer, an update to an entry in a first original table of a relational database, wherein the entry is a particular field of a particular row of the first original table; creating, by the computer, a new entry within the first original table to house the updated entry; determining, by the computer, the entry is dependent on a chain of linked other original tables, the chain of linked other original tables forms a linked list, which includes pointers from each other table entry to another entry in another of the other original tables, the chain is also represented via another separate and independent set of mapping tables for transitions that maintain dependencies independent from the first table and the other original tables that house the entry and other entries, the other original tables do not include linked dependencies among one another, the dependencies are housed in the mapping tables and just two tables are accessed to update and to reflect the update to the entry occurring in the first original table, these two updates are a first update to the first original table to show the update for the entry and a second update to a next to last mapping table in the mapping tables, the next to last mapping table is a particular mapping table that points to the entry being updated in the first original table; traversing, by the computer, the chain to the next to last mapping table that points to the entry in the first original table; acquiring, by the computer, the particular mapping table for the next to last mapping table; and adding, by the computer, an updated entry in the particular mapping table to link to the updated entry appearing in the first original table.