Patent ID: 8001098

Claim:
A method for managing a transaction for updating tables of a database comprising a plurality of tables, said method comprising: storing, in an access order storage unit, an access order specifying a temporal order in which the tables of the plurality of tables are to be updated in the database, wherein each table of the plurality of tables is identified by a respective table identifier, wherein the temporal order is expressed in the access order as a sequential ordering of the table identifiers of the tables of the plurality of tables, wherein the tables identified by the table identifiers in the access order are to be updated in a same sequential ordering in time as the sequential ordering of the respective table identifiers in the access order, and wherein a database update management system comprises the access order storage unit and an updated data storage area, and wherein said storing the access order is performed by a processor of an information processing apparatus; after said storing the access order, said processor receiving a data request specifying records in the database to be updated in the database for the transaction, said records to be updated being comprised by the plurality of tables of the database; after said receiving the data request, said processor copying the records identified in the data request from the database to a virtual data area; after said copying, said processor determining from a list of updated records in the updated data storage area that the records identified in the data request have been updated in the virtual data area, said list of updated records specifying updated records of tables of the database in a chronological order in which the updated records have been updated in the virtual data area in accordance with the data request; after said determining that the records identified in the data request have been updated in the virtual data area, said processor ascertaining that each record identified in the data request has not been updated in the database since said copying was performed; after said ascertaining, said processor sorting the list of updated records in accordance with the temporal order in the access order to generate a list of sorted records in the updated data storage area, wherein the records in list of sorted records are sequentially ordered in accordance with the sequential ordering of the table identifiers in the access order; and said processor updating the database by replacing in the database the records identified in the list of sorted records by corresponding updated records in the virtual data area, said records being replaced in the database in a time order corresponding to an order in which the updated records appear in the list of sorted records.