Patent ID: 6938140

Claim:
A computer readable medium having stored thereon a data structure for preserving an original linear object, the data structure comprising: a plurality of data objects stored in one of a first list associated with a first end of a contiguous range of memory to which the data objects are related or a second list associated with a second end of a contiguous range of memory to which the data objects are related, each of the data objects comprising: an index field indicating a position of a next data object in a respective list; a key field uniquely identifying the data object; a reallocation field storing a non-address value; and a data storage area; an updated linear object replacing the original linear object, the updated linear object having the same data length as the original linear object and, after the original linear object is invalidated and a memory space storing the original linear object is erased, being inserted in place of the original linear object in the first list; and a copy of the original linear object, the copy of the original linear object being added to the second list, the reallocation field of the copy of the original linear object storing the position of the original linear object before the original linear object was replaced by the updated linear object in place of the non-address value before the original linear object was replaced by the updated linear object.