Patent ID: 7555481

Claim:
A database management system, comprising: a processor configured to: associate multiple different activities with a same transaction, each of the multiple different activities each consisting of a separate different associated subgroup of program instructions for the same transaction, for each of the different subgroups of program instructions, initiate a different associated subgroup of multiple different read and/or write actions that access an associated group of multiple different data items; use and assign, for each of the different activities, only one single separate lock duration for all of the multiple different data items associated with the different associated subgroup of program instructions; maintain, for each of the different activities, multiple different locks on all of the multiple different data items associated with the activity, and then release all of the multiple different locks for all of the multiple different data items associated with the activity together only when all of the subgroup of program instructions associated with the activity are completed so that all of the multiple different locks on all of the multiple different data items associated with the activity have a same lock duration; release all of the locks on a first one of the groups of the multiple different data items associated with a first one of the different activities of the same transaction while a second set of data items that include at least some of the first group of data items from the first activity, but that are associated with a second one of the different activities for the same transaction, remain locked for a second one of the separate lock durations associated with the second activity.