Patent ID: 8176023

Claim:
A method, comprising: placing a lock on a separator key of an index node of a B-tree index, wherein the lock locks a key range from the separator key to a next separator key; and at least one additional set of features selected from the group consisting of: (a) splitting a child node of the index node, wherein splitting the child node includes inserting a new separator key in the index node; duplicating the lock on the separator key; and applying the lock to the new separator key; (b) escalating the lock on the separator key including: upgrading the lock from a first intention lock to a first absolute lock; and eliminating locks on keys in the child nodes of the index node; (c) de-escalating the lock on the separator key including downgrading the lock from a second absolute lock to a second intention lock and placing locks on keys in child nodes of the index node; and (d) locking separator keys in only a subset of index nodes within the B-tree index, wherein the index node is in the subset of index nodes; and changing the set of index nodes in which separator keys are locked.