Patent ID: 7555488

Claim:
A method for prefetching data comprising: prior to receiving a query for an attribute corresponding to an initial object in an object structure comprising a plurality of objects, creating a structure context description that identifies each object in the object structure wherein the structure context description is created from a state of an object related to the initial object, the state of the related object comprising a reference to the object structure; associating the structure context description with each object in the object structure; storing the structure context description in a physical storage system; and upon receiving the query: retrieving data corresponding to the attribute of the initial object; returning the data corresponding to the attribute of the initial object to an application; using the structure context description to identify at least one other object in the object structure that has the attribute; retrieving data corresponding to the attribute of the other objects in the object structure; placing in cache the data corresponding to the attribute of the other objects in the object structure; and upon receiving a request the attribute for one of the other objects, providing the requested attribute from the data stored in the cache, whereby the attribute is provided in less time than if the attribute were not cached.