Patent ID: 7471687

Claim:
A method for selecting a bit of a main bitmap for an operation, comprising: (a) dividing the bitmap into a series of fragments; and (b) creating a first hierarchy of bit-map fragments in ascending levels, wherein each bit in a higher-level bitmap fragment is associated with a multi-bit fragment of a lower-level bitmap fragment, and wherein a one in a bit of a higher-level bitmap fragment indicates at least one value of one in the associated lower-level bit-map fragment; wherein bits of the main bitmap represent sectors of a circle, and the circle is the locus of all points to be assigned as identifiers in a distributed system, and wherein a system managing assignment of identifiers in the distributed system enters one of the first and second hierarchies at a highest level, and follows bit indicators through a hierarchy to select a bit in the main bitmap indicating availability of an identifier to be assigned or re-assigned in the distributed system.