Patent ID: 8204912

Claim:
A computer-implemented method, comprising: detecting, using at least a processor, a split condition for a node in a b-tree, where the b-tree is a data structure stored in a machine-readable medium; identifying a hi-split key in the node, where the hi-split key partitions the node into two unequal portions such that one portion contains a greater number of keys than the other portion; moving the hi-split key from the node to the parent node of the node; splitting the node by allocating n additional leaf nodes at the same level as the node, the n additional leaf nodes being child nodes of the parent node containing the hi-split key, where n is an integer greater than one; and relating the hi-split key to a hash function configured: to provide key-based access to the n additional leaf nodes; to control key-based access to the n additional leaf nodes, and to make the n additional leaf nodes operate as a single logical leaf node.