Patent ID: 8086586

Claim:
An apparatus for facilitating access by an application to a data structure comprising a plurality of objects, the apparatus comprising: a processor operating in conjunction with a memory; means for receiving from the application a request initiating return of the data structure, and wherein the means for receiving is configured to resolve the data structure; means for assigning a corresponding handle to each of a set of objects selected from the plurality of objects, and wherein at least one of the set comprises an unresolved object having an unresolved handle, wherein the unresolved handle indicates that the unresolved object is unresolved; means for retrieving a resolved object from the set of corresponding resolved handles to reference the resolved object, wherein the unresolved object of the data structure remains in the data structure and remains unresolved; means for storing the resolved object; means for providing the resolved object to the application before the data structure is resolved; means for storing a second handle assigned to another object in the data structure with a previously retrieved object; means for determining the second handle assigned to the another object, responsive to the application accessing the previously retrieved object; means for selecting a third object from the data structure, responsive to the second handle indicating that the another object is unresolved.