Patent ID: 7107299

Claim:
An apparatus for use in managing objects, the apparatus comprising: a plurality of clusters, each cluster comprising a plurality of objects; memory storing a first data structure indicating a state of the objects; said memory storing a second data structure indicating the state of the clusters; a counter indicative of a number of sets of adjacent bits that are set in words of the second data structure, wherein a second data structure bit being set indicates that one or more clusters of objects associated with said bit are free for storage of data, and wherein each word comprises a plurality of bits; said memory further storing at least one data structure containing information extracted from the counter to manage the objects; and said at least one data structure containing information indicating that: the second data structure contains clusters of at least four adjacent free bits; the second data structure is not empty, but contains no clusters of four adjacent free bits; or the second data structure is empty, but allocation bitmap still shows free pages; wherein said apparatus indicates a cluster of objects is free if a bit is set and said cluster of objects is not free if the bit is cleared.