Patent ID: 8806175

Claim:
A computer-implemented method for identifying a set of values associated with a selected key, the method comprising: providing, in a computer system having a processor, an in-memory hash table and a second hash table in a persistent storage; computing, by the computer system, a first index for the selected key; selecting first candidate elements from the in-memory hash table using the first index, the first candidate elements having associated first candidate keys; computing, by the computer system, a second index for the selected key; selecting second candidate elements from the second hash table using the second index, the second candidate elements having associated second candidate keys; examining, by the computer system, the first candidate elements to determine whether a first candidate key matches the selected key, and, when the first candidate key matches the selected key, identifying, as a member of the set of values, a first value associated with a first candidate element that is associated with the first candidate key; and examining, by the computer system, the second candidate elements to determine whether a second candidate key matches the selected key, and, when the second candidate key matches the selected key, identifying, as a member of the set of values, a second value associated with a second candidate element that is associated with the second candidate key.