Patent ID: 7167878

Claim:
A processor-implemented method of maintaining a plurality of data blocks that require an incremental maintenance operation to process new data in a database, the database having a base table with a plurality of contiguous data blocks, the method comprising: setting a block map associated with the base table by recording a status of each data block in the base table; searching the block map to identify the status of a marked data block that stores the new data, in order to determine if the incremental maintenance operation is required on the identified marked data block; wherein the status of each data block includes information on whether a change to the identified marked data block requires a constraint checking operation to be performed on the identified marked data block, wherein the constraint includes a condition that is defined for the base table and that must be true for all rows of the base table; upon determination that the change to the identified marked data block requires the constraint checking operation to be performed, performing the incremental maintenance operation on the identified marked data block, to exclusively process the new data in the identified marked data block; and storing the processed new data in the database.