Patent ID: 7225178

Claim:
A database management method for managing data in a database for magnetic heads, comprising the steps of: inputting and dividing data, which arrive in sequence of time series, into segments of a predetermined size, and storing said segments together with bookmark information in a data area of a storage of said database, each of said bookmark information of a segment including time information and status information, wherein said time information is read out of a clock included in said database and wherein status information of loading is written into a currently storing segment during the storing thereby to make the currently storing segment inaccessible, thereafter status information indicating an online state is written thereby to make a stored segment accessible; storing a segment having time information of null and status information of empty into a position next to a last segment of said segments stored in said data area; setting, in a system definition information area of said storage, storage location management information having start segment information that points to a start segment of said segments and empty segment information that points to said segment having said time information of null and said status information of empty stored in said data area; reading, in response to receiving further data which arrive in sequence of time series following said data divided, empty segment information out of said system definition information area thereby to point to a segment and divide said further data into segments and store the segments into said data area starting from said segment pointed to, wherein status information of loading is written into a currently storing segment during the storing thereby to make the currently storing segment inaccessible, thereafter status information indicating an online status is written thereby to make a stored segment accessible; storing a segment of said further data having time information of null and status information of empty into a position next to a last segment of said segments of said further data stored in said data area; setting, in a system definition information area of said storage, empty segment information that points to said segment of said further data having said time information of null and said status information of empty stored in said data area; and acquiring, when a deletion operation of one or a plurality of segments having certain time information, time information out of said bookmark information of the segments having status information indicating an online status stored in said data area of said storage to decide whether said one or a plurality of segments are ones which are to be deleted, and if this decision is yes, shifting start segment information in said system definition information area, if any, to a next segment in time series fashion and setting time information of null and status information of empty into the bookmark information area of said one or a plurality of segments.