US 12,013,860 B2
Key-value storage using a skip list
Patrick James Helland, San Francisco, CA (US); James E. Mace, San Francisco, CA (US); and Thomas Fanghaenel, Oakland, CA (US)
Assigned to Salesforce, Inc., San Francisco, CA (US)
Filed by salesforce.com, inc., San Francisco, CA (US)
Filed on Jan. 3, 2023, as Appl. No. 18/149,440.
Application 18/149,440 is a continuation of application No. 16/908,097, filed on Jun. 22, 2020, granted, now 11,544,271.
Application 16/908,097 is a continuation of application No. 15/420,342, filed on Jan. 31, 2017, granted, now 10,691,696, issued on Jun. 23, 2020.
Prior Publication US 2023/0148215 A1, May 11, 2023
This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.
Int. Cl. G06F 16/2455 (2019.01)
CPC G06F 16/24562 (2019.01) 20 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A method of utilizing a skip list for a database, the skip list having database records that indirectly point to each other, the method comprising:
maintaining, by a computer system, a plurality of hash buckets that store pointers to database records;
maintaining, by the computer system, a buffer that stores a set of database records associated with a set of database keys, wherein the set of database records implement the skip list that permits ones of the set of database records to be accessed in key-sorted order, and wherein a first one of the set of database records indirectly points to a second one of the set of database records by storing, as part of the skip list, a pointer to a hash bucket that in turn stores a pointer to the second database record;
accessing, by the computer system, the first database record; and
traversing, by the computer system, the skip list from the first database record to access, in key-sorted order, one or more of the set of database records stored in the buffer.