Abstract: A system and method are provided for providing a shared RAM cache of a database, accessible by multiple processes. By sharing a single cache rather than local copies of the database, memory is saved and synchronization of data accessed by different processes is assured. Synchronization between the database and the shared cache is assured by using a unidirectional notification mechanism between the database and the shared cache. Client APIs within the processes search the data within the shared cache directly, rather than by making a request to a database server. Therefore server load is not affected by the number of requesting applications and data fetch time is not affected by Inter-Process Communication delay or by additional context switching. A new synchronization scheme allows multiple processes to be used in building and maintaining the cache, greatly reducing start up time.

Abstract: The invention provides a system and method of retrieving data associated with a file from a database by a field name into local memory. It comprises calculating an address reference for a storage location in the local memory for the data; fetching the data from the database; and utilizing the address reference to map the data to an address in the local memory. The address reference is an offset value from a base address of the storage location. Several files may be accessed using a cross reference table containing pointers to field tables. Entries in the cross reference table point to a field table. Each field table is a list of fields associated with the file. Each entry in the field table is a calculated offset value providing an address offset of a particular field from the base address of the file.

Abstract: The invention provides a system and method of retrieving data associated with a file from a database by a field name into local memory. It comprises calculating an address reference for a storage location in the local memory for the data; fetching the data from the database; and utilizing the address reference to map the data to an address in the local memory. The address reference is an offset value from a base address of the storage location. Several files may be accessed using a cross reference table containing pointers to field tables. Entries in the cross reference table point to a field table. Each field table is a list of fields associated with the file. Each entry in the field table is a calculated offset value providing an address offset of a particular field from the base address of the file.