Importance

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Abstract

A method and apparatus for performing storage and retrieval in an information storage system is disclosed which uses the hashing technique. In order to prevent contamination of the storage medium by automatically expiring records, a garbage collection technique is used which removes all expired records in the neighborhood of a probe into the data storge system. More particularly, each probe for insertion, retrieval or deletion of a record is an occasion to search the entire chain of records found for expired records and then removing them and closing the chain. This garbage collection automatically removes expired record contamination in the vicinity of the probe, thereby automatically decontaminating the storage space. Because no long term contamination can build up in the present system, it is useful for large data bases which are heavily used and which require the fast access provided by hashing.

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First Claim