System and method for accessing and updating a continuously broadcasted stored database

Claim 1

In an architecture comprising a memory for storing a database, means for cyclically broadcasting the database over a downstream transmission channel, a plurality of processing elements located along the downstream channel for reading the database during each broadcast cycle, an upstream channel via which information is transmitted from said processing elements to said memory, and update means in communication with said upstream channel and said memory, a method for concurrently performing a plurality of queries comprising the steps of maintaining in said memory a database comprising a plurality of records, each of which record comprises a plurality of fields, cyclically broadcasting via said downstream channel said database, at said processing elements, concurrently executing a plurality of queries on said database by accessing particular records from said database using content addressing by the steps of at each processing element, successively storing each record of said database during each broadcast cycle of said database, at each processing element, storing one or more content attributes associated with each query to be executed at the processing element, at each processing element, comparing said content attributes stored therein with the contents of one or more fields of each of said records stored in the processing element during each broadcast cycle, and indicating when a query is satisfied by one of said records, transmitting update requests of records identified in response to said queries from said processing elements via said upstream channel to said update means, and updating said database maintained in said memory in a non-conflicting manner in response to said update requests by using said update means to receive said update request and to resolve conflicts among said update requests.