The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jun. 12, 2001
Filed:
May. 17, 1996
Christian J. Callsen, Menlo Park, CA (US);
Sun Microsystems, Inc., Palo Alto, CA (US);
Abstract
A method and apparatus for providing thread-safe disposal of objects in a multi-threaded computer environment. When a thread from a process sends a call to delete an object, that thread typically waits for other threads interacting with that same object to clear. During this waiting period, it is common to have other threads invoking the same object, thus increasing rather than decreasing the number of active threads for that object. Also, problems arise when more than one thread attempts to delete the object. However, the present invention associates a state machine with each object. When an invocation of an object is made, the state machine is queried to detect the state. Invocations made on the object after the occurrence of a delete call interpret the object as having been deleted, and are not added to the active invocations for that object. Further, subsequent delete calls also interpret the object as having been deleted, and return a failure indication. The initial delete call returns success when the object is finally deleted. Thus, new invocations are precluded and multiple delete calls are handled appropriately.