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:
Apr. 08, 2003
Filed:
Dec. 15, 1999
Gopala Krishna R. Kakivaya, Redmond, WA (US);
David N. Cutler, Medina, WA (US);
James M. Lyon, Redmond, WA (US);
Microsoft Corporation, Redmond, WA (US);
Abstract
Synchronization services provide a concurrency-safe reader/writer lock supporting a time out feature. The lock can be implemented using lockless data structures to provide efficient synchronization services. Various features such as lock nesting and auto-transformation address common scenarios arising in componentized programs. The lock supports upgrading and suspension, and the time out feature can support an efficient, low-cost optimistic deadlock avoidance scheme. Peculiarities of the reader/writer scenario are addressed in an efficient way to maintain lock stability and consistency, thus providing synchronization services suitable for implementation at the kernel level. In one implementation using event objects, the events are managed for high efficiency and stability of the lock. For multiprocessor machines, a hybrid lock avoids a context switch by behaving as a spin lock before waiting for the lock to become available.