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:
Mar. 30, 2004
Filed:
Jun. 30, 1998
Lars Bak, Palo Alto, CA (US);
Srdjan Mitrovic, Redwood Shores, CA (US);
Urs Hölzle, Palo Alto, CA (US);
Sun Microsystems, Inc., Palo Alto, CA (US);
Abstract
Methods and apparatus for performing fast subtype checks during program execution are disclosed. According to one aspect of the present invention, a method for determining whether a class associated with an object that is a part of an object-based computing system is a subtype of another type includes obtaining a candidate type from a dynamic storage location that is associated with a class which is associated with the object, and comparing the candidate type against a first type that is potentially the same as the candidate type. A determination is then made as to whether the candidate type is substantially equal to the first type. When the determination is that the candidate type is substantially equal to the first type, an indication that the candidate type is a subtype of the first type is provided. In one embodiment, the candidate type obtained from the dynamic storage location is obtained from a cache element in the class associated with the object.