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:
Jan. 27, 2009
Filed:
Jul. 29, 2004
Gregory M. Wright, Mountain View, CA (US);
Matthew L. Seidl, Longmont, CO (US);
Mario I. Wolczko, San Carlos, CA (US);
Gregory M. Wright, Mountain View, CA (US);
Matthew L. Seidl, Longmont, CO (US);
Mario I. Wolczko, San Carlos, CA (US);
Sun Microsystems, Inc., Santa Clara, CA (US);
Abstract
One embodiment of the present invention provides a system that facilitates identifying roots for a garbage-collection operation in a computer system that supports an object-addressed memory hierarchy. In order to identify roots, the system first looks up an object table entry that corresponds to an object in an object cache, wherein the object table entry contains an evicted bit, which is set when any part of the modified object is evicted from the object cache, and a corresponding physical address for the object in main memory. Next, the system determines if the evicted bit is set in the object table entry, and if so, examines the object corresponding to the object table entry to determine if the object contains references to the target area in the object heap that is being garbage collected. If so, the system uses the references as roots for a subsequent garbage-collection operation of the target area.