Patents by Inventor Andrew Hickson

Andrew Hickson has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • System for storing new messages in both full-length and abbreviated versions of message expiration data, and eliminating old, expired messages when a message is retrieved
    Patent number: 6094694
    Abstract: A data processing apparatus runs a messaging and queuing software package whereby messages received at the data processing apparatus are stored in a message queue. The apparatus has: a processor; a high storage capacity storage device; and a low storage capacity storage device (e.g., a high-speed cache); the high storage capacity storage device stores full-length expiration data for each message in the message queue; and the low storage capacity storage device stores an abbreviated version of the full-length expiration data for each message in the message queue, the abbreviated version used to quickly and efficiently determine whether a queued message is expired.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 4, 1998
    Date of Patent: July 25, 2000
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Andrew Hickson, James Gordon Wilkinson