Abstract: A computing system including a plurality of data processing systems and a peripheral input device. The peripheral input device includes a computer selector for selecting one of the plurality of data processing systems for interaction with the peripheral input device. The peripheral input device also includes a wireless transmitter for providing communications with any one of the plurality of data processing systems. Each of the plurality of data processing systems includes a wireless receiver for receiving wireless communications from the peripheral input device.

Abstract: The present invention is directed to a system, method and instructions for handling path flow exception and finalization processing in an object oriented programming language. Initially, each instrumentation method is checked for a code to indicated an exception being thrown. A hook is inserted before the exception code and identifies the method throwing the exception. Methods must also be checked for exception tables. When an exception table is found, then a hook is inserted at the entry point of each exception handler for every entry in the exception table. This hook identifies the method which catches the exception.

Abstract: In a system and method for displaying status of critical indicators or variables, icons representing the indicators are displayed in superposition with a reference shape. The reference shape is divided into “higher-interest” and “lower-interest” portions, such that display of an icon over the higher-interest portion of the reference shape indicates a higher-interest value of the corresponding variable. The reference shape is preferably elongated horizontally, with its upper portion designated as the higher-interest portion and its lower portion designated the lower-interest portion. Each monitored variable may be allocated a vertical “slice” of the reference shape, such that the position of the corresponding icon when the variable is in the higher-interest state is laterally aligned with the position of the icon when the variable is in the lower-interest state.

Abstract: A method and system for monitoring performance of a program is provided. A trace record containing a call stack associated with the program is periodically generated. An occurrence of a selected event or a timer interrupt is detected, and in response, an execution context sample is obtained that contains a process identifier, a thread identifier, a program counter, and a stack pointer. A trace record containing the execution context sample data is generated. During post-processing, the execution context samples are compared with a call stack to identify the routine associated with the execution sample data.

Abstract: A method, system, apparatus, and computer program product is presented for improving the execution performance of an application in a data processing system. Instrumentation code is inserted into an application in which the instrumentation code generates trace data for method entry events and method exit events when the instrumented application is executed. The trace output data that is generated by the instrumentation code is then analyzed to detect patterns which indicate an inefficient coding construct in the application. The source code for the inefficient coding construct in the application associated with the detected pattern may be modified according to indications provided to an application developer. For example, a specific inefficient coding construct may be an inefficient use of a cross-language boundary, such as the interface between Java code and native code, in which data is inefficiently transferred across the interface through a local array in the native code.

Abstract: A method and system for detecting memory leaks in an object-oriented environment during real-time trace processing is provided. During the profiling of a program executing in a data processing system, a profiler processes events caused by the execution of the program, and the profiler maintains a profile data structure containing execution-related metrics for the program. The execution-related metrics may include object allocation and deallocation metrics that are associated with object processing initiated on behalf of an executing method. An object allocator allocates objects during the execution of the program and modifies object allocation metrics in the profile data structure. Object metrics are stored in a particular location and a pointer to that location is stored in a hash table associated with the object's ID. In another embodiment the pointer to the location is stored in a shadow heap in the same relative position as the position of the object in the heap.

Abstract: The present system and method logs global reliability, availability, and serviceability (GRAS) services data for runtime environment (RTE) systems or applications in a central repository within a distributed environment. A backup logging system and method in the event of a failure or error in the centralized logging system and method are also provided. An RTE system allows itself to self-configure and self-modify itself to designate that it has a GRAS manager for centralized logging system and method in the event of a failure or error. The RTE systems are directed to log the GRAS services data to a central repository managed and maintained by a designated GRAS manager. The GRAS manager manages and maintains the logged GRAS services data in the central repository for the RTE applications, and the GRAS manager references to access the central repository by the RTE applications for the GRAS services data that are related to respective GRAS services of the RTE applications.

Abstract: A low-overhead performance measurement of an application executing in a data processing system is provided in order to generate per-thread performance information in a multithreaded environment. While a first set of events is being monitored for a particular thread as a first metric, events that may indirectly cause inaccuracies in the first metric, such as thread switches, are also monitored as a second metric. The presence of a positive value for the second metric is then used to determine that the first metric is inaccurate or unreliable, after which the first metric may be discarded; otherwise, the first metric is considered accurate. For example, the first metric may then be considered a thread-relative metric as it has been observed during a time period in which no thread switch events or interrupt events would have caused the first metric to become inaccurate during the execution of a particular thread.

Abstract: Information for receiving by a computer system has attributes which the computer system is capable of interpreting for displaying on a two-dimensional display device. The information includes background and character attributes, according to which the characters are displayable in a color or shade that contrasts to the background. At least one of the characters has a certain character attribute for two dimensionally displaying, such bold, italic, underlining, font type or color. The information is rendered in a delineation that is tactile-detectable on a control surface of a three-dimensional display device. As thus rendered, a representation of the background is rendered in a first plane, while a representation one of the characters has a top surface of the character rendered in a second plane, and a representation of the one of the characters having the certain character attribute has a top surface of the character rendered in a third plane.

Abstract: A method, system, and computer program product is presented for minimizing overhead that may be incurred by executing specialized code, such as debug code or instrumentation code for monitoring the performance of the application, that is present within an application. The application executes on a data processing system having a processor containing predicate registers. The application is compiled in a manner in which the processor instructions for the specialized code are predicated using a set of one or more predicate registers that are dedicated or reserved by software convention for predicating the specialized code. In other words, for a given application, compilers and other sources of machine instructions do not generate any predicated processor instructions, other than processor instructions for the specialized code, which use the reserved predicate registers. When the application executes, neither the operating system nor other applications use the reserved predicate registers.

Abstract: An apparatus and method for cataloging symbolic data for use in performance analysis of computer programs is provided. The apparatus and method stores symbolic data for loaded modules during or shortly after a performance trace and utilizes the stored symbolic data when performing a performance analysis at a later time. A merged symbol file is generated for a computer program, or application, under trace. The merged symbol file contains information useful in performing symbolic resolution of address information in trace files for each instance of a module. During post processing of the trace information generated by a performance trace of a computer program, symbolic information stored in the merged symbol file is compared to the trace information stored in the trace file. The correct symbolic information in the merged symbol file for loaded modules is identified based a number of validating criteria.

Abstract: Disclosed is an apparatus and method to build activity sequenced engine programs from activity function units (AFUs) within a graphical environment. Each AFU is comprised of a set of graphical representations of functional units (FUs). AFUs can be combined with other FUs and previously-created code represented in FU form to build large complex programs which present the same functionality as iterative systems but are easily modified and added to by the user.

Abstract: A system and method of providing, using, and traversing a combination associative and directed graph that is used for traversing command structures that are representative of a command that is communicated from at least one system to at least another system. The combination associative and directed graph has a directed graph portion that is used for traversing hierarchical command structures and has an associative graph portion for traversing associative command structures. Data is provided for defining the directed graph portion. The directed graph portion is used for representing and traversing the command structures that have a relationship to each other or that have a hierarchical nature. The data that defines the directed graph portion is coupled to and below the command. Data is provided for defining the associative graph portion. The associative graph portion is used for representing and traversing the command structures that each have a named role or that have an associative nature.

Abstract: A method and system for profiling a program using periodic trace sampling is provided. During the execution of the program, sample-based profiling of the executing program is performed—for a predetermined period, a profiler performs trace processing for the program, after which the profiler pauses and does not perform trace processing for a predetermined period. The periods controlling the profiler may be selected by a user, and the periods may be measured by temporal or non-temporal metrics. The profiler cycles through these periods, during which selected events are processed to generate a profile of the execution flows within the program. For each sample period, a tree data structure is generated in which nodes of the tree data structure represent the routines of the program that execute during the sample period, as may be indicated by entry and exit events caused by the execution of the routines.

Abstract: In a system and method for displaying status of critical indicators or variables, icons representing the indicators are displayed in superposition with a reference shape. The reference shape is divided into “higher-interest” and “lower-interest” portions, such that display of an icon over the higher-interest portion of the reference shape indicates a higher-interest value of the corresponding variable. The reference shape is preferably elongated horizontally, with its upper portion designated as the higher-interest portion and its lower portion designated the lower-interest portion. Each monitored variable may be allocated a vertical “slice” of the reference shape, such that the position of the corresponding icon when the variable is in the higher-interest state is laterally aligned with the position of the icon when the variable is in the lower-interest state.

Abstract: A method and system for augmenting conventional search engine results with peer-to-peer search results. Rather than relying solely on an index search in a database that has only indexed a minor portion of the entire World Wide Web, a server-based, peer-to-peer search is initiated in conjunction with the index search. The results from both search processes can be combined so that the user receives an augmented search result with more information than a search result from either process by itself. The entities that are involved in the search can also establish financially rewarding relationships. The server operator agrees to share a percentage of its revenue with peer-to-peer nodes as an incentive to join its registered set of root nodes and expand its peer-to-peer connections. The identified sources of information that provided the search hits can be used by the operator of the search engine in a compensation transaction.

Abstract: A method and system for establishing a priority order of threads executed within a multiprocessor data processing system are disclosed. The priority order of threads is maintained on a global queue within the data processing system and the queue is ordered by selecting a most favored runnable thread from among either a current thread, a favored thread, or an affinity thread. Once the thread is chosen, be it the current thread, the most favored thread, or the affinity thread, the chosen thread is removed from a run queue and then is run on the data processing system on a selected processor. An affinity thread pointer is updated to the thread being run to select the next affinity thread or the thread having the greatest affinity.

Abstract: A method for detecting conditions of interest in a distributed system. First, a condition of interest is formulated as a Boolean statement and stored at a condition detection component of the distributed system. The condition detection component then selectively receives events related to the condition of interest from a data collection component. Finally, the received events are combined and evaluated against the Boolean statement to determine if the condition is met. In one embodiment, the condition also includes a WITHIN element which filters out events received outside of a pre-specified time period.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for non-interrupt-driven handshake with acknowledgment are provided. A first software resource in a data processing system communicates a data value to a second software resource by writing the data value to a first register field, where it may be read by the second software resource. On writing the data, the first resource sets a write signal in a second register field. If the second software resource attempts to read the data value before it is written by the first resource, a reset value in the second field informs the second resource that any data in the first field is invalid. The second resource then sets a first predetermined value in a third field which informs the first resource that the second has attempted a read. If the data is valid when the second resource attempts the read, the data is retrieved, and the second resource echos the value in a fourth field.

Abstract: A method, system and computer program product for optimizing processing of single byte characters employed within a multibyte character encoding scheme in association with an underlying data encoding scheme employed within an operating system. The method includes: (1) receiving a data string, (2) passing the data string in its entirety to a first processing routine and (3) evaluating the data string to determine if any character in the data string is an excluded character of a host font. The method further includes (4) transferring the data string in its entirety to a second processing routine and (5) assessing a limited number of characters in the data string to determine if the data string can be converted under an underlying encoding scheme.