Patents Examined by Peter J. Corcoran, III
  • Patent number: 5884082
    Abstract: An operating system monitoring tool has two components: a hyperkernel that augments the operating system of a target multiprocessing system; and a graphical front end for implementing the user interface. The hyperkernel component is annexed to the operating system by: intercepting all interrupts and redirecting them from the operating system to the hyperkernel; and substituting a jump to the hyperkernel for each point in the operating system that returns back to the application code. Associated with the hyperkernel are buffers, located on the respective processors, that accumulate information pertaining to calls to the operating system. On demand, or when the buffers fill, the accumulated information is relayed to the graphical front end for filtering, manipulation, and display.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 21, 1997
    Date of Patent: March 16, 1999
    Assignee: Lucent Technologies Inc.
    Inventors: Kurt Dieter Seidel, Allen Wilbur Stichter
  • Patent number: 5884080
    Abstract: The present invention is directed to a system and method for monitoring system performance by sampling instructions in a burst mode, rather than once per interrupt. A burst mode may be configurable for a number of instructions per burst. Furthermore, these instructions are counted using a dynamic tree structure, rather than a log, which results in substantial savings in storage. The present invention requires minimal changes to the operating system, and no changes to application code that is being monitored. No recompilation is necessary to use the present invention. In addition, the present invention provides a system and method for monitoring code segments that are disabled for interrupts, and thus are difficult, if not impossible, to monitor using prior art performance tools. In a multi-processor system, the burst mode is active on all processors at the same time, and each processor has its own dynamic tree structure.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 26, 1996
    Date of Patent: March 16, 1999
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Geoffrey Owen Blandy, Maher Afif Saba
  • Patent number: 5875331
    Abstract: A system for generating target language source code utilizing an object oriented code generator is disclosed. A desired computer programming function is specified using a fourth generation language. An object oriented converter converts the fourth generation language specification into an object oriented model which retains the function and inter-relationships defined in the specification. The object oriented model is applied against a set of source code templates for a desired target language, which will typically be a third generation language. An object oriented generator engine parses the resulting collection of templates to form source code files having the desired programming function in the desired target language.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 30, 1994
    Date of Patent: February 23, 1999
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corp.
    Inventor: Anthony Hayden Lindsey
  • Patent number: 5872974
    Abstract: A GUI software development system that executes in a multitasking environment is enhanced with the addition of a property setting manager program that provides a means whereby a programmer may readily store and retrieve one of a plurality of program object property sets for a particular program object, be the object a visual control or a non-visual object that provides a distinct added functionality to the program. The property setting manager program provides functionality to extract current property settings of a control or object and save those settings as a predefined property set for future use. Predefined property sets are automatically made available to the programmer upon detection of an event indicating a corresponding control or object is being added to a computer program under development. Multiple unique predefined property settings for a particular programming object or control are stored for later recall so that the programming effort required to establish initial property settings is minimized.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 19, 1995
    Date of Patent: February 16, 1999
    Inventor: Daniel J. Mezick
  • Patent number: 5867712
    Abstract: An improved system utility using pointers and stacks and a method for high level language procedure for representing, storing, retrieving, processing, and/or manipulating documents, said system utilities facilitates compilation, linkage, processing, and management of said high level language procedures. Call, return, and auxiliary stacks are included to store pointers of normal, exceptional/conditional, and alternative operations. A bit mapping logic and smart object memory are used to look ahead, monitor, and predict forthcoming exceptional/conditional operation, a system look-up table further prefetch relevant procedural and data pointers for maintaining pipeline coherence.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 5, 1997
    Date of Patent: February 2, 1999
    Inventors: Venson M. Shaw, Steven M. Shaw
  • Patent number: 5860010
    Abstract: A language with similar representation for programs and data is used in cooperative data processing applications, particularly for the distribution of information and processing in a network management system in accordance with executable messages which convey the code to be executed, identifying simultaneously the functions to be applied and the data on which the functions must be applied. The messages are asynchronous and are sent in the network in a free format from an interpreter INT of said language in one machine to another interpreter of said language in another machine.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 4, 1997
    Date of Patent: January 12, 1999
    Assignee: Bull S.A.
    Inventor: Denis Attal
  • Patent number: 5857102
    Abstract: A computer system in a distributed object programming environment includes a number of host computers providing services to clients on a network through internally stored servers. Various types of configuration information for each server are available to clients through persistent server administrators, which are objects containing such information about individual servers. A server administrator can store such information as startup execution definitions, saved program definition, object interfaces and implementations, reaping, tracing, and logging configuration data. Being persistent and external to the server, the server administrator can manipulate and determine its information about a server in response to client requests without starting up the server, thereby facilitating system administration.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 14, 1995
    Date of Patent: January 5, 1999
    Assignee: Sun Microsystems, Inc.
    Inventors: Roderick J. McChesney, Gregory B. Nuyens
  • Patent number: 5854935
    Abstract: An optimization compiler performs computation of hamming's distance between address of respective instruction of the temporarily arranged program string and a next execution address after temporary arrangement of program modules. Next, the optimization compiler checks whether a portion of the program string where address distance is smaller than a predetermined value has been optimized in the temporarily arranged program string. If not optimized, modifying process of branching condition or so forth for the instruction is performed. Finally, the optimization compiler further checks whether a portion of the program string where address distance is greater than or equal to the predetermined value. If not optimized, rearrangement of the program modules is performed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 15, 1996
    Date of Patent: December 29, 1998
    Assignee: NEC Corporation
    Inventor: Toshio Enomoto
  • Patent number: 5854932
    Abstract: A minimal rebuild system and process for minimizing rebuilding of a user's programming project analyzes and records dependencies of object code files compiled in a previous build of the project on classes declared in header files. When rebuilding the project, the system detects and records changes made to the classes and header files since the project was last built. The system then determines whether to recompile the object code files from their respective source code files by comparing the recorded dependencies and changes. If an object code file's dependencies do not intersect the changes, recompiling of the object code file can be omitted. The minimal rebuild system utilizes an approximate representation of the dependencies to yield an efficient system while ensuring that the project is correctly rebuilt.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 17, 1995
    Date of Patent: December 29, 1998
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Rico Mariani, Daniel R. Spalding, Jonathan E. Caves, Jan Gray, Scott Randell
  • Patent number: 5852734
    Abstract: To increase the speed of program execution by decomposing a loop onto a plurality of processors and executing them in parallel. First, a loop in a source program is located which is to be executed in parallel. This loop is then analyzed for data dependence. The result of the analysis is used for calculating data dependence vectors. Then all areas of the index executed in the loop are decomposed and assigned to a number of processors. Further, it is determined whether data needs to be transferred between processors. Based on the array index space, communication vectors are calculated. Data dependence vectors and communication vectors are ANDed to calculate communication dependence vectors. Then, the manner of communication of operands and loop execution are determined based on the values of communication dependence vectors.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 9, 1995
    Date of Patent: December 22, 1998
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Hideaki Komatsu, Kazuaki Ishizaki, Osamu Gohda
  • Patent number: 5850545
    Abstract: An environment setting system for multiple users includes a directory management section adapted to be executed by a predetermined command on an operating system and for generating a parameter directory used for storing parameters which determine the environment of the application program utilized by the user or designating the parameter directory, and a parameter management section for, in accordance with the operation of the application program, fetching a predetermined parameter from the parameter directory, transferring the predetermined parameter to the application program and storing the predetermined parameter in the parameter directory. According to the thus constituted environment setting system, users can set their own environments for the application program, by themselves without the help from a system administrator, and can use the application program under the thus set environments.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 3, 1995
    Date of Patent: December 15, 1998
    Assignee: Fuji Photo Film Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Masahiro Matsushita
  • Patent number: 5845126
    Abstract: Method of, system for, and computer program product for generating efficient code for a set of nested Fortran 90 array constructors without introducing temporary vectors by the use of normalized counters and by maintaining array constructor extent structure trees. Non-perfectly nested array constructors and array constructors with dynamic extents may be inlined. The results provided include a reduction in run-time memory storage usage and an improvement in execution time performance.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 6, 1995
    Date of Patent: December 1, 1998
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Dz Ching Ju, John Shek-Luen Ng
  • Patent number: 5838975
    Abstract: A computerized method of testing and debugging an executable behaviorally unknown computer program by dynamic comparison with an executable behaviorally known computer program. The method controls execution of each program and compares related variable values at selected breakpoints in each program. If the variable values are equal within a certain error range the method continues execution of each program. If there is a significant difference between the variable values the method reports a fault and allows the option of terminating or continuing the method.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 18, 1995
    Date of Patent: November 17, 1998
    Inventors: David Andrew Abramson, Rok Sosic
  • Patent number: 5838976
    Abstract: A profiler that accurately measures performance metrics for all threads executing a process on a SMP computer system. The profiler uses dynamic instrumentation to cause threads to sample performance metrics before and after certain code regions. In addition, the profiler uses extensions to a parallel support layer to register a parent thread with its child threads. Each thread stores the measured performance metric, or delta, in a memory cell or cells corresponding to its region and its parent region. When the process is complete, the profiler scans through the memory storage areas and sums the deltas for each particular level of code. Then, the results may be analyzed at the thread or process level. In this manner, the profiler can be adapted to work with any process executing on the computer system.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 28, 1995
    Date of Patent: November 17, 1998
    Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Co.
    Inventor: Chuck Summers
  • Patent number: 5838974
    Abstract: For program creation, selected types of graphical objects ("State", "Action", "Transition", "Control Condition") and selected types of program attributes ("Basic", "Fault", "Automatic", "Manual", "Visible") are available. In the creation of an overall program, a plurality of graphical objects are brought into interrelation with one another in an application-dependent manner, and each graphical object of the overall program is assigned according to the invention a program attribute selected in an application-dependent manner. From the overall program, those graphical objects which have certain program attributes are combined in an application-dependent manner into activatable or rather deactivatable views representing subprograms.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 16, 1995
    Date of Patent: November 17, 1998
    Assignee: Siemens Aktiengesellschaft
    Inventors: Christian Ritscher, Joerg Middel, Roland Schneider, Dieter Wissmann, Guenther Rath
  • Patent number: 5838977
    Abstract: The dbX persistent programming language model solves the problem of seamlessly providing an unfragmented, persistible, complex object heap space that extends beyond virtual memory to a program in a host programming language X. It does so without rewriting a compiler for X and without operating system or hardware dependencies. It uses a memory pointer as a pointer to a persistible object, with the lvalue of the pointer providing a hook to the OID of the object. The lvalues of pointers to persistible objects, their associated OIDs and other information about persistible objects are maintained in a global data structure. Unresolved pointers to persistible objects point to an unusable area of memory, and dereferencing them triggers object faulting. A keyword and an overloaded allocation operator are used to identify statically and dynamically allocated pieces of memory respectively as persistible.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 7, 1995
    Date of Patent: November 17, 1998
    Assignee: Texas Instruments Incorporated
    Inventor: Anil Gupta
  • Patent number: 5835761
    Abstract: There is provided with an information processing system capable of updating a basic input/output system (BIOS) programme without interrupting or stopping the operation of the system.The information processing system (41) comprises an update programme memory (48) and a BIOS update flag (50). The update programme memory (48) retains the contents stored therein after the electrical power to the information processing system (41) has been turned off. An update programme input arrangement supplies an update basic input/output system programme to the update programme memory (48) to write the programme thereinto while the operating system is in operation. The update programme input arrangement then sets the BIOS update flag (50). A system loading arrangement copies the update basic input/output system programme stored in the update programme memory (48) to a memory area of a main memory (44) when the BIOS update flag (50) is set upon loading the operating system (i.e.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 17, 1997
    Date of Patent: November 10, 1998
    Assignees: Mitsubishi Denki Kabushiki Kaisha, Apricot Computers Limited
    Inventors: Masahiro Ishii, Toshikazu Yokoi, Kunio Takahari, Atsushi Toshima, Colin Hough, Nigel Bruce
  • Patent number: 5835772
    Abstract: A peripheral device for use in interfacing with a system. The peripheral device contains driver code stored in memory locations within the peripheral device. The driver code is uncompiled, and, when read by a system to which the peripheral device is coupled, enables the system to interface with the peripheral device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 29, 1995
    Date of Patent: November 10, 1998
    Assignee: Intel Corporation
    Inventor: Clark S. Thurlo
  • Patent number: 5832270
    Abstract: Object-oriented system methods are automatically instrumented with method hooks that are capable of generating graphical information that can be visualized on a graphical interface. When a method hook is run, it can indicate the occurrence of: an object instance being created, and object instance being destroyed, an method being entered or a method being exited. In the event of one of these occurrences, the method hooks initiate execution of a monitoring function that uses the graphical information and a visualization script with rules to update a visualization shown on the graphical interface. The update will conform with the current state of the object instances visualized. The rules can be changed, to modify the visualization, without recompiling or relinking the application programs. Constraints also can be used by the monitoring function to modify the visualization.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 26, 1997
    Date of Patent: November 3, 1998
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Johannes Christiaan Laffra, Ashok Malhotra
  • Patent number: 5828886
    Abstract: A compiling apparatus and method in which instructions are scheduled for an efficient parallel process with a register allotting process and an instruction scheduling process performed independently of each other. An instruction scheduling unit collects information indicating the range of available registers, and renames registers by replacing the register numbers used by the instructions with other register numbers according to the collected register information and the analysis of definition/reference instruction dependency. The instructions are scheduled after the registers have been renamed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 23, 1995
    Date of Patent: October 27, 1998
    Assignee: Fujitsu Limited
    Inventor: Masakazu Hayashi