Patents Examined by Wen Ja Lin
  • Partially executing a pending atomic instruction to unlock resources when cancellation of the instruction occurs
    Patent number: 6282637
    Abstract: When an atomic instruction executed by a computer processor locks a memory location, the locking is performed before the processor has determined whether the instruction is to be executed to completion or canceled. The memory location is unlocked whether or not the instruction will be canceled. Since the locking operation can occur before it is known whether the instruction will be canceled, the reading of the memory location can also occur early, before it is known whether the instruction will be canceled.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 2, 1998
    Date of Patent: August 28, 2001
    Assignee: Sun Microsystems, Inc.
    Inventors: Jeffrey Meng Wah Chan, Marc Tremblay