Patents by Inventor Bennie L. Shearer, Jr.

Bennie L. Shearer, Jr. 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).

  • Dynamic alteration of operating system kernel resource tables
    Patent number: 6272519
    Abstract: A method to dynamically alter the availability or characteristics of specified system resources (e.g. interprocess communications facilities or tuning variables that control operating efficiency) is described. The inventive method is unique in that it allows the modification of system resources without the need to rebuild and re-initialized (i.e., reboot) the operating system. If required by the specific alteration being performed, creation of new kernel control structures may require that one or more of a kernel's static-type data structures be converted to dynamic-type data structures.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 13, 1998
    Date of Patent: August 7, 2001
    Assignee: BMC Software, Inc.
    Inventors: Bennie L. Shearer, Jr., Mark A. Carpenter
  • Single instruction method of seizing control of program execution flow in a multiprocessor computer system
    Patent number: 6014740
    Abstract: A single-instruction method of diverting or "hooking" the operation of software entails setting up a work area of code at an address within the range of a relative branching instruction type defined in the operating-system architecture. Hooking is accomplished by patching the software in question to insert a single relative-branch instruction. That instruction causes program execution to be diverted to the work area. In one embodiment, the work area is an area of memory that normally is used only for system initialization and thus would not otherwise be executed by the processor system after system initialization is complete.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 11, 1997
    Date of Patent: January 11, 2000
    Assignee: BMC Software, Inc.
    Inventor: Bennie L. Shearer, Jr.
  • Dynamic alteration of operating system kernel resource tables
    Patent number: 5956507
    Abstract: A method to dynamically alter the availability or characteristics of specified system resources (e.g. interprocess communications facilities or tuning variables that control operating efficiency) is described. The inventive method is unique in that it allows the modification of system resources without the need to rebuild and re-initialized (i.e., reboot) the operating system. If required by the specific alteration being performed, creation of new kernel control structures may require that one or more of a kernel's static-type data structures be converted to dynamic-type data structures.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 14, 1996
    Date of Patent: September 21, 1999
    Inventors: Bennie L. Shearer, Jr., Mark A. Carpenter