Patents by Inventor Clifton Malcolm Nock

Clifton Malcolm Nock 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).

  • Patent number: 9823903
    Abstract: Debugging tools to allow a developer to debug software at a higher level of abstraction than the source code. These tools may be configured to recognize certain source code, and map it to visual representations that can be shown to the developer. The tools may allow the developer to set breakpoints in those visual representations, and they may allow the debugger to stop at those breakpoints, show the developer the visual representation and indicate the stopped location of the program being debugged, for example, by highlighting a particular component of the visual representation. The tools may also map breakpoints in visual representations to actual source code breakpoints.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 18, 2008
    Date of Patent: November 21, 2017
    Assignee: ORACLE INTERNATIONAL CORPORATION
    Inventors: Campegius Bronkhorst, Clifton Malcolm Nock
  • Publication number: 20100017788
    Abstract: Debugging tools to allow a developer to debug software at a higher level of abstraction than the source code. These tools may be configured to recognize certain source code, and map it to visual representations that can be shown to the developer. The tools may allow the developer to set breakpoints in those visual representations, and they may allow the debugger to stop at those breakpoints, show the developer the visual representation and indicate the stopped location of the program being debugged, for example, by highlighting a particular component of the visual representation. The tools may also map breakpoints in visual representations to actual source code breakpoints.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 18, 2008
    Publication date: January 21, 2010
    Applicant: Oracle International Corporation
    Inventors: Campegius Bronkhorst, Clifton Malcolm Nock
  • Patent number: 6910048
    Abstract: An object oriented framework mechanism for data transfer between a data source and a data target provides an infrastructure that embodies the steps necessary to perform the data transfer and a mechanism to extend the framework to fit a particular data transfer environment. Certain core functions are provided by the framework, which interact with extensible functions provided by the framework user. The architecture of the framework allows a developer to determine the conditions and parameters that apply to the data transfer while allowing a user to interact with the framework with an interface that is consistent regardless of the specific combination of data source, data target, connection type, or protocol. The extensible functions allow new data transfer environments to be easily implemented using the framework.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 29, 1998
    Date of Patent: June 21, 2005
    Assignee: National Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: David Joseph Misheski, Clifton Malcolm Nock
  • Patent number: 6832228
    Abstract: A threadsafe object pool in accordance with the preferred embodiments reserves each object for a particular thread of execution. Locking of an object pool is normally required to assure that two threads cannot simultaneously request the same object. However, because each object in the pool is reserved for a single thread, no other threads will be allowed to access the object, so the locking of the pool to prevent simultaneously allocating an object to two different threads is not required.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 21, 1999
    Date of Patent: December 14, 2004
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventor: Clifton Malcolm Nock
  • Patent number: 6823521
    Abstract: Two computer systems communicate with each other using active datastreams that each identify executable code for sending and receiving the corresponding active datastream, and for performing any processing required by the active datastream. Each active datastream also includes a unique datastream identifier. When a first computer system (source) has a request to send to a second computer system (target), the source computer system creates an active datastream object that represents the request. Once the active datastream object is created, a method on the active datastream object is invoked to send the active datastream object to the target. A datastream factory on the target reads the datastream identifier of the transmitted active datastream object, determines from the datastream identifier the class of active datastream object being received, and creates a new instance of the class corresponding to the datastream identifier.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 26, 1999
    Date of Patent: November 23, 2004
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Clifton Malcolm Nock, Christopher Robert Smith
  • Patent number: 6513115
    Abstract: The present invention is a method, program product, computer system and apparatus for configuring an existing server process without the need to end and restart the server process. Specifically, a new server process is started with updated configuration information. If an existing server process is currently running, then the new server process assumes the role of a client and initiates a configuration request. The configuration request contains the necessary information for the existing server process to update its “old” configuration to conform to the “new configuration” in accordance with the configuration request.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 17, 1999
    Date of Patent: January 28, 2003
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Clifton Malcolm Nock, Schuman M. Shao
  • Publication number: 20020174331
    Abstract: The present invention is a method, program product, computer system and apparatus for configuring an existing server process without the need to end and restart the server process. Specifically, a new server process is started with updated configuration information. If an existing server process is currently running, then the new server process assumes the role of a client and initiates a configuration request. The configuration request contains the necessary information for the existing server process to update its “old” configuration to conform to the “new configuration” in accordance with the configuration request.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 17, 1999
    Publication date: November 21, 2002
    Inventors: CLIFTON MALCOLM NOCK, SCHUMAN M. SHAO
  • Patent number: 6353897
    Abstract: An apparatus and method for testing object oriented software includes a software test framework that includes one or more test drivers and one or more testcases for each test driver. Each testcase can also have multiple variations. A TestDriver abstract class and a Testcase class are defined. Each test driver is created as an extension of the TestDriver class, and each testcase is created as an extension of the Testcase class, thereby promoting uniformity between different test drivers and between different test cases. When an instance of the TestDriver class is run, it instantiates its testcases, determines which variations of the testcases should be run, runs the variations, and reports the results. By providing the software test framework in the same programming environment in which the software under test is developed, the application programmer can program the needed tests without requiring the specialized skills of a test programmer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 6, 1999
    Date of Patent: March 5, 2002
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Clifton Malcolm Nock, Frances Ellen Stewart, Andrew Thomas Tauferner, Lisa Shaine-Marie Wellman
  • Patent number: 6336122
    Abstract: A tool referred to herein as an archive maker operates on one or more existing archive files that contain multiple object oriented classes to generate one or more new archive files. The archive maker takes a list of required classes, analyzes those classes in one or more existing archive files to determine any classes upon which they depend, and creates a new archive file with all the required and dependent classes. This allows the classes that are not required to be stripped out of the archive file. The archive maker may also be used to partition an existing archive file into multiple new archive files according to one or more partition criteria. In addition, the archive maker may be used to consolidate multiple existing archive files into a single new archive file.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 15, 1998
    Date of Patent: January 1, 2002
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Jeffrey Peter Lee, Clifton Malcolm Nock, Schuman M. Shao, David Alan Wall, James Lee Wright
  • Patent number: 6298476
    Abstract: A framework for use with object-oriented programming systems provides a software build system that detects modules that make up a software product, examines each module to determine if it is up-to-date, and automatically updates any modules that require processing. The framework includes a software object of a class called “Product” that comprises a software product to be processed and built. An instance of the Product is comprised of multiple software build objects, each of which is called “Object”. Each Object in turn contains four objects that are a kind of object class called BldSrc (Build Source). The BldSrc objects specify a different aspect of the software product and desired processing. Each of the software build objects in a Product's Object list is examined to determine if all four of the BldSrc objects is current. If any one of the software build objects is not current, the Object is re-built. If all four objects are current, the re-building step is skipped.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 4, 1995
    Date of Patent: October 2, 2001
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: David Joseph Misheski, Clifton Malcolm Nock
  • Patent number: 6144967
    Abstract: A framework for use with object oriented programming systems encapsulates the common attributes of log analysis tools and permits framework implementers to generate customized log analysis tools that share a common structure and organization but are extended only in attributes that are specific to a particular tool. The framework defines a Log object that represents the activity log that is to be analyzed and is responsible for dividing itself into multiple, smaller LogSection objects. Each of the LogSection objects represents a portion of the activity log from which some information can be gathered. The information in a LogSection object is further mapped onto LogEvent objects. Each LogSection object can be referenced by an Analyzer object that controls the analysis.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 25, 1996
    Date of Patent: November 7, 2000
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventor: Clifton Malcolm Nock
  • Patent number: 6038565
    Abstract: An object oriented data format mapping mechanism provides a framework for mapping data from one or more stored formats to a desired format without custom-generating the conversion code from scratch. The extensible portions of the framework allow a programmer to extend the framework to define a particular data format mapping environment. The framework maps all data to rows, with individual data being accessed by specifying an index within the row. One or more mapped rows define entries in the desired format, but instead of containing data, they contain method calls to classes that perform the desired retrieval and/or manipulation of the data.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 16, 1998
    Date of Patent: March 14, 2000
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventor: Clifton Malcolm Nock
  • Patent number: 5915252
    Abstract: An object oriented framework mechanism for data transfer between a data source and a data target provides an infrastructure that embodies the steps necessary to perform the data transfer and a mechanism to extend the framework to fit a particular data transfer environment. Certain core functions are provided by the framework, which interact with extensible functions provided by the framework user. The architecture of the framework allows a developer to determine the conditions and parameters that apply to the data transfer while allowing a user to interact with the framework with an interface that is consistent regardless of the specific combination of data source, data target, connection type, or protocol. The extensible functions allow new data transfer environments to be easily implemented using the framework.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 30, 1996
    Date of Patent: June 22, 1999
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: David Joseph Misheski, Clifton Malcolm Nock
  • Patent number: 5878432
    Abstract: An object oriented framework mechanism provides a straightforward and convenient way to implement an source code repository for tracking the configuration of various releases of a software product. The source code repository framework includes several classes that are extensible according to the needs of the user. The class relationships define the core function of the framework mechanism. Extensible classes include a source class, a product class, a release class, a version class, a data class, and a lock state class. These extensible classes are extended by a programmer to implement a desired source code repository environment. The framework provides consistent programmer interfaces over a wide variety of different source code repository environments, which greatly enhances programmer efficiency and which makes the resultant code much easier to maintain.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 29, 1996
    Date of Patent: March 2, 1999
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: David Joseph Misheski, Clifton Malcolm Nock