Patents by Inventor Daniel Heffley

Daniel Heffley 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).

  • Method, apparatus and program storage device for providing light weight system calls to improve user mode performance
    Patent number: 8010963
    Abstract: A method, apparatus and program storage device for providing light weight system calls to improve user mode performance is disclosed. A range of system call code for the light weight system calls is provided in a system call table. The light weight system calls skip the code for saving and restore processor context.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 1, 2005
    Date of Patent: August 30, 2011
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Daniel Heffley, Wenjeng Ko, Cheng-Chung Song
  • Handling of user mode thread using no context switch attribute to designate near interrupt disabled priority status
    Patent number: 7971205
    Abstract: A method, apparatus and program storage device for providing a no context switch attribute that allows a user mode thread to become a near interrupt disabled priority is disclosed. A thread includes a no context switch attribute. Control of a thread based on the no context switch attribute is much more efficient than the real-time priority because the no context switch attribute bypasses the overhead of scheduling. Moreover, the no context switch attribute may be used to detect whether a thread performs any undesirable operations that can cause the thread to become suspended while in a critical section. The no context switch attribute is configurable to indicate whether execution of the thread can be suspended.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 1, 2005
    Date of Patent: June 28, 2011
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Daniel Heffley, Wenjeng Ko, Cheng-Chung Song
  • Method, apparatus and program storage device for providing light weight system calls to improve user mode performance
    Publication number: 20070143436
    Abstract: A method, apparatus and program storage device for providing light weight system calls to improve user mode performance is disclosed. A range of system call code for the light weight system calls is provided in a system call table. The light weight system calls skip the code for saving and restore processor context.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 1, 2005
    Publication date: June 21, 2007
    Inventors: Daniel Heffley, Wenjeng Ko, Cheng-Chung Song
  • Method, apparatus and program storage device for providing a no context switch attribute that allows a user mode thread to become a near interrupt disabled priority
    Publication number: 20070130569
    Abstract: A method, apparatus and program storage device for providing a no context switch attribute that allows a user mode thread to become a near interrupt disabled priority is disclosed. A thread includes a no context switch attribute. Control of a thread based on the no context switch attribute is much more efficient than the real-time priority because the no context switch attribute bypasses the overhead of scheduling. Moreover, the no context switch attribute may be used to detect whether a thread performs any undesirable operations that can cause the thread to become suspended while in a critical section. The no context switch attribute is configurable to indicate whether execution of the thread can be suspended.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 1, 2005
    Publication date: June 7, 2007
    Inventors: Daniel Heffley, Wenjeng Ko, Cheng-Chung Song