Patents by Inventor David John McCann

David John McCann 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).

  • Using queue specific variable(s) to efficiently delete expired items in an ordered queue without necessarily checking each queued item's expiry time
    Patent number: 7487272
    Abstract: A method for deleting expired items in a queue data structure, the queue data structure comprising a sequential list of ordered data items including a queue head at one end of the sequential list and a queue tail at another end of the sequential list, wherein each data item includes an expiry time, the method comprising: generating a maximum interval value corresponding to a maximum time interval between an expiry time of a first item in the queue and an expiry time of a second item in the queue, wherein the second item is nearer the queue head than the first item; sequentially scanning the list of ordered items from the queue head; responsive to a determination that a scanned item is expired, deleting the scanned item; responsive to a determination that a scanned item will not expire for a time interval greater than the maximum interval value, terminating scanning of the list of ordered items.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 17, 2005
    Date of Patent: February 3, 2009
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Andrew Ian Hickson, David John McCann