Patents by Inventor Robert Paul Mech

Robert Paul Mech 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: 6807541
    Abstract: A weak record locking scheme that, while enforcing serialization of record updates, permits a read to extract data from uncommitted updates. Specifically, records are locked in association with a process or thread performing a lock. When the records affected by a transaction are initially locked for reading or updating, they are locked at the process level. When a particular record is to be read or updated as part of a transaction, it is locked at the thread level. A read transaction that will accept uncommitted changes uses a weak lock to lock the record for reading. A weak lock may be made on a record so long as the record is not already locked for updating at the thread level. While a record is weakly locked for reading, it cannot be locked for updating at the thread level. A record may thus be weakly locked even though the record is locked for updating at the process level by the same process. Weak locking thus preserves serialization of updates, while reducing delays caused by locking conflicts.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 28, 2002
    Date of Patent: October 19, 2004
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Daniel Dean Bender, Thomas Owen McKinley, Robert Paul Mech, Robert Anthony Petrillo, Richard Miles Rocheleau
  • Publication number: 20030163494
    Abstract: A weak record locking scheme that, while enforcing serialization of record updates, permits a read to extract data from uncommitted updates. Specifically, records are locked in association with a process or thread performing a lock. When the records affected by a transaction are initially locked for reading or updating, they are locked at the process level. When a particular record is to be read or updated as part of a transaction, it is locked at the thread level. A read transaction that will accept uncommitted changes uses a weak lock to lock the record for reading. A weak lock may be made on a record so long as the record is not already locked for updating at the thread level. While a record is weakly locked for reading, it cannot be locked for updating at the thread level. A record may thus be weakly locked even though the record is locked for updating at the process level by the same process. Weak locking thus preserves serialization of updates, while reducing delays caused by locking conflicts.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 28, 2002
    Publication date: August 28, 2003
    Applicant: INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION
    Inventors: Daniel Dean Bender, Thomas Owen McKinley, Robert Paul Mech, Robert Anthony Petrillo, Richard Miles Rocheleau
  • Patent number: 6154792
    Abstract: A method and computer program product are provided for paging control using a reference structure in a computer system. The reference structure is scanned to identify a next selected entry for an IO range building routine. The next selected entry is compared with a set hardlimit value. Responsive to the next selected entry being greater than the hardlimit value, the IO range building routine is exited. A shortlimit value is identified. The next selected entry is compared with the identified shortlimit value. Responsive to the next selected entry being greater than the identified shortlimit value, the IO range building routine is exited. A first array is used for storing entry IDs for selected entries found from scanning the reference structure and a second array is used for tracking blocks of storage used for the selected entries.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 4, 1998
    Date of Patent: November 28, 2000
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Thomas Paul Giordano, Barry Warren Knapp, Robert Paul Mech, David Rolland Welsh