Method and device for controlling timers associated with multiple users in a data processing system
US5491815A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Sep 10, 1993 |
| Grant date | Feb 13, 1996 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Sep 10, 2013 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
- CPC primaryH04L9/40
- WIPO fieldDigital communication
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
A system for providing a plurality of timers to perform the timing of event occurrences wherein, for each event, there corresponds a timer control block which stores in its time-flag field (Tf) an indication of whether the timer control block is chained or unchained, running or stopped, in its time-out field (Tv) the expiration time interval and in its time-stamp field (Ts) the current time as a reference at each interruption. The timer control blocks are chained by a one-way link according to their expiration times in such a way that each timer chain contains the timer control blocks whose events will occur at the same time. A cyclic table of index values classifies the timer chains according to their expiration times. When a START operation is requested for an event which has to occur at a time-out value, an index is computed according to the Tv and the current time in order to insert its corresponding timer control block at the head of the timer chain pointed to by the index; the timer control block storing the state of CHAINED-RUNNING in its time-flag and the current time in its time-stamp. If the timer control block is already chained, then the time-stamp is updated to the cur…
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.