Method and system for reliable remote object reference management
US6138251A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Jun 30, 1997 |
| Grant date | Oct 24, 2000 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Jun 30, 2017 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG06F12/0261
- WIPO fieldComputer technology
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
The present invention pertains to a system and method for tracking object references in an object-oriented computing system including a number of independent computing nodes interconnected by a communications link. The reference counting mechanism tracks references to an object through the use of a messaging protocol. A server node keeps a foreign reference count for each of its objects. The foreign reference count indicates the number of remote nodes having a reference to one of the servers objects. A server node increments the foreign reference count for each object reference that it exports prior to sending it to an intended client node. A client node will send a message to the server node when it has already received the exported object reference and in response to this message, the server node decrements the appropriate foreign reference count. When a client node receives an object reference from another client node, the receiving client node will message the appropriate server node that the receiving client node has a reference to the object. In response, the server node increments the appropriate foreign reference count. The reference counting mechanism utilizes a node failu…
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.