Patent · US Expired

Method and apparatus for coordination of a shared object in a distributed system

US6141720A · kind A · utility

34Cited by
8References
19Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateJun 12, 1997
Grant dateOct 31, 2000
Priority date
Expiry dateJun 12, 2017

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC G)Physics
  • CPC primaryG06F9/52
  • WIPO fieldComputer technology
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

Method and apparatus for coordinating access to a shared object amongst a plurality of processes in a distributed system. One process is identified as a lock owner process controlling a lock associated with the shared object. When a process needs to access the shared object, it requests control of the lock from the lock owner process. When no other process controls the lock, the lock owner process grants control to the requesting process. When another process controls the lock, the lock owner process places the requesting process in a queue and waits for the lock to become available. All accesses to the shared object are processed through the lock owner processes thus assuring coordination and synchronization among the processes.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.