Patent · US Expired

Null thread library and thread abstraction interface

US6173309A · kind A · utility

3Cited by
8References
16Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateFeb 20, 1997
Grant dateJan 9, 2001
Priority date
Expiry dateFeb 20, 2017

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC G)Physics
  • CPC primaryG06F9/46
  • WIPO fieldComputer technology
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

User code is operated in either a multithreaded or non-threaded programming environment by linking the code to different libraries. A standard thread library is linked with the code when operated in a multithreaded mode. A null thread library is linked to the code to operate in a non-threaded mode. The different libraries are linked to the user code through a common application programming interface allowing the same thread function calls to operate in either the multithreaded or non-threaded mode. The null thread library implements thread function calls as blocking functions which synchronize thread launches while eliminating the performance and memory overhead required in multithreaded processes.

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