Patent · US Expired

Mechanism for dynamic selection of an object's method

US6487714B1 · kind B1 · utility

26Cited by
7References
27Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateMay 24, 1999
Grant dateNov 26, 2002
Priority date
Expiry dateMay 24, 2019

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC G)Physics
  • CPC primaryG06F9/449
  • WIPO fieldComputer technology
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

A data structure and associated mechanism for implementing object oriented programming language, comprising at least two code blocks for at least one method of an object of a specified class, each of the code blocks containing a different implementation of the at least one method. An access mechanism is provided for accessing a desired code block at run-time on a per object instance basis so as to allow selection of a desired implementation of the at least one method without requiring instantiation of an object of a different class. The selection of which implementation to invoke is integrated into an existing invocation method of the language and is thus transparent to a calling application invoking the method.

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