Patent · US Expired

Time-efficient inter-process communication in a harmonic rate system

US6704799B1 · kind B1 · utility

4Cited by
4References
20Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateDec 29, 1998
Grant dateMar 9, 2004
Priority date
Expiry dateDec 29, 2018

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC G)Physics
  • CPC primaryG06F9/544
  • WIPO fieldComputer technology
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

A time-efficient inter-process communication method (50, 60) and protocol allowing producers and consumers to execute at any combination of periods, where producers (12) and consumers (14, 16, 18) are isolated from execution ordering variations. The method and protocol is for periodic broadcast-type inter-process communication in a harmonic rate system. The system has a plurality of threads sharing a memory space (42) and including consuming threads and producing threads having potentially different rates. The producing threads have a period and are adapted to produce a message consumable by said consuming threads. The memory space (42) includes a plurality of buffers (44) for messages produced. The method includes the step of writing (58) a copy of said produced message to a buffer in said memory space during said producing thread's period, wherein only one copy of said produced message is written, regardless of the difference in rates between producing and consuming threads.

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