Method and apparatus for implementing compact type signatures in a virtual machine environment
US6711576B1 · kind B1 · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Apr 26, 2001 |
| Grant date | Mar 23, 2004 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Jan 31, 2022 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC Y)Emerging Cross-Sectional Technologies
- CPC primaryY10S707/99942
- WIPO fieldComputer technology
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
Methods and apparatus for creating compacted method signatures from method signature representations in Java™ class files are disclosed. The use of compacted signatures reduces the amount of memory space occupied by the signatures and, further, improve the efficiency with which a virtual machine may operate. According to one aspect of the present invention, a method a method for creating a compact representation of a method signature using a virtual machine includes creating 4-bit representations for each of a first parameter, a separator, and a return type included in the method signature. Once the 4-bit representation are created, the representations are packed into a word. In one embodiment, the word is a 32-bit word. In such an embodiment, the 32-bit word may be a 32-bit integer.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.