Patent · US Expired

Stack utilization management system and method for a two-stack arrangement

US6795910B1 · kind B1 · utility

6Cited by
2References
43Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateOct 9, 2001
Grant dateSep 21, 2004
Priority date
Expiry dateOct 12, 2022

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC G)Physics
  • CPC primaryG06F11/0751
  • WIPO fieldComputer technology
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

A system and method for managing stack utilization in a two-stack arrangement wherein the stacks are operable to grow towards each other. An application programming interface (API) is provided for facilitating user interaction with a stack management system associated with a computing environment such as an architectural simulator. Each of two stacks is initialized via the API with a stack base, a growth direction indicator and a stack pointer. High water marks are maintained for tracking each stack pointer's farthest location from the respective stack base during the execution of a program. When a program instruction is operable to access a location in either of the stacks, one or more validity rules are applied to determine if the access operation is permissible. Where the program instruction is operable to modify either of the stack pointers, another set of validity rules are applied to determine if the stack pointer operation is permissible. User warning and optional return of program control are available when an invalid access operation or stack pointer operation is attempted.

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