Patent · US Expired

Priority differentiated subtree locking

US7206776B2 · kind B2 · utility

2Cited by
5References
21Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateAug 15, 2002
Grant dateApr 17, 2007
Priority date
Expiry dateDec 31, 2023

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC Y)Emerging Cross-Sectional Technologies
  • CPC primaryY10S707/99938
  • WIPO fieldComputer technology
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

A locking arrangement for data structures is provided that prevents deadlocks, but still allows different threads to simultaneously obtain locks on different nodes of a data structure for both read and write operations. The locking system will fail a request to lock one or more resources in a data structure if access to those resources has already been restricted by a conflicting lock of an equal or higher priority. The locking system may also employ preemptable and non-preemptable locks such that, if a preemptable lock with a lower priority has restricted access to resources, then the locking system will preempt the lower priority lock in favor of a conflicting higher priority lock. Alternately, if a non-preemptable lock with a lower priority has restricted access to resources, then the locking system will wait until the lower priority lock is removed before implementing a requested conflicting higher priority lock.

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