Patent · US Expired

Apparatus and method for distribution of work on a doubly linked list among processing threads

US7213244B2 · kind B2 · utility

3Cited by
11References
20Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateMar 13, 2003
Grant dateMay 1, 2007
Priority date
Expiry dateFeb 18, 2025

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC Y)Emerging Cross-Sectional Technologies
  • CPC primaryY10S707/99942
  • WIPO fieldComputer technology
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

An apparatus and method for distributing work on a doubly linked list to a plurality of worker threads are provided. With the apparatus and method, an initial thread obtains the list lock for the linked list and inserts a marker element at the beginning of the linked list. Elements in the linked list that are before the marker element in the linked list are considered work that has been assigned or work that has been completed. Elements of the linked list that are after the marker element in the linked list are work to be done. The initial thread spawns worker threads to perform the work on the linked list and passes the address of the marker element to each of the worker threads. Each worker thread then operates independently to perform work on the linked list based on the current position of the marker element in the linked list.

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