Calling functions within a deterministic calling convention

US8782117B2 · kind B2 · utility

Assignee

• Microsoft Corporation · US

Inventors

• Philip J. Nachreiner · Duvall, US
• Peter M. Wiest · Issaquah, US

Key dates

• Filing date: Jul 30, 2012
• Grant date: Jul 15, 2014
• Expiry date: Dec 3, 2032

Classification

• Technology area (CPC G): Physics
• CPC primary: G06F9/547
• WIPO field: Computer technology
• WIPO sector: Electrical engineering

Abstract

Different target functions at a target computing platform having limited resources are invoked by a single generic function call from a calling computing platform having substantial resources. A target function can be called in a consistent and efficient manner, so that custom code can be avoided at the target computing platform for each target function. The generic function call can have parameters which identify a memory location at which a target function is stored, and one or more parameters to be passed to the target function in a format (e.g., length, endianness, enumerated data type, structured record type, float or integer type) which the target function uses, so that further conversion at the target computing platform is avoided. Parameters can also identify a thread and processor on which the function should run. The target computing platform loads and executes the target function using the registers in a deterministic way.