Patent · US Active

Efficient garbage collection in virtualization environment

US8856194B2 · kind B2 · utility

8Cited by
9References
7Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateApr 18, 2011
Grant dateOct 7, 2014
Priority date
Expiry dateJan 15, 2033

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC G)Physics
  • CPC primaryG06F2009/45583
  • WIPO fieldComputer technology
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

A method and system for garbage collection in a virtualization environment. The virtualization environment includes a virtual machine hypervisor, at least one guest operating system, and at least one application program that runs on each guest operating system. The application program performs memory management using a garbage collection mechanism. The method includes, in response to an operating environment of the application program initiating garbage collection, the garbage collector requesting the guest operating system to assign a memory space and in response, the guest operating system assigns the memory space to the garbage collector. Then garbage collector marks live objects in an original memory space of the application program, and replicates the marked live objects to the assigned memory space. Finally, the garbage collector releases the original memory space of the application program to the guest operating system.

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