Patent ID: 6868488
Filing Date: 2005-03-15
Classification: G06F,Y10S

Abstract:
1. A method of employing a computer system, which includes memory including a heap in which space is dynamically allocated, to reclaim in at least a generation of the heap the memory space not occupied by objects identified as potentially reachable, wherein the method includes: A) treating the generation as divided into car sections; B) repeatedly scanning at least portions of the generation for references into the car sections; C) maintaining for each of at least one of the car sections a respective remembered set of remembered-set entries that identify locations at which references to objects in that car section have thereby been found, the remembered-set entries in at least one said remembered set being contained in a respective composite table that is associated with that remembered set and includes a locator array and a plurality of constituent tables that contain the remembered-set entries and whose locations are identified by entries in the locator array; and D) using the remembered-set entries to identify potentially reachable objects in at least some of the car sections.