Patent ID: 6411983
Filing Date: 2002-06-25
Classification: G06F

Abstract:
A mechanism for managing the locking and unlocking of an object by a thread, said mechanism comprising:(a) a transition vector having a plurality of ordered transition elements, each of said plurality of ordered transition-elements being separate from, and not part of, the object or a data structure of the object; (b) a reference element for referencing one of the transition elements in said transition vector, and said reference element being accessible in the object; (c) each of said transition elements including locking means for locking the object and unlocking means for unlocking the object; (d) said locking means having means for assigning said reference element to the next transition element in response to a locking request for the object by the thread; and (e) said unlocking means having means for assigning said reference element to the previous element in response to an unlocking request for the object by the thread.