Patent ID: 6173249
Filing Date: 2001-01-09
Classification: G06F

Abstract:
In a multiprocessing system on which are executing a simulated operating system having an associated library function, a native operating system having an interprocess communication facility, and a plurality of ported processes including a target process, a method of verifying termination of the target process when a communication to the target process is attempted by the calling process, the method including the steps of:creating a data structure for each of the plurality of processes;including in each of the data structures a process identification value for the corresponding process;maintaining for each of the plurality of processes a time of creation value that is indicative of when such process was started on the multiprocessing system;initiating a communication by one of the plurality of processes with the target process by a call to the library function;receiving an error by the library function in response to initiating the communication to access a one of the data structures to obtain the process identification value corresponding to the target process;attempting an open operation on the target process using the corresponding process identification value;if, in response to the attempting step:a) no response is received, the target process is assumed to have terminated operation,b) a handle with a target process identification value is received by the library function, obtaining and comparing the time of creation value for the target process identification value time of creation value for the target process to issue an error indication if the compare is equal.