Patent ID: 7577799

Claim:
A method of controlling independent and asynchronous access to a memory by a plurality of processes, the method comprising: while providing for independent and asynchronous performance of a memory read process of the plurality of processes, independently and asynchronously performing a memory write process of the plurality of processes, wherein the memory write process comprises: copying a memory full indicator to produce a first copy of the memory full indicator; copying a read index that is updated by the memory read process, the read index copy indicating a read element position in the memory; when the first copy of the memory full indicator indicates that the memory is not full, determining an available write count from the read index copy and a write index, the write index indicating a write element position in the memory; beginning at the write element position, writing an amount of data corresponding to the available write count; updating the write index to indicate a next write element position based upon the amount of data written; and subsequent to copying the read index and determining the available write count, but prior to writing the amount of data corresponding to the available write count, changing the read index to have a different value than the read index copy and clearing the memory full indicator to indicate that the memory is not full by the memory read process.