Patent ID: 8719478

Claim:
A method for preventing deadlocks, comprising: locking an inter-device mutex (IDM) for a first client; sending an error message to a second client in response to a received first lock command from the second client while the IDM is locked for the first client; granting access to a first number of resources; associating the first number of resources with the first or second client associated with the locked IDM; receiving a number of second lock commands from the second client while the IDM is locked for the first client; double locking the IDM for the first or second client in response to receiving a double lock command from the first or second client, wherein the double lock command includes the same context information associated with the locked IDM, and wherin double-locking the IDM includes: granting access to a second number of resources; and associating the second number of resources with the first or second client associated with the double-locked IDM; unlocking the IDM for the first client in response to an unlock command received from the first client; and locking the IDM for second client in response to a received third lock command from the second client, wherein the third lock command is received subsequent to the unlocking the IDM for the first client.