Patent ID: 7325106

Claim:
A low overhead computer implemented method for identifying memory leaks, comprising the operations of: a) detecting completion of a garbage collection cycle; b) identifying a boundary between used objects in memory and free memory space by inserting a marker object on a top of a heap at the completion of the garbage collection cycle, the marker object being a fixed size object; c) inserting a reference to the marker object in an array, the array being maintained only to track a plurality of marker objects on the heap; d) monitoring memory locations of the plurality of marker objects on the heap, wherein the plurality of marker objects being in the heap through repetition of the inserting the marker object on the top of the heap; e) collapsing any adjacent marker objects in the plurality of marker objects in the heap into a single marker object; f) deleting the reference to a marker object that is removed through the collapsing, from the array; g) repeating a) to f); and h) determining existence of memory leaks based upon a size of the array.