Michael D Byrd

US Patent:

7020746, Mar 28, 2006

Filed:

Jan 28, 2003

Appl. No.:

10/352599

Inventors:

David C. Brown - Redmond WA, US
Mikhail V. Leonov - Kirkland WA, US
Michael M. Byrd - Bellevue WA, US

Assignee:

Microsoft Corporation - Redmond WA

International Classification:

G06F 12/00

US Classification:

711118, 711133, 711144, 711154, 711156

Abstract:

Disclosed is a central cache that is updated without the overhead of locking. Updates are “atomic” in that they cannot be interrupted part way through. Applications are always free to read data in the cache, accessing the data through a reference table. Applications do not directly update the cache, instead, they send update requests to a service routine. To update the cache, the service routine proceeds in two phases. In the first phase, the service routine prepares the new data and adds them to the cache, without updating the reference table. During the first phase, an application accessing the cache cannot “see” the new data because the reference table has not yet been updated. After the first phase is complete, the service routine performs the second phase of the update process: atomically updating the reference table. The two-phase update process leaves the cache, at all times, in a consistent state.

US Patent:

7089365, Aug 8, 2006

Filed:

Jul 19, 2005

Appl. No.:

11/184578

Inventors:

David C. Brown - Redmond WA, US
Mikhail V. Leonov - Kirkland WA, US
Michael M. Byrd - Bellevue WA, US

Assignee:

Microsoft Corporation - Redmond WA

International Classification:

G06F 12/00

US Classification:

711133, 711118, 711144, 711154, 711156, 711159, 715748

Abstract:

Disclosed is a central cache that is updated without the overhead of locking. Updates are “atomic” in that they cannot be interrupted part way through. Applications are always free to read data in the cache, accessing the data through a reference table. Applications do not directly update the cache, instead, they send update requests to a service routine. To update the cache, the service routine proceeds in two phases. In the first phase, the service routine prepares the new data and adds them to the cache, without updating the reference table. During the first phase, an application accessing the cache cannot “see” the new data because the reference table has not yet been updated. After the first phase is complete, the service routine performs the second phase of the update process: atomically updating the reference table. The two-phase update process leaves the cache, at all times, in a consistent state.

US Patent:

7191289, Mar 13, 2007

Filed:

Jan 27, 2006

Appl. No.:

11/342216

Inventors:

David C. Brown - Redmond WA, US
Mikhail V. Leonov - Kirkland WA, US
Michael M. Byrd - Bellevue WA, US

Assignee:

Microsoft Corporation - Redmond WA

International Classification:

G06F 12/00

US Classification:

711118, 711133, 711144, 711154, 711156

Abstract:

Disclosed is a central cache that is updated without the overhead of locking. Updates are “atomic” in that they cannot be interrupted part way through. Applications are always free to read data in the cache, accessing the data through a reference table. Applications do not directly update the cache, instead, they send update requests to a service routine. To update the cache, the service routine proceeds in two phases. In the first phase, the service routine prepares the new data and adds them to the cache, without updating the reference table. During the first phase, an application accessing the cache cannot “see” the new data because the reference table has not yet been updated. After the first phase is complete, the service routine performs the second phase of the update process: atomically updating the reference table. The two-phase update process leaves the cache, at all times, in a consistent state.

US Patent:

20160114251, Apr 28, 2016

Filed:

Oct 24, 2014

Appl. No.:

14/523743

Inventors:

- Seattle WA, US
John Frederick Comstock - Seattle WA, US
John Amos Starin - Kirkland WA, US
Noah Kanter - Seattle WA, US
Michael Byrd - Seattle WA, US

International Classification:

A63F 13/69

Abstract:

A reward associated with a game may be provided based at least partly on a characteristic associated with a user device used to play the game. A threshold or level associated with the device characteristic may be determined. A current level of the characteristic while a user is playing the game via the user device may be determined. Based at least partly on a determination that the current level of the characteristic satisfies the threshold or the level during play of the game, a reward associated with the game may be provided to the user device and/or the user.