Michael Joseph Duigou

US Patent:

6760815, Jul 6, 2004

Filed:

Jun 2, 2000

Appl. No.:

09/587110

Inventors:

Bernard A. Traversat - San Francisco CA
Michael J. Duigou - Fremont CA
Thomas E. Saulpaugh - San Jose CA
Gregory L. Slaughter - Palo Alto CA

Assignee:

Sun Microsystems, Inc. - Santa Clara CA

International Classification:

G06F 1212

US Classification:

711135, 711159, 707206

Abstract:

A caching mechanism for a virtual persistent heap is described. A feature of a virtual persistent heap is the method used to cache portions of the virtual persistent heap into the physical heap. The caching mechanism may be effective with small consumer and appliance devices that typically have a small amount of memory and that may be using flash devices as persistent storage. In the caching mechanism, the virtual persistent heap may be divided into cache lines. A cache line is the smallest amount of virtual persistent heap space that can be loaded or flushed at one time. Caching in and caching out operations are used to load cache lines into the heap or to flush dirty cache lines into the store. Different cache line sizes may be used for different regions of the heap. Translation between a virtual persistent heap address and the heap may be simplified by the caching mechanism.

US Patent:

6763440, Jul 13, 2004

Filed:

Jun 2, 2000

Appl. No.:

09/587077

Inventors:

Bernard A. Traversat - San Francisco CA
Michael J. Duigou - Fremont CA
Thomas E. Saulpaugh - San Jose CA
Gregory L. Slaughter - Palo Alto CA

Assignee:

Sun Microsystems, Inc. - Santa Clara CA

International Classification:

G06F 1212

US Classification:

711159, 711135, 707206

Abstract:

A method and system for garbage collecting a virtual heap using nursery regions for newly created objects to reduce flushing of objects from an in-memory heap to a store heap is provided. The garbage collection method is suited for use with small consumer and appliance devices that have a small amount of memory and may be using flash devices as persistent storage. The garbage collection method may provide good performance where only a portion of the virtual heap may be cached in the physical heap. The virtual heap may use a single address space for both objects in the store and the in-memory heap. In one embodiment, a single garbage collector is run on the virtual heap address space. The garbage collection method may remove non-referenced objects from the virtual heap. The garbage collection method may also include a compaction phase to reduce or eliminate fragmentation, and to improve locality of objects within the virtual heap. In one embodiment, the garbage collector for the virtual heap may be implemented as a generational garbage collector using working sets in the virtual heap, where each generation is confined to a working set of the heap.

US Patent:

6854115, Feb 8, 2005

Filed:

Jun 2, 2000

Appl. No.:

09/587078

Inventors:

Bernard A. Traversat - San Francisco CA, US
Michael J. Duigou - Fremont CA, US
Thomas E. Saulpaugh - San Jose CA, US
Gregory L. Slaughter - Palo Alto CA, US

Assignee:

Sun Microsystems, Inc. - Santa Clara CA

International Classification:

G06F017/00

US Classification:

718 1, 711 6, 711113, 711118, 711135, 711162, 714 13

Abstract:

A system and method for providing process persistence in a virtual machine are described. A virtual persistent heap may be provided. The virtual persistent heap may enable the checkpointing of the state of the computation of a virtual machine, including processes executing within the virtual machine, to a persistent storage such as a disk or flash device for future resumption of the computation from the checkpoint. The Virtual Persistent Heap also may enable the migration of the virtual machine computation states, and thus the migration of executing processes, from one machine to another. The saved state of the virtual machine heap may also provide the ability to restart the virtual machine after a system crash or shutdown to the last saved persistent state, and to thus restart a process that was running within the virtual machine prior to the system crash or shutdown to a checkpointed state of the process stored in the virtual persistent heap. This persistent feature is important for small consumer and appliance devices, as these appliances may be shutdown and restarted often.

US Patent:

6865657, Mar 8, 2005

Filed:

Jun 2, 2000

Appl. No.:

09/586334

Inventors:

Bernard A. Traversat - San Francisco CA, US
Michael J. Duigou - Fremont CA, US
Thomas E. Saulpaugh - San Jose CA, US
Gregory L. Slaughter - Palo Alto CA, US

Assignee:

Sun Microsystems, Inc. - Santa Clara CA

International Classification:

G06F012/00

US Classification:

711170, 717114, 707206

Abstract:

A method and system for performing generational garbage collection on a virtual heap in a virtual machine is provided. The garbage collection method is suited for use with small consumer and appliance devices that have a small amount of memory and may be using flash devices as persistent storage. The garbage collection method may provide good performance where only a portion of the virtual heap may be cached in the physical heap. The virtual heap may use a single address space for both objects in the store and the in-memory heap. In one embodiment, a single garbage collector is run on the virtual heap address space. The garbage collection method may remove non-referenced objects from the virtual heap. The garbage collection method may also include a compaction phase to reduce or eliminate fragmentation, and to improve locality of objects within the virtual heap. In one embodiment, the garbage collector for the virtual heap may be implemented as a generational garbage collector using working sets in the virtual heap, where each generation is confined to a working set of the heap.

US Patent:

6874066, Mar 29, 2005

Filed:

Feb 20, 2004

Appl. No.:

10/783262

Inventors:

Bernard A. Traversat - San Francisco CA, US
Michael J. Duigou - Fremont CA, US
Thomas E. Saulpaugh - San Jose CA, US
Gregory L. Slaughter - Palo Alto CA, US

Assignee:

Sun Microsystems, Inc. - Santa Clara CA

International Classification:

G06F012/12

US Classification:

711135, 711 6, 711129, 718 1

Abstract:

A caching mechanism for a virtual persistent heap. A feature of a virtual persistent heap is the method used to cache portions of the virtual persistent heap into the physical heap. The caching mechanism may be effective with small consumer and appliance devices that typically have a small amount of memory and that may be using flash devices as persistent storage. In the caching mechanism, the virtual persistent heap may be divided into cache lines. A cache line is the smallest amount of virtual persistent heap space that can be loaded or flushed at one time. Caching in and caching out operations are used to load cache lines into the heap or to flush dirty cache lines into the store. Different cache line sizes may be used for different regions of the heap. Translation between a virtual persistent heap address and the heap may be simplified by the caching mechanism.

US Patent:

6898618, May 24, 2005

Filed:

Oct 19, 2000

Appl. No.:

09/693297

Inventors:

Gregory L. Slaughter - Palo Alto CA, US
Thomas E. Saulpaugh - San Jose CA, US
Michael J. Duigou - Fremont CA, US

Assignee:

Sun Microsystems, Inc. - Santa Clara CA

International Classification:

G06F015/16
G06F015/177

US Classification:

709203, 709206, 709222, 709227, 709230

Abstract:

Various embodiments of a mechanism for a client to specify a display service to be used by a service for displaying data for the client in a distributed computing environment are described. A display service on or associated with the device on which the client resides that the client wishes to use to display the results of the service. When the client runs the service, the client may send a message to the service specifying the service advertisement of the client's display service. The service may then generate a message channel that allows it to send messages to the client's display service. Thus, when displaying results, the service invoked by the client becomes a client of the client's display service and sends its results, directly or by reference, for display to that display service.

US Patent:

6917976, Jul 12, 2005

Filed:

Aug 31, 2000

Appl. No.:

09/653216

Inventors:

Gregory L. Slaughter - Palo Alto CA, US
Thomas E. Saulpaugh - San Jose CA, US
Bernard A. Traversat - San Francisco CA, US
Michael J. Duigou - Fremont CA, US

Assignee:

Sun Microsystems, Inc. - Santa Clara CA

International Classification:

G06F015/173

US Classification:

709226, 709219, 709225, 709229, 707 9, 707 10

Abstract:

A system and method for providing message-based leasing of resources in a distributed computing environment. Services may issue leases to clients and provide operations on those leases. The lease functionality of a service may be defined in an XML message schema. Gates may be used to perform lease operations. Leases may be granted for a period that may be negotiated. Leasing messages for performing leasing operations may be defined. The leasing messages may include messages to renew a lease and to cancel a lease. Services may specify an address where leasing messages may be sent. A lease renewal mechanism may be provided in which a gate may receive lease renewal messages and automatically respond to them. A mechanism to detect stale advertisements in a space may be provided. When a service publishes its advertisement in a space, the service obtains a lease on the publishing of its advertisement.

US Patent:

6941410, Sep 6, 2005

Filed:

Jun 2, 2000

Appl. No.:

09/587180

Inventors:

Bernard A. Traversat - San Francisco CA, US
Michael J. Duigou - Fremont CA, US
Thomas E. Saulpaugh - San Jose CA, US
Gregory L. Slaughter - Palo Alto CA, US

Assignee:

Sun Microsystems, Inc. - Santa Clara CA

International Classification:

G06F012/00

US Classification:

711 6, 711103, 711162

Abstract:

A virtual heap for a process executing within a virtual machine is described. In one embodiment, the virtual persistent heap may allow the running of an application on a physical heap that is smaller than may otherwise be required. As an example, the virtual persistent heap may be an order of magnitude larger than the physical, in-memory heap. This feature is important for small consumer and appliance devices, as these devices may have a limited amount of memory. In one embodiment, the virtual heap may be maintained on non-volatile memory storage external to the device running the virtual machine, and portions of the heap for the current execution state of the process may be cached in and out of a “physical” heap resident in local memory on the device. For example, the device may connect to a server on the Internet, and the server may provide non-volatile storage space for the virtual heap. In another embodiment, the external storage for the virtual persistent heap may reside on a non-volatile storage attached to the device, for example, a Flash card or hard disk drive.