Suspension and reinstatement of reference
First Claim
1. A method of managing resources comprising:
- receiving a handle value;
determining whether the handle value is suspended; and
if the handle value is not suspended, returning a reference pointer that points to a resource with which the handle is associated.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A handle administration system is described in which software agents receive handles to various resources that they can use to obtain the resources. The described embodiments provide multiple states that can be assumed by the handles. An unassigned state is provided in which handles are not assigned to a particular resource, nor can they be dereferenced to obtain pointers to any resources. An assigned state is provided in which handles are assigned to a particular resource and can be dereferenced to obtain a pointer to the resource. A suspended state is provided in which the handles are assigned to a particular resource but cannot be dereferenced to obtain a pointer to that resource. Advantageously, a suspended handle can be reinstated to assume the assigned state. In one embodiment, the handle system is implemented by incorporating a suitable field in a handle database that is used to indicate that a handle is suspended. In another embodiment, no additional fields are necessary. Rather, handle values in the handle database are manipulated to indicate that a handle has been suspended. These manipulations can be easily undone to reinstate a handle. In the described embodiment, a three state handle system can be advantageously employed to implement a two-phase commit operation.
-
Citations
36 Claims
-
1. A method of managing resources comprising:
-
receiving a handle value;
determining whether the handle value is suspended; and
if the handle value is not suspended, returning a reference pointer that points to a resource with which the handle is associated. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
-
-
8. One or more computer-readable media having computer readable instructions thereon which, when executed by one or more computers, cause the computers to:
-
receive a handle value;
determine whether the handle value is suspended; and
return a reference pointer that points to a resource with which the handle is associated, if the handle is not suspended. - View Dependent Claims (9)
-
-
10. A method of managing resources comprising:
defining a handle database that contains information pertaining to a plurality of handles, the information comprising a handle value; and
suspending a handle by adding a value to the handle value.- View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
-
17. A system comprising:
-
one or more processors;
one or more computer-readable media;
computer-readable instructions on the one or more computer-readable media which, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to implement a method comprising;
receiving a handle value;
determining whether the handle value is suspended; and
if the handle value is not suspended, returning a reference pointer that points to a resource with which the handle is associated. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23)
-
-
24. A system comprising:
-
means for receiving a handle value;
means for determining whether the handle value is suspended; and
means for, if the handle value is not suspended, returning a reference pointer that points to a resource with which the handle is associated. - View Dependent Claims (25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30)
-
-
31. A system comprising:
-
one or more processors;
one or more computer-readable media;
computer-readable instructions on the one or more computer-readable media which, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to implement a method comprising;
defining a handle database that contains information pertaining to a plurality of handles, the information comprising a handle value; and
suspending a handle by adding a value to the handle value. - View Dependent Claims (32, 33, 34, 35, 36)
-
Specification