Non-platform-specific unique identifier generation

• US 20050102672A1
• Filed: 11/12/2003
• Published: 05/12/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 11/12/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hewlett Packard Enterprise Development LP (Hewlett-Packard Enterprise Company)
• Original Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Inventors: Brothers, William G.
• Granted Patent: US 7,552,433 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 718/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/4493 Object persistence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/465 Distributed object oriented systems remote method invocation [RMI] G06F9/548
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99953 Recoverability
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99954 Version management

Abstract

A method of generating a unique identifier without requiring platform-specific software, a computer readable medium embodying instructions for implementing the method, and a system therefor are described. In response to an event occurrence on a computer system, execution of the method retrieves an event timestamp from an intermediate operating environment on the computer system. Further execution of the method retrieves a system name and a hash value from the intermediate operating environment on the computer system. The combination of the system name, event timestamp, and hash value creates a unique identifier uniquely identifying the intermediate operating environment on the computer system without requiring platform-specific software.

Claims

1. A method of generating a unique identifier in non-platform-specific software, comprising the steps of:

in response to an event occurring on a computer system, retrieving an event timestamp from an intermediate operating environment on the computer system;

retrieving a system name from the intermediate operating environment on the computer system;

retrieving a hash value from the intermediate operating environment on the computer system; and

combining the system name, event timestamp, and hash value to create a unique identifier for uniquely identifying the intermediate operating environment on the computer system without requiring platform-specific software.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the intermediate operating environment is a JAVA virtual machine.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of:

transmitting event information to another computer system.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the event information includes the unique identifier.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the intermediate operating environment is a Java-based environment.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the unique identifier is created without using a MAC address.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of:

storing event information on the computer system.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the event information includes the unique identifier.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the hash value is a hash code value for an object in the intermediate operating environment.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the object is unique within the intermediate operating environment.

11. A computer-readable medium comprising:

at least one sequence of intermediate operating environment instructions for generating a unique identifier in non-platform-specific software, wherein execution of the instructions by the intermediate operating environment causes the environment to;

responsive to an event occurrence determined by the intermediate operating environment, retrieve an event timestamp from the intermediate operating environment;

retrieve a system name from the intermediate operating environment;

retrieve a hash value from the intermediate operating environment; and

combine the retrieved event timestamp, system name, and hash value to create a unique identifier for uniquely identifying the intermediate operating environment on a computer system without requiring platform-specific software.

12. The computer-readable medium of claim 11, wherein the intermediate operating environment is a JAVA virtual machine.

13. The computer-readable medium of claim 11, further comprising a sequence of intermediate operating environment instructions which, when executed by the intermediate operating environment causes the environment to:

transmit event information including the unique identifier to another computer system.

14. The computer-readable medium of claim 11, wherein the hash value is a hash code value for an object in the intermediate operating environment.

15. The computer-readable medium of claim 14, wherein the object is unique within intermediate operating environment.

16. A computer system for generating a unique identifier in non-platform-specific specific software, comprising:

a processor; and

a memory coupled to the processor, the memory having stored therein a processor-specific operating system, an intermediate operating environment executable on the operating system, and sequences of intermediate operating environment instructions for generating a unique identifier in non-platform-specific software, which when executed by the intermediate operating environment, cause the intermediate operating environment to perform the steps of;

in response to an event occurring on the computer system, retrieving an event timestamp from the intermediate operating environment on the computer system;

retrieving a system name from the intermediate operating environment on the computer system;

retrieving a hash value from the intermediate operating environment on the computer system; and

combining the system name, event timestamp, and hash value to create a unique identifier for uniquely identifying the intermediate operating environment on the computer system without requiring platform-specific software.

17. The computer system of claim 16, wherein the intermediate operating environment is a JAVA virtual machine.

18. The computer system of claim 16, further comprising a sequence of intermediate operating environment instructions which, when executed by the intermediate operating environment, cause the intermediate operating environment to perform the step of:

transmit event information including the unique identifier to another computer system.

19. The computer system of claim 16, wherein the hash value is a hash code value for an object in the intermediate operating environment.

20. The computer system of claim 19, wherein the object is unique within the intermediate operating environment.