UNIVERSAL USER INPUT/OUTPUT APPLICATION LAYERS

• US 20080295118A1
• Filed: 05/23/2007
• Published: 11/27/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 05/23/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: RPX Corporation
• Original Assignee: RPX Corporation
• Inventors: LIAO, Cheng
• Granted Patent: US 8,819,311 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 719/328
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2205/066 User-programmable number or size of buffers, i.e. number of separate buffers or their size can be allocated freely
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2209/542 Intercept
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/544 Buffers; Shared memory; Pipes
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/545 where tasks reside in different layers, e.g. user- and kernel-space

Abstract

Files on a secondary storage are accessed using alternative IO subroutines that buffer IO requests made by a user and mimic the IO subroutines provided by an operating system. The buffer used by the alternative IO subroutines is maintained by the user and not the operating system. User applications are not recompiled or relinked when using the alternative subroutines because the library that provides these subroutines intercepts requests for buffered IO made by user applications to the operating system'"'"'s IO subroutines and replaces the requests with calls to the alternative IO subroutines that utilize the buffer maintained by the user.

Claims

1. A method of executing an application for a user on a computer system executing an operating system, comprising:

allocating a first amount of space, in a memory previously allotted to the user by the operating system, to at least one buffer having operating parameters maintained by the user, and a second amount of space in main memory to alternative subroutines that mimic operating system subroutines and perform at least one of input and output;

intercepting input/output requests to the operating system by a software application initiated by the user; and

replacing each intercepted input/output request with an alternative request to at least one of the alternative subroutines that mimic the intercepted request.

2. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising accessing a secondary storage using the alternative subroutines.

3. The method as recited in claim 2, wherein said accessing of the secondary storage is performed with simultaneous read and write access to contents thereof.

4. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the operating system subroutines include open, read, and write access.

5. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the operating system subroutines include at least one of file stream and file descriptor requests.

6. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the operating system subroutines include POSIX compliant requests for at least one of input and output.

7. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the operating parameters of the buffer is maintained by a software application executing on a computer system separate from the user.

8. A computer system, comprising:

a secondary storage with read and write access, storing a plurality of files accessible by a user;

a main memory storing alternative subroutines in a location accessible by the user that mimic system subroutines and perform at least one of input and output, each alternative subroutine maintaining at least one buffer in a memory location previously allotted to the user and performing at least one of read and write operations to said secondary storage; and

a central processing unit intercepting a request by the user to perform at least one of read and write operations to said secondary storage and passing the request to the alternative subroutines.

9. The computer system as recited in claim 8, further comprising a network interface connected to at least one remote apparatus.

10. The computer system as recited in claim 9, wherein said network interface receives commands from a remote terminal that alter a buffer controlled by the user.

11. The computer system as recited in claim 8, wherein said secondary storage operates with simultaneous read and write access.

12. A method stored on a first computer-readable medium of accessing a second computer-readable medium for a user on a first computer system to be performed on a computer system executing an operating system, comprising

allocating a first amount of space, in a memory previously allotted to the user by the operating system, to at least one buffer having operating parameters maintained by the user, and a second amount of space in main memory to alternative subroutines that mimic operating system subroutines and perform at least one of input and output;

intercepting input/output requests to the operating system by a software application initiated by the user; and

replacing each intercepted input/output request with an alternative request to at least one of the alternative subroutines that mimic the intercepted request.