COMMUNICATION AMONG EXECUTION THREADS OF AT LEAST ONE ELECTRONIC DEVICE

• US 20110061062A1
• Filed: 07/29/2010
• Published: 03/10/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 07/29/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Dish Technologies LLC (Dish Network Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Echostar Technologies LLC (Echostar Corporation)
• Inventors: Wong, Kan Man, Chu, Shiqiang, Templeman, Mark
• Granted Patent: US 9,027,034 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 719/314
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2209/547 Messaging middleware
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/546 Message passing systems or structures, e.g. queues

Abstract

A method of communication in at least one electronic device is presented. In the method, a first execution thread and a second execution thread are created in the at least one electronic device. Also created is a message service for receiving messages for the first thread. A message to be transferred from the second thread to the message service of the first thread is generated. Outside of control by either the first or second threads, one of multiple data transfer mechanisms is selected for transferring the message from the second thread to the message service of the first thread based on a relationship between the first and second threads. This relationship may be one in which the first and second threads are executing within a single process, within different processes of the same device, or within different devices. The message is transferred to the message service of the first thread using the selected data transfer mechanism and processed in the first thread.

Claims

1. A method of communication in at least one electronic device, the method comprising:

in the at least one electronic device, creating a first execution thread and a second execution thread;

in the at least one electronic device, creating a message service for receiving messages for the first thread;

in the at least one electronic device, generating in the second thread a message to be transferred to the message service of the first thread;

in the at least one electronic device, selecting one of multiple data transfer mechanisms for transferring the message to the message service of the first thread based on a relationship between the first thread and the second thread, wherein the selecting is not performed under control of the first thread or the second thread, and wherein the relationship between the first thread and the second thread consists of one of the first thread and the second thread executing within a single process, the first thread and the second thread executing in different processes of the same electronic device, and the first thread and the second thread executing within different electronic devices;

in the at least one electronic device, transferring the message to the message service of the first thread by way of the selected data transfer mechanism; and

in the at least one electronic device, processing the message in the first thread in response to the message being transferred to the message service of the first thread.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

in the at least one electronic device, granting the second thread access to the message service of the first thread.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

in the at least one electronic device, registering a callback function of the first thread in association with the message service of the first thread;

wherein processing the message in the first thread comprises executing the callback function in response to the message being transferred to the message service of the first thread.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

in the at least one electronic device, setting in the second thread a priority level for the message to be transferred to the message service of the first thread;

wherein processing the message in the first thread is performed according to the priority level in response to the message being transferred to the message service of the first thread.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the multiple data transfer mechanisms comprise at least one of a shared memory data transfer mechanism, a pipe data transfer mechanism, and a network socket data transfer mechanism.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

in the at least one electronic device, setting a timer configured to initiate the transferring of the message to the message service of the first thread;

wherein transferring the message to the message service of the first thread occurs in response to an expiration of the timer.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

in the at least one electronic device, creating an event to be received by the first thread;

in the at least one electronic device, setting the event; and

in the at least one electronic device, processing the event in the first thread in response to setting the event.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein:

setting the event occurs in the second thread, wherein the first thread and the second thread execute within the same process, and wherein the first thread comprises a sub-thread of the second thread.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein:

setting the event occurs in the first thread.

10. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

in the at least one electronic device, registering a second callback function of the first thread in association with the event created by the first thread;

wherein processing the event in the first thread comprises executing the second callback function in response to the setting of the event.

11. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

in the at least one electronic device, setting in the first thread a second priority level for the event created in the first thread;

wherein processing the event in the first thread is performed according to the second priority level in response to the event being set in the second thread.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

in the at least one electronic device, setting a second timer configured to initiate the setting of the event in the second thread;

wherein setting the event in the second thread occurs in response to an expiration of the second timer.

13. The method of claim 7, wherein:

the event comprises one of an indicator flag, a system signal, a network socket action, a file access action, and a user input.

14. A computer-readable storage medium having encoded thereon instructions executable by at least one processor of an electronic device to perform a method of communication, the method comprising:

creating a first execution thread and a second execution thread;

creating a message service for receiving messages for the first thread;

generating in the second thread a message to be transferred from the second thread to the message service of the first thread;

selecting one of multiple data transfer mechanisms for transferring the message from the second thread to the message service of the first thread based on a relationship between the first thread and the second thread, wherein the selecting is not performed under control of the first thread or the second thread, and wherein the relationship between the first thread and the second thread consists of one of the first thread and the second thread executing within a single process, the first thread and the second thread executing in different processes of the electronic device, and the first thread executing within another electronic device while the second thread executes within the first electronic device;

transferring the message to the message service of the first thread by way of the selected data transfer mechanism; and

processing the message in the first thread in response to the message being transferred to the message service of the first thread.

15. An electronic system, comprising:

an electronic device comprising a computer-readable storage medium and at least one processor;

wherein the computer-readable storage medium further comprises an operating system, an abstraction layer, and application code to be executed on the at least one processor, wherein the abstraction layer is configured to interact with the operating system, and wherein the abstraction layer provides at least one utility for the application code to;

create a first execution thread and a second execution thread;

create a message service for receiving messages for the first thread;

generate from the second thread a message to be transferred to the message service of the first thread;

transfer the message to the message service of the first thread by employing one of multiple data transfer mechanisms provided by the operating system; and

process the message in response to the transfer of the message to the message service of the first thread;

wherein the abstraction layer selects the employed data transfer mechanism based on a relationship between the first thread and the second thread, wherein the relationship between the first thread and the second thread consists of one of the first thread and the second thread executing within a single process of the electronic device, and the first thread and the second thread executing in different processes of the electronic device.

16. The electronic system of claim 15, further comprising:

a second electronic device communicatively coupled to the first electronic device, wherein the second electronic device comprises a second computer-readable storage medium and at least one second processor;

wherein the second computer-readable storage medium further comprises a second operating system, a second abstraction layer, and second application code to be executed on the at least one second processor, wherein the second abstraction layer is configured to interact with the second operating system, and wherein the second abstraction layer provides at least one utility for the second application code to;

create a third execution thread; and

create a message service for receiving messages for the third thread;

wherein the first abstraction layer of the first electronic device provides at least one utility for the first application code to;

generate from the second thread a second message to be transferred to the message service of the third thread; and

transfer the second message to the message service of the third thread by way another one of the multiple data transfer mechanisms provided by the operating system;

wherein the second abstraction layer selects the employed data transfer mechanism based on the second thread executing on the first electronic device while the third thread executes on the second electronic device; and

wherein the second abstraction layer of the second electronic device provides at least one utility for the second application code to;

process the second message in response to the transfer of the second message to the message service of the third thread.

17. The electronic system of claim 15, wherein the abstraction layer is configured to provide at least one utility for the application code to:

register a callback function of the first thread in association with the message service of the first thread;

wherein the application code processes the message in the first thread by the abstraction layer initiating the callback function in response to the message being transferred to the message service of the first thread.

18. The electronic system of claim 15, wherein the abstraction layer is configured to provide at least one utility for the application code to:

grant the second thread access to the message service of the first thread.

19. The electronic system of claim 15, wherein the abstraction layer is configured to provide at least one utility for the application code to:

create an event to be received by the first thread;

set the event in at least one of the first thread and the second thread; and

process the event in the first thread in response to setting the event.

20. The electronic system of claim 19, wherein the abstraction layer is configured to provide at least one utility for the application code to:

register a second callback function of the first thread in association with the event created by the first thread;

wherein the application code processes the event in the first thread by the abstraction layer initiating the second callback function in response to the setting of the event.