Information control system for selectively locking an entity with requested intermediate reserve exclusive and share locks

• US 5,063,503 A
• Filed: 12/18/1989
• Issued: 11/05/1991
• Est. Priority Date: 12/18/1989
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: American Telephone & Telegraph Company (AT&T, Inc.), Bell Telephone Laboratories, Inc. (Nokia Corporation)
• Original Assignee: AT&T, Inc.
• Inventors: Jordan, John D. Jr.
• Primary Examiner(s): MacDonald, Allen R.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Sheikh, Ayaz R.
• Application Number:
  US07/452,094
• Time in Patent Office: 687 Days
• Field of Search: 364/200, 364/900
• US Class Current: 710/200
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/1774 Locking methods, e.g. locking methods for file systems allowing shared and concurrent access to files
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/52 Program synchronisation; Mutual exclusion, e.g. by means of semaphores

Abstract

Apparatus and method for controlling process operations against conceptual structures formed of entities embodied on a complex infrastructure comprising tree structures of complex object nodes. The apparatus and method responds to a process request by selectively locking an entity to lock the entity and a structure of entities dependent on the locked entity. The requested entity lock is implemented on an infrastructure node embodying the entity to enable process access to the locked entity and dependent entities thereof.

Claims

1. Apparatus for controlling concurrent process operations against conceptual structures each formed of entities embodied on a complex infrastructure comprising tree structures of complex object nodes wherein said apparatus comprises

means associated with each of the nodes and responsive to a request of one of the process operations for one of node, tree and intermediate reserve, exclusive and share locks for selectively locking an entity with the requested lock to lock the entity and structures of entities dependent on said locked entity to enable concurrently running ones of the process operations access to the locked entity and dependent entities thereof, and

means responsive to said selectively locking means for implementing said entity lock onto an infrastructure node and tree structures of nodes embodying said locked entities thereby enabling concurrently running process operations access to node information relating to said locked entity and dependent entities thereof.

2. The process operations controlling apparatus set forth in claim 1 wherein said implementing means comprises

means responsive to said process operation lock request for the entity for selecting an infrastructure node embodying the entity and generating a list of infrastructure ancestral nodes related to said selected node.

3. The process operations controlling apparatus set forth in claim 2 wherein said implementing means comprises

means operative upon selecting said node and generating said list of ancestral nodes for comparing a compatibility of an intermediate lock corresponding with said requested entity lock with a current lock status of each listed infrastructure ancestral node.

4. The process operations controlling apparatus set forth in claim 3 wherein said implementing means comprises

means operative upon determination of compatibility of said intermediate lock with a current lock status of each infrastructure ancestral node for applying said intermediate lock to said listed infrastructure ancestral nodes and for setting registers corresponding with entities embodied on said locked infrastructure ancestral nodes to record an application of said intermediate lock thereto.

5. The process operations controlling apparatus set forth in claim 4 wherein said implementing means comprises

means enabled upon applying said intermediate lock to all listed infrastructure ancestral nodes for determining a compatibility of said requested lock with a current lock status of said selected infrastructure node and upon determining said compatibility for applying said requested lock to said selected infrastructure node and for setting a register corresponding with said entity embodied on said selected infrastructure node to record an application of said requested lock thereto.

6. Apparatus for controlling concurrent process operations against conceptual structures each formed of entities embodied on a complex infrastructure comprising tree structures of complex object nodes wherein said apparatus comprises

means responsive to a process operation requesting one of node and tree reserve, exclusive and share locks for an entity for selecting an infrastructure node embodying said entity and generating a list of infrastructure ancestral nodes related to said selected node,

means operative upon selecting said node and generating said list of ancestral nodes for comparing a compatibility of an intermediate lock corresponding with said requested entity lock with a current lock status of each listed infrastructure ancestral node,

means operative upon determination of compatibility of said intermediate lock with said current lock status of each infrastructure ancestral node for applying said intermediate lock to each of said listed infrastructure ancestral nodes and for setting registers corresponding with entities embodied on said ancestral nodes to record application of said intermediate lock thereto, and

means enabled upon applying said intermediate lock to all said listed infrastructure ancestral nodes for determining compatibility of said requested lock with a current lock status of said selected infrastructure node and upon determining said compatibility for applying said requested lock to said infrastructure node and setting a register corresponding with said entity embodied on said infrastructure node to record an application of said selected lock thereto to enable process operation access to entity information stored on said locked infrastructure node.

7. A computer implemented method for controlling concurrent process operations against conceptual structures each formed of entities embodied on a complex infrastructure comprising tree structures of complex object nodes wherein said method comprises the steps of

selectively locking an entity with one of node and tree reserve, exclusive and share locks in response to a process request to lock the entity to enable process access to the locked entity, and

implementing said lock and intermediate reserve, exclusive and share locks corresponding with said lock onto an infrastructure node and tree structure embodying the entity to enable said process access to entity information stored on said locked infrastructure node.

8. The computer implemented method of controlling process operations apparatus set forth in claim 7 wherein said implementing step comprises the step of

selecting an infrastructure node embodying the entity in response to a process requesting a lock for the entity and generating a list of infrastructure ancestral nodes related to said selected node.

9. The computer implemented method of controlling process operations apparatus set forth in claim 8 wherein said implementing step comprises the step of

comparing a compatibility of an intermediate lock corresponding with said requested entity lock with a current lock status of each listed infrastructure ancestral node.

10. The computer implemented method of controlling process operations apparatus set forth in claim 9 wherein said implementing step comprises the step of

applying said intermediate lock to said listed infrastructure ancestral nodes upon determining compatibility of said intermediate lock with each infrastructure ancestral node current lock status and setting registers corresponding with entities embodied on said infrastructure ancestral nodes to record application of said intermediate lock thereto.

11. The computer implemented method of controlling process operations apparatus set forth in claim 10 wherein said implementing step comprises the step of

applying said process requested lock to said selected infrastructure node after application of said intermediate lock to all infrastructure ancestral nodes of said selected infrastructure node and determining a compatibility of said requested lock with a current lock status of said selected infrastructure node and setting a register corresponding with an entity embodied on said locked infrastructure node to record an application of said requested lock thereto.

12. A computer implemented method for controlling concurrent process operations against conceptual structures each formed of entities embodied on a complex infrastructure comprising tree structures of complex object nodes wherein said method comprises the steps of

selecting an infrastructure node embodying an entity in response to a process requesting a node and tree reserve, exclusive and share lock for said entity and generating a list of infrastructure ancestral nodes related to said selected node,

comparing a compatibility of an intermediate reserve, exclusive and share lock corresponding with said requested entity lock with a current lock status of each listed infrastructure ancestral node,

applying said intermediate lock to each infrastructure ancestral node upon determining compatibility of said intermediate lock with each said infrastructure ancestral node current lock status and setting registers corresponding with entities embodied on said locked infrastructure ancestral nodes to record application of said intermediate lock thereto, and

applying said process requested lock to said selected infrastructure node after application of said intermediate lock to all infrastructure ancestral nodes of said selected node and recording the application of said process requested lock in a register corresponding with said entity after determining compatibility of said process requested lock with a current lock status of said selected node thereby enabling process access to the locked entity.