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Interprocess communications system and method utilizing shared memory for message transfer and datagram sockets for message control

  • US 5,652,885 A
  • Filed: 05/25/1993
  • Issued: 07/29/1997
  • Est. Priority Date: 05/25/1993
  • Status: Expired due to Term
First Claim
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1. An interprocess communications system for transferring message data from a source user process to at least one destination user process in a computer-based system providing a Unix operating system environment and a shared memory, the interprocess communications system comprising:

  • initialization means for creating and initializing a shared memory segment in the shared memory, said shared memory segment including a plurality of message blocks having a preamble portion and a message content portion, said preamble portion having an availability status region, a time allocation region, and an identification region;

    sending means for placing the message in one of said plurality of message blocks and for placing a shared memory block index in a datagram socket interprocessor communications mechanism associated with the destination user process, said shared memory block index identifying said one of said plurality of message blocks which contain the message data;

    receiving means for receiving said shared memory block index from said datagram socket interprocessor communications mechanism and for using said shared memory block index for retrieving the message data from said one of said plurality of message blocks;

    maintenance means for maintaining the availability of said plurality of message blocks in said shared memory segment, said maintenance means periodically reading said time allocation region and comparing the time in said time allocation region with a predetermined value; and

    shutdown means for performing a controlled shutdown of the interprocessor communications system when the source user process ceases execution, said shutdown means guaranteeing that any messages associated with the source user process are sent to the at least one destination user process before the source user process is terminated.

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