Threaded environment for computer systems without native threading support

• US 5,835,763 A
• Filed: 12/15/1995
• Issued: 11/10/1998
• Est. Priority Date: 06/20/1994
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: Candle Distributed Solutions, Inc.
• Inventors: Klein, Paul F.
• Primary Examiner(s): BANANKHAH, MAJID A
• Application Number:
  US08/573,552
• Time in Patent Office: 1,061 Days
• Field of Search: 395/671, 395/672, 395/673, 395/674, 395/670, 364/281.3
• US Class Current: 718/101
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/4843 by program, e.g. task dispatcher, supervisor, operating system

Abstract

A single threaded computer is provided with a threaded environment by using thread related batch jobs to accept thread tasks and individually apply them to specialized batch jobs that perform the tasks. Return data is applied by the thread related batch jobs to a common queue and the using application is caused to wait on the common queue, thereby overcoming the single threaded computer limitation that an application can only wait on one queue at a time. The thread tasks are thereby performed asynchronously while the user application effectively waits on all such thread tasks by waiting on the common queue. The threaded environment maintains a pool of active thread related batch jobs and permits the cloning of new thread related batch jobs from existing thread related batch jobs to efficiently manage the thread pool.

Claims

1. A method of operating a computer system that is capable of parallel processing and which natively supports a single-threaded operating system, comprising the steps of:

applying each of a plurality of asynchronous thread tasks from an application as an input to each of a plurality of thread related batch jobs;

operating each such thread related batch job to perform the thread task applied thereto and produce return data associated with each said thread task;

applying the return data from each such thread related batch job to a single, common queue; and

causing the application to wait on the common queue to sequentially retrieve the return data from each of said thread tasks therefrom.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of operating each batch job to perform the thread task applied thereto further comprises the steps of:

reapplying the thread task from each such thread related batch job to a job queue associated with a specialized batch job specifically created to perform the thread task applied to the thread related batchjob;

operating the specialized batch job to wait on the job queue, retrieve the thread task therefrom, perform the thread task, and return data to the job queue associated with the performance of the thread task by the specialized batch job; and

causing the thread related batch job to wait on the job queue to retrieve the return data therefrom, whereby the application may utilize pre-existing specialized batchjobs not configured to return data to the common queue to perform as an asynchronous thread task.

3. The invention method of claim 1, wherein the step of applying each of a plurality of asynchronous thread tasks from an application as an input to each of a plurality of thread related batch jobs further comprises the steps of:

applying each of the plurality of asynchronous thread tasks to a thread queue associated with each of the plurality of thread related batch jobs; and

causing each such thread related batch job to wait on the thread queue associated therewith in order to retrieve the thread task thereon,

wherein each thread related batch job may be used to sequentially perform a plurality of different thread tasks.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of creating an additional thread related batch job by cloning an existing thread related batch job.

5. A computer-implemented apparatus, comprising:

a computer system that is capable of parallel processing and which natively supports a single-threaded operating system; and

means, performed by the computer system, for applying each of a plurality of asynchronous thread tasks from an application as an input to each of a plurality of thread related batch jobs, for operating each such thread related batch job to perform the thread task applied thereto and produce return data associated with each said thread task, for applying the return data from each such thread related batch job to a single, common queue, and for causing the application to wait on the common queue to sequentially retrieve the return data from each of said thread tasks therefrom.

6. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the means for operating each batch job to perform the thread task applied thereto further comprises:

means for reapplying the thread task from each such thread related batch job to a job queue associated with a specialized batch job specifically created to perform the thread task applied to the thread related batch job;

means for operating the specialized batch job to wait on the job queue, retrieve the thread task therefrom, perform the thread task, and return data to the job queue associated with the performance of the thread task by the specialized batch job; and

means for causing the thread related batch job to wait on the job queue to retrieve the return data therefrom, whereby the application may utilize pre-existing specialized batch jobs not configured to return data to the common queue to perform as an asynchronous thread task.

7. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the means for applying each of a plurality of asynchronous thread tasks from an application as an input to each of a plurality of thread related batch jobs further comprises:

means for applying each of the plurality of asynchronous thread tasks to a thread queue associated with each of the plurality of thread related batch jobs; and

means for causing each such thread related batch job to wait on the thread queue associated therewith in order to retrieve the thread task thereon,

wherein each thread related batch job may be used to sequentially perform a plurality of different thread tasks.

8. The apparatus of claim 5, further comprising means for creating an additional thread related batch job by cloning an existing thread related batch job.

9. An article of manufacture embodying one or more instructions that when read and executed by a computer system that is capable of parallel processing and which natively supports a single-threaded operating system causes the computer system to perform the method steps of:

applying each of a plurality of asynchronous thread tasks from an application as an input to each of a plurality of thread related batch jobs;

operating each such thread related batch job to perform the thread task applied thereto and produce return data associated with each said thread task;

applying the return data from each such thread related batch job to a single, common queue; and

causing the application to wait on the common queue to sequentially retrieve the return data from each of said thread tasks therefrom.

10. The article of manufacture of claim 9, wherein the step of operating each batch job to perform the thread task applied thereto further comprises the steps of:

reapplying the thread task from each such thread related batch job to a job queue associated with a specialized batch job specifically created to perform the thread task applied to the thread related batch job;

operating the specialized batch job to wait on the job queue, retrieve the thread task therefrom, perform the thread task, and return data to the job queue associated with the performance of the thread task by the specialized batch job; and

causing the thread related batch job to wait on the job queue to retrieve the return data therefrom, whereby the application may utilize pre-existing specialized batch jobs not configured to return data to the common queue to perform as an asynchronous thread task.

11. The article of manufacture of claim 9, wherein the step of applying each of a plurality of asynchronous thread tasks from an application as an input to each of a plurality of thread related batch jobs further comprises the steps of:

applying each of the plurality of asynchronous thread tasks to a thread queue associated with each of the plurality of thread related batch jobs; and

causing each such thread related batch job to wait on the thread queue associated therewith in order to retrieve the thread task thereon,

wherein each thread related batch job may be used to sequentially perform a plurality of different thread tasks.

12. The article of manufacture of claim 9, further comprising the step of creating an additional thread related batch job by cloning an existing thread related batch job.