Access control for groups of related data items
First Claim
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1. In a multiprocessing computer system in which any of a plurality of processes may store individual data items in a queue and any of a plurality of processes may retrieve data items from said stored queue for processing, said data items including at least one group of data items individually designated as being part of a group, whereby members of said group may not necessarily be stored serially and contiguously in said queue so that their precise location in the queue is unknown, a method of controlling access to such a group, comprising the steps of:
- accessing an individual data item on said queue as part of a process;
determining that said item is designated as part of a group of related items; and
locking said group of related items by marking the whole group as locked and returning an unlocking key to said process such that further access to any item of said group is prevented except on provision of said key, said locking of said group occurring in response to the accessing of any one of said individual items in that group.
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Abstract
Access to groups of related items which are accessible by multiple processes in a computer system is controlled, in response to determining that an individually accessed data item is part of a group, by marking the whole group as locked and returning an unlocking key to the process accessing the original data item. Further access to any items of the group by a process is prevented except on provision of the key. The invention is particularly applicable to messages in a message queuing system which are logically grouped and yet may be individually destructively retrieved.
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Citations
36 Claims
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1. In a multiprocessing computer system in which any of a plurality of processes may store individual data items in a queue and any of a plurality of processes may retrieve data items from said stored queue for processing, said data items including at least one group of data items individually designated as being part of a group, whereby members of said group may not necessarily be stored serially and contiguously in said queue so that their precise location in the queue is unknown, a method of controlling access to such a group, comprising the steps of:
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accessing an individual data item on said queue as part of a process;
determining that said item is designated as part of a group of related items; and
locking said group of related items by marking the whole group as locked and returning an unlocking key to said process such that further access to any item of said group is prevented except on provision of said key, said locking of said group occurring in response to the accessing of any one of said individual items in that group. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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7. A method as claimed in claim in which a queue is opened by a process and returns a handle which must be used in subsequent accesses of the queue, said locking key being a combination of said handle and said sequence number of said first data item on the queue.
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13. An access control system for use in a multiprocessing computer system in which any of a plurality of processes may store individual data items in a queue and any of a plurality of processes may retrieve data items from said stored queue for processing, said data items including at least one group of data items individually designated as being part of a group, whereby members of said group may not necessarily be stored serially and contiguously in said queue so that their precise location in the queue is unknown, said access control system comprising:
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means for accessing an individual data item on said queue as part of a process;
means for determining that said item is designated as part of a group of related items; and
means for locking said group of related items in response to the accessing of any one of said individual items in that group by marking the whole group as locked and returning an unlocking key to said process such that further access to any item of said group is prevented except on provision of said key. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24)
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25. A computer program recorded on a medium, said program for use in a multiprocessing computer system in which any of a plurality of processes may store individual data items in a queue and any of a plurality of processes may retrieve data items from said stored queue for processing, said data items including at least one group of data items individually designated as being part of a group, whereby members of said group may not necessarily be stored serially and contiguously in said queue so that their precise location in the queue is unknown, said computer program comprising:
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means for accessing an individual data item on said queue as part of a process;
means for determining that said item is designated as part of a group of related items; and
means for locking said group of related items in response to the accessing of any one of said individual items in that group by marking the whole group as locked and returning an unlocking key to said process such that further access to any item of said group is prevented except on provision of said key. - View Dependent Claims (26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36)
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Specification
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Current AssigneeInternational Business Machines Corporation
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Original AssigneeInternational Business Machines Corporation
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InventorsWilkinson, James Gordon, Hickson, Andrew
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Primary Examiner(s)Amsbury, Wayne
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Application NumberUS09/024,545Time in Patent Office1,169 DaysField of Search707/8, 707/9, 711/147, 709/106US Class Current1/1CPC Class CodesG06F 21/6218 to a system of files or obj...Y10S 707/99938 Concurrency, e.g. lock mana...
