Memory reclamation method
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A method of reclaiming memory space allocated to data structures comprising data objects linked by identifying pointers, comprising the repetitious cycle of the following steps:
- traversing the data structures to identify and mark active data objects;
deleting data objects that were marked as garbage during the previous cycle;
marking data objects not marked as active as garbage; and
executing the finaliser of any data object marked as garbage having a finaliser.
5 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A method and apparatus for reclaiming memory space allocated to data structures comprising data objects linked by identifying pointers. A repetitious cycle is performed including the following steps of traversing the data structures to identify and mark active data objects, deleting data objects that were marked as garbage during the previous cycle, marking data objects not marked as active as garbage, and executing the finalizer of any data object marked as garbage having a finalizer.
-
Citations
13 Claims
-
1. A method of reclaiming memory space allocated to data structures comprising data objects linked by identifying pointers, comprising the repetitious cycle of the following steps:
- traversing the data structures to identify and mark active data objects;
deleting data objects that were marked as garbage during the previous cycle;
marking data objects not marked as active as garbage; and
executing the finaliser of any data object marked as garbage having a finaliser. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 13)
- traversing the data structures to identify and mark active data objects;
-
8. A data processing apparatus comprising a data processor coupled with a random access memory containing a data structure comprising data objects linked by identifying pointers, the processor being configured to provide the following in a repetitious cycle for operating on the stored plurality of data objects:
-
means for traversing the data structures to identify and mark active data objects;
means for deleting data objects that were marked as garbage during the previous cycle;
means for marking data objects not marked as active as garbage; and
means for executing the finaliser of any data object marked as garbage having a finaliser. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12)
-
Specification