Object-oriented data transfer system for data sharing

• US 7,886,307 B1
• Filed: 09/26/2003
• Issued: 02/08/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 09/26/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: The MathWorks, Inc.
• Original Assignee: The MathWorks, Inc.
• Inventors: Tarkowski, Dave, Holohan, John, Portal, Christian, Dean, Loren, DeSonia, Robert
• Primary Examiner(s): Sough; Hyung S
• Assistant Examiner(s): VERDI, KIMBLEANN C
• Application Number:
  US10/671,703
• Time in Patent Office: 2,692 Days
• Field of Search: 719312-315, 719331-332, 719/316, 709213-219, 709230-244, 709246-247, 710 1- 74, 712/225, 715/700, 715/748, 715/769
• US Class Current: 719/316
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/541 via adapters, e.g. between incompatible applications
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/544 Buffers; Shared memory; Pipes

Abstract

A method transfers data from a data source to multiple data sink objects. The data acquired from the data source is encapsulated into a data object. Identification information of the data object is posted to a data server. The data server shares the identification information with the data sink objects that are registered with the data server. The data sink objects access the data object with the identification information at execution time. A counter indicates the number of data sink objects that currently use the data object. The data object is removed from the memory of the computer systems when the counter indicates that the data object is no longer used by the data sink objects. Alternatively, the data object that is no longer used may be stored in a separate memory location of the computer systems for a future use.

Claims

1. A system for transferring data from a data source to multiple data sink objects, the system comprising:

a data source holding acquired data;

an interface communicating with the data source to receive the data from the data source;

a plurality of data sink objects including one or more application software tools or one or more output devices;

a processor controlling a data processor that encapsulates the received data into a data object;

one or more memory storages storing the data object along with a data object pointer and a data server object, the data object pointer indicating a location of the data object in the one or more memory storages to identify the data object;

the data processor posting the data object along with the data object pointer to the data server object, and registering one or more of the plurality of data sink objects with the data server object;

the data server object transferring the data object pointer to the one or more registered data sink objects, the one or more registered data sink objects accessing the data object using the data object pointer; and

the data server object sharing the data object among the one or more registered data sink objects to prevent extraneous copies of the received data from being provided to the one or more registered data sink objects.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein the data server object includes a list listing the one or more registered data sink objects that are registered with the data server object.

3. The system of claim 1 wherein the system provides a technical computing environment.

4. The system of claim 1 further comprising at least one data listener object that is registered to a respective one of the one or more registered data sink objects.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the respective one of the one or more registered data sink objects deletes each of the at least one data listener object registered with the respective one of the one or more registered data sink objects when the respective one of the one or more registered data sink objects is deleted.

6. The system of claim 4, wherein the respective one of the one or more registered data sink objects notifies each of the at least one data listener object registered with the respective one of the one or more registered data sink objects when the respective one of the one or more registered data sink objects is deleted.

7. The system of claim 4, wherein the respective one of the one or more registered data sink objects notifies each of the at least one data listener object when the respective one of the one or more registered data sink objects is updated with a new data object.

8. The system of claim 1 wherein the data source provides data sequence continuously for a period of time.

9. The system of claim 1 wherein the data source provides a package of data, the package of data being used independently of other packages of data.

10. The system of claim 9 wherein the package of data includes a frame of image data.

11. The system of claim 9 wherein the package of data includes a scan of radar data, sensor data, audio data, or network data packets.

12. The system of claim 1 wherein the data processor configures a maximum amount of memory that all data objects use at a given instance of time.

13. The system of claim 1, wherein the processor is 64 bits or more.

14. A non-transitory computer readable medium holding instructions executable in a computer system, wherein the computer system receives data from a data source and transfers the data to data sink objects, the medium holding:

one or more instructions for communicating with the data source to receive the data from the data source;

one or more instructions for encapsulating the data into a data object;

one or more instructions for storing the data object along with a data object pointer and a data server object in a memory, the data object pointer indicating a location of the data object in the memory to identify the data object;

one or more instructions for posting the data object along with a data object pointer to the data server object;

one or more instructions for registering the data sink objects with the data server object, the data sink objects including one or more application software tools or one or more output devices;

one or more instructions for the data server object transferring to the registered data sink objects the data object pointer, the registered data sink objects accessing the data object using the data object pointer; and

one or more instructions for the data server object sharing the data object among the registered data sink objects to prevent extraneous copies of the data from being provided to the registered data sink objects.

15. The medium of claim 14 further comprising a data sink listener object that is registered with one or more of the registered data sink objects.

16. The medium of claim 15 wherein the data sink listener object performs a task relating to a function of a respective one of the registered data sink objects.

17. The medium of claim 15 wherein the data sink listener object performs a task relating to a function of a respective one of the registered data sink objects on a thread of the data server object.

18. The medium of claim 15 wherein the data sink listener object performs a task relating to a function of a respective one of the registered data sink objects on a thread different from that of the data server object.

19. The medium of claim 14 wherein the computer system provides a technical computing environment.

20. The medium of claim 14 wherein at least one of the registered data sink objects performs a function on a thread of the data server object.

21. The medium of claim 14 wherein at least one of the registered data sink objects performs a function on a thread different from that of the data server object.

22. The medium of claim 14 wherein the instructions are originated from code written with C programming language.

23. The medium of claim 14 wherein the instructions are originated from code written with an object-oriented programming language, the object-oriented programming language comprising one or more of C++ and C#.