Threading and communication architecture for a graphical user interface

• US 6,823,518 B1
• Filed: 10/17/2000
• Issued: 11/23/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 10/17/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Bliss, Andrew L., Vachon, Andre F.
• Primary Examiner(s): COURTENAY III, ST JOHN
• Application Number:
  US09/690,675
• Time in Patent Office: 1,498 Days
• Field of Search: 718/100-108, 719/310-320, 345/700-866, 717/124-133, 710/200-244
• US Class Current: 719/310
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/451 Execution arrangements for user interfaces

Abstract

A system and method to facilitate communication between a user interface and an associated process is disclosed. A first thread is associated with the user interface and a second thread is associated with the process for implementing requests by the user interface. At least one state buffer is operable to store state data for controlling ownership to the state buffer by the first and second threads for communicating data between the first and second threads. The architecture may be used in connection with a debugging system, such as to facilitate responsive interaction between the GUI and the associated debugging system.

Claims

1. A system to facilitate communication between a user interface and a process, comprising:

a first thread associated with the user interface;

a second thread associated with the process for implementing requests received from the user interface; and

at least one state buffer object operable to store state data for controlling ownership of the at least one state buffer by the first and second threads for retrieving or filling other data to the state buffer object.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one state buffer object is dynamically scalable for storing the state data and the other data.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the at least one state buffer object provides a communication channel associated with a corresponding interface element of the first thread.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the at least one state buffer object comprises a plurality of state buffer objects, each being operable to store state data adapted to control ownership to the respective state buffer object by the first and second threads, each state buffer object providing a communication channel to facilitate communication between a corresponding interface element of the first thread and the second thread.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one state buffer object is operable to send a notification to the first thread indicative of a request being filled by the second thread.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one state buffer object includes a synchronization feature for coordinating at least one of access to and ownership of the at least one state buffer object by the first and second threads.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the synchronization feature includes a request count and a completion count, the request count being adjusted in response to receiving data from the first thread, the completion count being adjusted in response to receiving data from the second thread, the synchronization feature determining at least one of access to and ownership of the at least state one buffer object as a function of the request count and the completion count.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the first thread includes graphical user interface elements to facilitate user interaction with a debugging system.

9. A multi-threaded interface architecture for a debugger system comprising:

a user interface thread to facilitate user interaction with the debugging system;

an engine thread associated with the debugger system responsive to requests from the user interface thread; and

a state buffer for storing state data adapted to control ownership of the state buffer by at least one of the user interface thread and the engine thread, the user interface thread and engine thread communicating other data through the state buffer so as to mitigate pausing at the user interface.

10. The architecture of claim 9, wherein the state buffer is dynamically scalable for storing the state data and other data to facilitate communication between the user interface thread and the engine thread.

11. The architecture of claim 9, wherein the user interface thread includes at least one user interface element, the state buffer providing a communication channel between the at least one user interface element and the engine thread.

12. The architecture of claim 9, wherein the user interface thread includes a plurality of user interface elements, wherein the architecture comprises a plurality of state buffers, each being operable to store state data adapted to control ownership to the respective state buffer by the user interface thread and engine thread, each state buffer providing a communication channel to facilitate communication between a corresponding one of the plurality of user interface elements and the engine thread.

13. The architecture of claim 12 further including a filler routine associated with the engine thread for queuing data in the state buffer object.

14. The architecture of claim 13, wherein a different filler routine is associated with different types of the plurality of user interface elements.

15. The architecture of claim 9, wherein the state buffer is operable to send a notification to the user interface thread in response to a request being filled by the engine thread.

16. The architecture of claim 9, wherein the state buffer includes a synchronization feature for coordinating at least one of access to and ownership of the at least state buffer by the user interface thread and the engine thread.

17. The architecture of claim 16, wherein the synchronization feature further includes a request count and a completion count, the request count being adjusted in response to receiving data from the user interface thread, the completion count being adjusted in response to receiving data from the engine thread, the synchronization feature determining at least one of access to and ownership of the state buffer as a function of the request count and the completion count.

18. A method for synchronizing data communication between at least two threads in a multi-threaded architecture, the method comprising:

receiving at a state buffer a request from a first thread and updating control data at the state buffer to a first condition based on the request;

detecting in a second thread a condition of the control data and providing other data to the state buffer based on the condition of the control data;

updating the control data to a second condition based on the other data being provided to the state buffer; and

controlling retrieval by the first thread of the other data as a function of the condition of the control data.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the control data includes a request count and completion count, the method further including adjusting the request count based on receiving a request from the first thread and adjusting the completion count based on other data being provided to the state buffer by the second thread.

20. The method of claim 19 further including controlling ownership of the state buffer by the first and second thread as a function of the completion count and the request count.

21. The method of claim 18 further including notifying the first thread based on the data being provided to the state buffer by the second thread.

22. The method of claim 21 further including attempting to gain ownership of the state buffer by the first thread in response to the step of notifying, the ownership of the state buffer by the first thread depending upon the condition of the state buffer.

23. A computer-readable medium having computer executable instructions for performing the method of claim 18.

24. A computer-readable medium having computer executable instructions for:

providing a first thread associated with a user interface and a second thread associated with an engine;

generating at least one state buffer to store state data and other data; and

programming the state buffer to control ownership of the state buffer by the first and second threads based on the state data for retrieving or filling the other data to the state buffer.

25. The computer-readable medium of claim 24 having further computer-executable instructions for dynamically configuring the state buffer for storing the state data and the other data.

26. The computer-readable medium of claim 24 having further computer-executable instructions for providing at least one user interface element associated with the first thread and programming the state buffer to provide a communication channel between the at least one interface element and the second thread.

27. The computer-readable medium of claim 24 having further computer-executable instructions for generating a state buffer for each user interface element associated with the first thread, each state buffer being operable to store state data adapted to control ownership to the respective buffer by the first and second threads, each state buffer providing a communication channel to facilitate communication between a corresponding user interface element and the second thread.

28. The computer-readable medium of claim 24 having further executable instructions for notifying the first thread in response to a request being filled by the second thread.

29. The computer-readable medium of claim 24 having further computer-executable instructions for coordinating at least one of access to and ownership of the at least state buffer by the first and second threads.

30. The computer-readable medium of claim 28, wherein the synchronization feature further includes a request count and a completion count, the computer-readable medium having further computer-executable instructions for adjusting the request count in response to receiving data from the first thread and adjusting the completion count in response to receiving data from the second thread, the synchronization feature determining at least one of access to and ownership of the at least state buffer as a function of the request count and the completion count.

31. The computer-readable medium of claim 24, wherein the first thread includes graphical user interface elements to facilitate user interaction with a debugging system.

32. A computer-readable medium having stored thereon a data structure for a state buffer comprising:

a first field for storing request data;

a second field for storing completion data indicative of requests that have been completed by an associated process;

a message field for storing notification data associated with requests that have been completed; and

a data field for storing data provided by the associated process in response to requests stored in the first field.

33. The computer-readable medium of claim 32, wherein at least one of the fields is dynamically scalable.

34. The computer-readable medium of claim 32, further including an error field for indicating an error associated with at least one of storing data in the data field and retrieving data from the data field.