Electrical computers and digital processing systems: multicomput – Computer-to-computer data routing – Least weight routing
Reexamination Certificate
1999-05-27
2004-03-09
Courtenay, III, St. John (Department: 2126)
Electrical computers and digital processing systems: multicomput
Computer-to-computer data routing
Least weight routing
C717S127000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06704806
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates generally to tracking process creation during execution of a software application. More particularly, the present invention relates to monitoring the creation and destruction of child processes and grand-child processes of an executing application.
BACKGROUND
A conventional computer system
100
is illustrated in
FIG. 1
, and has several hardware components, including a processor
110
such as a central processing unit (CPU), a memory
120
such as RAM, and a non-volatile storage medium
130
, all in communication with one another. Other hardware components not shown include disk drives, network devices, and other hardware devices known to those skilled in the art.
Conventional computer system
100
further includes software programs which may be stored on and executed using the several hardware components
110
,
120
,
130
. Specifically, the software in computer system
100
includes application
150
, which resides in storage medium
130
, operating system
160
, stored in memory
120
, and possibly other applications or programs stored in storage medium
130
and memory
120
. When the computer is active, application
150
may be found in memory
120
. When the computer is off, operating system
160
may be found in storage medium
130
. Thus, operating system
160
may be stored in various locations, as should be understood by those skilled in the art.
Application
150
and operating system
160
interact with one another and possibly other software in system
100
to provide data access to a user and to control other hardware and software in system
100
as designated by the user. The user of computer system
100
executes application
150
by instructing operating system
160
to execute, or “run,” application
150
. Operating system
160
then executes the requested application
150
, and possibly other programs interleaved with application
150
, using memory
120
, processor
110
, and other devices available to computer system
100
.
Operating system
160
may be any conventional operating system known to those skilled in the art. Popular conventional operating systems used in personal computers include 32-bit Windows (“Win32”) operating systems such as those made by Microsoft Corp. These include Microsoft Windows NT, Windows 95 and Windows 98. Other conventional operating systems which may be used as operating system
160
include UNIX for use with workstations, and DOS for use with personal computers.
A Win32-based application running in the system is called a “process” in terms of the operating system. Each process consists of at least a single thread of execution to be run by the operating system. A thread is a unit of code that can get some operating time from the operating system to run concurrently with other units of code, and must be associated with a process.
Win32-based applications can take advantage of various techniques provided by Windows operating systems to facilitate the ability to run applications concurrently. One of these concurrency techniques is “multi-threading,” in which portions of one or more processes, or “threads”, are separately and concurrently executable.
Executing two separate threads concurrently, however, is sometimes not particularly efficient. These inefficiencies arise where one executing application or process, the “parent” process, spawns another “child” process, and particularly where the child process spawns grandchild processes. Such situations may present problems where the parent process is one of a series of processes or applications to be executed. For example, the parent process may terminate before one or more of its child processes or grandchild processes have terminated. If execution of some other application commences while the child processes of the terminated parent processes are still active, corruption may result in some computer systems, notwithstanding the multi-threading techniques provided by operating systems such as Windows 95.
FIG. 2
illustrates a series of applications stored for execution in a computer system, such as system
100
of FIG.
1
. The series includes a first application
210
, a second application
220
, and a third application
230
, each of which represents a stage of a larger installation process for installing a software program. Applications
210
,
220
,
230
may be stored on a storage medium
130
or memory
120
, as shown in FIG.
1
. The execution of applications
210
,
220
,
230
is governed by an operating system
240
, which is stored in memory
120
.
In
FIG. 2
, applications
210
,
220
,
230
are to be executed in sequence, as controlled by operating system
240
.
FIG. 2
is drawn at a time when execution of first application
210
has begun, and at a time when first application
210
has created child processes
250
,
260
. In addition, child process
260
has spawned child processes of its own, or “grand-child” processes
270
,
280
.
In
FIG. 2
, the execution of first application
210
may terminate before child processes
250
,
260
, or grand-child processes
270
,
280
have terminated. If the installation process does not wait for the executing child or grand-child processes to terminate, operating system
240
may initiate execution of second application
220
, the next stage in installation. Execution of second application
220
, or possibly some other application, while one or more child or grand-child processes of the first application
210
are still executing could cause corruption in the computer system in which the applications are used.
In Windows 95, the published Win32 API is supposed to delay the execution of other applications before child and processes of a parent application are terminated. Win32 API, however, often does not work correctly because Win32 API does not track the creation of grand-child processes of the parent application. Thus, using only Win32 API, the execution of other applications may commence before the child and, particularly, the grand-child processes of the parent have terminated. In sum, existing techniques fail to provide reliable tracking of the creation and destruction of child processes and grand-child processes during the execution of applications in a computer system.
SUMMARY
The present invention relates generally to monitoring the creation and destruction of child and grand-child processes within an application executing in a computer system controlled by an operating system. A child process has a corresponding child process database structure, and the executing application has a corresponding application process database structure. A list is provided for storing existing child process database structures corresponding to child processes existing within the executing application.
According to one aspect of the present invention, when a new process is created during execution of the application, a new process database structure corresponding to the new process is retrieved. Using the new process database structure, a parent process database structure corresponding to a parent process of the new process is retrieved. The parent process database structure is compared with the application process database structure. If the parent process database structure is the same as the application process database structure, the new process is identified as an existing child process. If the new process is identified as the existing child process, the new process database structure is added to the list of existing child process database structures.
According to another aspect of the present invention, monitoring the creation and destruction of child processes within the application includes determining when a process is terminated during execution of the application. A terminated process database structure corresponding to the terminated process is retrieved. The terminated process database structure is compared with the existing child process database structures in the list. If the terminated process database structure is the same as one of the existing child process database struc
Computer Associates Think Inc.
Cooper & Dunham LLP
Courtenay III St. John
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