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EP0817044A2
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Memory allocation in a multithreaded environment
Assignee: Sun Microsystems Inc
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Filing: 1997-06-27
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Granted: —
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Expires: 2017-06-27
Abstract
Abstract A method of allocating memory (16) in a multithreaded (parallel) computing environment in which threads (30-33) running in parallel within a process are associated with one of a number of memory pools (24, 38-40) of a system memory. The method includes the steps of establishing memory pools in the system memory, mapping each thread to one of the memory pools; and, for each thread, dynamically allocating user memory blocks from the associated memory pool. The method allows any existing memory management malloc (memory allocation) package to be converted to a multithreaded version so that multithreaded processes are run with greater efficiency.
Inventors
- 👤 Gregory Nakhimovsky
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
EP
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-11-05 23:07
CPC Classifications
G; G06; G06F; G06F9/00; G06F9/06; G06F9/46; G06F9/50; G06F9/5005; G06F9/5011; G06F9/5016; G06F12/00; G06F12/02; G06F12/0223; G06F12/023; Y; Y10; Y10S; Y10S707/00; Y10S707/99951; Y10S707/99952; Y10S707/99953; Y10S707/99956
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 21
Claim 1
Independent Claim
68 words
A method of allocating memory in a
multithreaded computing environment in which a plurality
of threads run in parallel within a process, each thread
having access to a system memory, the method comprising: establishing a plurality of memory pools in the
system memory; mapping each thread to one of said plurality of
memory pools; and for each thread, dynamically allocating user
memory blocks from the associated memory pool.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
26 words
The method of claim 1 wherein the step of
dynamically allocating memory blocks includes designating
the number of bytes in the block desired to be allocated.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
20 words
The method of claim 1 further comprising the
step of preventing simultaneous access to a memory pool
by different threads.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
26 words
The method of claim 1 further comprising the
step of establishing a memory pool for each thread
comprises allocating a memory buffer of a preselected
size.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
37 words
The method of claim 4 further comprising the
step of dynamically increasing the size of the memory
pool by allocating additional memory from the system
memory in increments equal to the preselected size of the
buffer memory.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
15 words
The method of claim 4 wherein the preselected
size of the buffer is 64 Kbytes.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
29 words
The method of claim 1 further comprising the
step of one of the threads transferring memory from the
memory pool of another of the threads to its memory pool.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
27 words
The method of claim 1 wherein each memory
pool is defined by an array of static variables
identified by a thread index associated with a memory
pool.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
18 words
The method of claim 8 wherein each memory
pool is maintained as a data structure of memory blocks.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
29 words
The method of claim 9 wherein each memory
block comprises a header including the size of the memory
block and the memory pool index to which it is
associated.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
20 words
The method of claim 10 wherein the size of
the block and the memory pool index are each four bytes.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
20 words
The method of claim 1 further comprising the
step of each thread deallocating a memory block to the
memory pool.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
20 words
The method of claim 12 wherein the thread
originally allocating the memory block deallocates it to
its associated memory pool.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim
23 words
The method of claim 12 further comprising the
step of coalescing deallocated memory blocks and
preventing coalescing of memory blocks from different
pools.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim
24 words
The method of claim 1 further comprising the
step of changing the size of an allocated block of memory
allocated by a memory pool.
Claim 16
Dependent Claim
95 words
A computer-readable medium storing a computer
program which is executable on a computer including a
memory, the computer program for allocating memory in a
multithreaded computing environment in which a plurality
of threads run in parallel within a process, each thread
having access to a system memory, the stored program
comprising: computer-readable instructions which establish a
plurality of memory pools in the system memory; computer-readable instructions which map each
thread to one of said plurality of memory pools; and computer-readable instructions which, for each
thread, dynamically allocate user memory blocks from the
associated memory pool.
Claim 17
Dependent Claim
25 words
The computer-readable medium of claim 16
wherein the stored program further comprises computer
instructions which prevent simultaneous access to a
memory pool by different threads.
Claim 18
Dependent Claim
36 words
The computer-readable medium of claim 16
wherein the stored program further comprises computer
instructions which causes one of the threads to transfer
memory from the memory pool of another of the threads to
its memory pool.
Claim 19
Dependent Claim
28 words
The computer-readable medium of claim 16
wherein each memory pool is defined by an array of static
variables identified by a thread index associated with a
memory pool.
Claim 20
Dependent Claim
28 words
The computer-readable medium of claim 16
wherein the stored program further comprises computer
instructions which coalesces deallocated memory blocks
and prevents coalescing of memory blocks from different
pools.
Claim 21
Independent Claim
103 words
A system comprising: memory, a portion of said memory storing a
computer program for allocating memory in a multithreaded
computing environment in which a plurality of threads run
in parallel within a process, each thread having access
to the memory, the stored program comprising: computer-readable instructions which
establish a plurality of memory pools in the memory; computer-readable instructions which map each
thread to one of said plurality of memory pools; and computer-readable instructions which, for
each thread, dynamically allocate user memory blocks from
the associated memory pool; a processor to execute said computer-readable
instructions; and a bus connecting the memory to the processor.
References Cited (Backward Citations)
No citation records indexed.
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