Wrapper for enabling an object otented application to maintain virtual memory using procedural function calls

Claim 3

The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the virtual memory classes comprise a first object-oriented virtual memory class encapsulating a contiguous range of virtual memory comprised of a plurality of memory objects in the computer, the first object-oriented virtual memory class having methods for manipulating the encapsulated virtual memory range using the procedural function calls, and wherein the second object instantiating means comprises means controlled by the object-oriented application for instantiating a third object from the first object-oriented virtual memory, class and for executing the methods in the third object to manipulate the encapsulated contiguous virtual memory range.

Claim 4

The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the object-oriented application operates in a task address space and the virtual memory classes comprise a second object-oriented virtual memory class having methods for accessing the encapsulated contiguous virtual memory range, for obtaining memory attribute information relating to the encapsulated contiguous virtual memory range, and for mapping memory objects into the address space and wherein the second object instantiating means comprises means controlled by the object-oriented application program for instantiating a fourth object from the second object-oriented virtual memory class and for executing the methods in the fourth object for accessing the encapsulated contiguous virtual memory range.

Claim 5

The apparatus of claim 3, wherein the memory, component has a heap portion and the virtual memory classes comprise a third object-oriented virtual memory class encapsulating a portion of the memory component, the portion having a size specified by the object-oriented application, a fourth object-oriented virtual memory class having methods for managing the encapsulated memory component portion on the memory component heap portion, and a fifth object-oriented virtual memory class for managing the encapsulated memory component portion using virtual memory operations and wherein the first object instantiating means comprises means controlled by the object-oriented application program for instantiating a fifth object from the third object-oriented virtual memory class, the second object instantiating means comprises means controlled by the object-oriented application program for instantiating a sixth object from the fourth object-oriented virtual memory class and a seventh object from the fifth object-oriented virtual memory class and for executing the methods in the sixth and seventh objects for accessing the encapsulated contiguous virtual memory range.

Claim 6

The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the virtual memory classes comprise a sixth object-oriented virtual memory class for defining a random access data stream for transferring data between the object-oriented application and the encapsulated virtual memory space established by the first object.

Claim 7

The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the object-oriented application program is associated with a virtual address space, the memory component is comprised of a plurality of memory objects and the virtual memory classes comprise a seventh object-oriented virtual memory class having a data structure for encapsulating data and having methods for mapping the encapsulated data into the virtual address space, and wherein the first instantiating means is controlled by the object-oriented application program to instantiate objects from the seventh object-oriented virtual memory class to represent at least one of the plurality of memory objects in the computer.

Claim 8

The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the first instantiating means is controlled by the object-oriented application program to instantiate memory objects from the seventh object-oriented virtual memory class to represent data files and device partitions.

Claim 9

Wrapper apparatus for providing an object-oriented interface between an application program operating in a task address space in a computer having a memory component and a procedural operating system having a native procedural interface with procedural function calls to create and manipulate a virtual memory range in the memory component, the wrapper apparatus allowing the application program to access and manipulate the virtual memory range using objects during an application program runtime, the wrapper apparatus comprising: (a) means operable prior to the application program runtime for creating a code library comprising object-oriented, virtual memory classes comprising data structures for defining virtual memory range and methods for using the procedural function calls compatible with the native procedural interface of the procedural operating system to create the virtual memory rang and to manipulate the created virtual memory range; (b) means operable prior to the application program runtime for storing the code library in the memory component; (c) means operable during the application program runtime for referencing the code library in the task address space; and (c) means responsive to a request by the application program for an instantiation of an object which creates and manipulates a virtual memory range for instantiating a first object from the code library referenced in the task address space and for calling methods in the first object to cause procedural function calls to be made to the procedural operating system to create and manipulate the virtual memory range.

Claim 10

Wrapper apparatus for providing an object-oriented interface between an application program operating in a task address space in a computer having a memory component and a procedural operating system having a native procedural interface with procedural function calls to create and manipulate a virtual memory range in the memory component, the wrapper apparatus allowing the application program to access and manipulate the virtual memory range using objects during an application program runtime, the wrapper apparatus comprising: (a) means operable prior to the application program runtime for creating a code library comprising object-oriented, virtual memory classes comprising data structures for defining virtual memory range and methods for using the procedural function calls compatible with the native procedural interface of the procedural operating system to create the virtual memory rang and to manipulate the created virtual memory range; (b) means operable prior to the application program runtime for storing the code library in the memory component; (c) means operable during the application program runtime for referencing the code library in the task address space; and (c) means responsive to a request by the application program for an instantiation of an object which creates and manipulates a virtual memory range for instantiating a first object from the code library referenced in the task address space and for calling methods in the first object to cause procedural function calls to be made to the procedural operating system to create and manipulate the virtual memory range.

Claim 13

The method of claim 9, wherein step (a) comprises the step of: (a1) creating a first object-oriented virtual memory class having data defining a contiguous range of virtual memory in the memory component, the first object-oriented virtual memory class having methods for creating the contiguous virtual memory range in the memory component by making procedural function calls to the procedural operating system.

Claim 14

The method of claim 10, wherein the memory component is comprised of a plurality of memory objects and step (a) comprises the step of: (a2) creating a second object-oriented virtual memory class having methods for accessing the created virtual memory range, to obtain memory attribute information relating to the created virtual memory range, and to map the plurality of memory objects into the task address space.

Claim 15

The method of claim 9, wherein the memory component comprises a heap portion and step (a) comprises the step of: (a3) creating a third object-oriented virtual memory class having data defining a portion of the memory component having a size specified by the application program; (a4) creating a fourth object-oriented virtual memory class for managing the defined memory component portion on the heap and (a5) creating a fifth object-oriented virtual memory class for managing the defined memory portion using virtual memory operations.

Claim 16

The method, of claim 12, wherein step (a) comprises the step of: (a6) creating a sixth object-oriented virtual memory class having data for defining a random access data stream for transferring data between the application program and the defined memory portion.

Claim 17

The method of claim 9, wherein the object-oriented application program is associated with a virtual address space, the memory component is comprised of a plurality of memory objects and step (a) comprises the steps of: (a7) creating a seventh object-oriented virtual memory class having a data structure for encapsulating data and having methods for mapping the encapsulated data into the virtual address space; and (a8) instantiating objects from the seventh object-oriented virtual memory, class to represent at least one of the plurality of memory objects in the computer.

Claim 18

The method of claim 14, wherein step (a) comprises the step of: (a9) instantiating objects from the seventh object-oriented virtual memory class to represent data files and device partitions.

Claim 21

The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the class library contains a first virtual memory class comprising data structures for defining a contiguous range of virtual memory in the computer and methods for creating the virtual memory range from at least one memory object using the procedural function calls.

Claim 22

The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the class library contains a second virtual memory class having methods for accessing a virtual memory range created by an object instantiated from the first virtual memory class and for mapping memory objects in the virtual memory range into the task address space.

Claim 23

The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the memory contains an application-specific memory and a heap memory and wherein the class library contains a third virtual memory class comprising data structures for defining a portion of heap memory having a size specified by the application, a fourth virtual memory class for enabling the application to manage the heap memory portion using the procedural function calls, and a fifth virtual memory class for enabling the application to manage the heap memory portion using the procedural function calls.

Claim 24

The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the class library contains a sixth virtual memory class containing methods for defining a random access data stream for transferring data between the application program and the memory.

Claim 25

The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the task address space is a virtual address space, the class library contains a seventh virtual memory class having methods for mapping data in the memory into the task virtual address space, and wherein the apparatus comprises means controlled by the application program for creating objects representing a plurality of memory objects in the computer by instantiating the seventh virtual memory class.

Claim 26

The apparatus of claim 21, wherein each of the plurality of memory objects contains a reference to a data source, which data source includes a data file and a device partition.

Claim 29

The method of claim 23, wherein step (a) comprises the step of: (a1) creating a first virtual memory class comprising data structures for defining a contiguous range of virtual memory in the computer and methods for creating the virtual memory range from at least one memory object using the procedural function calls.

Claim 30

The method of claim 24, wherein step (a) comprises the step of: (a2) creating a second virtual memory class having methods for accessing the virtual memory range; wherein step (c) comprises the steps of: (c1) instantiating a first object from the first virtual memory class; and (c2) instantiating a second object from the second virtual memory class; and wherein step (d) comprises the step of: (d1) using the first object to define a virtual memory range; and (d2) using the second object to map memory objects in the virtual memory range into the task address space.

Claim 31

The method of claim 23, wherein the memory contains an application-specific memory and a heap memory and wherein step (a) comprises the step of: (a3) creating a third virtual memory class comprising data structures for defining a portion of heap memory having a size specified by the application; (a4) creating a fourth virtual memory class for managing the heap memory portion using the procedural function calls; and (a5) creating a fifth virtual memory class for managing the heap memory portion using the procedural function calls.

Claim 32

The method of claim 23, wherein step (a) comprises the step of: (a6) creating a sixth virtual memory class containing methods for defining a random access data stream for transferring data between the application program and the memory.

Claim 33

The method of claim 23, wherein the task address space is a virtual address space and wherein step (a) comprises the step of: (a7) creating a seventh virtual memory class having methods for mapping data in the memory into the task virtual address space; and wherein step (c) comprises the step of: (c3) instantiating the seventh virtual memory class to create objects representing a plurality of memory objects in the computer.

Claim 34

The method of claim 28, wherein step (a7) comprises the step of: (a7a) creating the seventh virtual memory class with data including a reference to a data source, which data source includes a data file and a device partition.