Patent US710949A successfully refreshed from Google Patents.
Patent US5862386A successfully refreshed from Google Patents.
← Back to Patent Explorer
US5862386A Expired / Lapsed US ⏱️ 0.0 years remaining

Apparatus and method for providing a facility for managing versions and configurations of persistent and transient objects

Assignee: Texas Instruments Inc
•
Filing: 1993-05-14
•
Granted: 1999-01-19
•
Expires: 2013-05-14
📄 Original PDF 🌐 Google Patents 🔄 Sync Now

Abstract

Abstract A system and method for managing change in software systems and applications manages change for both transient and persistent objects in a domain independent, non-intrusive, object-oriented fashion. The system and method are designed and implemented as a combination of two abstract machines consisting of a set of inter-face functions visible to the application, and an internal or private state which is hidden from such application. Applications use the interface functions to obtain the services of this change management system and method. Since the internal state of such system and method is outside the application, change management is provided as a service without the need for altering or adding onto application data structures and interfaces.

Inventors

  • 👤 Vappala John Joseph
  • 👤 Mark Benjamin Shadowens
  • 👤 Craig Warren Thompson
  • 👤 John Chung-Lin Chen

Bibliographic Details

Application Number —
Jurisdiction US
Data Source google_patents
Last Synchronized 2026-11-08 02:59
CPC Classifications
G; G06; G06F; G06F8/00; G06F8/70; G06F8/71; G06F9/00; G06F9/06; G06F9/44; G06F9/448; G06F9/4488; G06F9/4493; Y; Y10; Y10S; Y10S707/00; Y10S707/953; Y10S707/955; Y10S707/99951; Y10S707/99952; Y10S707/99954

Claims Analysis

Total Claims: 21
Claim 1
Independent Claim 165 words
A change management system for in response to received calls from an application independent of said change management system specifying and managing changes to an object and a plurality of groupings of a plurality of said object comprising, in combination: a version abstract machine including a first instruction set, said version abstract machine responsive to said received calls from said application to said first instruction set for specifying and managing evolution of said object as a version graph having a version graph name; a configuration abstract machine including a second instruction set, said configuration abstract machine responsive to said received calls from said application to said second instruction set for specifying and managing composition of each of said plurality of groupings of said plurality of said object as a configuration graph having a configuration graph name; and a processor machine, said processor machine responsive to said version abstract machine and said configuration abstract machine for executing said first instruction set and said second instruction set.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim 165 words
A change management system for in response to received calls from an application independent of said change management system specifying and managing changes to an object and a plurality of groupings of a plurality of said object comprising, in combination: a version abstract machine including a first instruction set, said version abstract machine responsive to said received calls from said application to said first instruction set for specifying and managing evolution of said object as a version graph having a version graph name; a configuration abstract machine including a second instruction set, said configuration abstract machine responsive to said received calls from said application to said second instruction set for specifying and managing composition of each of said plurality of groupings of said plurality of said object as a configuration graph having a configuration graph name; and a processor machine, said processor machine responsive to said version abstract machine and said configuration abstract machine for executing said first instruction set and said second instruction set.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim 39 words
The change management system of claim 1, wherein said version abstract machine interacts with said configuration abstract machine using said second instruction set, and said configuration abstract machine interacts with said version abstract machine using said first instruction set.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim 24 words
The change management system for managing change of claim 1, wherein said first instruction set and second instruction set are a collection of functions.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim 18 words
The change management system of claim 3, wherein said collection of functions take arguments that are integer valued.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim 19 words
The change management system of claim 3, wherein said collection of functions take arguments that are character string valued.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim 18 words
The change management system of claim 3, wherein said collection of functions take arguments that are Boolean valued.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim 22 words
The change management system of claim 3, wherein said collection of functions take arguments that are un-typed pointer values representing machine addresses.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim 24 words
The change management system of claim 1, wherein said version abstract machine manages the evolution of each of said plurality of said object individually.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim 33 words
The change management system of claim 1, wherein said plurality of said object managed by said version abstract machine and said plurality of said object managed by said configuration abstract machine are identical.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim 13 words
The change management system of claim 1, wherein said object includes compiled programs.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim 13 words
The change management system of claim 1, wherein said object includes source code.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim 13 words
The change management system of claim 1, wherein said object includes transient objects.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim 24 words
The change management system of claim 1, wherein said version abstract machine manages said object without requiring modifications to data structures of the object.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim 31 words
The change management system of claim 1, wherein said configuration abstract machine manages said plurality of groupings of said of object without requiring modifications to the data structures of the object.
Claim 16
Dependent Claim 36 words
The change management system of claim 1 wherein said version graph includes a plurality of version nodes, each of said plurality of version nodes representing a unique version of said object represented by said version graph.
Claim 17
Dependent Claim 37 words
The change management system of claim 1 wherein said configuration graph includes a plurality of configuration nodes, each of said plurality of configuration nodes representing one of a plurality of version graphs using said version graph name.
Claim 18
Dependent Claim 44 words
The change management system of claim 1 wherein said configuration graph includes a plurality of configuration nodes, each of said plurality of configuration nodes representing one of a plurality of version graphs using a pointer to said one of said plurality of version graphs.
Claim 19
Dependent Claim 41 words
The change management system of claim 1 wherein said configuration graphs include a plurality of configuration nodes, each of said plurality of configuration nodes representing one of said plurality of version nodes of said version graph using said version node name.
Claim 20
Dependent Claim 52 words
The change management system of claim 1 wherein said configuration graphs include a plurality of configuration nodes, each of said plurality of configuration nodes representing one of said plurality of version nodes of said version graph using a pointer to said one of said plurality of version nodes of said version graph.
Claim 21
Dependent Claim 66 words
The change management system of claim 1 wherein said collection of functions include initialization functions for declaring to said change management system type names of said plurality of objects to be managed and for declaring to said change management system application supplied function names associated with said type names whereby said change management system can make calls to application supplied functions to transform application data structures.

References Cited (Backward Citations)

US4558413A Cited
US4714992A Cited
US5047918A Cited
US4809170A Cited
US4853843A Cited
US4912637A Cited
US5018075A Cited

USPTO Annuity & Maintenance Windows

Annuity Stage Window Opens Payment Deadline Surcharge Period Until Estimated Fee Status
3.5 Years (Year 4) 2002-01-18 2002-07-20 2003-01-19 $2000.00 Window Closed / Lapsed
7.5 Years (Year 8) 2006-01-18 2006-07-20 2007-01-19 $3760.00 Window Closed / Lapsed
11.5 Years (Year 12) 2010-01-18 2010-07-20 2011-01-19 $7700.00 Window Closed / Lapsed

Assigned Categories & Tags

No categories assigned to this patent yet.

Assign Category Tag