Method for object-oriented programming using dynamic interfaces

Claim 2

In a software application in a computer system, a method for allocating memory for a COM-compliant object, the method comprising: maintaining a first static data structure storing information for supported by the computer system, the classes including a class of the COM-complaint object; maintaining a second static data structure storing information for interfaces for each of the classes supported by the computer system, the second static data structure comprising for each interface, a first memory location storing an interface identifier identifying the interface and a second memory location storing a location of a table of functions implementing the interface; and dynamically allocating memory for the COM-compliant object belonging to one of the classes supported by the computer system, without allocating a pointer for each of the interfaces supported by the COM-compliant object.

Claim 3

The method of claim 1 wherein the first static data structure comprises a memory record for each class, the memory record comprising a first memory location storing a class identifier identifying a class and a second memory location storing a location of the second static data structure.

Claim 4

The method of claim 1 wherein the first and second static data structures are created using programming macros stored on storage media on the computer system.

Claim 5

The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of referencing the COM-compliant object for a first time, thereby causing allocation of a first dynamic data structure to provide COM compliance.

Claim 6

The method of claim 4 further comprising ceasing to reference the COM-compliant object thereby dynamically freeing memory allocated for the first dynamic data structure.

Claim 7

The method of claim 4 wherein the step of allocating the first dynamic data structure comprises: allocating an object-oriented programming model infrastructure to the first dynamic data structure; and binding the first dynamic data structure to the COM-compliant object.

Claim 8

The method of claim 4 further comprising: querying the COM-compliant object for a second interface, thereby causing allocation of a second dynamic data structure; traversing the second static data structure to find a memory location of the table of functions implementing the second interface; and if the memory location of the table of functions implementing the second interface is found, storing the memory location of the table of functions in a first memory location of the second dynamic data structure.

Claim 9

The method of claim 6 wherein the binding step comprises associating the first dynamic data structure with the second static data structure.

Claim 10

The method of claim 7 wherein the step of allocating the first dynamic data structure further comprises: allocating a first memory location for storing an address of the COM-compliant object; allocating a second memory location for storing an address of a memory location storing class information for the COM-compliant object in the first static data structure; allocating a third memory location for storing an address of the IUnknown COM-compliant interface; and allocating a fourth memory location for storing a reference count of the COM-compliant object.

Claim 11

The method of claim 7 further comprising the step of returning an address of the second dynamic data structure as the result of querying the COM-compliant object for the second interface if the memory location of the table of functions implementing the second interface is found.

Claim 12

The method of claim 7 further comprising the step of associating the second dynamic data structure with the first dynamic data structure.

Claim 13

The method of claim 7 further comprising the step of emulating invocation of a function from the second interface with a function from the table of functions.

Claim 14

The method of claim 7 wherein the step of allocating the second dynamic data structure further comprises: allocating a second memory location for storing an address of the COM-compliant object; allocating a third memory location for storing an address of the first dynamic data structure; and allocating a fourth memory location for storing a reference count of the second dynamic data structure.

Claim 15

The method of claim 7 further comprising ceasing to reference the second interface thereby dynamically freeing memory allocated for the second dynamic data structure.

Claim 16

The method of claim 8 wherein the associating step causes the first dynamic data structure to implement only one interface stored in the second static data structure.

Claim 17

The method of claim 12 wherein the step of emulating the invocation of the function from the second interface comprises: generating a call frame to emulate the invocation of the function; replacing a pointer to the second dynamic data structure in the call frame with a pointer to the COM-compliant object; and executing the program text of the function from the table of functions.

Claim 18

The method of claim 15 wherein the first dynamic data structure implements an IUnknown COM-compliant interface.

Claim 19

A computer program product for allocating memory for a COM-compliant object, the product comprising: code for maintaining a first static data structure storing information for classes supported by the program product, the classes including a class of the COM-complaint object; code for maintaining a second static data structure storing information for interfaces for each of the classes supported by the program product, wherein the second static data structure comprises for each interface, a first memory location storing an interface identifier identifying the interface and a second memory location storing a location of a table of functions implementing the interface; code for dynamically allocating memory for the COM-compliant object belonging to one of the classes supported by the program product, without allocating a pointer for each of said interfaces supported by the COM-compliant object; and a computer-readable storage medium that stores the codes.

Claim 20

A computer program product for allocating memory for a COM-compliant object, the product comprising: code for maintaining a first static data structure storing information for classes supported by the program product, the classes including a class of the COM-complaint object; code for maintaining a second static data structure storing information for interfaces for each of the classes supported by the program product, wherein the second static data structure comprises for each interface, a first memory location storing an interface identifier identifying the interface and a second memory location storing a location of a table of functions implementing the interface; code for dynamically allocating memory for the COM-compliant object belonging to one of the classes supported by the program product, without allocating a pointer for each of said interfaces supported by the COM-compliant object; and a computer-readable storage medium that stores the codes.

Claim 21

The computer program product of claim 18 further comprising code for referencing the COM-compliant object for a first time, thereby causing allocation of a first dynamic data structure to provide COM compliance.

Claim 22

The computer program product of claim 19 further comprising code for ceasing to reference the COM-compliant object thereby dynamically freeing memory allocated for the first dynamic data structure.

Claim 23

The computer program product of claim 19 further comprising: code for allocating an object-oriented programming model infrastructure to the first dynamic data structure; and code for associating the first dynamic data structure with the second static data structure thereby causing the first dynamic data structure to implement an IUnknown COM-compliant interface.

Claim 24

The computer program product of claim 19 further comprising: code for querying the COM-compliant object for a second interface, thereby causing allocation of a second dynamic data structure; code for traversing the second static data structure to find a memory location of the table of functions implementing the second interface; and if the memory location of the table of functions implementing the second interface is found, code for storing the memory location of the table of functions in a first memory location of the second dynamic data structure and code for returning an address of the second dynamic data structure as the result of querying the COM-compliant object for the second interface.

Claim 25

The computer program product of claim 22 further comprising: code for associating the second dynamic data structure with the first dynamic data structure; and code for emulating invocation of a function from the second interface with a function from the table of functions.

Claim 26

The computer program product of claim 22 further comprising code for ceasing to reference the second interface thereby dynamically freeing memory allocated for the second dynamic data structure.

Claim 27

The computer program product of claim 23 wherein the code for emulating invocation of a function further comprises: code for generating a call frame to emulate the invocation of the function; code for replacing a pointer to the second dynamic data structure in the call frame with a pointer to the COM-compliant object; and code for executing the program text of the function from the table of functions.