A method and apparatus for increasing the performance of disk drive access by delaying a pending data transfer operation to an individual disk drive until immediately before the start of the target sector so as to allow servicing of an intervening seek operation to another disk drive.

In a multi-processing computer system, a method for serializing references to shared data objects, such as pages, tables, and the like, that permits the system processes to reference objects on a shared access basis without obtaining a shared lock. A point of execution of the control program is monitored that is common to all processes in the system, which occurs regularly in the execution of each process and across which no references to any data object can be maintained by any process, except ...

A multitasking industrial controller for real-time control of machinery and the like permits the use of both periodic and event driven tasks by establishing a hierarchy of both task types in the form of priorities that resolve conflicts between events of the same and different types. The unpredictability of the event driven tasks on scheduling of tasks is addressed by watchdog time values assigned to each task which confirm timely execution of the task in practice despite the risk of preemption ...

Disclosed is context swapping in a multitasking operating system for a processor that includes providing a plurality of context blocks for storing context information for a plurality of processes, providing an array of pointers to the context blocks, providing an index to the array of pointers, and swapping context by adjusting at least one pointer in the array of pointers to point to a context block of a new process. Further included may be incrementing the index prior to adjusting the at least...

A client-server multitasking process comprising: receiving a request comprising searching criteria, comprising n search queries, at least two of which comprise different query values directed to different server addresses, request grouping criteria, and display criteria specifying for which request group information is to be returned; processing n search query and server address pairs into m request groups; for the search queries in the specified request group, sending to the server designated b...

A telecommunications device permits a user to perform several communication related tasks concurrently. The telecommunications device includes a user input device, a display having a tools portion and a windows portion, and a processing element. The processing element includes an element configured to represent the communication related tasks as objects in the tools portion, an element configured to launch different ones of the communication related tasks based upon selection of corresponding on...

A superscalar uniprocessor that performs concurrent multi-task processing is provided. The processor of the present invention maintains a complete set of program address, memory control and general data registers for each task executing concurrently within the microprocessor, allowing independent control of the program flows. Each set of registers are associated with only one task and are utilized by the memory control and execution units to execute the associated task. The processor includes an...

Data is stored in one or more data storage devices, the number of active data storage devices being adaptively adjusted to maximize parallelism while minimizing device overhead. Multiple datasets are first received, these being designated for storage in multiple data storage devices. Next, a first one of the received datasets is stored in a first one of the data storage devices. Concurrently with storage of the first dataset, the following steps are performed: (1) selecting a second received dat...

A multitasking optical fiber probe for collecting dosimeter information from more than one position in a sample. The basic principle of the present invention involves using one or more different sensor zones along the length of the fiber each with a different photoactive constituent having a sufficiently unique emission spectra (spectral or temporal) to enable deconvolution of the emission spectra by the computer and therefore correlation of the detected parameter with the position of the sensor...

A client-server multitasking process comprising: receiving a request comprising searching criteria, comprising search queries, at least two of which comprise different query values directed to different server addresses, criteria specifying for which request group information is to be returned; for the search queries in the specified request group, sending to the server designated by the server address a query derived from the corresponding search query; receiving response information from the s...