Transferral Of Process State And/Or Components In Computing Environments

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2021286645-A1
Application number	US-202117331177-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	May 26, 2021
Priority date	Apr 4, 2019
Publication date	Sep 16, 2021
Grant date	—

Abstract

This technology relates to transferring state information between processes or active software programs in a computing environment where a new instance of a process or software program may receive such state information even after an original or old instance of the process or software program that owned the state information has terminated either naturally or unnaturally.

First claim

1 . A computing system comprising:
one or more computing devices including an operating system function; a memory that is associated with the operating system function; one or more non-transitory computer readable storage media; and program instructions, stored on the one or more non-transitory computer readable storage media, for execution by the one or more computing devices, the program instructions comprising:
receiving a first notification of an update associated with a first system component that has an active task;
after receiving the first notification, sending a second notification that initiates a transfer of state information pertaining to the active task of the first system component to the memory;
performing the update;
receiving a third notification of detection of the update from a second system component;
after receiving the third notification, transferring the state information stored in the memory to the second system component; and
after completion of the transferring, terminating the first system component.

2 . The computing system of claim 1 , wherein the second notification also suspends the active task of the first system component.

3 . The computing system of claim 2 , wherein the second notification suspends the active task of the first system component at denoted safe places.

4 . The computing system of claim 1 , wherein the transferring is performed after receiving a request from the second system component.

5 . The computing system of claim 1 , wherein the third notification includes an indication of compatibility of the second component system with the update.

6 . The computing system of claim 1 , wherein the program instructions further comprise:
receiving a fourth notification of incompatibility of the second system component; terminating the second system component; and continuing operation of the first system component.

7 . The computing system of claim 1 , wherein the program instructions further comprise, before the terminating of the first system component, determining that a change to the state information has not occurred.

8 . The computing system of claim 1 , wherein the program instructions further comprise:
before the terminating of the first system component, determining that a change to the state information has occurred; and transferring the changed state information to the memory.

9 . The computing system of claim 1 , wherein the program instructions further comprise storing the state information in the memory in a forward-compatible format.

10 . The computing system of claim 9 , wherein the forward-compatible format includes data serialization.

11 . A method for updating a system component comprising:
receiving, by one or more processors of a computing system that includes an operating system function, a first notification of an update associated with a first system component of the computing system that has an active task; after receiving the first notification, sending, by the one or more processors, a second notification that initiates a transfer of state information pertaining to the active task of the first system component to a memory of the computing system that is associated with the operating system function; performing, by the one or more processors, the update; receiving, by the one or more processors, a third notification of detection of the update from a second system component of the computing system; after receiving the third notification, transferring, by the one or more processors, the state information stored in the memory to the second system component; and after completion of the transferring, terminating, by the one or more processors, the first system component.

12 . The method of claim 11 , wherein the second notification also suspends the active task of the first system component.

13 . The method of claim 12 , wherein the second notification suspends the active task of the first system component at denoted safe places.

14 . The method of claim 11 , wherein the transferring is performed after receiving a request from the second system component.

15 . The method of claim 11 , wherein the third notification includes an indication of compatibility of the second component system with the update.

16 . The method of claim 11 , further comprising:
receiving, by the one or more processors, a fourth notification of incompatibility of the second system component; terminating, by the one or more processors, the second system component; and continuing, by the one or more processors, operation of the first system component.

17 . The method of claim 11 , further comprising, before the terminating of the first system component, determining, by the one or more processors, that a change to the state information has not occurred.

18 . The method of claim 11 , further comprising:
before the terminating of the first system component, determining, by the one or more processors, that a change to the state information has occurred; and transferring, by the one or more processors, the changed state information to the memory.

19 . The method of claim 11 , further comprising storing, by the one or more processors, the state information in the memory in a forward-compatible format.

20 . The method of claim 19 , wherein the forward-compatible format includes data serialization.

Assignees

• Google Llc

Inventors

• Phoenix Christopher Jonathan
• Johnson Christopher Ryan
• Brown Jeffrey

Classifications

• G06F9/5027

  the resource being a machine, e.g. CPUs, Servers, Terminals · CPC title

• G06F9/48

  Program initiating; Program switching, e.g. by interrupt · CPC title

• G06F21/52

  during program execution, e.g. stack integrity {; Preventing unwanted data erasure; Buffer overflow} · CPC title

• G06F8/656

  while running · CPC title

• G06F9/54 Primary

  Interprogram communication · CPC title