Oracle Seeks Patent for Generational Garbage Collectors

Oracle Corporation is yet another technology innovator from the state of California. The company specializes in the development of database management systems, and is a heavy user of the patent system to protect its innovations, especially for patents involving efficiency upgrades to computer systems.

Recent patent applications filed by Oracle, and released by the USPTO, highlight the technology developer’s planned upgrades to current software systems, including dead memory retrieval by garbage collection applications and automated event grouping for timeline user interfaces. Another application describes a more exact system of mileage tracking for business expense reports. A recent patent also promises to give end users a better ability to tailor their search queries to provide better search results.

But what is Oracle doing inventing technology relating to garbage collectors? Well, the term “garbage” is not being use in the typical everyday sense. As you will see when you read on, the “garbage” being collected relates to unused or dead memory, not household rubbish.

[Patent-Watch]

Time-Based Object Aging for Generational Garbage Collectors

U.S. Patent Application No. 20130086131 — Click to see file history
U.S. Patent Application No. 20130086132 — Click to see file history

A run-time environment reads code formatted in a specific language in order to execute a program. In order to maintain system performance, the run-time environment usually engages in some form of routine garbage collection. Garbage refers to unused or dead memory space within the run-time environment that exists once a program is finished running. That dead memory is reclaimed from the object it’s running and becomes able to run more programs within the environment.

These patent applications define a system of time-based garbage collection specific to Oracle’s Java Virtual Machines. Objects started within the run-time environment are assigned to a time-based generation. When the run-time environment starts the next generation period, objects are scanned to see if they’re still running. If not, the dead memory used to run those items is reclaimed; objects that are still running are assigned to the next generation.

Claim 1 of the ‘131 patent application describes:

“A method for time-based object aging generational garbage collection comprising: receiving, using at least one processor, a time tenuring threshold specifying a time a plurality of objects survive in a memory; receiving, using the at least one processor, a plurality of time stamps corresponding to a plurality of garbage collections, each time stamp of the plurality of time stamps including a start time of a particular garbage collection of the plurality of garbage collections; calculating, using the at least one processor, an object tenure age threshold based on the plurality of time stamps and the time tenuring threshold, the object tenure age threshold specifying whether a particular object of a plurality of objects is promoted; promoting, using the at least one processor, at least one object of the plurality of objects when an object age corresponding to the at least one object meets the object tenure age threshold.”

Whereas Clam 1 of the ‘132 patent application seeks to protect:

“A method for time-based object aging garbage collection comprising: receiving, at at least one processor, a time tenuring threshold specifying an amount of time a plurality of objects survive in a memory; receiving, at the at least one processor, first time data indicating an occurrence of a garbage collection; calculating, at the at least one processor, an elapsed time value for each object of the plurality of objects; promoting, within the memory, at least one object of the plurality of objects when the elapsed time value meets the time tenuring threshold.”

Mileage Tracker Entry for Mobile Expense Solutions
 U.S. Patent Application No. 20130085903 — Click to see file history

There are many reasons a company’s employee would fill out an expense report for reimbursement, such as travel or meal expenses. Filling out these expense reports is cumbersome and can reduce an employee’s overall productivity if too much time is spent completing these reports. Mileage tracking can be even more difficult as employees have to log their own miles, which can lead to misreporting the actual mileage.

Oracle has devised a new system of pre-filling expense reports using GPS tracking data from an employee’s mobile device. Instead of a user being required to log into the main computer network, mobile devices can upload mileage data directly to the expense reporting software wirelessly and remotely. Users can also attach notes or voice recordings to GPS data entries to provide more information for business expense report compilers.

As Claim 1 states, Oracle hopes to protect

“A method for performing expense item entry on a mobile device, comprising: using at least one processor that is programmed or configured for performing a process, the process comprising: generating an expense entry on a mobile device; capturing location data pertaining movement of the mobile device; tracking the movement of the mobile device to populate at least a portion of required fields for the expense entry; determining another portion of required fields for the expense entry for which data is not entered; auto-populating additional data for the other portion of required fields for the expense entry from a processing mechanism on the mobile device; and sending the expense entry to a remote server comprising an enterprise expense application, such that the expense entry created on the mobile device is uploaded for processing at the enterprise server application, wherein the mobile device receives reference data generated by the remote server to allow the mobile device to process the expense entry in accordance with the enterprise expense application.”

Visualizing Related Events Within a Timeline
U.S. Patent Application No. 20130086501 — Click to see file history

Oracle software programs sometimes contain timeline applications that provide a visualization of important events so that a user can easily see when those events started and ended, as well as the duration of the event. As these timelines fill up with events, the user interface can get cluttered, making it difficult for a user to glean useful information quickly.

This patent application describes a system of automatically grouping events within a timeline for Oracle applications. As the timeline grows larger than the user interface, different events are grouped together according to event criteria. The timeline retains chronological order while grouping similar events within event groups, as indicated by bubble icons on the timeline visualization.

Claim 1 of this Oracle patent application seeks to protect:

“A computer-readable medium having instructions stored thereon that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to display a timeline, the instructions comprising: receiving data that represents a plurality of events within a timeline; creating an event group that comprises at least two events of the plurality of events, wherein the at least two events are related events based on a criteria; displaying the event group within the timeline; displaying an expanded view of the event group over the timeline in response to a first user interaction, wherein the expanded view comprises the at least two events of the event group; and removing the display of the expanded view in response to a second user interaction.”

One-Step Posting for Approval-Based Ledger Transactions
U.S. Patent Application No. 20130080301 — Click to see file history

Every business has to keep a ledger of revenue and expenditures in order to make sure the business remains financially viable. In many cases, it’s simpler for the business to let employees report their revenues and expenses directly to a ledger instead of having an administrative assistant compile all transaction data. Ledger software programs improve an employee’s ability to quickly update business account records. However, a business may want a manager to approve some employee expenditures before allowing the ledger to reflect the transaction.

Oracle’s invention, which they hope to protect through the USPTO, involves a one-step process by which an employee would upload an expense or other transaction to a digital ledger. If the transaction type contains criteria that indicate the transaction requires managerial approval, a notification is sent to the proper administrative staff for approval. If no approval is required, the ledger is updated automatically.

Claim 1 of this Oracle patent application explains:

“A method for posting a journal entry to a ledger, the method comprising: receiving, by a computer system, from a user, the journal entry that comprises financial information related to a credit or debit from an account, with a request to post the journal entry to the ledger, wherein the journal entry corresponds to the ledger; determining, by the computer system, that the journal entry is subject to an approval process; after receiving the request to post the journal entry to the ledger, identifying, by the computer system, at least one other user required to approve the journal entry as part of the approval process; receiving, by the computer system, an approval from the at least one other user; and after receiving the approval from the at least one other user, posting the journal entry to the ledger such that the ledger indicates the credit or debit of the journal entry, wherein: posting of the journal entry to the ledger requires no additional input from the user who submitted the journal entry following receiving the request to post the journal entry to the ledger received with the journal entry.”

Changing Ranking Algorithms Based on Customer Settings
U.S. Patent No. 8412717 — Click to see file history

Database software stores data so that users can retrieve it later using a retrieval practice known as querying. A query is a command sent to a database that retrieves certain documents or data for a user seeking that information. Often, users construct a query by selecting certain attributes from a drop down menu that identifies attributes that a user is seeking for; for example, a user might look for a document by title by selecting “Title” as an attribute from a drop down menu and entering a keyword into a search field. Sending that query will search for the keyword when it appears in the document’s title.

For large databases, especially online databases, many low quality documents can be accessed that are not valuable to users. This new search query system, developed by Oracle, allows database software applications to include customizable attributes for user search queries. In this way, users could search for documents ranked by “writing style” or other subjective aspects.

As Claim 1 describes, Oracle has earned the right to protect:

“A method for ranking search results using user preferences, the method comprising: obtaining a set of custom ranking factors which specify document attributes to be applied to search results for a query; for each of the custom ranking factors, defining a type of the custom ranking factor; receiving a user-supplied weight from a user for each of the set of custom ranking factors which specify document attributes; generating, using a processor operatively coupled to a memory, a ranking algorithm that is a combination function of the set of custom ranking factors which specify document attributes based on the user-supplied weights for the ranking factors and the type of the custom ranking factors; applying the ranking algorithm to search results for the query; and displaying the search results ranked according to the ranking algorithm.”