Invalidity dossier
US 6910205
Interpreting functions utilizing a hybrid of virtual and native machine instructions
Current assignee: Sun Microsystems Inc
Added 9/23/2026, 9:16:39 PM
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Patent summary
Title, assignee, inventors, filing/issue dates, abstract, and a plain-language overview of the claims.
Patent Overview
Title: Interpreting functions utilizing a hybrid of virtual and native machine instructions
Patent No.: US6910205B2
Assignee: Sun Microsystems Inc (original and current assignee, per the listing)
Inventors: Lars Bak, Robert Griesemer
Priority date: 1997-06-30 | Filed: 2002-07-12 | Published: 2005-06-21
Application No.: US10/194,040 | Legal status: Expired – Lifetime, adjusted expiration 2017-12-22
Purpose: The invention addresses increasing the execution speed of interpreters—specifically a Java™ virtual machine executing a Java function—by using a hybrid of virtual and native machine instructions. The text notes conventional interpreters decode and execute virtual machine instructions one at a time, making interpreted programs typically much slower than compiled programs, and that JIT compilation does not always yield speedups if compilation overhead exceeds interpretation overhead. Known "quick" instruction approaches are described as limited because the number of unassigned bytecodes is limited.
Plain-language scope: The disclosed embodiments compile only a portion of a function into native machine instruction(s), so the function contains both virtual and native instructions during execution. A virtual machine instruction at the beginning of that portion may be overwritten with a new virtual machine instruction specifying execution of the compiled native instructions. A copy of the selected instruction and a back pointer to its location may be stored in a data block, which can also hold a pointer to the native instructions; the original instructions can be regenerated using the stored copy and back pointer. The mechanism is described as transparent to the user, reversible to original virtual machine instructions, and flexible because only certain portions are compiled. Claimed subject matter includes computer-implemented methods for increasing execution speed of virtual machine instructions and for generating hybrid virtual/native instructions, with Java virtual machine instructions as the illustrated case.
Source: https://patents.google.com/patent/[US6910205](/patent/US6910205)/en
Not established by this excerpt: The full text of the claims, dependent claims, and detailed embodiments is omitted. The excerpt does not establish the number or exact wording of claims, specific claim limitations, the full list of cited prior-art references, or examination history. Per the stated scope, litigation, ownership transfers, validity, and prior art are not researched here.
Generated 10/1/2026, 9:34:26 PM
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Assignment history
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Prior art
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Derivative works
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