Invalidity dossier
US 7512935
Adding functionality to existing code at exits
Current assignee: CA Inc
Added 9/23/2026, 10:46:14 PM
Active provider: DeepSeek · deepseek-flash
Patent summary
Title, assignee, inventors, filing/issue dates, abstract, and a plain-language overview of the claims.
Patent Overview — US7512935B1
Title: "Adding functionality to existing code at exits"
Patent number / application: US7512935B1; Application US09/795,901.
Inventor: Jeffrey R. Cobb. Original assignee: Computer Associates Think Inc.; assignee records also list WILY TECHNOLOGY, INC. (2001) and COMPUTER ASSOCIATES THINK, INC. (2007).
Key dates: Priority/filing date 2001-02-28; publication/grant 2009-03-31. Legal status listed as Expired – Fee Related, adjusted expiration 2023-04-12.
Purpose: The invention addresses a shortcoming in performance profiling and similar instrumentation: adding profiling code at every possible exit is inefficient and error-prone, since the same code may be duplicated, increasing code size, hurting performance, and risking missed exits — particularly implicit exits caused by errors or exceptions, which prior profiling tools "have not adequately accounted for."
Plain-language scope: The patent provides a system for adding functionality to existing object code such that multiple exits from a method are handled. Exit code is added to the existing object code, and an entry is added to an exceptions data store pointing to that exit code. Optionally, start code is also added. The start code (e.g., starting a profiling action) is positioned to execute before the original byte code, and the exit code (e.g., stopping the action) after it. Adding exit code may include inserting a jump instruction from the original byte code; adding an exceptions-table entry may include a new entry indicating a byte-code index range, a reference to the exit code, and an indication that the entry covers all exception types. One embodiment implements this in Java, effectively achieving "try"/"finally"-style behavior through byte code and exception-table modification. The document states that the invention may be implemented in hardware, software, or a combination, stored on processor-readable media, and used across various computing devices.
Source: https://patents.google.com/patent/[US7512935](/patent/US7512935)/en
What the excerpt does not establish: It omits the full description and all claims, so the precise claim scope, claim count, and any dependent limitations are not verifiable from the supplied text. It also does not establish the correctness of the listed assignees, legal-status assumption, or the priority/publication date assumptions.
Generated 10/1/2026, 9:33:10 PM
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Litigation summary
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PTAB challenges
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Assignment history
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Prior art
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Obviousness
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Extensions
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Derivative works
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