Temporal based collaborative mutual exclusion control of a shared resource

Abstract

The present invention relates to a temporal base method of mutual exclusion control of a shared resource. The invention will usually be implemented by a plurality of host computers sharing a shared resource where each host computer will read a reservation memory that is associated with the shared resource. Typically a first host computer will perform and initial read of the reservation memory and when the reservation memory indicates that the shared resource is available, the first host computer will write to the reservation memory. After a time delay, the host computer will read the reservation memory again to determine whether it has won access to the resource. The first host computer may determine that it has won access to the shared resource by checking that data in the reservation memory includes an identifier corresponding to the first host computer.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.