US Patent 7434020 Overwrite detection diagnostic for memory heap

Patent 7434020 was granted and assigned to Microsoft on October, 2008 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office.

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Is a

Patent

Patent attributes

Current Assignee

Microsoft

Patent Jurisdiction

United States Patent and Trademark Office

Patent Number

7434020

Date of Patent

October 7, 2008

Patent Application Number

10750455

Date Filed

December 31, 2003

Patent Primary Examiner

Kevin Ellis

Patent abstract

A data structure within a block of allocable memory of a memory structure such as a heap is used to store an overwrite detection pattern. When memory is passed back to the operation system for any reason (typically freeing the memory, reallocating a larger/smaller buffer, or querying the size of the allocation), the overwrite detection pattern is usually checked. If the overwrite pattern has been modified, an access violation can be forced.