Erna Schneider Hoover

Erna cutter Hoover ( born June 19, 1926 in Irvington, New Jersey) is an American computer programmer and inventor of a process prioritization in computerized telephone switching.

Hoover received in 1948 a degree in classical and medieval philosophy and history at Wellesley College. After the acquisition of the doctorate in philosophy and foundations of mathematics, she taught from 1951 to 1954 at Swarthmore College, she took up a research position at Bell Labs in New Jersey in 1954. There they programmed in the 1960s, a computerized system for exchanges, the ausschaltete the risk of overstressing the system with too many calls.

Their contribution was a method to prioritize the processes, not the invention of the control ( stored program control SPC) itself, which had existed since 1958, and which had replaced the mechanical switching devices. Their invention made ​​it possible to monitor the incoming calls and to increase the rate of successfully mediated talks in peak hours. The less important calls were returned there. For this development, it was one of the first software patents, issued her together with Barry J. Eckhart in November 1971.

The principles of Hoover'schen switching system are still in use, because the various communications companies are confronted with an ever increasing flood of calls to be handled.