WO2012050416A1

WO2012050416A1 - A method of caching application

Info

Publication number: WO2012050416A1
Application number: PCT/MY2010/000204
Authority: WO
Inventors: Azrinsyah Mirza Asfian; Ishafizan Ishak; Tong Khin Thong; Errazudin Ishak; Nur Hisyam Mohamed; Suresh Kumar; Mohd Akhmal Abd Manaf
Original assignee: Mimos Berhad
Priority date: 2010-10-12
Filing date: 2010-10-12
Publication date: 2012-04-19

Abstract

A method of caching at least one application in processor memory is provided, the method includes the steps of receiving a request for executing at least one application determining whether the application is for one desktop view or for a plurality of desktop views in a global application, identifying whether the request is intended for one desktop view, caching the application into local application cache when the execution is intended for one desktop view and loading the application from local application cache to be used in the desktop view.

Description

A METHOD OF CACHING APPLICATION

FIELD OF INVENTION The present invention relates to a method of caching applications in an application memory to be used in a computing system.

BACKGROUND OF INVENTION Many initiatives have been launched by governments in order to bridge the digital divide among a population that consists of people who are Information Technology (IT) literate and those who are IT illiterate or have a low IT literacy level. The latter population generally belongs to low income demographics and live in rural areas. Consequently, the initiatives of these governments include subsidizing low cost computers to said population. The computers are generally equipped with operating system software which provides user interface that is intuitive enough to be used by this demographics group so as to facilitate its usage or information access via a network or the Internet. Due to these mass subsidies, there is a need to manufacture computers in a cost- effective manner. By doing so, this imposes constraints on the in terms of hardware capacity for each computer. Hence, the computer may need to be run in a constrained environment where the restrictions in the hardware environment are because it consists of mobile processor and just sufficient random access memory as well as non- volatile flash disk drive with a slow read rate. Loading all applications into high speed memory is not feasible as this will tremendously increase memory consumption and significantly slow applications.

Therefore, there is a need to develop a solution to execute any application in processor memory of a computer system with acceptable performance effectively even if the hardware of the computer is of restricted resources.

SUMMARY OF INVENTION

Accordingly there is provided a method of caching at least one application in processor memory, the method includes the steps of receiving a request for executing at least one application determining whether the application is for one desktop view or for a plurality of desktop views in a global application, identifying whether the request is intended for one desktop view, caching the application into local application cache when the execution is intended for one desktop view and loading the application from local application cache to be used in the desktop view.

There is also provided a method of caching at least one application in processor memory, the method includes the steps of receiving a request for executing at least one application determining whether the application is for one desktop view or for a plurality of desktop views in a global application, identifying whether a global application cache is executed, caching the application into the global application cache when the execution is intended for the global application and loading the application from the global application cache to be used in the plurality of desktop views.

The present invention consists of several novel features and a combination of parts hereinafter fully described and illustrated in the accompanying description and drawings, it being understood that various changes in the details may be made without departing from the scope of the invention or sacrificing any of the advantages of the present invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present invention will be fully understood from the detailed description given herein below and the accompanying drawings which are given by way of illustration only, and thus are not limitative of the present invention, wherein:

FIG. 1 illustrates a flow diagram describing the steps to cache at least one application;

FIG. 2 illustrates a flow diagram describing the steps to cache at least one application after clearing initial cache.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The present invention relates to a method of caching at least one application in an application memory that can be used in a computing system. Hereinafter, this specification will describe the present invention according to the preferred embodiments of the present invention. However, it is to be understood that limiting the description to the preferred embodiments of the invention is merely to facilitate discussion of the present invention and it is envisioned that those skilled in the art may devise various modifications and equivalents without departing from the scope of the appended claims.

The following detailed description of the preferred embodiments will now be described in accordance with the attached drawings, either individually or in combination. The present invention provides for a method of caching at least one application in processor memory wherein the method includes the steps of receiving a request for executing at least one application determining whether the application is for one desktop view or for a plurality of desktop views in a global application, identifying whether the request is intended for one desktop view, caching the application into local application cache when the execution is intended for one desktop view and loading the application from local application cache to be used in the desktop view.

Figure 1 illustrates a flow diagram showing the method of caching applications. The method is used in combination with a computing system with an application virtual machine. The first step begins with loading all applications into non-volatile memory when a computing system boots up. This is because each time an application is loaded from a non-volatile memory or flash disk drive; it is observed that the response time of the computing system is relatively long. Since loading all applications into a highspeed, volatile and random access memory from non-volatile flash disk drive is not possible due to insufficient memory capacity, the method is a specialized technique of caching application.

Upon starting up the computing system, a default desktop view is displayed to user and a globally accessible application cache is created. Additionally, a cache specific to the desktop view is also instanced. Each application is matched to a corresponding category where associated application objects are instanced. If the application is intended for a plurality of desktop views, the instanced object is cached into a global application cache. However, if it is intended for only the current desktop view, the instanced object is cached into a local application cache. Each instance of application object is identified by a name. In this preferred embodiment, the application is stored inside a data structure such as a triple that further includes a pair of application name and an application instance object. Each application name is mapped against its application instance object. For example, an application name "Clock" is mapped to a clock application instance.

Therefore, when a user accesses an application, the computing system loads the application from the application cache, which is either global or local, that is now located in a high speed memory. This gives an improved responsiveness as compared to loading application directly from non-volatile memory.

As seen in Figure 2, when a user loads an input representing a desktop view, the same set of steps is followed. However, the application cache of a previous desktop view is cleared. The application is similarly identified to be either a local cache application for one specific desktop view application or a global application. In case of a global application, if the global application has been instantiated and cached into a global application cache, it would not be instantiated and populated into a map, as it is done in the case of the local application cache. Therefore, if the application is identified to be local for the currently loaded desktop view, the instanced object is cached into the local application cache.

The described invention can be used in any computer system that requires a caching method in order to increase the speed of data retrieval.

Claims

A method of caching at least one application in processor memory, the method includes the steps of:

i. receiving a request for executing at least one application determining whether the application is for one desktop view or for a plurality of desktop views in a global application;

ii. identifying whether the request is intended for one desktop view; iii. caching the application into local application cache when the execution is intended for one desktop view; and

iv. loading the application from local application cache to be used in the desktop view.

ii. identifying whether a global application cache is executed;

iii. caching the application into the global application cache when the execution is intended for the global application; and

iv. loading the application from the global application cache to be used in the plurality of desktop views.