Automatic browser web cache resizing system

• US 20040064642A1
• Filed: 10/01/2002
• Published: 04/01/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 10/01/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Meta Platforms, Inc. (f/k/a Facebook, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AOL LLC (Apollo Global Management, Inc.)
• Inventors: Roskind, James
• Granted Patent: US 7,043,606 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 711/118
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9574 of access to content, e.g. by caching
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5016 the resource being the memory

Abstract

An automatic browser Web cache resizing system allows a browser to adjust its Web cache size to its environment automatically. When the browser starts up, the browser examines the host computer'"'"'s hard drive for the amount of the available free space and allocates the maximum reasonable amount of the free space on the hard drive for the Web cache that it needs to run efficiently. During the browser'"'"'s shutdown sequence, it optionally reexamines the free space on the hard drive and gives up as much of its allocated Web cache space as it can. Every time the browser writes to or reads from the Web cache, the browser checks to see if its Web cache allocation is needed for free space. If the browser sees that the amount of free space is low, it will give up some of its Web cache space that it allocated. Another preferred embodiment of the invention integrates the invention with the operating system of the host computer. The browser requests memory from the operating system. The browser can designate the allocated memory as not being critical and can be recovered by the operating system if the operating system needs part or all of the memory. The browser can optionally designate that a part of the memory allocation request is critical and the remainder is not critical.

Claims

1. A process for automatically setting a browser'"'"'s Web cache on a host computer, comprising the steps of:

determining the amount of free space on said host computer'"'"'s storage device during the startup of said browser;

allocating a portion of said free space to said Web cache;

determining the amount of free space on said host computer'"'"'s storage device while shutting down said browser; and

releasing a portion of said Web cache'"'"'s space back to said free space.

2. The process of claim 1, wherein said allocating step allocates a percentage of said free space.

3. The process of claim 1, further comprising the step of:

monitoring said free space each time said browser writes to or reads from said Web cache to check if said free space requires additional memory.

4. The process of claim 3, wherein if said monitoring step sees that said free space requires additional memory, said monitoring step releases a portion of said Web cache space to said free space.

5. The process of claim 1, further comprising the step of:

providing preference setting means for allowing a user to select an option that enables or disables said allocating step on startup.

6. The process of claim 1, further comprising the step of:

providing an operating system on said host computer.

7. The process of claim 6, wherein said allocating step requests memory from said free space from said operating system to assign to said Web cache, and wherein said operating system allocates memory from said free space to said allocating step.

8. The process of claim 7, wherein said allocating step designates said requested memory as not being critical and wherein said requested memory can be recovered by said operating system if said operating system needs part or all of said requested memory for other tasks or application programs during normal runtime of said browser.

9. The process of claim 8, wherein said operating system notifies said browser that it has recovered an amount of memory from said requested memory.

10. The process of claim 7, wherein said allocating step designates that a portion of said requested memory is critical and the remainder is not critical.

11. The process of claim 9, wherein when said browser sees that said operating system has notified it that a certain portion of its requested memory was reallocated and a new Web cache size exists, said browser adjusts its Web cache lookup table to the new Web cache size.

12. The process of claim 11, wherein any Web content that was in the area of memory that was reallocated by said operating system is removed from said Web cache lookup table.

13. The process of claim 11, wherein said Web cache lookup table is a hash table.

14. The process of claim 1, further comprising the step of:

dynamically allocating space to said Web cache from said free space as said browser is operating.

15. The process of claim 14, wherein as a user increases his browser usage, said dynamically allocating step allocates more memory for said Web cache.

16. The process of claim 14, wherein as a user decreases his browser usage, said dynamically allocating step releases unneeded memory from said Web cache to said free space.

17. The process of claim 1, further comprising the step of:

monitoring the performance of said Web cache by examining the amount of said Web cache that is unused or used only once during a certain period of time.

18. The process of claim 17, wherein said performance monitoring step releases a portion of Web cache space back to said free space if an unacceptable amount of Web cache space is unused or is only used once during said certain period of time.

19. The process of claim 1, further comprising the step of:

tracking a user'"'"'s browsing habits and adjusting said Web cache'"'"'s size to the user'"'"'s normal activity pattern.

20. The process of claim 19, further comprising the step of:

storing a plurality of users'"'"' browsing habits in separate user profiles; and

wherein said tracking step allocates and adjusts a Web cache for each user profile.

21. A process for automatically setting a browser'"'"'s Web cache on a host computer, comprising the steps of:

providing free space determination means in said browser for determining the amount of free space on said host computer'"'"'s storage device during the startup of said browser; and

providing Web cache allocation means in said browser for allocating a portion of said free space to said Web cache before normal runtime of said browser.

22. The process of claim 21, further comprising the steps of:

determining the amount of free space on said host computer'"'"'s storage device while shutting down said browser; and

releasing a portion of said Web cache'"'"'s space back to said free space.

23. The process of claim 21, wherein said Web cache allocation means allocates a percentage of said free space.

24. The process of claim 21, further comprising the step of:

monitoring said free space each time said browser writes to or reads from said Web cache to check if said free space requires additional memory.

25. The process of claim 24, wherein if said monitoring step sees that said free space requires additional memory, said monitoring step releases a portion of said Web cache space to said free space.

26. The process of claim 21, further comprising the step of:

providing preference setting means for allowing a user to select an option that enables or disables said allocating step on startup.

27. The process of claim 21, further comprising the step of:

providing an operating system on said host computer.

28. The process of claim 27, wherein said Web cache allocation means requests memory from said free space from said operating system to assign to said Web cache, and wherein said operating system allocates memory from said free space to said Web cache allocation means.

29. The process of claim 28, wherein said Web cache allocation means designates said requested memory as not being critical and wherein said requested memory can be recovered by said operating system if said operating system needs part or all of said requested memory for other tasks or application programs during normal runtime of said browser.

30. The process of claim 29, wherein said operating system notifies said browser that it has recovered an amount of memory from said requested memory.

31. The process of claim 28, wherein said Web cache allocation means designates that a portion of said requested memory is critical and the remainder is not critical.

32. The process of claim 30, wherein when said browser sees that said operating system has notified it that a certain portion of its requested memory was reallocated and a new Web cache size exists, said browser adjusts its Web cache lookup table to the new Web cache size.

33. The process of claim 32, wherein any Web content that was in the area of memory that was reallocated by said operating system is removed from said Web cache lookup table.

34. The process of claim 32, wherein said Web cache lookup table is a hash table.

35. The process of claim 21, further comprising the step of:

dynamically allocating space to said Web cache from said free space as said browser is operating.

36. The process of claim 35, wherein as a user increases his browser usage, said dynamically allocating step allocates more memory for said Web cache.

37. The process of claim 35, wherein as a user decreases his browser usage, said dynamically allocating step releases unneeded memory from said Web cache to said free space.

38. The process of claim 21, further comprising the step of:

monitoring the performance of said Web cache by examining the amount of said Web cache that is unused or used only once during a certain period of time.

39. The process of claim 38, wherein said performance monitoring step releases a portion of Web cache space back to said free space if an unacceptable amount of Web cache space is unused or is only used once during said certain period of time.

40. The process of claim 21, further comprising the step of:

tracking a user'"'"'s browsing habits and adjusting said Web cache'"'"'s size to the user'"'"'s normal activity pattern.

41. The process of claim 40, further comprising the step of:

storing a plurality of users'"'"' browsing habits in separate user profiles; and

wherein said tracking step allocates and adjusts a Web cache for each user profile.

42. A program storage medium readable by a computer, tangibly embodying a program of instructions executable by the computer to perform method steps for automatically setting a browser'"'"'s Web cache on a host computer, comprising the steps of:

determining the amount of free space on said host computer'"'"'s storage device during the startup of said browser;

allocating a portion of said free space to said Web cache;

determining the amount of free space on said host computer'"'"'s storage device while shutting down said browser; and

releasing a portion of said Web cache'"'"'s space back to said free space.

43. The method of claim 42, wherein said allocating step allocates a percentage of said free space.

44. The method of claim 42, further comprising the step of:

monitoring said free space each time said browser writes to or reads from said Web cache to check if said free space requires additional memory.

45. The method of claim 44, wherein if said monitoring step sees that said free space requires additional memory, said monitoring step releases a portion of said Web cache space to said free space.

46. The method of claim 42, further comprising the step of:

providing preference setting means for allowing a user to select an option that enables or disables said allocating step on startup.

47. The method of claim 42, further comprising the step of:

providing an operating system on said host computer.

48. The method of claim 47, wherein said allocating step requests memory from said free space from said operating system to assign to said Web cache, and wherein said operating system allocates memory from said free space to said allocating step.

49. The method of claim 48, wherein said allocating step designates said requested memory as not being critical and wherein said requested memory can be recovered by said operating system if said operating system needs part or all of said requested memory for other tasks or application programs during normal runtime of said browser.

50. The method of claim 49, wherein said operating system notifies said browser that it has recovered an amount of memory from said requested memory.

51. The method of claim 48, wherein said allocating step designates that a portion of said requested memory is critical and the remainder is not critical.

52. The method of claim 50, wherein when said browser sees that said operating system has notified it that a certain portion of its requested memory was reallocated and a new Web cache size exists, said browser adjusts its Web cache lookup table to the new Web cache size.

53. The method of claim 52, wherein any Web content that was in the area of memory that was reallocated by said operating system is removed from said Web cache lookup table.

54. The method of claim 52, wherein said Web cache lookup table is a hash table.

55. The method of claim 42, further comprising the step of:

dynamically allocating space to said Web cache from said free space as said browser is operating.

56. The method of claim 55, wherein as a user increases his browser usage, said dynamically allocating step allocates more memory for said Web cache.

57. The method of claim 55, wherein as a user decreases his browser usage, said dynamically allocating step releases unneeded memory from said Web cache to said free space.

58. The method of claim 42, further comprising the step of:

monitoring the performance of said Web cache by examining the amount of said Web cache that is unused or used only once during a certain period of time.

59. The method of claim 58, wherein said performance monitoring step releases a portion of Web cache space back to said free space if an unacceptable amount of Web cache space is unused or is only used once during said certain period of time.

60. The method of claim 42, further comprising the step of:

tracking a user'"'"'s browsing habits and adjusting said Web cache'"'"'s size to the user'"'"'s normal activity pattern.

61. The method of claim 60, further comprising the step of:

storing a plurality of users'"'"' browsing habits in separate user profiles; and

wherein said tracking step allocates and adjusts a Web cache for each user profile.

62. A program storage medium readable by a computer, tangibly embodying a program of instructions executable by the computer to perform method steps for automatically setting a browser'"'"'s Web cache on a host computer, comprising the steps of:

providing free space determination means in said browser for determining the amount of free space on said host computer'"'"'s storage device during the startup of said browser; and

providing Web cache allocation means in said browser for allocating a portion of said free space to said Web cache before normal runtime of said browser.

63. The method of claim 62, further comprising the steps of:

determining the amount of free space on said host computer'"'"'s storage device while shutting down said browser; and

releasing a portion of said Web cache'"'"'s space back to said free space.

64. The method of claim 62, wherein said Web cache allocation means allocates a percentage of said free space.

65. The method of claim 62, further comprising the step of:

monitoring said free space each time said browser writes to or reads from said Web cache to check if said free space requires additional memory.

66. The method of claim 65, wherein if said monitoring step sees that said free space requires additional memory, said monitoring step releases a portion of said Web cache space to said free space.

67. The method of claim 62, further comprising the step of:

providing preference setting means for allowing a user to select an option that enables or disables said allocating step on startup.

68. The method of claim 62, further comprising the step of:

providing an operating system on said host computer.

69. The method of claim 68, wherein said Web cache allocation means requests memory from said free space from said operating system to assign to said Web cache, and wherein said operating system allocates memory from said free space to said Web cache allocation means.

70. The method of claim 69, wherein said Web cache allocation means designates said requested memory as not being critical and wherein said requested memory can be recovered by said operating system if said operating system needs part or all of said requested memory for other tasks or application programs during normal runtime of said browser.

71. The method of claim 70, wherein said operating system notifies said browser that it has recovered an amount of memory from said requested memory.

72. The method of claim 69, wherein said Web cache allocation means designates that a portion of said requested memory is critical and the remainder is not critical.

73. The method of claim 71, wherein when said browser sees that said operating system has notified it that a certain portion of its requested memory was reallocated and a new Web cache size exists, said browser adjusts its Web cache lookup table to the new Web cache size.

74. The method of claim 73, wherein any Web content that was in the area of memory that was reallocated by said operating system is removed from said Web cache lookup table.

75. The method of claim 73, wherein said Web cache lookup table is a hash table.

76. The method of claim 62, further comprising the step of:

dynamically allocating space to said Web cache from said free space as said browser is operating.

77. The method of claim 76, wherein as a user increases his browser usage, said dynamically allocating step allocates more memory for said Web cache.

78. The method of claim 76, wherein as a user decreases his browser usage, said dynamically allocating step releases unneeded memory from said Web cache to said free space.

79. The method of claim 62, further comprising the step of:

monitoring the performance of said Web cache by examining the amount of said Web cache that is unused or used only once during a certain period of time.

80. The method of claim 79, wherein said performance monitoring step releases a portion of Web cache space back to said free space if an unacceptable amount of Web cache space is unused or is only used once during said certain period of time.

81. The method of claim 62, further comprising the step of:

tracking a user'"'"'s browsing habits and adjusting said Web cache'"'"'s size to the user'"'"'s normal activity pattern.

82. The method of claim 81, further comprising the step of:

storing a plurality of users'"'"' browsing habits in separate user profiles; and

wherein said tracking step allocates and adjusts a Web cache for each user profile.