Conservation of system resources by efficiently activating/de-activating applications
First Claim
1. A method to optimize use of system resources when switching between applications, the method comprising:
- a. maintaining a first application in an active state while maintaining a second application in an inactive state;
b. selecting the second application by a user;
c. de-activating the first application such that the first application and the second application are in the inactive state; and
d. activating the second application while maintaining the first application in the inactive state.
1 Assignment
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Accused Products
Abstract
A method and apparatus optimize the use of system resources when switching between applications. Preferably, the apparatus includes a processor, a secondary memory and a system memory. Applications previously loaded into system memory from the secondary memory are set to either an active state or an inactive state. In the active state, the processor actively processes the application and a portion of the system memory is used by the processor for active processing. In the inactive state, neither the processor nor the portion of the system memory dedicated for active processing is used by the application. Preferably, only one application is in the active state at any given time. When multiple applications are currently stored in system memory, one of the applications is set to the active state while the other applications are set to the inactive state. When one of the inactive state applications is selected for use, the currently active state application is de-activated so that all applications stored in system memory are set to the inactive state. Then, the selected application is set to the active state.
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Citations
51 Claims
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1. A method to optimize use of system resources when switching between applications, the method comprising:
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a. maintaining a first application in an active state while maintaining a second application in an inactive state;
b. selecting the second application by a user;
c. de-activating the first application such that the first application and the second application are in the inactive state; and
d. activating the second application while maintaining the first application in the inactive state. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. A device comprising:
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a. a processor; and
b. a system memory including at least a first and a second loaded applications, wherein the first application is set to an active state and the second application is set to an inactive state, such that in operation when the second application is selected for active processing, the processor first de-activates the first application such that the first application and the second application are set to the inactive state, and then the processor activates the second application thereby setting the second application to an active state while maintaining the first application in the inactive state. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25)
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26. An apparatus to optimize use of system resources when switching between applications, the apparatus comprising:
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a. means for maintaining a first application in an active state while maintaining a second application in an inactive state;
b. means for selecting the second application by a user;
c. means for de-activating the first application such that the first application and the second application are in the inactive state; and
d. means for activating the second application while maintaining the first application in the inactive state. - View Dependent Claims (27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37)
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38. A set-top box comprising:
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a. a processor; and
b. a system memory including at least a first and a second loaded applications, wherein the first application is set to an active state and the second application is set to an inactive state, such that in operation when the second application is selected for active processing, the processor first de-activates the first application such that the first application and the second application are set to the inactive state, and then the processor activates the second application thereby setting the second application to an active state while maintaining the first application in the inactive state. - View Dependent Claims (39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51)
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Specification