Maintaining Current Versions of Applications

• US 20070233999A1
• Filed: 06/13/2007
• Published: 10/04/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 05/04/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Scientific-Atlanta Incorporated (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: Domina, Frank, Jerding, Dean, Rodriguez, Arturo, Schlarb, John
• Granted Patent: US 7,711,922 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 711/171
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/60 Software deployment
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/62 Uninstallation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5016 the resource being the memory
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/24 Negotiation of communication capabilities
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4335 Housekeeping operations, e.g. prioritizing content for deletion because of storage space restrictions storage management, e.g. defragmentation G06F3/0604; unloading stored programs G06F9/445; storage management in file systems G06F16/10; buffering arrangements in a network node or in an end terminal in packet networks H04L49/90
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4424 Monitoring of the internal components or processes of the client device, e.g. CPU or memory load, processing speed, timer, counter or percentage of the hard disk space used error monitoring in general G06F11/30; arrangements for monitoring conditions of receiving stations in broadcast systems H04H60/32; diagnosis, testing or measuring for television receivers H04N17/04
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4586 Content update operation triggered locally, e.g. by comparing the version of software modules in a DVB carousel to the version stored locally deployment, distribution, installation, update of software G06F8/65; error detection or correction of the data by redundancy during software upgrading G06F11/1433; arrangements for updating broadcast information or broadcast-related information H04H60/25
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8173 End-user applications, e.g. Web browser, game
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8402 involving a version number, e.g. version number of EPG data arrangements for version control in computers G06F8/71
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/17318 Direct or substantially direct transmission and handling of requests

Abstract

A system and method for a communication terminal to manage memory and maintain a current application version for multiple applications are provided. The system and method provide for managing memory in a communication terminal coupled to a server device enabling the communication terminal to provide memory capacity for storing in a memory and executing on the communication terminal a plurality of applications downloaded from the server device. Prior to downloading an application, the communication terminal determines an amount of memory capacity required by an application client to be downloaded from the server device. The communication terminal then attempts to allocate the memory capacity. If memory cannot be allocated from the system heap, the communication terminal purges data contained in the memory according to a dynamic list of priorities to create memory capacity in the memory for the application client. Once sufficient memory capacity has been created, it is allocated to the application client, and the application client is downloaded to the communication terminal.

Claims

1. A method for maintaining a current version of a selected application in a memory of a communication terminal coupled to a server device, comprising the steps of:

receiving a current version indication for at least one of a plurality of applications supported by the server device;

receiving an activation request for a selected application that is stored in a memory of the communication terminal;

retrieving a version parameter from the selected application, wherein the version parameter denotes the version number of the selected application;

determining whether the version parameter matches a current version indication associated with the selected application; and

suspending at least one service provided by the selected application that is to be updated and downloading a current version of the selected application.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the version parameter is included in a uniform resource locator (URL) address for the selected application.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the version parameter is retrieved when the selected application is activated for execution of services for comparison to the current version indication.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of:

suspending all services provided by the selected application if the version parameter fails to match the current version indication.

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

unloading the selected application from memory if the version parameter fails to match the current version indication; and

downloading from the server device a current version of the selected application, wherein the current version of the selected application is stored in the memory.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one service is suspended while tuning to a different application.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the current version indication is received from each of the plurality of applications supported by the server device.

8. A system for maintaining a current version of a selected application in a memory of a communication terminal coupled to a server device, comprising:

a first receiving component configured to receive a current version indication for at least one of a plurality of applications supported by the server device;

a second receiving component configured to receive an activation request for a selected application that is stored in a memory of the communication terminal;

a retrieving component configured to retrieve a version parameter from the selected application, wherein the version parameter denotes the version number of the selected application;

a determining component configured to determine whether the version parameter matches a current version indication associated with the selected application; and

a suspending component configured to suspend at least one service provided by the selected application that is to be updated and downloading a current version of the selected application.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the version parameter is included in a uniform resource locator (URL) address for the selected application.

10. The system of claim 8, wherein the version parameter is retrieved when the selected application is activated for execution of services for comparison to the current version indication.

11. The system of claim 8, wherein the suspending component is further configured to suspend all services provided by the selected application if the version parameter fails to match the current version indication.

12. The system of claim 8, further comprising:

an unloading component configured to unload the selected application from memory if the version parameter fails to match the current version indication; and

a downloading component configured to download from the server device a current version of the selected application, wherein the current version of the selected application is stored in the memory.

13. The system of claim 8, wherein the at least one service is suspended while tuning to a different application.

14. The system of claim 8, wherein the current version indication is received from each of the plurality of applications supported by the server device.

15. A computer readable storage medium for maintaining a current version of a selected application in a memory of a communication terminal coupled to a server device, comprising:

first receiving logic configured to receive a current version indication for at least one of a plurality of applications supported by the server device;

second receiving logic configured to receive an activation request for a selected application that is stored in a memory of the communication terminal;

retrieving logic configured to retrieve a version parameter from the selected application, wherein the version parameter denotes the version number of the selected application;

determining logic configured to determine whether the version parameter matches a current version indication associated with the selected application; and

suspending logic configured to suspend at least one service provided by the selected application that is to be updated and downloading a current version of the selected application.

16. The computer readable medium of claim 15, wherein the version parameter is included in a uniform resource locator (URL) address for the selected application.

17. The computer readable medium of claim 15, wherein the version parameter is retrieved when the selected application is activated for execution of services for comparison to the current version indication.

18. The computer readable medium of claim 15, wherein the suspending component is further configured to suspend all services provided by the selected application if the version parameter fails to match the current version indication.

19. The computer readable medium of claim 15, further comprising:

unloading logic configured to unload the selected application from memory if the version parameter fails to match the current version indication; and

downloading logic configured to download from the server device a current version of the selected application, wherein the current version of the selected application is stored in the memory.

20. The computer readable medium of claim 15, wherein the at least one service is suspended while tuning to a different application.