ADAPTABLE SOFTWARE RESOURCE MANAGERS BASED ON INTENTIONS

• US 20100242044A1
• Filed: 03/18/2009
• Published: 09/23/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 03/18/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Aghajanyan, Souren, Osborne, Craig Anthony
• Granted Patent: US 9,864,637 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 718/104
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5011 the resources being hardware resources other than CPUs, Servers and Terminals
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5044 considering hardware capabilities

Abstract

User intentions can be derived from observations of user actions or they can be programmatically specified by an application or component that is performing an action. The intentions can then be utilized to adjust the operation of resource managers to better suit the actions being performed by the user or application, especially if such actions are not “typical”. Resource managers can inform a centralized intention manager of environmental constraints, including constraints on the resources they manage and constraints on their operation, such as various, pre-programmed independent modes of operation optimized for differencing circumstances. The intention manager can then instruct the resource managers in accordance with these environmental constraints when the intention manager is made aware of the intentions. If no further optimization can be achieved, specified intentions may not result in directives from the intention manager to the resource managers.

Claims

1. One or more computer-readable media comprising computer-executable instructions for dynamically changing the operation of one or more resource managers, the computer-executable instructions performing steps comprising:

receiving one or more specified intentions that provide information about actions being performed;

receiving environmental constraints from the one or more resource managers, the environmental constraints defining a bounded set of directives that can be accepted by the resource managers; and

if the one or more resource managers are not already operating optimally with respect to the one or more received specified intentions, then generating at least one directive, from the bounded set of directives, for at least one of the one or more resource managers, the at least one generated directive changing the operation of the at least one of the one or more resource managers to operate optimally with respect to the one or more received specified intentions, and transmitting the at least one directive to the at least one of the one or more resource managers to change the operation of the at least one of the one or more resource managers to operate optimally with respect to the one or more received specified intentions.

2. The computer-readable media of claim 1 comprising further computer-executable instructions for monitoring user actions and deriving the one or more received specified intentions from at least some of the monitored user actions, the monitored user actions resulting in the actions being performed.

3. The computer-readable media of claim 2, wherein the monitoring user actions comprises monitoring the user actions to establish a steady-state user behavior, and wherein further the deriving the one or more received specified intentions comprises deriving one or more predictive user intentions based on the established steady-state user behavior and a currently observed one or more user actions.

4. The computer-readable media of claim 2, wherein the monitoring user actions comprises monitoring the user actions to establish a steady-state user behavior, and wherein further the one or more received specified intentions comprise indicia of how the established steady-state user behavior differs from an expected behavior for which at least some of the one or more resource managers have been optimized.

5. The computer-readable media of claim 1, wherein the one or more resource managers are already operating optimally with respect to the one or more received specified intentions if the received specified intentions indicate contradictory intentions such that changing the operation of the one or more resource managers to optimize for one of the one or more received specified intentions also results in a de-optimization for another of the one or more received specified intentions.

6. The computer-readable media of claim 1, wherein the received one or more specified intentions were programmatically generated by computer-executable instructions associated with the actions being performed.

7. The computer-readable media of claim 1, wherein the generated at least one directive comprises one or more operational criteria of the at least one of the one or more resource managers to which the generated at least one directive was transmitted, the one or more operational criteria having been established by the environmental constraints.

8. The computer-readable media of claim 1, wherein the at least one of the one or more resource managers to which the generated at least one directive was transmitted operates orthogonally to the actions being performed.

9. A computing device comprising:

one or more application programs utilized by a user of the computing device to perform tasks;

computing resources consumed by the one or more application programs in performing the tasks;

one or more resource managers, each with environmental constraints that define a bounded set of directives that can be accepted by that resource manager;

an intention generator that monitors user actions and generates intentions from at least some of the monitored user actions; and

an intention manager that generates and transmits, if the one or more resource managers are not already operating optimally with respect to specified intentions received by the intention manager, at least one directive, from the bounded set of directives, to at least one of the one or more resource managers, the directive changing the at least one of the one or more resource managers to operate optimally with respect to the received specified intentions.

10. The computing device of claim 9, wherein the intention generator first monitors user actions to establish a steady-state user behavior and subsequently generates predictive user intentions based on the established steady-state user behavior and a currently observed one or more user actions.

11. The computing device of claim 9, wherein the intention generator monitors user actions to establish a steady-state user behavior, and wherein the generated user intentions comprise indicia of how the established steady-state user behavior differs from an expected behavior for which at least some of the one or more resource managers have been optimized.

12. The computing device of claim 9, wherein the one or more resource managers are already operating optimally with respect to the received specified intentions if the received specified intentions indicate contradictory intentions such that changing the operation of the one or more resource managers to optimize for one of the received specified intentions also results in a de-optimization for another of the received specified intentions.

13. The computing device of claim 9, wherein at least some of the one or more resource managers comprise alternative, pre-programmed modes of operation, and wherein further the generated and transmitted at least one directive selects from among the alternative, pre-programmed modes of operation so as to optimize the operation of the at least one of the one or more resource managers to which the generated at least one directive was transmitted.

14. The computing device of claim 9, wherein at least some of the one or more resource managers comprise operating criteria that can be externally specified, the operating criteria being part of the environmental constraints, and wherein further the generated and transmitted at least one directive comprises establishing at least some of the operating criteria so as to optimize the operation of the at least one of the one or more resource managers to which the generated at least one directive was transmitted.

15. The computing device of claim 9, further comprising at least one other application program, wherein one of the one or more resource managers is associated with the one or more application programs utilized by the user and another of the one or more resource managers is associated with the at least one other application program, and wherein the generated user intention was from monitored user actions directed to the one or more application programs utilized by the user, and wherein further the generated and transmitted at least one directive was transmitted to the other of the one or more resource managers associated with the at least one other application program.

16. The computing device of claim 9, wherein the one or more application programs programmatically generate intentions, and wherein further the received specified intentions comprise the programmatically generated intentions.

17. A method for dynamically changing the operation of one or more resource managers, the method comprising the steps of:

receiving one or more specified intentions that provide information about actions being performed;

receiving environmental constraints from the one or more resource managers, the environmental constraints defining a bounded set of directives that can be accepted by the resource managers; and

if the one or more resource managers are not already operating optimally with respect to the one or more received specified intentions, then generating at least one directive, from the bounded set of directives, for at least one of the one or more resource managers, the at least one generated directive changing the operation of the at least one of the one or more resource managers to operate optimally with respect to the one or more received specified intentions, and transmitting the at least one directive to the at least one of the one or more resource managers to change the operation of the at least one of the one or more resource managers to operate optimally with respect to the one or more received specified intentions.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the generated at least one directive selects an alternative, pre-programmed mode of operation of the at least one of the one or more resource managers to which it was transmitted.

19. The method of claim 17, wherein the generated at least one directive comprises one or more operational criteria of the at least one of the one or more resource managers to which the generated at least one directive was transmitted, the one or more operational criteria having been established by the environmental constraints.

20. The method of claim 17, wherein the at least one of the one or more resource managers to which the generated at least one directive was transmitted operates orthogonally to the actions being performed.