TRANSLATING OVERLAPPING STATES INTO REPRESENTATIVE STATES

• US 20110296342A1
• Filed: 05/28/2010
• Published: 12/01/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 05/28/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Zhigu Holdings Limited
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Stoner, Charles Robert, Lueder, Roger Allen, Mantri, Siddharth
• Granted Patent: US 8,504,933 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/790
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3055 Monitoring arrangements for monitoring the status of the computing system or of the computing system component, e.g. monitoring if the computing system is on, off, available, not available error or fault processing without redundancy G06F11/0703; error detection or correction by redundancy in data representation G06F11/08; error detection or correction by redundancy in operation G06F11/14; error detection or correction by redundancy in hardware G06F11/16
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3082 the data filtering being achieved by aggregating or compressing the monitored data
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/328 Computer systems status display G06F11/327 takes precedence

Abstract

A computer application program can comprise multiple overlapping states associated with functionality or components of the application program. Simultaneous output of all such states can be impractical. Representative states can be defined in terms of the statuses of individual states relevant to a particular representative state. Additionally, representative states can be ranked, where multiple representative states that share the same ranking can overlap with each other, but not with other representative states. To avoid transitioning between states too quickly, and presenting output for too short a time, hysteresis mechanisms can be applied in the form of a set delay, a reset delay or a combination thereof. The duration of the set and reset delay can be established independently of each other and independently for each state. The output can be in accordance with the representative state associated with the current statuses of individual states, accounting for selected hysteresis mechanisms.

Claims

1. A method of generating output from a computer-executable application program comprising multiple overlapping individual states, the method comprising the steps of:

identifying a current status of the multiple overlapping individual states;

identifying one or more representative states associated with the identified current status of the multiple overlapping individual states;

identifying a highest ranked representative state, from among the identified representative states, wherein all representative states are non-overlapping with all other representative states having a different ranking;

applying at least one hysteresis mechanism to the highest ranked representative state to determine whether to delay a transition associated with the highest ranked representative state; and

generating output in accordance with the highest ranked representative state.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein each of the multiple overlapping individual states is based on a function capable of being performed by the computer-executable application.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the generating the output comprises displaying information associated with the highest ranked representative state on a user interface.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising the steps of applying at least one hysteresis mechanism to at least one of the multiple overlapping individual states, prior to the identifying the current status of the multiple overlapping individual states, to determine whether to delay a transition associated with the at least one of the multiple overlapping individual states to which the at least one hysteresis mechanism is being applied.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the highest ranked representative state comprises two or more representative states that share a common ranking, the two or more representative states being capable of overlapping with each other.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the applying the at least one hysteresis mechanism comprises applying a set delay to delay transitioning to the highest ranked representative state from a prior representative state.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the applying the at least one hysteresis mechanism comprises applying a reset delay to delay transitioning away from the highest ranked representative state to a subsequent representative state.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the applying the at least one hysteresis mechanism further comprises applying a set delay to delay transitioning to the highest ranked representative state from a prior representative state;

the set delay and the reset delay having independently selected durations.

9. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions comprising multiple overlapping individual states, the computer-executable instructions performing steps comprising:

identifying a current status of the multiple overlapping individual states;

identifying one or more representative states associated with the identified current status of the multiple overlapping individual states;

identifying a highest ranked representative state, from among the identified representative states, wherein all representative states are non-overlapping with all other representative states having a different ranking;

applying at least one hysteresis mechanism to the highest ranked representative state to determine whether to delay a transition associated with the highest ranked representative state; and

generating output in accordance with the highest ranked representative state.

10. The computer-readable medium of claim 9, wherein each of the multiple overlapping individual states is based on a function capable of being performed by the computer-executable instructions.

11. The computer-readable medium of claim 9, wherein the generating the output comprises displaying information associated with the highest ranked representative state on a user interface.

12. The computer-readable medium of claim 9, further comprising computer-executable instructions directed to applying at least one hysteresis mechanism to at least one of the multiple overlapping individual states, prior to the identifying the current status of the multiple overlapping individual states, to determine whether to delay a transition associated with the at least one of the multiple overlapping individual states to which the at least one hysteresis mechanism is being applied.

13. The computer-readable medium of claim 9, wherein the highest ranked representative state comprises two or more representative states that share a common ranking, the two or more representative states being capable of overlapping with each other.

14. The computer-readable medium of claim 9, wherein the computer-executable instructions for applying the at least one hysteresis mechanism comprise computer-executable instructions for applying a set delay to delay transitioning to the highest ranked representative state from a prior representative state.

15. The computer-readable medium of claim 9, wherein the computer-executable instructions for applying the at least one hysteresis mechanism comprise computer-executable instructions for applying a reset delay to delay transitioning away from the highest ranked representative state to a subsequent representative state.

16. The computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the computer-executable instructions for applying the at least one hysteresis mechanism further comprise computer-executable instructions for applying a set delay to delay transitioning to the highest ranked representative state from a prior representative state;

the set delay and the reset delay having independently selected durations.

17. A computer-readable medium comprising a computer-readable data structure and computer-executable instructions, the computer-readable data structure comprising:

a correlation between statuses of multiple overlapping individual states associated with functionality of the computer-executable instructions and representative states, wherein all representative states are non-overlapping with all other representative states having a different ranking; and

a ranking of the representative states; and

the computer-executable instructions performing steps comprising;

utilizing the computer-readable data structure to identify a highest ranked representative state associated with a current status of the multiple overlapping individual states; and

generating output in accordance with the highest ranked representative state.

18. The computer-readable medium of claim 17, wherein the computer-executable instructions perform further steps comprising applying at least one hysteresis mechanism to the highest ranked representative state to determine whether to delay a transition associated with the highest ranked representative state.

19. The computer-readable medium of claim 18, wherein the computer-executable instructions for applying the at least one hysteresis mechanism comprise computer-executable instructions for applying a set delay to delay transitioning to the highest ranked representative state from a prior representative state.

20. The computer-readable medium of claim 19, wherein the computer-executable instructions for applying the at least one hysteresis mechanism further comprise computer-executable instructions for applying a reset delay to delay transitioning away from the highest ranked representative state to a subsequent representative state;

the set delay and the reset delay having independently selected durations.