RECONFIGURATION OF COMPUTER SYSTEM TO ALLOW APPLICATION INSTALLATION

• US 20120185843A1
• Filed: 01/19/2011
• Published: 07/19/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 01/19/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: BURKE, MICHAEL R., CAMPION, NICHOLAS F., PETERSON, JOSEPH H., KIRKEBY, KEVIN W.
• Granted Patent: US 8,782,635 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 717/174
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/61 Installation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/62 Uninstallation

Abstract

A method and apparatus for installing an application on a computer are disclosed. Following receipt of a request to install an application, a software state, comprising the new application and several of the applications installed on the computer, is derived. Then, the method determines whether the software state can be implemented on the computer. If the software state cannot be implemented on the computer, then the method derives another software state. This is repeated until the derived software state can be implemented on the computer system, or until determining that no software state exists which can be implemented on the computer system.

Claims

1. A method of managing applications installed on a computer system, comprising:

receiving a request to install a first application on the computer system;

determining whether the computer system can support a first software state representing the first application and applications currently installed on the computer system; and

upon determining the first software state cannot be supported on the computer system;

successively evaluating, by operation of one or more computer processors, one or more second software states, wherein each second software state includes at least the first application as having been installed on the computer system and a distinct subset of one or more of the applications as having been uninstalled from the computer system, until identifying a second software states that can be supported on the computer system.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

uninstalling the distinct subset of one or more applications represented in the identified second software state from the computer system; and

installing the first application on the computer system.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

obtaining a list of applications currently installed on the computer system.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more second software states are generated by:

generating a filter mask, wherein the filter mask represents the distinct subset of one or more applications to represent as having been uninstalled from the computer system in a respective one of the second software states; and

determining a set of applications represented by respective second software state by combining the frequency of use bitmask and the filter mask.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the order of the bits in the frequency of use bitmask corresponds to a frequency of use of the applications on the computer system.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the frequency of use value is based on at least one of a number of times the application is run, a length of time for which the application is run, and a time between successive runs of the application.

7. The method of claim 4, wherein each successive second software state is generated by incrementing the filter mask and combining the frequency of use bitmask and the filter mask to generate each successive second software state.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising, presenting one or more of the identified second software states to a user.

9. A system comprising:

a processor; and

a memory storing a program configured to perform an operation for managing applications installed on a computer system, the operation comprising;

receiving a request to install a first application on the computer system,

determining whether the computer system can support a first software state, wherein the first software state represents the first application and applications currently installed on the computer system, and

upon determining the first software state cannot be supported on the computer system;

successively evaluating one or more second software states, wherein each second software state represents a state that includes at least the first application as having been installed on the computer system and a distinct subset of one or more of the applications as having been uninstalled from the computer system, until identifying a second software states that can be supported on the computer system.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the operation further comprises:

uninstalling the distinct subset of one or more applications represented in the identified second software state from the computer system; and

installing the first application on the computer system.

11. The system of claim 9, wherein the operation further comprises:

obtaining a list of applications currently installed on the computer system.

12. The system of claim 9, wherein the one or more second software states are generated by:

generating a filter mask, wherein the filter mask represents the distinct subset of one or more applications to represent as having been uninstalled from the computer system in a respective one of the second software states; and

determining a set of applications represented by respective second software state by combining the frequency of use bitmask and the filter mask.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the order of the bits in the frequency of use bitmask corresponds to a frequency of use of the applications on the computer system.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the frequency of use value is based on at least one of a number of times the application is run, a length of time for which the application is run, and a time between successive runs of the application.

15. The system of claim 12, wherein each successive second software state is generated by incrementing the filter mask and combining the frequency of use bitmask and the filter mask to generate each successive second software state.

16. The system of claim 9, wherein the operation further comprises presenting one or more of the identified second software states to a user.

17. A computer-readable storage medium storing machine instructions for managing applications installed on a computer system, the instructions comprising instructions for:

receiving a request to install a first application on the computer system;

determining whether the computer system can support a first software state, wherein the first software state represents the first application and applications currently installed on the computer system; and

upon determining the first software state cannot be supported on the computer system;

successively evaluating one or more second software states, wherein each second software state represents a state that includes at least the first application as having been installed on the computer system and a distinct subset of one or more of the applications as having been uninstalled from the computer system, until identifying a second software states that can be supported on the computer system.

18. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 17, the instructions further comprising instructions for:

uninstalling the distinct subset of one or more applications represented in the identified second software state from the computer system; and

installing the first application on the computer system.

19. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 17, the instructions further comprising instructions for:

obtaining a list of applications currently installed on the computer system.

20. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein the one or more second software states are generated by:

generating a filter mask, wherein the filter mask represents the distinct subset of one or more applications to represent as having been uninstalled from the computer system in a respective one of the second software states; and

determining a set of applications represented by respective second software state by combining the frequency of use bitmask and the filter mask.

21. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 20, wherein the order of the bits in the frequency of use bitmask corresponds to a frequency of use of the applications on the computer system.

22. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 21, wherein the frequency of use value is based on at least one of a number of times the application is run, a length of time for which the application is run, and a time between successive runs of the application.

23. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 20, wherein each successive second software state is generated by incrementing the filter mask and combining the frequency of use bitmask and the filter mask to generate each successive second software state.

24. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 17, the instructions further comprising instructions for presenting one or more of the identified second software states to the user.

25. A method of managing applications installed on a computer system having a set of applications, comprising:

determining whether the computer system can support a first software state, wherein the first software state represents the set of applications currently installed on the computer system; and

upon determining the first software state cannot be supported on the computer system;

successively evaluating one or more second software states, wherein each second software state represents a state that includes a distinct subset of one or more of the applications as having been uninstalled from the computer system, until identifying a second software states that can be supported on the computer system, and

suggesting the identified second software states to a user.