Method and apparatus for performing user notification

• US 6,412,021 B1
• Filed: 02/26/1998
• Issued: 06/25/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 02/26/1998
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Oracle America, Inc. (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Sun Microsystems Incorporated (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: Nguyen, Phuong T., Di Pol, Joseph F., Schneider, Linda
• Primary Examiner(s): Courtenay, III, St. John
• Assistant Examiner(s): BULLOCK JR, LEWIS ALEXANDER
• Application Number:
  US09/031,399
• Time in Patent Office: 1,580 Days
• Field of Search: 709/300, 709/303, 709/315, 709/217, 709/316, 709/318, 709/310, 709/219, 709/105, 345/967, 345/977, 340/601
• US Class Current: 719/318
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/324 Display of status information
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/44526 Plug-ins; Add-ons
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/44594 Unloading
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/542 Event management; Broadcasting; Multicasting; Notifications
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 715/977 Dynamic icon, e.g. animated or live action

Abstract

A method and apparatus for performing user notification. In a desktop environment in which multiple applications, or applets may be simultaneously resident in main memory, it may be necessary to release or unload one or more applications or applets from main memory to provide memory space for a newly selected application or applet. Applications or applets thus unloaded are incapable of providing feedback or user notification of state changes associated with the respective application or applet. An embodiment of the invention provides a user notification class for notifying users of application or applet state changes. For each application or applet that needs to provide user notification, the desktop manager loads an instance of a notification class as an independent thread which will operate even when the associated application or applet is not resident in main memory. The user notification class instance performs all notification functions on behalf of the application or applet. An event mechanism is provided for an application or applet to communicate with its associated user notification thread.

Claims

1. An apparatus comprising:

a manager mechanism configured to load and unload sub-components transient memory;

a sub-component, said manager mechanism unloading said sub-component in response to a low memory condition of said transient memory;

a service class associated with said sub-component, wherein said service class is separated from said sub-component, said service class configured to perform a user notification function of said sub-component, said service class being instantiated by said manager mechanism and executing as a thread independent of said sub-component such that said user notification function of said service class is maintained when said sub-component is unloaded in response to a low memory condition.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said user notification function comprises at least one of:

displaying a message;

playing an audio file; and

changing an image icon.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said sub-component comprises an applet.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said manager mechanism is configured as a browser.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said manager mechanism is executed in a Java™

runtime environment.

6. A method for performing user notification comprising:

extracting one or more service classes from each of one or more sub-components loaded in transient memory, wherein each of said one or more service classes comprises at least one user notification function associated with said each of said one or more sub-components;

a manager mechanism instantiating said one or more service classes;

unloading said one or more sub-components in response to a low memory condition of said transient memory;

executing each of said one or more service classes as a thread independent of said one or more sub-components; and

performing, in said one or more service classes, said at least one user notification function associated with said each of one or more sub-components such that said at least one user notification function is maintained when said each of said one or more sub-components is unloaded in response to a low memory condition of said transient memory.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein said performing said at least one user notification function comprises at least one of:

displaying a message;

playing an audio file; and

changing an image icon.

8. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

said each of said one or more sub-components obtaining a reference to said one or more service classes;

said each of said one or more sub-components using said reference to interact with said one or more service classes; and

securing said reference against access by a sub-component that is not said each of said one or more sub-components.

9. The method of claim 6, further comprising configuring said each of said one or more sub-components as an applet.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising configuring said manager mechanism as a browser.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising executing said manager mechanism in a Java™

runtime environment.

12. A computer program product comprising:

a computer usable medium having computer readable code embodied therein for performing user notification, said computer program product comprising;

computer readable code configured to cause a computer to extract one or more service classes from each of one or more sub-components loaded in transient memory, wherein each of said one or more service classes comprises at least one user notification function associated with said each of said one or more sub-components;

computer readable code configured to cause a manager mechanism to instantiate said one or more service classes;

computer readable code configured to cause a computer to unload said one or more sub-component under a low memory condition of said transient memory;

computer readable code configured to cause a computer to execute each of said one or more service classes as a thread independent of said one or more sub-components; and

computer readable code configured to cause a computer to perform, in said one or more service classes, said at least one user notification function associated with said each of said one or more sub-components such that said at least one user notification function is maintained when said each of said one or more sub-components is unloaded in response to a low memory condition of said transient memory.

13. The computer program product of claim 12, wherein said at least one user notification function comprises at least one of:

displaying a message;

playing an audio file; and

changing an image icon.

14. The computer program product of claim 12, further comprising:

computer readable code configured to cause said each of said one or more sub-components to obtain a reference to said one or more s service classes;

computer readable code configured to cause said each of said one or more sub-components to use said reference to interact with said one or more service classes; and

computer readable code configured to cause said computer to secure said reference against access by a sub-component that is not said each of said one or more sub-components.

15. The computer program product of claim 12, wherein said sub-component is configured as an applet.

16. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein said manager mechanism is configured as a browser.

17. The computer program product of claim 16, further comprising computer readable code configured to cause a computer to execute said manager mechanism within a Java™

runtime environment.

18. A memory configured to store data for access by a runtime environment executing in a computer system, comprising:

a data structure stored in transient memory, said data structure comprising;

an applet;

a service class extracted from said applet, said service class comprising an event queue and a plurality of methods, wherein said applet is configured to invoke one or more of said plurality of methods of said service class, wherein said applet is further configured to place an event on said event queue, said plurality of methods comprising;

a reference method configured to return a reference to an instance of said service class;

a service method configured to perform a service;

an event method configured to handle one or more events;

a manager application associating said applet with said service class, said manager application configured to instantiate said service class as a thread to be run independently of said applet, said manager application configured to unload said applet in response to a low memory condition of said transient memory, wherein said service is maintained when said applet is unloaded in response to said low memory condition.

19. The memory of claim 18, wherein said service comprises performing a user notification function.

20. The memory of claim 19, wherein said user notification function comprised one or more of:

displaying a message;

playing an audio file; and

changing an image icon.

21. An apparatus comprising:

a manager mechanism configured to load and unload sub-components from transient memory;

a sub-component, said manager mechanism unloading said sub-component in response to a low memory condition of said transient memory;

a service class associated with said sub-component, wherein said service class is separated from said sub-component and instantiated by said manager mechanism at startup, said service class configured to perform a user notification function of said sub-component, said service class executing as a thread independent of said sub-component to maintain said user notification function of said sub-component when said sub-component is unloaded by said manager mechanism as a result of a low memory condition of said transient memory.