Method and system for offloading execution and resources for resource-constrained networked devices

• US 6,990,662 B2
• Filed: 10/31/2001
• Issued: 01/24/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 10/31/2001
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Inventors: Messer, Alan, Fu, Guangrui, Bernadat, Philippe, Greenberg, Ira, Miljicic, Dejan
• Primary Examiner(s): DAS, CHAMELI
• Application Number:
  US10/001,074
• Publication Number:
  US 20030084435A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,546 Days
• Field of Search: 717/127, 717/131, 717175-178, 717/103, 717/173, 709/201, 709/224, 709/220, 709/203, 709/205, 709/227, 709/229, 711/129, 711/170, 718/100, 718/105, 718/104, 710/15, 710/110, 700/3
• US Class Current: 717/174
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2209/509 Offload
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/505 considering the load
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/547 Remote procedure calls [RPC]; Web services

Abstract

A method for offloading execution load from a resource-constrained device to allow the device to run a resource intensive software program. A program is accessed using a first device and determines whether execution of the program will exceed resources of the first device. If the execution will exceed the resources of the first device, a load split is determined to split the program into a first portion and a second portion. The second portion of the program is offloaded to a second device, while the first portion of the program is retained on the first device. The first portion and second portion communicate via a network connection. Full program functionality is provided using the first device, wherein the functionality is provided by the first portion and second portion executing respectively on the first device and the second device.

Claims

1. A computer implemented method for offloading execution load from a resource-constrained device to allow the device to run a resource-intensive software program, the method comprising:

accessing a program using a first resource-constrained computing device;

determining whether execution of the program will exceed resources of the first resource-constrained computing device;

determining a load split for the program to split the program into a first portion and a second portion;

offloading the second portion of the program to a second more capable computing device while retaining the first portion of the program on the first resource-constrained computing device, wherein the second more capable computing device is distinct from the first resource-constrained computing device; and

providing a program functionality using the first resource-constrained computing device, wherein the functionality is provided by the first portion and the second portion executing cooperatively over a network connection between said first resource-constrained computing device and said second more capable computing device.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

executing the software program using the first resource-constrained computing device until the execution exceeds the resources of the first device.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

using a resource monitor to determine whether execution of the program will exceed resources of the first resource-constrained computing device.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the resource monitor is a software routine executing on the first resource-constrained computing device.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

determining whether an execution queue length exceeds a predetermined length in order to determine whether execution of the program will exceed resources of the first resource-constrained computing device.

6. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

determining whether a program heap size exceeds a predetermined size in order to determine whether execution of the program will exceed resources of the first resource-constrained computing device.

7. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

determining whether an amount of memory consumed by the program exceeds a predetermined amount in order to determine whether execution of the program will exceed resources of the first resource-constrained computing device.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the offloading of the second portion of the program comprises a memory resource offloading of the program to the second more capable computing device.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein the offloading of the second portion of the program comprises an execution offloading of the program to the second more capable computing device.

10. A computer readable media having thereon computer readable code which when executed by respective computer systems of a first device and a second device cause the devices to implement a method for offloading execution load from the first device to allow the first device to run a resource intensive software program, the method comprising:

accessing a program using a first resource-constrained computing device;

determining whether execution of the program will exceed resources of the first resource-constrained computing device;

determining a load split for the program to split the program into a first portion and a second portion;

offloading the second portion of the program to a second more capable computing device while retaining the first portion of the program on the first resource-constrained computing device, wherein the second more capable computing device is distinct from the first resource-constrained computing device; and

providing a program functionality using the first device, wherein the functionality is provided by the first portion and the second portion executing cooperatively over a network connection between said first resource-constrained computing device and said second more capable computing device.

11. The computer readable media of claim 10 further comprising:

executing the software program using the first device until the execution exceeds the resources of the first device.

12. The computer readable media of claim 10 further comprising:

using a resource monitor to determine whether execution of the program will exceed resources of the first device.

13. The computer readable media of claim 12, wherein the resource monitor is a software routine executing on the first device.

14. The computer readable media of claim 10 further comprising:

determining whether a run-time execution queue length exceeds a predetermined length in order to determine whether execution of the program will exceed resources of the first device.

15. The computer readable media of claim 10 further comprising:

determining whether a program heap size exceeds a predetermined size in order to determine whether execution of the program will exceed resources of the first device.

16. The computer readable media of claim 10 further comprising:

determining whether an amount of memory consumed by the program exceeds a predetermined amount in order to determine whether execution of the program will exceed resources of the first device.

17. The computer readable media of claim 10 wherein the offloading of the second portion of the program comprises a memory resource offloading of the program to the second device.

18. The computer readable media of claim 10 wherein the offloading of the second portion of the program comprises an execution offloading of the program to the second device.

19. A computer implemented system for offloading execution load from a resource-constrained device to a first computer system for a first device;

a second computer system for a second device, the respective computer systems of the first device and the second device executing computer readable code that causes the devices to implement a method for offloading execution load from the first device to allow the first device to run a resource intensive software program, the method comprising;

accessing a program using a first resource-constrained computing device;

determining whether execution of the program will exceed resources of the first resource-constrained computing device;

determining a load split for the program to split the program into a first portion and a second portion;

offloading the second portion of the program to a second more capable computing device while retaining the first portion of the program on the first resource-constrained computing device, wherein the second more capable computing device is distinct from the first resource-constrained computing device; and

providing a program functionality using the first device, wherein the functionality is provided by the first portion and the second portion executing cooperatively over a network connection between said first resource-constrained computing device and said second more capable computing device.

20. The system of claim 19 further comprising:

determining whether a run-time execution queue length exceeds a predetermined length in order to determine whether execution of the program will exceed resources of the first device.

21. The system of claim 19 further comprising:

determining whether a program heap size exceeds a predetermined size in order to determine whether execution of the program will exceed resources of the first device.

22. The system of claim 19 further comprising:

determining whether an amount of memory consumed by the program exceeds a predetermined amount in order to determine whether execution of the program will exceed resources of the first device.

23. The system of claim 19 wherein the offloading of the second portion of the program comprises a memory resource offloading of the program to the second device.

24. The system of claim 19 wherein the offloading of the second portion of the program comprises an execution offloading of the program to the second device.

25. The system of claim 19 wherein a load splitter is used for determining the load split for the program, the load splitter configured to use resource utilization information and execution load information to determine the load split.

26. The system of claim 19 wherein an offloader is used for offloading the second portion of the program such that the first portion references the second portion during a cooperative execution.

27. The system of claim 19 wherein the offloading and the providing the program functionality occurs transparently with respect to a user of the first device.

28. The system of claim 19 wherein the offloading and the providing the program functionality occurs with an indication to a user of the first device.

29. The system of claim 19 wherein a code segment size of the program is used for determining whether execution of the program will exceed resources of the first device.