System and method of waste management

• US 7,738,866 B2
• Filed: 04/18/2006
• Issued: 06/15/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 04/18/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Malikie Innovations Limited (Key Patent Innovations Limited)
• Original Assignee: Blackberry Limited
• Inventors: Doktorova, Laura, Qing, Richard, Shenfield, Michael, Vitanov, Kamen, Bibr, Viera
• Primary Examiner(s): Feild; Joseph H
• Assistant Examiner(s): Nguyen; Huy D
• Application Number:
  US11/405,598
• Publication Number:
  US 20070005684A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,519 Days
• Field of Search: 455/433, 455/186.1, 455/550.1, 455/514, 455/412.1, 455/412.2
• US Class Current: 455/433
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 12/023 Free address space management
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 12/0253 Garbage collection, i.e. reclamation of unreferenced memory
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2209/482 Application
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2209/543 Local
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/485 Task life-cycle, e.g. stopping, restarting, resuming execution G06F9/4881 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5016 the resource being the memory
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5022 Mechanisms to release resources
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/542 Event management; Broadcasting; Multicasting; Notifications
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/12 specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/55 Push-based network services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/00 Services specially adapted for wireless communication networks; Facilities therefor

Abstract

A waste management system and method of registering and deleting application waste is provided. The waste management system comprises a waste registration module for registering application waste and a waste deletion module for deleting the registered waste based upon the deletion priority. The waste registration module includes a deletion priority unit for assigning deletion priority to registered waste. The method comprises the steps of registering application waste, assigning deletion priority to registered waste, and deleting the registered waste based upon the deletion priority.

Claims

1. A waste management system for registering and deleting application waste for a plurality of applications on a wireless device, the waste management system comprising:

a waste registration module for registering application waste associated with each one of the plurality of applications, the waste registration module including a deletion priority unit for assigning deletion priority to each data record of the registered application waste based upon deletion priority preferences provided by each of the plurality of the associated applications;

a waste deletion module for deleting the registered application waste based upon the deletion priority assigned with each data record;

a memory notification unit for calling the waste deletion module to delete application waste when available memory is low; and

a plurality of cleanup function modules, each cleanup function module associated with a respective application of the plurality of applications for calling by the waste registration module to identify application waste and deletion preferences from the respective application.

2. The waste management system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the cleanup function module is called when the associated application is about to end.

3. The waste management system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the cleanup function module is called when the associated application switches to a background running status.

4. The waste management system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the deletion module deletes waste until the memory notification module determines that memory is no longer low.

5. The waste management system as claimed in claim 1 wherein the respective cleanup function module of running application is called to register more application waste when no additional application waste remains to be removed and the memory notification module determines that memory is still low.

6. The waste management system as claimed in claim 1 wherein a notification is provided to the user that no additional waste remains to be removed and memory available is still low.

7. A method of registering and deleting application waste for a plurality of applications on a wireless device, the method comprising the steps of:

registering application waste for deletion associated with each one of the plurality of applications by calling a plurality of cleanup function modules, each associated with a respective application of the plurality of applications;

assigning a deletion priority to each data record of the registered application waste based upon deletion preferences provided by the respective cleanup function modules of the associated applications; and

deleting the data records of the registered application waste based upon each deletion priority assigned to each data record when a low memory notification is received from a memory notification unit for monitoring a memory level of the wireless device.

8. The method as claimed in claim 7 wherein the step of deleting the registered waste includes the step of deleting a registered waste item having a highest deletion priority.

9. The method as claimed in claim 7 further comprising the step of displaying a low-memory notification to a user of the wireless device.

10. The method as claimed in claim 7 wherein the step of registering application waste is called when an application is about to end.

11. The method as claimed in claim 7 wherein the step of registering application waste is called when an application switches to a background running status.

12. The method as claimed in claim 7 wherein the step of deleting application waste occurs until the low memory notification is cleared.

13. The method as claimed in claim 7 wherein the step of registering waste is called for applications that are running when no additional waste remains to be removed and the low memory notification is not cleared.

14. The method as claimed in claim 7 wherein a notification is provided to the user that no additional waste remains to be removed and the low memory notification is not cleared.

15. A computer-readable memory storing instructions or statements for use in the execution in a computer of a method of registering and deleting application waste for a plurality of applications on a wireless device, the method comprising the steps of:

registering application waste for deletion associated with each one of the plurality of applications by calling a plurality of cleanup function modules, each associated with a respective application of the plurality of applications;

assigning a deletion priority to each data record of the registered application waste based upon deletion preferences provided by the respective cleanup function modules of the associated applications; and

deleting the data records of the registered application waste based upon each deletion priority assigned to each data record when a low memory notification is received from a memory notification unit for monitoring a memory level of the wireless device.