Systems and methods for improving performance of computer systems

• US 9,280,391 B2
• Filed: 08/23/2010
• Issued: 03/08/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 08/23/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Avast Software SRO (Gen Digital Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AVG Netherlands B.V. (Gen Digital Inc.)
• Inventors: Ben-Itzhak, Yuval
• Primary Examiner(s): PATEL, HIREN P
• Application Number:
  US12/861,025
• Publication Number:
  US 20120047509A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,024 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3409 for performance assessment
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3438 monitoring of user actions tracking the activity of the user H04L67/535
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2209/5021 Priority
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/4881 Scheduling strategies for dispatcher, e.g. round robin, multi-level priority queues
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/50 Allocation of resources, e.g. of the central processing unit [CPU]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5038 considering the execution order of a plurality of tasks, e.g. taking priority or time dependency constraints into consideration scheduling strategies G06F9/4881 and subgroups

Abstract

Priorities of an application and/or processes associated with an application executing on a computer is determined according to user-specific usage patterns of the application and stored for subsequent use, analysis and distribution.

Claims

1. A method of prioritizing the execution of applications by a computer, the method comprising:

maintaining a remote database for computer applications requiring computing resources, the computer applications being associated with processes, the remote database being merged with at least one other database obtained from at least one other user computing device as a centralized execution priority database on a server, a common execution priority database being derivable from the centralized execution priority database based on the centralized execution priority database and distributable to at least one other user computing device to provide an initial execution priority database for the at least one other user computing device;

programmatically monitoring and determining a user-specific usage pattern for each one of the computer applications, each of the user-specific usage patterns comprising at least one of;

time of day when the computer application is used, duration for which the computer application is used, and usage frequency for the computer application during a specified time period;

assigning, based on the determined user-specific usage patterns, an execution priority to (i) each one of the computer applications and (ii) each of the processes associated with each one of the computer applications, the execution priority assigned to at least one of the processes being higher than the execution priority assigned to the computer application with which it is associated, based on memory operations associated with the at least one process;

updating the remote database with the assigned execution priorities;

executing at least one of the computer applications in accordance with the assigned execution priorities;

reassigning execution priorities to the at least one process and the computer application with which it is associated based on a time-based aspect of the determined user-specific usage patterns; and

updating the remote database with the reassigned execution priorities.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising allocating one or more computing resources to the computer applications based on the execution priorities such that execution of the computer applications is influenced by the user-specific usage patterns.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the one or more computing resources comprise at least one of CPU time, memory, storage, and bandwidth.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the user-specific usage patterns are associated with a user selected from a group consisting of an individual, a class of individuals, and an automatic processor.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the computer applications comprise an operating system.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the computer applications comprise a virtual machine.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the processes associated with any one of the computer applications are assigned different execution priorities.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein each of the user-specific usage patterns further comprises at least one of:

at least one function executed within the computer application, an active window within the computer application, and at least one transaction executed from within the computer application.

9. The method of claim 1 further comprising maintaining an additional database on the computer for the assigned and reassigned execution priorities.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the common execution priority database is derivable by statistically analyzing the execution priorities stored in the centralized execution priority database.

11. The method of claim 1 further comprising recording the determined user-specific usage patterns.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one process is assigned the higher execution priority based on graphics operations associated with the at least one process.

13. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

additionally reassigning execution priorities to at least one of the other computer application and processes associated with the at least one other computer application based on the time-based aspect of the determined user-specific usage patterns; and

updating the remote database with the additionally reassigned execution priorities.

14. A system for prioritizing the execution of processes by a computer, the system comprising:

a processor;

a monitoring module configured to programmatically monitor and determine, using the processor, a user-specific usage pattern for each one of a plurality of computer applications, the computer applications being associated with processes, each of the user-specific usage patterns comprising at least one of;

time of day when the computer application is used, duration for which the computer application is used, and usage frequency for the computer application during a specified time period;

a prioritization module configured to;

(A) assign, based on the user-specific usage patterns, an execution priority to (i) each one of the computer applications and (ii) each of the processes associated with each one of the computer applications, the execution priority assigned to at least one of the processes being higher than the execution priority assigned to the computer application with which it is associated, based on memory operations associated with the at least one process, and (B) reassign execution priorities to the at least one process and the computer application with which it is associated based on a time-based aspect of the determined user-specific usage patterns; and

a data storage module configured to store, in a database, identities of the computer applications, the assigned execution priorities, and the reassigned execution priorities, the database being mergable, on a server, with at least one other database obtained from at least one other user computing device as a centralized execution priority database, a common execution priority database being derivable from the centralized execution priority database based on the centralized execution priority database and distributable to at least one other user computing device to provide an initial execution priority database for the at least one other user computing device.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the prioritization module is further configured to allocate one or more computing resources to the computer applications based on the assigned execution priorities.

16. The system of claim 14 wherein the monitoring module, prioritization module and data storage module reside on the computer.

17. The system of claim 14, wherein the monitoring module is further configured to record the determined user-specific computer application usage patterns.

18. The system of claim 14, wherein the at least one process is assigned the higher execution priority based on graphics operations associated with the at least one process.

19. The system of claim 14, wherein the prioritization module is further configured to additionally reassign execution priorities to at least one of the other computer applications and processes associated with the at least one other computer application based on the time-based aspect of the determined user-specific usage patterns, and wherein the data storage module is further configured to update the database with the additionally reassigned execution priorities.

20. A centralized application-performance management system, the system comprising:

a processor;

a communications server configured to receive a plurality of databases, each of the databases being locally-compiled at a respective local machine associated with at least one user, and comprising identities of computer applications, corresponding user-specific usage patterns, and execution priorities that are based at least in part on the user-specific usage patterns, the computer applications being associated with processes, each of the user-specific usage patterns comprising at least one of;

time of day when the corresponding computer application is used, duration for which the corresponding computer application is used, and usage frequency for the corresponding computer application during a specified time period;

an aggregation module configured to aggregate, using the processor, at least one of the identities, the user-specific usage patterns, and the execution priorities from the locally-compiled databases;

a central data storage module configured to store an aggregated database generated based on the aggregation; and

an analysis engine configured to;

(i) analyze the aggregated database to determine computer application usage patterns among the local machines;

(ii) assign, based on the determined usage patterns, an execution priority to each one of the computer applications and each of the processes associated with each one of the computer applications, the execution priority assigned to at least one of the processes being higher than the execution priority assigned to the computer application with which it is associated, based on memory operations associated with the at least one process;

(iii) reassign execution priorities to the at least one process and the computer application with which it is associated based on a time-based aspect of the determined user-specific usage patterns; and

(iv) compile a model application usage priority database based at least in part on the analysis of the aggregated database, the communications server being further configured to distribute the model application usage priority database to at least one local machine.

21. The system of claim 20, wherein the at least one process is assigned the higher execution priority based on graphics operations associated with the at least one process.