Application prioritization

• US 9,489,236 B2
• Filed: 10/31/2012
• Issued: 11/08/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 10/31/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Kishan, Arun U., Pulapaka, Hari, Schwartz, James Anthony Jr., Bendetov, Alex
• Primary Examiner(s): Truong, Camquy
• Application Number:
  US13/664,954
• Publication Number:
  US 20140123151A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,469 Days
• Field of Search: 718/103
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/4881 Scheduling strategies for dispatcher, e.g. round robin, multi-level priority queues

Abstract

Among other things, one or more techniques and/or systems are provided for application prioritization. For example, an operating system of a computing device may contemporaneously host one or more applications, which may compete for computing resources, such as CPU cycles, I/O operations, memory access, and/or network bandwidth. Accordingly, an application (e.g., a background task or service) may be placed within a de-prioritized operating mode during launch and/or during execution, which may result in the application receiving a relatively lower priority when competing with applications placed within a standard operating mode for access to computing resources. In this way, an application placed within a standard operating mode (e.g., a foreground application currently interacted with by a user) may have priority to computing resources over the de-prioritized application, such that the application within the standard operating mode may provide enhanced performance based upon having priority to computing resources.

Claims

1. A method for application prioritization, comprising:

determining that an application is to be placed within a de-prioritized operating mode;

initiating a launch of the application within the de-prioritized operating mode;

in response to initiating the launch of the application within the de-prioritized operating mode, placing a first set of one or more restrictions on the application, wherein the first set of one or more restrictions causes an operation of the application to be restricted according to a determined level;

monitoring a progress of the launch;

responsive to determining that the progress of the launch is below a launch progress threshold, reducing the first set of one or more restrictions such that the reduction of the first set of one or more restrictions causes the operation of the application to be less restricted than the determined level, according to a comparatively lower determined level, wherein determining the progress of the launch is below a launch progress threshold includes determining that the application has not fully launched within a predetermined period of time; and

responsive to the launch of the application, executing the application within the de-prioritized operating mode while the reduced first set of one or more restrictions act to restrict the operation of the application according to the comparatively lower determined level that is less restrictive than the determined level.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the determination that the application is to be placed within the de-prioritized operating mode comprises:

identifying the application as a background application.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the de-prioritized operating mode comprises at least one of:

a CPU scheduling de-prioritization;

an I/O access de-prioritization;

a memory access de-prioritization;

or

GPU scheduling de-prioritization.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the de-prioritized operating mode comprises:

an I/O access de-prioritization for one or more I/O operations by the application.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the de-prioritized operating mode comprises:

a memory access de-prioritization for memory page access by the application.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the determination that the progress of the launch is below a launch progress threshold comprises:

evaluating at least one of the following to determine whether the application has not been provided adequate access to resources to make forward progress with the launch;

CPU scheduling information, I/O activity, or memory access.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the evaluation comprises:

querying a kernel for at least one of the CPU scheduling information or the I/O activity.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

responsive to determining that the progress of the launch is no longer below the launch progress threshold, restoring at least some of the first set of one or more restrictions.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the execution of the application within the de-prioritized operating mode comprises:

responsive to determining that execution of the application is below a specified service level for the application, reducing a second set of one or more restrictions placed upon the application by the de-prioritized operating mode.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the execution of the application within the de-prioritized operating mode comprises:

responsive to determining that the execution of the application is below an idle threshold, facilitating cancellation of the application.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the determination that the execution of the application is below an idle threshold comprises:

determining that a device, hosting the application, is configured to perform at least one of the following;

enter a lower power state or free up memory if the application is cancelled.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

monitoring the execution of the application based upon a watchdog timer functionality to determine whether the application is idle or resource starved.

13. The method of claim 1, comprising:

responsive to the application being placed into a foreground state, transitioning the application from the de-prioritized operating mode to a standard operating mode.

14. The method of claim 13, comprising:

responsive to the application being transitioned from the foreground state to a background state, transitioning the application from the standard operating mode to the de-prioritized operating mode.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the determination that the application is to be placed within the de-prioritized operating mode includes determining at least one of:

whether the application is to be executed in a background state;

or

whether the application is a service.

16. A computer system, comprising:

one or more processors; and

one or more computer-readable hardware storage devices having stored thereon computer-executable instructions that are executable by the one or more processors to cause the computer system to prioritize an application by causing the computer system to;

determine that an application is to be placed within a de-prioritized operating mode;

initiate a launch of the application within the de-prioritized operating mode;

in response to initiating the launch of the application within the de-prioritized operating mode, place a first set of one or more restrictions on the application, wherein the first set of one or more restrictions causes an operation of the application to be restricted according to a determined level;

monitor a progress of the launch;

responsive to determining that the progress of the launch is below a launch progress threshold, reduce the first set of one or more restrictions such that the reduction of the first set of one or more restrictions causes the operation of the application to be less restricted than the determined level, according to a comparatively lower determined level, wherein determining the progress of the launch is below a launch progress threshold includes determining that the application has not fully launched within a predetermined period of time; and

responsive to the launch of the application, execute the application within the de-prioritized operating mode while the reduced first set of one or more restrictions act to restrict the operation of the application according to the comparatively lower determined level that is less restrictive than the determined level.

17. The computer system of claim 16, wherein the computer-executable instructions further cause the computer system to:

responsive to the application being placed into a foreground state, transition the application from the de-prioritized operating mode to a standard operating mode.

18. The computer system of claim 17, wherein the computer-executable instructions further cause the computer system to:

responsive to the application being transitioned from the foreground state to a background state, transition the application from the standard operating mode to the de-prioritized operating mode.

19. The computer system of claim 18, wherein the computer-executable instructions further cause the computer system to:

monitor the execution of the application based upon a watchdog timer functionality to determine whether the application is idle or resource starved.

20. A computer system, comprising:

one or more processors; and

one or more computer-readable hardware storage devices having stored thereon computer-executable instructions that are executable by the one or more processors to cause the computer system to prioritize an application by causing the computer system to perform at least the following;

determine that an application is to be placed within a de-prioritized operating mode;

initiate a launch of the application within the de-prioritized operating mode;

monitor a progress of the launch;

responsive to a determination that the progress of the launch is below a launch progress threshold, reduce a first set of one or more restrictions placed upon the application by the de-prioritized operating mode, wherein the determination that the progress of the launch is below the launch progress threshold includes a determination that the application has not fully launched within a predetermined period of time;

responsive to the launch of the application, execute the application within the de-prioritized operating mode;

responsive to the application being placed into a foreground state, transition the application from the de-prioritized operating mode to a standard operating mode;

responsive to the application being transitioned from the foreground state to a background state, transition the application from the standard operating mode back to the de-prioritized mode; and

determine that a device, hosting the application, is configured to at least perform one of the following;

enter a low power state or free up memory if the application is cancelled.