Selective Hibernation Of Activities In An Electronic Device

• US 20110016417A1
• Filed: 07/20/2009
• Published: 01/20/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 04/20/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Palm, Inc. (TCL Technology Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Shiplacoff, Daniel Marc Gatan, Duarte, Matias Gonzalo, Lyon, Jeremy Godfrey
• Granted Patent: US 9,274,807 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/768
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3225 of memory devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3228 Monitoring task completion, e.g. by use of idle timers, stop commands or wait commands
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3243 Power saving in microcontroller unit
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3275 Power saving in memory, e.g. RAM, cache
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3287 by switching off individual functional units in the computer system
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0481 based on specific properties of the displayed interaction object or a metaphor-based environment, e.g. interaction with desktop elements like windows or icons, or assisted by a cursor's changing behaviour or appearance
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0483 Interaction with page-structured environments, e.g. book metaphor
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04842 Selection of displayed objects or displayed text elements G06F3/0482 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0485 Scrolling or panning
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/4418 Suspend and resume; Hibernate and awake
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 5/14 Display of multiple viewports
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72403 with means for local support of applications that increase the functionality
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0264 by selectively disabling software applications
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 10/00 Energy efficient computing, e.g. low power processors, power management or thermal management
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/50 in wire-line communication networks, e.g. low power modes or reduced link rate
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks

Abstract

In an electronic device capable of running multiple software applications concurrently, applications, documents, cards, or other activities can be selected for hibernation so as to free up system resources for other activities that are in active use. A determination is made as to which activities should hibernate, for example based on a determination as to which activities have not been used recently or based on relative resource usage. When an activity is to hibernate, its state is preserved on a storage medium such as a disk, so that the activity can later be revived in the same state and the user can continue with the same task that was being performed before the activity entered hibernation.

Claims

1. A method for selectively causing at least one activity to hibernate in an electronic device, comprising:

in a processor, running at least two activities concurrently;

on a display screen, displaying user interfaces for at least a subset of the activities;

responsive to a trigger event, automatically selecting, by the processor, a first running activity for hibernation;

in a storage device, saving state information for the first activity;

generating an image representative of at least a portion of the user interface associated with the first activity; and

on the display screen, displaying the generated image in place of the user interface for the first activity.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising, concurrently with displaying the generated image, actively running a second activity.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein:

displaying the generated image comprises displaying the generated image at a location on the display screen previously occupied by the user interface for the first activity.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein:

displaying user interfaces for at least a subset of the activities comprises displaying the user interfaces in discrete movable regions on the display screen; and

displaying the generated image in place of the user interface for the first activity comprises displaying the generated image in a discrete movable region previously containing the user interface for the first activity.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

responsive to user input, received at a user input device, moving at least one of the discrete movable regions on the display screen.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein moving at least one of the discrete movable regions on the display screen comprises moving the discrete movable region containing the generated image.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein generating an image representative of at least a portion of the user interface associated with the first activity comprises generating a static image representative of a visual state of the user interface associated with the first activity.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising displaying, on the display screen, a visual indicator indicating that the first activity is hibernating.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising visually transforming the generated image to indicate that the first activity is hibernating.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein visually transforming the generated image comprises applying a translucent scrim to the generated image.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein:

displaying user interfaces for at least a subset of the activities comprises displaying a plurality of cards, each card being associated with a software application and containing a user interface for the software application; and

displaying the generated image in place of the user interface for the first activity comprises displaying the generated image in the card associated with the first activity.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein:

displaying user interfaces for at least a subset of the activities comprises displaying a plurality of cards, each card being associated with a software application and containing a user interface for the software application, wherein at least a subset of the plurality of cards are associated with a common software application;

automatically selecting a first running activity for hibernation comprises selecting at least a subset of the plurality of cards associated with the software application;

saving state information for the first activity comprises saving state information for the selected at least a subset of cards;

generating an image representative of at least a portion of the user interface associated with the first activity comprises generating an image representative of each card in the selected at least a subset of cards; and

displaying the generated image in place of the user interface for the first activity comprises displaying, in each card in the selected at least a subset of cards, a generated image for the card.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising, responsive to all cards associated with the software application being selected for hibernation, closing the software application.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein:

displaying user interfaces for at least a subset of the activities comprises displaying a plurality of windows, each window associated with an activity and containing a user interface for the activity; and

displaying the generated image in place of the user interface for the first activity comprises displaying the generated image in the window associated with the first activity.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the windows are resizable and adapted to overlap one another.

16. The method of claim 1, further comprising closing the first activity.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein automatically selecting, by the processor, a first running activity for hibernation comprises selecting an activity based on at least one selected from the group consisting of:

a ranked priority list of activities;

a comparison of the amount of resource usage by each of the running activities;

a comparison of the amount of memory usage by each of the running activities; and

a comparison of the amount of bandwidth usage by each of the running activities.

18. A method for reviving a hibernating activity in an electronic device, comprising:

on a display screen, concurrently displaying;

a static image representing a user interface of a hibernating first activity; and

a user interface for a running second activity;

in a processor adapted to run at least two activities concurrently, detecting a trigger event for reviving the first activity; and

responsive to the detected trigger event;

retrieving, from a storage device, state information for the first activity;

in the processor, restoring the state of the first activity based on the retrieved state information; and

replacing the displayed static image with the user interface for the first activity.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising, responsive to the detected trigger event, launching the first activity.

20. The method of claim 18, wherein detecting a trigger event for reviving the first activity comprises detecting user input, at a user input device, representing an attempt by a user to interact with the first activity.

21. The method of claim 18, wherein detecting a trigger event for reviving the first activity comprises detecting user input, at a user input device, representing an attempt by a user to give the first activity focus.

22. The method of claim 18, further comprising, concurrently with retrieving state information, displaying a progress indicator on the display screen.

23. The method of claim 18, wherein displaying the static image representing a user interface of a hibernating first activity comprises displaying the static image with a visual indicator indicating that the first activity is hibernating.

24. The method of claim 18, wherein displaying the static image representing a user interface of a hibernating first activity comprises displaying the static image in a transformed form to indicate that the first activity is hibernating.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein displaying the static image in a trans-formed form comprises displaying the static image with an overlaid translucent scrim.

26. A computer program product for selectively causing at least one activity to hibernate in an electronic device, comprising:

a computer-readable storage medium; and

computer program code, encoded on the medium, for causing a processor to perform the steps of;

running at least two activities concurrently;

causing a display screen to display user interfaces for at least a subset of the activities;

responsive to a trigger event, automatically selecting a first running activity for hibernation;

causing a storage device to save state information for the first activity;

generating an image representative of at least a portion of the user interface associated with the first activity; and

causing the display screen to display the generated image in place of the user interface for the first activity.

27. A computer program product for reviving a hibernating activity in an electronic device, comprising:

a computer-readable storage medium; and

computer program code, encoded on the medium, for causing a processor adapted to run at least two activities concurrently to perform the steps of;

causing a display screen to display;

a static image representing a user interface of a hibernating first activity; and

a user interface for a running second activity;

detecting a trigger event for reviving the first activity; and

responsive to the detected trigger event;

retrieving, from a storage device, state information for the first activity;

restoring the state of the first activity based on the retrieved state information; and

replacing the displayed static image with the user interface for the first activity.

28. A system for selectively causing at least one activity to hibernate in an electronic device, comprising:

a processor, for;

running at least two activities concurrently;

automatically selecting a first running activity for hibernation; and

generating an image representative of at least a portion of the user interface associated with the first activity;

a display screen, coupled to the processor, for;

displaying user interfaces for at least a subset of the activities; and

displaying the generated image in place of the user interface for the first activity; and

a storage device, coupled to the processor, for saving state information for the first activity.

29. A system for reviving a hibernating activity in an electronic device, comprising:

a display screen, for concurrently displaying;

a static image representing a user interface of a hibernating first activity; and

a user interface for a running second activity;

a storage device, for storing state information for the first activity;

a processor adapted to run at least two activities concurrently, for;

detecting a trigger event for reviving the first activity; and

responsive to the detected trigger event;

retrieving, from the storage device, state information for the first activity;

restoring the state of the first activity based on the retrieved state information; and

causing the display screen to replace the displayed static image with the user interface for the first activity.