Selective hibernation of activities in an electronic device

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9274807-B2
Application number	US-50554109-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 20, 2009
Priority date	Apr 20, 2006
Publication date	Mar 1, 2016
Grant date	Mar 1, 2016

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.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for operating a mobile computing device, the method performed by a processor of the mobile computing device and comprising:
concurrently running a plurality of activities, each of the plurality of activities being distinct and having a corresponding live interactive user interface;
displaying, on a display screen of the mobile computing device, a number of the live interactive user interfaces;
automatically selecting a first activity for hibernation based on a detection of a low-memory condition of the mobile computing device, the first activity having a corresponding first live interactive user interface;
in response to the selecting, placing the first activity into a hibernation state by:
automatically taking a snapshot of the first live interactive user interface, the snapshot comprising a static image of a current live display of the first live interactive user interface;
replacing, on the display screen, the first live interactive user interface with a first non-interactive user interface displaying a representation of the snapshot;
saving, in a storage device of the mobile computing device, activity state information corresponding to a current state of the first activity; and
freeing up a number of system resources of the mobile computing device currently being used by the first activity by freezing the first activity; and

in response to a particular user input, scrolling, towards an edge of the display screen, the first non-interactive user interface and one or more live interactive user interfaces corresponding to one or more non-hibernating activities by displaying, on the display screen, the first non-interactive user interface and the one or more live interactive user interfaces in a plurality of display positions that change based on a direction of the scrolling and a duration of the scrolling, the plurality of display positions including a final display position corresponding to an ending of the scrolling, wherein the hibernation state of the first activity is not changed based solely on one or both of: the scrolling of the first non-interactive user interface, and the displaying of the first non-interactive user interface in any of the plurality of display positions.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
automatically reviving the first activity from hibernation based on a detection of a second condition.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the second condition comprises an exit from the low-memory condition.

4. The method of claim 2 , wherein the second condition comprises a user selection of the snapshot.

5. The method of claim 2 , wherein the second condition comprises an explicit user command.

6. The method of claim 2 , further comprising:
in response to reviving the first activity from hibernation, automatically selecting another activity for hibernation.

7. The method of claim 2 , further comprising:
in response to not detecting the second condition within a time period, automatically closing the first activity.

8. A mobile computing device, comprising:
a touch-sensitive display screen;
a processor; and
a memory storing instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the mobile computing device to:
concurrently run a plurality of activities, each of the plurality of activities being distinct and having a corresponding live interactive user interface;
display, on a display screen of the mobile computing device, a number of the live interactive user interfaces;
automatically select a first activity for hibernation based on a detection of a low-memory condition of the mobile computing device, the first activity having a corresponding first live interactive user interface;
in response to the selecting, placing the first activity into a hibernation state by:
automatically taking a snapshot of the first live interactive user interface, the snapshot comprising a static image of a current live display of the first live interactive user interface;
replacing, on the display screen, the first live interactive user interface with a first non-interactive user interface displaying a representation of the snapshot;
saving, in a storage device of the mobile computing device, activity state information corresponding to a current state of the first activity; and
freeing up a number of s system resources of the mobile computing device currently being used by the first activity by freezing first activity; and

in response to a particular user input, scrolling, towards an edge of the display screen, the first non-interactive user interface and one or more live interactive user interfaces corresponding to one or more non-hibernating activities by displaying the first non-interactive user interface and the one or more live interactive user interfaces in a plurality of display position that change based on a direction of the scrolling and a duration of the scrolling, the plurality of display positions including a final display position corresponding to an ending of the scrolling, wherein the hibernation state of the first activity is not changed based solely on one or both of: the scrolling of the first non-interactive user interface, and the displaying of the first non-interactive user interface in any of the plurality of display positions.

9. The mobile computing device of claim 8 , wherein the instructions, when executed by the processor, further cause the mobile computing device to:
automatically revive the first activity from hibernation based on a detection of a second condition.

10. The mobile computing device of claim 9 , wherein the second condition comprises an exit from the low-memory condition.

11. The mobile computing device of claim 9 , wherein the second condition comprises a user selection of the snapshot.

12. The mobile computing device of claim 9 , wherein the second condition comprises an explicit user command.

13. The mobile computing device of claim 9 , wherein the instructions, when executed by the processor, further cause the mobile computing device to:
in response to reviving the first activity from hibernation, automatically select another activity for hibernation.

14. The mobile computing device of claim 9 , wherein the instructions, when executed by the processor, further cause the mobile computing device to:
in response to not detecting the second condition within a time period, automatically close the first activity.

15. A non-transitory computer readable medium storing instructions that, when executed by a processor of a mobile computing device, cause the mobile computing device to perform operations comprising:
concurrently running a plurality of activities, each of the plurality of activities being distinct and having a corresponding live interactive user interface;
displaying, on a display screen of the mobile computing device, a number of the live interactive user interfaces;
automatically selecting a first for hibernation based on a detection of a low-memory condition of the mobile computing device;
in response to the selecting. placing the first activity into a hibernation state by:
automatically taking a snapshot of the first live interactive user interface, the snapshot comprising a static image of a current live display of the first live interactive user interface;
replacing, on the display screen, the first live interactive user interface with a first non-interactive user interface displaying a representation of snapshot;
saving, in a storage device of the mobile computing device, activity state information corresponding to a current state of the first activity; and
freeing up a number of

Assignees

• Shiplacoff Daniel Marc Gatan
• Duarte Matias Gonzalo
• Lyon Jeremy Godfrey
• Qualcomm Inc

Inventors

• Shiplacoff Daniel Marc Gatan
• Duarte Matias Gonzalo
• Lyon Jeremy Godfrey

Classifications

• G06F1/3287

  by switching off individual functional units in the computer system · CPC title

• H04W52/0264

  by selectively disabling software applications · CPC title

• G06F1/3228

  Monitoring task completion, e.g. by use of idle timers, stop commands or wait commands · CPC title

• G06F1/3275

  Power saving in memory, e.g. RAM, cache · CPC title

• G06F3/0485 Primary

  Scrolling or panning · CPC title