U.S. patent application number 11/149465 was filed with the patent office on 2006-01-05 for device interoperability framework and method for building interoperability applications for interoperable team of devices.
Invention is credited to Bruce Bernstein, Daniel Illowsky, Richard Mirabella, Wolfgang Pieb, Raymond Sidney, Richard Tiberi, Michael Wenocur.
Application Number | 20060005205 11/149465 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 35503783 |
Filed Date | 2006-01-05 |
United States Patent
Application |
20060005205 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Illowsky; Daniel ; et
al. |
January 5, 2006 |
Device interoperability framework and method for building
interoperability applications for interoperable team of devices
Abstract
System, device, method, and computer program and computer
program products for providing communicating between devices having
similar or dissimilar characteristics and facilitating seamless
interoperability between them. Computer program software and
methods of and systems and devices for sharing of content,
applications, resources and control across similar and dissimilar
permanently or intermittently connected electronic devices.
Devices, systems, appliances, and the like communicating and/or
interoperating within the framework provided. An interoperability
framework, such as a DartFramework, is the portion of an
interoperability source provided for use by programmers in building
interoperability applications which encapsulate access to features
of the interoperability platform, such as a DartPlatform,
eliminating the need for the programmer to have to understand and
implement many of the desired interoperability features of the
platform.
Inventors: |
Illowsky; Daniel;
(Cupertino, CA) ; Bernstein; Bruce; (Sunnyvale,
CA) ; Mirabella; Richard; (Palo Alto, CA) ;
Pieb; Wolfgang; (Cupertino, CA) ; Sidney;
Raymond; (Stateline, NV) ; Tiberi; Richard;
(Big Sur, CA) ; Wenocur; Michael; (Palo Alto,
CA) |
Correspondence
Address: |
DORSEY & WHITNEY LLP
555 CALIFORNIA STREET, SUITE 1000
SUITE 1000
SAN FRANCISCO
CA
94104
US
|
Family ID: |
35503783 |
Appl. No.: |
11/149465 |
Filed: |
June 8, 2005 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
|
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60577971 |
Jun 8, 2004 |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
719/315 ;
719/318 |
Current CPC
Class: |
G06F 8/63 20130101; H04L
67/1072 20130101; H04L 67/10 20130101; H04L 65/80 20130101; Y02D
10/00 20180101; G06F 8/71 20130101; G06F 8/20 20130101; G06F
11/2082 20130101; G06F 1/3203 20130101; G06F 9/5027 20130101; G06F
8/658 20180201; G06F 21/445 20130101; G06F 2209/5015 20130101; H04L
65/1083 20130101; G06F 9/54 20130101; H04L 67/14 20130101; G06F
8/41 20130101; H04L 69/24 20130101; G06F 8/30 20130101; Y02D 30/00
20180101; G06F 8/10 20130101; G06F 9/5011 20130101; G06F 9/5044
20130101; H04L 69/328 20130101; H04L 67/1095 20130101; G06F 21/6218
20130101; H04L 69/08 20130101; G06F 8/61 20130101; G06F 9/4843
20130101; G06F 9/5072 20130101; G06F 2221/2149 20130101; G06F 8/24
20130101; G06F 9/542 20130101; H04L 67/104 20130101; H04N 21/4126
20130101; G06F 9/449 20180201; G06F 16/2365 20190101; H04L 67/16
20130101; G06F 9/541 20130101; H04L 67/1068 20130101; G06F
2221/2113 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
719/315 ;
719/318 |
International
Class: |
G06F 9/46 20060101
G06F009/46 |
Claims
1. A method for specifying an object oriented interoperability
framework having a set of object oriented class definitions, and
implementation code thereof to be used as part of the source
specifications of an event driven software application package, the
method comprising: (i) specifying using an object oriented language
as a base event processing class that contains at least the
following data and code members: (a) a process member that takes as
a parameter a reference or copy of an instance of an event data
structure; and (b) an ordered list member of references to or
instances of other event processing objects which have the same
base class; and (ii) implementing the members and methods of the
class specification in source code.
2. The method of claim 1, wherein the software application package
is designed and implemented to carry out an intended purpose
(intent) on one or more connected or intermittently connected
devices.
3. The method of claim 2, wherein the software application package
conforms to the DartFormat.
4. The method of claim 1, wherein the base class is the Dart Gizmo
class.
5. The method of claim 1, where there is also a rendition class
that inherits from the base class which serves as the root of a
tree of inheriting instances of the base class where the parameter
of the process member is optionally an empty or NULL reference.
6. The method of claim 5, where the rendition class is used to
signify the beginning entry point for execution of a separately
executable image that is to be embodied in the output package or
packages to be generated from the source code that makes use of the
object oriented interoperability framework.
7. The method of claim 5, where a master rendition class is
specified as part of the framework wherein the base class is the
Dart Gizmo class which inherits from the rendition class that
contains a list of references to or instances of rendition
objects.
8. The method of claim 7, where the execution of a specified method
of the master rendition class results in the filling in of its list
of renditions that serve as the starting point for independently
executable images that are to be included in the output package or
output packages that result from the processing of the source code
with makes use of the framework.
9. The method of claim 5, wherein the rendition class is a Dart
Rendition class which inherits from the Gizmo base class.
10. The method of claim 7, wherein the master rendition class is a
Dart MasterRendition class which inherits from the Dart Rendition
class.
11. The method of claim 2, wherein there are object oriented class
definitions and/or implementation code are for performing one or
more of the following functions or operations: (i) rendering,
and/or managing and/or editing of any one or more of video, audio,
pictures, images, animations, text, symbols, graphics or any other
media type, code, content or data representable as a sequence of
digital numbers; (ii) intelligently limiting or ordering access to
data, resources, and/or code, to one or more of database records,
fields of records, sound, video, audio, text from different
processing units; (ii) container classes for collecting, ordering,
editing, managing and controlling access to object instances or
structures; and (iv) user interface elements and the processing
thereof including any one or more of the following: menus, buttons,
selection boxes, text boxes, radio buttons, checkboxes, dropdown
selection boxes, tables, windows or any other user input or device
output used to interact with a user or software running on an
external processor.
12. A computer program product for use in conjunction with a
computer system or information appliance, the computer program
product comprising a computer readable storage medium and a
computer program mechanism embedded therein, the computer program
mechanism comprising: a program module that directs the computer
system or information appliance to function in a specified manner
to specify an object oriented interoperability framework having a
set of object oriented class definitions and implementation code
thereof to be used as part of the source specifications of an event
driven software application package, the program module including
instructions for: (i) specifying using an object oriented language
as a base event processing class that contains at least the
following data and code members: (a) a process member that takes as
a parameter a reference or copy of an instance of an event data
structure; and (b) an ordered list member of references to or
instances of other event processing objects which have the same
base class; and (ii) implementing the members and methods of the
class specification in source code.
13. A computer program product as in claim 12, wherein the
application package is designed and implemented to carry out an
intended purpose (intent) on one or more connected or
intermittently connected devices.
14. A computer program product as in claim 12, wherein there are
object oriented class definitions and/or implementation code for
performing one or more of the following functions or operations:
(i) rendering, and/or managing and/or editing of any one or more of
video, audio, pictures, images, animations, text, symbols, graphics
or any other media type, code, content or data representable as a
sequence of digital numbers; (ii) intelligently limiting or
ordering access to data, resources, and/or code, to one or more of
database records, fields of records, sound, video, audio, text from
different processing units; (ii) container classes for collecting,
ordering, editing, managing and controlling access to object
instances or structures; and (iv) user interface elements and the
processing thereof including any one or more of the following:
menus, buttons, selection boxes, text boxes, radio buttons,
checkboxes, dropdown selection boxes, tables, windows or any other
user input or device output used to interact with a user or
software running on an external processor.
15. An apparatus for specifying an object oriented interoperability
framework having a set of object oriented class definitions, and
implementation code thereof to be used as part of the source
specifications of an event driven software application package, the
apparatus comprising: a processor logic and a memory coupled with
the processor logic; means, accessible by the processor, specifying
using an object oriented language as a base event processing class
that contains at least the following data and code members: (a) a
process member that takes as a parameter a reference or copy of an
instance of an event data structure; and (b) an ordered list member
of references to or instances of other event processing objects
which have the same base class; and means for implementing the
members and methods of the class specification in source code.
16. An apparatus as in claim 15, wherein the means specifying using
an object oriented language as a base event processing class
comprises a computer program or a computer program product.
17. An apparatus as in claim 15, wherein the means for implementing
the members and methods of the class specification in source code
comprises a computer program or a computer program product.
Description
RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This application claims the benefit of priority under 35
U.S.C. 119(e) to U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No.
60/577,971 filed 08 Jun. 2004 entitled Architecture, Apparatus And
Methods Thereof For An Efficient, Low Cost, Seamless Device
Interoperability Software Platform and naming inventor Daniel
Illowsky; which application is hereby incorporated by reference
here in its entirety.
[0002] The following co-pending U.S. Utility Patent Applications
and PCT International Patent Applications are also related
applications and each is incorporated herein by reference in its
entirety:
[0003] Attorney Docket No. 186245/US/8 filed 08 Jun. 2005 and
entitled Method And System For Device Recruitment Interoperability
And Assembling Unified Interoperating Device Constellation;
[0004] Attorney Docket No. 186245/US/9 filed 08 Jun. 2005 and
entitled Method System and Data Structure For Content Renditioning
Adaptation And Interoperability Segmentation Model;
[0005] Attorney Docket No. 186245/US/5 filed 08 Jun. 2005 and
entitled Method and System for Specifying Device Interoperability
Source Specifying Renditions Data and Code for Interoperable Device
Team;
[0006] Attorney Docket No. 186245/US/2 filed 08 Jun. 2005 and
entitled Device Interoperability Framework and Method For Building
Interoperability Applications For Interoperable Team of
Devices;
[0007] Attorney Docket No. 186245/US/14 filed 08 Jun. 2005 and
entitled Device Interoperability Tool Set and Method For Processing
Interoperability Application Specifications into Interoperable
Application Packages;
[0008] Attorney Docket No. 186245/US/15 filed 08 Jun. 2005 and
entitled Device Interoperability Format Rule Set and Method for
Assembling Interoperability Application Package;
[0009] Attorney Docket No. 186245/US/16 filed 08 Jun. 2005 and
entitled Device Interoperability Runtime Establishing Event
Serialization and Synchronization Amongst a Plurality of Separate
Processing Units and Method for Coordinating Control Data and
Operations;
[0010] Attorney Docket No. 186245/US/11 filed 08 Jun. 2005 and
entitled Method and System For Linear Tasking Among a Plurality of
Processing Units;
[0011] Attorney Docket No. 186245/US/10 filed 08 Jun. 2005 and
entitled Method and System For Vertical Layering Between Levels in
A Processing Unit Facilitating Direct Event-Structures And
Event-Queues Level-to-Level Communication Without Translation;
[0012] Attorney Docket No. 186245/US/7 filed 08 Jun. 2005 and
entitled System And Method For Application Driven Power Management
Among Intermittently Coupled Interoperable Electronic Devices;
[0013] Attorney Docket No. 186245/US/17 filed 08 Jun. 2005 and
entitled System And Method For Interoperability Application Driven
Error Management and Recovery Among Intermittently Coupled
Interoperable Electronic Devices;
[0014] Attorney Docket No. 186245/US/4 filed 08 Jun. 2005 and
entitled Device and Method For Interoperability Instruction
Set;
[0015] Attorney Docket No. 186245/US/3 filed 08 Jun. 2005 and
entitled Method and System For Customized Programmatic Dynamic
Creation of Interoperability Content;
[0016] Attorney Docket No. 186245/US/12 filed 08 Jun. 2005 and
entitled Method and System for Interoperable Content Player Device
Engine;
[0017] Attorney Docket No. 186245/US/18 filed 08 Jun. 2005 and
entitled Method and System for Interoperable Device Enabling
Hardware Abstraction Layer Modification and Engine Porting;
[0018] Attorney Docket No. 186245/US/13 filed 08 Jun. 2005 and
entitled System Method and Model For Maintaining Device Integrity
And Security Among Intermittently Connected Interoperating
Devices;
[0019] Attorney Docket No. 186245/US/19 filed 08 Jun. 2005 and
entitled System Method and Model For Social Synchronization
Interoperability Among Intermittently Connected Interoperating
Devices;
[0020] Attorney Docket No. 186245/US/20 filed 08 Jun. 2005 and
entitled System Method and Model For Social Security
Interoperability Among Intermittently Connected Interoperating
Devices;
[0021] Attorney Docket No. 186245/US/6 filed 08 Jun. 2005 and
entitled System Device and Method for Configuring and Operating
Interoperable Device having Player and Engine;
[0022] Attorney Docket No. 186245/US/21 filed 08 Jun. 2005 and
entitled Method and System For Specifying Generating and Forming
Intelligent Teams of Interoperable Devices;
[0023] Attorney Docket No. 186245/US/22 filed 08 Jun. 2005 and
entitled Method and System For Configuring and Using Virtual
Pointers to Access One or More Independent Address Spaces;
[0024] Attorney Docket No. 186245/PCT/2 filed 08 Jun. 2005 and
entitled Architecture Apparatus And Method For Seamless Universal
Device Interoperability Platform; and
[0025] Attorney Docket No. 186245/PCT/3 filed 08 Jun. 2005 and
entitled Architecture Apparatus And Method For Device Team
Recruitment and Content Renditioning for Universal Device
Interoperability Platform.
FIELD OF INVENTION
[0026] The present invention generally relates to systems, devices,
methods, and computer program software products for providing
communicating between devices having similar or dissimilar
characteristics and facilitating seamless interoperability between
the devices; and more particularly, to software and methods of and
systems and devices for sharing of content, applications, resources
and control across similar and dissimilar permanently or
intermittently connected electronic devices.
BACKGROUND
[0027] In an era when there has been a vast expansion in the number
and type of electronic devices, particularly portable and wireless
devices, as well as an expansion in the types of application
programs and device types, there has been a corresponding need for
data and code to be shared directly between these diverse
heterogeneous different device types in order to carry out the
intent of applications which can only be accomplished by employing
the electronic and programmatic resources of a plurality of
devices. A need has also arisen and continues to grow for a device
user to be able to communicate with other devices that may or may
not be set up in advance for the type of communication or data
transfer or sharing that the user desires. For example, a user may
have or wish to create a picture collection on a digital camera and
then to be able to transfer that collection of pictures directly to
a personal data assistant (PDA) type device, television, or
projector for viewing, or to a storage device for storage or to a
printer. The user may also or alternatively wish to transfer code
which implements a sequenced slide show encapsulating the pictures,
titles, index of slides, and the like to another device, such as to
a device that has a larger screen resolution or better graphics
capability than the device on which the slide images reside. The
user may also want to be able to select and print some subset of
pictures in the slide show on an available printer. There are many
other examples of such code, data and content sharing.
Conventional Interoperability Issues, Problems, and Limitations
[0028] The sharing of data and code along with the sharing of
associated device computing resources, and device control between
similar (homogeneous) and dissimilar (heterogeneous) devices or
device types is known in the art as "device interoperability," or
simply as "interoperability". Some of the necessary and optional
enhancement issues involved in providing this interoperability
include the issues of: (i) content adaptation; (ii) content format;
(iii) device drivers; (iv) device to device communication; (v)
individual device resources and capabilities; (vi) application
programs resident on the devices; (vii) loading application
programs on the devices; (viii) costs associated with providing
device resources to support interoperability; (ix) power or energy
management of interoperable devices; and (x) robustness of code
executing in an interoperability environment where connections
between devices may be intermittent and unreliable. Furthermore,
(xi) the scope of the development, deployment and testing efforts
necessary to enable interoperability; (xii) the reliability
problems inherent in having independently developed and or
distributed interoperability components even where detailed
interoperability standards exist; and (xiii) the difficulty of end
users having to have a high level of technical knowledge and spend
appreciable amounts of time and efforts administering
interoperability; (xiv) the security of interoperability devices,
data and content; (xv) the size, performance, power management and
cost tradeoffs that can be made with respect to interoperability
infrastructure, raises additional issues. These issues are
addressed in additional detail below.
[0029] With respect to content adaptation, there is a need for
intelligent scaling or adaptation of the content in terms of such
parameters (application and data type dependent) as picture size,
user interface, controls and special effects, content format,
features, and the like that needs to be taken care of when
transferring data, application programs (applications), or control
from one device type to another. These are collectively referred to
as "adaptation." The better the sophistication of the adaptation
when sharing content, applications, and control, the larger the set
of interoperable devices; and the more advanced the features on
each device, the more efficient the transfer of data, information,
and/or other capabilities can be, and the easier the devices and
code data and content are to use to carry out applications.
[0030] A second interoperability issue arises from the undesirable
requirement that the user may generally need to specify or at least
consider the content format. If the user desiring interoperability
with another device is not familiar with the content format and/or
how the other devices will deal with the content format even if it
can be communicated to the other device, this factor alone may
preclude interoperability.
[0031] A third interoperability issue arises from the undesirable
requirement that the user may generally need to specify, consider,
or carry out the loading of one or more special purpose drivers,
code, data or content on one or more devices before
interoperability can be carried out.
[0032] A fourth interoperability issue arises from the undesirable
requirement that the user specify, consider, or select the physical
communications mechanisms and protocols to be employed in a
communication between the user's device and one or more other
devices, each of which may have or require a communication
mechanism, protocol, interface, or the like.
[0033] A fifth interoperability issue arises from the undesirable
requirement that the user may need to consider or chose which
devices will have the capabilities and memory, processor and other
features necessary to interoperate with his or her device or with
the data or applications required.
[0034] A sixth interoperability issue arises from the undesirable
requirement that the user may need to specify, consider, and/or
load the applications that must reside on some or all of the
involved and potentially interoperable devices.
[0035] A seventh interoperability issue arises from complete or
partial application failure due to missing, outdated, or
incompatible version of code, data or content on one or more
devices.
[0036] An eighth interoperability issue arises from the undesirable
requirement that devices need to have all the code to carry out
applications that will be needed resident at the time of
manufacture or at some time prior to the need for them arising, or
be explicitly loaded on some or all of the devices by the user.
[0037] A ninth interoperability issue arises from the monetary cost
associated with providing the amount of processor or CPU resource,
memory resources, electronic gates or logic, or other physical
infrastructure necessary to implement the communications and other
protocols and applications on devices intended to interoperate.
[0038] A tenth interoperability issue arises from the desirability
of providing effective power or energy management methodologies to
extend battery life or reduce the size of the batteries needed for
portable or mobile devices that are intended to interoperate.
Although not specifically required for short term interoperability,
such power management is highly desirable so that interoperating
with other devices will not create such a battery power drain on
such devices that users would rarely use the capabilities or be
hesitant to permit another user to access their device.
[0039] An eleventh interoperability issue arises from the need for
a degree of robustness of applications which need to continue to
operate in an environment where connections between devices are
often intermittent or transient and unreliable. For example, code
to carry out an application on a first device that is
interoperating with and in communication with a second device
should not itself freeze, hang, or otherwise cause a major problem
or result in the device itself freezing, hanging, or causing a
major problem when the second device moves out of range or
otherwise fails to reply to a communication from the first device.
Furthermore, it is desirable for all the code, data and content
necessary to carry out an interoperability application to be
automatically restored and updated if such a second device becomes
reliably available again.
[0040] A twelfth interoperability issue arises from the
unreliability of applications where devices are produced by
independent manufacturers, based on interoperability standards
which are inherently weak in their ability to predict realistic and
future device needs and capabilities, and in the ability of
programmers or circuit designers to completely and correctly
understand, implement and have such implementations correctly
deployed. A thirteenth interoperability issue arises from the slow
speed of executing code which cannot rely on optimizations
necessary for graphics, video, sound, etc.
[0041] A fourteenth interoperability issues arises from the lack of
availability of interoperable code, data and content to carry out
applications and devices which might be employed for
interoperability due to all the issues listed above which
discourages both users and providers.
[0042] These fourteen interoperability issues are merely exemplary
of the types of issues that do or may arise and are not intended to
be a complete list or to identify issues that arise in all
situations. For example, interoperability between two identical
devices that are intended to interoperate with each other at the
time of manufacture may not present any or all of the issues
described here, but this type of homogeneous device
interoperability does not represent the more common situation that
device users are faced with today, and modest attempts to address
heterogeneous device interoperability issues have been incomplete,
not very insightful, and clearly not successful.
Conventional Static and Procedural Solution Attempts
[0043] Conventional attempts at providing interoperability
solutions have generally fallen into two categories, namely (i)
static interoperability solutions ("static"), or (ii) procedural
interoperability solutions ("procedural"). Conventional static
solutions require each device to support the same specific
communications protocols, and send specific rigidly specified data
structures with fixed field layout. In static approaches, the
semantics, code, and display capabilities must be existent on all
devices before interoperability can be established between those
devices. Each content type, application, or device capability must
be known, implemented and installed at the time of manufacture of
all devices involved; or alternately, the user must install
application programs, protocols, and/or drivers as required prior
to initiating the desired interoperability of devices, software
data or content. As the user may not be a trained information
technology professional, or may not know or have a copy of the
driver, application, operating system component, protocol, or the
like, it may be impossible to provide the desired interoperability
within the time available. Furthermore, often it is necessary with
static solutions to implement a specific set of static
solutions.
[0044] For example, the sharing of a set of pictures with slideshow
capabilities between a digital camera and a television or display
device (TV) might require a common static protocol, such as for
example, a Bluetooth wireless capability for sending the slide
image data and slide order or sequence information to a TV. It
would also require a static content format for the slides and slide
order information to be recognized on the TV as something it knows
how to deal with. And at least one static slide show program that
can render and control a slide show with the specific content
format must exist on both the TV and the digital camera. The user
may or may not have to separately initiate transfer of the images
or pictures and slide order information, find and associate the
information on the TV, and run the correct slide show application
on the TV. Depending on the sophistication of the static slideshow
programs on both sides, the controls on the digital camera may or
may not be useable to control the slide show on the TV which was
initiated on the camera. Where such camera based control is not
possible some other mechanism for control may necessarily be
provided. Static approaches can result is highly optimized
solutions to well understood specific applications known at the
time of manufacture of all the device types which can interoperate.
Static approaches however have major limitations, including the
requirement for most all capability to be known and custom
implemented at the time of manufacture, limited ability to upgrade
or fix errors after manufacture; and a conventional requirement
that each static program implementation must be correctly and
completely ported to run on the different devices and exist on all
devices prior to interoperation. Often this is accomplished by the
loading and updating of specific drivers for specific applications,
communications mediums and the desired set of devices where
interoperability is required.
[0045] Even when static solutions are available, reliability is
compromised due to the inevitability of different versions of
standards and applications. Hence when two devices wish to share
data or procedures, failure can occur when the devices adhere to
different versions of the standard, or the programs adhere to
different versions of the standard, or different versions of the
applications reside on the devices. Additional reliability problems
arise from inadvertent errors or shortcuts made in the independent
implementations of the set of standards used to interoperate. Such
standards implementations may interact in unpredictable ways when
any two implementations attempt to work together. In general it is
often impractical or impossible to test all the permutations of all
the standard implementations across all sets of devices, especially
as all target devices which with an initiating device must
interoperate with did not exist at the time of manufacturing of the
initiating device.
[0046] One of the more significant limitations to static approaches
is that the amount of work to make a number of N devices or
applications interoperable grows very quickly as N for the number
of devices and/or applications gets larger. Manufacturers currently
are flailing at creating hundreds of static standards for content
types, application programs ("programs"), communications protocols,
and the like to try to make even limited size sets of devices
interoperable over an ever increasing large set of devices and
applications. This also conventionally requires that every device
have the memory, screen size, controls and processor and battery
power to support every static solution for every desired
interoperability option across all desired interoperable devices.
Otherwise true device and application interoperability is not
achieved. To better illustrate this conventional problem and
limitation, consider that currently, adaptation requires a software
engineering development project for each type of device (N devices)
that has to share with each other type of device (N-1 devices).
From a development point of view this is an N.times.N or N.sup.2
order problem because in a universe of N device types that all wish
to interoperate with each other, there are N.times.(N-1)
adaptations to consider, develop, implement and test.
[0047] Moreover, as the number of devices increases and the
required adaptations rise toward N.sup.2, the expense and
difficulty of attaining a high-quality product tends to increase at
an even faster rate due to the increased overall complexity. This
is because the difficulty of attaining high-reliability and quality
software and hardware solutions increases as overall complexity
increases. This isn't purely a "size of source code" issue, but is
due to just the kind of factors prevalent when trying to get
devices from different manufacturers to work together, including
unpredictability of behavior, unpredictability of events, unknown
future capabilities, and so on.
[0048] For example, as the number of devices increases from 5 to 6,
interoperability adaptation requirements increase according to the
relationship N.times.(N-1) from 20 to 30. And as this increases the
overall complexity of the project has grown even faster.
[0049] This N-squared order problem wherein getting N devices to
work together requires substantially N.sup.2 adaptations is
illustrated in FIG. 1. It will be appreciated that conventional
inter-device cooperation using a static approach may be relatively
simple for a user to use but requires a high degree of development,
administration and deployment effort and continual updating to
maintain compatibility and interoperability between old devices,
applications, and data types, and new devices, applications, and
data types.
[0050] With reference to FIG. 2, there is shown the interactions
for inter-device cooperation or limited interoperability for just
eight device types using a brute force approach requiring fifty-six
adaptations and additional fifty-six test procedures.
[0051] Separate from the N.sup.2 problem of the brute force method,
most static approaches also involve combining a number of standard
or standards efforts. The Microsoft originated UPnP (Universal Plug
and Play) approach has perhaps the largest following and scope of
the static approaches. UPnP is a static non-procedural approach to
solving some of the problems associated with device
interoperability by incorporating a set of static (non-procedural
based) standards, and attempting to enumerate all the different
classes of devices and services, each with a different XML or data
structure based description. However, even the UPnP approach
suffers significant limitations, some of which are briefly
described below.
[0052] First, UPnP is heavyweight in that it requires large
collections of modules and code, power, and memory to run. This
makes it unsuitable for thin low cost battery powered devices that
may have a very modest processor, little random access memory, a
small battery capacity.
[0053] Second, UPnP offers little content or feature optimization
capability. UPnP generally assumes one size application, content,
or user interface will work well on all involved devices. This may
have been a reasonable assumption a decade ago for Microsoft
Windows based desktop personal computers (PCs), but is now a poor
assumption and basis for operation in a world filled with devices
that must interoperate that are as different as a pager, a digital
camera, and a personal computer, not to mention the likely set of
hybrid and diverse electronic devices to arise in the next few
decades.
[0054] Third, UPnP offers only a limited set of user interfaces
that do not meet the needs of the large set of diverse devices now
available.
[0055] Fourth, UPnP requires programs and drivers that are needed
to perform the requested task to reside on all devices before they
can be used.
[0056] Fifth, while the intent of UPnP is at least to partially
avoid the N-Squared (N.sup.2) problem, the reality is that using
UPnP as a basis for the interoperability would still require a
massive N-Squared (N.sup.2) development/deployment/testing effort,
as described above, to bring out new applications which require
programs, code, data and content to be ported, distributed and
tested for all interoperating devices if the all the permutations
of independent implementations of complex standards is to result in
reliable interoperability.
[0057] Sixth, UPnP programs, devices, content and standards must
all be synchronized so that the same or at least compatible
versions and updates are deployed simultaneously
[0058] Seventh, as device and content capabilities evolve, existing
UPnP programs, data and content based devices tend to fail to
support the new device.
[0059] Eighth, the costs of maintaining compatibility of existing
device, standards including UPnP, and applications versions
increases the overall project complexity ever more rapidly.
[0060] Ninth, as the project complexity increases, due to the
problems inherent in the complexity and diversity of UPnP as a
standards-static-based approach, ease-of-use and reliability
degrade.
[0061] Tenth, UPnP would still not address the requirements imposed
by the frequent need to have one or many data structures sent
between devices, especially where this data or these data
structures are expressed in a human readable text format that
require considerably more transmission bandwidth and time than
binary representations. Furthermore, many of the data structures to
be sent between devices are expressed in XML, a human readable text
format, rather than in a binary or less generalized format, where
using XML format requires significantly more CPU operations,
memory, and/or software program code size to perform the CPU
intensive parsing operations required for XML.
[0062] Finally relative to a few of the limitations imposed by
conventional static approaches to device and application
interoperability, static standards often limit the number of
protocols, content types and application types to reduce the
overall complexity and size of standards based implementations. An
example is that UPnP only allows TCP/IP as a base communication
protocol. This effectively eliminates the efficient use of other
important existent communications protocols such as Bluetooth, USB,
MOST, and IR and all other non-TCP/IP protocols.
Conventional Procedural Solution Attempts
[0063] An alternative to the static standards approach relies on
creating a procedural standard. Procedural standards techniques
implemented in hardware or emulated in software are ubiquitous.
There exist a large number of hardware microprocessors, each with
an instruction set and interfaces optimized to different classes of
problems, and there are numerous higher level software emulated
instruction sets and environments existent, that are optimized
around specific task sets. These include for example, Java (an
approach generally optimized for portability and ease of
programming), PostScript (an approach generally optimized to
represent printed pages and printer control functions), and
Storymail Stories (generally optimized for efficiently representing
a very broad range of rich multimedia messages). Java and
PostScript are well known in the computer arts. Aspects of
Storymail Stories and related systems and methods are described,
for example, in U.S. patent application Publication No. 20030009694
A1 published 9 Jan. 2003 entitled Hardware Architecture, Operating
System And Network Transport Neutral System, Method And Computer
Program Product For Secure Communications And Messaging; and naming
Michael L Wenocur, Robert W. Baldwin, and Daniel H. Illowsky as
inventors; in U.S. patent application Publication No. 20020165912
A1 published 7 Nov. 2002 and entitled Secure Certificate And System
And Method For Issuing And Using Same, and naming Michael L
Wenocur, Robert W. Baldwin, and Daniel H. Illowsky as inventors;
and in other patent applications.
[0064] Procedural interoperability approaches, typically involve
establishing or otherwise having or providing a common runtime
environment on all devices that are to interoperate, so that
programs, procedures, data and content can be sent between devices
in addition to static data structures and static applications.
Currently one leading interoperability procedural solution is the
Java platform along with the JINI extensions to it. As an example
of a Java-based procedural approach, a slideshow written in Java
could encapsulate or reference the pictures and slide ordering or
sequence data, interrogate the other device, adapt the content to
the other device, and send the information and a Java slideshow
program to the TV. The Java slideshow program could be run on the
camera after manufacture and enable interoperability with a Java
enabled TV even if the slide show program did not pre-exist on the
TV.
[0065] While Java has been widely deployed and has some limited
success in providing correspondingly limited interoperability, it
has serious deficiencies that have prevented its broad use,
especially for small mobile devices where cost, power efficiency,
processor efficiency, memory efficiency for storing program code,
data, and temporary buffers are very important issues. Also, the
Java Virtual Machine (VM) approach to binary compatibility of
applications running on different devices is in conflict with the
very reason the devices exist. Java and other conventional
procedural interoperability approaches have sever limitations. Five
exemplary limitations are described below.
[0066] First, the Java Virtual Machine approach makes or at least
attempts to make all devices look like the exact same virtual
computer to applications in order to allow the same binary code
(Java binary code) to run on all devices. In order to maintain
binary compatibility, it is necessary to avoid attempts to access
device capabilities that were not predefined as part of the Virtual
Machine definition and implementation. Thus binary compatibility is
lost across multiple devices if native functions are needed to
access capabilities of any device that are not part of the common
Virtual Machine definition. Since most non-PC device hardware and
software are most often specialized or optimized for a particular
purpose, form factor, price point, user interface or functionality,
it is often the case that their basic unique native functions or
capabilities must be accessed for the applications most often
targeted for the device. For most portable or special purpose
devices, the very reason for their existence is because there is a
need for uniquely different capabilities and functions. This runs
counter to the Java Virtual Machine approach of hiding the
differences between devices to make them all look the same to the
application.
[0067] Secondly, Java is a general purpose language optimized for
ease of programming at the expense of efficient execution and
efficient memory use. Therefore, it will not be the most efficient
or effective solution for many thin devices with modest processing
capability and little available memory or where cost is
important.
[0068] Thirdly, multimedia content response times cannot be assured
using a Java procedural approach. Most Java programs are heavily
reliant on the frequent allocation and de-allocation of varying
size memory structures causing memory fragmentation. This memory
fragmentation often leads to periods when the processor within the
device must stop rendering the content while it performs garbage
collection within the memory. Users will often experience a breakup
in smoothness of audio and video rendering when this occurs.
[0069] Fourthly, Java presents significant speed and size issues.
Java and its associated technologies and libraries necessary for
interoperability are relatively heavyweight and require a
relatively large number of CPU cycles for execution and relatively
large amounts of memory for storage. Interoperability programs
written in Java that include user interfaces, multimedia rendering,
device enumeration, robust cross platform device interoperability,
dynamic adaptation of code and data to send to different types
require a large amount of code to be written and exchanged because
all of these functions must be built up using libraries, or special
purpose Java code sequences, as none of these operations are native
to the Java instruction set or environment. The result is that Java
programs for interoperability are large and slow, limiting their
use on devices where limited processor power, battery life or cost
are important issues. Where the devices do not have sufficient
resources a Java based interoperability solution is not
possible.
[0070] Fifthly, Java at beast provides a limited and incomplete
base implementation for interoperability. This makes it necessary
for a large number of libraries to be existent on all devices to
interoperate, or have a high speed always-on connection to servers
which contain the necessary program code. Performance for
operations not included in the base instruction set of Java must be
provided in the Java language itself, greatly limiting the runtime
performance verses that of native code that might otherwise be used
to implement these operations. Missing interoperability base
operations include native support for: (i) multimedia animation
playback; (ii) adaptation of programs, data, content, user
interface or controls to target other devices; (iii) computer
generation of custom programs so that devices that originate
content can automatically and easily marry that content with
interoperability programs; (iv) device, service and resource
discovery over a wide variety of protocols; (v) synchronization
and/or serialization of processes running in different devices;
(vi) device power management; (vii) application and synchronization
recovery when devices intermittently lose and regain their
connections.
[0071] Often when a Java VM specification proves to be deficient
for a class of devices or applications, a new Java VM specification
arises to address the now known native support needs of this new
class of devices; however, Java programs written for one VM are not
generally binary compatible or interoperable with devices which
conform to different VM specifications. Java VM specifications
exist for various devices classes, including the J2ME, MIDP 1.0,
MIDP 2.0, and CDC, but this proliferation of ever more
non-interoperable Java VM specifications and implementations
continues to cause a form of fragmentation of the types and forms
of programs and devices that achieve even a small degree of
interoperability through the use of Java VMs.
[0072] Xerox Palo Alto Research Complex (PARC) has announced a
variation on the Java plus Jini interoperability technologies which
they call "Obje". Obje is explicitly based on Java, or as an
alternative, an unspecified and unrealized similar virtual machine
based technology. While Obje points to some ways of providing
procedural methodologies needed to effectively team devices and
eliminate the requirements for all devices to have the programs
ported or resident on all machines, it is expected that Obje
implementations will have similar capabilities and limitations as
the Java plus Jini approach as they offer no details to indicate
any divergence from the Java VM model for the procedural base to be
used
[0073] PostScript, another procedural approach, has been around for
a considerable time and provides a printed page description
language which has been very effective at establishing a high
degree of interoperability between PostScript documents and
PostScript printers. PostScript documents are programs which when
executed on a PostScript software engine inside a printer, control
the hardware printer engine and recreate the image of printed pages
while taking advantage of the highest resolution possible on the
printer that it finds itself on. PostScript is largely limited to
the interoperability of documents and printers. Some of the reasons
for this limitation include the fact that PostScript documents are
expressed in human readable text. This expands the size of
documents and programs greatly over binary programs. The text
requires parsing operation when the programs are run, requiring
more processor cycles and scratch memory then would be necessary if
the programs were expressed in binary. Furthermore, PostScript does
not provide any significant native support for: (i) Multimedia
video/audio/animation playback; (ii) adaptation of application,
data, content, user interface or controls to target other devices;
(iii) device, service and resource discovery; (iv) synchronization
and serialization of programs running in multiple devices; (v)
device power management; (vi) finding and using other devices;
(vii) maintaining robust connections between devices; or (viii)
efficient access to various storage mediums, including the common
flash memory now common on devices.
[0074] Storymail Stories provide a variable length procedural
instruction set designed for encapsulating multimedia messages.
Aspects of Storymail Stories and related systems and methods are
described, for example, in U.S. patent application Publication No.
20030009694 A1 published 9 Jan. 2003 entitled Hardware
Architecture, Operating System And Network Transport Neutral
System, Method And Computer Program Product For Secure
Communications And Messaging; and naming Michael L Wenocur, Robert
W. Baldwin, and Daniel H. Illowsky as inventors; in U.S. patent
application Publication No. 20020165912 A1 published 7 Nov. 2002
and entitled Secure Certificate And System And Method For Issuing
And Using Same, and naming Michael L Wenocur, Robert W. Baldwin,
and Daniel H. Illowsky as inventors; and in other patent
applications.
[0075] The Storymail invention including the Storymail Story
structure and associated technologies were invented by Daniel
Illowsky the same inventor as in this patent. This Storymail
instruction set allows trans-coded multimedia content to be
represented in a universal procedural format called, "Stories"
which provided significant advantages over multi-media content
representations known theretofore. However, the Storymail
technologies did not fully address device-to-device
interoperability issues and should one attempt to apply the
Storymail technology to achieve device-to-device interoperability,
several problems and limitations will quickly become apparent.
First, the Storymail instruction set is optimized for small engine
size requiring the use of a lot of scratch memory. Second, the
Storymail instruction set is burdened with the implementation of a
specialized threading model while running content. Third, Storymail
Stories require trans-coding of even basic content types, such as
JPEG or Bitmap images. Fourth, Storymail Story technology does not
provide native support for device, service, or resource discovery.
Fifth, Storymail Story technology has no native base support for
synchronization of programs running in multiple devices. Therefore,
even though Storymail technology and the universal procedural media
format provided significant advancements over the conventional arts
of the day, it does not satisfactorily solve the device-to-device
interoperability issues that are now apparent in the electronic and
computer arts.
[0076] It will therefore be apparent that neither static nor
current procedural approaches provide satisfactory device-to-device
interoperability particularly for heterogeneous devices and a
priori unknown applications. The problem is further compounded when
the current client-server and peer-to-peer inter-device
interoperability models are considered.
Conventional Client-Server and Peer-to-Peer Models
[0077] In the current state of the art, interoperating programs
running on multiple devices generally use either a Client-Server
model or a Peer-to-Peer model.
[0078] In a client-server environment model, one device (i.e., the
server) provides the services and another device (i.e., the client)
makes use of the services. This allows multiple client devices to
take advantage of a single more capable server device to store and
process data, while the lighter weight client device just needs to
be powerful enough to make requests and display the results. A
limitation of client-server approach is that generally the server
must be registered on a network and accessible at all times to the
clients with a relatively high speed connection.
[0079] In the peer-to-peer environment model, any interoperating
device is generally assumed to have all the facilities necessary to
carry out the application. Also in the peer-to-peer model,
generally all devices that interoperate must have knowledge of the
programs or services to be employed before establishing a
connection so that they can agree on appropriate coupling and
protocols. Having to have the full capabilities to carry out the
application, and the need to have the peered program protocol
layers pre-existing on all interoperating devices are significant
limitations to applying a peer-to-peer model to device
interoperability. In practice peer-to-peer devices will often
encounter different non-perfect implementations or versions of
software which will fail to cooperate do to unpredictable
iterations of the differing non-perfect implementations. To correct
these problems, often drivers or other software must be updated,
distributed and installed. While this can often correct
interoperability problems, the administration, implementation,
distribution and frustration associated with failures and the
complexity, sophistication and time needed to fix them remains a
serious problem of peer-to-peer based device interoperability.
[0080] In the world of personal computers the current most popular
though limited interoperability platform is the Microsoft
Windows.TM. operating system. Under Microsoft Windows.TM.,
theoretically any application binary image can run and be useful on
any standard PC architecture device running Microsoft Windows.TM.
operating system, regardless of whether the PC was manufactured by
IBM, Toshiba, Sharp, Dell or any other manufacturer. In practical
terms, however, even Microsoft Windows has limitations with
interoperability in real-world operating environments.
[0081] As computing devices and information appliances diverge from
the generic general purpose Personal Computer model into more
specific specialized devices such as mobile phones, mobile music
players, remote controls, networkable media players and routers,
and a mired of other devices, there is a need for an application
platform that allows the quick and efficient development of
applications that are not only binary compatible across all (or at
least most) devices, but which can form ad-hoc teams of devices
on-the-fly over multiple protocols based on the resources of each
device. The applications need to be able to spread their execution
across all the devices in order to carry out applications that no
one device has all the software, hardware or other resources needed
to implement on its own.
[0082] Currently in the state of the art, there is no effective
software platform for creating programs that can run and spread
themselves across multiple devices, particularly when the devices
to be spread to are of diverse types and have heterogeneous device
hardware, software, and operating system (if any) characteristics.
Although there are many standardized embedded operating systems,
because of the need for the applications to access the unique
capabilities and features of the device, including the arrangement
of displays and controls, there is little chance that a program
built for one device will be useful if run on another different
device, even if both devices use the same embedded operating system
and processor. Thus, it is clear that there is a great need in the
art for an improved method and system for providing reliable,
easy-to-use device, application program, data and content
interoperability, while avoiding the shortcomings and drawbacks of
the prior art apparatus and methodologies heretofore known.
SUMMARY
[0083] The invention comprises a number of inventive systems,
devices, apparatus, computer programs and computer program
products, procedures and methodologies that together make device
and system interoperability simpler, more reliable, more robust,
more powerful, more cost effective and more secure than in the
heretofore current state of the art. The technology employed is
based on procedural interoperability techniques. The invention
differs in important and profound ways from existent procedural
interoperability techniques. While the existent techniques attempt
to hide the differences between devices so that the same executable
binary image can run on all devices, the invention celebrates and
provides access to all the assets of devices to each other so that
the application can form ad-hoc groups of devices and effectively
spread its execution across the groups of devices much as if all
devices in the group were one device.
[0084] Most existent interoperability technologies are extensions
of techniques developed over the years for powerful general purpose
computers in corporate or government networks that are always
connected on reliable high speed networks, rarely reconfigured,
have continuous access to ample power and are configured and
maintained by trained full-time professionals. These techniques
fall short when applied to the interoperability of mobile, battery
powered, intermittently connected and cost constrained devices now
becoming available, and are used by individuals who are not trained
to and would rather not concern themselves with configuring and
maintaining the software and hardware necessary for
interoperability.
[0085] The invention necessarily involves a new software ecosystem
of methodologies which work together to greatly advance the
simplicity, robustness, cost effectiveness, efficiency and security
of interoperability of mobile and other special purpose devices now
entering the market at an increasing rate.
[0086] FIG. 3 shows exemplary components of an embodiment of the
inventive new procedural and software ecosystem collectively
referred to as the DartPlatform which itself is a form of
interoperability platform. The source, here DartSource 100,
contains all the code, data and content needed to carry out the
intent of the application. The DartSource is processed by the
DartTools 200 into an binary executable application package which
encapsulates all that is needed to carry out the purpose of the
interoperability application as originally specified by the
DartSource. The binary image of the package conforms to the
DartFormat 300. The encapsulated applications are called Darts,
which are to be executed on one or more DartDevices 400. Any device
which is running a DartPlayer which is native code executable
program which contains the ported DartEngine 600, and has at least
one communications protocol 401 for communicating with other
DartDevices is itself a DartDevice capable of running Darts which
can extend their execution across to other DartDevices to make use
of their combined capabilities and resources. FIG. 4 shows an
Exemplary DartDevice 3000. At the top there are shown three Dart
applications 3001 running on the device 3000. The code of these
Darts was generated by the DartTools, (See FIG. 3 200), to conform
to an inventive DartInstructionSet whose individual operations are
carried out in a secure manner by the portable portion of the
DartEngine 3010 and the device specific portion of the DartEngine,
the Hardware Abstraction Layer (HAL) 3020.
[0087] Note that the DartInstructionSet operations carried out by
the DartEngine contain processor intensive operations needed for
interoperability such as cryptographic operations, graphics and
text processing. In addition there is built in support in the
engine for inventive interoperability methodologies to be described
in more detail later on in this section. The HAL contains a profile
method accessed through the PROFILE_INSTRUCTION instructions of the
Dart to determine the devices specific characteristics of the
device and its functionality. The HAL also provides methods for the
engine to access common Dart standard hardware functions where they
exist. Perhaps most profoundly inventive is the portion of the HAL
which can be used to expose all the native applications,
functionality and resources of a device to Darts or portions of
Darts running on the device which are then available for use by
Darts whose execution extends to other devices.
[0088] Simplicity of interoperability, reliability and robustness
is achieved in part by encapsulating all the code, data and content
and the meta code, data and content needed for a particular
application purpose to spread itself intelligently and efficiently
across heterogeneous devices. Because all of the application code,
data and content running on the interoperability devices originate
from a single Dart package there are none of the incompatibility or
administration issues associated with independently generated and
distributed components. Having the data and code packaged together
also eliminates common interoperability problems which arise from
versioning incompatibilities between the data format and the
application program chosen to manage the data.
[0089] There are at least twenty one uniquely described separate
inventive systems, methods, computer programs and computer program
products, and/or means which contribute to enhancements of
robustness, power, efficiency and security for the interoperability
of devices over the existent interoperability technologies which
are largely extensions of techniques developed over the years for
powerful general purpose computer networks. These innovations are
briefly highlighted below and then described in more detail in
subsequent portions of the detailed description. There are many
more when each useful combination of separate inventive system,
method, computer program product, and/or other means are combined.
Many of the techniques used share the socialization aspects
employed by humans as they form ad-hoc teams and work together to
execute specific tasks. The fast growing world of ever more special
purpose and mobile devices which need to form ad-hoc teams and are
only intermittently connected, often has more in common with human
like collaboration than with the general purpose computer networks
from which conventional interoperability techniques are
borrowed.
[0090] Recruitment interoperability model. Recruitment is an
advantageous alternative to the existent client/server and
peer-to-peer device interoperability models. Recruitment is used by
a single software application package or Dart, to forms teams of
devices based on their capabilities and content and then
intelligently spread portions of itself to the teams of devices
which then work together to carry out the intended purpose of the
Dart application package.
[0091] Renditioning adaptation and interoperability segmentation
model. Renditioning allows the segmenting of an interoperability
application into a plurality of tightly integrated, yet separately
executable programs. Individual Renditions are chosen during the
recruitment process to be sent to run on other devices to provide
coordinated access to the capabilities and content of individual
devices.
[0092] DartSource/Interoperability Source. DartSource is a method
for specifying all the program renditions and the code content and
data needed for a packaged Dart interoperability application.
DartSource extends the languages constructs commonly used to
specify single executable program targeted to a specific device,
into a language which can also specify the procedures necessary for
intelligent recruitment of teams of devices and the renditions
needed so that there is a suitable rendition to send to run on each
recruited device to carry out that device's portion of the intended
purpose of the application being specified.
[0093] DartFramework/Interoperability Framework. DartFramework is
the portion of the DartSource provided for use by programmers in
building interoperability applications which encapsulate access to
many of the advantageous features of the DartPlatform eliminating
the need for the programmer to have to understand and implement
many of the desired interoperability features of the
DartPlatform.
[0094] DartTools/Interoperability Tools. The DartTools process the
DartSource application specification into the Dart application
packages.
[0095] DartFormat/Interoperability Format. The DartFormat is the
rules for putting together a Dart package which encapsulates all
the code, data, and content needed for an interoperability
applications which can then be loaded and run on DartDevices, which
contain a running DartPlayer.
[0096] DartRuntime/Interoperability Runtime. The DartRuntime is a
system for establishing the tight coordination of control, data and
operations between separate processing units of a running Dart
whether the processing units are running on a single device or
across a team of recruited devices. This is accomplished by an
event driven system which ensures the serialization and
synchronization of events flowing thorough all processing units of
the application so that all processing units can have access to all
the directives in the same order needed to coordinate and
synchronize the data and operations between the processing
units.
[0097] Linear Tasking. LinearTasking is an advantageous alternative
to the conventional pre-emptive and cooperative threading models
commonly used on most devices so that multiple operations can be
specified and run as if their actions were being executed
simultaneously. LinearTasking ensures a simple, reliable, flexible
and extensibe way for processing units to coordinate their
activities in a very deterministic and easily tested manner.
LinearTasking is part of the DartRuntime operating inside a single
device.
[0098] Vertical Layering. VerticalLayering is an advantageous
alternative to the horizontal layering of protocols in common use
on most devices which requires different levels of protocols to
communicate through all intermediate levels of protocols, often
having to translate information to conform to the differing needs
of each protocol interface. Dart processing units use
VerticalLayering so that regardless of their level, processing
units can communicate directly with all other processing units
through the use of event structures and event queues which are
accessible and understandable by all processing units without
translation.
[0099] Application driven power management. Dart applications built
using LinearTasking and or VerticalLayering as embodied at least
partially in the DartFramework, always keep track of their exact
response time needs so that efficient power management techniques
such as slowing down the processor can extend the lifetime of
batteries, limit the amount of energy consumed or limit the amount
of heat generated on devices. In the current state of the art most
applications do not keep track of their response time needs, and if
they did would not be able to communicate these needs through
existing layers of protocols which conform to specifications that
do not include interfaces for communicating response time needs to
the hardware of the device from the application.
[0100] Interoperability application driven error recovery. Device
to device wireless communications connections are often unreliable
due to interference, distance limitations, and abrupt shutdowns due
to low battery power. In conventional horizontally layered protocol
software implementations on devices a fatal error in any one layer
will result in unrecoverable errors which will be difficult for an
application to recover from, both because the application does not
have standard interfaces to easily reestablish the connections and
contexts of the connections, and because conventional application
programs do not have much infrastructure for tracking and
reestablishing shared state between applications running on
different devices. The DartFramework keeps track of shared state,
renditioning can be used to easily reestablish lost state between
devices and VerticalLayering makes it simple for communications
errors to be relayed to the Dart and for the Dart to relay recovery
information directly to the communications processing units. Thus
Darts running across devices can seamlessly recover from
intermittent complete losses of communications between cooperating
devices and the recovery of the shared state of the devices when
the connection is restored even where the previously lost device
has itself lost all its application state.
[0101] Interoperability Instruction Set. The
InteroperabilityInstructionSet is used to represent the code
portions of a Dart. The DartEngine executes these instructions.
Along with the conventional fetching, storing, testing,
computations and branching instructions of conventional processors,
the InteroperabilityInstructionset includes instructions to enhance
the speed of operations, carry out interoperability methodologies
and expose the capabilities and content of devices to each other.
Of special note is that there are instructions for exposing and the
use of unique capabilities and content of devices to other device
even when the other devices have no prior knowledge of the unique
capabilities and content.
[0102] Creationism. Creationism is a method used by Darts to
dynamically generate Darts highly customized for a particular
target device and or communications session and or purpose.
Instructions in the DartInstructionSet exist for programmatic
generation of Darts from parts of the running Dart itself and any
information that can be collected or computed by the running
Dart.
[0103] Interoperability Engine/DartEngine. The DartEngine is
software and or hardware used to execute the instructions of Darts
on a device and carry out their intended purpose. The DartEngine
and the device specific DartPlayer, in which it is encapsulated,
provides the common execution and DartRuntime environment which
allows Recruitment and Renditioning to establish efficient teams of
devices and spread their code, data and content as best to carry
out the intended purpose of Darts.
[0104] Interoperability Device Enabling. Interoperability Device
Enabling is the process of turning a conventional device into a
highly interoperable DartDevice through the porting of a DartEngine
as part of a DartPlayer. In addition, implementation of the
Hardware Abstraction Layer needed to access the device specific
information, capabilities and content of the device is also
required. At least one communications protocol must be implemented
before a device with a DartPlayer becomes a DartDevice.
[0105] Interoperability Security Model/DartSecurity. DartSecurity
is a system for providing the infrastructure needed for protecting
the integrity of a device and its content from malicious or
accidental damage.
[0106] Social Synchronization Interoperability Method/Dart Social
Synchronization. Social Synchronization is an efficient and easy to
administrate method for synchronizing specific sets of data and or
operations across any number of devices and protocols without the
need for every device to contact a master device, or for any device
to act as a master. SocialSynchronization of devices and content is
similar to the way humans share information and tasks and is an
advantageous alternative to mastered synchronization techniques
most often used in the current state of the art.
[0107] Social Security Interoperability Model/Dart SocialSecurity.
SocialSecurity is a particularly simple to administrate method for
forming webs of security between teams of possible intermittently
connected devices. SocialSecurity works in a similar way to how
humans often come to trust one another. The foundation for
SocialSecurity is the use of SocialSynchronization to spread unique
ids generated using the DartSecurity system along with the allowed
access rights which travel transitively from device to device.
Devices which have never directly communicated will often find that
they are part of a team of devices which are allowed to
interoperate with certain access rights without any need for
further gathering permissions.
[0108] Interoperability Device/DartDevice. A DartDevice is a highly
interoperable device by virtue of its running a DartPlayer
containing a DartEngine and at least one communications protocol
for connecting to other DartDevices.
[0109] Interoperability Platform/DartPlatform. The DartPlatform is
any set of Dart methodologies which can carry out the
specification, generation, intelligent teaming of DartDevices and
facilitate the spreading and running of Dart interoperability
applications across one or more DartDevices.
[0110] Virtual Pointers. VirtualPointers is a methodology for
providing programmers with a simple and efficient way to access and
use of one or more independent data address spaces in a single
program. VirtualPointers used by software programs can adapt their
use of main memory and storage devices to run efficiently on
devices with differing sizes and speeds of a fast but small main
memory and larger but slower storage.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0111] The Detailed Description of the Illustrative Embodiments
should be read in conjunction with the appended figure drawings,
wherein:
[0112] FIG. 1 is an illustration showing the situation in which
getting N devices to interoperate or work together generally
requires on the order of N-squared adaptations.
[0113] FIG. 2 is an illustration showing the complexity of getting
eight devices to work directly together and that it takes on the
order of fifty-six adaptations and requires fifty-six different
test configurations to test and verify operation.
[0114] FIG. 3 is an illustration showing a block diagram of the
main components and sub-components of an embodiment of the
invention.
[0115] FIG. 4 is an illustration showing an exemplary typical
DartDevice overview according to an embodiment of the
invention.
[0116] FIG. 5 is an illustration showing an exemplary embodiment of
a recruitment procedure in the form of a flow chart.
[0117] FIG. 6 is an illustration showing a diagram illustrating an
example of the inventive Recruitment method for extending and
sharing a Dart application (such as a slide show Dart application)
running on a first DartDevice with a second DartDevice which
originally knows nothing about the originating first DartDevice or
the Dart application.
[0118] FIG. 7 is an illustration showing a diagram illustrating an
example of Recruitment for remote printing from a slide show
application running on an originating DartDevice on another
DartDevice which originally knows nothing about the originating
DartDevice or the slide show application.
[0119] FIG. 8 is an illustration showing a diagram showing an
exemplary embodiment of a print picture application expressed as a
Dart running across a team of three devices each of which is
running a different rendition of the originating Dart.
[0120] FIG. 9 is an illustration showing embodiments of
synchronization and serialization of a Dart application running
across a recruited team of cooperating devices.
[0121] FIG. 10 is an Illustration of how Recruitments makes a group
of devices act as one device and limits the effort to achieve
interoperability of N devices so that the effort is simply
proportional to N.
[0122] FIG. 11 is an illustration showing a block diagram of an
embodiment of the main DartFramework objects and their relative
position in the class hierarchy.
[0123] FIG. 12 is an illustration showing a block diagram
illustrating an application development device and its static and
procedural components used to produce a Dart application.
[0124] FIG. 13 is an illustration showing a block diagram
illustrating the structure of an embodiment of the structure of the
Parts component of an embodiment of the DartFormat.
[0125] FIG. 14 is an illustration showing a block diagram of the
structure of an embodiment of the PartTable component of the
DartFormat and the format of the PartTable Record components of the
PartTable, while separately depicting the structure of an
embodiment of a DartProcedure.
[0126] FIG. 15 is an illustration showing a flow chart diagram of
the DartRuntime processing for a pass through the hierarchy of
Gizmo derived objects in a Dart application.
[0127] FIG. 16 is an illustration showing a flow chart diagram
illustrating aspects of Process Event processing portion of the
DartRuntime.
[0128] FIG. 17 is an illustration showing a block diagram
illustrating the connections between DartDevices used by an
embodiment of a Dart application which starts on one DartDevice and
then extends itself using Recruitment to run across other
DartDevices which then exchange messages in the form of the Event
data structure shown to coordinate their activities.
[0129] FIG. 18 is an illustration showing a block diagram
illustrating the hierarchical processing arrangement and order of
execution of Gizmo processing units used in an exemplary embodiment
of a slide show or media display application.
[0130] FIG. 19 is an illustration showing an embodiment of Dart
Application Level Error Recovery according to one embodiment of the
invention.
[0131] FIG. 20 is an illustration showing a flow chart diagram
illustrating the BuiltinInstruction and OEM_BuiltinInstruction
processing carried out by the DartEngine.
[0132] FIG. 21 is an illustration showing a hypothetical Neutrino
Detector/Mobile Phone example embodiment showing how one device can
expose its unique capabilities to devices with no prior knowledge
of these unique capabilities.
[0133] FIG. 22 is an illustration showing a block diagram
illustrating an exemplary embodiment of a DartPlayer and the two
main components of a particular implementation of an embodiment of
a DartEngine, namely a portable component, and the non-portable
Hardware Abstraction Layer component.
[0134] FIG. 23 is an illustration showing a flow chart diagram of
the main loop processing flow of a particular embodiment of a
DartPlayer.
[0135] FIG. 24 is an illustration showing a flow chart diagram of
the processing that occurs during a call to the DartEngine
initialization function by the DartPlayer.
[0136] FIG. 25 is an illustration showing a flow chart diagram
illustrating the DartRuntime instruction processing implemented in
the DartPlayer.
[0137] FIG. 26 is an illustration showing a flow chart diagram for
file system instruction processing of a DartPlayer.
[0138] FIG. 27 is an illustration showing a block diagram
illustrating the components of the non-portable Hardware
Abstraction Layer component of an embodiment of the DartEngine.
[0139] FIG. 28 is an illustration showing a diagram illustrating
the non-portable DartDevice specific portions of the file system
which may provide access to files from the Dart but does not
provide any mechanism for access to files that are not considered
part of the running Dart's protective Sandbox.
[0140] FIG. 29 is an illustration showing a block diagram of an
embodiment of a DartDevice's DartSecruity components.
[0141] FIG. 30 is an illustration showing an embodiment of a Social
Synchronization contact list example.
[0142] FIG. 31 is an illustration showing a block diagram of an
exemplary DartDevice and its SocialSecurity components, and also
block diagrams showing the before and after teaming SocialSecurity
contents of an old and a new DartDevice.
[0143] FIG. 32 is an illustration showing an example Dart Virtual
Pointers being used to access a data element at a specific virtual
pointer address.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF ILLUSTRATIVE EMBODIMENTS OF THE
INVENTION
I. Overview and Introduction
[0144] In one aspect, the present invention relates to methods of
and systems for enabling devices to efficiently share a diverse set
of content, control, resources and applications between similar and
more importantly diverse and dissimilar sets of devices and
systems. Aspects of the invention are embodied as the
"DartPlatform." The name, "Dart," is intended to convey that the
applications, data, and/or other hybrid forms of processes,
procedures, data, intentions, and other information in the broadest
possible sense are combined into Data that's smART, and also to
denote the manner in which complete intelligent packages of
procedures, content and data in the form of Darts, DartProcedures,
and DartParts literally dart (or are communicated) between devices
to achieve a high degree of simplicity, efficiency, robustness
security and interoperability across a diverse set of devices,
device resources and device capabilities.
[0145] Furthermore, in the description contained herein, it will be
appreciated that the term Dart means or refers to one particular
embodiment of the invention and that the term Interoperability is
used as the generic term for aspects of the claimed invention of
which a Dart is a particular form of interoperability.
[0146] The invention introduces many new technological system,
device, method, and computer architecture and programmatic features
that establish new paradigms not heretofore described in the
literature. At least in part because the technical and computer
terminology does not yet provide compact terms that by themselves
may fully identify the innovative elements from conventional
elements, this description frequently uses the term "Dart" or other
"Dartism" as a prefix or qualifier for another term, such as used
in the phrases Dart Procedures, Dart Parts, and the like. In some
instances, the two terms are connected such as DartProcedures,
DartParts, DartDevice, and the like. Furthermore, it will be
appreciated that even more compact forms such as device, part, or
procedure may be utilized in describing aspects of the invention.
The intended meaning should normally be apparent from the context
of the description; however, it should be appreciated that
capitalized single word forms such as "DartProcedures" are
equivalent to multiple word forms such as "Dart Procedures", "Dart
procedures", or even "procedures" when describing an aspect of the
invention. This applies to other "Dartisms" as well, such as Dart
Parts, Dart Player, Dart Platform, and the like.
[0147] Darts in their most general form are not simply data and not
simply procedures or programs and not simply content, though Darts
may be any and may combine elements of all. "Darts" can be thought
of as a special integrated digital binary package of software,
code, data, and/or content along with the code data and content
that can be used to intelligently assemble, save and distribute
itself or parts of itself across devices to carry out the intent of
an interoperability application. The invention results in simple,
efficient, reliable and secure interoperability between both
homogeneous and heterogeneous devices.
[0148] Unfortunately the contemporary paradigm for computing and
information systems and devices has become so entrenched in common
practice of separating and distinguishing operating system (OS)
components, device driver, computer program application programs,
and user or other data components, that some commonly accepted
terms used in the computer science arts do not strictly apply to
elements of the present invention. Therefore to the extent
possible, common computing and computer science terms are used when
their meaning is appropriate even if not exact, and various "Dart"
expressions and terms are applied when a more specific meaning is
intended to avoid use of generic language with many qualifiers.
[0149] Some components, features, and advantages of embodiments of
the invention are first described to orient the reader to the Dart
Platform, system, method, and computer program elements. These and
other components, features and elements are then further described
in the remainder of the detailed description. It will be
appreciated that not all components, features, or advantages
provided by every embodiment of the invention can readily be listed
in a few paragraphs, therefore the description below is exemplary
of components, elements, and advantages found in some embodiments,
including some optional but advantageous components and features,
and should not be taken as a limiting description. It will be
apparent that embodiments of the invention may provide and use or
not provide or use some or many of the features described herein,
and that other embodiments will provide and use many or most if not
all of the features and components described here.
[0150] Existing methodologies for operating systems, program
formats, programming tools, and communications protocols were
developed largely for a world of ever more powerful general purpose
computers which have access to ample reliable power supplies and
reliable, high-speed, always on, communications protocols.
Furthermore, networks of computers were relatively static and
rarely had to be configured or reconfigured to work together. Also
it was assumed that there would be a knowledgeable pool of human
system administrators available for installing, configuring,
reconfiguring, updating, fixing and otherwise maintaining
computers, networks, operating systems and programs.
[0151] These existing methodologies are ill suited as commonly
applied to the now quickly evolving world of special purpose
devices which often run on batteries, have limited computing
resources, communicate through lower speed unreliable wireless or
power-line protocols and need to be dynamically reconfigured
constantly to work with other devices, many of which are portable
and only intermittently connected. Despite the increasingly dynamic
configuration needs and diversity of devices and their capabilities
which must work together, it is often highly desirable for these
devices and associated software, to be used and maintained by
people who are not knowledgeable as systems administrators.
[0152] The DartPlatform includes a set of new inventive
methodologies and components of a software, and optionally
hardware, eco-system designed specifically around the
characteristics and needs of the now quickly evolving world of
special purpose and communicating devices.
[0153] According to one embodiment of the invention, the inventive
Dart Platform (DP) may advantageously include the following
components: [0154] 1. DartInstructionSet--An interoperability
instruction set [0155] 2. DartEngine--A portable interoperability
engine [0156] 3. DartFormat--A file or bit-image format to
encapsulate any possible combinations of data, content, codes,
procedures, semantics or other information that may be necessary to
run, save, optimize, copy and/or share the data, content, code,
procedures, or other information optimally (or near optimally)on
any device or subsystem that contains both a DartEngine and a
mechanism for delivering DartFormat information (usually in the
form of a set of digital binary such as in bit file(s) or
bit-image(s) to the device for processing by the DartEngine. [0157]
4. Dartools--A set of software tools for creating Dart Format
bit-images and files. Dart Tools may include a DartCompiler, a
DartLinker, and a DartMasterPlayer, as well as other tools, each of
which are described in greater detail herein below. [0158] 5. Dart
or Darts--The package of bits, bit image and/or file instances
created by the Dartools for processing by a device containing a
DartEngine that conforms to the DartFormat file or bit-image
format. The DartFormat may encapsulate combined data/contentcodes
and the semantics necessary to run, save, optimize, copy and/or
share the data/content/code optimally on any device or set of
devices that contain both a DartEngine and a mechanism for
delivering DartFormat bit-images to the device for processing by
the DartEngine. Darts is the plural form of Dart. [0159] 6.
DartProcedure(s)--Self-contained lightweight procedure(s) and data
made up of sequences of instructions from the DartInstructionSet
combined with data images and data image values the instructions
operate on. [0160] 7. DartPlayer--A software program designed to
run on a particular subset of devices which employs a DartEngine to
process Darts. [0161] 8. DartMaster--A Dart intended to be further
optimized into one or more efficient and/or specialized Darts or
Dart by processing the DartMaster with a special Dartool called the
DartMasterPlayer. [0162] 9. DartFramework or DartObjectFramework--A
set of source code which defines the data and methods for a set of
base classes for use in building Darts. The DartObjectFramework
assumes a certain initial execution point, initial object data
pointer, and set of structures and semantics that govern the order
that code and data and input data and code are processed. This
embodies the device intra-device runtime portion of the DartRuntime
which also extends the intra-device runtime into an interdevice
runtime which synchronizes and serializes the runtime activities
across any number of teamed devices. [0163] 10. DartRuntime--The
DartFramework or DartObject Framework advantageously assumes a
certain initial execution point, initial object data pointer, and
set of structures and semantics that govern the order that code and
data and input data and code are processed. This is referred to as
the intra-device portion of the "DartRuntime." There is also an
inter-device runtime which assumes that event structure instances
which drive the governs the synchronization and coordination of
activities and data exchanges amongst teamed devices are
automatically serialized and synchronized between event queues one
of which is maintained by the DartEngine of each device. Together
the intra-device DartRuntime and inter-device runtimes together
provide for a simple to use but highly robust and effective system
for carrying out the intent of a Dart where possibly different
renditions of the Dart are each running on a set of teamed
devices.
[0164] Among other aspects, this invention is designed to improve
interoperability between and among devices of any type and to solve
the following problems and others in interoperability amongst
intermittently interconnected or always interconnected devices,
systems, or subsystems without limitation: [0165] 1. Adaptation and
optimization of display, control, code, data and functionality when
moving content, applications and controls between dissimilar or
heterogeneous devices. [0166] 2. Remove the need for the device
user to have to think about programs, content formats, drivers
and/or files, when all they want is content that works (and
preferably works as well as possible) no matter where the programs,
files and or content goes. [0167] 3. Remove the need for the user
to have to specify or even know about the type of device
connection(s) or communications used between one or a plurality of
devices. [0168] 4. Allow for the simple and efficient sharing of
content, controls, and/or resources between all enabled devices.
[0169] 5. Enable any device or system, from expensive and complex
computer-aided tomography (CAT) scanners down to (thin
processor/memory) light switches or other simple devices to make
available, document and grant access to their functions, resources,
capabilities and needs to other connected devices. [0170] 6. Bring
the overwhelming development effort necessary using conventional
non-procedural approaches to make some or all of the above possible
down to a level that can be easily achieved with a dramatically
lower number of development projects and costs. [0171] 7. Be
lightweight (in terms of code size, execution logic, and memory)
enough to be suitable for low-end, cost-constrained, and/or power
constrained devices. [0172] 8. Insure that any number of
DartDevices can seamlessly interoperate with all DartDevices, in
most any manner that makes sense, such as for example by including
intimately entwined native support for one or any combination of:
[0173] (a) Dynamic multimedia rich interfaces whenever the device
hardware can support it, and hierarchically less rich interface if
the device hardware does not support it; [0174] (b) Device power
management; [0175] (c) Device discovery; [0176] (d) Service
discovery; [0177] (e) Resource discovery; [0178] (f) Isolating the
Dart applications from needing to know the details of the various
communications physical and protocol layers; [0179] (g) Isolating
the Dart applications from needing to know the details about
physical display formats; [0180] (h) Isolating the Dart application
from needing to know details about maintaining synchronization with
applications running across multiple similar or dissimilar devices;
[0181] (i) Requesting, retrieving and running optimized control
panels to run locally, but actually control the device from which
the control panels were retrieved; and [0182] (j) Loading, running
and optimizing separately produced Dart content as child Dart
extensions of the intra-device DartRuntime environment of one or
more parent Darts. [0183] 9. Eliminating the need for programs,
data or content to pre-exist on any of the devices other than the
device (initiating device) that initiates the interoperability
application embodied in a Dart on the originating device. [0184]
10. Allowing devices to efficiently share their resources based on
all or some subset of devices capabilities and limitations, with no
need for any device to be master or slave. [0185] 11. Allowing
applications' code, data, content and hybrids of these (as embodied
in Darts) to dynamically spread themselves to connected devices in
a manner that allows the connected device to save the application
for use and further spreading to other devices ad infinitum even
after the original or initiating device is no longer connected.
[0186] 12. Improving reliability of multi-device operations by
encapsulating all the code, data and content of an interoperability
application in a single package (or set of packages) which then
spreads itself across other devices as required, eliminating the
problems associated with mixing and matching separately generated
and distributed application or protocol software implementations,
code, data or content that otherwise would have to be separately
generated and/or distributed to each device. [0187] 13.
Accomplishing all the above in a simple, reliable and secure
manner.
[0188] With reference to FIG. 8, there is shown an example
PrintPicture Dart running on a cell phone which has recruited a
network attached storage device to use as a source of pictures and
a Printing device to serve as the destination for carrying out the
printing of the pictures. All the devices are assumed to contain a
DartPlayer that has been ported to each device.
[0189] The Dart on the cell phone contains the three renditions
(R1, R2 and R3) which are each capable of serving as individually
executable images when run on a DartPlayer. Rendition R3 is running
on the cell phone and previously carried out the recruitment of the
other two devices by sending DartProcedures to execute on the
candidate devices which determined that the particular Network
Attached Storage device would function as the best source for
pictures, and that the Printer device would best function as the
destination for printing pictures.
[0190] Rendition R3 on cell phone then generated the image for a
Dart containing just the rendition R1 which contains event
processing code for identifying and retrieving pictures from the
Network Attached Storage (NAS) device. The Dart containing
rendition R1 is then sent to the Network attached Storage device as
part of a RUN_DART type event. When the RUN_DART type event is
processed by the DartEngine on the NAS device, rendition R1 is
loaded and begins execution which will process any synchronization
events requesting information or pictures stored on the NAS device.
Similarly, rendition R2 which handles the printing of pictures that
are part of PRINT_PICTURE type events is formed and sent to run on
the chosen Printer device.
[0191] Note that the three renditions were all generated from the
same PrintPicture Dart that was originally only resident on the
cell phone. This ensures a high likelihood of compatibility since
the application is in effect talking to parts of itself rather than
independently implemented, ported, and distributed component
required for conventional interoperability methods.
[0192] Note further that the renditions also share code, data
and/or content and understand an interrelated set of event types
specific to the PrintDart application. The R3 rendition was able to
spread portions of the PrintPicture Dart intelligently to
DartDevices even though it had no previous knowledge of the other
two DartDevices, and which devices had no previous knowledge of the
cell phone or the PrintDart.
[0193] Now rendition R3 running on the cell phone can signal events
to control the selection and printing of pictures between the
recruited NAS and Printer devices across an event driven
DartRuntime now established on and amongst the three devices.
[0194] Note additionally that any combination of protocols may be
employed according to common protocols of the cell phone and the
NAS device and independently chosen for use any common protocols of
the Recruited Printer device. In addition, since all devices
contain a ported DartEngine as part of the DartPlayer, the devices
can interoperate even if they are running different operating
systems on different processors.
[0195] As the invention involves a system with a large number of
elements that may have closely tied complex interrelationships,
some of the elements are first described in overview manner so that
some understanding as to why an element may be present and how the
element works and interacts with other element. Then each element
will be described in even further detail with due regard for its
interaction with other elements. Making the dramatic improvements
to the state of the art in interoperability embodied in the
invention required the creation of a largely new type of software
ecosystem akin to the move from data passing to functions to the
object oriented methodologies now in widespread use. In order to
more easily describe the inventive, system, and data and code
structures it is useful to first introduce some new terminology to
describe the theory, concepts, characteristics and components of
embodiments of the invention.
[0196] In one embodiment, the invention itself embodies the
following nine enabling methodologies, some of which may be
optional but are advantageously included: Recruitment,
Interoperability Instruction-set, Renditioning, Creationism,
Vertical Layering, Linear Tasking, Social Synchronization, Social
Security, and Virtual Pointers.
[0197] Device "Recruitment" may include a device interaction model
and associated structure and methods and is an advantageous
alternative to the existent client/server and peer-to-peer models.
The "Interoperability Instruction-set" is portable engine based
instruction set which provides a common efficient executable
environment across devices and inventively provides a programmatic
mechanism for exposing the unique capabilities of a device to other
devices "Renditioning" refers to structures and methods to enable
easily tested and efficient adaptation of application, data,
content, and/or other information. In some aspects renditioning may
include efficiently segmenting groups of code, data and content
into independently executable images, "Renditions," to be
intelligently generated and distributed across a plurality of
devices. "Creationism" refers to structures and methods to enable
the dynamic efficient generation and distribution of application,
data, content, and/or other information in differing forms across
connected and intermittently connected devices. "Vertical Layering"
enables efficient and effective implementation of features which by
their nature involve close cooperation at the tool, application,
framework, engine and instruction-set levels. "Linear Tasking"
enables a simple deterministic flow of processor control and device
resources between processing units of the devices, where the
processing units can easily be reconfigured into a single hierarchy
which includes processing units compiled into a Dart, separately
compiled Darts, and even Darts or Renditions running on other
devices. "Social Synchronization" refers to an inventive efficient
system and method for synchronizing data or content across any
number of devices with minimal or no user involvement. "Social
Security" refers to an inventive and efficient system and method
for easily establishing and maintaining groups of devices with the
proper authorization to interoperate with minimal user involvement.
These and other components may be implemented in the form of
computer program code segments that include executable instructions
for execution within a processor of a device. Furthermore, elements
of these components may be embodied in hardware and or a
combination of hardware with software and/or firmware and or
microcode.
[0198] Another enabling methodology that may optionally but
advantageously provided is referred to as "Virtual Pointers", and
provides a variant of and significant improvement over virtual
memory that has several advantageous properties, including for
example: [0199] (a) Multiple large independent address spaces
[0200] (b) Application specific control over the number of real
memory pages. [0201] (c) Device specific control over real memory
page sizes to match storage device performance characteristics.
[0202] (d) No need for the programmer to predict or administrate
the amount of memory needed for data structures or lists. [0203]
(e) Automatic saving of data in a form independent of page sizes or
number of pages. [0204] (f) Effectively caches data from a larger
and possibly slower data store with a minimal amount of precious
fast RAM allowing applications to run as if they have much larger
RAM memories than they physically do. [0205] (g) Simple and
efficient base infrastructure for indexed database operations where
the data and indexes are kept in different virtual pointer address
spaces.
[0206] Having now described many of the methodologies, components,
and features of the invention in overview manner, attention is now
directed to detailed descriptions of embodiments of the principle
methodologies, structures, and methods. It will be noted that many
of the procedures and methodologies may be implemented by one or
more computer programs or computer program products that may be
executed on general or special purpose processing logic, such as
micro-controllers, processors, microprocessors, central processing
units (CPU), or other processing hardware or logic that is capable
of executing or operating on computer program code whether in the
form of software, firmware, or a combination of the two.
[0207] Section headers where provided are merely intended to direct
the attention of the reader to portions of the specification where
one particular aspect or methodology is described, but it will be
appreciated that aspects of all the methodologies and structures
are described throughout the specification and in the drawings and
claims, and that no limitation should be implied by inclusion or
exclusion of any aspect of the invention within a sub-headed
section.
II. Recruitment Interoperability Model
[0208] "Recruitment" includes a device interaction model and
methodology embodied throughout the implementation of the
invention. It is an advantageous alternative to the Client/Server
and Peer-to-Peer device interaction models and methodologies used
in the current state of the art. The recruitment model and
methodology utilizes a common procedural environment that runs on
all devices that are to interoperate or be inspected for resources
in contemplation of a possible interoperation. In one embodiment of
the invention, this common procedural environment is provided by an
instruction set, such as the Dart instruction set (e.g., the
DartInstructionSet), or an instruction set by any other name that
fulfills the requirements for the common procedural environment
described here or its equivalent.
[0209] With reference to FIG. 5 there is illustrated a flow chart
diagram of an embodiment of a recruitment procedure that provides a
method for a software application to recruit and effectively later
run across a plurality or team of devices much as if they were one
device with the combined resources of all the devices. Reference is
also made relative to an example of recruitment for a shared slide
show 10000 FIG. 6 and an example of remote printing of one or more
slides from a slideshow 20000 FIG. 7 Device recruitment (or more
simply, "recruitment" or "Recruitment") is performed. Recruitment
provides a method for a software application to recruit and
effectively run across a constellation, team, or other plurality of
devices and/or systems much as if they were one device with the
combined resources of all the devices.
[0210] A resource may be virtually any hardware, software,
firmware, communication capability, configuration, data or data
set, capability possessed or accessible by a device or system. A
resource may for example be a processor, a CPU, memory, a list of
contacts, a sound output device, a display type, DARTs, pictures,
or any other procedural, structural, or information item without
limitation. A capability may for example be computer code to sort a
list, hardware or software to decode an mpeg file, communicate with
Bluetooth.TM. devices, or the like. The recruitment procedure has
the intelligence (by virtue or its programming and supporting
frameworks, platforms, engines, and the like described herein, to
independently of the initiating device, make complex determinations
as to the suitability of the recruitable or recruited device to
carry out the intent of the application which sent the procedure,
or some portion of the intent of the application.
[0211] In one embodiment, the initiating device first sends or
broadcasts a message in the form of an inspection procedure or
procedures in a common executable form, from itself as the source
or initiating device, to any number of reachable devices over any
number of communications protocols, see FIG. 6 10011 and FIG. 7
20011. The initiating device forms and sends this message in an
attempt to find other devices with needed resources or
capabilities, a procedure or plurality of procedures structured,
coded, or otherwise implemented in the common procedural
environment is sent, transmitted, broadcast, or otherwise
communicated over a connection or plurality of connections to other
devices (known or unknown at the time of the communication) which
also contain the common procedural environment. The initiating
device need not know what devices may be reachable when it sends or
broadcasts the message. Whether other devices are reachable may for
example depend on the communications channels and/or protocols that
the initiator device has as compared with the possible set of
candidate recruited devices.
[0212] This source device is alternatively referred to as the
initiator device because it initiates the interaction (see FIG. 6
10100 and FIG. 7 20100), the source device because it may be the
source of a recruitment procedure, or the recruitor device because
it is the device that is attempting to recruit other devices which
may themselves be referred to as recruited devices, destination
devices, target devices, or simply other devices than the initiator
device.
[0213] If for example, the initiator device includes a
Bluetooth.TM. wireless communications link, an Infrared
communications link, and an IEEE 802.11 (a)(b)or (g) communications
link and broadcasts the message over each of these channels, only
candidate recruitble devices then configured to receive
communications over these communications links may receive the
recruitment message. Of these, only those devices that provide the
operating environment and understand and can execute the inspection
procedure will respond. Note that even among such possibly
responsive devices, a user of the otherwise recruitable device may
selectively or globally block such recruitment or interrogation
inspection procedures, for example according to security
settings.
[0214] Second, the inspection procedure then executes its
instructions on each device that responded and was found, to
identify needed resources and capabilities and/or interrelated sets
of resources and capabilities of the device, or those available to
the device for carrying out the application or portion of the
intent of the application. In one embodiment, this inspection is
performed with the use of an instruction set profile or get profile
instruction, such as for example the Dart instruction set profile
instruction (e.g. DartInstructionSet PROFILE_INSTRUCTION) which
results in an access or call to the Hardware Abstraction Layer
(HAL) of the candidate recruitable device to access information
about the particular device and its resources and capabilities as
stored or computed in the device specific Hardware Abstraction
Layer (See for example the Hardware Abstraction Layer HAL 652 of
FIG. 27.
[0215] Third, the inspection procedures return procedures, data,
content or other information to the initiating device over the
communication channel and protocol indicating that it received the
message (see FIG. 6 10012 and FIG. 7 20012). The responding device
may either identify and save an indication of the communication
channel and protocol over which is received and optionally the
identity of the device from which the recruitment message was
received, or may broadcast a response that will likely be received
by that initiator device.
[0216] In some embodiments, the responding device only answers the
initiator's query as to the availability of a particular resource
or set of resources (such as a color printing capability), while in
other embodiments, the inspection procedure may identify and
respond with a complete list of features, capabilities, and
resources. Usually, a simple yes I have the needed resource is
preferred (response is a single bit or byte or word), so that the
size of the communication is minimized. Codes identifying one or
more types or class or of resource or resource subclass may
alternatively be used. In one embodiment, the inspection procedures
return information to the source device as to the resources and
capabilities of the device they ran on. This information can for
example, take the form of a static data structure, a procedure, a
Dart, a free-form tagged language, or any other form of
information. See return FIG. 610012 of yes response, as well as
processor speed in MIPS and preferred display resolution of the
recruited dart device FIG. 6 10200 in the slide show example 10000
of FIG. 6 and return of FIG. 7 20012 of yes response and preferred
printer resolution of the recruited dart device FIG. 7 20200 in the
slide printing example of FIG. 7.
[0217] Fourth, the application code on the initiating device
collects all of the returned information possibly including
procedures, data, content, or other information from all of the
responding reachable devices, and executes any procedures received
and inspects them in order to determine how to make use of the
reachable devices and their resources to carry-out the intent of
the application.
[0218] Fifth, the application specific code on the initiating
device spreads code, data, content, or any other information to
each of the reachable devices as needed according to the
determinations in the fourth step (see FIG. 6 10020, 10021 and FIG.
7 20020, 20021). The application code, data, content, or other
information may be sent in single common form or may be customized
according to embodiments of this invention, such as by using
methods described relative to Renditions and Creationism, or
according to other methods and techniques.
[0219] Sixth, optionally but advantageously recursively have code,
data and content now spread across the initiating and initially
reachable devices together with the application code, data and
content resident on the reachable devices spread farther
recursively as necessary using the first through fifth steps on the
initial set of reachable devices, now acting as initiating devices
(secondary or subsequent initiating devices) as necessary to extend
the application as needed to other reachable devices until all
desired devices and resources needed or desired to carry-out the
original application intent have been reached, effectively forming
a complete team of devices and their associated resources. It will
be appreciated that the secondary or subsequent rounds of
recruitment may not be necessary if devices having needed resources
were identified in the first round. On the other hand, the
secondary or subsequent round of recursive recruitment may be
necessary if required or desired resources cannot initially be
found. The recursive recruitment also increases the possibility of
a first round recruited device operating as a bridge or translator
so that the original initiator acting through a first round
recruited device can communicate with a second round recruited
device (acting for example, to translate a Bluetooth communication
to a hardwired network connection).
[0220] Seventh, have the code, data and content now distributed
from and among the team of devices according to the needs of the
initiating application perform the required operations and resource
access, to carry out the intent of the originating application by
executing code and exchanging whatever code, data, content, or
other information that is necessary or desired to carry out or
coordinate the operations that are to performed across the said
team of devices to carry out the intent of the initiating
application.
[0221] This step of distributing executable code, data, and content
may be an ongoing operation of the application itself--up to this
point the process was primarily focused on were forming the team
spreading data, code and content to establish the members of the
team with what they need to do their part of the application. The
process continues to carry out the intent of the application or
task. In the example of a slide show, slides (really digital images
or data sets) are being added to a joint slide show, or slides may
be flip or sequentially displayed on all the devices for viewing on
all devices. Procedures for continuing the interoperation beyond
this initial recruitment phase are described elsewhere herein.
[0222] This completes the initial recruitment phase and provides an
opportunity for the recrutor (initiator) and recrutees (other
teamed devices) to interoperate and share resources as described
elsewhere herein an as may be appreciated as shown in FIG. 6.
10031, 10032, 10033 The application's operations across devices may
then be synchronized by having the Events 800 (see FIG. 17) which
drive the application's processing as described herein elsewhere,
and advantageously through which all input to the application is
obtained, placed in the queue of all recruiting and recruited
devices that are marked as being synchronized for its Event type.
Events and event queuing are described in greater detail
hereinafter, including relative to FIG. 17.
[0223] With reference to FIG. 17, Events 800 may be data structure
instances with the fields shown in 800 FIG. 17, including in this
embodiment, an event type 801, event parameters 802, and an event
related file 810 that may include procedure 811, content, 812,
and/or Dart 813. These Events 800 may provide input, communicate
data and semantics, and carry out synchronization functions as they
flow through a runtime, such as through a DartRuntime 8000 (See
FIG. 15), Gizmo hierarchy 10000 (See FIG. 18), or between
DartDevices 400 along the lines labeled 451-x (See FIG. 17).
[0224] Events 800 may carry references to files 810 for any kind,
kinds, or amount of data. References may preferably be made to open
files. Typically the files contain one or more of DartProcedures to
be run on another DartDevice, complete Darts to extend the reach of
a Dart application across another Dart Device, a Dart containing a
control panel to another Device, or general enumeration or input
information that does not otherwise fit in the other parameters of
the Event as shown in 800 FIG. 17. These and other Dart types and
general enumeration or input information are described in greater
detail elsewhere herein. Event processing is further illustrated in
the DartRuntime flow charts 8000 illustrated in FIG. 15 and Engine
Event Processing builtin function flowcharts 5000 FIG. 16.
[0225] A file 810 associated with an Event 800 may consider the
file associated with the event to be separate from the event or
preferably part of the event itself since in one embodiment of the
invention the structural and methodological infrastructure that
sends events automatically sends the associated file along with the
event. Therefore, in at least one embodiment, before an event is
placed in the event recipient's event queue, the file referred to
on the sending side has been copied by the communication
infrastructure to a file on the recipient side which can be read
using a file identifier (e.g. fileld) associated with the copied
file image on the recipient device. Common or differentiated file
names or file identifiers may be used on the sender and recipient
sides. In the case of a run Dart (e.g., RUN_DART type event) or run
procedure (e.g., RUN_PROCEDURE) type event, when the event gets to
the head or top of the queue so that it is next in the queue, the
engine will cause the DartProcedure or Dart that can now be read
using the fileld in the event to execute. There may generally be
events that are processed by the Dart engine itself, even where no
application is currently running. In one embodiment, driving the
Event queue is always either a running Dart or an idle procedure
(e.g., a Dart Idleprocedure) built into the engine which keeps
calling the engine event processing procedure to keep the
communications going. This is essentially a loop that keeps running
until there is an event to process. When power management
(described elsewhere herein) is applied, various techniques for
stopping and then waking up or restarting this loop may be
implemented.
[0226] It will now therefore be appreciated that the Recruitment
model, method, and associated structures performs ad-hoc device,
service, and resource discovery to identify needed devices, then
sends enabling procedures and information to the devices by using
an event data structure, such as Events 800, and intelligently and
effectively forms a team of devices, and then further coordinates
the team of devices, again using an event data structure Events
800, in an effort to accomplish the original goal of the Dart 700
or application originally running on the source device.
[0227] FIG. 10 Illustrates how recruitment results in making a
connected group of devices act as if it were a single device. One
of the most profound affects of this is that implementation and
testing of new interoperability devices and Dart based applications
only requires an effort proportional to the number of devices, N.
Conventional static and procedural approaches where there is a need
to separately implement and distribute components to all devices
which need to interoperate require an effort that grows at a rate
proportional to N squared.
[0228] Other aspects of recruitment and the recruitment
interoperability model, including the serializaiton and
synchronization of events between the recruited devices are
described elsewhere in this specification including in the
examples. Some particular exemplary embodiments of the recruitment
interoperability model are also set forth below.
[0229] In one embodiment (1), the invention provides a method for a
software application running on a source device to recruit a team
of devices, the method comprising: sending an inspection procedure
operative to find a device having a needed resource or capability
to at least one reachable device different from the initiating
source device over at least one communication link, the inspection
procedure including inspection procedure instructions coded in an
executable form common to both the initiating source device and to
the device the inspection procedure is intended to reach; receiving
on the initiating device the return response from each of the
reachable devices directly or indirectly over a communication link;
analyzing, by a procedure executing on the initiating device, the
received returns from all responding reachable devices to determine
a utilization plan identifying the combination of capabilities and
resources of the initiating source device and the responding
reachable devices to best carry out the intent of the software
application; and distributing, by an application program executing
on the initiating device, at least one of executable code, data,
content, and/or Dart to at least one of each of the reachable
devices identified as having a needed resource or capability
according to the identified utilization plan.
[0230] In another embodiment (2), the invention provides a method
for recruiting a team of devices, the method comprising: receiving
on a candidate device and executing an inspection procedure
operative to determine if a receiving reachable candidate device
has a resource or capability needed by another recruiting device
over a communication link, the inspection procedure including
inspection procedure instructions coded in an executable form known
to both the receiving device and the recruiting device; and
identifying the source device for the received inspection procedure
and sending a return to the source device status and information
about whether the receiving reachable device has access to a
resource or capability or set of resources and capabilities
identified as being needed by the initiating source device; and
receiving in the case where the reachable device is determined by
the source device to have resources or capabilities needed to form
a team to carry out the intent of a software application at least
one of executable code, data, content, and/or Dart from the source,
device, recruiting device, or another candidate device.
[0231] In another embodiment (3), the invention provides a method
for recruiting a team of devices, the method comprising: (a)
sending, from an initiating source device, an inspection procedure
operative to find a device having a needed resource or capability
to at least one reachable device different from the initiating
source device over at least one communication link, the inspection
procedure including inspection procedure instructions coded in an
executable form common to both the initiating source device and to
device the inspection procedure is intended to reach; (b) receiving
and executing the received inspection procedure on each of the
reachable devices to identify if there is at least one resource or
capability of the reachable device needed by the initiating source
device; (c) sending a return to the initiating source device at
least when the reachable device has access to a resource or
capability identified as being needed by the initiating source
device; (d) receiving the return from each of the reachable devices
directly or indirectly over the communication link; (e) analyzing,
by an application executing on the initiating device, the received
returns from all responding reachable devices to determine a
utilization plan identifying the combination of capabilities and
resources of the initiating source device and the responding
reachable devices to best carry out the intent of the application;
and (f) distributing, by an application program executing on the
initiating device, at least one of executable code, data, content,
and/or Dart to at least one of each of the reachable devices
identified as having a needed resource or capability according to
the identified utilization plan.
[0232] In another embodiment (4), the invention provides the method
of (3)), further comprising receiving, by the at least one
reachable device, the distributed at least one of executable code,
data, content, and/or Dart.
[0233] In another embodiment (5), the invention provides the method
of (3)), wherein the method further comprises: interoperating with
the at least one reachable device to which the at least one of
executable code, data, content, and Dart was distributed to carry
out at least a portion of the initiating device's application's
intent.
[0234] In another embodiment (6), the invention provides the method
of (3)), wherein the method further comprises: with each reachable
device acting as secondary initiating source devices, spreading
executable code, data, content, and/or Dart, across the initiating
and reachable devices optionally together with the application
code, data, content, and or Darts resident on the reachable devices
farther recursively to other devices reachable by previously
reached and teamed devices as necessary to extend the application
as needed or as desired to other reachable devices until all or a
predetermined criteria of desired devices and resources or
capabilities needed or desired to carry out the intent of the
original initiating device application have been reached,
effectively forming a larger complete team of devices; and
distributing executable code, data, content, and/or Dart from and
among the team of initiating and reachable devices according to the
needs and desires of the initiating device application to perform
the required or desired operations and resource access to carry out
the intent of the initiating device's application by executing code
and exchanging whatever executable code, data, and content and or
Darts are necessary to carry out and/or coordinate the operations
that are to performed across the team of devices to carry out the
intent of the initiating application.
[0235] In another embodiment (7), the invention provides the method
of (3)), wherein the initiating source device receives the return
directly from an initially reached device that the initiating
device sent the recruitment message to or indirectly from another
reachable device via one or more intermediary reachable devices in
a serial or recursive manner.
[0236] In another embodiment (8), the invention provides the method
of (3), wherein the return to the initiating source device is also
sent when the reachable device does not have access to a resource
or capability identified as being needed by the initiating source
device.
[0237] In another embodiment (9), the invention provides the method
of (3), wherein the return to the initiating source device is a
simple parameter that identifies that the reachable device has
itself or access to (e.g., true or logical "1") or does not have
itself or access to (e.g., false or logical "0") the resource or
capability identified as being needed by the initiating source
device.
[0238] In another embodiment (10), the invention provides the
method of (3), wherein the return to the initiating source device
comprises one of a DartEvent, a part of a Dart, data, content,
executable procedures, a Dart, a plurality of darts, and any
combination of these.
[0239] In another embodiment (11), the invention provides the
method of (3), wherein the return to the initiating source device
comprises returned data or content identifying the resources and/or
capabilities of the particular reachable device to the initiating
device over the communication protocols.
[0240] In another embodiment (12), the invention provides the
method of (3), wherein the inspection procedure includes an
instruction to inspect for at least one particular identified
resource or capability needed by the initiating source device to
carry out the intent of the application task being performed at
least in part on the initiating source device.
[0241] In another embodiment (13), the invention provides the
method of (3), wherein the method is implemented at least in part
by a software application encoded as a computer program product
recruiting and effectively running an application across a team of
devices.
[0242] In another embodiment (14), the invention provides the
method of (3), wherein the method is effective to couple and
subsequently permit control of the operations of the recruiting and
recruited devices as if they were one device with the combined
resources of all the recruiting and recruited devices.
[0243] In another embodiment (15), the invention provides the
method of (3), wherein the returns comprises any one of: no return,
a data or content return, any digitally encoded information, one or
more procedures, an indication that the device will be useful, a
returned event, a return event containing any amount of data or
sets of data via its file payload, a return procedure, a Dart, a
return event that includes text names and descriptions of the
device so a human can select from a menu on the initiating device
which device(s) to use, an identifier of a specific package of at
least one instance of a set of executable code, data and content
residing on or capable of being generated on the source device,
rendition or set of renditions most suitable to run on the device
or a combination of any of these.
[0244] In another embodiment (16), the invention provides the
method of (3), wherein the at least one resource or capability is
selected from the set consisting of: (i) available resources or a
particular needed resource; (ii) available capabilities or a
particular needed capability; (iii) one or more interrelated sets
of resources and capabilities of the reachable device, or those
resources and/or capabilities available to the reachable device for
carrying out the intent of the application; and (iv) any
combination of these.
[0245] In another embodiment (17), the invention provides the
method of (3), wherein the resources or capabilities include at
least one of an identified capability selected from the set of
resources or capabilities consisting of: an identified data
manipulation software, an identified information processing
software, an identified computational software, an identified
picture processing software, an identified communications software,
an identified communications hardware, an identified media, an
identified data set(s), an identified content, an identified
program or programs, an identified configuration information, an
identified graphics acceleration hardware or software, an
identified storage medium whether temporary or not temporary
(permanent), an identified printing capability, an identified
faxing capability, an identified scanning capability, an identified
user interface device whether input or output or both input and
output, an access to the resources of other devices with which the
device can communicate and with which the other devices can
communicate in an unending chain, and any combination of two or
more of these.
[0246] In another embodiment (18), the invention provides a method
as in (3), wherein the inspection procedures in a common executable
form comprises at least one inspection procedure formed from a Dart
compliant instruction set (DartInstructionSet) as embodied in a
Dart instruction compatible engine (DartEngine) or any other
Interoperability Instruction Set.
[0247] In another embodiment (19), the invention provides a method
as in (3), wherein the at least one communications link comprises
any number of communications links, channels, and/or protocols that
comprise any number or set of homogeneous or heterogeneous
communications protocols whether wired or wireless, and whether
permanently available or intermittent.
[0248] In another embodiment (20), the invention provides a method
as in (3), wherein the heterogeneous and homogeneous communications
links, channels, and protocols are supported by an identified
hardware abstraction layer implementations that are parts of
players running on any two or more communicating devices.
[0249] In another embodiment (21), the invention provides a method
as in (20), wherein the identified hardware abstraction layer
implementations comprises a Dart Hardware Abstraction Layer
implementation that are components of the DartEngine.
[0250] In another embodiment (22), the invention provides the
method in (3), wherein the at least one communications link and a
communications protocol are used to send events of a run procedure
type, and an event identifier of the event references a file
identifying the procedure to run on the reachable device.
[0251] In another embodiment (23), the invention provides the
method in (22), wherein the events comprise DartEvents, and the run
procedure type event comprises a Dart RUN_PROCEDURE type event.
[0252] In another embodiment (24), the invention provides the
method in (3), wherein the event identifier that references a file
identifying the procedure to run on the reachable device comprises
a file identifier of the event referring to a file containing an
image of the procedure to run on the reachable device.
[0253] In another embodiment (25), the invention provides the
method in (24), wherein the file comprises a Dart compliant file
(DartFile) conforming to the DartFormat, and the image of the
procedure comprises a binary data image of a Dart Procedure
(DartProcedure).
[0254] In another embodiment (26), the invention provides the
method in (3), wherein the inspection procedures comprise either
DartProcedures or complete Darts.
[0255] In another embodiment (27), the invention provides the
method in (3), wherein the inspection procedures are sent as the
file associated with an event, and the receipt of the inspection
procedure by a reachable device as the file associated with the
event causes the inspection procedure to start executing on the
reachable devices.
[0256] In another embodiment (28), the invention provides the
method in (3), wherein the inspection procedure comprises a
DartProcedure.
[0257] In another embodiment (29), the invention provides the
method in (3), wherein resources and capabilities including base
resources and capabilities of the reachable device are determined
through use of an instruction set profile instruction.
[0258] In another embodiment (30), the invention provides the
method in (29), wherein the instruction set profile instruction
comprises a Dart compliant profile instruction
(DartProfileInstruction) of a Dart compliant instruction set
(DartInstructionSet).
[0259] In another embodiment (31), the invention provides the
method in (3), wherein the inspection procedure execution within
each reachable device determines a best rendition of the initiating
Dart embodied application according to a rendition determination
rule to be sent to the or each particular reachable device and
sends back an identifier of the determined best Rendition as part
of the returned data.
[0260] In another embodiment (32), the invention provides the
method in (31), wherein the Rendition determination rule is
embodied in as at least one procedures which is adapted to perform
any needed computations of any complexity and access any needed
profile information through a profile instruction to determine the
resources, capability, and/or state of the reachable device.
[0261] In another embodiment (33), the invention provides the
method in (31), wherein the inspection procedure execution
determines the best Rendition from a plurality of renditions by
reference to rules that define an order of Rendition, and checking
each reachable device to determine if all the requirements of each
of the plurality of Renditions are met in a predefined order of
Rendition preferences until the first Rendition in the ordered
plurality of renditions is found that meets all of the Rendition's
requirements.
[0262] In another embodiment (34), the invention provides the
method in (3), wherein the inspection procedure(s) return Darts,
procedures, data, or content to the initiating device over the
communication link using an understood communications protocol.
[0263] In another embodiment (35), the invention provides the
method in (3), wherein the returns include at least one of returned
procedures, data, or content and any one or combination of:
complete Darts, DartParts, DartProcedures, or DartEvents, and the
one or any combination may be returned with or without an
associated event file.
[0264] In another embodiment (36), the invention provides the
method in (3), wherein the return includes at least one of returned
procedures, data, content, and/or Dart and further optionally
includes a return code indicating an error has occurred, the error
code identify either that a specific error has occurred or that a
non-specific error has occurred, and the error code optionally
including information useful in correcting or communicating the
particular error and/or the nature of the error.
[0265] In another embodiment (37), the invention provides the
method of (3), wherein the application code is at least one of a
Dart, a DartProcedure, or any program of any form that can be
executed on the initiating device or on devices which the
initiating device has access to for initiating transfer or
execution of a program and making use of the results of the
execution.
[0266] In another embodiment (38), the invention provides the
method of (3), wherein the application code comprises a Dart, a
DartProcedure, or another procedural format that can execute on or
otherwise convey information to the reachable device(s) whether or
not the procedural format makes use of the DartInstructionSet, to
be executed on the reachable device.
[0267] In another embodiment (39), the invention provides the
method of (3), wherein the recruited team of devices may
dynamically extend the team to include other reachable devices or
reduce the team of devices to exclude reachable devices as desired
during the lifetime or defined period of time for execution of the
application.
[0268] In another embodiment (40), the invention provides the
method of (3), wherein the distributing is accomplished through the
sending of at least one of Darts, DartProcedures, data, content, or
other information, or any combination of these, that are
encapsulated as part of dart events (DartEvents) whether or not the
information referenced by a field in the event is sent along or as
part of the event.
[0269] In another embodiment (41), the invention provides the
method of (3), wherein the code, data, and content that have been
distributed from and among the team of devices according to the
needs of the initiating application, perform the required
operations and resource access to carry out the intent of the
originating application by executing code and optionally exchanging
whatever additional or different code, data, and content that is
necessary to carry out or coordinate the operations that are to be
performed across the team of devices to further carry out the
intent of the initiating application.
[0270] In another embodiment (42), the invention provides the
method of (3 wherein the application is embodied in a single binary
image which contains all the code that is distributed to all the
devices as part of the recruitment process.
[0271] In another embodiment (43), the invention provides the
method of (3), wherein the method further comprises
synchronization, serialization, and coordination of activates on
the team of devices, and the synchronization, serialization and
coordination is accomplished wholly or in part by the passing or
exchanging of events or DartEvents alone or optionally with a file
associated with DartEvents or events.
[0272] In another embodiment (44), the invention provides the
method of (43), wherein the events reference at least one file so
that they effectively contain and incorporate by that reference a
file or files having file images of any complexity by virtue of
that reference, and these file images are communicated along with
the event structure contents.
[0273] In another embodiment (45), the invention provides the
method of (3)), further comprises the passing or exchanging of
DartEvents events between interoperating and communicating
initiating and recruited devices alone or optionally with a file
associated with DartEvents or events, and the events effectively
contain files or other data or data structures of any complexity,
by a file identifier (field) reference in the DartEvent structure,
and that file images when referenced are always communicated along
with the event structure contents.
[0274] In another embodiment (46), the invention provides the
method of (43), wherein the DartEvents or events are automatically
copied and/or synchronized across event queues of any number of
teamed devices by the DartFramework, DartRuntime, and/or
DartEngine, or alternatively by a non-DartPlatform specific event
driven implementation, so that DartEvents or events which are
identified for automatic synchronization and which are placed on an
event queue by a Dart appear in the event queues of any number of
teamed devices in an automatically serialized and synchronized
manner.
[0275] In another embodiment (47), the invention provides the
method of (46), wherein the automatic serialization and
synchronization are accomplished by a procedure for automatic
serialization and synchronization of event driven cooperative
applications, functions or renditions running across a plurality of
cooperating devices including an initiating device, the method
comprising: instantiating a connection manager object instance on
the originating device by an application for each inter-device
cooperative function desired; communicating a list of event types
to be synchronized over all cooperating devices procedurally by the
application to the connection manager; establishing a team of
cooperating devices having one connection manager on each device
and sharing the same list of synchronization event types; and
maintaining, by the connection manager, a sessions list identifying
teamed devices and event types to be synchronized; and examining,
by the connection manager, all events to be put in the event queue,
and if a particular event examined is an event type the connection
manager knows from the sessions list should be synchronized, then
marking the event as an event to be synchronized with the other
sessions and placing the event in the event queues of the devices
listed in the connection manager.
[0276] In another embodiment (48), the invention provides the
method of (47), wherein all events to be placed on cooperating
device event queues by the any one of the event driven cooperative
applications functions or renditions are serialized by not allowing
an event to be placed on the any one device's event queue until it
receives acknowledgement that all cooperating device event queues
to which the event has been sent directly by the any one device has
successfully been placed on the cooperating devices' event
queues.
[0277] In another embodiment (49), the invention provides the
method of (48), wherein all events to be placed on cooperating
device event queues received by any one of the event driven
cooperative applications functions or renditions are serialized by
not allowing an event to be placed on the receiving any one
device's event queue until it receives acknowledgement that all
cooperating device event queues to which the event has been sent by
the any receiving one device has successfully been placed on the
cooperating devices' event queues.
[0278] In another embodiment (50), the invention provides the
method of (48), wherein any number of cooperating devices' event
queues whether the devices are communicating directly or indirectly
through a chain of directly communicating devices establishes a
single serialized system of queued events across all cooperating
devices.
[0279] In another embodiment (51), the invention provides the
method of (49), wherein any number of cooperating devices' event
queues whether the devices are communicating directly or indirectly
through a chain of directly communicating devices establishes a
single serialized system of queued events across all cooperating
devices.
[0280] In another embodiment (52), the invention provides the
method of (47), wherein events to be placed on the cooperating
devices' queues from two or more cooperating devices are
synchronized into a single serialization of events in the
cooperative devices' queues by a system where only one master
device is allowed to place the events of the types in the list of
event types to be synchronized so that all such events will be
serialized across all cooperating devices.
[0281] In another embodiment (53), the invention provides the
method of (52), wherein the master device is informed of the events
to issue on behalf of other cooperating devices by way of a master
request event type event which contains all the information needed
for the master device to place the intended event into the queues
of all cooperating devices.
[0282] In another embodiment (54), the invention provides the
method of (52), wherein each device which has been recruited into
the team of cooperating devices by another into the set of
cooperating devices considers its relative master device to be the
device that recruited it.
[0283] In another embodiment (55), the invention provides the
method of (53), wherein each device which has been recruited into
the team of cooperating devices by another into the set of
cooperating devices considers its relative master device to be the
device that recruited it.
[0284] In another embodiment (56), the invention provides the
method of (54), wherein the placing of a master request event type
event into a relative master device's queue will cause the event to
be propagated from device to relative master device until an
initiating master device which has no relative master then forms an
event using the information needed for the master device to place
the intended event into the queues of all cooperating devices.
[0285] In another embodiment (57), the invention provides the
method of (52), wherein the designated master device can be changed
by issuing to the synchronized and/or serialized queues of
cooperating devices a change master type event which is itself on
the list of serialized events which informs all devices in a
synchronized serialized manner that a new master device is to
replace the current master device.
[0286] In another embodiment (58), the invention provides the
method of (54), where the master request event propagates thorough
the queues of cooperating devices until the new master device
processes the event.
[0287] In another embodiment (59), the invention provides the
method of (55), where the master request event propagates thorough
the queues of cooperating devices until the new master device
processes the event.
[0288] In another embodiment (60), the invention provides the
method of (53), where the optional file identified as part of the
event specified to be sent by the master request event type event,
if such a file reference is present, is maintained on each
propagating device with an identifier that will allow it to be
re-associated with the event to be sent by the master as if it had
been sent as part of the event sent by the master, this in order to
reduce the amount of information that would might otherwise have to
be send as part of each event sent as the result of a master
request event type processed by the master.
[0289] In another embodiment (61), the invention provides an
initiating apparatus comprising: a processor coupled with a memory
and adapted to execute a procedure that includes instructions for
performance of an intended task; means for executing at least
partially in the processor and memory for recruiting at least one
recruited device different from and external to the apparatus to
participate in the performance of the intended task, the recruited
device including at least the hardware resources necessary for a
version of performance of the intended task; and means stored
entirely within the apparatus for supplementing the resources of
the recruited device so that the hardware resources plus the
enabling supplemented resources make the recruited device fully
enabled to perform the intended task.
[0290] In another embodiment (62), the invention provides an
initiating apparatus as in (61), wherein the apparatus and the
recruited device each operate in a common procedural environment,
and the means executing at least partially in the processor and
memory for recruiting includes means for broadcasting a procedure
implemented in the common procedural environment over at least one
connection to other devices which also include or operate in the
common procedural environment.
[0291] In another embodiment (63), the invention provides an
initiating apparatus as in (62), wherein the means for recruiting
further includes means for initiating the execution of the
procedure on the other devices to programmatically inspect the
resources and capabilities of each of the other devices in order to
determine if each device has a needed resource or capability to
participate in a performance of the particular task.
[0292] In another embodiment (64), the invention provides an
initiating apparatus as in (63), wherein the inspection is
performed in each particular other device at least in part by
accessing a device specific hardware abstraction layer information
stored in or computed about the particular device.
[0293] In another embodiment (65), the invention provides an
initiating apparatus as in (64), wherein the means for
supplementing further includes means for sending and installing
enabling procedures, data, and/or content that are required to
enable each device to carry out its part of the particular
task.
[0294] In another embodiment (66), the invention provides
an-initiating apparatus as in (61)), further including means for
temporally or permanently synchronizing operations across the
initiating and other devices, the means for synchronizing including
a task event queue and means for maintaining the task event
queue.
[0295] In another embodiment (67), the invention provides a
recruited apparatus comprising: a set of hardware resources
including a processor and a memory coupled to the processor, and
computer program code resources adapted to the performance of a set
of tasks, the hardware resources being capable or performing at
least a version of a performance of a particular task but the
computer program code resources not initially capable of
performance of a desired version or method for carrying out of the
particular task or aspect of the particular task and means for
receiving a communication including at least one of a computer
program code communication and a data communication, the computer
program code communication including supplemental computer program
code resources that render the apparatus capable of performance of
the desired version, method or aspect of the particular task.
[0296] In another embodiment (68), the invention provides a
recruited apparatus as in (67), wherein the recruited apparatus and
the initiating device each operate in a common procedural
environment.
[0297] In another embodiment (69), the invention provides a
recruited apparatus as in (68), further including means for
execution of the procedure received from the initiating device to
programmatically inspect the resources and capabilities of the
recruited device in order to determine if the recruited device has
a needed resource or capability to participate in a performance of
the particular task.
[0298] In another embodiment (70), the invention provides a
recruited apparatus as in (69), wherein the inspection is performed
in the recruited device at least in part by accessing a device
specific hardware abstraction layer information stored in or
computed about the recruited device.
[0299] In another embodiment (71), the invention provides a
recruited apparatus as in (70), further comprising means for
installing enabling procedures, data, and/or content that are
required to enable the recruited device to carry out its part of
the particular task.
[0300] In another embodiment (72), the invention provides a
recruited apparatus as in (61), further including means for
temporally synchronizing operations across the initiating device
and the recruited device, the means for synchronizing including a
task event queue and means for maintaining the task event
queue.
[0301] In another embodiment (73), the invention provides a method
for forming an integrated ad-hoc on-the-fly distributed information
processing system among a plurality of heterogeneous devices to
participate in the performance of a particular task, the method
comprising: initiating formation of the distributed information
processing system by an initiating device, the formation including
broadcasting a message using at least one communication channel and
protocol with the intention to identify and recruit other recruited
devices that may possess a resource or capability to participate in
the performance of the particular task; and communicating at least
one of procedures, data, and content as required to each of the
recruited devices so that each of the recruited devices are made
capable of carrying-out its part of the particular task.
[0302] In another embodiment (74), the invention provides a method
as in (73), further comprising: executing at least partially in a
processor and memory of the initiating device a procedure for
recruiting at least one recruited device different from and
external to the initiating device to participate in the performance
of the intended task, the recruited device including at least the
hardware resources necessary for a version of performance of the
intended task; and storing entirely within the initiating apparatus
a procedure and optional data for supplementing the resources of
the recruited device so that the hardware resources plus the
enabling supplemented resources make the recruited device fully
enabled to perform the intended task.
[0303] In another embodiment (75), the invention provides a method
as in (74), wherein the initiating device and the recruited device
each operate in a common procedural environment, and the procedure
executing at least partially in the processor and memory for
recruiting includes broadcasting a procedure implemented in the
common procedural environment over at least one connection to other
devices which also include or operate in the common procedural
environment.
[0304] In another embodiment (76), the invention provides a method
as in (75), wherein the recruiting further includes initiating the
execution of the procedure on the other devices to programmatically
inspect the resources and capabilities of each of the other devices
in order to determine if each device has a needed resource or
capability to participate in a performance of the particular
task.
[0305] In another embodiment (77), the invention provides a method
as in (76), wherein the inspection is performed in each particular
other recruited device at least in part by accessing a device
specific hardware abstraction layer information stored in or
computed about the particular device.
[0306] In another embodiment (78), the invention provides a method
as in (77), wherein the supplementing further includes sending and
installing enabling procedures, data, and/or content that are
required to enable each device to carry out its part of the
particular task.
[0307] In another embodiment (79), the invention provides a method
as in (77, further including temporally synchronizing operations
across the initiating and other recruited devices, the
synchronizing including generating and maintaining a task event
queue.
[0308] In another embodiment (80), the invention provides a method
as in (73), wherein the communication is a communication and
interaction that is neither in a client-server communication
interaction nor in a peer-to-peer communication interaction.
[0309] In another embodiment (81), the invention provides a method
as in (73), wherein the recruitment performs ad hoc device,
service, and resource discovery to identify needed devices, then
sends enabling procedures and information to the devices using
events; intelligently and effectively forms a team of devices, and
then coordinates the team of devices using events, in order to
accomplish the goal of the Dart or application or task originally
running on the source initiating device.
[0310] In another embodiment (82), the invention provides a method
as in (73), wherein the distributed information processing system
includes access and coordinated use of some or all of the physical
capabilities of the devices.
[0311] In another embodiment (83), the invention provides a method
as in (82), wherein the physical capabilities of the device are
selected from the set that optionally includes an ability to print,
fax, display, render music, render video, control other devices,
store data whether digital or analog on any media, manufacture
goods, provide elimination, take pictures, or any other physical
capabilities which can be accessed, monitored or controlled by the
processing capabilities of the devices.
[0312] In another embodiment (84), the invention provides the
method of (1), wherein the software application running on more
than one device is at least partially performing the
interoperability operations on two or more devices with code and or
data and or content that were originally part of a single software
package on the initiating device so as to enjoy a reliably of
interoperability greater than that where independently developed
and or independently distributed applications are used to perform
the interoperability operations.
[0313] In another embodiment (85), the invention provides a
computer program product for use in conjunction with a computer
system or information appliance, the computer program product
comprising a computer readable storage medium and a computer
program mechanism embedded therein, the computer program mechanism
comprising: a program module that directs the computer system or
information appliance to function in a specified manner to recruit
a team of recruited devices for interoperation, the program module
including instructions for: sending an inspection procedure
operative to find a device having a needed resource or capability
to at least one reachable device different from the initiating
source device over at least one communication link, the inspection
procedure including inspection procedure instructions coded in an
executable form common to both the initiating source device and to
the device the inspection procedure is intended to reach;
receiving, on the initiating device, the return response from each
of the reachable devices directly or indirectly over a
communication link; analyzing, by a procedure executing on the
initiating device, the received returns from all responding
reachable devices to determine a utilization plan identifying the
combination of capabilities and resources of the initiating source
device and the responding reachable devices to best carry out the
intent of the software application; and distributing, by an
application program executing on the initiating device, at least
one of executable code, data, content, and/or Dart to at least one
of each of the reachable devices identified as having a needed
resource or capability according to the identified utilization
plan.
[0314] In another embodiment (86), the invention provides a
computer program product for use in conjunction with a computer
system or information appliance, the computer program product
comprising a computer readable storage medium and a computer
program mechanism embedded therein, the computer program mechanism
comprising: a program module that directs the computer system or
information appliance to function in a specified manner to form an
integrated ad-hoc on-the-fly distributed information processing
system among a plurality of heterogeneous devices to act as a
single virtual device and participate in the performance of a
particular task, the program module including instructions for:
initiating formation of the distributed information processing
system by an initiating device, the formation including
broadcasting a message using at least one communication channel and
protocol with the intention to identify and recruit other recruited
devices that may possess a resource or capability to participate in
the performance of the particular task; and communicating at least
one of procedures, data, and content as required to each of the
recruited devices so that each of the recruited devices are made
capable of carrying-out its part of the particular task.
[0315] The features and/or elements recited in these exemplary
embodiments as well as of exemplary embodiments described elsewhere
in this detailed description or in the drawings may be combined in
many different ways so that embodiments recited above are not
limitations of the invention and additional or alternative
embodiments having any different combinations or permutations of
the features and elements are also embodiments of the
invention.
Ill. Renditioning Adaptation and Interoperability Segmentation
Model
[0316] In another aspect of the invention, system, apparatus,
method and computer program for Renditioning are provided.
Renditioning includes a methodology for segmenting interoperability
applications into a set of discrete execution units, exactly one of
which is to be selected to run on a given device or player for a
given circumstance and point in time.
[0317] In one particularly advantageous embodiment and
implementation, the Dart application framework (DartFramework)
includes Rendition objects that serve as the top of the hierarchy
of processing units called Gizmos (see FIG. 11). For purposes of
attempting to understand what a Rendition is, a single Rendition
may be thought of as complete conventional program--though it is
not the same as a conventional program in that it may be one of a
plurality of Renditions generated and packaged together with
interrelated functionality and content which is necessary to carry
out interoperability operations. Often no one Rendition from the
set could effectively or efficiently carry out the intent of the
application or package of Renditions on its own. An
interoperability application, such as a Dart, is an integrated
collection of program parts, possibly including procedures, data,
content and/or resources which know how to put together the parts
to form and manage dynamically and statically assembled programs,
or Renditions, from the parts (see FIG. 3 300, FIG. 13, FIG. 14).
Furthermore, an interoperability application or Dart contains the
means for intelligently distributing possibly different Renditions
or set of Renditions, one set for each device in a team of devices,
which can then communicate and cooperate as a team with other
Renditions of other devices of the team to effectively and
efficiently carry out the intent of the application.
[0318] The benefits of Renditioning include among others, the
sharing of parts between execution units so as to limit the size of
an interoperability application. Using conventional programming
techniques it would often be necessary to package a set of
applications so that there is one that is suitable for each target
device or environment. Without Renditioning, this would often
result in the need to store redundant procedures, data content and
resources in each of the programs in the package. Another advantage
of Renditioning is that there can be selection procedures (see FIG.
14 4000) associated with each Rendition to be used in the
Recruitment model to intelligently select the correct Rendition to
run on a target device or environment. Still another advantage of
Renditioning is that it can limit the number of adaptations
possible to a small enough set that thorough testing of the
interoperability application is possible, while allowing for a
large enough set for there to be at least one Rendition suitable to
run well on any one device or environment.
[0319] Renditions can also be used to allow the Dart tools (see
DartTools FIG. 12 200) to automatically configure the parts into
special purpose Darts to be sent to other devices. For example,
they may be prepared for printing an image or document. Such
Renditions or sets of Renditions may be created statically by the
DartTools, or dynamically through the Creationism methodology (FIG.
7 20020) described elsewhere in this document which uses an
interoperability instruction set, such as the DartInstructionSet,
or by a combination or the two possibly in conjunction with other
techniques.
[0320] Another use of Renditions is for creating a set of language
or cultural versions to be selected according to the users' needs
or desires. For example, different Renditions having essentially
the same information may be created for the French language,
Chinese language or the like; and, different renditions may provide
for somewhat different information, such as using photographs of
Japanese models for a clothing advertisement to a primarily
Japanese audience, and photographs of Italian models for the same
advertisement to be presented to an Italian or European
audience.
[0321] Still another use of Renditions is to limit the use of
content that might be objectionable, or unimportant, or otherwise
not appropriate to certain groups, for whatever reason. Yet still
another use of Renditions is to target the use of content to
certain groups or devices such as children or Texans. Even still
another use of Renditions might be to target different localities
such as Dart Renditions that contain local weather related
information,
[0322] In one aspect, Renditioning provides a method for intimately
packaging parts of a set of software applications and associated
data, procedures, content and selection criteria procedures into a
single binary image. It also provides a database of parts, their
proprieties, their identifiers and their location in the binary
image. It further provides a mapping of parts into a plurality of
individually executable software applications comprised of
procedures, and/or data and/or content. It additionally provides a
procedure or set of procedures which when executed determines which
one from a set of software applications and associated data,
procedures and content in a binary image are to be executed for a
given device, user preferences, communications characteristics,
and/or environment. It further provides a toolset which allows the
automated generation and packaging of parts into a single binary
image (or if desired into a plurality of binary or other format
images) according to a set of source materials. Aspects of
Renditioning also provide a mechanism for finding and accessing the
database of parts inside a given binary image. Example use of
distributed renditions from within and by a single Dart are
illustrated in FIG. 8 and FIG. 9.
[0323] Some particular exemplary embodiments of the renditioning
adaptation and interoperability segmentation model are also set
forth below.
[0324] In one embodiment (1), the invention provides a method for
segmenting a software application into a set of separately
executable images, the method comprising: separating the devices to
be encountered into classes according to their possible resources
and capabilities for carrying out one or more aspects of the intent
of the application; separating the environment or operating
requirements likely to be encountered into classes according to the
needs for distinct rendering or other runtime requirements for
carrying out one or more aspects of the intent of the application;
specifying the data, code, content and other digitally
representable resources needed for an executable image needed to be
able to carry out one or more aspects of the intent of the
application on each class of device and each environment or
operating requirement; generating a utilization plan for choosing
which devices and corresponding individually assigned executable
images are to be run on each device to be used to carry out the
intent of the application given a list of candidate devices, their
resources and capabilities, and the required or desired environment
or operating parameters; and specifying the data, code, content and
other digitally representable resources needed to implement and
carry out the utilization plan on each class of device and each
environment or operating requirement.
[0325] In another embodiment (2), the invention provides a method
as in (1), wherein the software application is intended to run
across one or more homogeneous or heterogeneous communicating
devices.
[0326] In another embodiment (3), the invention provides a method
as in (1), wherein exactly one such selected executable image is to
be selected to run on a given device with a particular
environment.
[0327] In another embodiment (4) the invention provides a method as
in (3), wherein the exactly one such executable image is to be
selected and run on each device in accordance with the needs of the
application with respect to the resources and capabilities of each
device and the environment and operating requirements.
[0328] In another embodiment (5), the invention provides a method
as in (3), wherein at least one of the devices is a Dart
device.
[0329] In another embodiment (6), the invention provides a method
as in (1), further comprising executing the generated utilization
plan.
[0330] In another embodiment (7), the invention provides a method
as in (1), wherein the software application expressed as a
Dart.
[0331] In another embodiment (8), the invention provides a method
as in (1), wherein the separately executing images are
renditions.
[0332] In another embodiment (9) the invention provides a method as
in (7), wherein the renditions are expressed in the form of Dart
Renditions packaged by the DartTools in conformance with the
DartFormat.
[0333] In another embodiment (10), the invention provides a method
as in (2), wherein the utilization plan of (1) is implemented in
whole or part as procedures sent to run on the candidate devices to
determine the particular class of device, its resources and/or its
operating environment.
[0334] In another embodiment (11), the invention provides a method
as in (10), wherein the procedures are DartProcedures comprised at
least in part as instructions of an Interoperability Instruction
Set.
[0335] In another embodiment (12), the invention provides a method
as in (11), wherein the Interoperability Instruction Set is the
DartInstructionSet.
[0336] In another embodiment (13), the invention provides a method
as in (11), wherein the Interoperability Instruction Set is of a
form that is executable on one or more homogeneous or heterogeneous
communicating devices which are to run procedures.
[0337] In another embodiment (14) the invention provides a method
as in (13), wherein the communicating devices run procedures to
determine the particular class of device, its resources, and/or its
operating environment.
[0338] In another embodiment (15), the invention provides a method
as in (10), wherein the procedures are expressed as Darts which are
part of the application.
[0339] In another embodiment (16), the invention provides a method
as in (15), wherein the application is expressed as a Dart which
contains other Darts used to carry out the intent of the
application on heterogeneous communicating devices.
[0340] In another embodiment (17), the invention provides a method
as in (1), wherein the recruitment method of (1) is used to send
and distribute the procedures and separate executable images to
form teams of heterogeneous or homogeneous devices.
[0341] In another embodiment (18), the invention provides a method
as in (1), wherein parts are sharable between different separately
executing images in different target devices and processing
environments so that the size of an interoperability application
may be limited.
[0342] In another embodiment (19), the invention provides a method
as in (1), wherein parts are sharable between separately executing
images so that the amount of data to be stored in the software may
be limited.
[0343] In another embodiment (20), the invention provides a method
as in (1), wherein parts are sharable between separately executing
images so that the amount of data to be communicated between
devices may be limited.
[0344] In another embodiment (21), the invention provides a method
as in (18), wherein parts are one of code, data, content,
procedures, code sets, data sets, content, content sets, meta
information on how to find and combine the parts, descriptive text,
pictures, video, images, tables of data, or any other unit of
information or set of information capable of being represented in a
digital form.
[0345] In another embodiment (21), the invention provides a method
as in (21), wherein parts are DartParts and or meta information is
expressed as Dart RenditionsTable part, and or Dart RenditionTable
parts, and or Dart PartTable, and or DartTrailer.
[0346] In another embodiment (22), the invention provides a method
for segmenting a software application into a set of separately
executable images, the method comprising: separating the devices to
be encountered into classes according to their possible resources
and capabilities; separating the environment or operating
requirements likely to be encountered into classes; specifying the
data, code, content and/or other digitally representable resources
needed for an executable image to be able to carry out one or more
aspects of the intent of the application on each class of device
and each environment or operating requirement; and generating a
utilization plan for choosing which devices and executable images
are to be run on each device to be used to carry out the intent of
the application.
[0347] In another embodiment (23), the invention provides an
apparatus for segmenting a software application into a set of
separately executable images, the apparatus comprising: means for
separating the devices to be encountered into classes according to
their possible resources and capabilities for carrying out one or
more aspects of the intent of the application; means for separating
the environment or operating requirements likely to be encountered
into classes according to the needs for distinct rendering or other
runtime requirements for carrying out one or more aspects of the
intent of the application; means for specifying the data, code,
content and other digitally representable resources needed for an
executable image needed to be able to carry out one or more aspects
of the intent of the application on each class of device and each
environment or operating requirement; means for generating a
utilization plan for choosing which devices and corresponding
individually assigned executable images are to be run on each
device to be used to carry out the intent of the application given
a list of candidate devices, their resources and capabilities, and
the required or desired environment or operating parameters; and
means for specifying the data, code, content and other digitally
representable resources needed to implement and carry out the
utilization plan on each class of device and each environment or
operating requirement.
[0348] In another embodiment (24), the invention provides a
computer program product for use in conjunction with a computer
system or information appliance, the computer program product
comprising a computer readable storage medium and a computer
program mechanism embedded therein, the computer program mechanism
comprising: a program module that directs the computer system or
information appliance to function in a specified manner to segment
a computer program software code application into a set of
separately executable computer program software code images, the
program module including instructions for: separating the devices
to be encountered into classes according to their possible
resources and capabilities; separating the environment or operating
requirements likely to be encountered into classes; specifying the
data, code, content, and/or other digitally representable resources
needed for an executable image to be able to carry out one or more
aspects of the intent of the application on each class of device
and each environment or operating requirement; and generating a
utilization plan for choosing which devices and executable images
are to be run on each device to be used to carry out the intent of
the application.
[0349] In another embodiment (25), the invention provides a
computer program product for use in conjunction with a computer
system or information appliance, the computer program product
comprising a computer readable storage medium and a computer
program mechanism embedded therein, the computer program mechanism
comprising: a program module that directs the computer system or
information appliance to function in a specified manner to segment
a computer program software code application into a set of
separately executable computer program software code images, the
program module including instructions for: separating the devices
to be encountered into classes according to their possible
resources and capabilities for carrying out one or more aspects of
the intent of the application; separating the environment or
operating requirements likely to be encountered into classes
according to the needs for distinct rendering or other runtime
requirements for carrying out one or more aspects of the intent of
the application; specifying the data, code, content and other
digitally representable resources needed for an executable image
needed to be able to carry out one or more aspects of the intent of
the application on each class of device and each environment or
operating requirement; generating a utilization plan for choosing
which devices and corresponding individually assigned executable
images are to be run on each device to be used to carry out the
intent of the application given a list of candidate devices, their
resources and capabilities, and the required or desired environment
or operating parameters; and specifying the data, code, content and
other digitally representable resources needed to implement and
carry out the utilization plan on each class of device and each
environment or operating requirement.
[0350] The features and/or elements recited in these exemplary
embodiments as well as of exemplary embodiments described elsewhere
in this detailed description or in the drawings may be combined in
many different ways so that embodiments recited above are not
limitations of the invention and additional or alternative
embodiments having any different combinations or permutations of
the features and elements are also embodiments of the
invention.
IV. DartSource/Interoperability Source
[0351] Recall that the DartSource provides structure and method for
specifying all the program renditions and the code content and data
needed for a packaged Dart interoperability application. DartSource
extends the languages constructs commonly used to specify single
executable program targeted to a specific device, into a language
which can also specify the procedures necessary for intelligent
recruitment of teams of devices and the renditions needed so that
there is a suitable rendition to send to run on each recruited
device to carry out that device's portion of the intended purpose
of the application being specified.
[0352] In one embodiment (1), the invention provides a method for
specifying a software application package of digitally encoded
data, code and content, along with meta information in the form of
data, code and content needed to carry out an intended purpose
(intent) on one or more connected or intermittently connected
devices; the method comprising expressing in an interoperability
software programming language one or more or any combination of the
following: (a) an object oriented framework and or library; (b)
source code for expressing the main code and data used to carry out
the logic of the application, whether to be expressed as one
executable image or an integrated set of executable images; (c)
digitally expressible resources; and (d) system calls or
instruction invocations necessary for connecting the logic of the
application to the native underlying hardware and software of the
device(s).
[0353] In another embodiment (2), the invention provides the method
of (1), where the system calls or instructions are used to connect
the logic of the application to one or more of the following native
underlying hardware and software of the device: (a) software
engine; (b) software operating system; (c) communications
subsystem; (d) graphics subsystem; (e) cryptographic subsystem; (f
security subsystem; (g) storage, audio rendering, and or
input/output subsystems; (h) native code expressed algorithms or
procedures; (i) media compression and or decompression subsystems;
0) data processing or database processing; (0) device specific
unique functions and capabilities exposed through application
program interfaces; (k) device specific profile information for
retrieving information about the resources, content and
capabilities of the device; (I) an event queue and associated event
queue management subsystem to drive the synchronous and
asynchronous operations of the application across devices; (m) user
interface, text, audio, video or other transcoding or rendering
operations, and or general computation operations, and or general
database operations; (n) power management, suspend/resume, and or
application level error recovery from intermittent connections
through the use of events to drive the sharing and cooperative
operations of software, data, content and state within and or
between one or more cooperating devices; (o) subsystems to
dynamically save, configure, optimize and or send parts, packages
of parts, procedures, executable images, or packages of executable
images to or from physical storage, or to and from other connected
devices; and (p) any combination of these.
[0354] In another embodiment (3), the invention provides the method
of (1), wherein the framework or library and/or source code
includes class definitions and object implementations to carry out,
encapsulate, order access to, and/or organize one or more of the
native underlying software or hardware accessible which are listed
in (a)-(p).
[0355] In another embodiment (4), the invention provides the method
of (1), wherein the framework -.or library and/or source code
includes class definitions and object implementations to provide a
basis for conforming to specific runtime conventions used for event
driven execution on or amongst one or more cooperating devices.
[0356] In another embodiment (5), the invention provides the method
of (1), wherein the framework or library and/or source code
includes class definitions and object implementations to ensure
synchronous processing of events within an executable, and
synchronized operation between devices by serializing the
processing of events between parts of the software application
distributed and then run on a set of cooperating devices.
[0357] In another embodiment (6), the invention provides the method
of (1), wherein the framework comprises the DartFramework.
[0358] In another embodiment (7), the invention provides the method
of (1), wherein source code is expressed at least in part in any
one or more of: a version or extension of the C programming
language, a version or extension of the C++ programming language, a
processor assembly language, an interoperability instruction set,
the DartInstructionSet, or any other suitable high-level,
mid-level, low-level or machine language.
[0359] In another embodiment (8), the invention provides the method
of (1), wherein the interoperability software programming language
is an extension of an existing program language for expressing a
single application executable image with one or more of the
following extensions: (i) semantics for specifying resources to be
made into parts of the output package; (ii) semantics for
specifying independently executable procedures to be made into
parts of the output package that is the result of processing the
source; (iii) semantics for referencing parts or ids of the parts;
(iv) semantics for specifying separately executable image starting
points; (v) semantics for referencing the separately executable
images to be encapsulated into the output package or packages that
is the result of processing of the source; and (vi) any combination
of these In another embodiment (9), the invention provides the
method of (8), wherein the existing application program language
comprises the C or C++ programming language.
[0360] In another embodiment (10), the invention provides the
method of (9), wherein one or more of the extensions are expressed
as #pragma statements.
[0361] In another embodiment (11), the invention provides the
method of (9), wherein one or more of the extensions are expressed
as builtin functions with reserved names known to the software
tools that parse and processes the source code expressed in the
application program language.
[0362] In another embodiment (12), the invention provides the
method of (9, wherein the extensions are parsed and processed by
the DartTools.
[0363] In another embodiment (13), the invention provides the
method of (11), wherein the extensions are parsed and processed by
the DartTools. In another embodiment (14), the invention provides
the method of (1), wherein the digitally expressible resources are
selected from the set of resources consisting of one or more of:
(i) a JPEG, PNG, GIF, TIFF, MPEG, or any other picture, video,
audio or other media formats resource; (ii) a Darts or any other
executable package format resource, whether intended to run on one
or a plurality of devices; (iii) a Content resource; (iv) a Code
resource; (v) a Dataset resource; (vi) a Database resource; (vii)
an Index resource; (viii)any other digitally representable unit or
package of information resource; and (ix) any combination of theses
resources.
[0364] In another embodiment (15), the invention provides the
method of (1), wherein the interoperability software application is
expressed as a Dart.
[0365] In another embodiment (16), the invention provides the
method of (2), wherein the software engine is the DartEngine.
[0366] In another embodiment (17), the invention provides the
method of (2), wherein the system calls or instructions used to
connect the logic of the application are from an Interoperability
Instruction Set.
[0367] In another embodiment (18), the invention provides the
method of (17), wherein the Interoperability Instruction Set is the
DartInstructionSet.
[0368] In another embodiment (19), the invention provides the
method of (2), wherein the device specific unique functions and
capabilities exposed through application program interfaces are
implemented in the hardware abstraction layer of the DartEngine
through the use of the OEM_BUILTIN_INSTRUCTION
[0369] In another embodiment (20), the invention provides the
method of (2), wherein the device specific profile information for
retrieving information about the resources, content and
capabilities of the device are accessed from the hardware
abstraction layer of the DartEngine through the use of the
PROFILE_INSTRUCTION.
[0370] In another embodiment (21), the invention provides the
method of (2), wherein the subsystems to dynamically save,
configure, optimize and or send parts, packages of parts,
procedures, executable images, or packages of executable images to
or from physical storage, or to and from other connected devices
carry out these operations according to a creationism
procedure.
[0371] In another embodiment (22), the invention provides the
method of (2), wherein the event queue management are carried out
according to a Recruitment method.
[0372] In another embodiment (23), the invention provides the
method of (2), wherein the power management, suspend/resume, and or
application level error recovery are carried out using a
LinearTasking method and/or a VerticalLayering method.
[0373] In another embodiment (24), the invention provides the
method of (3), wherein the framework or library and or source code
are the DartFramework.
[0374] In another embodiment (25), the invention provides the
method of (4), wherein specific runtime conventions are the
conventions of the DartRuntime method.
[0375] In another embodiment (26), the invention provides an
apparatus for specifying a software application package of
digitally encoded data, code and content, along with meta
information in the form of data, code and content needed to carry
out an intended purpose (intent) on one or more connected or
intermittently connected devices; the apparatus comprising: a
processor and a memory coupled with the processor; and means
accessible to the processor for expressing in an interoperability
software programming language one or more or any combination of the
following: (a) an object oriented framework and or library; (b)
source code for expressing the main code and data used to carry out
the logic of the application, whether to be expressed as one
executable image or an integrated set of executable images; (c)
digitally expressible resources; and (d) system calls or
instruction invocations necessary for connecting the logic of the
application to the native underlying hardware and software of the
device(s).
[0376] In another embodiment (27), the invention provides a
computer program product for use in conjunction with a computer
system or information appliance, the computer program product
comprising a computer readable storage medium and a computer
program mechanism embedded therein, the computer program mechanism
comprising: a program module that directs the computer system or
information appliance to function in a specified manner to specify
an application package of digitally encoded data, code and/or
content, optionally along with meta information in the form of
data, code and/or content needed or desirable to carry out an
intended purpose on one or more connected or intermittently
connected devices, the program module including instructions for
expressing in an interoperability software programming language one
or more or any combination of the following: (a) an object oriented
framework and/or library; (b) source code or executable code for
expressing the main code and data used to carry out the logic of
the application, whether to be expressed as one executable image or
an integrated set of executable images; (c) digitally expressible
resources; and (d) system calls or instruction invocations
necessary for connecting the logic of the application to the native
underlying hardware and software of the device(s).
[0377] The features and/or elements recited in these exemplary
embodiments as well as of exemplary embodiments described elsewhere
in this detailed description or in the drawings may be combined in
many different ways so that embodiments recited above are not
limitations of the invention and additional or alternative
embodiments having any different combinations or permutations of
the features and elements are also embodiments of the
invention.
V. DartFramework/Interoperability Framework
[0378] Recall that the DartFramework is the portion of the
DartSource provided for use by programmers in building
interoperability applications which encapsulate access to many of
the advantageous features of the DartPlatform eliminating the need
for the programmer to have to understand and implement many of the
desired interoperability features of the DartPlatform. Additional
aspects of the Interoperability Framework including aspects of the
more particular DartFramework are also described relative to the
linear tasking section of this description.
[0379] In one embodiment (1), the invention provides a method for
specifying an object oriented interoperability framework having a
set of object oriented class definitions, and implementation code
thereof to be used as part of the source specifications of an event
driven software application package, the method comprising: (i)
specifying using an object oriented language as a base event
processing class that contains at least the following data and code
members: (a) a process member that takes as a parameter a reference
or copy of an instance of an event data structure; and (b) an
ordered list member of references to or instances of other event
processing objects which have the same base class; and (ii)
implementing the members and methods of the class specification in
source code.
[0380] In another embodiment (2), the invention provides the method
of (1), wherein the software application package is designed and
implemented to carry out an intended purpose (intent) on one or
more connected or intermittently connected devices.
[0381] In another embodiment (3), the invention provides the method
of (2), wherein the software application package conforms to the
DartFormat.
[0382] In another embodiment (4), the invention provides the method
of (1), wherein the base class is the Dart Gizmo class.
[0383] In another embodiment (5), the invention provides the method
of (1), where there is also a rendition class that inherits from
the base class which serves as the root of a tree of inheriting
instances of the base class where the parameter of the process
member is optionally an empty or NULL reference.
[0384] In another embodiment (6), the invention provides the method
of (5), where the rendition class is used to signify the beginning
entry point for execution of a separately executable image that is
to be embodied in the output package or packages to be generated
from the source code that makes use of the object oriented
interoperability framework.
[0385] In another embodiment (7), the invention provides the method
of (5), where a master rendition class is specified as part of the
framework wherein the base class is the Dart Gizmo class which
inherits from the rendition class that contains a list of
references to or instances of rendition objects.
[0386] In another embodiment (8), the invention provides the method
of (7), where the execution of a specified method of the master
rendition class results in the filling in of its list of renditions
that serve as the starting point for independently executable
images that are to be included in the output package or output
packages that result from the processing of the source code with
makes use of the framework.
[0387] In another embodiment (9), the invention provides the method
of (5), wherein the rendition class is a Dart Rendition class which
inherits from the Gizmo base class.
[0388] In another embodiment (10), the invention provides the
method of (7), wherein the master rendition class is a Dart
MasterRendition class which inherits from the Dart Rendition
class.
[0389] In another embodiment (11), the invention provides the
method of (2), wherein there are object oriented class definitions
and/or implementation code are for performing one or more of the
following functions or operations: (i) rendering, and/or managing
and/or editing of any one or more of video, audio, pictures,
images, animations, text, symbols, graphics or any other media
type, code, content or data representable as a sequence of digital
numbers; (ii) intelligently limiting or ordering access to data,
resources, and/or code, to one or more of database records, fields
of records, sound, video, audio, text from different processing
units; (ii) container classes for collecting, ordering, editing,
managing and controlling access to object instances or structures;
and (iv) user interface elements and the processing thereof
including any one or more of the following: menus, buttons,
selection boxes, text boxes, radio buttons, checkboxes, dropdown
selection boxes, tables, windows or any other user input or device
output used to interact with a user or software running on an
external processor.
[0390] In another embodiment (12), the invention provides a
computer program product for use in conjunction with a computer
system or information appliance, the computer program product
comprising a computer readable storage medium and a computer
program mechanism embedded therein, the computer program mechanism
comprising: a program module that directs the computer system or
information appliance to function in a specified manner to specify
an object oriented interoperability framework having a set of
object oriented class definitions and implementation code thereof
to be used as part of the source specifications of an event driven
software application package, the program module including
instructions for: (i) specifying using an object oriented language
as a base event processing class that contains at least the
following data and code members: (a) a process member that takes as
a parameter a reference or copy of an instance of an event data
structure; and (b) an ordered list member of references to or
instances of other event processing objects which have the same
base class; and (ii) implementing the members and methods of the
class specification in source code.
[0391] In another embodiment (13), the invention provides a
computer program product as in (12, wherein the application package
is designed and implemented to carry out an intended purpose
(intent) on one or more connected or intermittently connected
devices.
[0392] In another embodiment (14), the invention provides a
computer program product as in (12), wherein there are object
oriented class definitions and/or implementation code for
performing one or more of the following functions or operations:
(i) rendering, and/or managing and/or editing of any one or more of
video, audio, pictures, images, animations, text, symbols, graphics
or any other media type, code, content or data representable as a
sequence of digital numbers; (ii) intelligently limiting or
ordering access to data, resources, and/or code, to one or more of
database records, fields of records, sound, video, audio, text from
different processing units; (ii) container classes for collecting,
ordering, editing, managing and controlling access to object
instances or structures; and (iv) user interface elements and the
processing thereof including any one or more of the following:
menus, buttons, selection boxes, text boxes, radio buttons,
checkboxes, dropdown selection boxes, tables, windows or any other
user input or device output used to interact with a user or
software running on an external processor.
[0393] In another embodiment (15), the invention provides an
apparatus for specifying an object oriented interoperability
framework having a set of object oriented class definitions, and
implementation code thereof to be used as part of the source
specifications of an event driven software application package, the
apparatus comprising: a processor logic and a memory coupled with
the processor logic; means, accessible by the processor, specifying
using an object oriented language as a base event processing class
that contains at least the following data and code members: (a) a
process member that takes as a parameter a reference or copy of an
instance of an event data structure; and (b) an ordered list member
of references to or instances of other event processing objects
which have the same base class; and means for implementing the
members and methods of the class specification in source code.
[0394] In another embodiment (16), the invention provides an
apparatus as in (15), wherein the means specifying using an object
oriented language as a base event processing class comprises a
computer program or a computer program product.
[0395] In another embodiment (17), the invention provides an
apparatus as in (15), wherein the means for implementing the
members and methods of the class specification in source code
comprises a computer program or a computer program product.
[0396] The features and/or elements recited in these exemplary
embodiments as well as of exemplary embodiments described elsewhere
in this detailed description or in the drawings may be combined in
many different ways so that embodiments recited above are not
limitations of the invention and additional or alternative
embodiments having any different combinations or permutations of
the features and elements are also embodiments of the
invention.
VI. DartTools/Interoperability Tools
[0397] Recall that the DartTools process the DartSource application
specification into the Dart application packages.
[0398] In one embodiment (1), the invention provides a method for
generating an interoperability software application package of
digitally encoded information, along with meta information needed
to carry out an intended purpose (intent) on one or more connected
or intermittently connected devices; the method comprising:
processing of source materials through an interoperability compiler
process [software product] to create object files; and processing
the object files and optional libraries through an interoperability
linker process to create libraries or an interoperability software
application package.
[0399] In another embodiment (2), the invention provides the method
of (1), wherein the digitally encoded information comprises
digitally encoded data, code and/or content and the meta
information comprises meta information in the form of data, code
and/or content.
[0400] In another embodiment (3), the invention provides the method
of (1), wherein the interoperability compiler process is
implemented as a compiler computer program software product and the
linker process is implemented as a linker computer program software
product.
[0401] In another embodiment (4), the invention provides the method
of (1), wherein the source materials are assembled according to an
Interoperability Source method.
[0402] In another embodiment (5), the invention provides the method
of (4), wherein the Interoperability source method includes a
procedure for specifying a software application package of
digitally encoded data, code and content, along with meta
information in the form of data, code and content needed to carry
out an intended purpose (intent) on one or more connected or
intermittently connected devices; and the method comprising
expressing in an interoperability software programming language one
or more or any combination of the following: (a) an object oriented
framework and or library; (b) source code for expressing the main
code and data used to carry out the logic of the application,
whether to be expressed as one executable image or an integrated
set of executable images; (c) digitally expressible resources; and
(d) system calls or instruction invocations necessary for
connecting the logic of the application to the native underlying
hardware and software of the device(s).
[0403] In another embodiment (6), the invention provides the method
of (1), wherein the compiler and linker are combined into a single
compiler/linker software tool product.
[0404] In another embodiment (7), the invention provides the method
of (1), wherein an optional master software application package is
optionally further processed into one or more other
interoperability software packages.
[0405] In another embodiment (8), the invention provides the method
of (7), wherein the optional master software application package is
optionally processed into other interoperability software packages
by the use of an interoperability master player software
product.
[0406] In another embodiment (9), the invention provides the method
of (1), wherein the source materials comprise DartSource source
materials.
[0407] In another embodiment (10), the invention provides the
method of (1), wherein the interoperability software application
comprises a Dart conforming to the DartFormat.
[0408] In another embodiment (11), the invention provides the
method of (10), wherein the Dart conforming to the DartFormat is
operable within an object oriented interoperability framework
having a set of object oriented class definitions, and
implementation code thereof to be used as part of the source
specifications of an event driven software application package, the
object oriented interoperability framework formed according to a
procedure comprising: (i) specifying using an object oriented
language as a base event processing class that contains at least
the following data and code members: (a) a process member that
takes as a parameter a reference or copy of an instance of an event
data structure; and (b) an ordered list member-of references to or
instances of other event processing objects which have the same
base class; and (ii) implementing the members and methods of the
class specification in source code.
[0409] In another embodiment (12), the invention provides the
method of (1), wherein the interoperability compiler comprises the
DartCompiler.
[0410] In another embodiment (13), the invention provides the
method of (1), wherein the interoperability linker comprises the
DartLinker.
[0411] In another embodiment (14), the invention provides the
method of (7), wherein the optional master software application
comprises a DartMaster.
[0412] In another embodiment (15), the invention provides the
method of (8), wherein the interoperability master player comprises
a Dart MasterPlayer.
[0413] In another embodiment (16), the invention provides the
method of (1), wherein the source materials include code and data
references in a software programming language which has been
extended to include one or more or any combination of the following
semantics: (1) first semantics for specifying resources to be made
into parts of the output package; (2) second semantics for
specifying independently executable procedures to be made into
parts of the output package that is the result of processing the
source; (3) third semantics for referencing parts or ids of the
parts of the output packages; (4) fourth semantics for generating
the parts or ids of the parts of the output packages for use at
runtime by code or data structure instances in the source code; (5)
fifth semantics for specifying separately executable image starting
points; (6) sixth semantics for referencing the separately
executable images to be encapsulated into the output package or
packages that is the result of processing of the source; and (7)
seventh semantics for specifying the processing needed to direct
the compiler and/or the linker and/or the master player software
products to include at least one of parts, corresponding part table
entries, and other data in the package for identifying pointer
variables which are to effectively point to a private memory
address space independent from all other such pointers, procedures,
main program data, main and program code.
[0414] In another embodiment (17), the invention provides the
method of (16), wherein the application program language is a
version of the C or C++ programming language.
[0415] In another embodiment (18), the invention provides the
method of (16), wherein one or more of the extensions are expressed
as C or C++ #pragma statements.
[0416] In another embodiment (19), the invention provides the
method of (16), wherein one or more of the extensions are expressed
as builtin functions with reserved names known to the
interoperability compiler that parses and processes the source code
expressed in the application program language.
[0417] In another embodiment (20), the invention provides the
method of (16), wherein the software programming language is the
DartInstructionSet or any other programming language which is known
to be Turing Complete.
[0418] In another embodiment (21), the invention provides the
method of (16), where the interoperability compiler and
interoperability linker include parsing and processing of program
statements conforming to the semantics of one or more of the listed
semantics.
[0419] In another embodiment (22), the invention provides the
method of (16), wherein the resources are selected from the set
consisting of one or more or any combination of the following: (i)
an external file or any other binary data image accessible by the
compiler, linker and/or master player procedures or software
products; (ii) a data structure instance specified in the source
code; (iii) a procedure or function whether or not the procedure is
a DartProcedure specified in the source code; (iv) an executable
program, an executable package, or a Dart; and (v) any combination
of any number of the above whether stored separately, packaged
together, and/or compressed and/or encrypted.
[0420] In another embodiment (23), the invention provides the
method of (16), wherein the resources are included by reference in
a #pragma statement which causes the compiler, linker and/or
optional master player procedure or software products to include
the resources as parts of the output package.
[0421] In another embodiment (24), the invention provides the
method of (16), wherein the parts are linear contiguous binary
images to be placed into packages or Dart parts assigned and
referenced as part of a package by a scalar identifier partId with
a value which is unique in the package.
[0422] In another embodiment (25), the invention provides the
method of (16), wherein a part table is also generated by the
compiler, linker, and/or master player as part of the output
packages with information used to find the part image inside the
package, and to provide parameters or descriptive information
relevant to the part.
[0423] In another embodiment (26), the invention provides the
method of (25), wherein the parameters or descriptive information
are one or more or any combination of the following: (i) a scaler
or text describing the content type of the part; (ii) an offset
into the package where the part starts; (iii) an offset into the
package where the part ends, or a length of the part so that the
part end can be computed; (iv) a flags or plurality of flags to
indicate special processing options for the part according to the
content type for the loading, usage and or saving of the package or
part; and (v) optionally other content type specific parameters
which are specific to the content type.
[0424] In another embodiment (27), the invention provides the
method of (25), wherein the part table is the Dart PartTable
conforming to the DartFormat.
[0425] In another embodiment (28), the invention provides the
method of (16), wherein the pointer variables are to function as
virtual pointers.
[0426] In another embodiment (29), the invention provides the
method of (16), wherein the pointer variables are Dart
VirtualPointers.
[0427] In another embodiment (30), the invention provides a method
as in (16), wherein the second semantic executable procedures
include DartProcedures.
[0428] In another embodiment (31), the invention provides a method
as in (16), wherein the second semantics take the form conforming
generally to the following: #pragma Procedure(<name of
function>).
[0429] In another embodiment (32), the invention provides a method
as in (16), wherein the first semantics take the form conforming
generally to one or more of the following: (1) #pragma
FileToPart(<file path and name> <parameters such as
content type, picture size destined for parameters of
PartTableRecord>); or (2) #pragma partvariable(<variable or
structure name>).
[0430] In another embodiment (33), the invention provides a method
as in (16), wherein the fourth semantic ids are PartIds used in the
PartTableRecords and other sections of the DartFormat.
[0431] In another embodiment (34), the invention provides a method
as in (16), wherein the third semantics take the form conforming
generally to the following: partnumberof(<identifier
name>).
[0432] In another embodiment (35), the invention provides a method
as in (16), wherein the seventh semantics take the form conforming
generally to the following: #pragma virtualpointer (<pointer
variable identifier> <values to control optional automatic
saving of values when a Dart SAVE_INSTRUCTION is executed and to
control the number of real memory pages to be used>).
[0433] In another embodiment (36), the invention provides the
method of (1), wherein the interoperability compiler,
interoperability linker and interoperability master player are the
DartTools.
[0434] In another embodiment (37), the invention provides the
method of (1), wherein the interoperability software application
package comprises a Dart conforming to the DartFormat.
[0435] In another embodiment (38), the invention provides the
method of (8), where as an option, the source code specifies a
single master independently executable image that is output in the
package generated by the compiler and/or the linker along with
extra parts containing object class, instance, and linkage
information used when the package is executed on an optional
software tool product or the master player, to intelligently
generate one or more packages.
[0436] In another embodiment (39), the invention provides the
method of (38), wherein a single master independently executable
image execution entry point is an entry point to a method of a
special derived class from the base event processing class, with
the following added features: (i) data elements and/or methods to
form, hold and manage a list of special object base class or
derived class object instances and/or references to such instances
that are to be output in a particular package; and (ii) one or more
setup methods which are called when the master is executed.
[0437] In another embodiment (40), the invention provides the
method of (38), wherein a single master independently executable
image execution entry point is an entry point to a method of a
special derived class from the base event processing class, the
method being for specifying an object oriented interoperability
framework having a set of object oriented class definitions, and
implementation code thereof to be used as part of the source
specifications of an event driven software application package, and
the method comprising: (i) specifying using an object oriented
language as a base event processing class that contains at least
the following data and code members: (a) a process member that
takes as a parameter a reference or copy of an instance of an event
data structure; and (b) an ordered list member of references to or
instances of other event processing objects which have the same
base class; and (ii) implementing the members and methods of the
class specification in source code; the method further including:
(i) providing data elements and/or methods to form, hold and manage
a list of special object base class or derived class object
instances and/or references to such instances that are to be output
in a particular package; and (ii) providing one or more setup
methods which are called when the master is executed.
[0438] In another embodiment (41). the invention provides the
method of (39), wherein the execution of the master results
according to the specifications of the source in the forming of the
list.
[0439] In another embodiment (42), the invention provides the
method of (38), wherein the special derived class is a Dart
Rendition class.
[0440] In another embodiment (43), the invention provides the
method of (39), wherein the single master independently executable
image is a Dart Rendition inside a Dart.
[0441] In another embodiment (44), the invention provides the
method of (41), wherein as an option the execution which results in
the forming of the list also include configuring, creating,
optimizing, adding parts to or otherwise affecting the
independently executable images that are referenced by the
list.
[0442] In another embodiment (45), the invention provides the
method of (44), wherein the list is formed and the configuring,
creating, optimizing and/or adding parts to or otherwise affecting
the generation or makeup of independently executable images is
performed using input from or more of the following sources: (i) a
human input solicited during the master's execution; (ii) an
automated procedure that was specified by the source code; (iii) an
information collected from the computing device on which the master
is executing by the executing code of the master package; (iv) an
information collected from any number of computing devices over any
number of communications mediums by the executing code of the
master package; and (v) combinations of these.
[0443] In another embodiment (46), the invention provides the
method of (39), wherein as a step for each package to be produced
by executing the master on a master player, the generated list is
used to find the starting points for all the independently
executable images and the assembly of the package is performed
according to a procedure comprising the steps:(i) identifying the
execution entry point of one of the derived class object instances
and or references on the list; (ii) recursively or interactively
tracing all the possible execution paths starting at the execution
entry point while keeping track of all the reachable elements;
(iii) generating all the code, data, resources, and other digitally
representable parts necessary to form a single executable image for
placement in a package which includes all the reachable elements
that have been tracked; (iv) performing steps (i), (ii) and (iii)
for each of the derived class object instances and or references on
the list; and (v) generating a package of individually executable
images.
[0444] In another embodiment (47), the invention provides the
method of (39), wherein the generating of a package of individually
executable images comprises at least one of the following: a) meta
information necessary for locating, loading, and extracting each
individual executable image; and b) parts which together contain
all the reachable elements that have been tracked for all the
separately executable images.
[0445] In another embodiment (48), the invention provides the
method of (39), wherein the recursively or interactively tracing
all the possible execution paths starting at the execution entry
point while keeping track of all the reachable elements, includes
keeping track of all reachable variables, data structure instances,
functions and all the objects that are pointed to or otherwise
referenced by the data in or by the methods, variables, data
structure instances, functions and objects, and further iteratively
or recursively all such elements to which these point to or
reference.
[0446] In another embodiment (49), the invention provides the
method of (46), wherein elements not tracked as being reachable are
not generated as meta information or parts or any other
representation of the package to reduce the size and or complexity
of the package, or the handling or execution of the package or
parts of the package.
[0447] In another embodiment (50), the invention provides the
method of (38), wherein processing of the master by a master player
is used for one or more or any combination of the following
purposes: (i) as a program generator for dynamic customization of
one or a plurality of packages; (ii) to collect real-time
information that is to be part of the generated package or packages
that was not collected or was not obtainable at the time of
compiling and or linking of the master; (iii) as a graphical user
interface for interactively selecting, laying out, and/or providing
new information needed to generate particular packages; (iv) for
creating, and/or viewing, and/or testing, and/or correcting, and/or
building various aspects of various independently executable images
or sets of independently executable images to be output in one or
more packages in an optionally interactive manner with optional
visual feedback of the changing characteristics of the package or
packages to be output; and (v) for dynamically generating tables,
code, content, or other resources, or collections thereof to be
used as parts of the generated package or packages.
[0448] In another embodiment (51), the invention provides the
method of (49), wherein the processing of the master beneficially
avoids the need to recompile and or relink or otherwise re-process
the source code.
[0449] In another embodiment (52), the invention provides the
method of (49), wherein the user interface is presented as part of
the execution of the master for customizing the package
generation.
[0450] In another embodiment (53), the invention provides the
method of (52), wherein the user interface is presented according
to the code, data and/or resources of the master.
[0451] In another embodiment (54), the invention provides the
method of (48), wherein some subset of the code, data and or
resources that are elements of the master for carrying out the
purposes are referenced only as the result of execution starting at
execution entry points of derived class object instances that are
not on the list.
[0452] In another embodiment (55), the invention provides the
method of (49), wherein'some subset of the code, data and or
resources that are elements of the master for carrying out the
purposes are referenced only as the result of execution starting at
execution entry points of derived class object instances that are
not on the list.
[0453] In another embodiment (56), the invention provides the
method of (54), wherein the subset is left out of the generated
package.
[0454] In another embodiment (57), the invention provides the
method of (56), wherein the subset is left out to decrease the size
of the package or reduce the complexity of the package.
[0455] In another embodiment (58), the invention provides the
method of (46), wherein tracking information about reachable
elements or sets of elements also includes further information for
each such element or set of elements an access list containing on
this access list all the entries from which the particular element
or set of elements is reachable.
[0456] In another embodiment (59), the invention provides a method
as in (46), wherein the individual part binary images are sharable
between the independently executable images so that the size of an
interoperability application may be limited.
[0457] In another embodiment (60), the invention provides the
method of (59), wherein the further information is used by the
master player product to produce a package or packages where parts
image instances inside the generated package are shared amongst the
separately executable images rather than having to duplicate such
part images for each separately executable image in the package
which logically contains the part image.
[0458] In another embodiment (61), the invention provides the
method of (58), wherein one or more procedural elements of the
package are compiled/linked and optionally processed by the master
player into a form conforming to a Interoperability Instructions
Set.
[0459] In another embodiment (62), the invention provides a
computer program product for use in conjunction with a computer
system or information appliance, the computer program product
comprising a computer readable storage medium and a computer
program mechanism embedded therein, the computer program mechanism
comprising: a program module that directs the computer system or
information appliance to function in a specified manner to generate
an interoperability software application package of digitally
encoded information, optionally along with meta information needed
to carry out an intended purpose on one or more connected or
intermittently connected devices, the program module including
instructions for: processing of source materials through an
interoperability compiler process [software product] to create
object files; and processing the object files and optional
libraries through an interoperability linker process to create
libraries or an interoperability software application package.
[0460] In another embodiment (63), the invention provides a
computer program product as in (62), wherein the digitally encoded
information comprises digitally encoded data, code and/or content
and the meta information comprises meta information in the form of
data, code and/or content.
[0461] In another embodiment (64), the invention provides a
computer program product as in (62), wherein the interoperability
compiler process is implemented as a compiler computer program
software product and the linker process is implemented as a linker
computer program software product.
[0462] In another embodiment (65), the invention provides a
computer program product as in (62), wherein the source materials
are assembled according to an Interoperability Source method.
[0463] In another embodiment (66), the invention provides a
computer program product as in (65), wherein the Interoperability
source method includes a procedure for specifying a software
application package of digitally encoded data, code and content,
along with meta information in the form of data, code and content
needed to carry out an intended purpose (intent) on one or more
connected or intermittently connected devices; and the method
comprising expressing in an interoperability software programming
language one or more or any combination of the following: (a) an
object oriented framework and or library; (b) source code for
expressing the main code and data used to carry out the logic of
the application, whether to be expressed as one executable image or
an integrated set of executable images; (c) digitally expressible
resources; and (d) system calls or instruction invocations
necessary for connecting the logic of the application to the native
underlying hardware and software of the device(s).
[0464] In another embodiment (67), the invention provides an
interoperability software products tool set whether packaged
separately, dynamically linked together, or packaged into a single
executable in any combination comprising: a) an interoperability
compiler; b) an interoperability linker; and c) an interoperability
master player.
[0465] In another embodiment (68), the invention provides the
interoperability software products tool set of (67), wherein the
interoperability compiler and linker in combination execute a
method for generating an interoperability software application
package of digitally encoded information, along with meta
information needed to carry out an intended purpose (intent) on one
or more connected or intermittently connected devices; the method
comprising: processing of source materials through an
interoperability compiler process to create object files; and
processing the object files and optional libraries through an
interoperability linker software product to create libraries or an
interoperability software application package.
[0466] In another embodiment (69), the invention provides the
interoperability software products tool set of (67), wherein the
master software application package is optionally processed into
other interoperability software packages by the use of an
interoperability master player software product.
[0467] In another embodiment (70), the invention provides the
interoperability software products tool set of (67), wherein the
software product or products are implemented and or designated and
or used as DartTools.
[0468] In another embodiment (71), the invention provides the
interoperability software products tool set of (67), wherein there
is a single selection procedure or set of selection procedures
associated with each rendition to be used in a recruitment
procedure to intelligently select the most suitable independently
executable image, from the available images, to run on a target
device and or target device environment.
[0469] The features and/or elements recited in these exemplary
embodiments as well as of exemplary embodiments described elsewhere
in this detailed description or in the drawings may be combined in
many different ways so that embodiments recited above are not
limitations of the invention and additional or alternative
embodiments having any different combinations or permutations of
the features and elements are also embodiments of the
invention.
VII. DartFormat/Interoperability Format
[0470] Recall that the DartFormat comprise the structure and the
rules for putting together a Dart format package which encapsulates
all the code, data, and content needed for an interoperability
applications which can then be loaded and run on DartDevices, which
contain a running DartPlayer.
[0471] In one embodiment (1), the invention provides a method for
storing a software application package conforming to an
interoperability format of digitally encoded data, code and
content, along with meta information in the form of data, code and
content needed to carry out an intended purpose (intent) on one or
more connected or intermittently connected devices, the method
comprising: forming at least one linearly contiguous binary encoded
part image; forming any necessary linearly contiguous part images
comprised of combinations of binary encoded resources or program
elements that are to be used to identify, load, select, identify,
execute or be processed as part of the application package; forming
meta information; and packaging the parts and meta information
together in a form where part images can be deterministically
located and independently executable images identified, loaded, and
executed.
[0472] In another embodiment (2), the invention provides a method
as in (1), wherein the at least one linearly continuous binary
encoded part image contains at least one of a main code, a main
data, a table of records for each of the independently executable
images, and a table of records for each of the parts belonging to a
particular independently executable image.
[0473] In another embodiment (3), the invention provides a method
as in (1), wherein the at least one linearly continuous binary
encoded part image contains each of a main code, a main data, a
table of records for each of the independently executable images,
and a table of records for each of the parts belonging to a
particular independently executable image.
[0474] In another embodiment (4), the invention provides a method
as in (1), wherein the necessary linearly contiguous part images
optionally including any number or combination selected from the
set consisting of: (a) programs, Darts, DartProcedures, or
procedures; (b) pictures, video, image, audio, sound or any other
media capable of being rendered; (c) data structure instances,
lists, and or parameters; (d) lists of data or tables of data; and
(e) any combination of these.
[0475] In another embodiment (5), the invention provides a method
as in (1), wherein the forming meta information includes forming
meta information of at least one of: (a) a table for finding parts
given its identifier; (b) a first information used to find the
table of parts; (c) a second information needed to load and execute
the linearly contiguous part images; and (d) a third information
used to find the list of independently executable images.
[0476] In another embodiment (6), the invention provides the method
of (1), wherein one or more of the following linearly contiguous
binary encoded part images are also formed: (i) procedures, Darts,
DartProcedures; (ii) content including content selected from the
set of content items consisting of pictures, audio, video, or other
multimedia content or animations; (iii) databases; (iv) indexes;
(v) parameters for list items or table items; (vi) virtual pointer
data; (vii) application heap data; and (viii) anything else
expressible as a contiguous binary data image.
[0477] In another embodiment (7), the invention provides the method
of (1), wherein one or more of the following meta information are
also formed: (i) signature information; (ii) keywords or other
information to be accessed to identify the names, types, content
and or uses of the software application package; (iii) parameters
for list items or table items; (iv) virtual pointer parameters; (v)
security checksums, and or signatures, and or certificates and or
hashes; and (vi) unique identifiers.
[0478] In another embodiment (8), the invention provides the method
of (1), wherein the steps are performed by tools embodied in the
interoperability compiler, interoperability linker and or
interoperability master player.
[0479] In another embodiment (9), the invention provides the method
of (1), wherein any one, any combination, or all of the following
are true: (i) the format for the storing a software application
package is the DartFormat; (ii) the software application package is
a Dart; (iii) the parts are DartParts; (iv) the table of
independently executable images is a Dart RenditionsTable; (v) the
table of records for each of the parts is a Dart RenditionTable;
(vi) the table for finding parts given its identifier is a Dart
PartTable; and (vii) the Information used to find the table of
parts is the DartTrailer and its known size, fields, and location
in the DartFormat image.
[0480] In another embodiment (10), the invention provides the
method of (1), wherein the main code is comprised of instructions
from an interoperability instruction set.
[0481] In another embodiment (11), the invention provides the
method of (1), wherein interoperability instruction set is the Dart
Interoperability Instruction set.
[0482] In another embodiment (12), the invention provides the
method of (2), wherein the main code contains all the code not
otherwise explicitly designated in the originating source to go
into an independent part.
[0483] In another embodiment (13), the invention provides the
method of (12), wherein the main code instruction data address
fields reference data assigned to one linear data address space in
the main data part.
[0484] In another embodiment (14), the invention provides the
method of (12), wherein the main code instruction branching fields
reference other code assigned to one linear address space in the
main code part.
[0485] In another embodiment (15), the invention provides the
method of (2), wherein the main data contains all the data
instances not otherwise explicitly designated in the originating
source to go into an independent part.
[0486] In another embodiment (16), the invention provides the
method of (2), wherein the table of independently executable images
contains table records with at least the part identifier of a table
for finding parts given its identifier
[0487] In another embodiment (17), the invention provides the
method of (2), wherein the records of the table of independently
executable images contains one or more of the following optional
fields in any combination: (i) the smallest linear address range of
the main code part that contains all the code needed for the
independently executable image; (ii) the smallest linear address
range of the main data part that contains all the data needed for
the independently executable image; and (iii) the requested or
required amount of memory or other resources that is to be reserved
to be used during execution of the independently executable
image.
[0488] In another embodiment (18), the invention provides the
method of (6), wherein the Virtual pointer data includes any number
of address ranges followed by the data instance values of the
address range so as to efficiently represent a possibly sparse list
of ranges of data values.
[0489] In another embodiment (19), the invention provides a
computer program product for use in conjunction with a computer
system or information appliance, the computer program product
comprising a computer readable storage medium and a computer
program mechanism embedded therein, the computer program mechanism
comprising: a program module that directs the computer system or
information appliance to function in a specified manner for storing
a software application package conforming to an interoperability
format of digitally encoded data, code and content, along with meta
information in the form of data, code and content needed to carry
out an intended purpose (intent) on one or more connected or
intermittently connected devices, the program module including
instructions for: forming at least one linearly contiguous binary
encoded part image; forming any necessary linearly contiguous part
images comprised of combinations of binary encoded resources or
program elements that are to be used to identify, load, select,
identify, execute or be processed as part of the application
package; forming meta information; and packaging the parts and meta
information together in a form where part images can be
deterministically located and independently executable images
identified, loaded, and executed.
[0490] In another embodiment (20), the invention provides a data
structure for storing a software application package conforming to
an interoperability format of digitally encoded data, code and
content, along with meta information in the form of data, code and
content needed to carry out an intended purpose (intent) on one or
more connected or intermittently connected devices, the data
structure comprising: at least one linearly contiguous binary
encoded part image; any necessary linearly contiguous part images
comprised of combinations of binary encoded resources or program
elements that are to be used to identify, load, select, identify,
execute or be processed as part of the application package; meta
information; and the data structure packaging the parts and meta
information together in a form where part images can be
deterministically located and independently executable images
identified, loaded, and executed.
[0491] The features and/or elements recited in these exemplary
embodiments as well as of exemplary embodiments described elsewhere
in this detailed description or in the drawings may be combined in
many different ways so that embodiments recited above are not
limitations of the invention and additional or alternative
embodiments having any different combinations or permutations of
the features and elements are also embodiments of the
invention.
VIII. DartRuntime/Interoperability Runtime
[0492] In another aspect, the invention provides a software
run-time model (such as the DartRuntime model) which is largely
event driven, and in some embodiments entirely event driven, for
all software operations whether Dart or device control related. A
set of event semantics, types, structures and operations on events
common to both the applications and the low-level device control
software is provided by one event queue running on each
interoperating device in a team of interoperating devices (FIG. 17
660) which drives the sequencing of synchronous application event
processing and asynchronous application, device, communications and
interoperability operations. Also provided are an instruction set
or system calls which are used to manage the queuing, dequeuing and
processing of events. It also provides an optional robust device
interoperability communications runtime model where communications
between devices is maintained, error corrected, and when necessary
reestablished with cooperation, but with only a small amount of or
no disruption to Darts running effectively across a team of
interoperating devices (see FIG. 19). These features may optionally
be extended to separately generated Darts and/or other devices.
[0493] Other aspects of the DartRuntime are described elsewhere in
this specification including in the examples and in the exemplary
embodiments below.
[0494] In one embodiment (1), the invention provides a method for
an interoperability runtime system to carry out the execution of an
event driven software application package of digitally encoded
data, code and content, along with meta information in the form of
data, code and content needed to carry out an intended purpose
(intent) on one or more connected or intermittently connected
devices, the method comprising: (a) selecting and loading-a
separately executable image from a given package of independently
executable images; (b) recruiting devices into a team by the
executing image; (c) distributing at least one of code, renditions,
data, and/or content amongst the team of recruited devices; (d)
processing in an orderly manner of synchronous and asynchronous
events to carry out the intent; (e) synchronization and serializing
event processing within and between devices of the recruited team
of devices; and (f) saving of running packages of individually
executable images including saving data and state in a storage.
[0495] In another embodiment (2), the invention provides the method
of (1), wherein the (a) selecting and loading of a separately
executable image from a given package of independently executable
images is the selecting and loading of exactly one separately
executable image from a given package of independently executable
images.
[0496] In another embodiment (3), the invention provides the method
of (1), wherein the runtime is the DartRuntime.
[0497] In another embodiment (4), the invention provides the method
of (1), wherein the selecting and loading, recruiting,
distributing, processing, and synchronizing and reserializing are
carried out according to the a recruitment procedure.
[0498] In another embodiment (5), the invention provides the method
of (1), wherein the saving of running packages including data and
state is carried out by the SAVE_INSTRUCTION of the
DartInstructionSet.
[0499] In another embodiment (6), the invention provides the method
of (1), wherein the saving of running packages including data and
state comprises: getting a pointer to a table which contains a
plurality of records and where each record provides information
about a single separately executable image; processing each record
of the table in turn; and creating an interoperability software
package of one or more individually executable images based on the
processed records.
[0500] In another embodiment (7), the invention provides the method
of (6), wherein the table is a renditions table.
[0501] In another embodiment (8), the invention provides the method
of (6), further comprising optionally forming a header with one or
more header fields.
[0502] In another embodiment (9), the invention provides the method
of (6), further comprising optionally forming a trailer with one or
more trailer fields. In another embodiment (10), the invention
provides the method of (7), wherein the processing of each record
of the renditions table in turn comprises: (a) getting a pointer to
a rendition table which contains records, each renditions table
record comprising: (i) a part ID (partid) which identifies or
references a part image that is to be included in the saved
package; (ii) a linear contiguous address range for the code from
the running package's main code needed to be included for the
separately executable image corresponding to the information of the
record of the renditions table being processed; and (iii) a linear
contiguous address range for the data from the running package's
main data needed to be included for the separately executable image
corresponding to the information of the record of the renditions
table being processed; (b) accumulating all the partids; (c)
accumulating the outside bounds for the main code linear address
ranges of all previously processed records; and (d) accumulating
the outside bounds for the data code linear address ranges of all
previously processed records.
[0503] In another embodiment (11), the invention provides the
method of (7), wherein at least one of the created individually
executable images includes: (i) the renditions table; (ii) the
rendition tables; (iii) a main code part with at least the range of
data accumulated during the processing of each record; (iv) a main
data part with at least the range of data accumulated during the
processing of each record; (v) all the accumulated parts; and (vi)
a part table with a record for each part in the package.
[0504] In another embodiment (12), the invention provides the
method of (7), wherein the part table with a record for each part
in the package includes at least the following: (i) a partid that
this record refers to; (ii) a starting offset within the image of
the part image; and (iii) an ending offset and or length of the
image of the part image.
[0505] In another embodiment (13), the invention provides the
method of (7), wherein the individually executable images further
includes an optional header if one was formed.
[0506] In another embodiment (14), the invention provides the
method of (7), wherein the individually executable images further
includes an optional trailer if one was formed.
[0507] In another embodiment (15), the invention provides the
method of (6), wherein a header and or trailer or any other data
structure with a known same fixed offset is required in all
instances of software application packages.
[0508] In another embodiment (16), the invention provides the
method of (15), wherein the header and/or trailer and or other data
structure once located using the fixed offset, provides the offset
of the part table or part database data.
[0509] In another embodiment (17), the invention provides the
method of (15), wherein where the header and/or trailer or other
data structure includes the part table or part database data.
[0510] In another embodiment (18), the invention provides the
method of (1), wherein the saving of running packages including
data and state is carried out by the SAVE_INSTRUCTION of the
DartInstructionSet.
[0511] In another embodiment (19), the invention provides the
method of (1), wherein the runtime is embodied and carried out
through an interoperability platform comprising at least the
following: (1) an object oriented framework for specifying code,
data, content and resources for use in interoperability application
packages; (2) a source for specifying the code, data, content and
resources, including that of the object oriented framework, for an
interoperability application package; (3) a known process for
storing the interoperability application package as a set of parts
and meta information for finding, accessing, and loading the
package or portions of the package on a device to carry out the
execution of the package and therefore carry out the intent
embodied in the application package; (4) an Interoperability
Instruction set for providing a binary code compatibility between
two or more devices; (5) a first software product or product(s)
tool(s) which take the source and generate one or more
interoperability application package), where some or all of the
code elements are represented by sequences of instructions from the
interoperability instruction set; (6) a second software product
which loads and executes interoperability application packages; (7)
a procedure for ordering the execution of the various processing
units embodied in the framework; (8) a procedure for intelligently
spreading code, data, and content to one or more other devices as
needed to carry out a software application; and (9) a procedure for
serializing and synchronizing the activities of the code and data
once distributed across one or more devices.
[0512] In another embodiment (20), the invention provides the
method of (19), further comprising providing at least one of: (i) a
procedure for application level error recovery; (ii) a procedure
for application level power management; (iii) a procedure for
tightly coupling execution units by having a single semantic entity
generated and used by all the execution units whether performing
high level application tasks or low level communications or
hardware access tasks; and (iv) a procedure for ordering and
managing event driven execution and runtime environments of a
plurality of event processing units of a software application.
[0513] In another embodiment (21), the invention provides the
method of (19), wherein one or more or any combination of the
following are true: (1) the interoperability platform is as
described herein elsewhere in the description; (2) the framework is
as described herein elsewhere in the description; (3) the
interoperability application packages are as described herein
elsewhere in the description; (4) the source is as described herein
elsewhere in the description; (5) the framework is as described
herein elsewhere in the description; (6) the known process for
storing the interoperability application package is as described
herein elsewhere in the description; (7) the Interoperability
Instruction Set is as described herein elsewhere in the
description; (8) the software product or product(s) tools are as
described herein elsewhere in the description; (9) the software
product which loads and executes interoperability application
packages is as described herein elsewhere in the description; (10)
the procedure for ordering the execution of the various processing
units embodied in the framework is as described in the Linear
Tasking section of this description ; and (11) the procedure for
ordering the execution of the various processing units embodied in
the framework is as described in the Linear Tasking section of this
description.
[0514] In another embodiment (22), the invention provides the
method of (19), wherein one or more or any combination of the
following are true: (1) the interoperability platform is a
DartPlatform; (2) the framework is a DartFramework; (3) the
interoperability application packages are Darts; (4) the source is
a DartSource; (5) the framework is a DartFramework; (6) the known
process for storing the interoperability application package is any
method for creating a package conforming to a DartFormat; (7) the
Interoperability Instruction Set is a DartInstructionSet; (8) the
software product or product(s) tools are a DartTools; (9) the
software product which loads and executes interoperability
application packages is a DartEngine; (10) the procedure for
ordering the execution of the various processing units embodied in
the framework is a Dart Linear Tasking; and (11) the procedure for
ordering the execution of the various processing units embodied in
the framework is a Dart Linear Tasking.
[0515] In another embodiment (23), the invention provides the
method of (19), wherein the intelligently spreading code, data and
content to one or more other devices as needed comprises
recruitment and/or renditioning.
[0516] In another embodiment (24), the invention provides the
method of (23), wherein the recruitment comprises DartRecruitment
and the renditoning comprises DartRenditioning.
[0517] In another embodiment (25), the invention provides the
method of (19), wherein the serializing and synchronizing the
activities of the code and data once distributed across one or more
devices is performed by recruitment.
[0518] In another embodiment (26), the invention provides the
method of (25), wherein the recruitment comprises
DartRecruitment.
[0519] In another embodiment (27), the invention provides the
method of (20), wherein the method for application level error
recovery is as described elsewhere in this specification.
[0520] In another embodiment (28), the invention provides the
method of (20), wherein the method for application level power
management is as described elsewhere in this specification.
[0521] In another embodiment (29), the invention provides the
method of (20), wherein the method for tightly coupling execution
units is as described in the Vertical Layering description
elsewhere in this specification.
[0522] In another embodiment (30), the invention provides the
method of (20), wherein the method for ordering and managing event
driven execution is as described in the recruitment runtime
description elsewhere in this specification or is
DartRecruitment.
[0523] In another embodiment (31), the invention provides a
computer program product for use in conjunction with a computer
system or information appliance, the computer program product
comprising a computer readable storage medium and a computer
program mechanism embedded therein, the computer program mechanism
comprising: a program module that directs the computer system or
information appliance to function in a specified manner to provide
an interoperability runtime system to carry out the execution of an
event driven application package of digitally encoded data, code
and/or content, along with meta information in the form of data,
code and/or content needed to carry out an intended purpose on one
or more connected or intermittently connected devices, the program
module including instructions for: (a) selecting and loading a
separately executable image from a given package of independently
executable images; (b) recruiting devices into a team by the
executing image; (c) distributing at least one of code, renditions,
data, and/or content amongst the team of recruited devices; (d)
processing in an orderly manner of synchronous and asynchronous
events to carry out the intent; (e) synchronization and serializing
event processing within and between devices of the recruited team
of devices; and (f) saving of running packages of individually
executable images including saving data and state in a storage.
[0524] In another embodiment (32), the invention provides an
interoperability runtime system for carrying out the execution of
an event driven software application package of digitally encoded
data, code and/or content, optionally along with meta information
in the form of data, code and/or content needed to carry out an
intended purpose (intent) on one or more connected or
intermittently connected devices, the system comprising: (a) a
processor and a memory coupled with the processor; (b) means,
accessible by the processor, for selecting and loading a separately
executable image from a given package of independently executable
images; (c) means, accessible by the processor, for recruiting
devices into a team by the executing image; (d) means, accessible
by the processor, for distributing at least one of code,
renditions, data, and/or content amongst the team of recruited
devices; (e) means, accessible by the processor, for processing in
an orderly manner of synchronous and asynchronous events to carry
out the intent; (f) means, accessible by the processor, for
synchronization and serializing event processing within and between
devices of the recruited team of devices; and (g) means, accessible
by the processor, for saving of running packages of individually
executable images including saving data and state in a storage.
[0525] The features and/or elements recited in these exemplary
embodiments as well as of exemplary embodiments described elsewhere
in this detailed description or in the drawings may be combined in
many different ways so that embodiments recited above are not
limitations of the invention and additional or alternative
embodiments having any different combinations or permutations of
the features and elements are also embodiments of the
invention.
IX. Linear Tasking
[0526] In another aspect of the invention, system, apparatus,
method and computer program for linear tasking are provided. Linear
Tasking includes a methodology that enables a simple deterministic
flow of processor control and device resources between processing
units. Processing units can easily be reconfigured into a single
hierarchy which includes processing units compiled into an
application, separately compiled applications, and even
applications running on other devices.
[0527] Conventional software eco-systems, especially conventional
operating systems, are built using either a cooperative tasking
model or a pre-emptive tasking model. While there are advantages to
these conventional tasking models for some devices which run
applications which require computer response times in the
milliseconds or even microseconds, these advantages are outweighed
by the benefits of a Linear Tasking model for the most common types
of interoperability applications where most often response time
requirements are often under 30 milliseconds. Many of the
applications and tasks will only require response times of tenths
of seconds, and even to response times on the order of a second to
several seconds.
[0528] The advantages of a Linear Tasking model are especially well
suited to interoperability applications because most such
applications are intended for individual users. Here the run-time
penalty for having to pass control to each processing unit is not
important, as human response time needs are generally limited to a
thirtieth of a second or longer.
[0529] Although there are many advantages of the inventive linear
tasking model and method, only a few are set forth here while
others will be apparent from the further description in this
specification.
[0530] A first advantage is a deterministic or near-deterministic
path for the order of processing of all the processing units of all
the teamed devices leads to a simpler programming model and greatly
reduced bugs due to limiting the order in which operations are
performed to a well controlled pattern.
[0531] Second, all processing units are able to complete complex
sequences of operations without the possibility of being
interrupted in time or being effected by the actions of
interrupting processes.
[0532] Third, there is easy support for controlled shutdowns,
controlled hibernation and recovery and advantageous Vertical
Layering mechanisms, that may for example be used for such
applications as power management.
[0533] Fourth, arranging and rearranging the hierarchy is at least
one easy way for enabling and disabling groups of processing units
as the modes of operation or interaction with the user changes
Fifth, environments can be inherited, changed or distorted by
parent processing units in a manner where the children do not need
to contain code which knows how their parents are using their
outputs, such as bitmaps, or controlling their environment, such as
their sense of time.
[0534] Sixth, separately produced executables can be easily
assimilated into the processing hierarchy of a running executable.
In the DartPlatform, this feature allows Darts to assimilate other
Darts into its runtime during use. For example, a slide show
(SlideShow) Dart application described earlier can readily be built
which can collect and contain separately produced Darts as slides,
just as easily as it can collect still JPEG pictures as slides. The
JPEG picture would be contained by a still picture display Gizmo
(Gizmo is the base calls for event processing units) while a Dart
would be contained by a Dart container Gizmo.
[0535] In one embodiment, Linear Tasking is advantageously embodied
throughout the implementation of the Dart platform (DartPlatform
FIG. 3) from the Dart framework (DartFramework, FIG. 11, to the
Dart runtime (DartRuntime FIG. 9, FIG. 16, FIG. 17), to the Dart
engine (DartEngine FIG. 22 600) and instructions in the Dart
instruction set (DartInstructionSet FIG. 20, FIG. 25). Other
embodiments may use Linear Tasking in conjunction with alternative
implementations with the benefit of complete Dart
infrastructure.
[0536] In one embodiment, the inventive linear tasking provides a
method for deterministically ordering the execution and runtime
environments of a plurality of processing units of software
application programs. A software or firmware program event driven
run-time model provides or creates an environment where all
processing units are executed in a predefined order based on the
linkage between the processing units. A software object oriented
framework, the DartFramework (FIG. 11), is provided wherein there
is a base processing unit class (Gizmo in FIG. 11 115) containing
at least one of and possibly all of the following object members
(FIG. 11 115) in any combination:
[0537] (a) a possibly null reference to a parent processing
unit;
[0538] (b) a possibly empty ordered linear list of references to a
child processing units;
[0539] (c) optional binary flags corresponding to classes of event
types that are to be acted upon by this processing unit;
[0540] (c) optional binary flags corresponding to the classes of
event types that are to be acted upon by any of the child
processing units descending down the chain of parent and child
processing until there are no more children;
[0541] (d) procedural methods for adding, deleting, or reordering
the references to the parent and child processing units; and
[0542] (e) a procedural method for ordering the processing of
events.
[0543] In at least one embodiment, the procedural method for
ordering the processing of events includes the following steps (see
FIG. 15):
[0544] (1) Perform any pre-children processing of the event needed
based on the event type, its values and references the tasks of the
processing unit and the current run-time environment as specified
by the event, the parent and the state of the device (see FIG. 15
8004);
[0545] (2) Set the optional flags corresponding to the classes of
event types that are to be acted upon by the child processing unit
chain to indicate that no event types are to be acted upon;
[0546] (3) Set up any environment changes needed for each child's
processing, and call each child in the order of the list of
references to child processing units (see FIG.15 8005);
[0547] (4) As each call returns logically OR the binary flags of
processing types needed to be processed by each of the just called
child to collect the combined event processing type based needs of
all the children and their decedents;
[0548] (5) Perform any post-children processing of the event based
on the event type its values and references the tasks of the
processing unit and the current run-time environment as specified
by the event, the parent and the state of the device (see FIG. 15
8004);
[0549] (6) Set the flags of event types that are now to be handled
by this processing unit in the future;
[0550] (7) Return control to the parent processing unit if the
reference is non-null (see FIG. 15 8006); and
[0551] (8) Return control to the main processing loop if the parent
is null FIG. 15 8008.
[0552] The collected binary flags can optionally be used for
pruning of the graph of calls since the flags can be used to
indicate which event types are not needed for processing by each
child and their all its descendents. If the child's or'ed flag
value corresponding to the event type classification the flag is
associated with is not 1 then the child and its descendents have no
need to process the event.
[0553] Other exemplary embodiments of linear tasking are now
described. In one embodiment (1), the invention provides a method
of linear tasking for ordering and managing event driven execution
and runtime environments of a plurality of event processing units
of a software application package, the method comprising: providing
a software object oriented framework which includes a base event
processing unit class, and zero or more event processing unit
classes which inherit either directly or indirectly from the base
event processing unit class; creating, maintaining, adding,
deleting or reordering links that form a graph or topology of event
processing units in a manner that ensures that there is always a
single linear deterministic ordering for passing events through the
graph of processing units formed by the links; and dynamically
changing the graph or topology of processing units according to the
needs of the running application.
[0554] In another embodiment (2), the invention provides the method
of linear tasking (1), wherein the graph is logically extended to
include the graphs of separately generated application packages
statically by reference within one or more application packages or
applications packages that are themselves part of one or more other
application packages.
[0555] In another embodiment (3), the invention provides the method
of (1), wherein the graph is logically extended to include the
graphs of separately generated application packages dynamically
during the running of the application package.
[0556] In another embodiment (4), the invention provides the method
of (2), wherein the event processing unit at a topmost node of the
separately generated application package's graph determines by way
of the parameters passed into a event processing method if it is
logically a part of an extended graph or actually the start of a
topmost application package that is not extended by any other
application package.
[0557] In another embodiment (5), the invention provides the method
of (3), wherein the event processing unit at a topmost node of the
separately generated application package's graph determines by way
of the parameters passed into a event processing method if it is
logically a part of an extended graph or actually the start of a
topmost application package that is not extended by any other
application package.
[0558] In another embodiment (6), the invention provides the method
of (4), wherein if and only if the parameters do not specify an
event to process, the topmost node will explicitly attempt to
retrieve an event from a queue of events for processing by itself
and any other event processing units in the linear order of the
graph.
[0559] In another embodiment (7), the invention provides the method
of (5), wherein if and only if the parameters do not specify an
event to process, the topmost node will explicitly attempt to
retrieve an event from a queue of events for processing by itself
and any other event processing units in the linear order of the
graph.
[0560] In another embodiment (8), the invention provides the method
of (3), wherein a container event processing unit class is used to
instantiate objects to load, link, unload, and manage the
environment of separately generated application packages so that
their event processing units become a logical extension of the
graph.
[0561] In another embodiment (9), the invention provides a method
as in (1), wherein the event processing unit base class comprises
at least one of the following class object members: (1) a possibly
null reference to a parent processing unit; (2) a possibly empty
ordered linear list of references to child processing units; (3)
one or more optional binary flag(s) corresponding to
classifications of event types that are to be acted upon by the
processing unit itself), wherein the flags are used to eliminate
unnecessary passing of events down to children or their descendants
that will not process any events of a particular class; (4) one or
more child optional binary flag(s) corresponding to the classes of
event types that are to be acted upon by any of the child
processing units descending down a chain of parent processing and
child processing until there are no more children or child
processing units; (5) a procedure for adding, deleting, modifying,
and/or reordering a reference to at least one of the parent and
child processing units; and (6) a procedure for ordering the
processing of events.
[0562] In another embodiment (10), the invention provides a method
as in (9), wherein the event processing unit class comprises at
least one processing unit class object member for ordering the
processing of events.
[0563] In another embodiment (11) the invention provides the method
in (10), wherein the procedure for ordering the processing of
events is performed according to the following steps: (1)
optionally perform any pre-children processing of the event needed;
(2) initially set (or reset) optional child binary flags maintained
to track the combined event processing needs of all the children
event processing units needs along with the needs of all their
dependents (children)), where each optional child flag is a single
bit corresponding to exactly one classification of event types, to
initially indicate that no events of any of the classifications are
to be acted upon by children or their decedents; (3) set up any
environment changes needed for each child processing and call each
child event processing unit in the order of the list of children;
(4) as each call to a child returns, logically OR the optional
child binary flags of processing types needed to be processed by
each of the just called child to collect the combined event
processing type based needs of all the children and their
decedents; (5) optionally perform any post-children processing of
the event; (6) set the binary flags of event type classifications
that are now to be handled by this event processing unit in the
future; (7) return control to a parent processing unit if the
parent reference is a first state (non-null state); and (8) return
control to a main processing loop which logically called this
processing unit if the parent reference is a second state (null
state).
[0564] In another embodiment (12), the invention provides a method
as in (11), wherein the optional pre-children and or post-children
processing of the event is based on at least one of: (i) the event
type; (ii) the events fields, parameters and/or associated file
contents values, and/or those on any list of referenced child
processing units to the tasks of the processing unit; and (iii) the
current run-time environment as specified by the event, the parent,
and or the state of the device.
[0565] In another embodiment (13), the invention provides a method
as in (11), wherein the set up of any environmental changes needed
may optionally include at least one of providing a bitmap as a
virtual screen, distorting the child's sense of time, distorting
the coordinates of a mouse click to conform to the different size,
translation or angle of orientation the parent is displaying of the
image or bitmap the child gizmo is rendering into.
[0566] In another embodiment (14), the invention provides a method
as in (11), wherein managing the links is used to flexibly and
dynamically mix and match event processing units in a manner where
changes in functionality are easily made by creating and
maintaining the ordered graph.
[0567] In another embodiment (15), the invention provides a method
as in (11), wherein where the environment for linked processing
units can be controlled by a parent processing unit to provide
advanced functionality without the need for the child processing
units to understand how their environments are being virtualized by
parent processing units.
[0568] In another embodiment (16), the invention provides a method
as in (11), wherein the deterministic flow of processing makes for
a robust system because the order of event processing is more
tightly controlled and more easily tested than they would be in
non-deterministic asynchronous event processing runtimes.
[0569] In another embodiment (17), the invention provides a method
as in (11), wherein processing units compiled into one Dart can
proxy for separately compiled and generated Darts that can
dynamically be added to the Linear Tasking graph and then function
as if they were part of the originally generated Dart.
[0570] In another embodiment (18), the invention provides a method
as in (17), wherein separately generated Darts can be saved
automatically as parts of parent Darts as the result of a
SAVE_INSTRUCTION or SAVE_BUILTIN_INSTRUCTION.
[0571] In another embodiment (19), the invention provides a method
as in (1), wherein one or more or any combination of the following
are true: (i) the runtime is the DartRuntime; (ii) the software
object oriented framework is the DartFramework; (iii) the base
event processing units are Dart Gizmos; (iv) the event processing
unit classes which inherit either directly or indirectly from the
base event processing unit class includes either the Dart Rendition
class and/or the Dart MasterRendition class.
[0572] In another embodiment (20), the invention provides a
computer program product for use in conjunction with a computer
system or information appliance, the computer program product
comprising a computer readable storage medium and a computer
program mechanism embedded therein, the computer program mechanism
comprising: a program module that directs the computer system or
information appliance to function in a specified manner for
ordering and managing event driven execution and runtime
environments of a plurality of event processing units of a software
application package, the program module including instructions for:
generating or providing a software object oriented framework which
includes a base event processing unit class, and zero or more event
processing unit classes which inherit either directly or indirectly
from the base event processing unit class; creating, maintaining,
adding, deleting or reordering links that form a graph or topology
of event processing units in a manner that ensures that there is
always a single linear deterministic ordering for passing events
through the graph of processing units formed by the links; and
dynamically changing the graph or topology of processing units
according to the needs of the running application.
[0573] In another embodiment (21), the invention provides a
computer program product as in (20), wherein the event processing
unit base class comprises at least one of the following class
object members: a possibly null reference to a parent processing
unit; a possibly empty ordered linear list of references to child
processing units; one or more optional binary flag(s) corresponding
to classifications of event types that are to be acted upon by the
processing unit itself), wherein the flags are used to eliminate
unnecessary passing of events down to children or their descendants
that will not process any events of a particular class; one or more
child optional binary flag(s) corresponding to the classes of event
types that are to be acted upon by any of the child processing
units descending down a chain of parent processing and child
processing until there are no more children or child processing
units; a procedure for adding, deleting, modifying, and/or
reordering a reference to at least one of the parent and child
processing units; and a procedure for ordering the processing of
events.
[0574] In another embodiment (22), the invention provides an
apparatus providing ordering and managing of event driven execution
and runtime environments of a plurality of event processing units,
the apparatus comprising: a processing logic or processor and a
memory coupled with the processing logic or processor; means,
accessible to the processing logic or processor, for generating or
providing a software object oriented framework which includes a
base event processing unit class, and zero or more event processing
unit classes which inherit either directly or indirectly from the
base event processing unit class; means, accessible to the
processing logic or processor, for creating, maintaining, adding,
deleting or reordering links that form a graph or topology of event
processing units in a manner that ensures that there is always a
single linear deterministic ordering for passing events through the
graph of processing units formed by the links; and means,
accessible to the processing logic or processor, dynamically
changing the graph or topology of processing units according to the
needs of the running application.
[0575] The features and/or elements recited in these exemplary
embodiments as well as of exemplary embodiments described elsewhere
in this detailed description or in the drawings may be combined in
many different ways so that embodiments recited above are not
limitations of the invention and additional or alternative
embodiments having any different combinations or permutations of
the features and elements are also embodiments of the
invention.
X. Vertical Layering
[0576] In another aspect of the invention, system, apparatus,
method and computer program for vertical layering are provided.
Vertical Layering includes enabling efficient and effective
implementation of features which by their nature involve close
cooperation amongst the tool, application, framework, engine,
Rendition and instruction-set implementation, and operations.
[0577] In conventional software eco-systems or environments, the
native instruction set of the processor is abstracted in a number
of horizontal layers which often include a Basic Input-Output
System (BIOS), an operating system, a graphics subsystem, an
application framework, and finally an application. In each case
there is a nearly complete abstraction of what the layer is to do,
implemented in the abstraction of the layer below. This mapping
from abstraction layer to abstraction layer conventionally requires
a great deal of computer program code and obscures much of the
information in one layer from those layers above and below them. A
widely known and used example is the seven layers of the OSI model
which are Physical, Data Link, Network, Transport, Session,
Presentation, and finally Application.
[0578] While building devices and operating software in
standardized abstraction layers can be very useful in allowing code
to be developed independently from different entities, and still
work together on general purpose computers; there are problems
which render the use of many abstractions levels especially
undesirable when dealing with device interoperability.
[0579] One problem of conventional horizontal layering of
abstraction layers as in the OSI model, is that the complexity of
the specifications leads almost inevitably to imperfect
implementations which can interact with other perfect or imperfect
implementation to produce a wide array of errors when operating in
cooperation with other layers or implementations of the same layer.
While the interactions of the layers residing on a single computer
are easily tested together and incompatibilities removed before
distribution, the testing of layers and corrections of
incompatibilities found on devices which must work with a large
number of permutations of layers on other devices found in the
field is very difficult. Still more difficult is the task where
differing horizontal layer implementations must cooperate across
ad-hoc teams of devices where the functions, resources, operating
systems, CPUs or other processors or processing logic are all
potentially different.
[0580] It would be rare for independently implemented layers to
work the first time they were tested together on a single device,
but through repeated testing and fixing of incompatibilities the
layers of originally independently developed modules can be made to
work reliably together on a single computer. The same repeated
testing and fixing of incompatibilities is not easily realizable
for the potentially large number of permutations of devices and
layer implementations which may need to interoperate. The result is
that many incompatibilities are not found until the devices using
the separate implementations are in widespread use.
[0581] Another problem with the traditional horizontal layering of
abstraction levels is that all interactions of all abstraction
layers must be known and understood by the time the standard is to
be implemented in products to ensure that all necessary
interactions of layers can be passed through all intervening
layers. An example, as will be explained further below, is the
optional but very advantageous need for an application to interact
with the hardware to carry out efficient power management. Current
horizontally layered protocol specification standards lack any
support for the application to communicate its response time
requirements through all the intervening layers to the hardware.
While there are many power management implementations on devices,
these implementations are most often highly device specific
implementations that bypass or corrupt the standard implementation
of the layers, and use heuristics based on patterns of hardware
access at the lower levels in place of the actual response time
needs knowable only to the software running at the higher
application levels.
[0582] Alternatively to the conventional horizontal layering in the
current state of the art, is the inventive Vertical Layering, which
can be advantageously employed if the programming tools,
applications, players, runtime, operating system, and/or low-level
functions, can share data structures and communications semantics
throughout.
[0583] In one implementation embodiment, Vertical Layering in
optionally but advantageously embodied throughout the
implementation of the DartPlatform (FIG. 3). Two examples of where
Vertical Layering is advantageously employed in the DartPlatform,
are power management and application level error recovery (FIG.
19).
[0584] For example, power management functions are most often
implemented in conventional devices using heuristics based on input
or output activities detected at the lowest levels; yet, only the
application itself really knows if it requires control to return to
its processing to decode the next frame of a video in 1/30 second,
or there will be no requirement for further processing until the
user does something.
[0585] In one advantageous embodiment of the invention, the dart
platform (DartPlatform) collects the processor response
requirements as the Dart runtime (DartRuntime) makes each pass
though a single hierarchy Linear Tasking of event processing units
called Gizmos (FIG. 11, FIG.15). After each pass through the
intra-device parts of the DartRuntime (FIG. 15), whenever a Dart is
built using the Dart framework (DartFramework) hierarchy of Gizmo
based processing units (FIG. 11), the DartPlatform combines the
minimum synchronous Gizmo tree response time requirements (FIG. 15
8010) with the asynchronous event time requirements in the event
queue (EventQueue FIG. 22 660) of the device engine (DartEngine
FIG. 22 600) to determine an accurate and reliable amount of time
that the device can power down or reduce power levels or
consumption for before returning control to the DartPlayer. Methods
of power management, such as reduction in a processor logic clock,
reducing logic or power supply voltage levels, or powering down
portions of a larger circuit, are known in the art. Consider for
example, an interoperability slide show Dart application described
herein before. This application running on an originating device
can form a team of say five devices through Recruitment where each
device in the team displays the same slide as the originating
application, albeit optionally scaled or otherwise adapted for
efficient transmission and display on each connection and each
device. What happens if a device with a wireless connection goes
out of range, or a portable device shuts down automatically to save
battery life. In a conventional implementation only the slide show
(SlideShow) application knows how to recover should this device
suddenly move back in range or get turned back on (see example of
FIG. 19). It would require a great deal of programming at all
levels of a conventional horizontally layered device to be able to
seamlessly recover, especially where a non-originating device has
powered off and lost the entire slide show data and state. This is
because conventional software eco-systems do not built into the
horizontal abstractions the semantics necessary for all levels from
the low-level routines that detect the lost connections to the
application. Without a direct mechanism for information to flow
from the application to the low-level communications system and
back it is difficult for an application to be written to
automatically resend the data and state information to the
connection recovered device.
[0586] With the Vertical Layering employed in the DartPlatform,
resending application data and procedures to recover an application
over a team of devices when connections are lost is built into the
application through the DartFramework, the DartRuntime, and the
DartEngine. So any application built using the DartFramework and
run on a DartPlayer does not need any special programming for
robust multi-device application and data synchronization
recovery.
[0587] In one embodiment of the Dart Platform, the traditionally
low-level operations (such as for example, communications)
interoperate directly with the traditionally high-level operations
(such as for example, the application) directly by passing
DartEvents directly between the Dart application that is running on
the DartInstructionSet and the native code that is handing
communications.
[0588] The DartTools (FIG. 3 200, FIG. 12 200), DartInstructionSet,
DartRuntime (FIG. 9, FIG. 15, FIG. 16, FIG. 17,) and Linear Tasking
(FIG. 18) are all designed to provide an environment largely devoid
of layers of abstraction where the applications form and process
DartEvents with the exact same (or substantially the same)
structure and semantics as the communications functions inside the
DartEngine. Thus, applications can easily and effectively collect,
synchronize and communicate all its needs and status with all other
software operations that are part of the DartPlatform through the
passing and processing of Events understood by most all components
of an interoperating system at every level, whether these
components are part of an application, the engine executing the
application, or interoperating parts of an application distributed
throughout a team of devices.
[0589] In one embodiment, the vertical layers provides for a
system, method, and computer program for closely coupling the
operations of software applications and the device control software
to foster a high-level of cooperative functionality between the
application and the device control software with low-complexity,
low-processing requirements, few application program interfaces,
and few protocol interfaces. It also provides a software run-time
model which is largely event driven for all software operations
whether application or device control related; as well as a set of
event semantics, types, structures and operations on events common
to the applications and the low-level device control software. An
event queue which drives the sequencing of synchronous application
event processing and asynchronous application, device,
communications and interoperability operations, are also provided.
The vertical layering approach also provides an instruction set or
system calls which are used to manage the queuing, dequeuing and
processing of events. An optional robust device interoperability
communications runtime model may also be provided, where
communications between devices is maintained, error corrected, and
when necessary reestablished with cooperation, but a with a small
amount of disruption to applications running effectively across a
team of interoperating devices. A system for Serialization and
Synchronization of Events passing through a cooperative team of
devices is beneficially applied to keep all components of an
interoperable system of asynchronous operations tightly coupled,
and therefore reliable, simple to implement, efficient and simple
to use.
[0590] In another embodiment, the invention provides a method,
computer program software, device and system for directly coupling
the operations of software applications and the device control
software operations on a device or set of communicating devices to
foster a highly efficient and flexible degree of cooperative
functionality between software operations, whether on one device or
across one or more cooperating devices. This may include source
code and resources, software tools, a prepackaged or pre-specified
software framework or library, an event driven runtime, and an
instruction set or set of system calls to manage a queue of events
on each device. In at least one embodiment exactly one queue of
events is managed on each device for this purpose.
[0591] The application may be a Dart, and the device control
software may be a DartEngine or DartPlayer. In some embodiments the
set of devices is or includes a team set up using Recruitment as
described herein or via a different method for recruiting a team of
devices. In one embodiment, the software framework is the
DartFramework. In one embodiment the event driven runtime is the
DartRuntime. In one embodiment the source code and resources are
the DartSource source code and the software tools are the
DartTools. In one embodiment, the instruction set and system calls
are provided by the DartInstructionSet and/or the functions that
can be invoked as part of built-in instruction type instructions,
such as for example the Dart BUILTIN_INSTRUCTION (FIG. 20 670, 671,
672, 673) and/or the OEM_BUILTIN_INSTRUCTION. (FIG. 20, 674, 680,
681, 682).
[0592] In at least one embodiment, the efficiency is achieved at
least in part by having a single data structure with commonly
understood semantics used to communicate information and/or content
and/or status amongst the system of devices (FIG. 17 800),
applications, and communications code.
[0593] In at least one embodiment, events such as for example,
DartEvents (FIG. 17 800), are used as the single data
structure.
[0594] In at least one embodiment, the device control software
operations includes communications, device configuration
management, device discovery, managing allocation, de-allocation
and access to memory, physical storage, physical displays physical
input/output devices or any other physical or software virtualized
physical aspect of a device.
[0595] In one embodiment, software tools take the software source
code and resources written to use the pre-specified software
framework which will ensure conformance to the event driven
execution model of the runtime supported by access to the
instruction set or set of system calls which are used to manage the
enqueuing, processing and dequeuing of events.
[0596] In at least one embodiment, the event processing of the
application is as expressed and described for FIG. 15, FIG. 9, FIG.
16, FIG. 17. In at least one embodiment, the events put onto the
queues of devices are serialized and synchronized. The
serialization and synchronization are performed according to the
serialization and synchronization method shown in FIG. 9.
[0597] Particular exemplary embodiments involving an aspect of
vertical layering are now described. In one embodiment (1), the
invention provides an event driven vertical layering system for
coordinating the operations of and data movement between procedural
(software) components which perform application level operations,
device hardware control level operations, communications level
operations, or any other level or subset of operations within or
between one or more teamed devices to establish an efficient and/or
robust cooperative functionality between the procedural (software)
components, the system comprising: (a) a static event data
structure whose fields and field semantics are generally known and
understood between all the event generating and processing units
across one or more devices and the procedural (software) components
running in the one or more devices; (b) a queue on each teamed
device which stores, removes, manages, and controls access to the
event data structure instances; (c) means for managing the placing,
modification, and removing of events on the queue accessible from
all the cooperating procedural (software) components; (d) means for
specifying and maintaining a common list of event types which are
to be serialized and synchronized between the queues of the
cooperating devices; and (e) means for ensuring that all the events
of any of the types on the common list are processed by the
procedural (software) components in the exact same order on all
devices regardless of what procedural (software) components
initiated the events, or which of the teamed devices the procedural
(software) components that initiated the events are running on.
[0598] In another embodiment (2), the invention provides the system
of (1), wherein the queue on each teamed device which stores,
removes, manages, and controls access to the event data structure
instances consists of exactly one queue on each teamed device.
[0599] In another embodiment (3), the invention provides the system
of (1), wherein the means for managing the placing, modification,
and removing of events on the queue accessible from all the
cooperating procedural (software) components comprises a procedure
implemented as a computer program including a plurality of program
instructions executing in a processor logic of the interoperating
devices.
[0600] In another embodiment (4), the invention provides the system
of (1), wherein the means for specifying and maintaining a common
list of event types which are to be serialized and synchronized
between the queues of the cooperating devices comprises a procedure
implemented as a computer program including a plurality of program
instructions executing in a processor logic of the interoperating
devices.
[0601] In another embodiment (5), the invention provides the system
of (1), wherein the means for ensuring that all the events of any
of the types on the common list are processed by the procedural
(software) components in the exact same order on all devices
regardless of what procedural (software) components initiated the
events, or which of the teamed devices the procedural (software)
components that initiated the events are running on comprises a
procedure implemented as a computer program including a plurality
of program instructions executing in a processor logic of the
interoperating devices.
[0602] In another embodiment (6), the invention provides the system
of (1), wherein one or more or any combination of the following are
true: (1) the static event data structure is the DartEvent; (2) the
teamed devices where assembled for cooperation through the used of
device recruitment; (3) the methods for managing the placing,
modification and removing of events are accessed through the use of
an Interoperability Instruction Set or the DartInstructionSet; (4)
the system carries out its event driven functionality at least in
part through the Interoperability Runtime or the DartRuntime; (5)
the methods for specifying the common list and ensuring that all
events of any of the types on the common list are processed in the
same order are as described for serialization and synchronization
of events on Recruitment; and (6) the Interoperability Tools or the
DartTools are used to generate the software application operations
code of the system.
[0603] In another embodiment (7), the invention provides the system
of (1), wherein coordinating the operations is a means for directly
coupling the operations of the procedural (software) components
without the need for any intermediating layers of software,
application program interface (API), or other semantics translating
means or mechanism.
[0604] In another embodiment (8), the invention provides the system
of (7), wherein the intermediating layers of software, API, or
other semantics translating means or mechanism which are not needed
as intermediating layers includes any of the seven horizontal
layers of the conventional OSI Protocol model, or combinations
thereof.
[0605] In another embodiment (9), the invention provides a system
as in (1), wherein at least a component of the efficiency is
achieved by having a single data structure with commonly understood
semantics used to communicate and transport information and/or
content and/or status amongst the devices and procedural (software)
components.
[0606] In another embodiment (10), the invention provides a system
as in (7), wherein at least a component of the efficiency is
achieved by having no intermediating layers of software which needs
to process the communication or transport.
[0607] In another embodiment (11), the invention provides a system
as in (7), wherein at least a component of the robustness is
achieved by having no intermediating layers of software where
problems or incompatibilities or misunderstandings of
implementation may otherwise occur.
[0608] In another embodiment (12), the invention provides a system
as in (1), wherein application level operations optionally include
one or more or any combination of the following: (1) application
directed power management; (2) application directed error recovery;
(3) application directed Interfacing and or any interactively with
a human or automated user; (4) application directed media rendering
or editing; and (5) application directed data processing.
[0609] In another embodiment (13), the invention provides a system
as in (12), wherein application directed means that the initiation
and or carrying out of operations is performed at least in part by
the processing instructions generated by traditional compilers and
linkers.
[0610] In another embodiment (14), the invention provides a system
as in (12), wherein application directed means that the initiation
and or carrying out of operations is performed at least in part by
the processing instructions of an interoperability instruction set
generated by one or more Interoperability Tools or by one or more
DartTools.
[0611] In another embodiment (15), the invention provides a system
as in (12), wherein the application conforms to the
Interoperability Format or the DartFormat.
[0612] In another embodiment (16), the invention provides a system
as in (1), wherein device hardware control level operations
optionally includes or is selected as one or more of the following
operations: (1) accessing one or more in any combination of memory,
hard disk drive storage, displays, power regulation, device
power-up, and device shutdown; (2) compression/decompression
circuits or processors, or input and output circuits of any type;
(3) setting or reading hardware operating modes or any other
information physically stored digitally or in an analog fashion;
(4) accessing random numbers or other forms of entropy for use in
simulations or cryptographic and or security operations; (5)
managing device configuration; (6) discovering devices and/or
services; and (7) managing allocation and/or deallocation and or
access to memory, physical storage, physical displays physical
input/output devices, or any other physical or software virtualized
physical aspect of a device, and any combinations of these.
[0613] In another embodiment (17), the invention provides a system
as in (1), wherein communications level operations optionally
includes or is selected as any one or more of the following in any
combination: (1) sending and or receiving of data, and or code and
or content; (2) sending and or receiving of meta data about data,
and/or code and/or content to be sent or received; (3) device
and/or service discovery; (4) broadcasting of data and/or code
and/or content; (5) transmission error detection and or correction;
(6) establishing and or maintaining channels between devices; (7)
establishing and or maintaining separate logical sessions on a
single and or multiple channels; (8) managing any of the following:
(a) bridging protocols; (b) extending the reach of communications
mechanisms; (c) acting as a proxy for a device; and (d) providing a
gateway for passing information through or from different physical
media or protocols.
[0614] In another embodiment (18), the invention provides a system
as in (1), wherein an Interoperability Engine or a DartEngine or a
DartPlayer or any combination of these is used at least in part to
embody the system.
[0615] In another embodiment (19), the invention provides a system
as in (1), further comprising software tools adapted for operating
on software source code and resources written to use a particular
software framework which will ensure conformance to the event
driven execution model of the runtime supported by access to an
instruction set or to a set of system calls which are used to
manage the enqueuing, processing, and dequeuing of events.
[0616] In another embodiment (20), the invention provides a system
as in (19), wherein one or more of the following in any combination
are true: (1) the software tools comprise the Interoperability
Tools or the DartTools; (2) the software framework comprises the
Interoperability Framework or the DartFramework; (3) the event
driven execution model comprises the Interoperability Runtime or
the DartRuntime; and (4) the instruction set or set of system calls
comprises the Interoperability Instruction Set or the
DartInstructionSet.
[0617] In another embodiment (21), the invention provides an event
driven vertical layering method for coordinating the operations of
and data movement between procedural components within or between
one or more teamed devices, the method comprising: (a) defining or
generating a static event data structure whose fields and field
semantics are generally known and understood between all the event
generating and processing units across one or more devices and the
procedural (software) components running in the one or more
devices; (b) defining or generating a queue on each teamed device
which stores, removes, manages, and controls access to the event
data structure instances; (c) managing the placing, modification,
and removing of events on the queue accessible from all the
cooperating procedural (software) components; (d) specifying and
maintaining a common list of event types which are to be serialized
and synchronized between the queues of the cooperating devices; and
(e) ensuring that all the events of any of the types on the common
list are processed by the procedural components in the exact same
order on all devices regardless of what procedural components
initiated the events, or which of the teamed devices the procedural
components that initiated the events are running on.
[0618] In another embodiment (22), the invention provides an event
driven vertical layering method as in (21), wherein the procedural
components perform application level operations, device hardware
control level operations, communications level operations, or any
other level or subset of operations within or between one or more
teamed devices to establish an efficient and/or robust cooperative
functionality between the procedural components.
[0619] In another embodiment (23), the invention provides an event
driven vertical layering method as in (21), wherein the procedural
components are implemented as computer program code software.
[0620] In another embodiment (24), the invention provides a
computer program product for use in conjunction with a computer
system or information appliance, the computer program product
comprising a computer readable storage medium and a computer
program mechanism embedded therein, the computer program mechanism
comprising: a program module that directs the computer system or
information appliance to function in a specified manner for
coordinating the operations of and data movement between procedural
components within or between one or more teamed devices, the
program module including instructions for: (a) defining or
generating a static event data structure whose fields and field
semantics are generally known and understood between all the event
generating and processing units across one or more devices and the
procedural (software) components running in the one or more
devices; (b) defining or generating a queue on each teamed device
which stores, removes, manages, and controls access to the event
data structure instances; (c) managing the placing, modification,
and removing of events on the queue accessible from all the
cooperating procedural (software) components; (d) specifying and
maintaining a common list of event types which are to be serialized
and synchronized between the queues of the cooperating devices; and
(e) ensuring that all the events of any of the types on the common
list are processed by the procedural components in the exact same
order on all devices regardless of what procedural components
initiated the events, or which of the teamed devices the procedural
components that initiated the events are running on.
[0621] The features and/or elements recited in these exemplary
embodiments as well as of exemplary embodiments described elsewhere
in this detailed description or in the drawings may be combined in
many different ways so that embodiments recited above are not
limitations of the invention and additional or alternative,
embodiments having any different combinations or permutations of
the features and elements are also embodiments of the
invention.
XI. Application Event Driven Power Management
[0622] Recall that Dart applications built using LinearTasking and
or VerticalLayering as embodied at least partially in the
DartFramework, always keep track of their exact response time needs
so that efficient power management techniques such as slowing down
the processor can extend the lifetime of batteries, limit the
amount of energy consumed or limit the amount of heat generated on
devices. In the current state of the art most applications do not
keep track of their response time needs, and if they did would not
be able to communicate these needs through existing layers of
protocols which conform to specifications that do not include
interfaces for communicating response time needs to the hardware of
the device from the application.
[0623] Particular embodiments of application event driven power
management are now described. Additional embodiments are set forth
in the examples. In one embodiment (1), the invention provides a
method for device energy and power management and energy and power
consumption reduction comprising: establishing an event driven
runtime environment within at least one device for which the energy
and power management and consumption reduction is to be achieved;
generating and maintaining at least one event queue identifying all
synchronous and asynchronous processing events and associated
minimum expected processing times for the processing events in the
queue; and selecting a final minimum estimated response time based
on the expected minimum synchronous and asynchronous event
processing times in the queue.
[0624] In another embodiment (2), the invention provides a method
as in (1), further comprising: searching through all the events on
a first asynchronous event queue that drive all the asynchronous
processing and collect the minimum time needed before any of the
asynchronous events need to be processed; searching through all the
events on a second synchronous event queue that drive all the
synchronous processing and collect the minimum time needed before
any of the synchronous events need to be processed; and determining
the final minimum response time needed by selecting the lesser of
the minimum time needed for the asynchronous events and-the minimum
time needed for the synchronous events.
[0625] In another embodiment (3), the invention provides a method
as in (2), further comprising: performing power management or power
consumption reduction tasks using the final minimum response time
value before further processing any events.
[0626] In another embodiment (4), the invention provides a method
as in (2), wherein the first asynchronous event queue and the
second asynchronous event queue are the same single unified event
queue.
[0627] In another embodiment (5), the invention provides a method
as in (2), wherein the first asynchronous event queue and the
second asynchronous event queue are different event queues.
[0628] In another embodiment (6), the invention provides a method
as in (3), wherein the events are DartEvents.
[0629] In another embodiment (7), the invention provides a method
as in (3), wherein both synchronous and asynchronous events are
maintained on a single unified queue.
[0630] In another embodiment (8), the invention provides a method
as in (7), wherein the unified queue is managed by an
Interoperability Engine as described elsewhere in this
specification or by the DartEngine.
[0631] In another embodiment (9), the invention provides a method
as in (3), wherein the event driven runtime is an Interoperability
Runtime or is a DartRuntime.
[0632] In another embodiment (10), the invention provides a method
as in (3), wherein the synchronous events are queueable events
which drive the synchronous processing needed to carry out the
intent of the application by getting processed by the event
processing units of an application that is compiled and linked.
[0633] In another embodiment (11), the invention provides a method
as in (3), wherein asynchronous events are queuable events which
drive the asynchronous processing needed to carry out the intent of
an-application, drive state machine driven hardware functions, or
create, maintain, or make use of the communications of one device
with another by getting processed by an Interoperability Engine or
a DartEngine.
[0634] In another embodiment (12), the invention provides a method
as in (3), wherein the power management and/or power consumption
reduction tasks are carried out by one or more of the following in
any combination: (a) making a native threaded operating system call
to initiating the blocking of the current thread of execution until
such time as an external stimulus or an explicit timeout based on
the final minimum response time needs, or an implied or device
specific timeout period has expired. (b) returning control to a
calling cooperative processes which is given the time period for
which no processing by the events on the queue or queues in needed.
(c) directly or indirectly instructing the hardware and or
processor to slow down, speed up, or shut down its clock(s) or
various hardware units. (d) directly or indirectly instructing
device hardware and/or processor and/or logic to control the amount
of voltage and or current in one or more circuits or electrical
units; and (e) any other method wherein power use is regulated
based on the final minimum response time.
[0635] In another embodiment (13), the invention provides a method
for device power management and/or power consumption reduction
carried out at least in part by an event driven runtime, the method
comprising: (1) at the start of each processing pass through an
event driven application, setting a minimum response time variable
to its expected highest-value, which expected highest-value is
interpreted by the system as a value indicating an infinite
response time need of the application event processing and any
asynchronous event processing driven by events already in the
runtime event queue; (2) when the first synchronous event
processing unit of an application is called, the first synchronous
event processing unit checking to determine if the event reference
passed into the processing unit as a parameter reference points to
an actual event instance to be processed; (3) if there is no event
referenced, the processing unit makes a system call directly or
indirectly by way of executing an instruction to request the next
synchronous application event that needs processing, the system
call causing the run-time to look through all the asynchronous
operations that are being driven by events on the queue, and if
there is an event to be processed, then processing continues at
step 8. (4) asynchronous events on the queue which are ready for
processing cause an operation corresponding to each asynchronous
event to be executed; (5) as each asynchronous event on the queue
is inspected to see if it is ready to be processed, the minimum
time until the next asynchronous event will be ready to be
processed is gathered in the minimum response time variable,
replacing the highest wait time value with any gathered minimum
time value which is less than the highest value; (6) when the
system call returns, a return value is tested to determine whether
there is a synchronous application event now at the head of the
queue which needs to be processed by the application; (7) if there
is no synchronous application event at the head of the queue which
needs to be processed, then a synchronous application processing
event of a type to indicate general processing is generated for
application processing; (8) the synchronous application event is
inspected by all application event processing units in a predefined
order according to the software run-time model; (9) any synchronous
application event processing unit that needs to continue processing
after it processes the current synchronous event will change the
minimum response time variable value to the minimum of the minimum
response time variable value and that of its own continued
processing unit needs; (10) when the first synchronous event
processing procedure regains control, a device specific power
management function is called with the minimum response time
variable value as a parameter; and (11) the device specific power
management function uses the value to stop, slow down, modify an
operating voltage or other parameter of the power consuming
components of the device until an externally generated stimulus
occurs or the time specified it the parameter occurs.
[0636] In another embodiment (14), the invention further including:
searching through all the events on a first asynchronous event
queue that drive all the asynchronous processing and collect the
minimum time needed before any of the asynchronous events need to
be processed; searching through all the events on a second
synchronous event queue that drive all the synchronous processing
and collect the minimum time needed before any of the synchronous
events need to be processed; and determining the final minimum
response time needed by selecting the lesser of the minimum time
needed for the asynchronous events and the minimum time needed for
the synchronous events.
[0637] In another embodiment (15), the invention provides the
method of (2), further comprising: (1) at the start of each
processing pass through an event driven application, setting a
minimum response time variable to its expected highest-value, which
expected highest-value is interpreted by the system as a value
indicating an infinite response time need of the application event
processing and any asynchronous event processing driven by events
already in the runtime event queue; (2) when the first synchronous
event processing unit of an application is called, the first
synchronous event processing unit checking to determine if the
event reference passed into the processing unit as a parameter
reference points to an actual event instance to be processed; (3)
if there is no event referenced, the processing unit makes a system
call directly or indirectly by way of executing an instruction to
request the next synchronous application event that needs
processing, the system call causing the run-time to look through
all the asynchronous operations that are being driven by events on
the queue, and if there is an event to be processed, then
processing continues at step 8 of the procedure; (4) asynchronous
events on the queue which are ready for processing cause an
operation corresponding to each asynchronous event to be executed;
(5) as each asynchronous event on the queue is inspected to see if
it is ready to be processed, the minimum time until the next
asynchronous event will be ready to be processed is gathered in the
minimum response time variable, replacing the highest wait time
value with any gathered minimum time value which is less than the
highest value; (6) when the system call returns, a return value is
tested to determine whether there is a synchronous application
event now at the head of the queue which needs to be processed by
the application; (7) if there is no synchronous application event
at the head of the queue which needs to be processed, then a
synchronous application processing event of a type to indicate
general processing is generated for application processing; (8) the
synchronous application event is inspected by all application event
processing units in a predefined order according to the software
run-time model; (9) any synchronous application event processing
unit that needs to continue processing after it processes the
current synchronous event will change the minimum response time
variable value to the minimum of the minimum response time variable
value and that of its own continued processing unit needs; (10)
when the first synchronous event processing procedure regains
control, a device specific power management function is called with
the minimum response time variable value as a parameter; and (11)
the device specific power management function uses the value to
stop, slow down, modify an operating voltage or other parameter of
the power consuming components of the device until an externally
generated stimulus occurs or the time specified it the parameter
occurs.
[0638] In another embodiment (16), the invention provides the
method of (13), wherein the synchronous events are processed by
Dart Gizmo class instances or instances of classes that inherit
directly or indirectly from the Dart Gizmo class.
[0639] In another embodiment (17), the invention provides the
method of (15), wherein the synchronous events are processed by
Dart Gizmo class instances or instances of classes that inherit
directly or indirectly from the Dart Gizmo class.
[0640] In another embodiment (18), the invention provides a
computer program product for use in conjunction with a computer
system or information appliance, the computer program product
comprising a computer readable storage medium and a computer
program mechanism embedded therein, the computer program mechanism
comprising: a program module that directs the computer system or
information appliance to function in a specified manner for device
energy and power management and energy and power consumption
reduction of the computer system or information appliance, the
program module including instructions for: establishing an event
driven runtime environment within at least one device for which the
energy and power management and consumption reduction is to be
achieved; generating and maintaining at least one event queue
identifying all synchronous and asynchronous processing events and
associated minimum expected processing times for the processing
events in the queue; and selecting a final minimum estimated
response time based on the expected minimum synchronous and
asynchronous event processing times in the queue.
[0641] In another embodiment (19), the invention provides a
computer program product as in (18), further comprising
instructions for: searching through all the events on a first
asynchronous event queue that drive all the asynchronous processing
and collect the minimum time needed before any of the asynchronous
events need to be processed; searching through all the events on a
second synchronous event queue that drive all the synchronous
processing and collect the minimum time needed before any of the
synchronous events need to be processed; and determining the final
minimum response time needed by selecting the lesser of the minimum
time needed for the asynchronous events and the minimum time needed
for the synchronous events.
[0642] In another embodiment (20), the invention provides a
computer program product as in (19), further comprising
instructions for: performing power management or power consumption
reduction tasks using the final minimum response time value before
further processing any events.
[0643] In another embodiment (21), the invention provides an
apparatus for energy and power management and energy and power
consumption reduction within at least one device, the apparatus
comprising: a logic circuit within the at least one device
utilizing energy and power to perform a logic processing operation;
means for establishing an event driven runtime environment within
at the least one device for which the energy and power management
and consumption reduction is to be achieved; means for generating
and maintaining at least one event queue identifying all
synchronous and asynchronous processing events and associated
minimum expected processing times for the processing events in the
queue; means for selecting a final minimum estimated response time
based on the expected minimum synchronous and asynchronous event
processing times in the queue; and means for searching through all
the events on a first asynchronous event queue that drive all the
asynchronous processing and collect the minimum time needed before
any of the asynchronous events need to be processed; means for
searching through all the events on a second synchronous event
queue that drive all the synchronous processing and collect the
minimum time needed before any of the synchronous events need to be
processed; means for determining the final minimum response time
needed by selecting the lesser of the minimum time needed for the
asynchronous events and the minimum time needed for the synchronous
events; and means for performing power management or power
consumption reduction tasks for the logic circuit using the final
minimum response time value before further processing any
events.
[0644] The features and/or elements recited in these exemplary
embodiments as well as of exemplary embodiments described elsewhere
in this detailed description or in the drawings may be combined in
many different ways so that embodiments recited above are not
limitations of the invention and additional or alternative
embodiments having any different combinations or permutations of
the features and elements are also embodiments of the
invention.
XII. Interoperability Application Event Driven Error Recovery
[0645] Recall that device to device wireless communications
connections are often unreliable due to interference, distance
limitations, and abrupt shutdowns due to low battery power. In
conventional horizontally layered protocol software implementations
on devices a fatal error in any one layer will result in
unrecoverable errors which will be difficult for an application to
recover from, both because the application does not have standard
interfaces to easily reestablish the connections and contexts of
the connections, and because conventional application programs do
not have much infrastructure for tracking and reestablishing shared
state between applications running on different devices. The
DartFramework keeps track of shared state, renditioning can be used
to easily reestablish lost state between devices and
VerticalLayering makes it simple for communications errors to be
relayed to the Dart and for the Dart to relay recovery information
directly to the communications processing units. Thus Darts running
across devices can seamlessly recover from intermittent complete
losses of communications between cooperating devices and the
recovery of the shared state of the devices when the connection is
restored even where the previously lost device has itself lost all
its application state.
[0646] Additional embodiments of Interoperability application event
driven error recovery are now described. In one embodiment (1), the
invention provides a method for gracefully continuing an operation
in an environment of lost or intermittent communications), wherein
an event driven interoperability application package running
cooperatively across multiple teamed devices gracefully continues
its operations and/or partially recovers from temporarily loosing
communications with devices that are part of the team, the method
comprising: (1) generating a communications session lost type event
instance on a team member device when communication from the team
member device to a teamed device is lost or interrupted and cannot
be reestablished within a predetermined or dynamically determined
time period and wherein each team member and teamed device is
carrying out part of the intent of an application package; (2)
sending the communications session lost type event is directly or
via a queue of events which drives synchronous operations of the
application package to the application event processing unit which
handles communications session lost events; (3) the event
processing unit of the application package modifying the behavior
of the application package where possible to continue its
operations without the teamed device with which communications has
been lost or interrupted; (4) generating a communications session
recovered type event instance on the team member device when the
communication is restored between the team member and teamed
devices; (5) the communications session recovered type event being
sent directly or via a queue of events which drives the synchronous
operations of the application to the application event processing
unit which handles recovered communications sessions; (6) the event
processing unit of the application then causing the team member
device to send whatever code, data, and/or content is needed to
bring the teamed device into synchronization with the rest of the
event driven interoperability application; and (7) the event
processing unit of the application then modifying the behavior of
the application package to include the now recovered teamed device
in the process of carrying out the intent of the application:
[0647] In another embodiment (2), the invention provides the method
of (1), wherein one or more of the following are true in any
combination: (1) the event driven interoperability application
package conforms to the interoperability format or is the
DartFormat; (2) the interoperability application is as described
elsewhere in this detailed description or the interoperability
package is a Dart; (3) the recruitment method is used to establish
the running cooperatively across multiple teamed devices; (4) the
events are or include DARTEvents; (5) the event processing unit is
a Dart Gizmo class instance, or an instance of any class which
inherits directly or indirectly from the Dart Gizmo class; (6) the
coordination and synchronization of events is carried out on each
device by an interoperability engine or is carried out by the
DartEngine; and (7) the coordination and synchronization of events
on and between devices is carried out according to an
interoperability runtime or the DartRuntime.
[0648] In another embodiment (3), the invention provides the method
of (1), wherein the modified behavior of the application to
continue its operations without the teamed device is optionally
selected from the set of modifications consisting of one or more of
the following in any combination: (1) the device which is lost is
simply displaying status allowing the application to continue
without the display; (2) the functions being done by the lost
device are redundant and are therefore not required to carry out
the intent of the application; (3) the functions being done by the
lost device can be performed instead by any remaining member or
members of the team; (4) the functions being done by the lost
device can be performed instead by another device reachable by the
team, and which can then be recruited into the team; (5) the
functionality of the remaining teamed devices can proceed in a
reduced mode of operation; and (6) any combination of the
above.
[0649] In another embodiment (4), the invention provides the method
of (1), wherein the connection is lost due to any one or more of
these factors alone or in any combination: (1) battery power gets
low or runs out and the device shuts down its communications, or
the entire device is shut down, and or the device stops
functioning; (2) a user or other automated or non-automated process
causes the device to stop functioning as part of the team without
smoothly shutting down the application; (3) the device or
communications protocol stops functioning correctly for any reason
other than an orderly shutdown of the part of the application
running on the device; (4) the device is reset; (5) the device goes
out of range of the wireless protocol being used; (6) the device
looses line of sight needed to maintain communication over a
directional protocol; (7) interference by signals or objects which
block the communications; and (8) any combination of the above.
[0650] In another embodiment (5), the invention provides the method
of (1), wherein a hierarchy of event processing units comprise a
hierarchy of processing units that include at least one Dart Gizmo
processing unit or many Dart Gizmo processing units arranged in a
graph with processing sequenced and coordinated using linear
tasking.
[0651] In another embodiment (6), the invention provides the method
of (1), wherein continuing or recovering is performed over a team
of cooperating devices when connections are lost is carried out
through the use of the DartFramework, the DartRuntime, and/or the
DartEngine.
[0652] In another embodiment (7), the invention provides the method
of (6), wherein Darts built using the DartFramework and run on a
Dart Player do not need any application specific special
programming to support robust multi-device application, data, and
communications session recovery.
[0653] In another embodiment (8), the invention provides a computer
program product for use in conjunction with a computer system or
information appliance, the computer program product comprising a
computer readable storage medium and a computer program mechanism
embedded therein, the computer program mechanism comprising: a
program module that directs the computer system or information
appliance to function in a specified manner for gracefully
continuing an operation in a processing environment of lost or
intermittent communications), wherein an event driven
interoperability application package running cooperatively across
multiple teamed devices gracefully continues its operations and/or
partially recovers from temporarily loosing communications with
devices that are part of the team, the program module including
instructions for: (1) generating a communications session lost type
event instance on a team member device when communication from the
team member device to a teamed device is lost or interrupted and
cannot be reestablished within a predetermined or dynamically
determined time period and wherein each team member and teamed
device is carrying out part of the intent of an application
package; (2) sending the communications session lost type event is
directly or via a queue of events which drives synchronous
operations of the application package to the application event
processing unit which handles communications session lost events;
(3) the event processing unit of the application package modifying
the behavior of the application package where possible to continue
its operations without the teamed device with which communications
has been lost or interrupted; (4) generating a communications
session recovered type event instance on the team member device
when the communication is restored between the team member and
teamed devices; (5) the communications session recovered type event
being sent directly or via a queue of events which drives the
synchronous operations of the application to the application event
processing unit which handles recovered communications sessions;
(6) the event processing unit of the application then causing the
team member device to send whatever code, data, and/or content is
needed to bring the teamed device into synchronization with the
rest of the event driven interoperability application; and (7) the
event processing unit of the application then modifying the
behavior of the application package to include the now recovered
teamed device in the process of carrying out the intent of the
application.
[0654] In another embodiment (9), the invention provides an
apparatus capable of gracefully continuing an operation in an
environment of lost or intermittent communications with another
teamed device), wherein an event driven interoperability
application package running cooperatively across multiple teamed
devices gracefully continues its operations and/or partially
recovers from temporarily loosing communications with other teamed
devices that are part of the team, the apparatus comprising: a
processor or processing logic and a memory coupled with the
processor or processing logic; logic means generating a
communications session lost type event instance on a team member
device when communication from the team member device to a teamed
device is lost or interrupted and cannot be reestablished within a
predetermined or dynamically determined time period and wherein
each team member and teamed device is carrying out part of the
intent of an application package; first communications means
sending the communications session lost type event is directly or
via a queue of events which drives synchronous operations of the
application package to the application event processing unit which
handles communications session lost events; an event processing
unit of the application package for modifying the behavior of the
application package where possible to continue its operations
without the teamed device with which communications has been lost
or interrupted; second communications means generating a
communications session recovered type event instance on the team
member device when the communication is restored between the team
member and teamed devices; the communications session recovered
type event being sent directly or via a queue of events which
drives the synchronous operations of the application to the
application event processing unit which handles recovered
communications sessions; the event processing unit of the
application causing the team member device to send whatever code,
data, and/or content is needed to bring the teamed device into
synchronization with the rest of the event driven interoperability
application; and the event processing unit of the application then
modifying the behavior of the application package to include the
now recovered teamed device in the process of carrying out the
intent of the application.
[0655] In another embodiment (10), the invention provides the
apparatus as in (9), wherein the apparatus comprises at least one
of a computer, a music player, a media player, a personal data
appliance (PDA), an information appliance, a printer, a recorder, a
mobile or cellular telephone, a camera, an electrical appliance, or
any combination of these.
[0656] In another embodiment (11), the invention provides the
apparatus of (9), wherein one or more of the following are true in
any combination: (1) the event driven interoperability application
package conforms to the interoperability format or is the
DartFormat; (2) the interoperability application is a Dart; (3) the
recruitment method is used to establish the running cooperatively
across multiple teamed devices; (4) the events are or include
DARTEvents; (5) the event processing unit is a Dart Gizmo class
instance, or an instance of any class which inherits directly or
indirectly from the Dart Gizmo class; (6) the coordination and
synchronization of events is carried out on each device by an
interoperability engine or is carried out by the DartEngine; and
(7) the coordination and synchronization of events on and between
devices is carried out according to an interoperability runtime or
the DartRuntime.
[0657] The features and/or elements recited in these exemplary
embodiments as well as of exemplary embodiments described elsewhere
in this detailed description or in the drawings may be combined in
many different ways so that embodiments recited above are not
limitations of the invention and additional or alternative
embodiments having any different combinations or permutations of
the features and elements are also embodiments of the
invention.
XIII. Interoperability Instruction Set
[0658] In another aspect, the invention provides an
interoperability method, software, and instruction set. Software or
hardware that implement an Interoperability Instruction Set (IIS)
is an efficient methodology for implementing a common procedural
environment as benefited to the: (i) Recruitment model for teaming
and spreading or distributing an application; (ii) for allowing
unmodified applications to run on otherwise dissimilar devices; and
(iii) for exposing the unique resources, unique capabilities and/or
unique content to other applications and devices.
[0659] In one advantageous embodiment and implementation of the
invention, the interoperability instruction-set is the Dart
instruction set (DartInstructionSet) as embodied in or compatible
with the Dart engine (DartEngine FIG. 22 600).
[0660] It will be appreciated that components of computer and
information systems and devices may be implemented in hardware,
firmware, and/or software, and that there is often a design and
implementation choice as to which of hardware, firmware, or
software to use for a particular component of a particular
implementation. So it is with the Dart engine and the
interoperability instruction set. Therefore it may be appreciated
that although certain components of certain embodiments may be
described in terms of one of hardware, firmware, or software;
alternative embodiments may use different combinations of hardware,
firmware, or software to provide the means for accomplishing the
desired function or result.
[0661] In one exemplary embodiment, the hardware and/or software
for carrying out an Interoperability Instruction-set is comprised
of eleven components, though the components and functions may be
grouped differently so that the number is not determinative of the
structure or operation of the engine or instruction set (see FIG. 4
3010).
[0662] First, a processor or central processing unit (CPU), memory,
and input output (I/O) capabilities for programs to run or execute
on, and to support communications to and from systems, devices,
networks and the like outside or external to the device.
[0663] Second, there should be memory access, computation, test and
branch, input/output instructions to carry out at least
conventional general purpose computing tasks.
[0664] Third, there are advantageously provided interoperability
performance enhancing instructions used to extend the practical
reach of common binary applications and Renditions to lower
performance devices.
[0665] Fourth, there are advantageously provided interoperability
instructions to carry out the Dart methodologies of Recruitment,
Renditioning, Creationism, Vertical Layering, Linear Tasking,
Social Synchronization, Social Security, and VirtualPointers
although as described elsewhere herein not all of these Dart
components are required for all embodiments of implementations.
[0666] Fifth, there are also advantageously provided certain unique
capability instructions that are operative to expose any
characteristics, resources, capabilities, and/or functions
possessed by or accessible from of a particular device to software
applications and other devices.
[0667] Sixth, security maintenance instructions are advantageously
provided to control and otherwise access the setting of security
features, the grouping of devices with a particular set of cross
device access rights, and/or setting the access rights for
applications to devices and/or resources.
[0668] Seventh, containment instructions, such as Dart containment
(DartContainment) instructions, are also advantageously provided to
allow Darts or Dart compatible instructions to effectively extend
the execution of an originating Dart across other separately
generated Darts that are collected, maintained, and run as part of
the operation of the originating Dart.
[0669] Eighth, common user-interface (UI) instructions are
advantageously provided for one or more of decoding, encoding,
compressing and decompressing and manipulating and rendering
pictures, bitmaps, sounds, input events, text rendering, and other
such operations.
[0670] Ninth, communications instructions are advantageously
provided for example, for opening, closing, and maintaining
sessions and the data that goes across the sessions.
[0671] Tenth, storage instructions are advantageously provided to
control and maintain access to storage, storage devices, storage
resources, and the like.
[0672] Eleventh, compatibility instructions are advantageously
provided to convert or transcode between differing formats or
parameters of data, content and/or code.
[0673] The advantages of an Interoperability Instruction-set over
other common methodologies, such as for example the use of virtual
machines, is that the interoperability instruction set (and
particularly the Dart Interoperability Instruction Set) is designed
and optimized to perform all necessary interoperability operations
as instructions that are dispatched to functions which are compiled
or assembled into the native code of the device processor. In one
embodiment that includes some optional features and capabilities,
the Interoperability Instruction-set should have most if not all of
the following: (ii) Recruitment instructions, (ii) Profile
instructions, (iii) Synchronizing instructions, (iv) user-interface
or UI and graphics instructions, (v) power management instructions,
(vi) Connection and Session management instructions, (vii) Storage
instructions, (viii) Rendition instructions, (ix) Creationism
instructions, (x) application parts management instructions, (xi)
cryptographic large number math instructions, (xii) Text and/or
symbol parsing instructions, (xiii) Virtual Pointer management
instructions, and (xiv) instructions that are capable of exposing
unique capabilities of the device to DARTs and thereby to any other
DartDevices or Dart compatible devices.
[0674] Additional particular embodiments of the interoperability
instruction set are now described. In one embodiment (1), the
invention provides an apparatus for effecting an interoperability
instruction set (IIS), the apparatus comprising: a processor, a
memory coupled to the processor, and an input/output (I/O)
interface to support communications with the processor by an entity
external to the apparatus; execution supportive interoperability
means for carrying-out methodologies involving at least one of
recruitment, renditioning, creationism, vertical layering,
linear-tasking, social synchronization, and social security; and
communications interoperability instructions for opening and
maintaining a communication session and the procedures, data,
content or other information that goes between communicating
devices during the communication session.
[0675] In another embodiment (2), the invention provides an
apparatus as in (2), wherein: the execution supportive
interoperability means comprises interoperability instructions for
carrying-out the methodologies.
[0676] In another embodiment (3), the invention provides an
apparatus as in (1), wherein one or more of the following are true:
recruitment is as described elsewhere in this detailed description;
renditioning is as described elsewhere in this detailed
description; creationism is as described elsewhere in this detailed
description; vertical layering is as described elsewhere in this
detailed description; liner tasking is as described elsewhere in
this detailed description; social synchronization is as described
in elsewhere in this detailed description; and social security is
as described elsewhere in this detailed description.
[0677] In another embodiment (4), the invention provides the
apparatus of (1), wherein the instruction set includes one or more
of the Dart instructions selected from the set consisting of
BUILTIN_INSTRUCTION, OEM_BUILTIN_INSTRUCTION, PROFILE_INSTRUCTION,
and SAVE_INSTRUCTION.
[0678] In another embodiment (5), the invention provides the
apparatus of (1), wherein the Interoperability Instruction Set is
the DartInstructionSet and is carried out by an Interoperability
Engine.
[0679] In another embodiment (6), the invention provides the
apparatus of (5), wherein the Interoperability Engine is a
DartEngine.
[0680] In another embodiment (7), the invention provides the
apparatus of (1), wherein the instruction set is embodied in one or
more of: (1) a software product running on a processor with a
different native instruction set, whether the native instruction
set is embodied in hardware, software, firmware, microcode,
hardware logic or any combination thereof; (2) firmware, or
microcode coordinating and directing the activities of hardware
logic units; (3) hardware logic; or (4) any combination of
these.
[0681] In another embodiment (8), the invention provides the
apparatus in (1), further comprising: common user interface (UI)
interoperability means for manipulating text, symbolic information,
and images.
[0682] In another embodiment (9), the invention provides the
apparatus in (8), wherein: the common user interface
interoperability means comprise common user interface
interoperability instructions; and the user interface
interoperability instructions include instructions for at least one
of decoding, encoding, compressing and decompressing and
manipulating and rendering pictures, bitmaps, sounds, input events,
text, symbols, audio/video, or other digitally encoded entity, and
any combination of one or more of these.
[0683] In another embodiment (10), the invention provides the
apparatus in (1), further comprising: a processor or CPU, memory
coupled to the processor or CPU, and an input/output (I/O)
interface being operable to support communications with the
processor by an entity external to the apparatus.
[0684] In another embodiment (11), the invention provides the
apparatus in (1), further comprising: an operating environment
associated with the processor, memory, and input/output interface
for performing memory access, computation, test and branch, and
input/output instructions at least for carrying out general purpose
computing tasks.
[0685] In another embodiment (12), the invention provides the
apparatus in (1), further comprising: device performance enhancing
interoperability means used to extend the practical reach of common
binary applications and renditions to lower performance devices
because the instructions are implemented and executed in the native
code format of a physical processor or CPU of the device as part of
the engine, rather then by a sequence of slower executing emulated
instructions of the application program used for binary
compatibility.
[0686] In another embodiment (13), the invention provides the
apparatus of (12), wherein the performance enhancing
interoperability means (instructions) include instructions for one
or more of the following: CPU intensive cryptographic operations on
large numbers including one or more of multiplication, division,
addition, subtraction, exponentiation, modular exponentiation,
hashing, random number generation, digital signature generation and
verification, key pair generation, the encoding and decoding of
data to be secured or read, and any instruction or set of
instructions performing a combination of any two or more of
these.
[0687] In another embodiment (14), the invention provides the
apparatus of (13), wherein the processor or CPU intensive
cryptographic operations on large numbers include operations
involving individual numbers that must be stored in multiple memory
words to assure that the values can be accurately and precisely
represented and or to ensure a proper degree of security.
[0688] In another embodiment (15), the invention provides the
apparatus of (12), wherein the performance enhancing
interoperability means are for performing one or more of the
following CPU intensive graphics operations: bitmap copying, bitmap
scaling, bitmap stretching, bitmap transposing, bitmap blending,
bitmap filling, curve generation, line generation, circle
generation, polygon rendering, piecewise linear curve generation or
rendering, hit detection, font character generation and placement,
and any combination of these.
[0689] In another embodiment (16), the invention provides the
apparatus of (12), wherein the performance enhancing
interoperability means (instructions) are for performing one or
more of the following CPU intensive text or symbol processing
operations: XML parsing, text searching, text insertion, text
deletion, text database operations, text-to-text representation
conversions, text manipulation, text-to-symbol manipulation,
symbol-to-symbol manipulation, and any combination of these.
[0690] In another embodiment (17), the invention provides the
apparatus of (12), wherein the performance enhancing
interoperability means are for performing one or more of the
following CPU intensive media processing operations: audio
decompression, video decompression, picture decompression, dataset
decompression, audio compression, video compression, picture
compression, dataset compression, digital image processing, digital
audio processing, dataset processing, database operations and any
combination of these.
[0691] In another embodiment (18), the invention provides the
apparatus in (1), further comprising: capabilities exposing
interoperability means for exposing any characteristics and
functions, including any unique capabilities and functions, of a
particular device to software and/or firmware applications and
other devices that are being teamed or have been teamed through the
use of the recruitment procedure or methodology.
[0692] In another embodiment (19), the invention provides the
apparatus in (1), further comprising: security maintenance
interoperability instructions for accessing and setting or
resetting of: security features, grouping of devices with a
particular set of cross device access rights, and access rights for
applications to devices and resources.
[0693] In another embodiment (20), the invention provides the
apparatus in (1), further comprising: containment interoperability
means allow separately generated Darts or executable procedures, to
dynamically become part of the linear tasking based runtime
environment of other Darts or executable procedures, whether as a
child that inherits its environment from its parent or as a parent
which provides its runtime environment to any child, or where the
generated Dart or executable procedure serve as both parent and
child of other executable procedures.
[0694] In another embodiment (21), the invention provides the
apparatus in (1), further comprising: containment (DartContainment)
interoperability instructions to allow separately generated Darts,
whether generated by one or more DartTools or by Dart Creationism,
to dynamically become part of the Linear Tasking based DartRuntime
of other Darts, whether as a child Dart that inherits its
environment from its parent Dart or as a parent Dart which provides
its runtime environment to any child Darts, or where the generated
Darts serve as both parent and child of other Darts.
[0695] In another embodiment (22), the invention provides the
apparatus in (1), wherein: Darts effectively extend the execution
of an originating Dart across other separately generated Darts that
are collected, maintained and/or run as part of the operation of
the originating Dart.
[0696] In another embodiment (23), the invention provides the
apparatus in (1), further comprising: storage interoperability
instruction means for accessing digital data storage devices and
optionally including any one or more of hard disk drives, battery
backed up memory, flash storage devices, or other devices which can
preserve data while the main power is removed or turned off on the
device.
[0697] In another embodiment (24), the invention provides the
apparatus in (1), further comprising: compatibility
interoperability means (instructions) for signaling, retiring and
otherwise managing DartEvents or events and an event queue
(EventQueue) or DartEventQueue which drives asynchronous and or
synchronous processing of a Dart executing across one or more
devices.
[0698] In another embodiment (25), the invention provides the
apparatus in (1), further comprising: unique capabilities
instructions to expose any characteristics and functions of a
particular device to software applications and other devices.
[0699] In another embodiment (26), the invention provides the
apparatus in (25), wherein the unique capabilities instructions may
include an instruction selected from the set of instructions
consisting of: a Dart PROFILE_INSTRUCTION that takes one or more
IDs for a resource or capability and returns a value, structured
values, or a list of structured values.
[0700] In another embodiment (27), the invention provides the
apparatus in (26), wherein the ID may be just a scalar value
pre-assigned to indicate a particular resource or capability, or a
major scalar value indicating the general category plus a scalar
minor value, or the ID may contain a plurality of scalar values
containing any combination of a manufacturer id, major category and
minor category.
[0701] In another embodiment (28), the invention provides the
apparatus in (27), wherein one of the major scalar values is a
manufacturer ID scalar value that is assigned with a single unique
value for every different manufacturer and used to separate the ID
values so those specific to a manufacturer can not conflict with
those specific to a different other manufacturers' IDs for
resources or capabilities.
[0702] In another embodiment (29), the invention provides the
apparatus in (25), wherein the unique capabilities instructions
include an original equipment manufacturer OEM instruction which
takes as a parameter a manufacturer ID scalar value, a parameter
block specifying the operation to be performed and all the
parameters needed to carry out a particular unique application
program interface to the unique capabilities.
[0703] In another embodiment (30), the invention provides the
apparatus in (25), wherein the original equipment manufacturer
(OEM) instruction comprises a Dart OEM_BUILTIN_INSTRUCTION
instruction.
[0704] In another embodiment (31), the invention provides the
apparatus in (27), wherein any other instructions that are part of
any non-Dart interoperability instruction set is used to expose
unique resources and capabilities of a device through a
manufacturer specified application program interface.
[0705] In another embodiment (32), the invention provides the
apparatus in (31), further comprising other instructions that are
part of any non-Dart interoperability instruction set performs and
or is used to expose unique resources and capabilities of a device,
that operate analogously to the Dart PROFILE_INSTRUCTION and the
Dart OEM_BUILTIN_INSTRUCTION instruction.
[0706] In another embodiment (33), the invention provides the
apparatus in (31), further comprising an instruction set creating a
common procedural environment across homogeneous and heterogeneous
devices, the instruction set comprising: a plurality of
instructions designed and optimized to perform all necessary
interoperability operations between and among any of a plurality of
homogeneous and heterogeneous devices; and the instructions being
dispatched to functions which are compiled or assembled into the
native code of the processor of the destination device.
[0707] In another embodiment (34), the invention provides an
interoperability instruction set creating a common procedural
environment across homogeneous and heterogeneous devices, the
instruction set comprising: a plurality of instructions designed
and optimized to perform all necessary interoperability operations
between and among any of a plurality of homogeneous and
heterogeneous devices; and the instructions being dispatched to
functions which are compiled or assembled into the native code of
the processor of the destination device.
[0708] In another embodiment (35), the invention provides an
interoperability instruction set as in (34), wherein the
interoperability instruction set comprises the Dart instruction set
as implemented in the DartEngine of a DartPlayer running on one or
more DartDevices.
[0709] In another embodiment (36), the invention provides an
interoperability instruction set as in (34), wherein the
interoperability instruction set executes in a portable engine
creating a common procedural environment in the devices for
executing at least one of a device resource and capability
recruitment application and another application unmodified to
execute on the dissimilar heterogeneous device.
[0710] In another embodiment (37), the invention provides an
interoperability instruction set as in (34), wherein the
interoperability instruction set includes at least one and any
combination of the following instructions: recruitment
instructions, profile instructions, synchronizing instructions,
user interface (ui) and graphics instructions, power management
instructions, connection and session management instructions,
storage instructions, rendition instructions, creationism
instructions, and application parts management instructions.
[0711] In another embodiment (38), the invention provides an
interoperability instruction set as in (34), wherein the addressing
field or fields of the instruction can reference at least: (1) a
registers address space, whether or not disjoint from the other
address spaces; (2) a main data address space, whether or not
disjoint from the other address spaces; (3) a stack address space,
whether or not disjoint from the other address spaces; and (4) an
application heap address space, whether or not disjoint from the
other address spaces.
[0712] In another embodiment (39), the invention provides an
interoperability instruction set as in (38), wherein the addressing
field or fields of the instruction can further reference: (5) one
or more of the following additional address spaces in any
combination: (i) one or more disjoint virtual pointer address
spaces; (ii) a separate application heap element address space;
(iii) a virtualized local address space to the current function
data space which is a contiguous subset of another address space;
and (iv) one or more virtualized object instance address spaces
which are contiguous subsets of other address spaces.
[0713] In another embodiment (40), the invention provides an
interoperability instruction set as in (38), wherein all address
spaces are addressed by an N bit number, and a number of bits, M,
of the N bits specify which of different possible 2 to the M power
of address spaces the N-M remaining bits is actually
referencing.
[0714] In another embodiment (41), the invention provides an
interoperability instruction set as in (39), wherein all address
spaces are addressed by an N bit number, and a number of bits, M,
of the N bits specify which of different possible 2 to the M power
of address spaces the N-M remaining bits is actually
referencing.
[0715] In another embodiment (42), the invention provides ah
interoperability instruction set as in (40), where the address
space is actually in units of 2 to the power of M of the native
processor's smallest directly accessible words so that using the
N-M address space can still specify the entire direct address space
of the native processor, only without the ability to directly
address units of memory smaller then 2 to the power of M.
[0716] In another embodiment (43), the invention provides an
interoperability instruction set as in (38), wherein virtual
address pointer address spaces are used.
[0717] In another embodiment (44), the invention provides an
interoperability instruction set as in (38), where the decoding of
the address fields of instructions for data or code in any or all
of the address spaces is checked by the processor decoding the
instructions to ensure that no access will take place outside of
the currently restricted bounds of the underlying memory, or other
hardware accessible through the use of the decoded address
fields.
[0718] In another embodiment (45), the invention provides the
apparatus of (1), wherein the instruction set includes instructions
used to access to a file system that supports traditional hard
files and one or more of the following types of files in any
combination: (i) a memory file; (ii) a subfile file; (iii) a part
subfile file; (iv) a part descriptor overriding file; and (v) any
combination or sequential or non-sequential layering of these types
of files.
[0719] In another embodiment (46), the invention provides the
apparatus of (45), wherein the memory file is a virtualized a
traditional hardfile accessible through the same methods for
accessing a hardfile but where the data is kept in changeable main
memory of a processor rather than on traditional hard storage such
as a hard disk drive or other physical device other than the type
commonly used for main memory access of processors.
[0720] In another embodiment (47), the invention provides the
apparatus of (45), wherein the subfile file is a virtualized file
representing a linear contiguous range of data inside another file,
and where the linear contiguous range is virtualized as beginning
at a logical offset of zero, before which there is no data, and the
end of the range is bounded by the offset representing the length
of the range of data, at and beyond which there is no data.
[0721] In another embodiment (48), the invention provides the
apparatus of (45), wherein the part subfile file is a subfile which
represents a logical individually addressable part inside a file
holding an application package of one or more independently
executable images.
[0722] In another embodiment (49), the invention provides the
apparatus of (45), wherein the part descriptor overriding file),
where it exists with the same identifier value as does a specific
part, will serve to override any or existing data which once
represented the part, whether the existing data is inside a file
holding an application package of one or more independently
executable images or it is inside any other separate file.
[0723] In another embodiment (50), the invention provides the
apparatus of (49), wherein the part descriptor overriding file is
used to logically replace old data for a part without the need to
change the existing data inside other files.
[0724] In another embodiment (51), the invention provides the
apparatus of (49), wherein the part descriptor overriding file can
represent the data for a part as being one of: logically deleted or
non-existent; physically stored elsewhere or in another file as
identified in the descriptor overriding file; representative of the
access rights or allowed usage of the part data; and represented
inside the descriptor file itself.
[0725] In another embodiment (52), the invention provides a method
for effecting an interoperability instruction set (IIS) in an
apparatus, the method comprising: providing a processor and memory
coupled to the processor, and an input/output (I/O) interface to
support communications with the processor by an entity external to
the apparatus; supporting execution interoperability methodologies
involving at least one of a recruitment procedure, a renditioning
procedure, a creationism procedure, a vertical layering procedure,
a linear-tasking procedure, a social synchronization procedure, and
a social security procedure; and providing communications
interoperability instructions for opening and maintaining a
communication session and the procedures, data, content and/or
other information that may be exchanged between communicating
devices during a communication session.
[0726] In another embodiment (53), the invention provides a method
as in (52), wherein: the execution interoperability methodology
comprises at least one interoperability instruction for
carrying-out the interoperability methodology.
[0727] In another embodiment (55), the invention provides a
computer program product for use in conjunction with a computer
system or information appliance, the computer program product
comprising a computer readable storage medium and a computer
program mechanism embedded therein, the computer program mechanism
comprising: a program module that directs the computer system or
information appliance having a processor and memory coupled to the
processor and an input/output (I/O) interface to support
communications with the processor by an entity external to the
apparatus, to function in a specified manner for effecting an
interoperability instruction set (IIS) in an apparatus, the program
module including instructions for: supporting execution
interoperability methodologies involving at least one of a
recruitment procedure, a renditioning procedure, a creationism
procedure, a vertical layering procedure, a linear-tasking
procedure, a social synchronization procedure, and a social
security procedure; and providing communications interoperability
instructions for opening and maintaining a communication session
and the procedures, data, content and/or other information that may
be exchanged between communicating devices during a communication
session.
[0728] The features and/or elements recited in these exemplary
embodiments as well as of exemplary embodiments described elsewhere
in this detailed description or in the drawings may be combined in
many different ways so that embodiments recited above are not
limitations of the invention and additional or alternative
embodiments having any different combinations or permutations of
the features and elements are also embodiments of the
invention.
XIV. Creationism
[0729] In another aspect of the invention, system, apparatus,
method and computer program for Creationism are provided.
Creationism includes a methodology which enables an
interoperability application to create other interoperability
applications, which in turn can create still more interoperability
applications. This allows for the efficient dynamic generation and
distribution of application, data and content in differing forms
across a world of connected and intermittently connected
devices.
[0730] In the one advantageous embodiment and implementation, this
is the ability for Darts to create other Darts (FIG. 12 700) or
Dart procedures (DartProcedures FIG. 14 4000) which can then create
still other Darts or DartProcedures. Creationism is embodied
throughout the Dart Platform (DartPlatform FIG. 3). For example,
the Dart tools (DartTools FIG. 3 200) allow for the specification
of Parts in the source code, and compile the source code into a
DartMaster (FIG. 12 230) containing these Parts. The DartMaster
when played on a MasterPlayer (FIG. 12 203) can collect more
resources if necessary and provide the user interface for
requesting any needed information on which Renditions and parts to
include in the output Dart or DartProcedure.
[0731] Any Dart running on any Dart Player can include instructions
from the DartInstructionSet supported in the DartEngine to
dynamically form Renditions from Parts and package them together
efficiently into DartFormat files. This process of Dart creation of
customized Darts can go on indefinitely so long as the created
Darts and Procedures are formed with the data, content and
procedures necessary to do so.
[0732] Creationism provides a method, associated procedures and
computer program code and product for enabling an interoperability
application to create other interoperability applications, which in
turn can create still more interoperability applications in a
recursive and or serial and or fanout manner. Tools are provided
for compiling source code (FIG. 3 100) and optionally source data
and/or source resources into a binary image containing at least one
Rendition. It also uses and may provide executable instructions
and/or application programming interface(s) for dynamically
assembling digital parts into a binary image containing a set of
Renditions (e.g. Dart Renditions) and parts that control how the
Renditions are to be assembled based on the communications
capabilities, device characteristics and environment of a target
device.
[0733] The tools may include Dart Tools (FIG. 12 200). The binary
image may include or consist of a Dart in the Dart format (FIG. 3
300, FIG. 13, FIG. 14), or may be a differently formatted binary
image or an image encoded in a non-binary form. The digital parts
may be procedures, data sets, and/or content of any type or form
expressed as a structured sequence of numbers.
[0734] Additional particular embodiments of creationism are now set
forth. In one embodiment (1), the invention provides a method for
enabling an initial individually executable image or package of
individually executable images to dynamically generate at least one
other target individually executable data image or package of
individually executable data images to carry out the intent of the
initial executable image or package of individually executable
images, the method comprising: (1) collecting first information
about at least one of the characteristics, content, resources, or
capabilities of devices and or other environments for execution of
generated executable images or packages of images which might be of
use in carrying out the intent or part of the intent of the
generating executable image or package; (2) determining how to
assemble at least one of: (i) parts of its own image, (ii)
collected information, or (iii) programmatically generated
information, to make efficient use of the resources, capabilities
and content of the target devices or environments for which
information was collected; and (3) gathering second information
necessary to generate one or more other independently generated
executable data images or image packages as needed to carry out the
intent of the generated target executable image or image package in
an unlimited sequence.
[0735] In another embodiment (2), the invention provides a method
as in (1), further comprising: (4) using the gathered information
to generate the one or more independently generated executable data
images or image package.
[0736] In another embodiment (3), the invention provides a method
as in (1), wherein one or more of the following are true in any
combination: (1) the individually executable image is a rendition
or a Dart Rendition; (2) the package of individually executable
data images conforms to an interoperability format or to the
DartFormat; (3) the generation is carried out as part of a device
teaming recruitment method; (4) the gathering information necessary
is collected or formed into a single Dart RenditionsTable which
references one or more collected or formed Dart RenditionTables
which in turn reference one or more collected or formed DartParts,
to be located using a single collected or formed Dart PartTable,
which is in turn located using a Dart Trailer or any other of the
methods described in an interoperability format; (5) the collecting
information is carried out at least in part by use of procedures
sent to execute on the target device or devices; (6) the collecting
information is carried out at least in part by use of
DartProcedures sent to execute on the target device or devices; (7)
the collecting information is carried out at least in part by
executing the PROFILE_INSTRUCTION of the DartInstructionSet on the
target device or devices; and (8) the using the gathered
information to generate the one or more independently generated
executable data images or image packages is carried out at least in
part by the DartInteroperablityInstructionSet SAVE_INSTRUCTION
instruction and or the BUILTIN_INSTRUCTION instruction being
executed on the target device or devices by an interoperability
engine or the DartEngine.
[0737] In another embodiment (4), the invention provides a method
as in (1), further comprising by forming and storing the generated
executable images or packages on physical media.
[0738] In another embodiment (5), the invention provides a method
as in (1), wherein the creationism method is used for one or more
of the following or any combination thereof: (1) distributing an
application and or application package of individually executable
images and or dataset or datasets of any kind to one or more
devices; (2) customizing an application and or application package
of individually executable images and or dataset or datasets; (3)
creating a one time use executable image or package of executable
images to carry out the intent of the initiating executable image
on one or more target devices; and (4) creating an executable image
or package of executable images which contains a selected subset of
content and or resources and or data and or code that is part of or
is collected by the initiating image.
[0739] In another embodiment (6), the invention provides a method
as in (5), wherein the customizing an application and or
application package of individually executable images and or
dataset or datasets according to one or more of the following list:
(a) the needs of the target device or devices; (b) the environment
of the target device or devices; (c) limitations of the target
device or devices; (d) capabilities of the target device or
devices; and (e) access by the target device or devices, whether
current or future, to any other devices according to any of the
items in this list.
[0740] In another embodiment (7), the invention provides a method
as in (5), wherein the creating an executable image or package of
executable images which contains a selected subset of content and
or resources and or data and or code that is part of or is
collected by the initiating image so that the image or package is
any one or more of or any combination of: (a) small enough for
efficient storage on the target device or devices; (b) small enough
to be transported more quickly; and (c) optimized to only hold the
subset of interest or a subset which conforms to a given criteria
for inclusion and or collection of related items and or an intended
purpose or purposes.
[0741] In another embodiment (8), the invention provides a method
as in (1), further including generating an executable image or
image package that carries out a distribution of the generated
executables or packages to other environments, storage devices,
and/or devices for which the particular generated executables or
packages where generated and intended to be distributed.
[0742] In another embodiment (9), the invention provides a method
as in (1), further including initiating the execution of the
generated executable images or image packages on other devices as
needed to carry out the intent of the generating executable images
or package.
[0743] In another embodiment (10), the invention provides a method
as in (9), wherein the initiation of execution is one of a
command-based initiation, a time-based initiation, a schedule-based
initiation, a statistically-based initiation, an event-based
initiation, or any other criteria based initiation of
execution.
[0744] In another embodiment (11), the invention provides a,method
as in (10), wherein the initiation is controlled or influenced by
the DartRuntime.
[0745] In another embodiment (12), the invention provides a method
as in (1), wherein the intent or part of the intent of the
executable image or package that is generating other executable
data images or packages is to spread the executable image or image
package, or parts of the executable image or image package to one
or more devices and/or storage mediums.
[0746] In another embodiment (13), the invention provides a method
as in (4), wherein the executable images or packages are spread
using a device Recruitment procedure and using an interoperability
instruction set.
[0747] In another embodiment (15), the invention provides a method
as in (13), wherein the recruitment method comprises the Dart
recruitment procedure and using the DartInstructionSet.
[0748] In another embodiment (16), the invention provides a method
as in (1), wherein the package of individually executable images is
a tightly integrated package of interrelated individually
executable images.
[0749] In another embodiment (17), the invention provides a method
as in (1), wherein the package of executable images comprise a
package of tightly integrated individually executable data
images.
[0750] In another embodiment (18), the invention provides a method
as in (1), wherein the method further includes this process of
generation repeats a plurality of times.
[0751] In another embodiment (19), the invention provides a method
as in (18), wherein the plurality of times may be any number of
times), wherein such any number of times may be an indefinite
number or times or indefinitely.
[0752] In another embodiment (20), the invention provides a method
as in (1), wherein the method further includes repeating the
process of generation a plurality of times recursively in a chain
of executable images and packages of executable images.
[0753] In another embodiment (21), the invention provides a method
as in (1), wherein the intent is determined at least in part by the
application designer's and/or implementers' intended purpose and
functions as embodied in the application.
[0754] In another embodiment (22), the invention provides a method
as in (1), wherein the intent is determined at least in part by a
separate application generation program or set of such programs
intended purpose or functions embodied in the application.
[0755] In another embodiment (23), the invention provides a method
as in (1), wherein collection is accomplished using Recruitment
carried out by the sending of procedures which may or may not be
DartProcedures and/or Darts.
[0756] In another embodiment (24), the invention provides a method
as in (1), wherein the information is collected from storage or
other programs running on the device on which the generating
executable image or package is running.
[0757] In another embodiment (25), the invention provides a method
as in (1), wherein the information is collected from storage or
other programs running on devices other than the device on which
the generating executable image or package is running.
[0758] In another embodiment (26), the invention provides a method
as in (1), wherein the information is collected over any
communication medium and/or protocol whether wired or wireless or
through the physical transport of storage or computing devices
between the generating device and any other devices.
[0759] In another embodiment (27), the invention provides a method
as in (1), wherein the determining is a determining accomplished by
procedures that are part of the generating executable image.
[0760] In another embodiment (28), the invention provides a method
as in (1), wherein efficient use of resources is determined by the
execution of procedures that are part of the originating
application designed by the applications designers and/or
implementers to carry out the intent.
[0761] In another embodiment (28), the invention provides a method
as in (28), wherein the collection is accomplished at least in part
through the use of at least one of Recruitment as described
elsewhere in this detailed description and DartProcedures.
[0762] In another embodiment (30), the invention provides a method
as in (1), wherein the gathering uses at least any one of an
external executable tool, an internal procedure, an instruction,
and/or a system call by the generating individually executable
image or image package.
[0763] In another embodiment (31), the invention provides a method
as in (1), wherein the generating of an executable image or image
package is accomplished at least in part through the use of
DartEvents to carry the information and do the distribution to
DartPlayers.
[0764] In another embodiment (32), the invention provides a method
as in (1), wherein the intent or a part of the intent of the
executable image or package that is generating other executable
data images or packages of images in a possibly unending chain is
to perform synchronization of data or cooperative programs across
any number of devices in a manner where the data, content, and/or
procedures associated or collected by any of the set of generated
executable images or packages is to cooperatively synchronize,
merge, manage, transcode, and/or collect programs, content,
executable images, packages of executable images, pictures, or any
other program, database, or content expressible as an ordered
collection of digital data.
[0765] In another embodiment (33), the invention provides a method
as in (1), wherein, the intent or part of the intent of the
executable image or package that is generating other executable
data images or packages is to include only those parts of the data,
content, procedures of the generating individually executable
images or packages, collected data content and procedures, and/or
programmatically generated content, procedures or collected data,
that are needed to carry out a particular part of the intent of the
originating executable images or packages that are to be carried
out using the generated images or packages on a computational
device or set of devices other than the one that the originating
executing image or package is running on at the time the generation
occurs.
[0766] In another embodiment (34), the invention provides a method
as in (33), wherein each image or image package generated for
execution on each device is intelligently custom built in a form
conforming to or optimized for the characteristics, capabilities
and/or content of each device or set of devices that each generated
image is intended for.
[0767] In another embodiment (35), the invention provides a
computer program product for use in conjunction with a computer
system or information appliance, the computer program product
comprising a computer readable storage medium and a computer
program mechanism embedded therein, the computer program mechanism
comprising: a program module that directs the computer system or
information appliance to function in a specified manner for
enabling an initial individually executable image or package of
individually executable images to dynamically generate at least one
other target individually executable data image or package of
individually executable data images to carry out the intent of the
initial executable image or package of individually executable
images, the program module including instructions for: (1)
collecting first information about at least one of the
characteristics, content, resources, or capabilities of devices and
or other environments for execution of generated executable images
or packages of images which might be of use in carrying out the
intent or part of the intent of the generating executable image or
package; (2) determining how to assemble at least one of: (i) parts
of its own image, (ii) collected information, or (iii)
programmatically generated information, to make efficient use of
the resources, capabilities and content of the target devices or
environments for which information was collected; (3) gathering
second information necessary to generate one or more other
independently generated executable data images or image packages as
needed to carry out the intent of the generated target executable
image or image package in an unlimited sequence; and (4) using the
gathered information to generate the one or more independently
generated executable data images or image package.
[0768] The features and/or elements recited in these exemplary
embodiments as well as of exemplary embodiments described elsewhere
in this detailed description or in the drawings may be combined in
many different ways so that embodiments recited above are not
limitations of the invention and additional or alternative
embodiments having any different combinations or permutations of
the features and elements are also embodiments of the
invention.
XV. Interoperability Engine/DartEngine
[0769] Recall that the DartEngine is or includes software and or
hardware used to execute the instructions of Darts on a device and
carry out their intended purpose. The DartEngine and the device
specific DartPlayer, in which it is encapsulated, provides the
common execution and DartRuntime environment which allows
Recruitment and Renditioning to establish efficient teams of
devices and spread their code, data and content as best to carry
out the intended purpose of Darts.
[0770] Additional particular embodiments of Interoperability Engine
and a more specific embodiment of an Interoperability Engine, the
DartEngine, are now set forth. In one embodiment (1), the invention
provides an interoperability engine which enables or assists
devices to interoperate with each other, the engine comprising: (1)
means for loading, running, and carrying-out at least part of the
intent of an interoperability software package having code and
wherein at least part of the code is embedded in a sequence of
instructions conforming to an interoperability instruction set; (2)
means for discovering other interoperability devices; and (3) means
for direct or indirect two-way communications with other
interoperability devices.
[0771] In another embodiment (2), the invention provides an
interoperability engine as in (1), wherein one or more of the
following are true in any combination: (1) the engine comprises a
DartEngine; (2) the interoperability software package comprises an
interoperability software package or comprises a Dart conforming to
the DartFormat; and (3) the means to discover other
interoperability devices is at least partially carried out using a
recruitment procedure or a Dart recruitment procedure.
[0772] In another embodiment (3), the invention provides an
interoperability engine as in (1), wherein the engine includes an
event queue and carries out instructions to support the use of the
event queue by interoperability application packages.
[0773] In another embodiment (4), the invention provides an
interoperability engine as in (1), wherein the engine includes a
computer program product for execution in a processor or logic
circuit of the a device containing the engine.
[0774] In another embodiment (5), the invention provides an
interoperability engine as in (1), wherein the engine includes a
hardware processor implementing the engine within a device
containing the engine.
[0775] In another embodiment (6), the invention provides an
interoperability engine as in (1), wherein the engine includes a
hardware processor implementing a portion of the engine within a
device containing the engine and a computer program product for
execution in the hardware processor of the a device containing the
engine.
[0776] In another embodiment (7), the invention provides an
interoperability engine as in (6), wherein a source code for the
computer program and computer program product portion of the engine
are segmented into a portable section which can be used without
modification on all interoperable devices and a hardware
abstraction layer which may need to differ for each different type
of device.
[0777] In another embodiment (8), the invention provides an
interoperability engine as in (7), wherein the hardware abstraction
layer includes code providing access to one or more of the
following device functions in any combination: (a) memory
allocation functions; (b) sound rendering functions; (c) power
management functions; (d) printing functions; (e) display
functions; (f) media rendering and or playback and or transcoding
functions; (g) computation functions; (h) storage functions; (i)
communications functions; (j) device and or service discovery
functions; (k) profile information gathering functions about the
capabilities, resources, content and or environment of the device;
(I) device configuration functions; (m) device status functions;
and (n) any other functions or operations that can be performed by
the native device hardware and software that can be exposed.
[0778] In another embodiment (9), the invention provides a method
for operating an interoperability engine which enables or assists a
plurality of devices to interoperate with each other, the method
comprising: loading, running, and carrying-out at least part of the
intent of an interoperability software package having code and
wherein at least part of the code is embedded in a sequence of
instructions conforming to an interoperability instruction set;
discovering other interoperability devices; and directly or
indirectly communicating with other interoperability devices.
[0779] In another embodiment (10), the invention provides a method
as in (9), wherein one or more of the following are true in any
combination: (1) the engine comprises a DartEngine; (2) the
interoperability software package comprises an interoperability
software package or comprises a Dart conforming to the DartFormat;
and (3) discovering of other interoperability devices is at least
partially carried out using a recruitment procedure or a Dart
recruitment procedure.
[0780] In another embodiment (11), the invention provides a method
as in (9), wherein the method further comprises: generating an
event queue within the engine and executing computer code
instructions to support the use of the event queue by the
interoperability application package.
[0781] In another embodiment (12), the invention provides a method
as in (9), wherein the method further comprises: segmenting a
source code into a portable section which can be used without
modification on all interoperable devices and a hardware
abstraction layer which may need to differ for each different type
of device.
[0782] In another embodiment (13), the invention provides a method
as in (12), wherein the hardware abstraction layer includes code
providing access to and optionally executing one or more of the
following device functions and/or procedures alone or in any
combination: (a) memory allocation functions and procedures; (b)
sound rendering functions and procedures; (c) power management
functions and procedures; (d) printing functions and procedures;
(e) display functions and procedures; (f) media rendering and or
playback and or transcoding functions and procedures; (g)
computation functions and procedures; (h) storage functions and
procedures; (i) communications functions and procedures; (j) device
and or service discovery functions and procedures; (k) profile
information gathering functions and procedures about the
capabilities, resources, content and or environment of the device;
(l) device configuration functions and procedures; (m) device
status functions and procedures; and (n) any other functions and
procedures or operations that can be performed by a native device
hardware and software that can be exposed.
[0783] In another embodiment (14), the invention provides a
computer program product for use in conjunction with a computer
system or information appliance, the computer program product
comprising a computer readable storage medium and a computer
program mechanism embedded therein, the computer program mechanism
comprising: a program module that directs the computer system or
information appliance to function in a specified manner for
operating an interoperability engine which enables or assists a
plurality of devices to interoperate with each other, the program
module including instructions for: loading, running, and
carrying-out at least part of the intent of an interoperability
software package having code and wherein at least part of the code
is embedded in a sequence of instructions conforming to an
interoperability instruction set; discovering other
interoperability devices; and directly or indirectly communicating
with other interoperability devices.
[0784] The features and/or elements recited in these exemplary
embodiments as well as of exemplary embodiments described elsewhere
in this detailed description or in the drawings may be combined in
many different ways so that embodiments recited above are not
limitations of the invention and additional or alternative
embodiments having any different combinations or permutations of
the features and elements are also embodiments of the
invention.
XVI. Interoperability Device Enabling
[0785] Recall that Interoperability Device Enabling is the process
of turning a conventional device into a highly interoperable
DartDevice through the porting of a DartEngine as part of a
DartPlayer. In addition, implementation of the Hardware Abstraction
Layer needed to access the device specific information,
capabilities and content of the device is also required. At least
one communications protocol must be implemented before a device
with a DartPlayer becomes a DartDevice.
[0786] Additional particular embodiments of Interoperability Device
Enabling, are now set forth. In another embodiment (1), the
invention provides a method for using common software source code
for an interoperability engine to create interoperability software
needed to make a device an interoperability device, the method
comprising: (1) creating an interoperability engine object or
instance; (2) creating a device Hardware Abstraction Layer (HAL)
object or instance; (3) identifying and filling in the
functionality of all the predefined required halBase member
functions of the halBase class or specification; and (4) creating a
device specific Player object that substantially continually runs
the engine on a thread of execution.
[0787] In another embodiment (2), the invention provides a method
as in (1), wherein the creating a device specific Player object
that substantially continually runs the engine on a thread of
execution runs the engine as follows: (a) call the engine's
initialization function; (b) call the engine's process function in
a loop that ends if a returned value indicates an unrecoverable
error occurred or that the engine is to be closed down; (c) call
the engine's un-initialize function; and (d) stop the thread of
execution.
[0788] In another embodiment (3), the invention provides a method
as in (2), wherein the creating includes creating by inheriting
from a halBase object.
[0789] In another embodiment (4), the invention provides a method
as in (2), wherein the returned value returned comprises a non-zero
value returned.
[0790] In another embodiment (5), the invention provides a method
as in (2), wherein the loop that calls a player base process member
function comprises a loop that calls a playerBase::Process( )
member function in a loop until a non-zero value is returned.
[0791] In another embodiment (6), the invention provides a method
as in (1), wherein the creating of a device specific playback
object includes creating by inheriting from a playerBase
object.
[0792] In another embodiment (7), the invention provides a method
as in (1), wherein the processing engine comprises a software
processing engine.
[0793] In another embodiment (8), the invention provides a method
as in (1), wherein the processing engine comprises a firmware
processing engine.
[0794] In another embodiment (9), the invention provides a method
as in (1), wherein the processing engine comprises a Dart software
processing engine.
[0795] In another embodiment (10), the invention provides a method
as in (1), wherein the software includes C++ programming code
instructions.
[0796] In another embodiment (11), the invention provides a method
as in (1), wherein the functions of the HAL object that are
identified include at least one function from the set of functions
consisting of: allocating a single consecutive block of memory of a
given size, returning the time in milliseconds, moving a bitmap in
one of an identified standard format, compile time variants to the
screen at a given location, a virtual function for getting profile
characteristics of another physical device on which the processing
engine will execute.
[0797] In another embodiment (12), the invention provides a method
as in (1), further comprising communicating the device specific
playback object to the device.
[0798] In another embodiment (13), the invention provides a method
as in (12), wherein the device comprises at least one of: a
computer, a personal data assistant (PDA), a cellular or wireless
telephone, a radio, a printer, an electronic device, a music
player, a media player, a camera, or any one combination of
thereof.
[0799] In another embodiment (14), the invention provides a method
as in (2), wherein the hal functions include interface functions
for interacting with the device specific hardware, software,
firmware, or content for one or more of the following purposes: (1)
getting device specific capabilities and/or settings and/or status
for a given id value or set of values that identify specific
profile words, profile structures, or the enumeration of profile
structures that are to be gotten; and (2) executing predefined
asynchronous operations so that the execution of other activities
of the interoperability device running on the engine's tread of
execution can continue to run while the asynchronous operations
continue.
[0800] In another embodiment (15), the invention provides a method
as in (14), wherein one of the parameters to the interface function
is a value uniquely assigned to each different manufacturer and
another parameter is a pointer to a parameter block so that each
manufacturer can optionally define whatever sub-interface functions
and/or parameters required to expose any unique capabilities,
status, content, or operations not otherwise accessible through the
other interface functions.
[0801] In another embodiment (16), the invention provides the
method as in (15), wherein the uniquely assigned values are used to
ensure there will be no conflicts with other manufacturer generated
sub interfaces.
[0802] In another embodiment (17), the invention provides the
method as in (16), wherein the manufacturer can control access to
their own developed sub-interfaces in one or more of the following
manners: (1) publish their manufacturer id, parameter block
specification and/or sub-interface function specifications so that
any other manufacturer can make use of the developed sub interface
functions to develop compatible devices and applications; (2) keep
their manufacturer id and or parameter block specification and or
sub-interface specifications as trade secrets; and (3) protect the
parameters or functions using the cryptographic instruction
implementations in the engine, a shared secret based algorithm, or
any other cryptographic means so that it will be difficult or
impossible for other manufactures to understand or make use of the
manufacturer developed sub interface functions.
[0803] In another embodiment (18), the invention provides a
computer program product for use in conjunction with a computer
system or information appliance, the computer program product
comprising a computer readable storage medium and a computer
program mechanism embedded therein, the computer program mechanism
comprising: a program module that directs the computer system or
information appliance to function in a specified manner for using
software source code common among potentially interoperable devices
for an interoperability engine to create interoperability software
needed to make a device an interoperability device, the program
module including instructions for: (1) creating an interoperability
engine object or instance; (2) creating a device Hardware
Abstraction Layer (HAL) object or instance; (3) identifying and
filling in the functionality of all the predefined required halBase
member functions of the halBase class or specification; and (4)
creating a device specific Player object that substantially
continually runs the engine on a thread of execution.
[0804] In another embodiment (19), the invention provides a
computer program product as in (18), wherein the instruction for
creating a device specific Player object that substantially
continually runs the engine on a thread of execution runs the
engine according to the steps of: (a) calling the engine's
initialization function; (b) calling the engine's process function
in a loop that ends if a returned value indicates an unrecoverable
error occurred or that the engine is to be closed down; (c) calling
the engine's un-initialize function; and (d) stopping the thread of
execution.
[0805] In another embodiment (20), the invention provides a
computer program product as in (18), wherein the functions of the
HAL object that are identified include at least one function from
the set of functions consisting of: allocating a single consecutive
block of memory of a given size, returning the time in
milliseconds, moving a bitmap in one of an identified standard
format, compile time variants to the screen at a given location, a
virtual function for getting profile characteristics of another
physical device on which the processing engine will execute.
[0806] In another embodiment (21), the invention provides a
computer program product as in (18), wherein the hal functions
include interface functions for interacting with the device
specific hardware, software, firmware, and/or content for one or
more of the following purposes: (1) getting device specific
capabilities and/or settings and/or status for a given id value or
set of values that identify specific profile words, profile
structures, or the enumeration of profile structures that are to be
gotten; and (2) executing predefined asynchronous operations so
that the execution of other activities of the interoperability
device running on the engine's tread of execution can continue to
run while the asynchronous operations continue.
[0807] In another embodiment (22), the invention provides a
computer program product as in (19), wherein one of the parameters
to the interface function is a value uniquely assigned to each
different manufacturer and another parameter is a pointer to a
parameter block so that each manufacturer can optionally define
whatever sub-interface functions and/or parameters required to
expose any unique capabilities, status, content, or operations not
otherwise accessible through the other interface functions.
[0808] The features and/or elements recited in these exemplary
embodiments as well as of exemplary embodiments described elsewhere
in this detailed description or in the drawings may be combined in
many different ways so that embodiments recited above are not
limitations of the invention and additional or alternative
embodiments having any different combinations or permutations of
the features and elements are also embodiments of the
invention.
XVII. Interoperability Security Model/DartSecurity
[0809] Recall that DartSecurity is a system and method for
providing the infrastructure needed for protecting the integrity of
a device and its content from malicious or accidental damage.
[0810] A robust security infrastructure is desirable to serve as a
basis for protecting a device, its content or facilities from being
abused, corrupted or otherwise compromised or used in any undesired
manner. Such an infrastructure is the inventive DartSecurity system
embodied in the preferred manner by elements of the DartPlatform as
shown in FIG. 29.
[0811] In the preferred embodiment, when a DartDevice executes the
DartPlayer for the first time, part of the initialization process
of the DartEngine is to perform the following:
[0812] 1. Gathering enough entropy suitable for generating public
and private cryptographic key pairs and unique ids (uids) to
statistically guarantee that the generated key pair and unique ids
are truly unique from those generated in a similar manner, but
using different gathered entropy.
[0813] Entropy can be reliably gathered by DartDevices by digitally
sampling aspects of the world outside of the device which are not
synchronized in any way to the clock running the sampling hardware.
Communications mechanisms used to talk to other devices are often
good sources of entropy because the exact timing of packets,
timeouts and variations of data are affected by electromagnetic
interference and quantum noise uncorrelated to the clock of the
processor controlling the sampling. Another easy source of entropy
is for the device to ask for inputs from a human user and sample a
fine grained clock whenever the user provides any input. The
entropy containing timing and data samples can be hashed into a set
of data values used to seed a random number generator. Although it
is difficult in practice to know when enough entropy has been
gathered, estimates can be made and over-sampling used to ensure
that enough has been gathered and maintained in the hashed data
values.
[0814] 2. Using a conventional random number generation algorithm
and conventional cryptographic operations to generate a universally
unique public/private key pair and a universally unique DartDevice
uid used to uniquely identify the device for all time. In a
preferred implementation all uids are 128-bits long.
[0815] 3. The private key and entropy hashed set of data values are
stored on the device in any conventional manner known in the state
of the art for obscuring and or hiding data on a device, yet still
having the use of the data by the engine practical.
[0816] 4. Limiting access to resources of data, content or
facilities of the device based on a set of binary flags. In a
preferred implementation, these flags are 1 if access to the
corresponding data for facility of the device is to be blocked. As
examples, individual flags may exist for the following resources:
[0817] a. Blocking access to data or content that is marked as
private, [0818] b. Blocking access to opening communications
sessions to another device, [0819] c. Blocking access to the native
storage devices, and [0820] d. Blocking access to user interface
elements such as the screen and keyboard and mouse and sound
generation.
[0821] 5. Every Dart or DartProcedure that is to be loaded to run
on the DartEngine has explicit or implicit sets of flag values
controlling its access to resources of the DartDevice. Every
DartDevice has explicit or implicit sets of access flags mapped to
levels of security. If the application or the device sending the
application does not have all the flags for the resources it needs
to access set to zero on the target device the Dart application or
DartProcedure will not be loaded unless the device first gets the
proper authorization from a user or other device with acceptable
credentials or flags authorizing the Dart or DartProcedure to run
on the specific device. Access flags tied to the uids of Darts,
DartProcedures, or DartDevices can be maintained permanently on a
target DartDevice, or for a specific period of time, or for the
duration of the execution of the Dart or DartProcedure or the
duration of the communications session between the devices.
[0822] 6. If a Dart application attempts to cause the DartEngine to
access any of the resources on its behalf to which the
application's context flags are set to 1, the DartEngine will
immediately stop executing the instructions of the application and
close the application down.
[0823] In one preferred implementation Darts must be digitally
signed along with the flags sets for access. Encryption/Decryption
of parts or content or of communications sessions between devices
is also part of the DartSecurity system.
[0824] FIG. 25 shows a DartDevice 400 with some of the Security
System elements. The DartEngine has instruction based and methods
for supporting encryption 150, entropy gathering 153, random number
generation 152, and securing all communications between devices
using the DartSecure protocol to ensure that any communications
between any two DartDevices can be automatically encrypted so that
DartEngine base communications does not need to rely on any outside
protocols to protect the communication of data. The DartSecure
protocol 153 can be implemented using the Secure Sockets Layer
(SSL) protocol or any other protocol which establishes a secure
communications link between devices. In a preferred implementation
a subset of the functionality in the SSL protocol standard is
implemented to reduce the size and complexity as many of the
options in SSL are not needed. All the necessary large number math
cryptographic primitives 150 and 151 are shown as part of the
DartEngine. For performance reasons it is high desirable to have
the cryptographic math primitives implemented in the native code of
the engine instead of inside the Dart.
[0825] FIG. 25 Also shows that the DartEngine maintains lists of
uids 155 and 156 corresponding to levels of security. The figure
also shows that there is a table that maps level numbers to sets of
access rights flags 159. The list of device and application ids
that are part of a particular level of rights is maintained by the
DartEngine and in a preferred mode of operation is allowed to
propagate transitively when permission is allowed to do so from
device to device so that any device in the list can gain access to
the new device without the need for farther collection of
credentials. This inventive transitive teaming of devices and
applications at specific levels of security, SocialSecurity, is
further described elsewhere in this document.
[0826] To ensure that even after presenting its flags, passing
muster, and getting loaded, the Dart application or DartProcedure
cannot purposely or accidentally access resources that are off
limits; all such attempted accesses are checked by the engine using
a context data structure 160 and 170 which carries with it all the
permission flags originally presented by the Dart or
DartProcedure.
[0827] Note that a revocation list 155 can be transitively
maintained as described further elsewhere in this document as,
SocialSynchronization, so that any device previously teamed with
other devices at a particular security level can have its access
rights logically revoked for interoperability with any device which
transitively learns of the revocation from any other device of the
team. In one preferred implementation if a revoked device comes in
contact with a teamed device with knowledge of the revocation, the
DartEngines will render the revoked device inoperable or partially
inoperable. Revocation of access rights across a team of
interoperable devices with common access rights is not perfect but
in many situations it is a practical system for carrying out the
revocation of the access rights of a lost, misbehaving or
malevolent device across a team of possible intermittently
connected devices.
[0828] The method of spreading of access rights or the revocation
thereof is much like humans who tell their friends about an abusive
person, and the information spreads like gossip from person to
person so that most people know about and can stay away from the
abusive person even if they have never talked directly to the
person with the first knowledge of the abusiveness of the
person.
[0829] The DartEngine context in addition to access flags also
contains information that the engine uses to limit access by the
running Dart or DartProcedure to any memory or storage or code that
is not a part of the running Dart. This limiting of access is known
in the state of the art as a "sandbox." The DartEngine enforces
such a sandbox on all Darts and DartProcedures so that Darts cannot
be used to access the device outside of the functions, memory and
storage portions explicitly provided for use by Darts and
DartProcedures running in the sandbox.
Darts
[0830] In one preferred implementation of the invention there is
little specialization between what is conventionally though of as
code, data, operating system, graphics or user input subsystems,
and threading, or for that matter between content, programs, or
even devices. The DartPlatform (FIG. 3) can intelligently mix and
match software procedures, code, data, content, and device
electronics into an integrated virtual system which carries out the
intent of an application as designed by the Dart designer and then
specified in the DartSource (FIG. 3 100).
[0831] Darts built by the DartTools can self-optimize, reorganize,
send and synchronize versions or extensions of itself for the
efficient sharing of programs, controls, hardware resources and
content between and among various devices.
[0832] Darts are built with all the data, content and procedures
needed to establish an integrated working application capable of
running well in any number of dissimilar devices, but also across
numerous similar or dissimilar devices simultaneously.
[0833] In addition, the runtime environment of a single Dart can
also dynamically or statically include other Darts as parent Dart
or child Dart extensions of any Dart. Thus the DartRuntime
environment is unique in its reach across unknown devices and
unknown separately produced Darts.
[0834] Unlike interoperability technologies employed currently,
Dart technology though not limited to such tasks, is optimized
around human sized data and tasks such as picture slide shows,
appointment calendars, contacts, control panels and messages. The
response time of the system is fast enough to do motion video and
respond to button presses or requests to find a particular contact
in a personal contact list within a fifth of a second. For humans,
such response times are nearly indistinguishable from being
instantaneous. Dart response times requirements are much more
lenient compared to most real-time operating systems at the base of
most application environments, because real-time operating systems
are generally expected to run applications such as data servers
which must handle hundreds of operations per second. Because Darts
only need to be responsive in human time, an advantageously simple
and highly robust and flexible hierarchal event processing
mechanisms are employed in place of the standard pre-emptive or
cooperative threaded systems employed in the current state of the
art interoperability operating systems and their associated runtime
environments.
[0835] Consider as an example a slide show Dart application.
Although any programming language may be used, in one
implementation, the slide show Dart is written in C++ program code
language, using the DartFramework (FIG. 11 102), also written in
C++, and compiled and linked using the DartTools (FIG. 12 200). The
C++ source code also contains Dart specific C++ pragma statements
that extend the applications that can be created to include all the
DartProcedures, Renditions, and other interoperability extensions
necessary for the Dart applications to find and inspect other
devices, send optimized copies or parts of themselves based on the
said inspection, cause the optimized copies or parts to execute on
selected discovered devices, and then interoperate by way of event
queues on all involved devices. Such devices may be event driven
with the events automatically serialized and /or synchronized so
that all components of the application are operating in a highly
cooperative and robust manner in order to express the intent of the
interoperable application as encapsulated in a Dart (FIG. 9). In
the preferred implementation, a DartMaster (FIG.12 230) generated
directly from the DartTools (FIG. 12 200) that will consist of a
single MasterRendition (FIG. 11 113) derived object, which provides
a main method as the starting point for execution which proceeds to
build a list maintained by the MasterRendition object which
contains references to other Rendition derived objects (FIG. 11
114).
[0836] DartMasters are typically built by programmers in C++, or
other high level languages using tools and a framework that target
the DartInstructionSet. To cover the full range of devices that a
Dart may find itself running on, the MasterDart will typically
contain content and procedures used by the MasterPlayer to generate
between one and five different Renditions.
[0837] Logically, Renditions can be thought of as separate
programs, or executable images, where in the preferred
implementation, only one of which will be chosen to run at any one
time on any one device.
[0838] Physically, the Renditions often advantageously share most
of their data, code and content components so that there is
advantageously a greatly minimized amount of duplication in the
actual DartFormat binary image or file.
[0839] A Dart's DartSource (FIG. 3 100) should also include
procedures that run on a device to determine which Rendition is
best to run on that device.
[0840] For example, a slide show Dart containing a collection of
pictures might have the following three Renditions: (i) a simple
text Rendition for devices that only have a single line or a few
lines of text display and this Rendition scrolls through the name
of the slide show and a list of the names of the slides included
since it cannot possibly show the images themselves; (ii) a small
screen Rendition such as may be suitable for cell phones and PDA's
with small screen dimensions and limited CPU power; and, (iii) a
high-end large screen Rendition that shows large pictures with
multiple display options, indexes and transition effects, as may be
suitable for running on lager screen personal computers (PCs) or
home entertainment systems.
[0841] In one particularly advantageous operating mode, when a Dart
containing multiple Renditions first starts running on a device, a
Dart procedure uses the Profile Instruction of the
DartInstructionSet to inspect the device profile built into the
DartEngine on that device to determine if the device has all the
features necessary to run the most advanced Rendition. If it does,
then the most advanced Rendition will be run. If it does not, then
the device profile is procedurally checked against each less
advanced Rendition until one is found that can run effectively on
the device.
[0842] Note that target devices that do not have a DartEngine
built-in can be accessed by or through any device with a DartEngine
that is built with intimate knowledge of the target device and the
ability to proxy for and virtualize the operations of the
DartEngine for the device over a connection to the target devices.
An example is the use of a printer without a DartEngine which is
never-the-less reachable by a device that wants to print on it
through a personal computer which is itself running a DartEngine
which exposes its printing resources through the
PROFILE_INSTRUCTION. Any other initiating device with a DartEngine
will have access to the printers available to the personal computer
so long as the DartEngine running on the PC exposes the printing
capability and access through the profile and print methods of the
hardware abstraction layer (HAL) object of the DartEngine on the
personal computer.
[0843] When a Dart is asked to send itself to another device, one
of the user options in most Darts will be to have the set of
Renditions sent limited to those that can run on the target device.
In this way the user can limit the transmission time to, and the
memory requirements on, the target device. Of course the new device
will not then have higher level Renditions to resend to more
capable devices.
[0844] Since a great deal of content, and the application programs
that create and edit the content is PC or Internet based, it is
important that Dart content be able to import and export content in
a form native to existent software systems.
[0845] Darts may advantageously contain standard format data for
JPEG pictures, any other forms of data or content that are likely
to be encountered, and the like, and menu options can be built into
the Dart content that will import and export pictures, video,
audio, text, and XML documents that tie various components
together.
[0846] The DartInstructionSet optionally but advantageously
contains JPEG and other standard media format decompression and
playback instructions so that the CPU intensive decompressing tasks
are implemented in efficient functions compiled as part of the
DartEngine into the native instruction set of the DartDevice's CPU.
These instructions also limit the amount of code that must be
included in Darts since the DartEngine does much of the
decompression and display as part of executing the
DartInstructionSet. Similarly there are XML and other text parsing
instructions to limit the amount of application code and provide
native code speed advantages when parsing text, RTF, XML and other
text based documents.
[0847] In addition, PC applications can easily be adapted by their
manufacturers to import and export Dart content directly. Darts can
contain content access APIs and control API's that allow other
applications and Darts to programmatically enumerate and extract
content Parts such as JPEG pictures, and audio clips along with the
text names and descriptions of the Parts.
[0848] Dart control APIs, along with text descriptions of the API
functions can also be enumerated and accessed to control the
operations of the Darts themselves from other Darts or devices
allowing remote control of Darts and the devices they operate.
Embodiment of a Procedure for Porting a Dart Engine to a Device
[0849] A procedure for porting a DartEngine to a new device is now
described. The example assumes that the Dart Engine is a C++ code
Dart Engine, but that does not distract from the generality of the
procedure.
[0850] First, create your own Hardware Abstraction Layer (FIG. 4
3020, FIG. 22 650, FIG. 27 650) object by inheriting from the
halBase object or in any other way such as by direct creation.
[0851] Second, fill in the functionality of the halBase member
functions which include such functions as allocating a single
consecutive block of memory of a given size, returning the time in
milliseconds, moving a bitmap in one of the three standard internal
formats, or compile time variants to the screen at a given
location. The halBase class also includes a virtual function for
getting profile information words that must be provided to allow
Darts running on the DartEngine to determine the CPU, memory,
screen, communications, sound, printing, and other characteristics
of the actual device. Of particular benefit is to design and build
a programmatic interface through the use of the OEM_Function method
of the halBase object to expose any unique capabilities, content or
functionality of the device not otherwise exposed by the pure
virtual methods of the base halBase class.
[0852] Third, create a device specific DartEngine object (FIG. 22
600) by inheriting from the playerBase object, or create it
directly without benefit of inheritance.
[0853] Fourth, build the device's DartPlayer executable (FIG. 22
600) which employs the DartEngine object, which includes a loop
that calls the DartEngine's' Process( ) member function (such as
for example, a playerBase::Process( ) member function (FIG. 23
4003, FIG. 25 611)) in a loop until a predetermined condition, such
as a non-zero value, is returned. All synchronous (FIG. 15 8010)and
asynchronous operations (FIG. 16 Asynchronous Event Processing show
inside the dotted box) of the DartPlayer including communications
are driven by the execution thread of this simple loop so that a
multithreaded OS is not needed.
[0854] The Dart solution to device interoperability advantageously
changes the adaptation and testing complexity equation from an
N-squared (FIG. 1, and FIG. 2) to an N-ordered one. Instead of
having to consider how a new device will share content and control
with every other kind of dissimilar device and implement individual
solutions, with Darts one only needs to port the DartEngine into a
DartPlayer specific to the device (FIG. 10).
[0855] One will need to implement functions that understand all the
communications channels that the device has, and build routines to
report the CPU speed, screen size and the like, but one never has
to consider how a device will share content and control. The Dart
content does that instead of the device's built in software.
[0856] It will be appreciated that this porting provides a Dart
that is a manageable N-order solution rather than an N-squared
solution, and that the porting of the DartPlayer is done only once
for each new device and further that it is only necessary to
develop a Dart once for each new application so that each new
device or application requires only one additional unit of
work.
Embodiment of a DartPlayer
[0857] A description of one embodiment of a DartPlayer (FIG. 22
500), implemented for example in C++ language and compiled using
conventional programming tools to the native instruction set of the
DartDevice's processor or in some embodiments central processing
unit (CPU) follows.
[0858] The playerbase class from which the DartPlayer class
inherits, executes Dart programs which are a series of opcodes with
parameters. Basically, the DartPlayer may be analogized to a
microprocessor, and the DartInstructionSet analogized with a set of
machine instructions; however, in the case of Darts most of the
instructions are much more high level than in the typical
microprocessor. The instructions native to the DartPlayer may for
example, include single instructions that decompress JPEG pictures
into a buffer, move pictures in buffers to a particular place on
the physical screen in the correct format, and save the entire
state of the running DART and all its code and data. In addition a
full set of 2D graphics primitives, advanced user input processing,
and audio decompression processing instructions may advantageously
be built into the DartInstructionSet.
[0859] When a Dart wants to: (i) send itself, (ii) send an
optimized version of itself, (iii) request a control panel, (iv)
request a DART procedures, or (v) request data from another device,
it uses an Enumeration instruction or puts an EnumerationEvent on
an EventQueue using a BuiltinInstruction. The Enumeration
instruction or Enumeration Event causes the player to call a
halBase enumeration member function that gets the name and
description of each Dart device it can make a connection to.
Optionally, a DartProcedure can be sent to each such device, which
runs the procedure, and itself returns a procedure that runs on the
originating device. Thus Enumerationinstructions in concert with
the general processing, mathematics, and test and control
instructions can be used to effectively inspect any connected
device to see if it is capable of carrying out most any desired set
of functions, or contains code, data or content of use or
interest.
[0860] Since the function of the DartProcedures or Darts sent to
other devices and received back can contain code to do most
anything, this functionality advantageously is all that is needed
for a wide range of inter-device cooperative tasks. In most
instances, it is up to the person or programmer porting the player
to a device to decide what types of physical connections,
protocols, security measures, and the like design choices to take
when making a connection to other devices. In one particularly
advantageous implementation, the DartPlayer assumes that any
communication block received is error corrected and has already
passed whatever security requirements the porting programmer built
into the halBase virtual functions. Advantageously, aside from the
low level sending and receiving of such blocks in the device
specific functions of the HAL, the functionality for setting up
secure communications sessions, sending events with associated
data, code and content, and the automatic requesting and processing
of blocks that have been lost in transit, the automatic recovery of
sessions temporarily lost between devices is all performed in the
portable code portions of the DartEngine. This greatly reduces the
amount of work needed to support various communications protocols
on a DartDevice and greatly improves the reliability of
implementations between devices because the same source code base
is used to port the portable parts of the DartEngine.
Embodiment of the Use of a Dart Instruction Set for Physical
Discovery
[0861] Embodiments of the DartInstructionSet advantageously
primarily deals with device, service, and resource discovery and
inter-device communication at a very high level of functionality.
In some embodiments, the DartInstructionSet deals exclusively with
device, service, and resource discovery and inter-device
communication at a very high level of functionality. While a
running Dart can inspect a device profile to determine actual
communication characteristics such as communication speed and
latency, advantageously generally a running Dart does not care or
need to know whether the actual communication between devices is
HTTP, TCP IP, USB, 802.11b, or some other protocol, or a shared
memory card, a physically transported memory card or any other
physical medium or protocol.
[0862] Similarly, physical discovery of other devices, services, or
resources or authentication and security can to be built into the
halBase override functions by the people specifying and
implementing the port.
[0863] One advantageous way to build such a port is to create as
part of the playerBase based DartPlayer, a user editable "friendly"
device list. This way the user can specify the Internet Protocol
(IP) addresses and/or network names and/or passwords needed to
access all the devices she wishes to allow the device to have
access to which are otherwise undiscoverable, difficult to discover
or difficult to pinpoint among other numerous networked devices,
through other means.
[0864] Embodiments of the invention may advantageously be made so
that all DartPlatform characters are 32-bit words to advantageously
accommodate any character representation system such as Unicode or
multi-byte, without any need for special handling inside by Dart
procedures. It is up to the halBase derived HAL implementing object
to translate to and from these 32bit characters to match the native
capabilities of the particular device. However, the invention is
not limited to any particular bit word size and larger or smaller
bit word sizes may be used.
[0865] Devices which wish to do device, resource, and/or service
discovery should comply with standards that are in place. The Dart
Enumeration instruction interface or SignalEvent BuiltinInstruction
(FIG. 20 670) processing advantageously hides the differences
between the various device discovery standards for Dart
applications, while helper functions can be provided for use in the
hardware abstraction layer, to aid in building compatible support
for IP, Infrared (IR), Bluetooth, 802.11x, and other connected or
connectable devices or systems.
[0866] On at least one exemplary DartPlatform, most all adaptation
of content, data and procedures are advantageously performed by the
Dart instead of being built into the engine. It is the Dart itself
that decides what Rendition will run best on the target device. And
it is the procedures in the Dart that adapt the content playback
for connected DartDevices.
[0867] Advantageously, with the DartPlatform, there is no need to
plan for every application and other device that a new device will
need to work with because the protocol between devices is very
simple, yet powerful. One DartDevice can send a DartProcedure over
to any other DartDevice which automatically run in the target
DartDevice and then returns an Event or procedure that is
automatically run or processed on the originating device. The
DartDevices do not need to know whether the procedures or Darts
they are running are delivering data, an application, a control
panel or just inspecting capabilities.
[0868] In at least one particularly advantageous embodiment, the
DartPlatform does not use either the Client/Server or Peer-to-Peer
modes of inter-device interoperability. Instead it advantageously
uses the Recruitment model.
[0869] Recruitment and the recruitment model and method allows Dart
applications to automatically extend their reach or connectivity
across a multitude of differing connections and devices.
Recruitment is a radical departure from Client/Server or
Peer-to-Peer connectivity or communication and bestows unique and
highly desirable properties to the DartPlatform.
[0870] Embodiments of the Recruitment model allows Dart
applications to form teams of devices around the application in the
same manner that people form teams to get a job done. If one is a
construction contractor who wants to build a house, one locates
carpenters and lumber suppliers with the skills and resources
needed for the construction job. Then one works as a team with the
suppliers and carpenters thus recruited to get the lumber to the
carpenters and then to coordinate the building of the house
according to the intent of the contractor who initiated the
building of the house. Similarly, a Dart application can reach out
and inspect the resources of all DartDevices it can communicate
with over any existent communications medium by sending procedures
that automatically get run on target devices. A running Dart itself
finds, qualifies, and forms a team of DartDevices, sending any
content and code as needed to each DartDevice in the team to effect
the application for the user. Device user involvement is not
required.
[0871] Darts extend their operation across the Recruited
DartDevices and effectively run inside all DartDevices
simultaneously. The result is a system that advantageously does not
require any central control device as in Client/Server
configuration or operation. Advantageously, the Dart system does
not require programs related to the mission of the originating Dart
to reside on any but the originating device, as opposed to
Peer-to-Peer configuration and operation. And the device user never
has to think about media formats, communications protocols, nor
loading drivers. The Recruitment model also allows Dart
applications and data to spread themselves from Dart device to Dart
device whenever another DartDevice is Recruited into a team. Thus
advantageously, distribution of Darts and their encapsulated
content, programs, and data can occur through usage or without any
explicit loading or saving of applications or their associated
data. Security may often be a necessary part of the DartPlatform to
prevent the spread of malicious or malfunctioning Darts or other
code and data. This security partially comes in the form of
requiring a potential recruited device to accept or reject
recruitment by not allowing communications, or simply declining to
run procedures or Darts from other devices.
[0872] In one particularly advantageous implementation, the
Recruitment model and method is based on the DartInstructionSet.
The procedures are expressed using the DartInstructionSet which is
optimized for device interoperability, multimedia user interfaces,
and the use of the Recruitment model and method.
[0873] Advantageously, most any high level language can be compiled
to target the DartInstructionSet. In one particularly advantageous
embodiment at this time, the high level language used is C++ with
extensions added through the C++ pragma facility. These advantages
derive from the wide spread current use of the C++ programming
language, but the invention is not limited to any particular
language, and may be equally or better implemented with other
languages either now existent or to be developed in the future,
including for example improvements, enhancements, and/or extensions
to the C++ programming language.
[0874] Additional particular embodiments for Interoperability
Security Model or a more specific embodiment, DartSecurity Model
are now described. In one embodiment (1), the invention provides a
method for limiting access to and or the understanding of resources
or capabilities of an interoperability application package and or
resources or capabilities of interoperability devices, the method
comprising: (1) forming a basis for security using at least a
plurality of the following steps: (a) automatically collecting an
entropy state measure associated with the device; (b) generating a
key pair; (c) generating a device Id; and (d) storing the key
pairs, device id, and the entropy state measure on the device for
continued use whenever the device is active; (2) forming rules for
allowing or preventing the limiting access; and (3) using the
formed basis and formed rules to provide a security task at least
for the device.
[0875] In another embodiment (2), the invention provides a method
for limiting access to and or the understanding of resources or
capabilities of an interoperability application package and or
resources or capabilities of interoperability devices, the method
comprising: (1) forming a basis for security in at least one of the
following steps when a device first starts operation: (a)
automatically collecting of entropy; (b) generating a
public/private key pair; (c) generation of a unique device Id; and
(d) storing the public and private key pairs, device unique id, and
the entropy state for a random number generator on the device for
continued use whenever the device is active; (2) forming rules for
allowing or preventing the limiting access; (3) use of the formed
basis for one or more of the following security tasks: (a)
enforcing the rules for access to devices, applications and
resources; (b) securing the rules themselves so that they cannot be
modified by an unauthorized user or agent; (c) securing the storage
of the public and private key pairs, device unique id, and the
entropy state for a random number generator; (d) securing operating
parameters or data to be shared between applications and devices;
(e) securing communication channels; (e encrypting resources so
that they can only be understood or used by a particular device or
set of devices, and/or a particular application or set of
applications, and/or when accessed using a shared secret; and (g)
generating universally unique ids and using them for identifying
devices, applications, data formats, collections, records,
individual media files, or even individual data items valid across
all devices and or applications and or datasets or items for all
times.
[0876] In another embodiment (3), the invention provides the method
of (2), further comprising: revoking or modifying the rules used to
limit access.
[0877] In another embodiment (4), the invention provides the method
of (2), wherein the limiting access to and or the understanding of
resources of comprise one or more of the following in any
combination: (1) enforcing rules for which devices are allowed to
communicate with each other and or for what purposes devices are
allowed to communicate; (2) encrypting data that flows between
devices so that other devices which might have access to the data
will not be able to understand or make use of the data; (3) signing
packages of data, content, code or other resources to ensure that
the packages have not been modified since the signing took place;
and (4) managing digital rights to enforce a set of rules for the
handling of data, code content, or any other digitally
representable resources with regard to one or more of the following
actions: sharing, copying, printing, displaying, performing,
distributing, playback, rendering, executing, modifying, or any
combination of these.
[0878] In another embodiment (5), the invention provides the method
of (2), wherein one or more of the following are true: (a) the
application package conforms to an interoperability format or the
Dart Format and or is a Dart; and (b) the limiting access is
performed at least in part by an Interoperability Engine or is
performed at least in part by a DartEngine or by a DartPlayer.
[0879] In another embodiment (6), the invention provides the method
of (2), wherein the forming the basis for security is performed
only once for any particular device.
[0880] In another embodiment (7), the invention provides the method
of (2), wherein the forming the basis for security is comprised of
the following steps when a device first starts operation: (a) the
automatic collection of entropy state; (b) the generation of
public/private key pairs; (c) the generation of a unique device Id;
AND (d) the storage of the public and private key pairs, device
unique id, and the entropy state for a random number generator on
the device for continued use whenever the device is active.
[0881] In another embodiment (8), the invention provides the method
of (2), wherein the forming rules for limiting access further
comprise: (i) collecting the unique ids of devices and/or
applications which wish to interoperate (ii) collecting the set of
access rights needed or requested for the interoperation; (iii)
obtaining permission to allow or the directive to disallow the
range of access rights; (iv) creating a unique id for the set of
access rights; and (v) storing the unique id and set of access
rights on all devices and or in all the application packages which
are to interoperate.
[0882] In another embodiment (9), the invention provides the method
of (7), wherein the basis of is used for the generation and'storage
of unique ids.
[0883] In another embodiment (10), the invention provides the
method of (2), wherein use of the basis is used for one or more of
the following security procedures alone or in any combination: (a)
enforcing rules for access to devices and resources; (b) securing
the rules themselves; (c) securing communication channels; (d)
encrypting resources so that they can only be understood by a
particular device or set of devices, and or a particular
application or set of applications, and or when accessed using a
shared secret; (e) generating universally unique ids and using them
for identifying devices, applications, data formats, collections,
records, individual media files, or even individual data items
valid across all devices and or applications and or datasets or
items for all times; and (e revoking or modifying the rules used to
limit access.
[0884] In another embodiment (11), the invention provides the
method of (2), wherein the resources or capabilities are one or
more of the resources or capabilities in the set consisting of: (a)
a data or data sets of any form; (b) a code of any form; (c) a
content of any form; (d) a capability to communicate in any form
and to any other device; (e) a capability to control any aspect of
the device or any other device; (f) a capability to control any
aspect of the device's operation and or of any other devices'
operations; (g) a capability to render and/or print and/or display
and/or modify and/or copy and/or distribute data or any other
element which can be represented by a binary sequence or set of
binary sequences; (h) a capability to collect information in any
digital form by any means; (i) a capability to physically change
the position, disposition, properties and or location of physical
objects; 0) a capability to run code and process data; and (k) any
combination of the above.
[0885] In another embodiment (12), the invention provides the
method of (2), wherein the method applies to the applications
whether they are stored as an application image and or running on
one or more devices.
[0886] In another embodiment (13), the invention provides the
method of (2), wherein the basis is implemented in a manner where
entropy gathering and the random number generation is seeded and
then used to generate a unique id is automatically initiated when
the device is first turned on or is made use of so that the
manufacturer does not need to assign or install different software
or hardware to assure that each device has a universally unique
id.
[0887] In another embodiment (14), the invention provides the
method of (2), wherein the entropy is gathered by collecting via
the execution of software running on a processor timing or data or
counter or hardware state values which are at least partially
generated by any one or more of: quantum electrical effects,
communications or other electrical circuits running on a clock
unsynchronized to the processor clock, air currents, or any other
physical phenomena.
[0888] In another embodiment (15), the invention provides the
method of (7), wherein the basis is used for the generation and
storage of unique ids.
[0889] In another embodiment (16), the invention provides the
method of (15), wherein the if a device loses its unique id or
private or public key and cannot be recovered, it will be necessary
for a new unique id and private and public key to be generated for
the device before the device can again be used.
[0890] In another embodiment (17), the invention provides the
method of (16), wherein after a new unique id and private and
public key is generated for the device, the device is considered
for all purposes of security to be a new device.
[0891] In another embodiment (18), the invention provides the
method of (2), wherein a device or application unique id is
revoked, the unique id is placed on a list of revoked unique ids
that is maintained and distributed on teamed devices and or other
devices so that the device or application will no longer function
as part of a team or teams when it tries to interoperate with any
of the devices with the revoked unique id which is on such a
list.
[0892] In another embodiment (19), the invention provides the
method of (18), wherein when a revoked device forms a communication
link with another device which has the revoked device's unique id
on its revocation list, the software driving the communication link
will initiate the destruction of the unique id and public and
private keys of the revoked device.
[0893] In another embodiment (20), the invention provides the
method of (18), wherein the revoked id list is maintained and
distributed using the social synchronization procedure.
[0894] In another embodiment (21), the invention provides the
method of (18), wherein only devices with certain permissions,
unique id, or shared secret is allowed to place a device or
application id on any revocation list.
[0895] In another embodiment (22), the invention provides the
method of (19), wherein one or more master devices with certain
permission, unique id or shared secret or has the capability to
communicate of a special secure channel can initiate the
destruction of the unique id and public and private keys on the
revoked device over the special secured channel.
[0896] In another embodiment (23), the invention provides the
method of (22), wherein the master device is at the headend of a
mobile phone network can initiate the destruction of the unique id
and public and private keys on the revoked device over the mobile
data network or a side channel thereof.
[0897] In another embodiment (24), the invention provides the
method of (2), wherein the rules are stored as lists of the unique
ids of devices and applications associated with a certain level of
security.
[0898] In another embodiment (25), the invention provides the
method of (24), wherein the rules are stored as lists of the unique
ids of devices and applications associated with a certain level of
security, and each level of security is associated with certain
access rights binary flags, with each binary flag associated with
permission to access a particular category of data, resource, code
or capability.
[0899] In another embodiment (26), the invention provides the
method of (25), wherein a device or the runtime context in which an
executable image is running maintains the access rights flags
values which determine which types of access or elements are to be
allowed for the executable images running on that device or the
executable image running a particular runtime context.
[0900] In another embodiment (27), the invention provides the
method of (26), wherein an interoperability engine running an
interoperability instruction set checks any or all of the flag
values whenever an application attempts to access the elements or
capabilities which correspond to the flags, and does not allow such
access if the flag values indicate that such access is not to be
allowed.
[0901] In another embodiment (28), the invention provides the
method of (27), wherein one or more of the following are true: (1)
the interoperability engine is as described elsewhere in the
detailed description or is the DartEngine; and (2) the
interoperability instruction set is as described elsewhere in the
detailed description or is the DartInstructionSet.
[0902] In another embodiment (29), the invention provides the
method of (25), wherein the rules embodied by the stored lists are
generated using one or more of the following method: (1) default
mappings for flags to security level numbers are supplied by the
manufacturer and optionally modifiable by possibly secured
interfaces on the manufactured device; (2) the security level and
or flag values that are needed for a particular executable image to
carry out one or more operations of an interoperability application
software package is embedded in the image, which is optionally
signed to ensure that the security level and or flag values have
not been tampered with; (3) when an executable image is to be
loaded by an interoperability engine, the embedded level and or
flag values are compared to the stored rules to see if permissions
to access all the needed access is allowed; (4) if all permissions
are allowed the executable image is loaded to run in a context that
contains the access flag values embedded in the executable image;
(5) if during execution, assess to any resource or capability for
which the flags in the context do not allow access causes the
interoperability engine to immediately stop execution without
allowing the access; and (6) if any of the permissions are not
allowed the interoperability engine will not load or run the
executable image.
[0903] In another embodiment (30), the invention provides the
method of (2), wherein the method is used for one or more of the
following purposes or operations: (1) assurance that the content,
code, and or data hasn't changed since some predetermined date or
event; (2) assurance that the content, code, and or data has been
inspected or otherwise certified by a particular party as one or
more of the following in any combination: (a) robust; (b) devoid of
viruses, malicious code, of other undesirable features or
operations; (c) devoid of a predetermined or dynamically determined
particular kind of objectionable materials; (d) to have been
created by or received from a particular third party; and (e) being
or not being any one or combination of the above; (3) protection
from the spread of software viruses or malicious computer code; (4)
protecting intellectual property rights including but not limited
to copyrights and trademarks; (5) enforcing intellectual property
rights and agreements; (6) obfuscation of the rules, unique ids,
code or data on a device so that it is difficult for someone to
find and or understand the meaning of the obfuscated items; and (7)
the generation of universally unique ids to assign to data sets,
data items, categories of items or any other element or grouping of
elements or ideas which needs to be uniquely identified.
[0904] In another embodiment (31), the invention provides a
computer program product for use in conjunction with a computer
system or information appliance, the computer program product
comprising a computer readable storage medium and a computer
program mechanism embedded therein, the computer program mechanism
comprising: a program module that directs the computer system or
information appliance to function in a specified manner for
limiting access to and or the understanding of resources or
capabilities of an interoperability application package and or
resources or capabilities of interoperability devices, the program
module including instructions for: (1) forming a basis for security
using at least a plurality of the following steps: (a)
automatically collecting an entropy state measure associated with
the device; (b) generating a key pair; (c) generating a device Id;
and (d) storing the key pairs, device id, and the entropy state
measure on the device for continued use whenever the device is
active; (2) forming rules for allowing or preventing the limiting
access; and (3) using the formed basis and formed rules to provide
a security task at least for the device.
[0905] The features and/or elements recited in these exemplary
embodiments as well as of exemplary embodiments described elsewhere
in this detailed description or in the drawings may be combined in
many different ways so that embodiments recited above are not
limitations of the invention and additional or alternative
embodiments having any different combinations or permutations of
the features and elements are also embodiments of the
invention.
XVIII. Social Synchronization Interoperability Method/Dart Social
Synchronization
[0906] Synchronization of data sets or operations across a
plurality of devices is most often done with traditional methods
where there is assumed to be a single master device to which all
other devices directly synchronize their data sets. These methods
provide a highly robust synchronization system in the corporate and
government networks of general purpose computers that are always
connected to each other with reliable high speed networks
administered and maintained by trained professionals. Most current
synchronization of individuals' devices such as mobile phones,
PDAs, and digital cameras is now conventionally performed using
these same direct to single master device methodologies where the
master device is a personal computer or an internet connected
server; however, having to require synchronization to single master
is very limiting for the world of intermittently connected, often
mobile devices for many reasons including,
[0907] 1. All devices must share at least one communication
protocol with the master device.
[0908] 2. Some mobile devices can only synchronize when they are in
close proximity to the master device because they only have limited
range wired or wireless direct connections suitable for synching
data sets with the master.
[0909] 3. The master device provides a single source of failure for
all devices.
[0910] 4. The individual users without training must concern
themselves with loading device specific synchronization software on
the master device and configuring and maintaining this
software.
[0911] 5. There is no easy way for mobile devices to synchronize
directly to each other, even when they are in close proximity of
each other and share a common communications protocol.
[0912] The inventive SocialSynchronization is a particular subset
of the methods that can be used to synchronize DartDevices that
provides many benefits over the conventional mastered
synchronization methods commonly used in the current state of the
art. Recall that SocialSynchronization is an efficient and easy to
administrate method for synchronizing specific sets of data and or
operations across any number of devices and protocols without the
need for every device to contact a master device, or for any device
to act as a master. SocialSynchronization of devices and content is
similar to the way humans share information and tasks and is an
advantageous alternative to mastered synchronization techniques
most often used in the current state of the art.
[0913] Some of the benefits and advantages of the inventive system
and method over the conventional mastered synchronization methods
commonly used in the current state of the art include:
[0914] 1. Synchronization can be performed for teams of devices
where there is no need for all the devices to be able to
communicate directly to a single master; rather, synchronization
can be carried out so long as there is any path of communication
through any number of devices' between each other, and where such
paths do not need to be established simultaneously.
[0915] 2. Mobile devices do not need to be able to direct connect
to a master; rather, they just need to be able to direct connect to
any one of the mobile devices in a team of devices established for
the synchronization.
[0916] 3. There is no master device and so no single source of
failure. Teamed devices which fail can be replaced by new devices
which can then easily synchronize to any other devices in the
team.
[0917] 4. There is no need to install device specific software on
any of the devices or to actively maintain or configure such
software; rather any device in a synchronization team can directly
add any other device to the team.
[0918] 5. Devices can synchronize directly with any other devices
in the team to which there is any path of connectivity through any
sequence of connects between devices, even where such connections
are not available simultaneously.
[0919] SocialSynchronization works somewhat like teams of humans
who share information with other humans who they encounter, who in
turn often then share that same information with still other
humans. A human analogy can also be used to illustrate the
limitations of mastered synchronization. Imagine a company with a
large number of employees who have no way of sharing information
about all the activities and initiatives of their coworkers except
by talking to a single boss. There are just too many interactions
necessary to distribute all the needed information for it to be
practical for all knowledge that needs to be shared to go through a
single boss, or even through a fixed hierarchy of bosses.
Individual employees need to share information of common interest
directly to each other as they encounter each other and expect that
information will get distributed to others with a need to know
through intermediaries. In effect, these methods of social
synchronization, while not perfect, are very effective methods of
distributing information among a group or team of people or devices
where there are a number of ongoing intermittent and possibly
irregular connections taking place between humans or between
devices.
[0920] FIG. 30 shows an example of how SocialSynchronization is
performed in one preferred embodiment. The example shows the
synchronization of simple changes to a simple contact list, but it
should be appreciated that the synchronization can be performed for
complex databases and or the synchronization of not just data but
also of the operations of and results of operations of a team of
DartDevices and or Darts.
[0921] In the example of FIG. 30, there is an initiating device, A,
with a ContactList Dart application which initially contains two
entered names. The two other devices, B and C initially have no
knowledge about the existence or characteristics of the ContactList
Dart running on A. In one preferred embodiment, the ContactList
Dart running on Device A enumerates all the devices with which it
can share the ContactList Dart that contains and controls the list
of contacts. The ContactList Dart, uses the method of Dart
Recruitment and optionally the method of renditioning. The
Recruitment by the ContactList Dart on Device A of Device B is
initiated by the user by selecting a Team to Other Devices" menu
item. The user is then presented with a list of devices currently
reachable and suitable for the teaming of the ContactList as
determined by one or more DartProcedures or Darts sent to run on
the reachable devices, and return information about their
suitability for becoming recruited. The user selects device B from
the list which results in the ContactList Dart saving a Dart
containing one or more or all of its renditions and the data that
constitutes the content list elements. This saved Dart is sent to B
as part of a RunDart type event. When the Dart runs on device B it
saves itself so that it will be available on B even after the
device is disconnected from device A or powered off. The Dart now
running across both devices makes an entry, if none yet exists, in
each device's SocialSync uid list. The entry contains the uid of
the ContactList with the two names to be shared that was generated
by the Dart when it first created this particular list of contact
names. Uids are generated using the DartSecurity infrastructure
described elsewhere in this document. The entry also contains the
uid of the ContactList Dart. The DartTools automatically place a
uid into every Dart instance generated.
[0922] Similarly at some time after device A finishes its permanent
teaming operation with B, device B is used to permanently team to
SocialSync ObjectUid/DartHandlerUid lists with an entry for the
128BitUidA that identifies the particular teamed logical instance
of the contact list. The entry also contains the uid of the Dart
stored on the same device which can be used to carry out the
synchronization of the contacts for that list. Note that in
general, the handler Dart can perform any synchronization decisions
or operations or rules expressible as a Dart and is not limited to
simple data synchronization operations as in this example.
[0923] The three devices now all contain the SocialSync entries
containing the uids and two names of the original contact list even
though device C has never communicated directly with Device A.
[0924] In the example, after the devices are teamed the connections
are closed and a new name is added to the list on Device C by the
user who runs ContactHandlerDart Z. The three block diagrams show
the state of the three devices immediately after the third name is
added on Device C.
[0925] Next the ContactHandlerDart Z or any other Dart running on C
initiates a connection to Device A. While setting up the
connection, the DartEngine on C automatically compares the
SocialSync uids on the two devices and determines that they share
the 128BitUidA uid. The DartEngine on C will automatically start up
ContactHandlerDart Z and it will coordinate the synchronization of
the data whether stored in Darts or stored separately. Now devices
A and C contain all three names in their contact lists.
[0926] After Device B connects to either A or C it will similarly
run ContactHandlerDart Y which will carry out the synchronization
of names between device B and the device it connects to. Note that
event though A had never communicated with C before syncing, they
knew that they needed to sync and how to sync because of the Dart
and data passed by the intermediating device B during the
individual Teamings.
[0927] It logically follows that any number of devices can be
easily added to the team transitively by any device already teamed
even if the new devices knows nothing about the
Contactlist/ContactHandler Dart or originating Dart until Teamed.
So long as the ad-hoc connections between the teams of devices are
sufficient, all the devices automatically maintain a high degree of
synchronization of the shared list of contacts even in the absence
of any master device.
[0928] The inventive system, method, and computer programs and
computer program products also provide a platform having
Serialization and Synchronization. The intra-device DartRuntime
shown in FIG. 15, FIG. 16 and FIG. 18 along with the inter-device
DartRuntime shown in FIG. 17 together create a single event driven
DartRuntime where all operations are advantageously carefully
serialized and synchronized across all processing units of all
teamed devices. FIG. 9 Illustrates how this serialization and
synchronization infrastructure embodied throughout the DartPlatform
including in Dart Recruitment, Dart Renditioning, the DartSource,
the DartTools, the DartFramework the DartRuntime and the
DartEngine. Together these systems and methods and means provide an
infrastructure for ensuring the robust interoperability for Dart
interoperability applications with little effort on the part of the
Dart programmer needed to set up or administrate the complex
interactions and ordering of operations across processing units
cooperating on and between multiple devices, even in the face of
communications and other errors.
[0929] Writing Dart applications using the DartPlatform and
particularly the DartFramework automatically gives applications
binary portability across all DartDevices, robust power management,
robust application level error recovery, the simple and efficient
teaming of devices, the intelligent discovery and use of resources
across devices, and many of the other benefits of the DartPlatform,
all with relatively little effort on the part of the Dart
programmer. A key element for delivering these benefits is embodied
in the DartRuntime through the largely automatic serialization and
synchronization of events as shown in the example of FIG. 9.
[0930] The DartRuntime coordinates the passing or exchanging of
Dart Events and associated files between interoperating and
communicating initiating and recruited devices. Dart Events are
automatically copied and/or synchronized across event queues of any
number of teamed devices. Events designated as synchronized events
are robustly distributed across all the event queues of all devices
which share a list of synchronized event types. This is carried out
in the example shown in FIG. 9 as follows:
[0931] 1. The initiating application, rendition 701a of Dart 700
instantiates a connection manager object instance on the
originating device 400-1 for a specific unspecified inter-device
cooperative function. The Connection Manager is an instance of a
ConnectionManager class that is provided in the DartPlatform (FIG.
3) as part of the DartFramework (FIG. 3 102).
[0932] 2. The initiating rendition, 701a, recruits a team of
devices using Recruitment and Renditioning to create a team of
devices with a shared duplicative list of event types to be
serialized and synchronized over all cooperating devices. This list
is maintained by instances of the Connection Manager 420 on each of
the teamed devices (400-1, 400-2, 400-3, 400-N).
[0933] 3. Whenever any events are to be placed into a queue on any
of the teamed devices that is on the shared list, then the event
will be placed in all the queues (660) of all directly connected
teamed devices first and then delay the placement of the event in
the initiating device's queue until acknowledgement is received
that the event has successfully been placed onto all directly
teamed devices' queues. Since all the other devices will do the
same, the original event is not placed into the initiating device's
queue until all other teamed devices have the event in their
queues, even those devices which are not directly connected to the
initiating device. This ensures that events are not processed by
any of the teamed devices if there are any errors which prevent the
placement of the event on any of the queues of the teamed devices.
Errors are reported by the serially propagated return of the
original event to the senders with an error flag indicating that
the event is returning status, and with an error code in the
returnedValue word of the Event structure instance.
[0934] 4. In order to prevent events generated by one device from
arriving out of order on any directly connected devices, all events
to be placed on directly connected teamed devices' event queues are
serialized by not allowing any new events to be placed on a teamed
device's queue until acknowledgement is received that the
previously sent event has been successfully placed on the queue. An
example of where this is necessarily is where the first event is an
ADD_SLIDE type event used to add a new slide to the shared slide
show, and a second event is a show slide (SHOW_SLIDE) type event
indicating that the new slide is to be shown. Due to its much
smaller size, it is quite likely that the second event would arrive
on the device before the first and the application might try to
show the slide before it was finished arriving. This is why it is
necessary to serialize the events between all directly connected
devices.
[0935] Serialization of events sent to all directly connected
devices ensures that all events sent from an individual device will
be processed in the exact order sent on all teamed devices;
however, it is also necessary to synchronize the exact order of
events when two or more different devices independently signal
events marked for synchronization by virtue of being on the shared
synchronized event lists 430 present on all teamed devices.
[0936] One preferred method for ensuring that all synchronized
events are processed in the same order on all devices even when
synchronized events need to be signaled independently by two or
more devices is through the use of a MasterSendEvent event type
reserved for use by the connection managers. Each connection
manager considers the device that recruited it through a direct
connection as its logical master. In FIG. 9 device 400-N's logical
master is device 400-3, device 400-3's logical master is device
400-2, device 400-2's logical master is device 400-1. Device 400-1
has no logical master because it performed the initiating
recruitment of the team. This makes device 400-1 the team master.
Any device with a logical master's connection manager will not
place events to be placed onto its queue into its queue unless it
is being placed there by its logical master, rather the connection
manager will encapsulate all the information needed to signal the
event into a MasterSendEvent event type event and place that in all
its direct connected teamed devices. All such MasterSendEvent
events will eventually propagate to the team Master. When the event
is to be placed on its queue, the connection manager, knowing that
it is the team master will attempt to place the reconstituted
original contained event onto its queue. If the contained event
type is on the synchronization list of the connection managers it
will now be propagated to all the teamed devices in a serialized
manner just as if it had been generated and signaled by the team
master.
[0937] In effect the team master is the only device allowed to send
synchronized events to be placed onto the queues of other teamed
devices. All other devices need to request that the master send any
synchronized events for them. Since all synchronized events are
sent by the team master over a serialized channel, all devices in
the team will receive all events on their queue in the exact same
order, preserving the integrity of the synchronized operations
across all teamed devices as desired.
[0938] Note that in one preferred embodiment, that the
serialization of synchronized events can itself be used to ensure
that the connection managers on all devices maintain the exact same
list of event types to synchronize. Also the serialization system
can be used to send serialized and synchronized events of a type
that indicates that a new device is to be considered the team
master. Since the event declaring a new master is serialized and
synchronized all devices will receive such events in the exact same
order ensuring that even multiple devices sending events declaring
different new masters will eventually resolve itself with all
devices getting the same last event declaring a new master so that
the last such event processed will win out.
[0939] Selected particular embodiments of the invention involving a
Social Synchronization Interoperability Method or the more
particular Dart SocialSynchronization, are now set forth. In one
embodiment (1), the invention provides a method for maintaining
synchronization of resources across one or more dynamically created
teams of homogeneous and/or heterogeneous devices which can be
intermittently directly connected and/or can be indirectly
connected through a sequence of direct connections which themselves
can be independently intermittently made between other teamed
devices, the method comprising: (1) running on an interoperability
device an initiating interoperability application program package
of one or more independently executable images which logically or
physically encapsulates the resource or resources to be
synchronized and/or includes all the capabilities needed to collect
and manage the resources to be synchronized; and (2) teaming of
other devices by the initiating interoperability application
program wherein a possibly intermittent connection is made to other
devices and the initiating application spreads interoperability
information to the newly teamed devices.
[0940] In another embodiment (2), the invention provides the method
in (1), wherein the method further optionally includes: (3) the
repetition of the teaming of other devices where the
interoperability application packages running on any one or more of
the teamed devices acts as the initiating interoperability
application program package so that the team of devices can
continue to grow in a limited or possibly unlimited manner.
[0941] In another embodiment (3), the invention provides the method
in (1), wherein the method further optionally includes: (4)
synchronizing resources among and between the devices.
[0942] In another embodiment (4), the invention provides the method
in (1), wherein the method further optionally includes: (3) the
repetition of the teaming of other devices where the
interoperability application packages running on any one or more of
the teamed devices acts as the initiating interoperability
application program package so that the team of devices can
continue to grow in a limited or possibly unlimited manner; and (4)
synchronizing resources among and between the devices.
[0943] In another embodiment (5), the invention provides the method
in (3), wherein the synchronization method further optionally
includes: (a) initiating a communication session between any two
teamed devices; (b) comparing the synchronization unique ids on one
device with the synchronization unique ids on the other device; (c)
running the interoperability application program associated with
every matching unique id; (d) spreading the execution of the
interoperability application program across both devices; and (e)
performing, by the interoperability application program which has
its operations spread across the two devices, whatever
synchronization methods are needed to carry out the
interoperability synchronization purpose.
[0944] In another embodiment (6), the invention provides the method
in (4), wherein the synchronization method further optionally
includes: (a) initiating a communication session between any two
teamed devices; (b) comparing the synchronization unique ids on one
device with the synchronization unique ids on the other device; (c)
running the interoperability application program associated with
every matching unique id; (d) spreading the execution of the
interoperability application program across both devices; and (e)
performing by the interoperability application program which has
its operations spread across the two devices whatever
synchronization methods are needed to carry out the
interoperability synchronization purpose.
[0945] In another embodiment (7), the invention provides the method
in (1), wherein the interoperability information includes: (i) one
or more interoperability universally unique ids to be used to
signify that devices are teamed for a particular synchronization
purpose; and (ii) one or more interoperability application packages
associated with the universally unique ids which can be executed to
carry out the synchronization purpose.
[0946] In another embodiment (8), the invention provides the method
in (6), wherein the interoperability information includes: (i) one
or more interoperability universally unique ids to be used to
signify that devices are teamed for a particular synchronization
purpose; and (ii) one or more interoperability application packages
associated with the universally unique ids which can be executed to
carry out the synchronization purpose.
[0947] In another embodiment (9), the invention provides the method
of (1), wherein one or more of the following are true in any
combination: (1) the teams are formed at least in part using a
device recruitment procedure or Dart Recruitment; (2) one or more
of the interoperability devices is a DartDevice; (3) the
interoperability application program package conforms to the
Interoperability Format or conforms to the DartFormat and or is a
Dart; (4) the independently executable images are renditions or are
Dart Renditions; (5) the resources are one or more of the types
described as resources by the description of Interoperability
Source; (6) the interoperability universally unique ids are created
using the social security procedural basis; and (7) the one or more
interoperability application program packages are generated using
one or both of the recruitment method or the creationism
method.
[0948] In another embodiment (10), the invention provides the
method of (1), wherein synchronization comprises one or more of the
following in any combination: (1) maintaining independent instances
and/or semantics of commonly identified database instances and/or
anything that can be held by a database or element contained in a
database in such a manner that changes made independently to the
separate instances are resolved in whatever ways are needed to
maintain one or more of: (a) the integrity of the database as
encapsulating the intended data and purpose associated with the
common identification; (b) the elements of the database; (c) the
semantics of the database and/or interrelationships of elements of
the database; and (d) the common identity of the instances of the
databases; (2) tracking the adding, deleting or modification of
elements on a lists of items independently stored and or modified
on independent devices; (3) the collecting and or processing and or
collating of information by a team of devices; (4) maintaining
lists of unique ids, shared secrets and security settings needed to
control and limit access to resources or capabilities of devices;
(5) inter-device management of settings effecting the operation of
devices or the set of devices; (6) configuration management across
multiple devices; (7) installation of software or content across
multiple devices; (8) taking inventory of devices and or the
resources of the devices or reachable by the devices or for which
information is stored and or maintained by one or more of the
devices; (9) software or content distribution or updating across
multiple devices; and (10) any combinations of the above.
[0949] In another embodiment (11), the invention provides the
method of (10), wherein the synchronization is done in an
intelligent manner at least in part by the execution of software
procedures so that synchronization is done in a way specific to
each device and/or subsets of devices and/or the environment
thereof.
[0950] In another embodiment (12), the invention provides the
method of (1), wherein the grow in a limited or possibly unlimited
manner is optionally carried out using one or more of the
following: (1) limiting by a set fanout value so that each device
or application is only allowed to bring a predetermined limited
number of other devices or applications into the team equal to or
within some predetermined magnitude relationship to the fanout
value; (2) limiting by a set generation limit procedure comprising
the following: (a) incrementing a generation tracking value carried
by each application package that sends application packages to
teamed devices so that each application package sent to newly
teamed devices has a tracking value one greater than the sending
application package; and (b) limiting by a set generation stop
value so that application packages with a generation tracking value
equal to the set generation stop value are not allowed to bring new
devices or applications into the team; (3) limiting according the
capabilities or resources of the devices; (4) limiting according to
the rules as embodied in the code, data and content of the
independently executing images; (5) limiting according to the level
of security of potentially teamed devices or applications and/or
any other required credentials; and (6) any combinations of the
above.
[0951] In another embodiment (13), the invention provides the
method of (1), wherein the purposes are one or more of the purposes
selected from the list of purposes consisting of: (1) maintaining
independent instances and/or semantics of commonly identified
database instances and/or anything that can be held by a database
or element contained in a database in such a manner that changes
made independently to the separate instances are resolved in
whatever ways are needed to maintain one or more of: (a) the
integrity of the database as encapsulating the intended data and
purpose associated with the common identification; (b) the elements
of the database; (c) the semantics of the database and/or
interrelationships of elements of the database; and (d) the common
identity of the instances of the databases; (2) tracking the
adding, deleting, or modifying elements on a lists of items
independently stored and or modified on independent devices; (3)
collecting and or processing and or collating of information by a
team of devices; (4) maintaining lists of unique ids, shared
secrets and security settings needed to control and limit access to
resources or capabilities of devices; (5) inter-device managing of
settings effecting the operation of devices or the set of devices;
(6) configuration managing across multiple devices; (7)
installation of software or content across any one or multiple
devices; (8) inventorying of devices and/or the resources of the
devices and/or resources reachable by the devices and/or for which
information is stored and or maintained by one or more of the
devices; (9) distributing software or content and/or updating
software or content across multiple devices; and (10) any
combination of the above.
[0952] In another embodiment (14), the invention provides the
method of (1), wherein the method is used as an alternative to
other synchronization methods because less human administration is
necessary and/or the sophistication of the humans who do the
administration does not need to be as high as conventional
approaches.
[0953] In another embodiment (15), the invention provides the
method of (1), wherein one or more of the teamed devices are
reachable on the Internet as servers running an interoperability
engine.
[0954] In another embodiment (16), the invention provides the
method of (1), wherein one or more of the teamed devices are
reachable on a network as servers running an interoperability
engine.
[0955] In another embodiment (17), the invention provides a
computer program product for use in conjunction with a computer
system or information appliance, the computer program product
comprising a computer readable storage medium and a computer
program mechanism embedded therein, the computer program mechanism
comprising: a program module that directs the computer system or
information appliance to function in a specified manner for
maintaining synchronization of resources across one or more
dynamically created teams of homogeneous and/or heterogeneous
devices which can be intermittently directly connected and/or can
be indirectly connected through a sequence of direct connections
which themselves can be independently intermittently made between
other teamed devices, the program module including instructions
for: (1) running on an interoperability device, an initiating
interoperability application program package of one or more
independently executable images which logically or physically
encapsulates the resource or resources to be synchronized and/or
includes all the capabilities needed to collect and manage the
resources to be synchronized; and (2) teaming of other devices by
the initiating interoperability application program wherein a
possibly intermittent connection is made to other devices and the
initiating application spreads interoperability information to the
newly teamed devices.
[0956] In another embodiment (18), the invention provides a
computer program product as in (17), further optionally including
instructions for: (3) the repetition of the teaming of other
devices where the interoperability application packages running on
any one or more of the teamed devices acts as the initiating
interoperability application program package so that the team of
devices can continue to grow in a limited or possibly unlimited
manner.
[0957] In another embodiment (19), the invention provides a
computer program product as in (18), further optionally including
instructions for: (4) synchronizing resources among and between the
devices.
[0958] In another embodiment (20), the invention provides an
interoperability device maintaining synchronization of resources
across one or more dynamically created teams of homogeneous and/or
heterogeneous devices which can be intermittently directly
connected and/or can be indirectly connected through a sequence of
direct connections which themselves can be independently
intermittently made between other teamed devices, the device
comprising: an initiating interoperability application program
package of one or more independently executable images which
logically or physically encapsulates the resource or resources to
be synchronized and/or includes all the capabilities needed to
collect and manage the resources to be synchronized; means for
running, on the interoperability device, the initiating
interoperability application program package; and means for teaming
of other interoperable devices by the initiating interoperability
application program wherein a possibly intermittent connection is
made to other devices and the initiating application spreads
interoperability information to the newly teamed devices.
[0959] The features and/or elements recited in these exemplary
embodiments as well as of exemplary embodiments described elsewhere
in this detailed description or in the drawings may be combined in
many different ways so that embodiments recited above are not
limitations of the invention and additional or alternative
embodiments having any different combinations or permutations of
the features and elements are also embodiments of the
invention.
XIX. Social Security Interoperability Model/Dart SocialSecurity
[0960] Recall that SocialSecurity is a particularly simple to
administrate method for forming webs of security between teams of
possible intermittently connected devices. SocialSecurity works in
a similar way to how humans often come to trust one another. The
foundation for SocialSecurity is the use of SocialSynchronization
to spread unique ids generated using the DartSecurity system along
with the allowed access rights which travel transitively from
device to device. Devices which have never directly communicated
will often find that they are part of a team of devices which are
allowed to interoperate with certain access rights without any need
for further gathering permissions.
[0961] One of the biggest problems in the current state of the art
in security is that it is so difficult for end users to understand
and administer security methods that they end up not using them at
all. There is a direct relationship between the strength of
security methods used and the complexity of administration. In
traditional corporate and government computer networks a high
degree of strength was deemed necessary and was necessarily
administered by highly trained full-time professionals. The fact
that such networks were rarely reconfigured made the amount of
administration reasonable for the professionals. These same
conventional security methods are often applied to the evolving and
growing world of mobile devices used by individuals with no
training and no time or patience for full time administration of
securing networks of devices that would need constant
administration as mobile devices come and go. The inventive
SocialSecurity method, while perhaps not as strong as the
traditional methods employed in corporate and government networks,
does deliver a good level of security, while being so easy to
administrate for devices, that most people will actually use it
where they often would not use or turn off the traditional methods.
Thus SocialSecurity advantageously delivers a good level of
security in situations where no security would otherwise be
used.
[0962] Email is a good example. Traditional secure email protocols
have been available and built into the majority of existing email
users' client software since they began using email; yet, few email
end users make use of these secure email protocols. One reason is
that the administration needed to get, secure and use certificates
and ensure that everyone they want to email to securely has also
performed the administration necessary to get, secure and use
certificates is too complex and tedious. Another example is that it
is so difficult to set up security on wireless access ports that
many home wireless networks are left unsecured.
[0963] SocialSecurity is similar to human models for securing
interactions. One learns to trust a new employee of a company with
company proprietary information because the new employee was
introduced by others in the organization. It is likely that old
employees will began trusting the new employee without ever talking
directly to anyone with original knowledge that the new employee is
a bona fide employee of the company. This web of trust is
established without any need for central coordination or tracking.
Devices such as cell phones, printers, PDAs, laptops, digital
cameras and portable music players often have media, information or
control to share, but they are never all connected together at once
or to any one same central source. Yet it is desirable to use
security methods to protect the integrity of the information on
devices from improper use or corruption by other devices or
software. The SocialSecurity method is a particular subset of the
inventive Interoperability Security or inventive DartSecurity
methodologies of the DartPlatform where access rights are passed
from device to device automatically establishing webs of trusted
devices and software applications or Darts with a specific set of
access rights with a minimum of administration or training required
for the users of the devices.
[0964] The SocialSecurity methodology builds upon the DartSecurity
methodology described elsewhere in this document. DartSecurity
(FIG. 29) ensures that every DartDevice and Dart application has a
universally unique identifier, uid. Each DartDevice also maintains
lists of uids of other DartDevices which are allowed access rights
as indicated by sets of binary flags. Each set of binary access
rights flags is assigned to a level.
[0965] SocialSecurity is a transitive method for forming and
maintaining teams of devices, and distributing and maintaining the
lists of devices with common access rights across all teamed
devices. FIG. 31 shows a DartDevice on the left side with the
DeviceSecurity Lists, a Revoked List, and Device Uid elements of
SocialSecurity. The SocialSync List shown is part of the
SocialSynchronization methodology described elsewhere in this
document which is used in a preferred implementation at least in
part to spread and synchronize the DartLists transitively across
devices.
[0966] The right side of FIG. 31 shows an example of the state of
old and new DartDevices before and after teaming to help in
illustrating the SocialSecurity methodology. In this example before
teaming, the Old DartDevice uidA has lists of uids of applications
and devices which will be allowed to interoperate within the access
rights of the flags corresponding to the level of the list. Before
teaming the New DartDevice uidZ's only DeviceSecurity List allows
the device itself to interoperate with itself at Level 9.
Ordinarily some of the Dart applications that are shipped with the
Device from the manufacturer need a high level of access to
configure the device and or the security aspects of the device, so
the device will grant the applications on the Device itself a high
level of access as indicated by having the device's own uid in the
Level 9 list.
[0967] When a Dart on the new device initiates the device's first
contact with the old device and attempts to send and run a Dart
generate from renditions of itself to run on the old device, the
access rights in the Dart and of the new device are checked. Of
course the old device knows nothing about the new device and in
this example case it also has no security information about the
access rights of the Dart application attempting to spread its
execution to the old device. In this example, the user will be
asked via a user interface on each device for permission for these
devices to interoperate according to the access needs communicated
by the flags in the Dart. FIG. 31 shows, on the bottom right, the
state of the devices after permission is granted for the devices to
interoperate at level 7, corresponding to the access flags set
which grants all the access rights specified in the Dart passed to
the old device. After getting permission from the user via the user
interface, both the old and new DartDevices now contain the same
level 7 list of uids of devices and Darts that are allowed to
interoperate without asking permission. Note that should the New
DartDevice next attempt to send a Dart to any of the other devices
on its new level 7 list with the same security access flags
requirements, it will be allowed to run without any need to ask the
user. In effect the devices are vouching for all the other devices
it knows about. A trusted team of devices will trust each other,
even those that it has never directly made contact with before if
the team's lists of uids has been distributed across the devices
through connections even where intermittent with other devices of
the team. In a preferred implementation, the lists of uids are
synchronized using parts of the SocialSynchronization methodology
described elsewhere in this document.
[0968] Note that the only administration requiring user involvement
or understanding to form and maintain the team was the ability to
answer questions directly relating to what kinds of access must be
granted before the devices can start interoperating in the needed
manner. The simple tasks of using the devices and Darts drives the
collecting and distributing of access rights with a small number of
easily understood requests for permissions from the user.
[0969] Revocation of access rights for a device can also be
accomplished using SocialSecurity to spread a list of revoked uids
of devices and Darts. In a preferred implementation, any attempts
to interoperate between devices which are one of the devices'
revoked lists with the needed rights will not be permitted and the
uids in the lists of teams of the revoked devices for the
appropriate levels of security will be removed.
[0970] Additional particular embodiments of the inventive social
security interoperability model and of the more specific version of
that model, the Dart Social Security model, are now set forth. In
one embodiment (1), the invention provides a method for
automatically and transitively spreading the access rights and
credentials between interoperability devices, the method
comprising: (1) assigning to each interoperability device a unique
id; (2) assigning to each interoperability device an initial set of
access rights; (3) assigning to each interoperability software
package one or more unique ids and embedding in the package the
sets of unique ids and associated access rights needed by all and
or each of the independently executable images that are part of the
application package; and (4) when two interoperability devices open
a communication channel any existing access rights for device teams
or applications associated with unique ids that are no more
restrictive than those existing for the interoperability of the two
devices on either device are synchronized with those on the other
device.
[0971] In another embodiment (2), the invention provides the method
of (1), wherein one or more of the following are true: (1) the
interoperability device comprises a Dart device; (2) the basis for
the unique ids are an interoperability security procedure; (3) the
access rights are as described in interoperability security
procedure; (4) the package is an interoperability software package
and/or a Dart; (5) the opening of a communication channel is
initiated as part of a device recruitment procedure; and (6) the
access rights are synchronized using a Social Synchronization
procedure.
[0972] In another embodiment (3), the invention provides the method
of (1), wherein the method is carried out in the following steps:
(1) initiating a communication session from an interoperability
software package running on an initiating interoperability device
to a target interoperability device in order to carry out a
particular interoperability purpose; (2) determining if proper
access rights exist between and among the devices for the intended
purpose; and (3) if the proper access rights exist, the application
software package is allowed to extend its execution to the target
device by sending an independently executable image to the target
device and running the image in a context with the needed access
rights.
[0973] In another embodiment (4), the invention provides the method
of (3), further comprising: (4) if during execution the
independently executable image attempts an access not allowed by
the needed access rights of the context in which it is running, the
execution will be terminated by the interoperability engine on the
target device.
[0974] In another embodiment (5), the invention provides the method
of (4), further comprising: (5) if the proper required access
rights do not exist, the user or users are presented as necessary
on one or both devices on a user interface requesting that the
proper access rights be granted and or the proper credentials be
provided.
[0975] In another embodiment (6), the invention provides the method
of (5), further comprising: (6) if the proper access rights are
granted and/or the proper credentials are provided, the user may
optionally be requested specify if the access rights and
credentials are to be stored on the devices for a period of
time.
[0976] In another embodiment (7), the invention provides the method
of (6), wherein the period of time may optionally be selected from
the periods of time consisting of: (i) the lifetime of the current
communication session, (ii) a specified period of time or target
date and time when the access rights and or credentials storage and
or use are to expire; (iii) for an open period of time without
defined expiration, or (iv) forever or forever until revoked.
[0977] In another embodiment (8), the invention provides the method
of (6), further comprising: (7) independently of whether or not the
proper access rights exist or are granted and/or the proper
credentials are gathered for the specific purpose and then stored
the following procedure is optionally preformed: all the now stored
access rights and credentials that are valid forever for all
devices and interoperability applications ever stored which are no
more restrictive than those for the same devices or applications as
indicated by the unique ids of the devices and applications
associated with the stored access rights and credentials are then
synchronized across both devices.
[0978] In another embodiment (9), the invention provides the method
of (5), wherein the determining if proper access rights exist
between and among the devices for the intended purpose), further
comprises: (2a) communicating the access rights needs and
credentials the software package will need to carry out the
interoperability purpose by the executing software package; (2b)
inspecting lists of unique ids and associated access rights and
credentials stored on either one of or both devices by the
interoperability engines of one or both devices to determine if the
devices already have the needed access rights; and (2c) checking to
determine if the access rights and/or credentials already exist on
the target device and/or on the initiating device that will allow
the access needed for the intended purpose.
[0979] In another embodiment (10), the invention provides the
method of (8), wherein the effect is that the access rights already
gathered for devices and applications at the level or below that is
now common to both devices will now be allowed without user
prompting even in cases where the unique ids, access rights, and/or
credentials where never directly exchanged between two
interoperability devices.
[0980] In another embodiment (11), the invention provides the
method of (8), wherein the step of synchronizing across both
devices access rights and credentials may be reversed such that
access rights and/or credentials can be subsequently revoked by a
device with the proper access rights and/or credentials and/or
physical access required by the security mechanisms of the
interoperability players that contain the interoperability engines
running on the devices.
[0981] In another embodiment (12), the invention provides the
method of (1), wherein the number of user involvements in granting
access rights between all combinations of N devices which
frequently communicate to be roughly linearly proportional to the
number of devices N, rather than other methods wherein the number
of user involvements grows faster as N increases.
[0982] In another embodiment (13), the invention provides the
method of (8), wherein the number of user involvements in granting
access rights between all combinations of N devices which
frequently communicate to be roughly linearly proportional to the
number of devices N, rather than other methods wherein the number
of user involvements grows faster as N increases.
[0983] In another embodiment (14). the invention provides the
method of (12), wherein the growth of interactions is substantially
proportional to N while conventional other methodologies provide
for interactions that are proportional to the (N Choose 2) gamma
function because conventional methodologies do not have
transitivity.
[0984] In another embodiment (15), the invention provides a
computer program product for use in conjunction with a computer
system or information appliance, the computer program product
comprising a computer readable storage medium and a computer
program mechanism embedded therein, the computer program mechanism
comprising: a program module that directs the computer system or
information appliance to function in a specified manner for
automatically and transitively spreading the access rights and
credentials between interoperability devices, the program module
including instructions for: (1) assigning to each interoperability
device a unique id; (2) assigning to each interoperability device
an initial set of access rights; (3) assigning to each
interoperability software package one or more unique ids and
embedding in the package the sets of unique ids and associated
access rights needed by all and or each of the independently
executable images that are part of the application package; and (4)
when two interoperability devices open a communication channel, any
existing access rights for device teams or applications associated
with unique ids that are no more restrictive than those existing
for the interoperability of the two devices on either device are
synchronized with those on the other device.
[0985] In another embodiment (16), the invention provides an
apparatus that automatically and transitively spreads access rights
and credentials between interoperability devices, the apparatus
comprising: (1) means for assigning to each interoperability device
a unique id; (2) means for assigning to each interoperability
device an initial set of access rights; (3) means for assigning to
each interoperability software package one or more unique ids and
embedding in the package the sets of unique ids and associated
access rights needed by all and or each of the independently
executable images that are part of the application package; and (4)
means for synchronizing access rights with those on the other
devices when two interoperability devices open a communication
channel so that any existing access rights for device teams or
applications associated with unique ids that are no more
restrictive than those existing for the interoperability of the two
devices on either device are synchronized with those on the other
device.
[0986] The features and/or elements recited in these exemplary
embodiments as well as of exemplary-embodiments described elsewhere
in this detailed description or in the drawings may be combined in
many different ways so that embodiments recited above are not
limitations of the invention and additional or alternative
embodiments having any different combinations or permutations of
the features and elements are also embodiments of the
invention.
XX. Interoperability Device/DartDevice
[0987] Recall that a DartDevice is a highly interoperable device by
virtue of its running a DartPlayer containing a DartEngine and at
least one communications protocol for connecting to other
DartDevices. Aspects of the interoperability device and the more
particularized DartDevice are illustrated in FIG. 3 (300) and FIG.
4 (3000).
[0988] In one embodiment (1), the invention provides an
interoperability device comprising: (1) a physical Turing complete
instruction set based processor coupled with a physical memory
capable of performing general computation and input/output
operations; (2) at least one means for two way communication with
other devices; and (3) an interoperability engine running on the
processor and encapsulated in an interoperability player embodied
in an executable format loadable and executable on the device.
[0989] In another embodiment (2), the invention provides an
interoperability device as in (1), further comprising the
interoperability player.
[0990] In another embodiment (3), the invention provides an
interoperability device as in (1), wherein one or more of the
following are true either alone or in any combination: (1) the
interoperability device is a DartDevice; (2) the Interoperability
Engine comprises a DartEngine; and (3) the interoperability player
comprises a DartPlayer.
[0991] In another embodiment (4), the invention provides a method
for operating a-device in an interoperability mode with other
similar or dissimilar devices, the method comprising: (1) providing
a physical Turing complete instruction set executable within a
processor coupled with a physical memory and in combination capable
of performing general computation and input/output operations; (2)
sending and receiving two-way communications between at least the
device and another device; and (3) operating an interoperability
engine on the processor and encapsulated in an interoperability
player embodied in an executable format loadable and executable on
the device.
[0992] In another embodiment (5), the invention provides a computer
program product for use in conjunction with a computer system or
information appliance, the computer program product comprising a
computer readable storage medium and a computer program mechanism
embedded therein, the computer program mechanism comprising: a
program module that directs the computer system or information
appliance to function in a specified manner for operating a device
in an interoperability mode with other similar or dissimilar
devices, the program module including instructions for: (1)
providing a physical Turing complete instruction set executable
within a processor coupled with a physical memory and in
combination capable of performing general computation and input
output operations; (2) sending and receiving two-way communications
between at least the device and another device; and (3) operating
an interoperability engine on the processor and encapsulated in an
interoperability player embodied in an executable format loadable
and executable on the device.
[0993] The features and/or elements recited in these exemplary
embodiments as well as of exemplary embodiments described elsewhere
in this detailed description or in the drawings may be combined in
many different ways so that embodiments recited above are not
limitations of the invention and additional or alternative
embodiments having any different combinations or permutations of
the features and elements are also embodiments of the
invention.
XXI. Interoperability Platform/DartPlatform
[0994] Recall that the DartPlatform may be any set of Dart
methodologies which can carry out the specification, generation,
intelligent teaming of DartDevices and facilitate the spreading and
running of Dart interoperability applications across one or more
DartDevices. Aspects of the Interoperability Platform, and the more
particular DartPlatform of the generic interoperability platform,
are illustrated in FIG. 3 as well as in other portions of the
detailed description.
[0995] Additional embodiments of the interoperability platform, of
which the Dart Platform is a specific example, are now described.
In one embodiment (1), the invention provides a system for
specifying, building, distributing, and carrying out the intent of
an interoperability software package of independently executable
images across a plurality of possibly heterogeneous devices in a
secure, reliable, efficient and robust manner, the system
comprising: (1) an interoperability source for specifying an
interoperability computer program software package; (2)
interoperability tools for building procedural instructions; (3) an
interoperability format for packaging at least the procedural
instructions; (4) an interoperability instruction set for
representing the procedural instructions generated by the
interoperability tools; (5) an interoperability engine for running
the interoperability software package and providing a common
interoperability infrastructure on all interoperability devices;
and (6) device recruitment means for forming, distributing, and
maintaining a team of interoperability devices.
[0996] In another embodiment (2), the invention provides the system
of (1), wherein the device recruitment means further includes:
means for sending an inspection procedure operative to find a
device having a needed resource or capability to at least one
reachable device different from the initiating source device over
at least one communication link, the inspection procedure including
inspection procedure instructions coded in an executable form
common to both the initiating source device and to the device the
inspection procedure is intended to reach; means for receiving on
the initiating device the return response from each of the
reachable devices directly or indirectly over a communication link;
means for analyzing, by a procedure executing on the initiating
device, the received returns from all responding reachable devices
to determine a utilization plan identifying the combination of
capabilities and resources of the initiating source device and the
responding reachable devices to best carry out the intent of the
software application; and means for distributing, by an application
program executing on the initiating device, at least one of
executable code, data, content, and/or Dart to at least one of each
of the reachable devices identified as having a needed resource or
capability according to the identified utilization plan.
[0997] In another embodiment (3), the invention provides the system
of (1), wherein one or more of the following optional components
are included or used in the system in any combination: (1) an
interoperability framework; (2) linear tasking means; (3) vertical
layering means; (4) application driven power management means; (5)
application driven error recovery means; (6) an interoperability
runtime; (7) an interoperability application driven runtime; (8)
creationism means; (9) virtual pointers; (10) an interoperability
security model means; (11) social synchronization means; (12)
social security means; and (13) interoperability device enabling
means.
[0998] In another embodiment (4), the invention provides the system
of (1), wherein one or more of the following are true in any
combination: (1) the system includes a DartPlatform; (2) the
interoperability software package conforms to the interoperability
format or is a Dart conforming to the DartFormat; (3) the
independently executable images are renditions; (4) the
Interoperability Source is a DartSource; (5) the Interoperability
Tools are DartTools; (6) the Interoperability Format is a
DartFormat; (7) the Interoperability Instruction Set is a
DartInstructionSet; and (8) the recruitment method is a Dart
Recruitment method.
[0999] In another embodiment (5), the invention provides the system
of (3), wherein one or more of the following are true in any
combination: (1) the Interoperability Framework is a DartFramework;
(2) the Linear Tasking is a Dart Linear Tasking; (3) the Vertical
Layering is a Dart Vertical Layering; (4) the Application driven
power management is a Dart Application driven power management; (5)
the Application driven error recovery is as described elsewhere in
the detailed description; (6) the Interoperability Runtime is a
DartRuntime; (7) the creationism is Dart Creationism; (8) the
virtual pointers are Dart Virtual Pointers; (9) the
Interoperability Security Model is as described elsewhere in the
detailed description; (10) the Social Synchronization is as
described elsewhere in the detailed description; (11) the Social
Security is as described elsewhere in the detailed description; and
(12) the Interoperability Device Enabling is as described elsewhere
in the detailed description.
[1000] In another embodiment (6), the invention provides the system
of (1), wherein the system is simple because of one or more of the
following features: a programmer or creator of the application
writes and or tests just one interoperability application that
targets an interoperability engine and it will provide the
following features alone or in any combination: (1) run well on all
suitable interoperability devices running that engine; (2)
automatically allow any user interface input and output to be
performed on nearby or remote Personal Computer or intelligently
across many devices with superior interface hardware or software
resources eliminating the need to separately write and separately
distribute special Personal Computer synchronization applications;
(3) perform tasks which can only be performed or are better
performed with two or more cooperating devices; (4) serve as
internet server software without the need to write any more code by
placing the application on an interoperability device running the
interoperability engine that is connected to the internet; (5)
distribute itself from device to device in a limited or unlimited
manner; (6) the use of virtual pointers eliminates the need to
write more tedious code using file operations; (7) make use of
virtual pointers to eliminate the need for considering or writing
algorithms used to improve the speed of access to various storage
mediums; (8) make use of virtual pointers to eliminate the need for
thinking about or partitioning and maintaining the partitioning of
a single address space where different memory allocations must be
kept from growing into each other, or be resized dynamically, or
copied to larger partitions so they could grow in size; (9) make
use of the hardware abstraction layer code with makes all
communications mechanisms look the same to the application
regardless of the protocol being used; (10) make additional coding
unnecessary to support the automatic bridging of protocols so that
devices can be serially teamed even if different protocols are used
between different devices; (11) allow the programmer to use the
code in the Interoperability Framework and its use of the rest of
the Interoperability Platform to perform much of the most difficult
aspects of interoperability applications without the need to write
the code; (12) provide a program development effort that grows
linearly with the number of devices to support, N, instead of order
development methodologies where the effort grows as the square of N
or any other methodology where the growth rate is greater than
being linear with N; (13) provide a program testing effort that
grows linearly with the number of devices to support, N, instead of
order development methodologies where the effort grows as the
square of N or any other methodology where the growth rate is
greater than being linear with N; and (14) limit the necessary
testing is simplified because adaptation is limited to small number
of well defined classifications of devices by a renditioning
method.
[1001] In another embodiment (7), the invention provides the system
of (6), wherein the (11) allow the programmer to use the code in
the Interoperability Framework and its use of the rest of the
Interoperability Platform to perform much of the most difficult
aspects of interoperability applications without the need to write
the code, the aspects including one or more of the following in any
combination: (a) recruitment's device discovery; (b) recruitment's
device teaming; (c) recruitment's spreading of parts of the
application intelligently across devices; (d) application level
power management; (e) application level error recovery; (f) the
mixing and matching of event processing units wherein the
functionality is rearranged just by changing the graph of event
processing units; (g) the dynamic extension of the runtime to
include separately generated interoperability applications into the
runtime of other applications; and (h) maintaining harmonious
operation among the teams of devices using event processing which
is automatically serialized and synchronized across teams of
devices.
[1002] In another embodiment (8), the invention provides the system
of (1), wherein the system is simple because of one or more of the
following features: the end user of the application has to consider
and or understand and or administrate any of the following less
often, if ever, than the user would have to were conventional
static interoperability methods and or conventional procedural
interoperability methods used alone or in any combination: (1)
needing to know about, finding, getting or loading drivers; (2)
choices presented wherein a list of devices that cannot perform the
intended functionality are presented along with those that can
because the underlying system does not yet know what the
limitations of the devices are when the list is created; (3) what
protocols are to be used, so that the end user does not have to
pre-select the protocol or communications technology before
initiating interoperability or knowing what the end user's choices
are; (4) the rules for securing devices and or data and or code and
or content because of the transitivity of rules as carried out by
the Interoperability Security Model and or the Social Security
Method; (5) the forming of teams of devices to carry out an
intended purpose can be automated by the application; (6) the
application components of code and data and content and meta data
are all packaged together according to the interoperability format
and travel together so that the user does not have to deal with the
preponderance of compatibility errors that would otherwise when
interdentally generated and or independently distributed components
that come into contact are incompatible due to one or more of: (a)
versioning incompatibilities; (b) specification misunderstandings;
(c) errors in implementation; (d) shortcuts in implementation made
by the programmers or manufacturers; and (e) necessary components
that are found to be missing or otherwise unreachable; and (7)
explicitly installing separately generated applications on devices
for synchronizing and or backing up data and or content across one
or more devices.
[1003] In another embodiment (9), the invention provides the system
of (1), wherein the system is simple because of one or more of the
following features: the manufacturer of the device is simple as
compared with conventional static and or procedural methodologies
for one or more of the following reasons alone or in any
combination: (1) much less development effort since only the
functions and protocols of the actual device need to be considered
in porting an interoperability engine, and not all the permutations
of possible protocols and characteristics of other devices because
all the adaptation for different devices is carried out by the
applications not by each and every device; (2) no or less need to
coordinate, participate or wait for application standards to be
created before designing and or building and or bringing to market
interoperability devices; (3) lesser support needs because
interoperability of devices and applications are easier to
configure and use by the end user; (4) can expose unique
capabilities to other devices without writing or distributing
components to other types of devices; (5) devices can work with
other manufacturers' devices without any or reduced coordination of
efforts and or negotiating of contracts; and (6) can advance or
cost reduce hardware without the need to rewrite software
applications and or distribute new software applications and or
software updates to other devices.
[1004] In another embodiment (10), the invention provides the
system of (1), wherein the system is simple because of one or more
of the following features: the publishing of the interoperability
software applications is simple as compared with conventional
static and conventional procedural methods because of one or more
of the following alone or in any combination: (1) there is only one
package instead of many packages and parts needed to address the
market of heterogeneous devices and combinations of devices and
protocols so that there is a bigger market addressable with one
product which results in one or more of the following
simplifications: (a) lower development efforts; (b) simpler
inventory; (c) simpler distribution; and (d) simpler marketing
since market is not as segmented by device types and/or
communications protocols and or processor types, and/or screen
sizes; (2) simpler pricing and promotion models; (3) more sales
with less effort; (4) easier use means simpler support; (5)
distribution of digital code and or data and/or content and/or
packages thereof can be performed directly from device to device;
and(6) applications or teasers about the applications can be
distributed directly from device to device without the need to find
other ways to communicate the benefits, existence or actual
software directly to the potential users of a service accessible
through the applications or directly to potential purchasers of
software.
[1005] In another embodiment (11), the invention provides the
system of (1), wherein the system is secure for one or more of the
following reasons: (a) the engine provides a protective sandbox by
way of the checking of all application memory accesses for
violations, and limiting direct application access to storage and
other aspects of the device's resources so that interoperability
applications code cannot be used to damage the device, its data, or
content or run native code to get around the sandbox; therefore,
only the limited code of the engine needs to secured against virus
or other malicious attacks, and not all of the almost unlimited
application code which can be written to run on the devices; (b)
viruses cannot propagate easily from devices with one native device
processor type to devices with other native processors; since
having the same processor is no longer necessary to ensure
interoperability, more types of processors are likely to be
deployed, making the world of interoperability devices more secure
from the spread of viruses and other malicious software; (c) the
Social Security Model is so simple to administrate and use that
people will actually leave security on, rather than turn it off to
avoid the administration otherwise necessary with conventional
security methods; and (d) the Interoperability Security Model is
implemented entirely or mostly in portable source code that can be
thoroughly implemented and debugged once, greatly decreasing the
likelihood of errors.
[1006] In another embodiment (12), the invention provides the
system of (1), wherein the system is reliable and or robust for one
or more of the following reasons in any combination: (a)
applications running on one or more devices are often or always
communicating with parts of an initial package spread via the
recruitment and renditioning methodologies so as to enjoy a
reliably of interoperability greater than that where independently
developed and or independently distributed applications used to
perform the interoperability; (b) the same portable source code of
the Interoperability Engine is used on all devices largely
eliminating the problems of implementation and or misunderstandings
of the specification or other problems associated with
independently developed and distributed source or code used to
enable interoperability between or across devices; (c) the
Interoperability Framework provides much of the common
interoperability functionality across applications and devices so
that there is more testing of the Framework code and fewer separate
designs and implementations, leading to fewer bugs or
interoperability issues; (d) Linear Tasking and or Vertical
Layering and or the serialization and synchronization methods of
Recruitment ensures a largely deterministic order of processing of
events driving the application and device operations, leading to
fewer possible permutations of operating order that might otherwise
cause errors; (e) application level error recovery is built into
the Interoperability Platform, from the Interoperability Source,
Interoperability Tools, the Interoperability Runtime and the
Interoperability engine to ensure that intermittent interruptions
in communications can often be elegantly handled without the need
for the application to stop all operations or terminate, or be
explicitly reset; and (f) the Interoperability Security System and
or the sandbox and or the access rights enforcement implemented in
the Interoperability Engine can blocks viruses or other
applications from harming the device or its data whether the
potential harm is intentional or unintentional.
[1007] In another embodiment (13), the invention provides the
system of (1), wherein the system is efficient for one or more of
the following reasons alone or in any combination: (a) only the
code, data and content needed for a particular target device and or
particular task needs to be sent over a communications channel and
processed by a target device by the virtues of the Recruitment and
or Renditioning and or Creationism methods for spreading code, data
and content; (b) only one application package is needed to effect
even complex multiple device interoperability; (c) the Part images
of an interoperability application that conforms to an
interoperability format are often shared between separately
executable images of the application so that it is not necessary to
duplicate much of the data shared by the separately executable
images; (d) Virtual Pointers automatically make advantageous
tradeoffs between the use of main memory and physical storage to
make applications able to run with less physical memory than would
otherwise be necessary; (e) Virtual Pointers automatically make
advantageous tradeoffs between the use of main memory and physical
storage to make applications able to run faster than if
conventional memory and/or storage methods were employed; and (f)
Virtual Pointers make intelligent advantageously efficient
tradeoffs of memory requirements and speed of operation based on
the access patterns expected in applications and the physical
characteristics of the main memory and storage of each particular
device.
[1008] In another embodiment (14), the invention provides the
system of (1), wherein the software application running on more
than one device is at least partially performing the
interoperability operations on two or more devices with code and/or
data and/or content that were originally part of a single software
package on the initiating device so as to enjoy a reliably of
interoperability greater than that where independently developed
and/or independently distributed applications are used to perform
the interoperability operations.
[1009] In another embodiment (15), the invention provides the
system of (3), wherein the (1) interoperability framework further
comprises a computer program or computer program product for
executing within a processor logic and associated memory and
including a plurality of computer program code instructions
implementing a procedure to establish an interoperability
framework.
[1010] In another embodiment (16), the invention provides the
system of (3), wherein the (2) linear tasking means further
comprises a computer program or computer program product for
executing within a processor logic and associated memory and
including a plurality of computer program code instructions
implementing a procedure performing linear tasking.
[1011] In another embodiment (17), the invention provides the
system of (3), wherein the (3) vertical layering means further
comprises a computer program or computer program product for
executing within a processor logic and associated memory and
including a plurality of computer program code instructions
implementing a procedure performing vertical layering.
[1012] In another embodiment (18), the invention provides the
system of (3), wherein the (4) application driven power management
means further comprises a computer program or computer program
product for executing within a processor logic and associated
memory and including a plurality of computer program code
instructions implementing a procedure performing application driven
power management.
[1013] In another embodiment (19), the invention provides the
system of (3), wherein the (5) application driven error recovery
means further comprises a computer program or computer program
product for executing within a processor logic and associated
memory and including a plurality of computer program code
instructions implementing a procedure performing application driven
error recovery.
[1014] In another embodiment (20), the invention provides the
system of (3), wherein the (6) interoperability runtime further
comprises a computer program or computer program product for
executing within a processor logic and associated memory and
including a plurality of computer program code instructions
implementing a procedure establishing a interoperability
runtime.
[1015] In another embodiment (21), the invention provides the
system of (3), wherein the (7) interoperability application driven
runtime further comprises a computer program or computer program
product for executing within a processor logic and associated
memory and including a plurality of computer program code
instructions implementing a procedure establishing and performing
an interoperability runtime.
[1016] In another embodiment (22), the invention provides the
system of (3), wherein the (8) creationism means further comprises
a computer program or computer program product for executing within
a processor logic and associated memory and including a plurality
of computer program code instructions implementing a procedure
performing creationism.
[1017] In another embodiment (23), the invention provides the
system of (3), wherein the (9) virtual pointers further comprises a
computer program or computer program product for executing within a
processor logic and associated memory and including a plurality of
computer program code instructions implementing a procedure
performing creationism.
[1018] In another embodiment (24), the invention provides the
system of (3), wherein the (10) interoperability security model
means further comprises a computer program or computer program
product for executing within a processor logic and associated
memory and including a plurality of computer program code
instructions implementing a procedure establishing an
interoperability security model.
[1019] In another embodiment (25), the invention provides the
system of (3), wherein the (11) social synchronization means
further comprises a computer program or computer program product
for executing within a processor logic and associated memory and
including a plurality of computer program code instructions
implementing a procedure performing an interoperability security
model.
[1020] In another embodiment (26), the invention provides the
system of (3), wherein the (12) social security means further
comprises a computer program or computer program product for
executing within a processor logic and associated memory and
including a plurality of computer program code instructions
implementing a procedure establishing social security.
[1021] In another embodiment (27), the invention provides the
system of (3), wherein the (13) interoperability device enabling
means further comprises a computer program or computer program
product for executing within a processor logic and associated
memory and including a plurality of computer program code
instructions implementing a procedure performing social
security.
[1022] In another embodiment (28), the invention provides a method
for specifying, building, distributing, and carrying out the intent
of an interoperability software package of independently executable
images across a plurality of possibly heterogeneous devices in a
secure, reliable, efficient and robust manner, the method
comprising: (1) generating or providing an interoperability source
for specifying; (2) generating or providing interoperability tools
for building procedural instructions; (3) generating or providing
an interoperability format for packaging at least the procedural
instructions; (4) generating or providing an interoperability
instruction set for representing the procedural instructions
generated by the interoperability tools; (5) generating or
providing an interoperability engine for running the
interoperability software package and providing a common
interoperability infrastructure on all interoperability devices;
and (6) performing device recruitment for forming, distributing,
and maintaining a team of interoperability devices.
[1023] In another embodiment (29), the invention provides a method
as in (28), further comprising: sending an inspection procedure
operative to find a device having a needed resource or capability
to at least one reachable device different from the initiating
source device over at least one communication link, the inspection
procedure including inspection procedure instructions coded in an
executable form common to both the initiating source device and to
the device the inspection procedure is intended to reach; receiving
on the initiating device the return response from each of the
reachable devices directly or indirectly over a communication link;
analyzing, by a procedure executing on the initiating device, the
received returns from all responding reachable devices to determine
a utilization plan identifying the combination of capabilities and
resources of the initiating source device and the responding
reachable devices to best carry out the intent of the software
application; and distributing, by an application program executing
on the initiating device, at least one of executable code, data,
content, and/or Dart to at least one of each of the reachable
devices identified as having a needed resource or capability
according to the identified utilization plan.
[1024] In another embodiment (30), the invention provides a
computer program product for use in conjunction with a computer
system or information appliance, the computer program product
comprising a computer readable storage medium and a computer
program mechanism embedded therein, the computer program mechanism
comprising: a program module that directs the computer system or
information appliance to function in a specified manner for
specifying, building, distributing, and carrying out the intent of
an interoperability software package of independently executable
images across a plurality of possibly heterogeneous devices in a
secure, reliable, efficient and robust manner, the program module
including instructions for: (1) generating or providing an
interoperability source for specifying; (2) generating or providing
interoperability tools for building procedural instructions; (3)
generating or providing an interoperability format for packaging at
least the procedural instructions; (4) generating or providing an
interoperability instruction set for representing the procedural
instructions generated by the interoperability tools; (5)
generating or providing an interoperability engine for running the
interoperability software package and providing a common
interoperability infrastructure on all interoperability devices;
and (6) performing device recruitment for forming, distributing,
and maintaining a team of interoperability devices.
[1025] In another embodiment (31), the invention provides the
computer program product of (30), wherein the instructions for
performing device recruitment further includes instructions for:
sending an inspection procedure operative to find a device having a
needed resource or capability to at least one reachable device
different from the initiating source device over at least one
communication link, the inspection procedure including inspection
procedure instructions coded in an executable form common to both
the initiating source device and to the device the inspection
procedure is intended to reach; receiving on the initiating device
the return response from each of the reachable devices directly or
indirectly over a communication link; analyzing, by a procedure
executing on the initiating device, the received returns from all
responding reachable devices to determine a utilization plan
identifying the combination of capabilities and resources of the
initiating source device and the responding reachable devices to
best carry out the intent of the software application; and
distributing, by an application program executing on the initiating
device, at least one of executable code, data, content, and/or Dart
to at least one of each of the reachable devices identified as
having a needed resource or capability according to the identified
utilization plan.
[1026] The features and/or elements recited in these exemplary
embodiments as well as of exemplary embodiments described elsewhere
in this detailed description or in the drawings may be combined in
many different ways so that embodiments recited above are not
limitations of the invention and additional or alternative
embodiments having any different combinations or permutations of
the features and elements are also embodiments of the
invention.
XXII. Virtual Pointers
[1027] Conventional programs are most often compiled and linked
targeting a conventional processor which can directly address just
one linear data address space. Often processors implement virtual
memory to allow programs and operating systems to directly address
main memory larger than the physical memory by implementing a
system of virtual memory where a limited number of real memory
blocks, or pages, are automatically swapped in and out of a larger
but slower storage device. This advantageously frees the programmer
from having to concern herself with logic otherwise needed to
directly manage the swapping between the directly addressable fast
main memory and slower but larger storage devices.
[1028] Still programmers must often concern themselves with memory
management logic to keep separate data structures from addressing
conflicts with each other as they dynamically change size during
execution of programs. Dynamically dividing up and managing the
shared use of a single address space is often complex and prone to
bugs, even where virtual memory techniques are used to create a
larger effective data address space.
[1029] Another limitation of conventional virtual memory techniques
is that the processor only supports real memory pages of a fixed
size regardless of the characteristics of the program that is
running, or in a way that requires one size of real memory changes
to be used for multiple programs where the size does optimally
match the needs of all the simultaneously loaded programs or
sections of programs.
[1030] In one implementation of the invention, more complex
addressing logic is used either in a hardware processor or a
software instruction set execution engine to provide multiple
independent address spaces for use by each program, and to allow
the number of real memory pages and their size to advantageously
vary depending on the physical size of available real main memory,
speed and performance characteristics, of the main memory, and the
expected access patterns of specific programs to specific data
sets. Inventive programming language extensions are supported in
the source code, compiler and linker to provide for the use of the
inventive VirtualPointers. Using VirtualPointers has the following
benefits: [1031] 1. Multiple large independent address spaces. Each
dynamically resized data structure can be kept in its own different
VirtualPointer address spaces so that no conflicts with data
structures in other address spaces can occur. [1032] 2. Application
specific control over the number of real memory pages for each
individual independent address space. The optimal number of real
memory pages can be set according to the expected access patterns
to limit the amount of real memory required, an or to limit the
number of slow block reads and writes that are needed to swap data
between real memory and storage. For example, if a large amount of
data is always accessed starting at zero and continuing in linear
order, more than one memory page would be superfluous. The page
size could be set to the optimal access block size of the actual
storage to ensure good performance speed, or limit the number of
accesses to the storage blocks so as not to wear out the device.
[1033] 3. Device specific control over real memory page sizes to
match storage device performance characteristics or improve the
lifetime of the storage device. Often devices use flash memory for
storage which have a known limited number of guaranteed block
accesses before they start malfunctioning. Hard disks often store
or cache data in blocks of a specific size. [1034] 4. No need for
the programmer to predict or administrate the amount of memory
needed for data structures or lists because the virtual pointer
automatically logically includes values for an address space larger
than the expected largest such data structure or list used to
access it; [1035] 5. Automatic saving of data in a form independent
of page sizes or number of pages.
[1036] DartSource can be used to set a parameter of each
VirtualPointer variable which indicates whether the saving of Dart
using the DartInstructionSet SAVE_INSTRUCTION will automatically
save the entire data state of the address space. In one preferred
implementation, the values of each VirtualPointer that are to be
saved are kept as a DartPart with a sparse list of ranges of values
without regard to the page size or number of pages currently in use
by the running Dart. This makes it possible for the running of the
saved Dart on other devices where there are needs for differing
page size and or number of pages. [1037] 6. Efficient caching of
data from a larger and possibly slower data store with a minimal
amount of precious main memory RAM allowing applications to run as
if they have much larger RAM memories than they physically have.
[1038] 7. Simple and efficient base infrastructure for indexed
database operations where the data and indexes are kept in
different virtual address spaces.
[1039] In a preferred implementation VirtualPointers are supported
by the DartSource, DartTools, and DartEngine to provide the listed
benefits.
[1040] In the DartSource each virtual pointer is specified using a
#pragma VirtualPointer(parameters) extension of the C or C++
language with parameters which include:
[1041] 1. The name of a pointer variable that will hold the
starting address of a virtual address space when the program starts
execution.
[1042] 2. The number of real memory pages suggested for use.
[1043] 3. A binary flag indicating if the values in the address
space are to be automatically saved along with the application.
[1044] 4. The suggested size of the real memory pages.
[1045] The DartTools process the DartSource #pragma statements to
create a Dart which will load the pointer address value which
effectively serves as the starting offset of the separate address
space. This starting offset is really part of a multi-field address
that will be interpreted by the DartEngine to identify a specific
virtual pointer.
[1046] A Dart Virtual Pointer example is shown in FIG. 32. In a
preferred implementation the address space of a Dart is in units of
32-bit words, rather than the more common 8 bit bytes of most
conventional processors where the maximum directly addressable
space is 2 32 8-bit bytes. The DartPlatform uses the two most
significant bits of a 32-bit address as a field indicating the type
of address space to be used. Since the addressable units of the
DartInstructionSet carried out by the DartEngine are 32-bit words,
there is no loss in the size of memory addressable, which is 2 30
32 bit words. The example in FIG. 32 shows an address where the
address space type field indicates that this is a VirtualPointer
address space. The next five-bit field indicates that
VirtualPointer 1 is being used, meaning that in this
implementation, there can be up to 2 5=32 different VirtualPointer
address spaces. The remaining 25-bits are the offset or address of
the data item in VirtualPointer 1's address space.
[1047] The example in FIG. 32 shows a specific instance of how
VirtualPointer 1's access is being managed by the DartEngine on a
specific device for a specific address, 0x50001. Since the block
(page) size is 64K=2 16 words, the upper 9-bits of the 25-bit
offset indicate which 64K block contains the data value being
accessed. In the example shown, neither of the two real memory
pages currently holds that block. Also neither of the flash storage
block files for VirtualPointer1 hold the data block needed. These
files are the result of past accesses which required the real
memory pages for block 100 and 101 to be replaced in the past by
other pages. The DartEngine automatically saved the data values of
these blocks in the two Flash memory files before replacing the
real memory pages. The actual current data value for this access is
still in a VirtualPointer1 Part in the running Dart file. This Part
was created when the running Dart was last saved using data values
then current in its VirtualPointer1's address space. The access in
the example will be competed when the data values for block 101 are
read from the third range in the Part into one of the two real
memory pages. If the real memory page to be replaced has data
market as changed or dirty, then a new Flash storage file will be
written out to save the current values in the real memory page
before it's values are replaced. The access is complete when a
pointer to the value for 0x50001 now in real memory, is returned
for processing by the accessing Dart instruction.
[1048] Additional aspects and embodiments of virtual pointers and
their use relative to other aspects of the invention are now set
forth. In one embodiment (1), the invention provides a method of
providing a plurality of large independent data access address
spaces accessible within a software application program which
efficiently make use of physical memory and or physical storage
devices, the method comprising: (1) specifying the properties of
one or more independent address spaces; (2) processing computer
program code source statements into an executable image suitable to
run on a particular software engine and or hardware processor which
supports virtual pointer functionality; and (3) running the
executable image on the particular software engine or hardware
processor which executes an instruction set that resolves accesses
to data referenced by the address space by using a fast access
limited size main memory and slower access but larger size
secondary storage in an efficient manner.
[1049] In another embodiment (2), the invention provides the method
in (1), wherein the specifying the properties of one or more
independent address spaces is performed using a computer
programming language that supports statements conforming to a
syntax and semantics for doing so.
[1050] In another embodiment (3), the invention provides the method
in (1), wherein the processing comprises running software tools
which process the source statements into an executable image
suitable to run on a particular software engine and or hardware
processor.
[1051] In another embodiment (4), the invention provides the method
of (1), wherein the efficiently making use of and the in an
efficient manner are carried out at least in part by: (1) for each
independent address space, creating, and maintaining a number of
real memory pages all of a single specific size; (2) when accesses
to data logically in the independent address space are made,
resolving the access and returning a value or pointer to main
memory containing the value to the instruction or program making
the access, using the following procedure: (a) determining if the
data is in one of the main memory pages; (b) if the data is not in
one of the main memory pages performing the following procedure:
(i) determining if the data is in the secondary storage; (ii) if it
is not in the secondary storage, perform one or more of the
following procedures: (1) return a default value; (2) return with a
pointer to a pointer to a main memory data element that contains a
default value; and (3) return with an access to unknown data code
or other indicator that there is no known value for the data; (c)
if the data is in the secondary storage, perform the following
procedure: (i) selecting a real memory page and starting address
that will hold the block of data that contains the data value
needed; (ii) if the selected real memory page is marked as dirty
then writing out or otherwise cause the values in the selected real
memory page to be written to secondary storage; (iii) reading or
otherwise loading the contiguous range of addressable data into the
real memory page that is the size and has the same new starting
address as the real memory page; (iv) mark the data in the real
memory page as being not dirty; and (v) return the value of the
data now in the selected main memory page or a pointer to the data
now in the selected main memory page. (d) if the data is in one of
the main memory pages perform the following procedure: (i) if the
access is known to be one that indicates that the consumer of the
value may change the value of the data, mark the main memory page
as dirty; and (ii) return the value of the data main memory page or
a pointer to the data in the main memory page that is found to
include the data.
[1052] In another embodiment (5), the invention provides the method
of (4), wherein if the data is not in a real memory page and the
data is not on the secondary storage, proceed as if the data was in
secondary storage, except that instead of loading the selected real
memory page with data from the secondary storage, fill the selected
real memory page with a default value.
[1053] In another embodiment (6), the invention provides the method
of (5), wherein the method is only used if any of the accesses to
data in the read memory page is known to be one that indicates that
the consumer of the value may change the value of the data.
[1054] In another embodiment (7), the invention provides the method
of (4), wherein the default value is optionally selected to be one
of the following values: zero ("0"), one ("1"), all bits set to
one, all bits set to zero, negative one, the most significant bit
set to 1 and all others set to zero, a particular value reserved to
indicate an uninitialized value or an unknown value.
[1055] In another embodiment (8), the invention provides the method
of (1), wherein one or more of the following are true in any
combination: (a) the software application program is a
DartRendition or a Dart; (b) specifying the properties of one or
more independent address space is done using extensions to the
language for interoperability source; (c) the software tools are
the interoperability tools or are the DartTools; (d) the particular
software engine and or hardware processor is the interoperability
engine or the DartEngine; and (e) the instruction set is an
interoperability instruction set or is the DartInstructionSet.
[1056] In another embodiment (9), the invention provides the method
of (4), wherein the values kept in secondary storage are logically
overwritten by the presence of data stored in a superseding
file.
[1057] In another embodiment (10), the invention provides the
method of (8), wherein the values are initially kept inside a saved
DartFormat Image and when a value is changed by the execution of a
Dart, instead of having to rewrite or copy and replace the data
values in the DartFormat image the data is logically overwritten by
a descriptor file with the same starting address as the block of
data corresponding to a block which might be loaded into real
memory pages.
[1058] In another embodiment (11), the invention provides the
method of (1), wherein the properties are optionally selected to be
one or more of the following in any combination: (a) number of real
memory pages; (b) a binary flag indicating if the values in the
address space are to be automatically saved along with the
application; (c) the size of the real memory pages; and (d) the
method for determining the above properties when not explicitly
provided in the statement.
[1059] In another embodiment (12), the invention provides the
method of (11), wherein the real memory page size is determined by
one or more of the following factors or any combination thereof:
(i) amount of available real memory; (ii) block size of flash media
or other media type; (iii) random access memory (RAM) buffer size
of the physical storage; and (iv) speed of reading or writing of
data to main memory and or physical storage.
[1060] In another embodiment (13), the invention provides the
method of (12), wherein the main memory page size matches the size
of the physical unit of access of a secondary storage device, or is
an integer fractional size of the physical unit of access of a
secondary storage device.
[1061] In another embodiment (14), the invention provides the
method of (1), wherein the specification is done via a #pragma
statement of a C language or C++ language or extended language for
processing by the interoperability tools or by the DartTools.
[1062] In another embodiment (15), the invention provides the
method (of 1), wherein the method advantageously provides one or
more of the following properties in any combination: (a) multiple
large independent address spaces; (b) application specific control
over the number of real memory pages for each individual
independent address space; (c) device specific control over real
memory page sizes to match storage device performance
characteristics; (d) no need for the programmer to predict or
administrate the amount of memory needed for data structures or
lists because the virtual pointer automatically logically includes
values for an address space larger than the expected largest such
data structure or list used to access it; (e) automatic saving of
data in a form independent of page sizes or number of pages; (f)
effective caching of data from a larger and possibly slower data
store with a minimal amount of precious RAM allowing applications
to run as if they have much larger RAM memories than they
physically do; and (g) simple and efficient base infrastructure for
indexed database operations where the data and indexes are kept in
different virtual pointer address spaces.
[1063] In another embodiment (16), the invention provides the
method of (1), wherein access to data values in the address space
is through the use of one or more of in any combination: (a)
reserved pointer types; (b) reserved pointer values; (c) the values
used as pointer values; and (d) reserved instruction addressing
modes.
[1064] In another embodiment (17), the invention provides the
method of (1), wherein physical memory and storage resources are
one or more of in any combination: (a) flash memory; (b) hard disk;
(c) optical storage media; (d) solid state storage media; and (e)
any other physical medium which is slower than the main memory
attached to a processor.
[1065] In another embodiment (18), the invention provides the
method of (1), wherein efficiency is achieved for one or more of in
any combination of factors: (a) a programmer does not need to write
explicit code to do one or more of the following: (i) allocate and
reallocate memory in ways that would otherwise be necessary; (ii)
perform or specify explicit file operations; and (iii) storing and
restoring of data in the independent address spaces where such
storing is done automatically as part of saving the application;
(b) a programmer does not need to specify or consider the amount of
main memory needed; (c) a programmer does not need to specify or
consider the speed of the application's operations; (d) a
programmer does not need to specify or consider the application or
user interface response times as experienced by a human user; (e) a
programmer does not need to specify or consider the speed of access
to data and or of the process for locating and or collating data;
(f) improving the lifetime of secondary storage devices by reducing
the number of block accesses; and (g) the amount of code needed in
an application based on the reduced need as in item a) of this
list.
[1066] In another embodiment (19), the invention provides the
method of (8), wherein a SAVE_INSTRUCTION and or
BUILTIN_INSTRUCTION is used to automatically save the data.
[1067] In another embodiment (20), the invention provides the
method of (8), wherein the data values are saved in a Dart Part
which contains possibly sparse sets of contiguous ranges of
values.
[1068] In another embodiment (21), the invention provides the
method of (20), wherein the data values are selectively restored or
not restored based on the value of an autoload flag bit in the
flags word of the PartTable record for each VirtualPointer
independent address space during loading of the Dart by a
DartEngine.
[1069] In another embodiment (22), the invention provides a
computer program product for use in conjunction with a computer
system or information appliance, the computer program product
comprising a computer readable storage medium and a computer
program mechanism embedded therein, the computer program mechanism
comprising: a program module that directs the computer system or
information appliance to function in a specified manner for
providing a plurality of large independent data access address
spaces accessible within a software application program which
efficiently make use of physical memory and or physical storage
devices, the program module including instructions for: (1)
specifying the properties of one or more independent address
spaces; (2) processing computer program code source statements into
an executable image suitable to run on a particular software engine
and or hardware processor which supports virtual pointer
functionality; and (3) running the executable image on the
particular software engine or hardware processor which executes an
instruction set that resolves accesses to data referenced by the
address space by using a fast access limited size main memory and
slower access but larger size secondary storage in an efficient
manner.
[1070] In another embodiment (23), the invention provides a virtual
pointer data structure, comprising: a memory storage; a plurality
of pointers stored in the memory storage; the pointers permitting
specification and access to a plurality of large independent data
access address spaces accessible within a software application
program which efficiently make use of physical memory and/or
physical storage devices; the pointers specifying the properties of
one or more independent address spaces; and the pointers permitting
resolution of access to data referenced by the address space by
using a fast access limited size main memory and slower access but
larger size secondary storage in an efficient manner.
[1071] The features and/or elements recited in these exemplary
embodiments as well as of exemplary embodiments described elsewhere
in this detailed description or in the drawings may be combined in
many different ways so that embodiments recited above are not
limitations of the invention and additional or alternative
embodiments having any different combinations or permutations of
the features and elements are also embodiments of the
invention.
[1072] Having described many different aspects, features,
advantages, and embodiments of the invention, attention is now
directed to a couple of illustrative examples of the inventive
technology so that its structure, procedures, and operation may be
more readily understood. The examples also describe additional
features of the invention that may not otherwise be described in
the sections above.
XXIII. EXAMPLE APPLICATIONS AND APPLICATION SCENARIOS
A. NEUTRINO DETECTOR APPLICATION EXAMPLE
[1073] With reference to FIG. 21, there is illustrated an example
of an embodiment of the invention showing how the DartPlatform,
through the use of the DartInstructionSet's
OEM_BUILTIN_INSTRUCTION, can be used to make the native
functionality of a new type of DartDevice, a home Neutrino Detector
3500, discoverable and useable by a mobile phone DartDevice 3600
even when the mobile phone initially has no knowledge of the
existence or characteristics of the Neutrino Detector 3500.
[1074] The home Neutrino Detector 3500 is a device which only
exists theoretically today, but should one exist, it will be
appreciated that there would be no existing standards for
interoperating with such a device. Yet the DartPlatform provides
methods for enabling the Neutrino Detector (ND) to be interoperable
with other DartDevices, in this case a mobile phone 3600, even
though no existing standards or knowledge of the functionality of
such devices was known to the manufacturer of the mobile phone
DartDevice 3600.
[1075] The manufacturer of the ND is Mirabella Electronics which
has been assigned the unique id assigned to the symbol,
MIRABELLA_ELECTRONICS_ID so as to differentiate any unique OEM
functions created and used by Mirabella Electronics from those
created and used by all other manufacturers. Mirabella, desiring to
have its device interoperable with DartDevices, ported the
DartEngine as part of a DartPlayer running on the ND. To expose the
device's unique capability of sampling the number of Neutrinos
which passes through its detector in a five second period, the
native embedded function, CollectSamples, that causes the
collection and returns the number of Neutrinos which passed through
the detector is called from the HAL's OEM(<oemld>,
<subfunction>) method. Mirabella electronics then used the
DartSource and DartTools to create a control panel Dart which
contains a rendition, R1, that displays a user interface for the
control panel, and a rendition, R0, which processes Dart specific
events of a type reserved for signaling that sampling is to take
place.
[1076] Every DartDevice with user interface capabilities will
normally be shipped with a GetControlPanels Dart resident on it to
be used to find all the control panels implemented as Darts reside
on reachable DartDevices which are willing to share its control
panel Darts with other DartDevices. When the GetControlPanels Dart
is started on the mobile phone 3600, it sends a GetControlPanelList
DartProcedure to run on all devices reachable by any of its
communications protocols. In this case the Mobile Phone finds and
establishes a communications session using the Bluetooth protocol
common to both devices, then sends the DartProcedure as part of a
RunProcedure type event to the Neutrino Detector which runs the
DartProcedure. The DartProcedure gathers a list of names and
descriptions and the unique id of the ControlPanel Dart when it is
executed on the ND through the use of builtin instructions that are
part of every DartDevice's DartInstructionSet. The name and
description of the available control panel Dart resident on the ND
are sent back to the Mobile Phone and displayed by the
GetControlPanels Dart for selection by the user. After selecting
the control panel from the list on the Mobile Phone, an event is
sent requesting that the Control Panel Dart identified by its
unique id start execution on the ND and then recruit the Mobile
Phone over the established communications session, which
automatically replaces the GetControlPanel Dart on the phone with a
running Rendition R1 sent by the recruiting ND ControlPanel Dart's
running R0 rendition.
[1077] Rendition R1 then displays a big green sample button on the
Mobile Phone's screen. When the user selects the button, R1
generates an event marked for synchronization that request that a
ample be taken. The event is automatically sent by the DartRuntime
to the teamed ND's event queue which results in the processing of
the event by using the OEM_BUILTIN_INSTRUCTION to carry out the
sampling by causing the DartEngine to call the halOEM( ) method
with the parameters assigned by Mirabella Electronics to cause the
CollectSamples( ) native device function and return the number of
samples back to the caller of halOEM( ) which is then returned by
the engine to the executing R0 rendition. R0 then calls to place a
DisplayNumberOfSamples type event which is marked for
synchronization on its queue which results in the placing of the
DisplayNumberOfSamples type event on the queue of the teamed Mobile
Phone. The R1 rendition running on the Mobile Phone then processes
the event and displays the number of detected Neurtrinos carded in
a parameter of the DisplayNumberOfSamples type event on the
screen.
[1078] Thus the example of FIG. 21 demonstrates that the
DartPlatform can be advantageously used to expose and extend
capabilities and control of even very unique devices to DartDevices
with no prior knowledge of the existence, characteristics or
capabilities of the unique devices.
[1079] Some of the significant points from the above example and
descriptions, include the following:
[1080] First, a device whose sole purpose could not be considered
by a standards committee was able to become a DartDevice 400,
requiring about the same amount of development effort as making any
other device a DartDevice 400.
[1081] Second, this new device is able to easily expose its unique
hardware capability to other devices that existed prior to the
existence of any devices of this type. Preexisting DartDevices 400
can interoperate with the new device, controlling its behaviors,
which are new and unique and previously unknown to any devices.
[1082] Third, the development effort required to make the Neutrino
Detector 3500 a DartDevice 400, is similar to making any device a
DartDevice 400, without any additional work for any other devices,
even though those devices existed prior to the technology being
exposed. That is, the development effort which rises in an
N-squared manner when using conventional interoperability
methodologies is just an N order effort when implemented using the
methodologies embodied in the DartPlatform. Because the
DartApplications' renditions are communicating with other
renditions from the same original Darts, a high degree of
reliability is attained as compared to conventional
interoperabilities where there would be a need to separately
implement and distribute interoperability components which are much
more likely to encounter incompatibilities.
B. SLIDE SHOW APPLICATION EXAMPLE--STAGES OF DEVELOPMENT THROUGH
USAGE
[1083] Now we describe in still greater detail an exemplary system,
method, computer program and components thereof in the context of
an example that describes development through usage using a slide
show Dart application as the principle example application. This
slide show example is only for purposes of explanation and it will
be appreciated that the same technology can be advantageously
employed for virtually any software application including software
applications that interact with or utilize or control hardware
which needs to run on virtually any device or set of devices
whether on one device at a time, sequentially, on many devices
simultaneously or in parallel, or otherwise.
[1084] In this example, DartSouce (FIG. 3 100) files (C++) and the
DartFramework (FIG. 3 102) of class definitions and source code
(FIG. 3 101) designed to be used as an optional basis for
expressing the algorithms and code necessary to build
interoperability applications
[1085] With reference to FIG. 3, the exemplary slide show Dart
application begins as DartSource files, 100 on FIG. 3. Application
Code 101 generally conforms to the standard C++ language. The
SlideShow DartSource 100 also includes standard C++ source files
which express the DartFramework 102. The DartFramework 102 is a set
of class definitions and code designed to be used as an optional
basis for expressing the algorithms and code necessary to build
interoperability applications to be rendered into the DartFormat
300 and which conforms to the DartRuntime 8000 (See FIG. 15.)
[1086] Calls from DartSource 100 to Dart Engine functions are made
through the BUILTIN_INSTRUCTION (FIG. 20 670) which is part of the
DartInstructionSet. Calls from the C++ source code to the engine
functions are made though the Compiler 201 generated
BUILTIN_INSTRUCTION 670 (See FIG. 20), which is part of the
DartInstructionSet executed by the device independent DartEngine
600 that is part of a device specific DartPlayer 500 running on a
DartDevice 400 (See FIG. 4).
[1087] Extensions have advantageously been made to the C++ language
so that many types of Resources 103, may be referenced from within
the Application Code 101 and DartFramework 102. This is done by
specially named built-in functions, specifically named data
structures, and #pragma extensions with keywords that are
recognized by the Dart Compiler 201.
[1088] Resources may include any type of data or code or references
to data or code anywhere in a file or dynamically generated and
reachable by the DartTools 200 via a file system (see FIG. 22 612,
FIG. 27 5100, FIG. 28 5000, and FIG. 26) or any form of network
access, wireless access, or via any form of communication. For the
example slide show application, Resources 103 may for example
include background image files in JPEG format, sound effect files
in PCM format, and/or any pictures slides or images, video, text,
symbols, or even complete Dart files (700) to be included as
default demonstration slides. Pragma extensions to the C++ language
may also be used to identify to the DartTools 200 which functions
are to be automatically made into DartProcedures 4000 (See FIG.
14), or Parts 303 (See FIG. 13) rather than included in the
MainCode 2103 and MainData 2102 (See FIG. 13) Parts (FIG. 3 303). A
partnumber( ) built-in function extension to the C++ language may
be used in the source code to get the Compiler 201 generated partId
32-bit value used to reference the part when used as parameters to
functions, or buildin instructions which are part of the
DartInstructionSet.
[1089] The DartFramework 102, (See FIG. 3 and FIG. 11),
advantageously includes a hierarchy of class specifications and
implementations. One of the key base classes is the Gizmo 115
class. Gizmos 115 may be used to encapsulate a single functional
unit of processing. Gizmo 115 derived classes contain Setup( ) and
Process( ) methods, and references to a parent Gizmo and a list of
child Gizmos. These references may optionally be null
references.
[1090] Rendition 114 classes are inherited from the Gizmo class,
and are designed to serve as the starting point for a part of an
application that can be loaded and run independently of other
Renditions 114 in the application.
[1091] A MasterRendition 113 class inherits from the Rendition 114
class. This is the only active Rendition in a MasterDart 230 (See
FIG. 12). The MasterDart 230 is a binary DartFormat 300 file or
image output from the DartTools 200 (See FIG. 3 and FIG. 12) which
preferentially contains a single MasterRenditon instance. The
MasterDart 230 may advantageously include all the code, data,
content, procedures, and resources referenced in the source code,
and is automatically loaded when it is played on the MasterPlayer
203. After loading the MasterDart 230, the MasterPlayer 203
executes the C++ constructor methods which should be run before the
start of the main( ) entry point. The Master Rendition's 113 Main(
) method serves as the logical starting point for the MasterDart
230.
[1092] FIG. 12 shows an embodiment wherein the DartSource 100 is
input to the DartTools 200. The Compiler 201 converts the
DartSource into the DartInstructionSet one file at a time into
Objects 220, and collections of these Objects into Libraries.
Alternatively, these Libraries can be created by a librarian tool.
The Objects and/or Libraries 220 can also serve as Resources 103 of
the DartSource 100 for other DartMasters and Dart applications. The
operations of the Compiler 201, the optional Librarian tool, and
the Linker 202 are generically similar to those of conventional C++
compilers, librarians and linkers now in use, except for certain
significant differences. Some of these differences include the
following:
[1093] First, the target instruction set is from the
DartInstructionSet. Second, the output executable is a MasterDart
230 intended for execution on a MasterPlayer 203, rather than
targeting the actual end target devices; and, the MasterDart and
the MasterPlayer represent components unique to the invention.
Third, much of the class definition and linkage structures that are
generated during the operations of conventional compilers,
librarians and linkers that is usually thrown away after use is
maintained in the MasterDart for use by the MasterPlayer. The class
definitions and linkage structures that are retained are also
different from those that may transiently exist in conventional
compilers, librarians, and linkers. Fourth, the DartTools 200,
process extensions to the source language for: (i) specifying or
automatically collecting the run-time resource requirements that
will be needed during execution; (ii) the inclusion in the
MasterDart of Resources 103 as Parts 303 (FIG. 3, FIG. 13); and a
partnumber( ) source code function which provides the part numbers
that serve as identifiers of resources assigned by the DartTools
200 for use by the application procedures. Additionally inventive
is that the resulting MasterDarts and Darts output by the DartTools
may contain any number of Renditions and the information needed to
put together possibly shared Parts in the Dart or MasterDart image
to construct these Renditions as needed. Still farther inventive is
that the Darts and MasterDarts output by the DartTools contain
procedures, data, code and content needed to carry out Recruitment
to intelligently establish ad-hoc teams of devices, and then carry
out the intent of the application according to the DartRuntime.
[1094] The Linker 202 FIG. 12 combines and packages the
Object/Libraries 220 into a single binary image conforming to the
DartFormat 300 (FIG. 3). This image is a DartMaster 230. The
DartMaster 230 is intended to run on a MasterPlayer 203, which
contains a DartEngine 500 (See FIG. 22). This DartEngine 500
contains some BuiltinInstruction (See FIG. 25 and FIG. 20) support
for calling DartEngine system functions that make use of the symbol
table Parts 2100 (See FIG. 13 and FIG. 14), and other meta-data
parts generated by the Compiler 201 and Linker 202. These functions
can be used by the code in the MasterDart to aid in the collection,
for example, of Resources 103, initialization of data, and
assemblage of Parts 2100 and parts of Parts 2200 into a Dart 700 or
set of Darts 700. These functions can also aid in reducing the size
of the code, or increasing the processing efficiency of the code
by, Parts 2100, and data needed in the Dart or Darts to be
generated.
[1095] A MasterDart conforms to the DartFormat 300 (See FIG. 3),
but may be limited to having just one RenditionTable 2104
referenced by its Partid in the RenditionsTable 2101. PartIds are
integer valued identifiers used as references to Parts FIG. 12 303
inside a Dart 700. In one embodiment the PartIds are 32-bit, but
identifiers with different bit counts, such as 16-bit, 24-bit,
40-bit, 48-bit, 64-bit or any other number of bits may be used. In
one embodiment, only one MasterRendition object instance is allowed
in the DartSource. The DartTools 200 use the information in the
source code for the initialization of the MasterRendition 113
object instance and data structures it references to initialize the
parameters inside the RenditionsTable 2101 record. Some parameters
in the RenditionsTable 2101 record that corresponds to the
MasterRendition 113 instance may be filled in automatically by the
DartTools 200. These RenditionsTable parameters include the number
of events and files, and the amount of heap memory that should be
initially allocated when the Rendition 114 object instance is first
loaded and prepared for running by a DartPlayer 500. Before any
Dart 700 can run on any DartPlayer 500, the DartEngine 600 of the
DartPlayer 500 running on the DartDevice 400 should advantageously
first choose and load a Rendition.
[1096] The DartPlayer 500, which provides a device specific
application executable shell around the DartEngine 600, can specify
a Rendition PartId to run, or it can specify zero ("0"), which in
one embodiment is an indication that it is an illegal PartId. If
zero is specified, the DartEngine will load the Rendition 114 which
has the Partid of the first record of the RenditionsTable 2101.
[1097] To find the RenditionsTable, the DartEngine 600 should first
load the Trailer 305 (See FIG. 3), which in one embodiment should
be the last four 32-bit words in the Dart 700 file. The Trailer 305
contains the offset of the PartTable 304 from the beginning of the
Dart 700 file. Each record in the PartTableRecord 314 (See FIG.
14), in the PartTable 304 contains a PartId, such as a 32-bit
Partid, along with the startOffset and endOffset from the beginning
of the Dart 700 file where the contiguous image of the Part 303, is
found in the Dart 700 file.
[1098] Only one RenditionsTable 2101 FIG. 13 may usually be allowed
in a DartFormat 300 file, and it has a permanently assigned PartId
value which is used by the engine to find the PartTableRecord 314
corresponding to the RenditionsTable 2101 part. The offsets in this
PartTableRecord 314 are used to find the RenditionsTable 2101, and
the RenditionsTable records include information about linear
segments within in the MainData 2102 and MainCode 2103 parts needed
by the Rendition that is referenced by the PartId in that record.
The RenditionsTable 2101 record also contains the starting code
image address to begin execution for that Rendition 114 instance.
The RenditionTable 2104 records are preferentially all just one
32-bit word that holds the Partid of a part that belongs to the
Rendition 114 instance.
[1099] In one embodiment of the invention, several steps are
associated with loading a Dart 230, on a DartPlayer 203. The same
steps are used to load a MasterDart on a MasterPlayer as these are
just specific instances of a Dart and DartPlayer respectively.
These steps may include the following steps, including steps that
are optional but advantageously performed: [1100] Step 1. The
DartPlayer 203 on the Application Development Device 900 (See FIG.
12), calls the Dart Engine's 600 Init ( ) method (FIG. 24 6000,
FIG. 23 4002) with a parameter specifying a Rendition Partid to
start with the value zero. [1101] Step 2. The DartEngine 600 then
reads the Trailer from the end of the Dart 230 file, and extracts
the offset of the PartTable 304. [1102] Step 3. Each record of the
PartTable 304 is read until a record is found with the pre-assigned
fixed value for the PartId of all RenditionsTables. Only one
RenditionsTable with this fixed value Partid is allowed in any
DartFormat image. [1103] Step 4. The DartEngine 600 then extracts
the startOffset and endOffset of the RenditionsTable 2101 and uses
that (the startOffset and endOffset) to read the first
RenditionsTable record. [1104] Step 5. The first RenditionsTable
record is read and the initial runtime parameters such as the
number of files and events to allocate memory for and the amount of
space to allocate for the heap and stack, are extracted. The
RenditionTable 2104 PartId is also extracted. [1105] Step 6. The
RenditionTable PartId is used to find the startOffset and endOffset
of the RenditionTable 2104 from the PartTable 304 entry for this
PartId. [1106] Step 7. Each record in the RenditionTable 2104 is
then read. In one embodiment, each record is just one 32-bit word
with the Partid of a Part that belongs to the Rendition. Each
PartTableRecord 314 contains flags and parameters that govern what
happens at load time. For example, there may be a flag if the Part
should be processed in some manner according to its contentType,
parameters, parameters and/or parameter 2 values, or according to
some other parameter or condition. The MainData and MainCode parts
are examples of parts which must be processed upon loading in order
to place the necessary code and data in memory before the Rendition
starts executing. [1107] Step 8. When the required MainCode 2103
PartTableRecord 314 is found, the contentType will hold the fixed
value assigned to the MainCode 2103 contentType and the Auto-Load
flag bit in the flags parameter word should be set, and parameter 0
and parameters will hold the first and last DartInstructionSet code
image address contained in the MainCode 2103 part. While most
executable images output from widely available C++ tools will
result in a code image that always starts at the same fixed offset,
this may not normally be the case for Darts because only the linear
contiguous regions necessary for the Renditions that are output as
a result of running the MasterDart 230 or saving a set of
Renditions of the Dart for backup or sent to another teamed device.
In other words, Dart code images do not always start at the same
fixed offset and only the linear contiguous regions necessary for
the Renditions that are output from MasterDart 230 or Dart through
the use of Creationism or the SAVE_INSTRUCITON or the save
BUILTIN_INSTRUCTION may normally be present. Advantageously any
Dart 700 that forms other Darts, generally only includes the linear
contiguously addressed sections of the original code or data output
by the DartTools 200 that are needed for the Renditions actually in
the generated Dart. For example, once the static constructor code
of the MasterDart 230 has been run as part of the load process,
there is generally no need for the constructor code to take up
space in Darts generated while running the MasterDart 230. This is
because the generated Darts do not themselves normally contain the
MasterRendition 230. The same is true for the data in the MainData
2102 Part of Dart files generated by the execution of MasterDarts
230 or other Darts. [1108] Step 9. Memory for a Context structure
or Context object instance is allocated to keep track of the
memory, access rights, and status, associated with the Dart that is
being loaded. A unique contextid value is generated to be used as a
global reference for calls by the Dart's code or other Darts that
may be running on the same DartEngine 600 instance. The flags of
the Context will limit the access of the Dart code to the memory
that is explicitly allocated as the data, DartHeap, or DartStack of
the particular running Dart. Also attempts to access functions,
memory or files that are not a part of this Dart or its DartEngine
environment, or for which access rights have not been established,
as represented by flag values of the context, will result in one
embodiment in negative valued error return codes from the
DartEngine Process call 4003, which will cause the Dart's execution
to end, before illegal access violations can take place. [1109]
Step 10. The environmental and initial memory needs expressed in
the parameters of the PartTableRecords 314, and RenditionsTable
records are extracted. If there is a need to allocate or reallocate
memory for any of the engine maintained Eventlnfo structures,
FileInfo structures, or CommSessionlnfo structures, or there are
other resources needed for the expected execution of the Dart to be
loaded, then allocations, reallocations, initializations and the
like are performed to prepare the DartContext and DartEngine
environment that is shared by DartContexts, DartProcedureContexts,
and DartIdleContexts running on the same DartEngine instance.
[1110] Step 11. A SubFile, such as SubFile 698 (See FIG. 26), is
preferentially opened and read to process or execute the Parts of
the DartFormat 300 image File as if they were independent files
without the need to copy the data into a separate file. The
DartPlatform 50 advantageously uses a unique file system. The file
system is processed 612 (See FIG. 26) to create a file abstraction
attached to a file identifier (fileld) value that can be used to
reference the files in Dart code or when data is to be read,
passed, written or shared. Several BuiltinInstruction 670 (See FIG.
20) operation code values may be used for Read, Write, Open, Close,
Rename, and Position operations. A FileInfo structure associated
with each fileld in a one-to-one fashion keeps track of the type
and form of storage, properties and access rights as well as the
current storage locations, position of a current pointer into the
file and the like. Advantageously, the device specific halBase
object which maps the portable parts of the DartEngine 600
implementation with the small set of functions needed to operate on
the DartDevice 400, is kept small and simple because most
operations not related to those of actual individually physically
stored files are virtualized by the portable code in the DartEngine
as shown in FIG. 26. For the processing of files, only read, write,
open, close, position, getPosition, rename and delete methods of
the HAL are necessary to be implemented to port the DartEngine 600
to a new DartDevice 400. The portable portion of the DartEngine 600
implementation builds file access abstractions for files that are
kept in allocated memory 697 (See FIG. 26), or sub-files of other
files. Once opened, a SubFile can be read just like any other file,
but the source and boundaries of the data are actually a proper
subset of another file previously opened. Advantageously, a SubFile
remains operational even if the source files are closed before the
SubFile. The use of a SubFile for reading the code of a Dart for
execution allows the code to be executed in place, making it
unnecessary to load the code into memory from a file. This is
especially advantageous when the Dart is in ROM or the file storage
of a DartDevice is implemented in some other quickly readable
memory device rather than a slow hard disk drive or the like. If
necessary or desired to improve the speed of execution, the code
portion of the Dart associated with the Rendition to be run may be
loaded into memory now allocated for holding and running of the
code for the DartContext, and a memory file (FIG. 26 697) or its
equivalent functionality can be used to execute the actual
DartCode. [1111] Step 12. In the particularly advantageous
embodiment and implementation being described here, the Dart code
generated by the DartTools 200 for the MasterDart 230 or any other
Dart 700 which may still contain initial constructors may start
execution at the initial constructors procedure that should be
called before the main( ) function is called. The code address
where execution is to start is in one of the 32-bit words of the
RenditionsTable record corresponding to the Rendition instance that
is to run. [1112] Step 13. The DartTools 200 automatically put a
BuiltinInstruction 659 at the end of the initial constructor with a
sub-function value which causes the DartEngine to set the starting
execution address and this object instance pointer for continued
execution of the MasterDart 230 instructions once the
DartEngine.Process method 4003 is called for the first time.
[1113] This is the last step (Step 13) in the creation and loading
of a Dart according to this particular embodiment of the inventive
method and computer program.
Dynamic Generation of Darts and Dart Procedures--Creationism
[1114] The capacity for continual dynamic generation of Darts
and/or DartProcedures by Darts and their descendant Darts is one of
the more powerful properties of the DartPlatform 50 and Dart
technology based systems and methods. Embodiments of the
DartPlatform 50 are designed and architected throughout the system
to support this continuous efficient generation of Darts from
earlier Darts. The methodology for this is referred to as
Creationism.
[1115] For example the DartSource 100, through the use of C++
extensions, may contain specifications for Parts which can be
mixed, matched, and shared across generations of Renditions in
Darts generated from the original MasterDart 230 or directly by the
other DartTools.
[1116] Embodiments of the DartFramework 102 implicitly provide the
mechanism and method for specifying Renditions, and all the code,
data and Parts that are to be included in each Rendition. This
allows the DartTools 200 to parse through the dependency trees of
objects generated by the Compiler 201 and Linker 202 to form an
effective database of the sections of code, data and resources
needed for dynamic generation of Darts and DartProcedures 4000. In
a similar fashion the MasterPlayer 203 can trace through all the
data, code, methods and functions that are reachable at runtime for
any set of starting points, and thereby advantageously form the
information needed to generate Darts which contain only the
necessary data, code and resources required. Unreachable data, code
and content are automatically excluded from DartFormat images based
on the contained Renditions starting points and data values.
[1117] Another mechanism of the DartPlatform 50 may advantageously
be used to limit the amount of code and data necessary is the
automatic saving of the entire or selected data state of a running
Dart at the time it generates other Darts 700 or DartProcedures
4000, and the automatic reloading of the entire or selected data
state as part of the DartEngine's Dart loading steps as enumerated
above. Because the data values and content of running darts are
part of the DartFormat image themselves, they are easily saved and
restored when run, so there is generally no need in generated Darts
for the initial constructor and setup code which often makes up
much of the kinds of user-centric applications that the
DartPlatform 50 is optimized and intended for. For example, when a
MasterDart 230 is first loaded, many constructors are called before
execution is set to begin at the main( ) function. This is true of
most all C++ generated programs as well as of other different
software or programming languages that may be used with the
invention. Advantageously, the MasterDart 230 could then save
itself with a minimal set of instructions in the main( ) function
using the builtin functions which utilized the BuiltinInstruction
659 to access the Save( ) method of the DartEngine. Since a
complete image of the current data values is saved by default, and
then restored when the saved Dart 700 is loaded, there is no need
to run the constructor code in the saved Dart 700. For this reason
the MasterDart 230 can direct the saving process so that the
continuous linear range of the code that executes the initial
constructors that have already run, is not included in any of the
Renditions in the generated Dart. In this manner the generated Dart
can be significantly smaller than the MasterDart 230 that generated
it. It is also likely to be much smaller than a similar
functionality conventional application executable image which keeps
all the static constructor and setup code needed to reestablish
data state whenever the application is started.
[1118] Eliminating the need to include the initial constructor code
is just one of many other mechanisms and methods used to optimize
the size, complexity, and computational requirements of generated
Darts. These optimizations generally result in smaller size and
lower complexity and computational requirements than would be
required using conventional mechanisms and methods.
[1119] Data member data or member method elimination is performed
when a MasterDart 230 or any Dart 700 conforming to the DartFormat
300, running on a MasterPlayer 203 generates a Dart or set of
Darts. Through a user interface of the MasterPlayer 203, or
execution of the Dart playing on the MasterPlayer 203, any proper
subset of Rendition objects can be selected to be included in a
Dart 700 to be generated.
[1120] Only the Parts and sections of the code and data that are
required for the selected Renditions should usually be placed into
the generated Dart(s). This is carried out by the DartTools 200 and
MasterPlayer 203 by parsing the relationships of the objects both
from meta-data generated by the Compiler 201 and Linker 202 and by
tracing through the run-time data members, procedure methods calls
and actual pointer values, to find all the data members, code
members, and methods of each class and then dynamically eliminate
from the object instances and accessing code all references and
space to and of the data members, structure members, and method
members, which are not reachable by running the selected Renditions
from their starting Process( ) member functions. Thus all the class
information is effectively optimized based on the actual runtime
setup of the Dart running on a MasterPlayer 203 once all the
starting places have been identified for the Dart(s) 700 to be
generated. Also advantageously, all the setup code which is not
reachable from a Renditions' starting method are not included in
the generated Darts.
[1121] Often a significant portion of user-centric applications,
such as those the DartPlatform are primarily intended for, consists
of or include setup code and data for setting initial screen
positions for user interface images, initializing data structures,
building graphs of connected objects, generating tables, or the
like. The DartFramework 102 includes in most class definitions a
Setup( ) method intended to be called only by the MasterRendition
or nested calls from other Setup( ) calls. Advantageously, if the
MasterRendition is not selected to be included in the generated
Dart(s) 700, then none of the Setup( ) methods and other methods
and functions and all the data members of classes or static data
elements that are not otherwise reachable from the selected
Renditions, will not be included in the generated Dart(s) 700.
Advantageously, there is nothing special about the Setup( ) call
that makes this optimization happen, as any code, data, methods, or
the like, not reachable from the runtime starting points selected
will not be included in the generated Dart(s) 700 by the DartTools
200.
GatherResources Procedure
[1122] The GatherResources procedure or method is another procedure
intended to be used in the DartFramework 102 to eliminate
unnecessary code and data in generated Dart(s)700. The Setup( )
method or call tree from calls to this method of the
MasterRendition may call a hierarchy of GatherResouces( ) related
methods and functions to put up user interfaces or dynamically
gather data, content or other Resources at the time the MasterDart
230 is run on a MasterPlayer 203.
[1123] It may also me noted, in conjunction with the description
provided here, that the DartTools 200 may include in a MasterDart
230 a number of Parts to hold the symbol tables, class definitions,
and other meta-data as may be needed by the MasterPlayer 203 to
perform the just described optimizations. If these Parts are not
included in any of the selected Renditions, then advantageously
they will not be included in the generated Dart(s) 700.
Some Selected Other Uses of MasterDarts
[1124] It is normal for (but not necessary for) MasterDarts 230 to
contain DartPlatform 50 code and data of much greater size and
complexity than the Dart applications 700 to be generated. This
extra code is used for performing the accessing, requesting,
initializing, user interfaces, pre-calculating of tables,
assembling of Parts, and the like. Thus MasterDart(s) 230, once
compiled by the Compiler 201 and linked by the Linker 202, can be
used and reused by a programmer or non-programmer to generate
customized Dart(s) 700 using new parameters, and Resources, or
other data which might change with time or according to other
circumstances, such as a stock quote, to generate the Dart
applications in a very wide variety either automatically, or at a
user's request anytime after being linked by the Linker 202, by
running the MasterDart 230 on the MasterPlayer 203.
Dynamic Reconfiguration, Generation, Assembly, and Optimization of
Parts
[1125] It should by now be appreciated, that MasterDarts 230 as
well as the Darts generated from other Darts retain their ability
to dynamically reconfigure, generate, assemble and optimize the
selection of Parts and parts of Parts for the generation of
descendent child Darts adapted for new functions and target
transports and environments.
Loading of Parts According to ContextType Parameter
[1126] Once a Rendition of a Dart 230 has been loaded using the
RenditionsTable which references the RenditionTables, which each
reference the Parts that are included for each Rendition, all the
Parts that require loading are loaded according to their
contentType parameter. The DartInstructionSet and extensions
implemented by the BuiltinInstruction of the DartInstructionSet
make for the efficient reconfiguring and generation of highly
optimized Darts 700 and DartProcedures 4000 from any Dart 700 or
Dart procedure 4000. In one preferred implementation, a flag bit in
the flags parameter of the PartTableEntry record is set only for
those parts with require contentType specific processing during
loading.
[1127] The MasterDart may usually contain the complete code image
for all the code that can be reached starting at the
MasterRendition object instance in the MainCode part. Similarly,
the MasterDart may usually contain the complete data image for all
the data that can be reached starting at the MasterRendition object
instance. Much of this will be eliminated from generated DartFormat
images.
DartFramework, DartRuntime, and DartEngine
[1128] The DartFramework 102, DartRuntime 8000, and DartEngine 600
will now be more fully described. The DartFramework assumes for
efficiency and effective use of the functionality built into the
DartEngine, a certain DartRuntime operation; though, it should be
appreciated that most any C++ program can be successfully built and
run using most any runtime that can be or has been implemented on
any standard set of C++ tools. One of the primary powers of the
DartFramework is largely derived from its tight integration and use
of the instructions, mechanisms, procedures, and functions
implemented as part of the DartEngine. For example, the
decompression and building of a bitmap image from a compressed JPEG
file or Part may be performed by compiling C++ source code from the
JPEG standard examples available widely on the Internet, but such
code would be expected to execute much more slowly than the simple
use of the builtin functions which employs the BuiltinInstruction
(also referred to as BUILTIN_INSTRUCTION elsewhere in this
document) to call the DartEngine method to perform the JPEG
decompression operation using the native code generated when the
DartEngine source code was compiled for the actual processor of the
DartDevice.
[1129] Similarly, the DartFramework 102 takes advantage of an
ecosystem or environment of built-in functionality throughout in
the implementation of the DartPlatform 50, including in some
embodiments for example, but not requiring all or limited to, the
actual DartInstructionSet, the DartRuntime 8000 system, the
communications subsystem, the event processing system, the file
system (See File System 612 in FIG. 26), the graphics and input
systems, the power management system, Dart assembly compression and
encryption mechanisms, and the decomposition, access, protection,
digital rights management and generation mechanisms.
[1130] It should be appreciated that having a well-defined broad
set or collection of user-centric functionality expressed with the
efficiency of code generated for the native processor embodied in
any and every device, is an advantageous and in some embodiments
key to making the functions and adaptations necessary for portable
applications that are able to extend themselves to other devices
practical.
[1131] In particular it should be appreciated that while in theory,
any Turing compliant instruction set could be used to generate any
other code or carry out any algorithm, in practice this approach
will never be as execution, memory, power, or cost efficient as a
tightly integrated platform which provides a relatively complete
platform, and where the necessary computational or memory hungry
functionality is implemented in a platform specific fashion as is
the case with the DartEngine's processing of the
DartInstructionSet.
[1132] Generally, in order for a device to be considered a Dart
device (DartDevice) 400, a Dart player such as DartPlayer 500,
should be installed on the device and there should be at least one
communication mechanism supported on the enabled device. The
DartPlayer 500 is the device specific executable unit that provides
the environment and optional user interfaces necessary to startup,
initialize, give processor control to and closedown of a DartEngine
600. The DartEngine 600 is built as an instance of two
interconnected classes, the portable playerBase class and the
device specific halBase class. When the DartEngine 600 is ported to
a new device, a device specific DartPlayer 500 application must be
built to encapsulate the DartEngine's execution, and a device
specific halBase derived class must be built to provide a bridge
from the platform independent parts of the DartEngine to the actual
device operating system and/or hardware.
[1133] The DartPlayer 500 main loop flow is shown in FIG. 23. First
the DartEngine.Init( ) 6000 function is called with parameters that
identify the Dart 700 to be loaded, if any. Then the
DartEngine.Process( ) (FIG. 23 4002, FIG. 24 6000) function is
called in a loop until a negative value is returned causing
DartPlayer.Uninit( ) to be called and the DartPlayer 500
application to close down. Positive return values cause value
specific DartPlayer processing to be performed before returning to
the main loop (See 4000 FIG. 23).
[1134] Such specific DartPlayer processing includes releasing
control to other applications or processes that may be running on
the device, suspending the PlayerEngine thread based on power
management values, collecting inputs such as mouse moves and
keyboard presses and converting them into calls to add Events 800
to the DartEngine's EventQueue (See 8002 FIG. 15 and 5000 FIG. 16).
If the positive return code value is one of those that is reserved
to mean that the Dart is finished processing, then
DartProcess.Uninit( ) will be called and the Dart processing will
be discontinued. For example, returning the DONE positive return
code value is the normal manner in which a running Dart will signal
its own termination.
[1135] The DartEngine.Init( ) processing is shown in FIG. 24, for
calls to DartEngine.Init( ) that include references to a Dart 700
to load. In cases where the DartEngine 600 is called when no
Contexts are active, and there is no Dart 700 to load, an
IdleProcedure internal to the Dartengine will be loaded into an
IdleContext instead of the Dart 700. The IdleProcedure operating in
the IdleContext is made up of a loop of DartInstructionSet
instructions which performs the processing necessary to keep the
DartEngineEvents 4003 FIG. 23 process active. In one preferred
implementation, the IdleProcedure simply executes the instructions
that cause a call to the EngineEventProcessing function 8002 FIG.
12 and FIG. 15. In one preferred implementation, a single instance
of the DartPlayer 500 can in general handle any number of executing
Darts 700 in any of several manners. One way is by calling separate
loops within the same running native processor thread by modifying
the main loop 4000, or by creating any number of separate
DartEngine 600 instances, or by using separate threads or any
combination of the above. An alternative is for Darts to be
explicitly loaded and run as a subdart or child of a running parent
Dart. Here the event processing passing through the event
processing units will be passed to the event processing units of
the subdart once loaded as if it were part of the compiled and
linked parent Dart. In the preferred implementation these event
processing units are called Gizmos and are instances of the
DartFramework class Gizmo.
Gizmos
[1136] Darts 700 themselves can also run other Darts 700 in series,
or in parallel, or in a highly cooperative fashion where Darts are
run as part of the processing hierarchy of other Darts. The
DartFramework 102 may be made up largely of Gizmo 115 derived
objects. These Gizmos are advantageously configured in a strictly
defined linear order according to the references in the child and
parent Gizmo pointers (See 10000 FIG. 18). This order is used for
collecting Gizmos into interconnected tree graphs which determine
their order of execution and their relationships in terms of access
rights and view of screen real estate, sense of time, and other
environmental characteristics. For example a parent can change the
time or rate of apparent time change for a child or children Gizmos
and its descendents in order to control their processing and pace.
All this is made easier to implement in a robust fashion by strict
adherence to the specified order of processing as shown, in the
example of FIG. 18.
[1137] FIG. 18 shows an example hierarchy of Gizmo 115 derived
objects for a running slide show Dart 700 application. It is
important to understand that the slideshow Dart 700 application is
using the DartEngine 600 to carry out the DartInstructionSet
instructions that make up the code of the slide show Dart. In
particular, note that the DartPlayer 500 along with the DartEngine
600 have been compiled, linked, loaded and run using standard build
tools that target the DartDevice's 400 native processor and
operating system. It is the DartEngine 600 that executes the slide
show Dart's 700 code made up from instructions from the
DartInstructionSet, which was generated from the DartTools 200. The
Menu Gizmo at the top of the hierarchy shown in FIG. 18 is first to
get control when the DartInstructionSet based Menu.Process( )
method is started executing on the engine as a result of a
DartPlayer.Process( ) call which causes the DartEngine 600 to begin
processing the Dart's 700 instructions. Note that in the preferred
implementation, the Gizmo at the top of the hierarchy is a
Rendition object of a class inheriting from the base Gizmo class as
in FIG. 11.
[1138] In the example of FIG. 18, each rounded corner box
represents a Gizmo derived object that handles a unit of user
interface for the slide show application. The Menu handles the user
interface for selecting various functions including adding slides,
starting the automatic sequencing of the slides, selecting slide
transition effects, and the like. One of the options that may be
selected from the Menu, is the view of the slide show. Views in
this example, may for example include a Hyper-linked Index view
where the user can click on the name or description of a slide, a
thumbnail index view where the user can click on a small thumbnail
view of a slide, and a slide show view where the slides take up
most of the screen and on screen arrows, physical buttons or a
mouse or pen are used to move forward and backward through the
hierarchy of slides. The Menu only has one child Gizmo derived
object, but when the user selects a view from the Menu, the pointer
to the child Gizmo derived object is changed to the Gizmo that
supports the selected view. Thus advantageously all that is needed
to change how the user views and navigates the slideshow is to
change one pointer in the Menu Gizmo.
[1139] Each view in the example has a list of pointers to the three
child Gizmo 115 derived objects shown in the row below them in FIG.
18. The children are all simple still pictures or slides, shown in
the order from left to right of the order of the pointers in each
of the child pointer lists of the three views. The child pointer
list of the Gizmo derived object labeled "3" points to three
children in the order shown from left to right. The object labeled
with a "4" represents a Gizmo 115 derived object that encapsulates
a separately produced running subdart, included in the slide show
as a single slide, but in fact being capable of containing its own
hierarchy of slides which can each themselves contain any picture,
view or Darts 700 and all the functionality thereof. The boxes
labeled "7" and "9" contain Gizmo 115 derived objects that display
real-time playback video/audio slides. It is noted that for this
slide, that processing of events by all Gizmo 115 derived objects
and the contained Darts 700 of Dart playback Gizmos 115, receive
processing control in the exact order of the graph created by the
pointers to children and parents. This order is explicitly set
forth in the sequence of number values shown inside the boxes in
FIG. 18.
[1140] Since most all processing by Gizmo 115 derived objects is
through a call to its Process( ) method with a pointer to an event
to process as parameter, any parent can create or change the
parameters or type of events seen by its children, or can decide
whether or not to pass an event to be processed its children. So in
effect any parent can set the environment for all its children. For
example a Dart container Gizmo object does not need to know that it
has only been given a portion of the screen real estate available
to its parent. Similarly, when a Gizmo 115 derived object accesses
its GetTime( ) method, it will automatically request the time from
its parent rather than from a builtin call to the engine if the
parent has signaled that it is a time source for its children. This
ability of parents to control the runtime environment of its
children, and their children-is a very powerful property of the
DartFramework 200 and DartRuntime 8000. This makes it easy to build
for example, slide shows of slide shows, collection Darts which
just collect Darts and allow the user to select which ones to run,
the ability to fetch a control panel in the form of a Dart 700 from
a printer or other Dart enabled device and run it in a rectangle
embedded inside the fetching Dart.
DartEngine Architecture--Passing of Control
[1141] The architecture of the DartEngine 600 facilitates the
passing of control from a Dart container Gizmo 115 derived object,
to the topmost Gizmo 115 in the hierarchy of the contained Dart by
containing BUILTIN_INSTRUCTION functions to allow a containing
Gizmo 115 derived object to create a DartContext for the contained
Dart 700, get the Dart 700 loaded into that Context, and then
calling the contained Dart's 700 Process( ) via a DartEngine's
BUILTIN_INSTRUCTION call to the contained Dart's Process( ) method
of the Gizmo 115 topmost in its hierarchy.
[1142] Along with the calls to manage and pass processing to
contained Darts 700, the DartEngine 600 also makes the transition
from the container Dart 700 code to the contained Dart's code more
efficient by allowing an EventProcessing structure instance
containing the pointer to the Event 800 to be processed by the
contained Dart, to be in memory accessible directly through the use
of a special pointer (see FIG. 32 Pointer Type 11) to memory
effectively shared between all DartContexts. This allows the
efficient passing of Events 800 and other parameters between Darts
700 which each have otherwise separate address spaces.
[1143] When a call is made from one Dart 700 to another Dart 700
the DartEngine remembers the calling Dart's DartContext and then
starts operating out of the called Dart's DartContext until the
called Dart's DartContext executes a DoneInstruction when the
engine stack is at the same place as when the original call was
made. Thus the DartEngine 600 makes it very easy and efficient for
Darts 700 to run Darts 700 that run Darts 700 ad infinitem as part
of the Gizmo 115 derived hierarchy much as they would if they had
been generated by the DartTools as one Dart 700. Containing Darts
can present any environment it wants to contained Darts 700 just as
it can to a child Gizmo 115 derived object.
[1144] It might be supposed that the simple passing of control down
the entire hierarchy would waste processor time in calling Gizmo
115 derived objects which require no processing, such as a Gizmo
115 derived object that represents a still picture which does not
need to be redisplayed. This problem can be militated against in a
preferred embodiment by a system for pruning the tree of Gizmo 115
derived object calls. Each EventType 801 value is made up a
category flag field where exactly one bit will be set, and a event
subtype field for the specific Event 800 to be processed belonging
to that category. In one embodiment, there are two sets of flags
corresponding to the category flags of an Event Type 801. One flag
is set if the Gizmo derived object itself needs to handle events of
this type, and the other flag is set if any of its descendents
needs to see the specific category of Event 801. In one embodiment,
in every pass through the hierarchy, the Gizmo 115 derived objects
set the flags for themselves and collect a logically OR'ed
collection of the flags set by all the children that it calls. Thus
a Gizmo always knows if its children need to be called or not
called depending on the category of the Event 800 to be processed.
Categories are defined by sets of EventsTypes to make the
elimination of unnecessary calls efficient. For example, Events 800
having to do with user input, do not need to be passed down trees
of Gizmo 115 derived object which don't contain any Gizmo 115
derived objects that need to process user input.
DartEngine.Process( ) Processing
[1145] Examples of the DartEngine.Process( ) processing is shown in
the embodiments of FIG. 23, FIG. 15, and FIG. 16. This drives the
main execution of the Dart's DartInstructionSet instructions 611. A
main loop is executed to get the next instruction from the Dart's
instruction stream, decode the opcodes and source and destination
fields of the instructions, check that the addressed source and
destination parameters are not outside of the data areas of the
Dart's DartContext, then jump to the device processor native code
of the DartPlayer 600 method or function that carries out the
function called for by the opcode field of the instruction. If
source or destination fields of the instruction specify parameters
outside of those allowed to be accessed, then no dispatch is made
based on the opcodes, and control is returned just after the
DartPlayer.Process( ) call with a specific negative return value
that reflects the specific access violation. This will cause the
DartPlayer 500 to call DartPlayer.Uninit( ) and end the Dart's
execution with an error message or other optional indicator.
[1146] FIG. 22 shows the relationship and some of the functionality
of the DartPlayer 500, DartEngine 600 and Hardware Abstraction
Layer (HAL) 650. The HAL 650 is the part of the player implemented
as a class derived from the halBase class used to encapsulate the
device specific access functions needed. Advantageously, the number
and complexity of the halBase functions that are required to be
implemented is kept to a minimum so that porting to new DartDevice
400 types is quick and easy. Having a minimalist approach to the
halBase design also aids in ensuring that separately implemented
DartEngines 600 attain a very high degree of compatibility because
they share most of the implementation source code functionality.
Thus it is highly beneficial to move as much functionality as
possible to the portable device independent portions of the
DartPlayer 500. Ease of porting and a very high degree of
compatibility are key features of embodiments of the DartPlatform
50 that are partly realized through the use of portable code
wherever possible, and the use of the same source code on every
device wherever possible. Thus while recompilation and linking will
often be necessary for each different type of device, most of the
functionality will be compiled from the same source code as the
other devices that are expected to be able to work cooperatively
with the device.
Power Management Features of the Architecture
[1147] Power management is another feature which though optional,
runs through many parts of the DartPlatform 50 architecture. When
the DartPlayer 500 calls the DartEngine.Process 4003 method,
execution of the Gizmo derived object hierarchy starts by setting a
variable that holds a response time needed in milliseconds (or any
other units) to the highest value representable. As Events are
processed by the ordered tree of Gizmo 115 derived objects, each
object uses a BUILTIN_INSTRUCTION to tell the DartEngine 600 how
long it can wait until it needs to have its Process( ) method
called again.
[1148] For example, for an object that is displaying a motion
video, this might be 1/30.sup.th of a second if this is the frame
rate of the video. The DartEngine 600 collects the lowest response
time needs reported by the BUIILTIN_INSTRUCTION which implements
gathering of the minimum response time needs passed in as a
parameter. When control returns to the DartPlayer 500 after making
a complete pass through the hierarchy of the Gizmo tree graph, the
DartPlayer 500 or DartEngine 600 can use this information to block
its thread or otherwise signal that power is not needed for at
least the time indicated. Normally the DartPlayer 500 will block
its thread with a timeout equal to the minimum response time
collected. The blocking will also terminate if new input arrives
that needs to be processed by the Dart 700. It may be appreciated
that in many cases the application running on a processor is the
only entity that knows the real response time needs at all times,
and Dart applications may advantageously be designed and generated
in a manner that makes it easy for the DartPlayer 500 to receive
this information and make use of it for greatly reducing the power
and energy consumption needs of devices without greatly degrading
the performance of dynamic applications.
Event Processing Queuing Mechanism
[1149] The Event processing queuing mechanism, carried out during
the EngineEventProcessing (FIG. 15 8002, FIG. 16 5000) processing
may also keep track of or monitor response time needs for
asynchronous processes (FIG. 16 the contents of the dashed box)
that are not part of the Gizmo.Process(Eventinfo *) calling
hierarchy. In this way, the minimum response time needs reported by
active Darts reflects the combined needs of the mainstream
synchronous Dart application processing being performed by the
Linear Tasking of the Gizmo tree, and the asynchronous processes
handled by the Event processing portions of the DartEngine 600.
Security and Integrity--Execution Checks Performed During
Instruction Decoding
[1150] Security, integrity and robustness of the DartPlatform 50
may be at least partially assured through the use of execution
checks performed while decoding the instructions of the
DartInstructionSet. The addresses of data and source fields of the
instructions are tested by the engine to make sure that they refer
to data within the range of the executing Darts legally accessible
data regions according to the DartContext it is running in.
Similarly, Dart applications and the DartInstructionSet
instructions that the procedures of the applications are made up
of, are limited to accessing only physical storage that belongs to
the running Dart. This is to prevent malicious or malfunctioning
Darts from having the power to access private data or storage
resources that should not be accessible by the running Darts.
[1151] The Hardware Abstraction Layer (HAL) file system naming
conventions assure that Dart applications have no way to specify a
file outside of its legal domain (but see optional deliberate
exception). When specifying a file for an operation such as open or
delete, the Dart application cannot specify full file paths but
merely a locationld and number, or locationld and terminal name
string as shown in 5010 FIG. 28. In this way the physical storage
accessible is limited in the HAL to the Locations appearing in 5020
FIG. 28. It is up to the HAL to perform the open, close, read,
write, position, rename and get-position operations based only on
these parameters to specify files. The one intentional but optional
exception to the no access outside the HAL enforced sandbox, is
that a locationId corresponding to a USER_SPECIFIED_LOCATION may
optionally be supported in the HAL for providing access to files
outside of the Darts Context limits. It is up to the HAL when
opening, deleting or renaming files to explicitly prompt the user
for a file selection. This allows applications to import and export
files, albeit only with the implicit permission granted by the
involvement of the user.
[1152] While the present inventive structure, method, apparatus,
computer programs, and computer program products have been
described with reference to a few specific embodiments, the
description is illustrative of the invention and is not to be
construed as limiting the invention. Various modifications may
occur to those skilled in the art without departing from the true
spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended
claims. All references cited herein are hereby incorporated by
reference.
* * * * *