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PREDICTIVE PROBABILITY
ARRANGEMENT FOR LOADING FILES
OVER AN INTERFACE
This application is the National Stage of International Application No. PCT/FI2003/000913, International Filing Date, Dec. 1, 2003, which designated the United States of America, and which international application was published under PCT Article 21(2) as WO Publication No. WO 2004/ 051494 Al and which claims priority from Finnish Application No. 20022116, filed Nov. 29, 2002.
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates to a probability arrangement and particularly to a predictive probability arrangement in data transmission taking place over an interface.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
More and more versatile and effective user applications are required of electronic devices nowadays, whereby the electronic device must be able to process large amounts of data. A mobile phone, for instance, is no longer used merely for speaking, but also as a calendar, an Internet browser, a camera or a game device, for example. Such numerous user applications require faster data transmission capability and improved efficiency in energy consumption.
Interfaces between electronic devices and between components of electronic devices, particularly interfaces between memories, have an essential significance for the data transmission capability of the whole electronic device. Larger amounts of data are transmitted over the interfaces, whereby the problem in the solutions according to prior art is, in particular, the limited bandwidth of the interfaces, which makes the data transmission significantly slower. On the other hand, an electronic device may have a sufficient nominal bandwidth, but problems due to software, for example, may load the interface so much that the data transmission rate of the interface is insufficient for other functions. In prior art solutions, a problem is, in addition, that a large part of the transmitted data may be unnecessary, which causes undue energy consumption and waste of bandwidth. When the band is loaded with unnecessary data transmission, the data transmission rate is reduced, whereby also the transmission of necessary data slows down.
With the known solutions of publications JP1 1306238 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,553,284, a loading factor is determined for loading a file over an interface, the factor being the minimum probability the file must have in order for it to be loaded. The problem in these solutions is, however, that the energy consumption caused by the file loading is not estimated, but the loading is carried out only on the basis of joint probabilities.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
An object of the invention is thus to provide a method and a system implementing the method in such way that disadvantages of the above-mentioned problems can be reduced. The obj ect of the invention is achieved with a method, system, device and software that are characterized in what is stated in the independent claims. Preferred embodiments of the invention are described in the dependent claims.
The invention is based on loading files F, or parts ("clips") C, thereof over an interface IF from a unit FU comprising files F, or clips C, thereof to a data-processing unit DU. In this context, the unit FU that comprises files F, or clips C„ thereof
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refers to, for example, a server S, memory device M or any other unit comprising data. The data-processing unit DU, in turn, refers to a mobile station T, memory device M or any other unit arranged to process data. The predictive probability
5 system according to the invention comprises determining joint probabilities JP, of at least two files F, or clips C, thereof, which probabilities express probabilities with which the files F, or clips C, thereof are accessed, and energy consumptions W,. caused by the loading of the files F,. or clips C,. thereof. A
10 loading order for the files F, or clips C, thereof is formed as a function of the joint probabilities JP,. In addition, a value is determined for maximum energy consumption HCMAX, expressing greatest allowed energy consumption caused by the loading. Files F,. or clips C,. thereof are loaded in the
15 loading order, and at the same time, total energy consumption 2W,. caused by the loading of said files F,. or clips C,. thereof is determined until the value of the total energy consumption 2W, exceeds the value of the maximum energy consumption
20 According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, the loading probabilities LP,, of the files F,. or clips C,. thereof are determined from the joint probabilities JP„ and according to a second preferred embodiment, the loading probability functions fLP, of the files F, or clips C, thereof are determined
25 either as functions of the loading probabilities LP, or as functions of the energy consumptions W, caused by the loading.
According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, at least one file F,. or a clip C,. thereof is loaded over an interface from a first terminal to a second terminal.
30 According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, the device comprises proxy functionality, wherein the proxy functionality is arranged to transmit at least one file F, or a clip C,. thereof to another data-processing unit as a response to a request from the data-processing unit.
35 Significant advantages are achieved with the arrangement according to the invention. One advantage is that the predictive probability arrangement enables the user and/or the arrangement to determine a substantially optimal arrangement between the access and loading times and the energy
40 consumption caused by the loading. An advantage is also that predictive probability arrangement makes it possible to essentially reduce energy losses by loading in advance files that will be needed most probably; inotherwords, files are not loaded only in the order in which they appear. A further
45 advantage is that as a result of the loading of the files most probably needed, excessive use of bandwidth can be reduced, whereby the operational rates of the interface increase significantly, reaching in some cases even the level of the operational rates of a high-speed interface. One advantage is that
50 the arrangement allows efficient use of a slow interface, which can result in significant energy savings and reduced needed bandwidth. An advantage is also that the arrangement takes user cost into account for example by using cheap local network for data transmission. A further advantage is that the
55 proxy can be made mobile as well, which means that the devices involved can function as each other's proxies.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES
60 The invention will now be described in more detail in connection with preferred embodiments, with reference to the attached drawings, of which:
FIG. 1 shows a simple system comprising a PROM memory, a DRAM memory and a slow interface between
65 them;
FIG. 2 shows a simple system comprising a server, a terminal and an interface between them;
