Appstream Inc.

Symantec Corporation

Shmuel Melamed

Yehuda Volk

Uri Raz

Dan Eylon

Amit Ramon

A method for determining an order in which to stream modules of an application from a server to a client, where the application uses modules in an execution-time dependent order, employs a predictive model to determine which module transitions are most likely to occur in the future in view of the clients present state in the application and then stream the modules to the client in the determined order. Different sets of transition weights can be used for clients falling into different categories, such as time of application use and age of the user at the client. Additional factors which can be used to select the order to stream the modules include cache utilization at the client and customized streaming orders specified by the user.

Method and apparatus for determining the order of streaming modules

A method and system for streaming software applications to a client uses an application server having a library with the application files stored therein. A streaming manager is configured to send the application files to a client as a plurality of streamlets, each streamlet corresponding to a particular data block in a respective application file. A streaming prediction engine is provided to identify at least one streamlet which is predicted to be most appropriate to send to a given client at a particular time in accordance with a prediction model reflecting the manner in which the application files are loaded and used by the application. In the preferred implementation, the application files are preprocessed and stored as a set of compressed streamlets, each of which corresponds to a file data block having a size equal to a code page size, such as 4k, used during file reads by an operating system expected to be present on a client system. In addition, the server is configured to send a startup block to a new streaming client containing a file structure specification of the application files and a set of streamlets comprising at least those streamlets containing the portions of the application required to enable execution of the application to be initiated.

System and method to send predicted application streamlets to a client device

A method and system for executing a streamed application on a client system utilizes a virtual file system installed in the client which is configured to appear to the operating system as a local storage device containing all of the application files required by the application. Prior to streaming, the application files are broken up into streamlets corresponding generally to various portions of the application files and these streamlets are delivered to the client by the server, preferably using a predictive algorithm to determine an optimal transmission order. After an initial set of streamlets is received, the application is executed from the virtual file system. File loads issued by the operating system to the virtual file system are translated to determine which streamlets correspond to the load request and the appropriate data is returned. If a needed streamlet is not present, a streamlet request is issued to the server and the virtual file system maintains a busy status until the necessary streamlets have been provided.

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Ramat Gan, Israel

Shmuel Melamed