Utility-based archiving

A computer implemented method for determining how to store a plurality of items comprising:

• determining respective item utilities through probabilistic computations;
• determining respective item value densities in accordance with a probability of future item access and item size, the value density is the probability of user access of the item divided by the total size of the item;
• assessing a worth of one or more items relative to at least one other of the plurality of items utilizing the item utilities and item value densities;
• inferring whether to remove one or more of the plurality of items from active memory based upon the one or more items' worth relative to at least one other of the plurality of items;
• determining which items to retain in the active memory when the active memory is full based on a comparison of the value densities of two or more items in the active memory;
• removing one or more items from active memory according to the inference;
• classifying an item stored in active memory as a one-shot item based on the number of times the item is likely to be accessed by a user,
• removing the one-shot item from the active memory once the one-shot item is viewed by the user;
• and enabling a user to personalize how items are stored by customizing at least one of an archiving rule or a policy that affects the probabilistic computations.

A utility based item archiving system comprising:

• means for determining a utility of an item, the utility determined at least in part by calculating a probability a user would prefer the item stored in a fast memory;
• means for determining one or more costs associated with storing the item in the fast memory, at least one cost relating to the size of the item;
• means for determining a relative worth of the item, the means for determining a relative worth comparing the utility and one or more costs of the item to that of at least one other item;
• means for inferring whether to store the item in the fast memory or in an archival memory based upon the relative worth of the item;
• means for classifying an item stored in the fast memory as a one-shot item based on tile number of times the item is likely to be accessed by a user, and
• means for removing the one-shot item from the fast memory once the one-shot item is viewed by the user;
• and
• means for enabling a user to customize at least one of an archiving rule or a policy that affects the probability calculation;
• means for determining an arrangement of items in the fast memory to maximize a total value density of the items in the fast memory, the value density for the item is determined based upon determining the probability a user will access the item divided by a total size of the item, wherein a memory operatively coupled to a processor retains at least one of the means.