Method and apparatus for determining the order of streaming modules

A method for streaming a plurality of modules of an application from a server to a client, the method comprising:

• receiving notice that a user is executing a particular function associated with two or more of the plurality of modules of the application, each of the plurality of modules including executable code;
• if the particular function has an associated user-selected streaming order, initiating streaming of the two or more of the plurality of modules associated with the particular function to the client in the user-selected streaming order;
• and
• if the particular function does not have an associated user-selected streaming order, determining an alternative order for streaming of the two or more of the plurality of modules associated with the particular function based on data pertaining to a current execution state of the particular function and a set of predefined weighted values for transitions between modules of said two or more of the plurality of modules associated with the particular function, and streaming the two or more of the plurality of modules to the client in the alternative order.

A system for streaming a plurality of modules of an application from a streaming server computer to a client computer, the system comprising:

• the streaming server computer coupled to the client computer via a network;
• a streaming code module database having the plurality of modules stored therein, each of the plurality of modules including executable code;
• and
• a streaming control file database having predictive data stored therein, the predictive data comprising potential execution transitions between the plurality of modules and a weighted value associated with each of the potential execution transitions, each said weighted value indicating a likelihood relative to other transitions that the corresponding potential execution transition will occur when the application is executed;
• wherein the streaming server computer is configured to
• receive an indication from the client computer that the application is in a given state,
• compute an order in which the modules should be sent to the client computer with reference to weighted values associated with module transitions for the application when in the given state, and
• stream the modules to the client computer in the computed order.

A machine-readable storage device containing executable instructions which, when executed by a processing system, cause the processing system to perform a method for streaming a plurality of modules of an application from a server to a client, the method comprising:

• identifying potential execution transitions between the plurality of modules, each of the plurality of modules including executable code;
• associating a weighted value with each transition, each said weighted value indicating a likelihood relative to other transitions that said transition will occur when the application is executed;
• computing an order in which the plurality of modules is to be streamed to the client, based on a weighted value associated with each transition;
• initiating transmission of the plurality of modules to the client in said order, to cause the client to execute executable code in at least a first module of the plurality of modules while at least a second module of the plurality of modules is being transmitted to the client;
• and
• deciding, during the transmission of the plurality of modules, whether said order in which the plurality of modules is to be streamed to the client is to be modified in response to receiving data pertaining to a current execution state of the application from the client.