Pre-launching Application via Interprocess Communication

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Solution Overview

Problem

The delay between selecting content and launching the associated application is significant due to the time required for launching and rendering the application.

Innovation Solution

Pre-launching the application as a background process using interprocess communication (IPC) before the user selects the content, allowing for quick rendering when the content is selected.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Loss of time

If the application is launched immediately after content selection, then the system responsiveness is maintained, but the latency between selection and rendering is significant

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvelatency between content selection and application renderingVSAvoidapplication launch speed

Core Design Contradiction:

Loss of timeVSProductivity

Solution Approach 1:

The patent applies preliminary action by launching the target application in the background before the user actually selects the content. The system proactively initiates application startup, resource allocation, and rendering preparation in advance, so that when the user does select the content, the application is already ready for immediate display, thereby eliminating the noticeable delay between selection and rendering.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #10Preliminary action

2Loss of time

If the application is pre-launched in the background, then the rendering latency is reduced, but additional system resources are consumed

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveapplication rendering latencyVSAvoidsystem resource consumption

Core Design Contradiction:

Loss of timeVSUse of energy by moving object

Solution Approach 1:

The system performs preliminary application launch and rendering preparation in the background before user interaction occurs. This proactive approach ensures that when the user selects content, the application and its rendering context are already ready, eliminating display latency while the background process continues to prepare resources in advance.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #10Preliminary action

Solution Approach 2:

The patent introduces an intermediary mechanism (the background launch service or IPC communication layer) that coordinates between the content selection event and the application rendering. This intermediary handles the asynchronous launch process, manages resource allocation, and ensures smooth transition from background preparation to foreground display, optimizing both responsiveness and resource utilization.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

Data Source

PatentEP4182791B1Pre-launching an application using interprocess communication

Publication Date: 2025.04.30 GOOGLE LLC

Figure 1A
Figure 1B~1C
Figure 1D

AI summary

According to an aspect, a method includes executing a first application as a foreground process of an operating system of a computing device, and displaying, by the first application, content on a display of the computing device, where the content is associated with an action executable by a second application. The method includes transmitting, by the first application, an initialization request to an initialization application programming interface (API) of the second application in advance of a user action taken with respect to the content displayed on the display, where the initialization request is configured to cause the second application to be launched as a background process of the operating system of the computing device.