CN115525404B - Methods, equipment and storage media to release memory - Google Patents

Abstract

The embodiment of the application provides a method, equipment and a storage medium for releasing a memory, wherein the method comprises the following steps: when the application is put in the background, determining a process corresponding to the application as a process to be frozen; releasing the memory occupied by the process to be frozen in a forced recovery mode; freezing the process to be frozen. Before the process is frozen, the method actively triggers the process to be frozen to release the memory in a forced recovery mode, so that memory resources which can be released by the process to be frozen are increased, and the problem that the process of the background application occupies excessive memory resources of the electronic equipment is solved.

Description

Methods, equipment and storage media to release memory

Technical field

The present application relates to the technical field of memory management, and in particular to a method, device and storage medium for releasing memory.

Background technique

In electronic devices, each process of an application contains a memory allocator. The process obtains the memory (also known as Random Access Memory, RAM) required for operation from the operating system (Operating System, OS) through the memory allocator. When the application switches to the background, the corresponding process releases the memory to the OS through the memory allocator. When releasing memory, some memory allocators only release part of the acquired memory, and the remaining part of the memory is still held by the memory allocator.

The above situation causes the processes of background applications to occupy too much memory of the electronic device, thereby adversely affecting the operation of other processes.

Contents of the invention

This application provides a method, device, and storage medium to release memory to prevent background application processes from occupying too much memory.

In order to achieve the above objectives, this application provides the following technical solutions:

The first aspect of this application provides a method for releasing memory, including:

When the application is placed in the background, the process corresponding to the application is determined as the process to be frozen;

Release the memory occupied by the process to be frozen through forced recycling;

Freeze the process to be frozen.

The beneficial effects of this embodiment are:

After the application is placed in the background, the process to be frozen corresponding to the application placed in the background is actively triggered to release memory by forced recycling, which can release as much memory occupied by the process to be frozen as possible to the operating system, easing the problem of background applications. It solves the problem of processes occupying too much memory resources and improves the smoothness of application running in the foreground of electronic devices.

In some optional embodiments, when the application is placed in the background, before determining the process corresponding to the application as a process to be frozen, the method further includes:

In response to user operations, put the application currently running in the foreground into the background.

The above user operations may be operations such as returning to the desktop, opening other applications, etc.

For example, when the video application is running in the foreground, the electronic device responds to the user's click operation on the chat message that pops up at the top of the display screen, opens the chat application, and at the same time puts the video application currently running in the foreground into the background.

In some optional embodiments, when the application is placed in the background, before determining the process corresponding to the application as a process to be frozen, the method further includes:

When the screen of the electronic device is turned off, the application currently running in the foreground is put into the background.

The beneficial effects of this embodiment are:

Switching applications running in the foreground to the background after turning off the screen can reduce the power consumption of electronic devices.

In some optional embodiments, when the application is placed in the background, before determining the process corresponding to the application as a process to be frozen, the method further includes:

Determine whether the application has foreground-aware functions;

If the application does not have foreground-aware functions, perform the step of determining the process corresponding to the application as a process to be frozen.

The beneficial effects of this embodiment are:

Avoid freezing applications with foreground-aware functions so that electronic devices can run foreground applications while providing some functions of applications running in the background.

For example, the navigation application's function of broadcasting navigation information is a front-end perceptible function. Through the method of this embodiment, freezing of the background navigation application can be avoided, so that the electronic device can broadcast navigation information while running other applications.

In some optional embodiments, determining whether the application has foreground-aware functions includes:

It is determined whether the application has foreground-aware functions according to a foreground-aware application list, where the foreground-aware application list is used to record applications with foreground-aware functions.

In some optional embodiments, the operating system of the electronic device includes a power-saving application and a memory management service; the process to be frozen includes a function library and a memory allocator;

The method of releasing the memory occupied by the process to be frozen through forced recycling includes:

The power-saving application sends a pre-freeze notification to the memory management service, where the pre-freeze notification carries the process identifier of the process to be frozen;

The memory management service sends a memory release signal to the function library of the process to be frozen according to the process identifier of the process to be frozen;

The function library responds to the memory release signal and calls the forced release interface of the memory allocator;

The memory allocator releases the memory occupied by the process to be frozen in a forced recycling manner.

In some optional embodiments, the operating system of the electronic device further includes a freezer;

The processes to be frozen include:

The power-saving application sends a process freezing notification to the freezer, and the process freezing notification carries the process identifier of the process to be frozen;

The freezer freezes the process to be frozen according to the process identifier of the process to be frozen.

In some optional embodiments, the power-saving application sends a process freezing notification to the freezer, including:

After receiving the memory release completion notification reported by the memory allocator, the power-saving application sends a process freezing notification to the freezer.

The beneficial effects of this embodiment are:

The power-saving application freezes the process after receiving the notification that the memory is released, which can ensure that the process to be frozen is not frozen until the memory allocator has released as much memory as possible, thereby preventing the frozen process from occupying the memory resources of the electronic device.

In some optional embodiments, the power-saving application sends a process freezing notification to the freezer, including:

After the power-saving application sends the pre-freezing notification and a preset waiting time has elapsed, it sends a process freezing notification to the freezing device.

A second aspect of the application provides an electronic device, including a memory and one or more processors;

The memory is used to store computer programs.

The one or more processors are used to execute the computer program, specifically to implement the method for releasing memory provided in any one of the first aspects of this application.

A third aspect of this application provides a computer storage medium for storing a computer program. When the computer program is executed, it is specifically used to implement the method for releasing memory provided in any one of the first aspects of this application.

Embodiments of the present application provide a method, device, and storage medium for releasing memory. The method includes: when an application is placed in the background, determining the process corresponding to the application as a process to be frozen; releasing the memory occupied by the process to be frozen through forced recycling; freezing Process to be frozen. Before the process is frozen, this solution actively triggers the process to be frozen to release memory through forced recycling, increasing the memory resources that can be released by the process to be frozen, thus alleviating the problem of background application processes occupying too much memory resources of electronic devices.

Description of drawings

Figure 1 is a schematic structural diagram of an electronic device provided by an embodiment of the present application;

Figure 2 is a schematic diagram of a user interface of an electronic device provided by an embodiment of the present application;

Figure 3 is a schematic diagram of a user interface of another electronic device provided by an embodiment of the present application;

Figure 4 is a schematic diagram of a software architecture provided by an embodiment of the present application;

Figure 5 is a timing diagram of a method for releasing memory provided by an embodiment of the present application;

Figure 6 is a timing diagram of another method of releasing memory provided by an embodiment of the present application;

Figure 7 is a flow chart of a method for releasing memory provided by an embodiment of the present application;

Figure 8 is a flow chart of another method of releasing memory provided by an embodiment of the present application.

Detailed ways

The technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application will be clearly and completely described below with reference to the accompanying drawings in the embodiments of the present application. The terminology used in the following examples is for the purpose of describing specific embodiments only and is not intended to limit the application. As used in the specification and appended claims of this application, the singular expressions "a", "an", "said", "above", "the" and "the" are intended to also Expressions such as "one or more" are included unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It should also be understood that in the embodiments of this application, "one or more" refers to one, two or more than two; "and/or" describes the association relationship of associated objects, indicating that three relationships can exist; for example, A and/or B can mean: A alone exists, A and B exist simultaneously, and B exists alone, where A and B can be singular or plural. The character "/" generally indicates that the related objects are in an "or" relationship.

In order to describe the following embodiments clearly and concisely, the relevant technical terms or technologies involved in this application are first briefly introduced:

Memory allocator. In a layered architecture system, both the kernel layer and the Native layer have their own memory allocators, and the memory allocator of the Native layer can also be called the user-mode memory allocator. Processes in the system can call the user-mode memory allocator through the malloc or new function to apply for memory resources. Common user-mode memory allocators include Scudo, Jemalloc, etc. In order to facilitate the distinction, the user-mode memory allocator will be referred to as the memory allocator in the following, and the kernel-level memory allocator will be recorded as the memory management module.

The user-mode memory allocator can usually release the requested memory resources through daily recycling or forced recycling.

Daily collection (lazy garbage collection, lazyGC), a way for the memory allocator to release memory. When the memory allocator releases memory according to daily recycling, based on performance considerations, the memory allocator will not return all the free memory occupied by the process to the operating system. Instead, it will set a certain recycling threshold. The memory that exceeds the recycling threshold Released to the operating system, memory within the reclaim threshold is still held by the memory allocator. When a process calls the free function to release memory, the memory allocator of the process can release memory resources in a daily recycling manner.

Force garbage collection (ForceGC), another way for the memory allocator to release memory. The memory allocator is generally configured with a forced release interface. When the forced release interface is called, the memory allocator releases the memory through forced recycling. When releasing memory according to the forced recycling method, no recycling threshold is set, and the memory allocator releases as much free memory occupied by the process to the operating system as possible. In other words, compared with daily recycling, the memory allocator can usually release more memory resources through forced recycling.

Memory compression. A way for the system kernel to reclaim memory. Android systems usually implement memory compression based on zram swap technology. The basic principle of zram swap technology is to pre-divide an area in the memory of the electronic device as a swap partition. When there are few allocable memory resources, the kernel compresses the data in the occupied memory and then stores the compressed data. In the swap partition of memory. For example, the system kernel compresses data in 50MB of occupied memory space. If the compression ratio is 0.4, the compressed data only takes up 20MB of memory. That is, through memory compression, the kernel reclaims 30MB of allocable memory space.

Electronic devices that apply the memory release method provided by this application can be mobile phones, tablet computers, handheld computers, netbooks, personal digital assistants (Personal Digital Assistants, PDAs), wearable electronic devices and other devices. This application applies the memory recovery method to electronic devices. The specific form of the equipment is not particularly limited.

Please refer to FIG. 1 , which is a schematic structural diagram of an electronic device 100 to which the present application is applied. The electronic device 100 may include: a processor 110, an external memory 120, an internal memory 121, a universal serial bus (USB) interface 130, a charging management module 140, a power management module 141, a battery 142, an antenna 1, an antenna 2 , mobile communication module 150, wireless communication module 160, audio module 170, speaker 170A, receiver 170B, microphone 170C, headphone interface 170D, sensor module 180, button 190, motor 191, indicator 192, camera 193, display screen 194, and Subscriber identification module (subscriber identification module, SIM) card interface 195, etc. The sensor module 180 may include a pressure sensor 180A, a gyro sensor 180B, an air pressure sensor 180C, a magnetic sensor 180D, an acceleration sensor 180E, a distance sensor 180F, a proximity light sensor 180G, a fingerprint sensor 180H, a temperature sensor 180J, a touch sensor 180K, and ambient light. Sensor 180L, bone conduction sensor 180M, etc.

The processor 110 may include one or more processing units. For example, the processor 110 may include an application processor (application processor, AP), a communication processor (CP, also called a modem), a graphics processor (graphics processor). processing unit, GPU), etc. The internal memory 121 can also be called random access memory (Random Access Memory, RAM), or memory for short, and the processor can directly exchange data with RAM. RAM can be read and written at any time and has high read and write speeds, so it is often used as a temporary data storage medium for the operating system or other running programs.

The external memory 120 is generally a memory using a non-volatile storage medium, such as at least one disk storage device, a flash memory device, universal flash storage (UFS), etc.

The nonvolatile memory 130 may include a program storage area and a data storage area. Among them, the stored program area can store the operating system, at least one application program required for a function (such as a sound playback function, an image, a video playback function, etc.), etc. The storage data area can store data created during the use of electronic equipment (such as audio data, photos, videos, etc.).

The electronic device 100 implements display functions through a GPU, a display screen 194, an application processor, and the like. The GPU is an image processing microprocessor and is connected to the display screen 194 and the application processor. GPUs are used to perform mathematical and geometric calculations for graphics rendering. Processor 110 may include one or more GPUs that execute program instructions to generate or alter display information.

The display screen 194 is used to display images, videos, etc. Display 194 includes a display panel. The display panel can use a liquid crystal display (LCD), an organic light-emitting diode (OLED), an active matrix organic light emitting diode or an active matrix organic light emitting diode (active-matrix organic light emitting diode). AMOLED), flexible light-emitting diodes (FLED), Miniled, MicroLed, Micro-oled, quantum dot light-emitting diodes (QLED), etc. In some embodiments, the electronic device 100 may include 1 or N display screens 194, where N is a positive integer greater than 1.

The display screen 194 of the electronic device 100 may display a series of graphical user interfaces (GUIs), and these GUIs are the home screens of the electronic device 100 . Generally speaking, the size of the display screen 194 of the electronic device 100 is fixed, and only limited controls can be displayed on the display screen 194 of the electronic device 100 . A control is a GUI element. It is a software component that is included in an application and controls all the data processed by the application and the interactive operations on these data. The user can interact with the control through direct manipulation. , to read or edit the relevant information of the application. Generally speaking, controls can include visual interface elements such as icons, buttons, menus, tabs, text boxes, dialog boxes, status bars, navigation bars, and widgets.

For example, in the embodiment of the present application, when an application is running in the foreground, the display screen of the electronic device 100 can display the graphical user interface of the application. When the application running in the foreground is switched to the background, the display screen does not display the application. graphical user interface.

The electronic device 100 can implement audio functions through the audio module 170, the speaker 170A, the receiver 170B, the microphone 170C, the headphone interface 170D, and the application processor. Such as music playback, recording, etc.

The audio module 170 is used to convert digital audio information into analog audio signal output, and is also used to convert analog audio input into digital audio signals. Audio module 170 may also be used to encode and decode audio signals. In some embodiments, the audio module 170 may be provided in the processor 110 , or some functional modules of the audio module 170 may be provided in the processor 110 .

Speaker 170A, also called "speaker", is used to convert audio electrical signals into sound signals. The electronic device 100 can listen to music through the speaker 170A, or listen to hands-free calls.

Receiver 170B, also called "earpiece", is used to convert audio electrical signals into sound signals. When the electronic device 100 answers a call or a voice message, the voice can be heard by bringing the receiver 170B close to the human ear.

Microphone 170C, also called "microphone" or "microphone", is used to convert sound signals into electrical signals. When making a call or sending a voice message, the user can speak close to the microphone 170C with the human mouth and input the sound signal to the microphone 170C. The electronic device 100 may be provided with at least one microphone 170C. In other embodiments, the electronic device 100 may be provided with two microphones 170C, which in addition to collecting sound signals, may also implement a noise reduction function. In other embodiments, the electronic device 100 can also be provided with three, four or more microphones 170C to collect sound signals, reduce noise, identify sound sources, and implement directional recording functions, etc.

The headphone interface 170D is used to connect wired headphones. The headphone interface 170D may be a USB interface 130, or may be a 3.5 mm open mobile terminal platform (OMTP) standard interface or a Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association of the USA (CTIA) standard interface.

In the embodiment of the present application, the audio module 170, the speaker 170A, the receiver 170B, the microphone 170C, and the headphone interface 170D can be occupied by applications running in the foreground or in the background.

For example, after the user starts the music application, the music application runs in the foreground and uses the audio module 170 and speaker 170A (or headphone interface 170D) of the electronic device 100 to play music. When the user exits the music application and opens the chat application, the music application enters the background and the music application running in the background can still occupy the audio module 170 and speaker 170A (or headphone interface 170D) of the electronic device 100 to play music.

When the user uses the above-mentioned electronic device, he or she may open multiple applications. In this case, the electronic device runs the most recently opened application in the foreground mode and switches the previously opened application to the background. Applications in foreground mode occupy the display device (such as a touch screen) and input device of the electronic device and can interact with the user.

Apps switched to the background may be running in the background or frozen.

Background running means that the application is in background mode, does not occupy the display device and input device of the electronic device, and cannot interact with the user. Applications running in the background will also occupy certain system resources, such as memory resources and CPU resources.

The frozen state means that an application is frozen by the system. The application in the frozen state stops running, does not occupy CPU resources, and does not occupy (or occupies very little) memory resources. The application in the frozen state can be restored when it is switched to the foreground again. Continue running to the previous state.

In actual scenarios, if the application switched to the background has functions that can be perceived by the foreground, such as a navigation application that continues to broadcast navigation information through voice when it is switched to the background, and a music application that continues to play music when it is switched to the background, the electronic device will continue to run in background mode. The application.

If the application switched to the background has no functions that can be sensed by the foreground, the electronic device freezes each process corresponding to the application. After the corresponding processes are frozen, the application enters the frozen state.

For example, when the user opens a video application, the video application enters the foreground and runs. At this time, the display screen of the electronic device is occupied by the video application, and the interface of the video application as shown in Figure 2 is displayed on the display screen. The electronic device operates in the foreground through the video application. Video plays on the display.

When the user exits the video application and opens the chat application, for example, when the user clicks on the chat application message that pops up at the top of the display in Figure 2, the chat application enters the foreground and the video application is switched to the background. Correspondingly, the display screen of the electronic device is occupied by the chat application, and the interface of the chat application as shown in Figure 3 is displayed on the display screen. The video application switched to the background no longer occupies the display screen.

The video application in the background mode has no foreground-perceivable functions, so the electronic device freezes the video application in the background. When the user restarts the frozen video application, the video application can resume the video playback progress when exiting and continue playing the video.

Since the memory resources of electronic devices are limited, the operating system will actively reclaim the memory resources of the frozen process for use by other running processes.

In related technologies, since a frozen process will not actively call the forced release interface, the operating system can generally only take back part of the memory resources requested by the process from the frozen process, and the other part of the memory resources is allocated by the memory allocator of the process. Reserved, this part of the memory resources is still occupied by the frozen process, so it cannot be allocated by the operating system to other running processes.

As an example, when a video application is running in the foreground, process A corresponding to the video application applies for 10MB of memory through the memory allocator. When the video application is switched to the background, process A is frozen, and the operating system reclaims memory from process A.

When recycling memory, process A will not actively call the forced release interface, so the memory allocator will not release the memory in the way of forced recycling. As a result, part of the previously applied memory (for example, 5MB memory) is retained by process A's memory allocator, and only part of it is retained. The memory is released to the operating system.

It can be seen that if the memory is not released through forced recycling before the process is frozen, the frozen process will occupy too many memory resources. When the user opens multiple applications, there will be too few memory resources that can be allocated in the electronic device, which will cause Applications running in the foreground cannot run smoothly and other issues.

The method for releasing memory provided in this application can be applied to any memory allocator. This embodiment does not limit the specific type of memory allocator. For example, the memory allocator described in this application can be Jemalloc or Scudo.

In order to solve the above problem, this application provides a method for releasing memory. By implementing the method of this application, the electronic device can call the forced release interface of the memory allocator before freezing the process, so that the memory allocator releases the pending memory in a forced recycling manner. Freeze the memory occupied by the process, thereby greatly reducing the memory resources occupied by the frozen process and ensuring the normal operation of other running processes.

The method of releasing memory provided by this application can be applied to electronic devices based on the Android operating system. The following takes the Android system as an example to illustrate the software architecture of the electronic device applicable to this application.

Please refer to FIG. 4 , which is a schematic diagram of the software architecture of an electronic device provided by an embodiment of the present application.

In this embodiment, the software system of the electronic device adopts a layered architecture, which is specifically divided into an application layer, an application framework layer, a system library (also called a Native layer) and a kernel layer.

Figure 4 only shows some layers and some components related to the embodiment of the present application. In actual applications, levels and components not shown in Figure 4 may also be included. Of course, it is also possible to include only some of the components shown in Figure 4 .

The application layer includes a variety of application programs. For example, in this embodiment, the application layer includes mobile phone manager 201, chat, video and navigation applications. The mobile phone manager application includes a power saving application component 202. Power-saving applications are common power-saving software in electronic devices based on the Android system. In practical applications, power-saving applications can turn on power-saving mode based on user operations, conveniently control some power-consuming hardware and settings, and can also Discover and prompt background power-consuming applications and services. Through the above measures, power-saving applications can reduce the power consumption of electronic devices and extend the standby time of electronic devices.

In this embodiment, the power-saving application can also discover the application that has been switched from the foreground to the background, and when it discovers the application that has been switched to the background, it sends a process freezing notification to the kernel layer, thereby freezing the corresponding application that has been switched to the background. process.

In some optional embodiments, other components of other applications can also discover the application that has been switched to the background and issue a process freeze notification. This embodiment does not limit the applications that specifically implement this function. The above-mentioned power-saving application components Just as an example.

The application framework layer includes memory management service 203, as well as notification manager, content provider, window manager, resource manager, phone manager and view system modules. The memory management service is used to control and schedule the memory resources of electronic devices. The memory management service can be integrated into a component with other services of the application framework layer that schedule electronic device hardware resources, or can be used as an independent component of the application framework layer.

In this embodiment, the memory management service can trigger the memory allocator of the process to be frozen to perform forced recycling by sending a signal to the process to be frozen.

The system library can include multiple functional modules, such as surface manager, 3D graphics processor library, 2D graphics engine and media library, etc. In this embodiment, the system library may include at least one function library and at least one memory allocator. Every process running on an electronic device has a corresponding function library and memory allocator in the system library. For example, in Figure 4, the electronic device runs process A (204) and process B (205) to be frozen. Process A to be frozen contains a function library and a memory allocator, and process B to be frozen also contains a function library and a memory allocator. Memory allocator.

In some optional embodiments, the above function library may be libc.

The function library includes several preconfigured functions. When a function in the function library is called, the function library can implement the function corresponding to the function. For example, when the function library receives a signal, the memory release signal processing function corresponding to the signal in the function library is called by the process, so the function library implements the function corresponding to the memory release signal processing function.

The memory allocator of a process is used to apply to the memory management module of the kernel layer for the memory resources required for the running of the process, and is used to release the memory resources occupied by the process at the appropriate time, for example, when the process calls a function that releases memory , such as the free function, the memory allocator releases memory resources.

The memory management module generally divides the memory of the electronic device into multiple memory pages (ie, multiple pages) and manages the memory by page. When a process skips the memory allocator and applies directly to the memory management module for memory resources, the memory management module can only allocate memory resources to the process in units of pages. However, the size of a single application for a process when it is running is usually less than one memory. page, which causes a waste of memory resources. By applying for memory resources through the memory allocator, you can apply for memory resources smaller than one memory page according to the actual needs of the process, thereby improving the utilization of memory resources and avoiding wasting memory resources.

The kernel layer includes system layer security mechanisms, memory management, file systems, process management, network stacks and a series of driver modules. It is the layer between hardware and software and provides interaction with hardware.

In this embodiment, as shown in Figure 4, the kernel layer includes a freezer 206 (freezer) and a memory management module 207 (Memory Manager, MM). Among them, the freezer responds to the process freezing notification issued by the power-saving application and freezes the corresponding process. The memory management module is used to manage the memory resources of the electronic device. Specifically, the memory management module provides an interface for acquiring memory and releasing memory. Each The memory allocator of the process applies for the required memory resources by calling the memory acquisition interface, and releases the memory resources occupied by the process by calling the memory release interface.

In order to have a clearer understanding of the above architecture diagram, please refer to Figure 5, which is a timing diagram of the method of releasing memory based on the software architecture shown in Figure 4.

First of all, in order to implement the method provided by this application, the memory release semaphore and the memory release signal processing function need to be pre-configured in the function library. The operating system can load the memory release semaphore and the memory release signal processing function into the function when the electronic device is turned on. in the library.

Among them, the memory release signal processing function contains code that triggers the memory allocator to perform forced recycling. When the memory release signal processing function of the function library is called, the function library triggers the memory allocator to perform forced recycling.

A semaphore can be understood as the correspondence between a specific signal and the operation indicated by the signal. In this embodiment, the memory release signal is used to instruct the function library to trigger the memory allocator to perform forced recycling. The operation of triggering the memory allocator to perform forced recycling is implemented by the aforementioned memory release signal processing function. Therefore, the memory release semaphore can be used for memory release. The correspondence between the signal and the aforementioned memory release signal processing function.

That is to say, based on the memory release semaphore and memory release signal processing function configured in the function library, after the process receives the memory release signal, it can determine the need to call the memory release signal processing function based on the memory release semaphore, and then the process calls the function library The memory release signal processing function can then trigger the memory allocator to perform forced recycling.

S01, the application switches from the foreground to the background.

In some optional embodiments, when the application is running in the foreground, in response to the user's background operation, step S01 is executed to switch from the foreground to the background.

In other optional embodiments, the user is not required to perform the background operation, and the system can also actively trigger the application to be backgrounded. For example, when the user does not operate the phone for a period of time (such as not operating the phone for 2 minutes), the phone will automatically turn off the screen. When the phone turns off the screen, the phone can actively trigger the current application to switch from the foreground to the background.

The above application can be any application installed on the electronic device. As an example, the above-mentioned application may be a video application, a navigation application or a chat application shown in FIG. 5 .

Background operations include any operation performed by the user that will cause the application currently running in the foreground to be switched to the background. In some examples, the background operation may be an operation of returning to the desktop from an application currently running in the foreground, or an operation of switching from an application currently running in the foreground to another application.

As an example, after a user opens a video application of an electronic device, the electronic device runs the video application in the foreground and the user watches a video in the video application. After a period of time, the user returns from the video application to the desktop through gesture operation or key operation. The video application will execute step S01, switching from the foreground to the background, and the gesture operations or key operations performed by the user when returning to the desktop will be placed in the background.

As another example, see Figure 2. When the electronic device is running a video application in the foreground, the chat application running in the background mode receives a chat message from the server, so the chat message pops up at the top of the display screen of the electronic device. The user clicks on the message that pops up at the top of the display. The electronic device responds to the user's click operation, exits from the video application and opens the chat application. The chat application running in the background is switched to the foreground. The display screen displays the interface of the chat application as shown in Figure 3. At the same time, the video application executes step S01. Switch from foreground to background. At this time, the user clicks on the chat message at the top of the display screen and the operation is placed in the background.

S02, the application notifies the application to be placed in the background.

After the application executes step S01, it executes step S02 to the power-saving application, that is, it notifies the power-saving application that the corresponding application is placed in the background.

Continuing the example of Figure 2, when the user clicks on the message of the chat application, the video application is put into the background, and then the video application executes step S02, thereby notifying the power saving application that the video application is switched to the background.

The application can notify the power-saving application of the information that the application is placed in the background in various ways. This embodiment does not limit the specific notification method.

In some optional embodiments, the application can actively push a notification message for switching to the background to the power-saving application. The notification message can carry the application identification of the application, for example, the name of the application. The power-saving application can It can be determined that the application has been switched to the background. Alternatively, the power-saving application can pre-subscribe to the event of each application switching to the background. When the application switches from the foreground to the background, the power-saving application can discover that the application has switched to the background through the event subscription mechanism.

S03, the power-saving application determines whether the application has foreground-aware functions.

After discovering that an application switches to the background, the power-saving application executes step S03 to determine whether the application has foreground-aware functions. If the application does not have a foreground-aware function, step S04 is executed. If the application has a foreground-aware function, the application cannot be frozen and needs to continue running in the background mode. Correspondingly, the process occupied by the application cannot be released. memory, so this method ends.

In some optional embodiments, when an application is placed in the background, the electronic device can directly freeze the process corresponding to the application, regardless of whether the application has foreground-aware functions. In this scenario, step S03 may not be performed. . In other words, step S03 is an optional step.

For example, when the power saving mode of the electronic device is turned on, the electronic device can prohibit the application from running in the background. Regardless of whether the application has foreground-aware functions, the electronic device can directly freeze the application when the application is placed in the background. process, thereby reducing power consumption.

When an electronic device installs an application from the application market, it can obtain the category of the installed application from the application market, such as chat, navigation, shopping, game, etc. Some of the applications have foreground-perceivable functions, and other categories of applications have It does not have front-end perceptible functions. For example, music, navigation, and chat applications have foreground-aware functions, while shopping and game applications do not have foreground-aware functions.

Therefore, the power-saving application can maintain a foreground-aware application list. When the electronic device installs a new application, the power-saving application obtains the category of the newly installed application from the application market, and marks this application as having Foreground-aware functionality, or no foreground-aware functionality. In this way, in step S03, the power-saving application can query from the foreground-aware application list whether the application currently switched to the background has a foreground-aware function.

Furthermore, the electronic device can prohibit some applications from running in the background based on the user's configuration to reduce power consumption of the electronic device. When an application is prohibited from running in the background, the power-saving application can mark the application as not having foreground-aware functions in the foreground-aware application list, so that when the application is placed in the background, the power-saving application can press The following process freezes the application.

Continuing from the example in Figure 2, after the video application is placed in the background, the electronic device queries the foreground-aware application list whether the video application has a foreground-aware function. After the query, it is determined that the video application does not have a foreground-aware function, so the electronic device executes step S04. .

It should be noted that the above is only an exemplary implementation method for a power-saving application to determine whether an application has a foreground-aware function. In other embodiments of the present application, a power-saving application may also use other methods to determine whether an application has a foreground-aware function. , for example, the application can proactively notify the power-saving application whether it has foreground-aware capabilities. This embodiment does not limit the specific judgment method.

S04, the power saving application determines the process to be frozen.

After it is determined that the application switched to the background does not have the foreground-aware function, the power-saving application needs to freeze the process corresponding to the application. Therefore, the power-saving application executes step S04 to determine the process to be frozen.

A running application may correspond to one or more processes. The processes to be frozen described in S04 include each process corresponding to the application that is currently placed in the background. Taking Figure 4 as an example, an application corresponds to process A and process B. When the application is placed in the background, the determined processes to be frozen include process A and process B to be frozen.

That is to say, in S04, the power-saving application finds each process corresponding to the running application based on the application identifier of the application placed in the background, and determines these processes as processes to be frozen.

The power-saving application can use multiple methods to find the process corresponding to the application placed in the background. This embodiment does not limit the specific search method.

For example, the power-saving application can send the application identification of the background application to the process management module of the kernel layer. After the process management module finds each process corresponding to the application based on the application identification, the process identification of these processes (which can be Process name, or process number) is sent to the power-saving application, so that the power-saving application can determine that the processes corresponding to these process identifiers are processes to be frozen.

Continuing from the example in Figure 2, after the power-saving application determines that the video application is placed in the background, it sends the application identification of the video application to the kernel layer, thereby obtaining the process identification of the process corresponding to the video application fed back by the kernel layer, and determines the process identification corresponding to the video application. The process is a process to be frozen.

S05, the power saving application sends a pre-freeze notification.

After determining the process to be frozen, the power saving application performs step S05 on the memory management service and sends a pre-freezing notification.

The pre-freeze notification carries the process identifier corresponding to the process to be frozen. The pre-freeze notification is used to explain to the memory management service that the process corresponding to the process ID carried in the notification will be frozen.

Continuing from the previous example, after the power-saving application determines the process corresponding to the video application, it sends the process identifier of the process corresponding to the video application to the memory management service through the pre-freeze notification described in S05, thereby explaining to the memory management service the process corresponding to the video application. The process will be frozen.

S06, the memory management service sends a memory release signal.

After receiving the pre-freeze notification, the memory management service executes step S06 for each process to be frozen and sends a memory release signal.

The specific form of the memory release signal can be configured according to the actual situation, as long as it is ensured that the memory release signal is different from other signals that already exist in the electronic device. This embodiment does not limit this.

Continuing the previous example, after receiving the pre-freeze notification, the memory management service obtains the process ID of the process corresponding to the video application from the pre-freeze notification, and then sends a memory release signal to the process corresponding to the video application based on these process IDs.

S07, the function library calls the forced release interface.

After the process to be frozen receives the memory release signal, the function library of the process to be frozen executes step S07 on the memory allocator of the process and calls the forced release interface.

As mentioned before, the function library of the process to be frozen is pre-configured with a memory release semaphore and a memory release signal processing function. The memory release semaphore can be regarded as the correspondence between the memory release signal and the memory release signal processing function.

It can be seen that after the frozen process receives the memory release signal, it can be determined that the memory release signal processing function needs to be called based on the preconfigured memory release semaphore. Therefore, the process to be frozen calls the memory release signal processing function in the function library, causing the function library to execute step S07.

The forced release interfaces provided by different memory allocators may or may not be the same. This embodiment does not limit the specific form of the forced release interface.

As an example, when the memory allocator is Scudo, the forced release interface provided by Scudo can be mallopt(M_PURGE), that is, in step S07, the function library can call mallopt(M_PURGE) to trigger the memory allocator Scudo to perform forced recycling.

Continuing the previous example, after the processes corresponding to the video application receive the memory release signal, the function libraries of these processes call the forced release interface of the memory allocator, thereby triggering the memory allocator of the process corresponding to the video application to perform forced recycling.

S08, the memory allocator releases memory in a forced recycling manner.

After the function library calls the forced release interface, the memory allocator of the process to be frozen calls the release memory interface of the kernel's memory management module to execute step S08 and release the memory in a forced recovery manner.

As mentioned above, in step S08, the memory allocator will release as much free memory occupied by the process to be frozen to the operating system as possible. Therefore, by triggering the memory allocator to release memory through forced recycling, you can effectively reduce the memory occupied by frozen processes and ensure that the operating system has more memory resources to allocate to other running processes. Enable running processes to run efficiently.

For ease of understanding, this embodiment only uses one process to be frozen as an example to illustrate steps S06 to S08. In actual scenarios, when an application is placed in the background, the power-saving application may determine multiple applications to be frozen. Therefore, the memory management service will send a memory release signal to each process to be frozen, and each process to be frozen receives a memory release signal. After that, the memory release signal processing function in its own function library will be called. Therefore, the function library of each process to be frozen will execute step S07, that is, the forced release interface of the memory allocator of the process to be frozen will be called. Finally, each process to be frozen will The memory allocator will release the memory occupied by the process through forced recycling.

Continuing the previous example, after the function library of the process corresponding to the video application calls the forced release interface, the memory allocator in these processes responds to the call to the forced release interface and begins to release the memory occupied by the process corresponding to the video application in the aforementioned forced recycling method. Memory.

S09, the power-saving application issues a process freeze notification.

The process freezing notification can carry the process identification corresponding to each process to be frozen determined by the power saving application. After receiving the process freezing notification, the kernel's freezer can freeze the process to be frozen corresponding to the process identification carried in the notification, thereby realizing the process being frozen. Freezing of background applications.

The power saving application may perform step S09 after sending the pre-freeze notification. In this embodiment, in order to avoid being frozen before the process to be frozen completes memory release, the power-saving application can preset a waiting time. After the pre-freezing notification is sent and the waiting time has elapsed, the power-saving application then executes step S09. This ensures that each process to be frozen can release all memory within the waiting time.

The specific value of the waiting time can be set according to the actual situation, and this embodiment does not limit this. As an example, the wait time may be set to 10 milliseconds (ms). That is to say, after the power-saving application sends a pre-freezing notification to the memory management service, it waits for 10ms and then sends a process freezing notification to the freezer.

Continuing the previous example, after the power-saving application sends a pre-freeze notification to the memory management service, it waits for 10ms, and then sends a process freezing notification to the kernel's freezer. The process freeze notification carries the process identifier of the process corresponding to the video application, and the freezer Receive the process freeze notification, and then freeze the process corresponding to the video application.

This embodiment has the following beneficial effects:

By sending a memory release command before freezing the process, the memory allocator of each process to be frozen is triggered to release the free memory occupied by the process to the maximum extent, reducing the memory resources occupied by the frozen processes in the background, thereby ensuring that electronic devices have sufficient Amount of memory resources can be allocated to running processes.

In another embodiment of the present application, the power-saving application may issue a process freeze notification after confirming that the memory is released. Please refer to Figure 6, which is a timing diagram of another method of releasing memory implemented based on the software architecture shown in Figure 6.

As shown in FIG. 6 , in this embodiment, steps S01 to S08 are consistent with the embodiment corresponding to FIG. 5 , and the specific implementation method can also be referred to the embodiment corresponding to FIG. 5 , which will not be described again.

A08, the memory allocator notifies the function library that the memory is released.

After releasing the free memory of the process to be frozen, the memory allocator of the process to be frozen executes step A08 on the function library to notify that the memory release is completed.

A09, the function library notifies the memory management service that the memory is released.

After the function library is notified, it passes the notification to the memory management service, that is, executes step A09 to notify that the memory release is completed.

A10, the memory management service notifies the power-saving application that the memory release is completed.

Finally, the memory management service delivers the notification to the power-saving application, that is, step A10 is executed to notify that the memory release is completed.

After the power-saving application obtains the memory release notification from the memory management service, step S09 is executed, that is, a process freezing notification is sent to the freezer.

It should be noted that Figure 6 is an example of a process to be frozen. When there are multiple processes to be frozen, the function library of each process to be frozen will notify the memory management service of the completion of memory release. The memory management service can perform step A10 after obtaining the notification of the completion of memory release of each process to be frozen. .

The beneficial effects of this embodiment are:

After a process is frozen, the system can only reclaim part of the memory held by the memory allocator of the process through memory compression, and memory compression will occupy the space of the swap partition. In this solution, the power-saving application freezes the process after receiving the notification that the memory is released. This can ensure that the process to be frozen is not frozen until the memory allocator releases as much memory as possible, thereby preventing the frozen process from occupying the electronic device's memory. memory resources.

According to the timing diagram of the method of releasing memory shown in Figure 5 and Figure 6, a method of releasing memory can be obtained. Please refer to Figure 7, which is a flow chart of a method of releasing memory provided by this application. The method may include Follow these steps:

In some optional embodiments, the electronic device shown in Figure 1 can execute pre-stored computer instructions to implement the steps in the following process.

S701, the function library adds memory recycling semaphore and memory release signal processing functions.

Step S701 is executed by the electronic device after it is powered on. The definitions and functions of the memory recycling semaphore and the memory release signal processing function are as described in the corresponding embodiment in Figure 5 and will not be described again here.

S702: In response to the user's background operation, the application is moved from the foreground to the background.

The user's background operation refers to the operation performed by the user that triggers the application currently running in the foreground to switch to the background. For example, the background operation can be an operation to return to the desktop, or it can be an operation for the user to switch from the application currently running in the foreground to the background. The application directly switches to another application, such as clicking on a message that pops up from another application.

For the specific implementation process of step S702, please refer to S01 in the corresponding embodiment of FIG. 5 .

S703: The power-saving application receives a notification that the application is placed in the background.

Power-saving applications can obtain the above notifications through pre-subscription or active push from applications placed in the background. Through the notification of applications placed in the background, power-saving applications can know which application has been switched from the foreground to the background.

For the specific implementation of step S703, please refer to S02 in the corresponding embodiment of FIG. 5 .

S704: Determine whether the application placed in the background has foreground-aware functions.

If the application placed in the background does not have a foreground-aware function, step S705 is executed. If the application placed in the background has a foreground-aware function, this process ends.

For example, music applications can still play music in the background, and navigation applications can still broadcast navigation information in the background. Playing music and broadcasting navigation information are foreground-perceptible functions.

As mentioned above, step S704 is an optional step. In some scenarios, the electronic device can directly freeze the application when the application is placed in the background, regardless of whether the application has foreground-aware functions. In this case, step S704 does not need to be performed.

For the specific implementation of step S704, please refer to S03 in the corresponding embodiment of FIG. 5 .

S705: Send a pre-freeze notification to the memory management service.

The pre-freeze notification carries the process identifier of the process to be frozen. The pre-freeze notification is used to explain to the memory management service that the corresponding process will be frozen. The process to be frozen is the process corresponding to the application placed in the background. For example, in S702, the video application is switched from the foreground to the background, then the above-mentioned pre-freeze notification carries the process identification of the corresponding process of the video application.

The process to be frozen is determined by the power-saving application based on the application ID of the application placed in the background.

For the specific implementation of step S705, please refer to steps S04 and S05 of the embodiment shown in FIG. 5 .

S706, the memory management service sends a memory release signal to the process to be frozen.

In S706, the memory management service sends the memory release signal to the process corresponding to the process identifier carried in the pre-freeze notification, thereby triggering forced recycling of these processes.

For example, after the video application is placed in the background, in S706, the memory management service sends a memory release signal to the process corresponding to the video application.

For the specific implementation of step S706, please refer to step S06 in the corresponding embodiment of FIG. 5 .

S707, the process to be frozen performs forced recycling.

After the process to be frozen receives the memory release signal, the function library of the process to be frozen can respond to the memory release signal and call the forced release interface of the memory allocator to perform forced recycling.

For the specific implementation of step S707, please refer to steps S07 and S08 in the corresponding embodiment of FIG. 5 .

S708, the process to be frozen is frozen.

In step S708, the power-saving application can send a process freezing notification to the kernel freezer. The process freezing notification carries the process identification of the process to be frozen. After receiving the process freezing notification, the freezing device can freeze the process corresponding to the process identification. .

For the specific implementation of step S709, refer to step S09 of the embodiment corresponding to FIG. 5 , or refer to steps A08 to A10 and step S09 of the embodiment corresponding to FIG. 6 .

The beneficial effects of the above embodiments can be referred to the embodiments shown in Figures 5 and 6, and will not be described again.

According to the timing diagrams of the method of releasing memory shown in Figures 5 and 6, and the flow chart shown in Figure 7, a flow chart of the method of releasing memory shown in Figure 8 can also be obtained. The method can include the following steps:

S801: When the application is placed in the background, the process corresponding to the application is determined as the process to be frozen.

In step S801, the electronic device can respond to the background operation performed by the user, put the application currently running in the foreground into the background, and then find the process corresponding to the application according to the application identifier of the application being placed in the background, thereby determining the process to be frozen .

In some optional embodiments, before executing step S801, the electronic device may first determine whether the application placed in the background has a foreground-aware function. If it has a foreground-aware function, S801 will not be executed and the method will end. If there is no foreground-aware function, the electronic device will not execute step S801. If the function can be sensed, step S801 is executed.

For the specific process of step S801, please refer to steps S01 to S04 shown in FIG. 5 .

S802: Release the memory occupied by the process to be frozen through forced recycling.

In step S802, the electronic device may call the forced release interface of the memory allocator of the process to be frozen, so that the process to be frozen releases the occupied memory through forced recycling.

For the specific process of step S802, please refer to steps S05 to S08 shown in FIG. 5 .

S803, freeze the process to be frozen.

In step S803, after the memory is released, the electronic device can use the freezer of the kernel layer to freeze the process to be frozen.

For the specific process of step S803, please refer to step S09 shown in FIG. 5 and steps A08 to A10 shown in FIG. 6 .

The beneficial effects of the above method of releasing memory can be seen in the embodiments shown in FIG. 5 and FIG. 6 and will not be described again.

An embodiment of the present application provides an electronic device, including a memory and one or more processors.

Memory is used to store computer programs.

One or more processors are used to execute computer programs, specifically to implement the method for releasing memory provided in any embodiment of this application.

An embodiment of the present application also provides a computer storage medium for storing a computer program. When the computer program is executed, it is specifically used to implement the method of releasing memory provided by any embodiment of the present application.

Reference in this specification to "one embodiment" or "some embodiments" or the like means that a particular feature, structure or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment is included in one or more embodiments of the application. Therefore, the phrases "in one embodiment", "in some embodiments", "in other embodiments", "in other embodiments", etc. appearing in different places in this specification are not necessarily References are made to the same embodiment, but rather to "one or more but not all embodiments" unless specifically stated otherwise. The terms "including," "includes," "having," and variations thereof all mean "including but not limited to," unless otherwise specifically emphasized.

The plurality involved in the embodiments of this application refers to more than or equal to two. It should be noted that in the description of the embodiments of this application, words such as "first" and "second" are only used for the purpose of distinguishing the description, and cannot be understood as indicating or implying relative importance, nor can they be understood as indicating. Or suggestive order.

Claims (7)

1. A method for freeing memory, characterized by being applied to an electronic device, an operating system of the electronic device comprising a power saving application, a memory management service and a freezer, the method comprising:

When an application is placed in the background, the power-saving application judges whether the application has a foreground perceptible function according to a foreground perceptible application list, wherein the foreground perceptible application list is used for recording the application with the foreground perceptible function, whether the application has the foreground perceptible function is determined according to the category of the application, and the category of the application is obtained when the application is installed;

if the application has no foreground perceivable function, determining a process corresponding to the application as a process to be frozen; the process to be frozen comprises a function library and a memory allocator;

the power saving application sends a prefreezing notification to the memory management service, wherein the prefreezing notification carries a process identifier of the process to be frozen;

the memory management service sends a memory release signal to a function library of the process to be frozen according to the process identification of the process to be frozen;

the function library responds to the memory release signal and calls a forced release interface of the memory distributor;

the memory allocator releases the memory occupied by the process to be frozen according to a forced recovery mode;

after the power saving application determines that the memory occupied by the process to be frozen is released, a process freezing notification is issued to the freezer, wherein the process freezing notification carries a process identifier of the process to be frozen;

And the freezer freezes the process to be frozen according to the process identification of the process to be frozen.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein before determining the process to which the application corresponds as the process to be frozen, further comprising:

and responding to the user operation, and putting the application currently running in the foreground in the background.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein before determining the process to which the application corresponds as the process to be frozen, further comprising:

and when the electronic equipment is in screen off state, putting the application running in the foreground in the background.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the power saving application, after determining that the memory occupied by the process to be frozen is released, issues a process freeze notification to the freezer, comprising:

and after the power saving application obtains the notification of the completion of the memory release reported by the memory distributor, issuing a process freezing notification to the freezer.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the power saving application, after determining that the memory occupied by the process to be frozen is released, issues a process freeze notification to the freezer, comprising:

And the power-saving application transmits a process freezing notification to the freezer after transmitting the prefreezing notification and the preset waiting time.

6. An electronic device comprising a memory and one or more processors;

the memory is used for storing a computer program;

the one or more processors are configured to execute the computer program, in particular to implement the method of freeing memory as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 5.

7. A computer storage medium storing a computer program, which when executed is adapted to carry out the method of freeing memory according to any one of claims 1 to 5.