Master Thesis - Past Projects - Abstract

Dynamic application download and memory management for an IP-based set-top box

ID: LiTH-IDA-Ex-04/064-SE

This thesis covers the design and implementation of a dynamic application download service and memory management for an IP-based set-top box. A set-top box is a light weight computer with very limited resources. Since it has no large persistent memory, such as a hard disk, the software has to be downloaded at boot. The limited amount of memory (RAM) makes the desired number of services (applications) not able to fit into the memory of the set-top box. The solution to this problem is to implement a dynamic application download service together with a memory management. This would make it possible to install and uninstall applications at runtime. An automated, general solution was implemented. This resulted in a relatively easy-administered dynamic application download process. It is supported by memory management mechanisms, based on uninstalling the least prioritized applications when free memory is needed.

Keywords: dynamic application download, memory management, set-top box

Author(s): Per Andersson

Contact: Simin Nadjm-Tehrani