Patent ID: 7467324

Claim:
A processing system, comprising: a secondary data storage device having a plurality of processes stored on the secondary data storage device, the plurality of processes comprising a first group of processes and a second group of processes; a primary memory operable to store the first group of processes and the second group of processes, the first group of processes being adapted to be swapped between the secondary data storage device and the memory for execution, and the second group of processes being adapted to be locked in the primary memory during the operation of the processing system; a processor operable to execute the plurality of processes out of at least one of the secondary data storage device and the primary memory and to swap the first group of processes between the secondary data storage device and the primary memory; and a first process operable to determine that a second process, in the second group of processes, is critical to at least one selected operation and request an operating system of the processing system to lock the second process in memory.