Jimmie Earl Dewitt

System and method for performing monitoring of resources in a data processing system in real time

A graphical system resource monitor is provided to depict, in real-time, a data processing systems internal resource utilization. A window or viewport of a data processing system displays user specified internal system resources, such as memory, CPU, or peripheral device availability/utilization. This graphical representation of the `state` of the data processing systems resources is maintained in real-time, while the impact on the systems performance in providing such information is kept to a minimum. This is accomplished through a combination of various techniques, including specialized device drivers for the respective devices coupled with a unique data reduction technique. The graphical results of these resource monitors are continually updated in real-time. This real-time support provides an immediate and accurate representation of the internal operations of the data processing system. Further, these resources can monitored at the process level of a multiprocessing system. These representations can be used by a user to identify, isolate, and fine-tune the data processing systems resources to improve the overall efficiency of the system being monitored.