Method and system for permutation encoding of digital data

1. A computer implemented method performed by one or more computing devices executing a directing process, the method comprising:

obtaining a plurality of files comprising a first file, each of the plurality of files storing a portion of an original application file, the portion being less than the entire original application file, the portion comprising one or more data blocks obtained from the original application file, each of the plurality of files further comprising, for each of the one or more data blocks, a location in the original application file from which the data block was obtained, the first file comprising a size indicator indicating a size of the original application file;

allocating, by the directing process, a shared block of memory having a size indicated by the size indicator, the shared block of memory comprising a plurality of memory locations, a different one of the plurality of memory locations corresponding to the location in the original application file from which each of the one or more data blocks of each of the plurality of files was obtained;

allocating a bit array having a portion corresponding to each of the plurality of memory locations of the shared block of memory;

for each of the plurality of files, the directing process (a) storing each particular one of the one or more data blocks in a particular one of the plurality of memory locations that corresponds to the location in the original application file from which the particular data block was obtained, and (b) modifying the portion of the bit array corresponding to the particular memory location to indicate that the particular memory location is storing the particular data block;

before the shared block of memory comprises the entire original application file, the directing process initiating execution of a reconstructed application file comprising data stored by the shared block of memory to thereby at least partially implement an application, the shared block of memory being accessible by both the application and the directing process;

storing, by the application, a sentinel object in the shared block of memory;

checking, by the application, the bit array for a requested data block;

obtaining, by the application, the requested data block when the bit array indicates the requested data block is stored in the shared block of memory;

sending, by the application, a request for the requested data block to the directing process when the bit array indicates the requested data block is not stored in the shared block of memory;

waiting, by the application, for the requested data block to be stored in the shared block of memory by the directing process when the bit array indicates the requested data block is not stored in the shared block of memory; and

determining, by the directing process, that the application has terminated execution based on the sentinel object.

2. The computer implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the reconstructed application file is executed after the one or more data blocks of the first file are stored in the shared block of memory, and before the one or more data blocks of others of the plurality of files are stored in the shared block of memory.

3. The computer implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the reconstructed application file is executed by a virtual runtime engine, and the computer implemented method further comprises:

for each of the plurality of files, sending, by the directing process a notification to the virtual runtime engine after storing the one or more data blocks of the file in the shared block of memory.

4. The computer implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the application is a virtual application.

5. The computer implemented method of claim 1 , wherein each of the plurality of files further comprises a signature, and the method further comprises:

for each of the plurality of files, determining whether the signature of the file is valid before storing the one or more data blocks of the file in the shared block of memory and storing the one or more data blocks of the file in the shared block of memory only if the signature is determined to be valid.

6. The computer implemented method of claim 1 wherein each of the plurality of files further comprises a version stamp, and the method further comprises:

for each of the plurality of files, determining whether the version stamp identifies a version compatible with a runtime engine before storing the one or more data blocks of the file in the shared block of memory, and storing the one or more data blocks of the file in the shared block of memory only if the version identified by the version stamp is determined to be compatible with the runtime engine.

7. The computer implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the sentinel object is a named kernel object.

8. The computer implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the sentinel object is a named mutex.

9. The computer implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the directing process polls for the sentinel object and determines that the application has terminated execution when the sentinel object is not found by the polling.

10. The computer implemented method of claim 1 wherein

the directing process names the shared block of memory using a session identifier.

11. The computer implemented method of claim 10 , further comprising:

providing, by the directing process, the session identifier to the application.