Reconstructing a purged data object using a hierarchical data structure

摘要

A data processing system is arranged to perform a procedure which includes a plurality of respective tasks, each of which produces and/or processes a respective data object. The system comprises a processor to execute program instructions which maintain a data structure for each one of the tasks, and a memory which is used to store the data object. The data structure stores the instructions and parameters for performing the task. Memory management is carried out by the processor which determines whether to save the data objects to memory or to purge them based on their usage and the capacity of the memory. Where a data object has been purged from memory and is needed again, the purged data object is reconstructed using the associated data structure. In a further embodiment, the invention is used in a mass spectrometer data analysis system.