RECLAIMING MEMORY FROM DELETED APPLICATIONS

The invention provides a method for removing code (applications and data) from read-only memory, and compacting the remaining code in memory either as an application is deleted or when there is not sufficient room to hold a new application. One or more “spare” memory segments are reserved for use during compaction. Where the code for removal shares a memory segment with other code that is not to be removed, the other code is copied to a spare memory segment, and then swapped back to its original location. The code can then be compacted to remove the “holes” left by the erased code.