Scheduled-task pattern
Intent: Ensure that desired operations are performed at specific points in the future.
In RealTime systems, it is often necessary to ensure that something is done at a specific time. A scheduler object (note: not quite the same as SchedulerPattern) keeps track of these actions, and invokes them at the appropriate times.
Times may be expressed as "wall time" or as some sort of internal time ("ticks", milliseconds-since-startup, etc.).
If highly accurate scheduling of tasks is needed (to milliseconds or less), the scheduler task needs to run at a very high priority, or be hooked into a high-frequency interrupt routine.
Is there another, more common name for this pattern?
See also: CommandPattern, MementoPattern
The PPR has MartinFowler's "Recurring Events" document at http://c2.com/ppr/schedule.pdf
CategoryPattern | CategoryBehavioralPatterns | CategoryRealTimePatterns