Abstract:
An electronic system includes: a portable electronic device; and an electronic device, for detecting whether the portable electronic device is available, and transferring a partial task of a first task, which is to be processed by the electronic device, to the portable electronic device via a transmission interface if the portable electronic device is available; wherein the portable electronic device processes the partial task to generate a processed result and transfers the processed result to the electronic device via the transmission interface such that the electronic device is capable of completely processing the first task.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The present invention relates to an electronic system, and more particularly, to an electronic system having multiple electronic devices, which can share resources with each other. 
     2. Description of the Prior Art 
     In nowadays, electronic devices and portable electronic devices are widely used and have become necessary tools in our normal life. An electronic device, such as a personal computer, is very convenient for users to store data, perform mathematical calculations, and access the internet to gather information. Besides, a portable electronic device, such as a cell phone or a PDA, allows a user to communicate with other people, and to store some information (i.e: phone book). 
     As is known, the technology changes very rapidly. Novel hardware structure, new interfaces, and more complicated software programs are developed quickly. It means that the old electronic device may not support the above-mentioned new interface or may not execute the complicated software program efficiently. This forces the user to update their electronic device (mostly, to buy a new one). 
     But, to update the electronic devices too frequently is neither economical nor environmental. The industry needs to find a solution to lengthen the life time of an electronic device. For example, as time goes by, if an electronic device should be still able to execute more complicated tasks, the electronic device can survive longer. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     It is therefore a primary objective of the claimed invention to provide an electronic system having electronic devices, which can share their resources, to solve the above-mentioned problems. 
     According to an objective of the present invention, an electronic system is provided. The electronic system comprises: a portable electronic device; and an electronic device, for detecting whether the portable electronic device is available, and transferring a partial task of a first task, which is to be processed by the electronic device, to the portable electronic device via a transmission interface if the portable electronic device is available; wherein the portable electronic device processes the partial task to generate a processed result and transfers the processed result to the electronic device via the transmission interface such that the electronic device is capable of completely processing the first task. 
     According to another objective of the present invention, an electronic system is provided. The electronic system comprises a portable electronic device; and an electronic device, for processing a first task to generate a processed result, detecting whether the portable electronic device is available, and transferring the processed result to the portable electronic device via a transmission interface if the portable electronic device is available; wherein the portable electronic device temporarily storing the processed result and transfers the processed result back to the electronic device via the transmission interface when the electronic device needs the processed result. 
     These and other objectives of the present invention will no doubt become obvious to those of ordinary skill in the art after reading the following detailed description of the preferred embodiment that is illustrated in the various figures and drawings. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is a diagram of an electronic system according to the present invention. 
         FIG. 2  shows a block diagram of the electronic system shown in  FIG. 1 . 
         FIG. 3  is a diagram showing how the PC and the cell phone work together according to a first embodiment of the present invention. 
         FIG. 4  is a diagram showing how the PC and the cell phone work together according to a second embodiment of the present invention. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     Please refer to  FIG. 1 , which is a diagram of an electronic system  10  according to the present invention. As shown in  FIG. 1 , the electronic system  10  comprises an electronic device  100  and a portable electronic device  200 . In this embodiment, the electronic device  100  is a personal computer, and the portable electronic device  200  is a cell phone. The personal computer  100  and the cell phone  200  are connected via a wireless transmission interface. 
     Please note, in this embodiment, the personal computer  100  and the cell phone  200  do not work separately. Instead, the personal computer  100  and the cell phone  200  are able to communicate with each other, and share their resources with each other via the wireless transmission interface. 
     In this embodiment, when the personal computer  100  processes a task, the personal computer  100  searches for an available portable electronic device, which could be used to share resource with it. Here, the cell phone  200  is available for sharing resource with the personal computer  100 , and thus can be regarded as an extended device of the personal computer  100 . In this embodiment, the cell phone  200  provides its hardware to help the personal computer  100  process the task. 
     Please note, in an embodiment of the present invention, the personal computer  100  transfers a partial task of the task to be processed to the cell phone  200  via the transmission interface  300 . And then, the cell phone  200  processes the partial task to generate an execution result. The personal computer  200  processes the task except for the partial task. Then, when the personal computer  200  needs the execution result to completely process the task, the cell phone  200  transfers the execution result of the partial task back to the personal computer. In this way, the personal computer  200  can utilize the execution result to completely process the task. 
     From the above, it can be seen that the personal computer  100  and cell phone  200  co-works to process the task. 
     In another embodiment of the present invention, the cell phone  200  can be regarded as an external storage device of the personal computer  100 . This means the personal computer  100  can utilize the cell phone  200  as a data buffer. 
     That is, when the personal computer  100  processes a task, the personal computer  100  transfers the processed result to the cell phone  200  for temporary storage. And then, when the personal computer  100  needs the processed result in the following execution, the processed result is sent back to the personal computer  100  such that the personal computer  100  can completely process the task. 
     Furthermore, the aforementioned sharing mechanism can be implemented for one having ordinary skills in the art, and thus omitted here. For example, the personal computer  100  and the cell phone  200  can embed an identification software program and a sharing software program. Both the personal computer  100  and the cell phone  200  execute the verification software program first to identify each other in order to get ready to communicate. And then, the personal computer  100  and the cell phone  200  execute the sharing program to perform the above-mentioned procedure such that the cell phone  200  can be the external processing unit or the data buffer of the personal computer  100 . 
     Please refer to  FIG. 2 , which shows a block diagram of the electronic system  10  shown in  FIG. 1 . As shown in  FIG. 2 , the personal computer  100  comprises a CPU  110  and a memory  120 . The memory  120  stores an identification program  121 , a sharing program  122 , and a task  123 . The task  123  comprises a partial task  124 . The personal computer  100  and the cell phone  200  are connected via the wireless transmission interface  300 . 
     In addition, the cell phone comprises a CPU  210  and a memory  220 . The memory  220  stores an identification program  221  and a sharing program  222 . 
     When the personal computer  100  starts to process the task  123 , the CPU  110  processes the task  123  stored in the memory  120 , and executes the identification program  121  stored in the memory  120  to search whether there is an available portable electronic device. 
     In this embodiment, the CPU  110  executes the identification program  121  to emit an identification request to a portable electronic device. And if the portable electronic device is able to communicate with the personal computer  100 , the portable electronic device will response to the request and the personal computer  100  and the portable electronic device can establish the connection. The identification program  121  can also comprise a security mechanism. The security mechanism will check the identity of the portable electronic device and only if the portable electronic device is on a predefined list, the personal computer  100  and the portable electronic device will establish the connection. 
     For example, in this embodiment, after receiving the above-mentioned request, the CPU  210  of the cell phone  200  responses to the request (e.g. send a response to the personal computer  100 ) to inform the personal computer  100  that the cell phone  200  is available and ready to communicate such that the cell phone  200  and the personal computer  100  can establish the connection. 
     After the connection is established, the CPU  110  executes the sharing program  122  and the CPU  210  executes the sharing program  222  such that the personal computer  100  and the cell phone  200  can establish the sharing mechanism. 
     Please refer to  FIG. 3 , which is a diagram showing how the PC  100  and the cell phone  200  work together according to a first embodiment of the present invention. As shown in  FIG. 3 , after the sharing mechanism is established, the PC  100  transfers the partial task  124 , which is a part of the being-processed task, to the cell phone  200 . The CPU  210  receives the partial task, and recognizes that the partial task should be processed according to the sharing program  222 . And then, the CPU  210  executes the partial task to generate a processed result  224  and stores the processed result  224  in the memory  220 . 
     Simultaneously, the CPU  110  processes the task. Please note, in this embodiment, the CPU  110  does not process the partial task. Instead, the cell phone  200  is responsible for processing the partial task. Therefore, the CPU  110  needs the processed result  224  to complete the task. When the CPU  110  needs the processed result  224 , the CPU  110  executes the sharing program  122  to send a request to the cell phone  200 . And then, the cell phone  210  receives the request, and sends the processed result  224  to the PC  100 . In this way, the PC  100  can process the remaining task according to the processed result  224  such that the task can be completely processed. The CPU  210  can also transmit the processed result to the PC  100  after the partial task  124  is being processed. 
     Similarly, in another embodiment, the cell phone  200  acts as a data buffer. Please refer to  FIG. 4 , which is a diagram showing how the PC  100  and the cell phone  200  work together according to a second embodiment of the present invention. 
     As shown in  FIG. 4 , after the sharing mechanism is established, the PC  100  processes the partial task  124 , which is a part of the being-processed task, to generate a processed result  125 . The processed result  125  will be used later. And then, the CPU  110  transfers the processed result  125  to the cell phone  200 . The CPU  210  receives the processed result  125 , and the CPU  210  stores the processed result  125  in the memory  220 . 
     Simultaneously, the CPU  110  continues to process the task. When the CPU  110  needs the processed result  125 , the CPU  110  executes the sharing program  122  to send a request to the cell phone  200 . And then, the cell phone  210  receives the request, and sends the processed result  125  to the PC  100 . In this way, the PC  100  can process the remaining task according to the processed result  125  such that the task can be completely processed. 
     Please note, the PC  100  is not limited to transmit the partial task or the processed result, only. In another embodiment of the present invention, the PC  100  can transmit some data that will not be used frequently to the memory  220  of the cell phone  200 . For example, the PC  100  can determine the priority of data and deliver the data to different destinations according to the priority. If the priority is the highest, it means the data will be used immediately or very frequently so that the PC  100  transfers the data to a cache or DRAM of the PC  100 . But if the priority of the data is lower (or complies with a predetermined priority criterion), it means the data would be used not so frequently. Therefore, the PC  100  transfers the data to the memory  220  of the cell phone  200  and the cell phone  200  can temporarily store it until the PC  100  needs it. 
     Please note, the present invention does not limit the type of the memory  220  of the cell phone  200 . In this embodiment, the memory  220  can be a flash memory or a DRAM. These changes also obey the spirit of the present invention. 
     In addition, the present invention does not limit the location of memory space where the data (processed data or partial task) should be stored. The cell phone  200  can store the data randomly. Or, the cell phone  200  can create a dedicated memory space for the PC  100  and all the data transferred by the PC  100  are stored inside the dedicated memory space. These changes also obey the spirit of the present invention. 
     In the above-mentioned embodiments, the cell phone  200  and the personal computer  100  are connected via the wireless transmission interface  300 . And this structure is only utilized as an embodiment, not a limitation. In the actual implementation, the cell phone  200  and the personal computer  100  can be connected via every transmission interface including wire and wireless interfaces. For example, the wire transmission interface can be any cable, or USB interfaces, and the wireless transmission interface can be Bluetooth, infrared ray transmission interface, or WLAN interfaces. 
     In addition, the personal computer  100  and the cell phone  200  are only used as embodiments, not limitations of the present invention. In the actual implementation, the electronic device can be implemented with a laptop, a server, or any other electronic device, and the portable electronic device can be implemented with a laptop or PDA. These changes all obey the spirit of the present invention. 
     Those skilled in the art will readily observe that numerous modifications and alterations of the device and method may be made while retaining the teachings of the invention.