Patent Publication Number: US-2017371700-A1

Title: Method and Apparatus for Managing Virtual Execution Environments Using Contextual Information Fragments

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     This application is a continuation of International Application No. PCT/CN2016/088148, filed on Jul. 1, 2016, which claims priority to European Patent Application No. EP15175287.0, filed on Jul. 3, 2015. The disclosures of the aforementioned applications are hereby incorporated by reference in their entireties. 
    
    
     TECHNICAL FIELD 
     The aspects of the present disclosure relate generally to mobile computing devices and in particular to management of virtual computing environments in a mobile computing device. 
     BACKGROUND 
     In recent years wireless devices have evolved from basic mobile phones providing simple voice and texting functionality into powerful mobile computing devices such as smart phones, tablets, or phablets. These mobile computing devices host a wide range of powerful software applications providing advanced feature sets covering a wide range of application areas including communications, internet, entertainment, banking, personal fitness as well as many others. Mobile computing devices are no longer a luxury item reserved for technology aficionados but instead have become essential tools for both business and personal use. 
     Over the years various virtualization methods have emerged to provide multiple execution environments on a single computing device. Hardware or platform virtualization creates an environment that appears to the hosted software as a real hardware based computer making the virtualization invisible. Hardware virtualization allows complete operating systems to be hosted in separate isolated environments on a single hardware computing platform and completely isolates each computing environment providing the security and protections necessary to protect corporate and personal information. Because virtualization is done at a hardware level, an entire conventional operating system can be hosted allowing each environment to run entirely different operating systems and applications without knowing whether they are running in a virtual environment or directly on a hardware platform. 
     Virtualization can also be done at the operating system level, often referred to as operating system virtualization. With operating system virtualization multiple isolated computing environments or containers are hosted on a single conventional operating system. Operating system virtualization often allows different versions of the same type of operating system, such as Linux, to be hosted in each container but does not allow different operating systems, such as Linux and Windows, to be hosted within different containers running on a single hardware platform. 
     The software that creates and runs virtual machines is referred to as a hypervisor or virtual machine monitor. A native hypervisor is one that runs directly on the hardware platform and creates one or more virtual environments in which a guest operating system is run. Alternatively a hypervisor may be run on top of or within a conventional operating system in which case they may be referred to as a hosted hypervisor. In either of these configurations, native hypervisor or hosted hypervisor, the virtual environments are managed and controlled by the hypervisor that created them. 
     Mobile phones or more generally, mobile computing devices, are becoming increasingly complex providing rich feature sets and a wide range and large number of applications for their users. This complexity makes it difficult for individuals and corporate Information Technology (IT) administrators to manage and secure these mobile devices. IT administrators prefer to manage isolated and known environments as a way to minimize changes in the systems and provide the required level of security in the managed environments and virtualization provides a useful solution for creating these isolated and known environments. 
     As a result of these trends, end users of mobile computing environments will find it necessary to manage multiple virtual environments on their mobile computing devices. Manually managing and switching between multiple environments can be burdensome for users. A users must first determine for themselves which virtual environment should be used then deactivate any currently active virtual environments, activate the desired virtual environ and wait while the mobile computing device launches the selected virtual environment. 
     Thus there is a need for improved methods and apparatus for managing virtual execution environments on a mobile computing device. 
     SUMMARY 
     According to a first aspect of the present invention, a computing apparatus includes a processor and a memory coupled with the processor and has a program to be executed in the processor. The program includes instructions for maintaining a plurality of virtual execution environments and determining context meta-data for the plurality of virtual execution environments. The program includes instructions for collecting current contextual information for the computing apparatus and activating one or more of the plurality of virtual execution environments based on the collected current contextual information and the context meta-data. 
     In a first possible implementation form of the apparatus according to the first aspect the program includes instructions configured to cause the processor to control access to the activated one or more of the plurality of virtual execution environments based on the current contextual information, the context meta-data, and a set of user credentials. The aspects of the disclosed embodiments enable access security to the activated virtual execution environments. 
     In a second possible implementation form of the apparatus according to the first aspect as such or to the first implementation form of the first aspect the current contextual information includes one or more of a geographic location, a movement information, and a battery and charging status of the computing apparatus, and the program includes instructions configured to cause the processor to select the activated one or more of the plurality of virtual execution environments based on the current contextual information. Including current contextual information provides for more accurate selection of a desired virtual execution environment to be activated and application of the appropriate security policies. 
     In a third possible implementation form of the apparatus according to the first aspect as such or to the first or second implementation form of the first aspect the current contextual information includes a current date and time. The program includes instructions configured to cause the processor to select the one or more of the plurality of virtual execution environments to activate based on the current contextual information. Inclusion of date and time information in the current contextual information allows coordination of virtual execution environment selection with calendar and other user schedule information. 
     In a fourth possible implementation form of the apparatus according to the first aspect as such or to the first through third implementation forms of the first aspect the current contextual information includes information about wireless access networks and the program includes instructions configured to cause the processor to select the one or more of the plurality virtual execution environments to activate based on the current contextual information. Use of wireless access network information allows determination of device location without activating GPS subsystem thereby obtaining similar advantages to location information without attendant battery drain. 
     In a fifth possible implementation form of the apparatus according to the first aspect as such or to the first through fourth implementation forms of the first aspect the program includes instructions configured to cause the processor to determine the context meta-data for the plurality of virtual execution environments by determining a plurality of environment meta-data, wherein each environment meta-data in the plurality of environment meta-data is associated with a corresponding virtual execution environment in the plurality of virtual execution environments. The aspects of the disclosed embodiments provide for more accurate virtual environment execution selection and activation. 
     In a sixth possible implementation form of the apparatus according to the first aspect as such or to the fifth implementation form of the first aspect the environment meta-data includes one or more of a user&#39;s working hours, a user&#39;s working location, a user&#39;s home location, and corporate policies. The program includes instructions configured to cause the processor to automatically update the environment meta-data based on a corporate database. Use of daily schedule and location information in the environment meta-data improves accuracy of virtual execution environment selection. 
     In a seventh possible implementation form of the apparatus according to the first aspect as such or to the fifth or sixth implementation forms the environment meta-data includes calendar information including at least one of a user&#39;s business trip information and a user&#39;s vacation information. The program includes instructions configured to cause the processor to automatically update the environment meta-data based on the calendar information. Including a user&#39;s calendar information in the environment meta-data improves selection of virtual execution environments when a user&#39;s daily routine or locations varies from normal patterns. 
     In an eighth possible implementation form of the apparatus according to the first aspect as such or to the first through seventh implementation form the program includes instructions configured to cause the processor to restrict access to one or more of the plurality of virtual execution environments based on the geographic location of the computing apparatus and preferably the environment meta-data. Restricting access to virtual execution environments based on geographic location provides added levels of security to be applied to highly sensitive or vulnerable virtual execution environments. 
     In a ninth possible implementation form of the apparatus according to the first aspect as such or to the first through eighth implementation forms of the first aspect the plurality of virtual execution environments includes one of a hardware virtualization and an operating system virtualization. Virtualizing the execution environments allows multiple execution environments to be activated and deactivated on a single mobile computing apparatus. 
     In a tenth possible implementation form of the apparatus according to the first aspect as such or to any of the first through ninth implementation forms of the first aspect the program includes instructions configured to cause the processor to provide hardware virtualization and to host the activated one or more of the plurality of virtual execution environments as guest software, wherein the activated one or more of the plurality of virtual execution environments comprises an operating system. Hardware virtualization provides reliable environment switching by including the operating system along with application software in each virtual environment. 
     In an eleventh possible implementation form of the apparatus according to the first aspect as such or to any of the first through tenth implementation forms of the first aspect the computing apparatus is a mobile computing apparatus. Use of virtual execution environments on a mobile computing apparatus eliminates the need for a user to carry multiple mobile computing apparatuses or devices. 
     In a twelfth possible implementation form of the apparatus according to the first aspect as such or to any of the first through eleventh implementations forms of the first aspect data security and protection from corruption is provided by an apparatus where the processor is configured to isolate one of the plurality of virtual execution environments from another of the virtual execution environments. 
     According to a second aspect of the present invention the above and further objects and advantages are obtained by a method for a computing apparatus including the steps of maintaining a plurality of virtual execution environments; determining context meta-data for the plurality of virtual execution environments, and collecting current contextual information for the computing apparatus. The method further includes activating one or more of the plurality of virtual execution environments based on the collected current contextual information and the context meta-data. 
     In a first possible implementation form of the method according to the second aspect the method includes determining the context meta-data for the plurality of virtual execution environments by determining a plurality of environment meta-data, wherein each environment meta-data in the plurality of environment meta-data is associated with a corresponding virtual execution environment in the plurality of virtual execution environments. 
     According to a third aspect of the present invention the above and further objects and advantages are obtained by a computer program product comprising non-transitory computer program instructions that when executed by a processing apparatus cause the processing apparatus to perform the method according to second aspect or to the first implementation form of the second aspect. 
     These and other aspects, implementation forms, and advantages of the exemplary embodiments will become apparent from the embodiments described herein considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. It is to be understood, however, that the description and drawings are designed solely for purposes of illustration and not as a definition of the limits of the disclosed invention, for which reference should be made to the appended claims. Additional aspects and advantages of the invention will be set forth in the description that follows, and in part will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention. Moreover, the aspects and advantages of the invention may be realized and obtained by means of the instrumentalities and combinations particularly pointed out in the appended claims. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       In the following detailed portion of the present disclosure, the invention will be explained in more detail with reference to the example embodiments shown in the drawings, in which: 
         FIG. 1  illustrates a block diagram showing an exemplary architecture incorporating aspects of the disclosed embodiments; 
         FIG. 2  illustrates a block diagram of an exemplary computing device incorporating aspect of the disclosed embodiments; 
         FIG. 3  illustrates a flow chart of an exemplary method for managing virtual execution environments incorporating aspects of the disclosed embodiments. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF ILLUSTRATIVE EMBODIMENTS 
     Referring now to  FIG. 1  there can be seen a block diagram illustrating an embodiment of an architecture  100  which may be advantageously employed to provide automatic activation of virtual execution environments on a mobile computing device according to an embodiment of the present invention. The software architecture includes a collection of virtual execution environments  104 - 1 ,  104 - 2 ,  104 - 3 ,  104 - n,  generally referred to as virtual execution environments  104 , where “n” represents the possible number of virtual execution environments in the collection. Each virtual execution environment  104 - 1 ,  104 - 2 ,  104 - 3 ,  104 - n  provides a fully isolated computer processing environment in which an operating system and a variety of applications may be executed. The virtual execution environments  104 - 1 ,  104 - 2 ,  104 - 3 ,  104 - n  may be created using any appropriate virtualization technique such as full hardware virtualization, operating system virtualization, or an appropriate combination or hybrid virtualization technique. 
     The aspects of the disclosed embodiments are directed to enabling automatic activation of virtual execution environments on an apparatus such as a mobile computing device employing the architecture  100 .  FIG. 2  illustrates a block diagram of an exemplary apparatus  200  appropriate for implementing aspects of the disclosed embodiments. The apparatus  200  includes a processor  202  coupled to a computer memory  204 , a radio frequency (RF) unit  206 , a user interface (UI)  208  and a display  210 . The apparatus  200  is appropriate for use as a computing device, which in certain embodiments may be a mobile computing device, including any of various types of wireless communications user equipment including cell phones, smart phones and tablet devices. For the purposes of the description herein, the apparatus  200  will be referred to as a mobile computing device. 
     The processor  202  may be a single processing device or may comprise a plurality of processing devices including special purpose devices, such as for example, digital signal processing (DSP) devices, microprocessors, specialized processing devices or general purpose computer processors. The processor  202  may be configured to implement any of the methods for automatic selection of virtual computing environments  104 - 1 ,  104 - 2 ,  104 - 3 ,  104 - n  as is described herein. The processor  202  often includes a CPU working in tandem with a graphics processing unit (GPU) and may include a DSP to handle signal processing tasks. In certain embodiments the processor  202  may include one or more, often four, cores. 
     The processor  202  is coupled to a memory  204  which may be a combination of various types of volatile and non-volatile computer memory such as for example read only memory (ROM), random access memory (RAM), magnetic or optical disk, or other types of computer memory. The memory  204  stores computer program instructions that may be accessed and executed by the processor  202  to cause the processor  202  to perform a variety of desirable computer implemented processes or methods such as the automatic selection of virtual execution environments as described herein. 
     The program instructions stored in memory  204  are organized as sets or groups of program instructions referred to in the industry with various terms such as programs, software components, software modules, units, etc. Each module may include a set of functionality designed to support a certain purpose. For example a software module may be of a recognized type such as a hypervisor  102 , a virtual execution environment  104 , an operating system, an application, a device driver, or other conventionally recognized type of software component. Also included in the memory  204  are program data and data files which may be stored and processed by the processor  202  while executing a set of computer program instructions. 
     In certain embodiments the mobile computing device  200  includes an RF Unit  206  coupled to the processor  202  and configured to transmit and receive RF signals based on digital data  212  exchanged with the processor  202 . The RF Unit  206  is configured to transmit and receive radio signals that may conform to one or more conventional wireless communication standards, such as for example Long Term Evolution (LTE) and LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) developed by the third generation partnership project (3GPP), Wi-fi based on the institute of electrical and electronics engineers (IEEE) 802.11 standards, as well as others. In certain embodiments, the RF Unit  206  includes receivers capable of receiving and interpreting messages sent from satellites in the global positioning system (GPS) and work together with information received from other transmitters to obtain positioning information pertaining to the location of the computing device  200 . Alternatively, the mobile computing device  200  may not include a RF unit  206 . 
     The UI  208  may include one or more user interface elements such as a touch screen, keypad, buttons, voice command processor, as well as other elements adapted for exchanging information with a user. The UI  208  may also include a display unit  210  configured to display a variety of information appropriate for a computing device or mobile user equipment and may be implemented using any appropriate display type such as for example organic light emitting diodes (OLED), liquid crystal display (LCD), as well as less complex elements such as LEDs or indicator lamps. In certain embodiments the display unit  210  incorporates a touch screen for receiving information from the user of the computing device  200 . 
     Referring again to  FIG. 1 , the virtual execution environments  104 , which may also be referred to as sandboxes, are created and managed by a hypervisor  102  running on a hardware computing device, such as the processor  202  of  FIG. 2 . The hypervisor  102  may be a native hypervisor running directly on the hardware computing device or alternatively the hypervisor  102  may be a hosted hypervisor running within a conventional operating system. With either of these approaches the hypervisor  102  creates each of the virtual execution environments  104 - 1  to  104 - n  and manages the execution state of each created virtual execution environment  104  throughout its lifecycle. 
     The state of a virtual execution environment  104  refers to its execution status. For example a virtual execution environment  104 - 1 ,  104 - 2 ,  104 - 3 ,  104 - n  may have a state of created, running, paused, stopped etc. In certain embodiments it may be advantageous to allow more than one virtual execution environment  104 - 1 ,  104 - 2 ,  104 - 3 ,  104 - n  to be running at the same time. For example, in these embodiments it may be useful to have additional states such as running in the foreground where a virtual execution environment  104 - 1 ,  104 - 2 ,  104 - 3 ,  104 - n  is running in the foreground and controls the user interface components of the mobile computing device  100  (such as the user interface  208 ). 
     As another example, it may be useful to have additional states such as running in the background where one or more virtual execution environment  104 - 1 ,  104 - 2 ,  104 - 3 ,  104 - n  is running in the background but does not have access to the user interface components of the mobile computing device  100  (such as the user interface  208 ). Those skilled in the art will readily recognize that a variety of different states may be employed without straying from the spirit and scope of the disclosed embodiments. 
     The hypervisor  102  comprises a context awareness engine  106  and a device state manager  108 . The context awareness engine  106  collects and manages contextual information for the mobile computing device  200  and determines context awareness information based on the collected contextual information. The context awareness information is made available to the device state manager  108  which automatically manages the states of the different virtual execution environments  104 - 1  to  104 - n  based on information fragments in the contextual information. For example, when the architecture  100  is implemented on the mobile computing device  200 , such as a mobile phone, separate and isolated mobile phone applications may be executed in each virtual execution environment  104 - 1 ,  104 - 2 ,  104 - 3 ,  104 - n.    
     For example, the separate and isolated mobile phone applications could include a user&#39;s work phone, which requires or has a restrictive and protective security policy. The separate and isolated mobile phone applications could also include a user&#39;s private phone, which requires or has a less restrictive security policy, allowing activities such as surfing the internet and game playing. These are merely examples, and it will be understood that the separate and isolated mobile phone applications can include any one of a number of security policies. 
     In one embodiment, the device state manager  108  may be configured to switch the work phone application to a running state and the private phone application to a paused state when the user enters a corporate facility. The information fragments collected as contextual information by the mobile device  200 , such as the corporate facility location, the users current location, and a corporate security policy, may be used to automatically enable and disable one or more of the virtual execution environments  104 - 1 ,  104 - 2 ,  104 - 3 ,  104 - n  so a user is always presented with the virtual execution environment  104 - 1 ,  104 - 2 ,  104 - 3 ,  104 - n  they are most likely to desire at any point in time. Information fragments from the contextual information may also be used to prevent or allow access to particular virtual execution environments  104  by controlling the state of the individual virtual execution environments  104 - 1 ,  104 - 2 ,  104 - 3 ,  104 - n.    
     Furthermore, the context awareness engine  106  collects various pieces of general information that may aide in selection of the most appropriate virtual execution environment  104 - 1 ,  104 - 2 ,  104 - 3 ,  104 - n  for the current conditions. The general information collected may include for example: home and office location(s); device user&#39;s policies related to device use; corporation&#39;s security policies; device user&#39;s working hours; business trip information; vacation information; user configured setup and rules; known or trusted wireless access networks; and other related information. 
     This collected information is processed in the context awareness engine  106  to create context meta-data that may be used later by the device state manager  108  for making state and access decisions for the virtual execution environments  104 - 1 ,  104 - 2 ,  104 - 3 ,  104 - n.    
     The context awareness engine  106  also collects and processes current information about the current condition and context of the mobile computing device  200 . The current contextual information may include for example: the device&#39;s geographic location; accelerometer data; battery and charging status; proximity to wireless access networks; and current date and time. 
     In certain embodiments, it is desirable to apply additional processing to the collected current information to enhance the current contextual information with higher level concepts such as whether the device  200  is at rest or in motion, walking, driving in a car, dropped, etc. 
     In certain embodiments, each virtual execution environment  104 - 1 ,  104 - 2 ,  104 - 3 ,  104 - n  may be viewed from a user&#39;s perspective as separate and distinct devices. For example, a user who needs to carry multiple mobile computing devices, such as a business phone and a personal phone, may replace these multiple devices with a single mobile computing device  200  that implements multiple virtual execution environments  104 - 1 ,  104 - 2 ,  104 - 3 ,  104 - n.  In this embodiment, one of the virtual execution environments  104 - 1  can be configured to run a business/work phone application and another virtual execution environment  104 - 2  can be configured to run a personal/private or home phone application. The user may then switch between the virtual execution environments  104 - 1 ,  104 - 2  as desired, thereby obtaining both the functionality and security of multiple separate devices with a single mobile computing device  200 . 
     Manually switching between different ones of the virtual execution environments  104 - 1 ,  104 - 2 ,  104 - 3 ,  104 - n  can be burdensome for users of the mobile computing device  200 . When switching between virtual execution environments  104 - 1 ,  104 - 2 ,  104 - 3 ,  104 - n  a user needs to determine which environment to use, select the desired virtual execution environment from the set of virtual execution environments  104 - 4   104 - 2 ,  104 - 3 ,  104 - n,  and possibly wait while the selected virtual execution environment comes up and connects to a wireless network. The above described methods and apparatus may be used to ease this burden by automatically managing the states of the virtual execution environments  104 - 1 ,  104 - 2 ,  104 - 3 ,  104 - n  to ensure that the virtual execution environment most likely to be needed by the mobile computing device  200  is running when needed. 
     It is instructive to look at some examples of how contextual awareness, i.e. analysis of contextual meta-data and current contextual information, may be used to manage virtual execution environments  104 - 1 ,  104 - 2 ,  104 - 3 ,  104 - n.  Referring to the above example with the business/work device and the home/private device, the business device, i.e. a virtual execution environment running a mobile communication application configured for business use, may be automatically enabled during business hours. Enabling the business device could be based on context meta data including the business hours and contextual information fragments including the current date and time. The term “enabled” as used herein refers to changing the state of a virtual execution environment  104 - 1 , in which an application such as a mobile communications application is running, to a foreground or running state and switching the remaining virtual execution environments  104 - 2 ,  104 - 3 ,  104 - n  to a non-accessible state, such as running in the background, paused, or stopped. 
     Alternatively, the business device could be automatically enabled when the mobile computing device  200  is detected as entering the office or work space based on context meta data including the office location and contextual information fragments including the current geographic location of the mobile computing device  200 . The business device may be automatically disabled and the home device automatically enabled when the mobile computing device  200  is detected as arriving at the user&#39;s home based on context meta data including the home and office locations and contextual information fragments including the current geographic location of the mobile computing device  200 . 
     As another example, when the user of the mobile computing device  200  goes on a business trip, the business device could be always enabled or disabled based on information fragments including corporate security policies and a corresponding business calendar. 
     Knowledge of wireless access networks may also be advantageously employed in certain embodiments. These wireless access networks may include wireless access networks known to the mobile computing device  200 , such as a work Wi-Fi network, home Wi-Fi network, or other known wireless access network. An example of environment switching based on wireless access networks may be to automatically enable or activate the business device when the mobile computing device  200  connects to the business Wi-Fi network. Similarly, the home device may be automatically enabled when the mobile computing device  200  detects a wireless access network associated with the user&#39;s home. 
     In one embodiment, switching between virtual execution environments  104 - 1 ,  104 - 2 ,  104 - 3 ,  104 - n  may be based on a connection to a known wireless access network or alternatively may be based on identification of a wireless access network without actually establishing a connection to the wireless access network. In either case, connection or identification, proximity to the wireless access network may be used for selection of a desired virtual execution environment  104 - 1 ,  104 - 2 ,  104 - 3 ,  104 - n.    
     In addition to automatically enabling or switching between virtual execution environments  104 - 1 ,  104 - 2 ,  104 - 3 ,  104 - n,  the above described architecture  100  may be advantageously employed to automatically manage device security while manually switching between virtual execution environments  104 - 1 ,  104 - 2 ,  104 - 3 ,  104 - n.  For example, a mobile computing device  200  could be configured to always require strong authentication before allowing a business device to be activated based on context meta data including corporate IT security policies. A particular virtual execution environment used to run very secure device applications could be prevented from running anytime the mobile computing device  200  is detected as being outside a predefined set of office locations based on context meta data including corporate IT security policies, locations of corporate facilities, and contextual information fragments including the current geographic location of the mobile computing device  200 . 
     In one embodiment, when a battery level of the mobile computing device  200  falls below a pre-determined level, a low power consumption virtual execution environment could be automatically enabled. In this example, a high power consuming virtual execution environment may be disabled based on contextual information fragments including the battery level and charging status. 
     The above examples of the use of context meta-data and current contextual information to manage and automatically enable/disable virtual execution environments are intended only as an aide to understanding and those skilled in the art will readily recognize that other applications are possible without straying from the spirit and scope of the presently disclosed embodiments. 
       FIG. 3  illustrates an exemplary method for managing virtual execution environments appropriate for implementation on a computing device such as the computing device  200  described above and with reference to  FIG. 2 . The exemplary method  300  is configured to manage  302  a set of two or more virtual execution environments such as the virtual execution environments  104 - 1 ,  104 - 2 ,  104 - 3 ,  104 - n.  The virtual execution environments being managed  302  may be any appropriate type of virtual execution environment including hardware virtualization, operating system virtualization, or other virtualization technique. The virtual execution environments may be isolated from each other such that software running in one virtual execution environment is not able to access data or otherwise corrupt software and data in a different virtual execution environment. In certain embodiments one or more of the virtual execution environments is implemented with full hardware virtualization and the virtual execution environments run a host operating system. 
     The exemplary method  300  determines  304  context meta-data for the virtual execution environments being managed or maintained  302 . In certain embodiments it is advantageous to further analyze or process the context meta-data to form environment meta-data corresponding to each virtual execution environment. The context meta-data or environment meta-data may include various pieces of context information such as a user&#39;s home location, user&#39;s work location or working hours, and corporate policies including corporate IT security policies. It may also be desirable to incorporate a user&#39;s calendar information, such as business trip information and vacation information, into the context or environment meta-data in order to improve automatic management of the virtual execution environments. 
     Current contextual information about things and conditions around the mobile computing device  200  is collected  306  (e.g. using sensors inside the computing devices) and provided to a context awareness engine such as the context awareness engine  106  described above. This collected current contextual information may include information about context of the mobile computing device  200  such the current date and time, current geographic location of the device, or movement status of the device such as acceleration, velocity, (WLAN) networks in close proximity to the device etc. It may also be advantageous to collect current contextual information regarding the status of the mobile computing device  200 , where the contextual information includes parameters such as battery level, charging status, device temperature, etc. 
     The collected current contextual information, context meta-data, and environment meta-data is then used to automatically activate  308  one or more of the virtual execution environments that a user of the mobile computing device  200  is most likely to require. 
     Thus, while there have been shown, described and pointed out, fundamental novel features of the invention as applied to the exemplary embodiments thereof, it will be understood that various omissions, substitutions and changes in the form and details of devices and methods illustrated, and in their operation, may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the presently disclosed invention. Further, it is expressly intended that all combinations of those elements, which perform substantially the same function in substantially the same way to achieve the same results, are within the scope of the invention. Moreover, it should be recognized that structures and/or elements shown and/or described in connection with any disclosed form or embodiment of the invention may be incorporated in any other disclosed or described or suggested form or embodiment as a general matter of design choice. It is the intention, therefore, to be limited only as indicated by the scope of the claims appended hereto.