Patent ID: 8352868

Claim:
A method for allocating computing resources, the method comprising: predetermining two or more resource allocation options; displaying a plurality of the predetermined resource allocation options within an options dialog box, wherein each option indicates a different allocation of resources between at least one resource on a local computing system and at least one resource on a remote computing system, wherein the resources are selected from (i) processing power, (ii) storage, and (iii) network bandwidth; accepting a signal from a user-input device to select one of the plurality of resource allocation options in association with processing at least one or more functions of a file or application from the local computing system; displaying a first region and a second region on a display screen, wherein the first region corresponds to a first allocation of the resources on the local computing system, wherein the second region corresponds to a second allocation of the resources on the remote computing system; displaying at least one icon; wherein the icon is a representation of the file or application; determining, by using the local computing system, the file or application to be processed by accepting a signal from a user-input device to drag and drop the icon from the first region into the second region; changing an allocation of the resources from the first allocation to the second allocation; using the second allocation of resources to perform the function associated with the file or application represented by the icon; accepting a signal from a user-input device to move the icon from the second region into the first region; changing an allocation of the resources from the second allocation to the first allocation in response to moving the icon; and using the first allocation of resources to perform the function associated with the file or application represented by the icon.