Patent ID: 8341624

Claim:
A method for controlling display image data generation, comprising: encoding, by a virtual machine of a plurality of virtual machines of a host computer, an update to a desktop image to generate an encoded update as part of communicating the update with a remote computer, wherein the desktop image is rendered by a processing resource of the host computer at an update rate that is dependent on an allocation of the processing resource to the virtual machine amongst a plurality of virtual machines sharing the processing resource; generating a quality prediction for a display, at the remote computer, of a decoding of the encoded update, wherein the quality prediction (a) is based on an analysis of the update and a constraint of a network used to communicate the encoded update to the remote computer, and (b) comprises a prediction of pixel updates that would be dropped when communicating future updates to the desktop image to the remote computer; and adjusting the allocation based on the quality prediction and a desired quality target.