Patent ID: 8782637

Claim:
A mini-cloud system for enabling user subscription in a residential environment to a computing infrastructure, software, and digital content provided by one or more cloud service provider, comprising: a mini-cloud host device that connects remotely to a backend cloud supported by the cloud service provider, the mini-cloud host device comprising a hypervisor for hosting one or more virtual machine; one or more thin terminal for connecting to the virtual machine in the mini-cloud host device via a port extension protocol, wherein the port extension protocol uses a two tier solution comprising: a first tier where the thin terminal connects locally to the mini-cloud host device over a fast network link or directly via a cable; and a second tier where the thin terminal connects remotely to the backend cloud through the mini-cloud system over a slower network link; a subscription system that allows a user to subscribe to one or more content provided by the cloud service provider and access the content through the virtual machine supported by the mini-cloud host device, wherein a user subscription process comprises: a step for the user to sign on to a subscription plan provided by the cloud service provider, a step for the cloud service provider to create one or more virtual machine and provision the virtual machine on the mini-cloud host device, a step for a framework server component of the cloud service provider to configure the mini-cloud host device according to the provisioned virtual machine, a step for the user to connect the thin terminal to the provisioned virtual machine running on the mini-cloud host device via the port extension protocol.