Patent ID: 8527563

Claim:
In a networked computing environment including a local computer system running one or more applications and a remote computer system that displays graphical information for the one or more applications at the local computer system, the remote computer system including a plurality of surfaces, a method of transferring display information, the method comprising: sending a command from the local computer system to the remote computer system to retain drawing information and meta information on the remote computer system; sending drawing information to the remote computer system, wherein the drawing information includes drawing commands for displaying graphical information on the remote computer system associated with the one or more applications, wherein the one or more applications are associated with a window of a plurality of windows on the remote computer system; sending meta information to the remote computer system identifying a surface from among the plurality of surfaces to which the drawing information applies, wherein the window is associated with the surface; sending first composition information to the remote computer system defining display characteristics of the surface, wherein the first composition information comprises first composition tree information identifying a hierarchical relationship between the surface and the plurality of surfaces, and wherein the first composition tree information indicates that the window should be displayed in a background on the remote computer system; and sending second composition information to the remote computer system, wherein the second composition information comprises second composition tree information identifying a changed hierarchical relationship between the surface and the plurality of surfaces, and wherein the second composition tree information indicates that the window should be displayed in a foreground on the remote computer system based on the retained drawing information and the retained meta information.