Patent Document

BACKGROUND 
       [0001]    Virtualization technologies are becoming ubiquitous in the marketplace. These technologies may provide a virtual hardware abstraction to guest operating systems, so that applications may run in a functionally isolated environment on a host computer. Virtualization allows multiple instances of a virtual machine to run on one or more physical host computers, so that these virtual machines may share the resources of the one or more physical host computers. 
         [0002]    To manage or monitor the desktop operating systems associated with the multiple virtual machines, one convention approach is to utilize a wall of monitors. Not only is such an approach costly, but it is also likely to require significant physical space and power to operate. Another conventional approach is to display the desktops on a user interface of a computing device. Due to network bandwidth constraints, such an approach tends to be limited to displaying relatively static desktop images. 
       SUMMARY 
       [0003]    Methods and systems configured to facilitate monitoring of multiple remote desktops in a user interface of a wireless device are provided. One example method includes maintaining image data representing a prior state of graphical displays of a plurality of graphical user interfaces associated with the remote desktops, and in response to receiving a first request specifying first display information from the wireless device, preparing first update information for a first scaled image corresponding to content of a first graphical display. The first scaled image contains image data defining a lower resolution version of a current state of a first graphical display out of the graphical displays, and the scaled version is being sized according to the first display information received from the wireless device. The example method also includes transmitting the prepared first update information to the wireless device to be displayed in the user interface. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0004]      FIG. 1  is a block diagram illustrating a simplified view of a system, in accordance with at least some embodiments of the present disclosure. 
           [0005]      FIG. 2  illustrates example block diagrams of a device and a host system of  FIG. 1  that are configured to facilitate the monitoring of remote desktops, in accordance with at least some embodiments of the present disclosure. 
           [0006]      FIG. 3  illustrates flow diagrams for enabling a wireless device to monitor multiple remote desktops, in accordance with at least some embodiments of the present disclosure. 
           [0007]      FIG. 4  is a block diagram illustrating a computer program product that implements a method to monitor multiple remote desktops, in accordance with at least some embodiments of the present disclosure. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       [0008]    In the following detailed description, reference is made to the accompanying drawings, which form a part hereof. In the drawings, similar symbols typically identify similar components, unless context dictates otherwise. The illustrative embodiments described in the detailed description, drawings, and claims are not meant to be limiting. Other embodiments may be utilized, and other changes may be made, without departing from the spirit or scope of the subject matter presented here. It will be readily understood that the aspects of the present disclosure, as generally described herein, and illustrated in the Figures, can be arranged, substituted, combined, and designed in a wide variety of different configurations, all of which are explicitly contemplated herein. 
         [0009]    Throughout this disclosure, “desktop environment” generally refers to an implementation of a desktop metaphor graphical user interface. “Remote desktop” generally refers to a desktop environment that can be run remotely on a host system. Although the graphical user interface associated with a remote desktop is often illustrated to be associated with a virtual machine (VM), it should be recognized that such a graphical user interface may instead be associated with a physical computing device that can be accessed remotely. 
         [0010]      FIG. 1  is a block diagram illustrating a simplified view of a system  100 , in accordance with at least some embodiments of the present disclosure. System  100  includes one or more host systems  102 - 1  to  102 - n  (collectively as “host systems  102 ”) that are coupled to a network  110  (e.g., the Internet). The system  100  also includes multiple devices  104 - 1 ,  104 - 2 ,  104 - 3 , and others (collectively as “devices  104 ”) that are coupled to the network  110 . The devices  104  may be smart phones, tablet computers, laptop computers, desktop computers, and other computing devices. 
         [0011]    The system  100  may be configured to support desktop virtualization, which generally refers to technologies that separate the desktop environment and associated application software from the physical device that is used to access it. In one embodiment, each of the devices  104  may include an operating system (OS)  106  and a remote desktop client  108  running on the OS  106 . The remote desktop client  108  enables the devices  104  to interact with an application executing in the host systems  102  using a remote display protocol. Some example remote display protocols may include, without limitation, Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) and PC-over-IP (PCoIP). 
         [0012]    The host systems  102  may be configured to support a virtualization software layer, or for example, a hypervisor  120 , which is implemented based on a hardware platform  128 . The hypervisor  120  may support a virtual machine execution space within which one or more virtual machines (VMs), such as VMs  124  and  126 , may be concurrently instantiated and executed. The host systems  102  may also include a system administrator  122  having functions supported by the VMs and the hypervisor  120 . The system administrator  122  may be configured to monitor and manage multiple VMs. In the illustrated example shown in  FIG. 1 , the devices  104 - 2  and  104 - 3  access their remote desktops, which are associated with the VMs  124  and  126 , respectively, via the network  110 . For a specific VM (e.g., VM  124  or VM  126 ), the hypervisor  120  may provide a corresponding virtual hardware platform dedicated to provide virtualized hardware services to the specific VM. Such a virtual hardware platform may contain virtual hardware components such as, without limitation, virtual storage, virtual network interface card (NIC), virtual memory, and one or more virtual processors. These virtual hardware components may emulate corresponding physical hardware components similar to the ones in the physical hardware platform  128 . In one embodiment, the virtual hardware platform may support operating systems such as, without limitation, Microsoft Windows®, Linux®, Solaris® x86, NetWare, and FreeBSD. 
         [0013]    It should be recognized that the various terms, layers and categorizations used to describe the virtualization components in conjunction with  FIG. 1  may be referred to differently without departing from their functionalities or the spirit and scope of the present disclosure. It should further be recognized that other virtualized computer system architectures may be used along with the teachings herein. For example, the hypervisor  120  may be designed to run on top of an operating system that can directly access the physical hardware platform  128 . 
         [0014]    In one embodiment, the device  104 - 1  may be configured to monitor the remote desktops of the device  104 - 2  and the device  104 - 3 , so that a user interface  140  of the device  104 - 1  could display graphical user interfaces  130  and  132 , which are associated with the VMs  124  and  126 , respectively. To illustrate, suppose the user interface  140  of the device  104 - 1  is configured to arrange clickable and/or viewable elements in a three-dimensional (3D) cube. In some implementations, the geometric data for the 3D cube may be defined and generated by the device  104 - 1 . Alternatively, the geometric data for the 3D cube may be generated by the host systems  102 . By using a texture mapping technique, the device  104 - 1  may apply a scaled image (e.g., a thumbnail) corresponding to the contents of the graphical display associated with the graphical user interface  130  to a surface  142  of the 3D cube and apply another scaled image corresponding to the contents of the graphical display associated with the graphical user interface  132  to a surface  144 . It should be recognized that the device  104 - 1  may support many other user interfaces or display the scaled images in different ways without departing from the spirit and scope of the present disclosure. For example, the user interface  140  may support other 3D objects (e.g., sphere) that could displays multiple scaled images. Also, the scaled images corresponding to the graphical user interfaces  130  and graphical user interface  132  may both appear on a single surface (e.g., the surface  142 ) of the cube. 
         [0015]      FIG. 2  illustrates example block diagrams of the device  104 - 1  and the host system  102 - 1  of  FIG. 1  that are configured to facilitate the monitoring of remote desktops, in accordance with at least some embodiments of the present disclosure. In one embodiment, the host system  102 - 1  includes a desktop identifier  200 , one or more image modifiers  202 , one or more image data storages  204 , and a consolidation unit  206 . It should be noted that the functions associated with any of the aforementioned blocks may be further divided or combined and may also be supported by the system administrator  122  of  FIG. 1 . Briefly, the desktop identifier  200  is configured to identify the appropriate desktop, or the graphical user interface (e.g., the graphical user interfaces  130  and/or  132 ) of the appropriate VM (e.g., VMs  124  and/or  126 ), to be displayed on the device  104 - 1 . Each of the image modifiers  202  is configured to modify the identified graphical user interface of the VM. For example, from time to time, the image modifier  202  may generate a scaled image having a reduced resolution (e.g., a thumbnail image) of the identified graphical user interface. Each of the image modifiers  202  may also be coupled to its image data storage  204 , so that the modified image data, which are generated at different times, can be maintained. The consolidation unit  206  is configured to collect all the scaled images that are destined for the same device configured to monitor the graphical user interfaces  130  and  132  (e.g., the device  104 - 1 ), prepare update information associated with the scaled images, and transmit the prepared update information in a manner that would consume less network bandwidth. Subsequent paragraphs will further detail the operations of the host system  102 - 1 . 
         [0016]    In one embodiment, the device  104 - 1  includes an input manager  210 , an image processor  212 , and a display information processor  214 . Similarly, it should be noted that the functions associated with any of the aforementioned blocks may be further divided or combined and may also be supported by the OS  106 , the remote desktop client  108 , or the combination of the two components of  FIG. 1 . Briefly, the input manager  210  is configured to process any input data received by the device  104 - 1 . For example, based on the input data, the input manager  210  may determine that the surface  142  of the user interface  140  has become back-facing, and thus texture data for the surface is no longer needed. Based on the output of the input manager  210  and the image data received from host system  102 - 1 , the image processor  212  is configured to determine how the newly received image data can be applied to update the user interface of the device  104 - 1 . Based on the output of the input manager  210 , the display information processor  214  is configured to generate requirements for the host system  102 - 1 . For example, the host system  102 - 1  may be requested to transmit reduced-resolution images (e.g., thumbnail images), not full-resolution images, at certain sizes. Subsequent paragraphs will further detail the operations of the device  104 - 1 . 
         [0017]      FIG. 3  illustrates flow diagrams for enabling a wireless device to monitor multiple remote desktops, in accordance with at least some of the present disclosure. Processes  300  and  320  may set forth various functional blocks or actions that may be described as processing steps, functional operations, events, and/or acts, which may be performed by hardware, software, and/or firmware. Those skilled in the art in light of the present disclosure will recognize that numerous alternatives to the functional blocks shown in  FIG. 3  may be practiced in various implementations. 
         [0018]    One skilled in the art will appreciate that, for this and other processes and methods disclosed herein, the functions performed in the processes and methods may be implemented in differing order. Furthermore, the outlined steps and operations are only provided as examples, and some of the steps and operations may be optional, combined into fewer steps and operations, or expanded into additional steps and operations without detracting from the essence of the disclosed embodiments. Moreover, one or more of the outlined steps and operations may be performed in parallel. 
         [0019]    In one embodiment, a wireless device, such as the device  104 - 1  of  FIG. 1 , is configured to perform the process  300 , so that the contents of the remote desktops (e.g., the graphical user interfaces  130  and  132 ) are displayed on the user interface of the wireless device (e.g., the user interface  140 ). In conjunction with  FIGS. 1 and 2 , at block  302 , the device  104 - 1  is configured to prepare display information based on the received input data. This prepared display information is intended for a host system, such as the host system  102 - 1  of  FIG. 1 , to send the appropriate image data associated certain remote desktops to the wireless device for the wireless device to apply the received image data as texture data to the surfaces of its user interface. As an example, the prepared display information may include any or all of the following information, a request for a reduced-resolution image, the surface of the user interface (e.g., the surface  142  of the user interface  140 ) that needs texture data, the surface update interval, the surface status (e.g., back-facing or not), and others. 
         [0020]    Using the cube-like user interface  140  of  FIG. 1  as an illustration, suppose the surface  142  is assigned to display the contents of the graphical user interface  130 , and it is rotated in such a way so that it becomes back-facing. Then, the prepared display information may simply indicate that no texture information is needed for the surface  142 . However, because of the rotation, a currently invisible surface of the user interface  140  becomes front-facing. Thus, the prepared display information may include a request for a reduced-resolution image associated with the graphical user interface assigned to this new surface and for the size of this new surface. 
         [0021]    At block  304 , the wireless device sends a request specifying the prepared display information to the host system. Block  304  is followed by block  306  in the process  300 , where in response to the received data from the host system, the wireless device is configured to update its texture data. In one scenario, the wireless device may not update its texture data at all, because the received data may indicate that the changes in the remote desktop are not significant enough (e.g., less than a threshold value) to update, or the received data may indicate that no texture data is sent at all. In another scenario, the wireless device may update parts or all of its texture data based on the received data. 
         [0022]    At block  306 , the wireless device performs a texture mapping operation, so that the updated texture data are applied to the surface of any shape or polygon supported by the user interface of the wireless device. 
         [0023]    In one embodiment, a host system, such as the host system  102 - 1  of  FIG. 1 , is configured to perform the process  320 , so that the graphical user interfaces of the remote desktops can be efficiently delivered to the wireless device. At block  322 , in response to receiving the prepared display information from the wireless device, the host system is configured to identify the appropriate remote desktop and its associated graphical user interface (e.g., the graphical user interface  130  of  FIG. 1 ). 
         [0024]    At block  324 , the host system determines whether the contents of the requested graphical user interface needs to be modified. If so, then in one embodiment, the host system modifies the contents at block  326  by reducing the resolution of the contents to a lower resolution and also according to the requested size. 
         [0025]    At block  328 , the host system is configured to prepare update information for the image data, whether at reduced resolution or at full resolution. In one embodiment, for network bandwidth efficiency, the host system may compare the reduced-resolution images that are captured at different times and generate the update information that reflects the differences. To illustrate using the graphical user interface  130  of  FIG. 1 , based on the prepared display information received from the wireless device, the host system may modify a captured image of the graphical user interface  130  at its current state (e.g., state 2) by generating a thumbnail image (thumbnail (state 2)). The host system may be configured to maintain different states of the thumbnail, such as an earlier state (e.g., state 1), in its storage (e.g., the image data storage  204  of  FIG. 2 ). One approach to prepare the update information for the thumbnail (state  2 ) may be to generate a difference between thumbnail (state 1) and thumbnail (state 2). In other words, instead of sending the full thumbnail to the wireless device, the host system is able to utilize less network bandwidth by transmitting just the differences. 
         [0026]    In addition, the host system may be configured to continue preparing and sending update information for the image data to the mobile device, even though the host system may not have received a new request from the mobile device. To illustrate using the example above, the host system may continue to capture images of the user interface  130  at its state 3 (which occurs later in time than state 2), state 4 (which occurs later in time than state 3), and beyond. As long as there are differences between two adjacent states (e.g., state 2 and state 3 or state 3 and state 4), the host system may be configured to continue transmitting the differences to the mobile device, even though the mobile device has not sent the host system any request that specifies new prepared display information. 
         [0027]    Moreover, since the host system may support multiple remote desktops, the preparation of the update information at block  328  may also include consolidating the image data associated with the different remote desktops to further improve the utilization of network bandwidth. To illustrate using the graphical user interfaces  130  and  132  of  FIG. 1 , suppose the host system has obtained the two thumbnails associated with the graphical user interfaces  130  and  132  (e.g., thumbnail 130  and thumbnail 132 ). Instead of transmitting both thumbnails in full, the host system may identify parts of the thumbnails that are the same. Then, the update information may include one copy of the parts for the two thumbnails that are the same and the remaining parts of the two thumbnails. 
         [0028]      FIG. 4  is a block diagram illustrating a computer program product  400  that implements a method to monitor multiple remote desktops, in accordance with at least some embodiments of the present disclosure. The computer program product  400  may include one or more sets of executable instructions  402  which, in response to execution by, for example, a host system, may provide at least the functionality described above with respect to the preceding figures. 
         [0029]    In one embodiment, the computer program product  400  may include a signal bearing medium  404  or another similar communication medium  406 . Computer program product  400  may also include a non-transitory computer readable medium  408  or another similar recordable medium  410 . Some examples of the computer readable medium  408  may include a solid-state drive, a hard disk drive, a Compact Disc (CD), a Digital Video Disk (DVD), a digital tape, memory, and others. Some examples of the communication medium  406  may include a digital and/or an analog communication medium (e.g., a fiber optic cable, a waveguide, a wired communications link, a wireless communication link, etc.). 
         [0030]    Although one or more embodiments of the present disclosure have been described in some detail for clarity of understanding, it will be apparent that certain changes and modifications may be made within the scope of the claims. Accordingly, the described embodiments are to be considered as illustrative and not restrictive, and the scope of the claims is not to be limited to details given herein, but may be modified within the scope and equivalents of the claims. In the claims, elements and/or steps do not imply any particular order of operation, unless explicitly stated in the claims. 
         [0031]    Plural instances may be provided for components, operations or structures described herein as a single instance. Finally, boundaries between various components, operations and data stores are somewhat arbitrary, and particular operations are illustrated in the context of specific illustrative configurations. Other allocations of functionality are envisioned and may fall within the scope of the disclosure(s). In general, structures and functionality presented as separate components in exemplary configurations may be implemented as a combined structure or component. Similarly, structures and functionality presented as a single component may be implemented as separate components. These and other variations, modifications, additions, and improvements may fall within the scope of the appended claims(s).

Technology Category: 3