Low cost, stateless, full-featured information appliance

• US 20010032235A1
• Filed: 11/30/2000
• Published: 10/18/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 12/01/1999
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Oracle America, Inc. (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Sun Microsystems Incorporated (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: Chu, Eric, Madany, Peter
• Granted Patent: US 7,107,308 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/203
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1095 Replication or mirroring of data, e.g. scheduling or transport for data synchronisation between network nodes
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]

Abstract

The present invention provides a low cost information appliance that provides the ability to handle executable content from the internet and to have software capabilities upgraded. PC level performance and data synchronization are implicit to the design of the present invention. The invention consists of a single server and one or more terminals connected by a wired or wireless network for data traffic. Voice is carried over existing telephone lines or over the same network that carries the data traffic. The server is connected to the phone network and internet over a wired network. The server is capable of running a multi-user OS such as Solaris or Linux. The server has processing power, disk storage, and memory capacity similar to a PC (e.g. 400 MHz 32 bit CPU, 64 MB RAM, 4 GB disk) and in one embodiment has an uninterruptable power supply. The clients (the appliance itself) include a network interface to communicate with the server. In one embodiment, the connection network is capable of simultaneous voice and data traffic. In another embodiment, the client also includes a POTS interface. The display is a low cost display such as a SVGA 800×600 256 color LCD or CRT. The client includes RAM, ROM and a simple video controller. In one embodiment, the clients include a simple keyboard, pointing device, and a CPU such as a 100 MHz uSPARC2ep. In one embodiment, the client also includes a SmartCard or mag-swipe interface.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

at least one server configured to execute at least one session, said at least one session comprising data associated with a user;

at least one stateless client coupled to said at least one server, wherein said at least one stateless client obtains said at least one session from said at least one server.

2. The system of

claim 1

wherein said at least one at least one server maintains at least one state wherein said at least one state is associated with said at least one session and wherein said at least one at least one server uses said at least one state to determine said session data to transmit to said at least one stateless client.

3. The system of

claim 2

wherein said at least one client further comprises at least one user identification input for providing identification of said at least one user to said at least one server.

4. The system of

claim 3

wherein said session comprises graphical data displayed to said at least one user at said at least one stateless client.

5. The system of

claim 3

further comprising at least one second stateless client, wherein said second stateless client connects to the same said session as said at least one stateless client.

6. The system of

claim 3

wherein said session data comprises voice data.

7. The system of

claim 5

wherein said at least one server continues to execute said session when said at least one stateless client disconnects from said at least one server.

8. The system of

claim 3

wherein said sessions associated with said state corresponding to said user comprise sessions accessed by a user from any of said at least one stateless clients from which said user'"'"'s identification is provided to said at least one server.

9. The system of

claim 1

wherein said coupling between said at least one server and said at least one stateless client comprises a network.

10. The system of

claim 9

wherein said second network further comprises two directional data communications comprising simultaneous voice and data traffic between said at least one server and said at least one at least one stateless client.

11. A method for providing data to a stateless client comprising:

obtaining user identification information;

providing said user identification information to a server;

initiating a persistent session at said server, wherein said persistent session is associated with said user;

associating at least one state with said session on said server;

providing data associated with said session to said user at a first stateless client computer;

providing said data associated with said session to said user at a second stateless client computer.

12. The method of

claim 11

wherein said user identification comprises a unique identifier associated with said user.

13. The method of

claim 12

wherein said unique identifier resides on a smart card.

14. The method of

claim 13

wherein said providing data associated with said session further comprises displaying graphical data to said user.

15. The method of

claim 12

wherein said session on said server comprises a plurality of processes executing on behalf of said user.

16. The method of

claim 12

further comprising:

continuing execution of said session when neither said first stateless client computer or said second stateless client computer is being provided data associated with said session.

17. The method of

claim 12

further comprising:

continuing execution of said session at said server when said first stateless client disconnects from said server.

18. The method of

claim 12

further comprising:

continuing execution of said session at said server when said second stateless client disconnects from said server.

19. The method of

claim 18

wherein said data associated with said session comprises two directional data communications comprising simultaneous voice and data traffic between said server and said clients.

20. A computer program product comprising:

a computer readable medium having computer readable program embodied therein, said computer readable code configured to;

obtain user identification information;

provide said user identification information to a server;

initiate a persistent session at said server, wherein said persistent session is associated with said user;

associate at least one state with said session on said server;

provide data associated with said session to said user at a first stateless client computer;

provide said data associated with said session to said user at a second stateless client computer.

21. The computer program product of

claim 20

wherein said user identification comprises a unique identifier associated with said user.

22. The computer program product of

claim 21

wherein said unique identifier resides on a smart card.

23. The computer program product of

claim 20

wherein said providing data associated with said session further comprises displaying graphical data to said user.

24. The computer program product of

claim 20

wherein said session on said server comprises a plurality of processes executing on behalf of said user.

25. The computer program product of

claim 20

further comprising computer readable program code configured to continue execution of said session while neither said first stateless client computer or said second stateless client computer is being provided data associated with said session.

26. The computer program product of

claim 20

further comprising computer readable program code configured to continue execution of said session at said server when said first stateless client disconnects from said server.

27. The computer program product of

claim 20

further comprising computer readable program code configured to continue execution of said session at said server when said second stateless client disconnects from said server.

28. The method of

claim 20

wherein said data associated with said session comprises two directional data communications comprising simultaneous voice and data traffic between said server and said clients.