Method and system for effecting migration of application among heterogeneous devices

• US 20020129126A1
• Filed: 12/15/2000
• Published: 09/12/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 12/15/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: NTT Docomo Incorporated (Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation)
• Original Assignee: NTT Docomo Incorporated (Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation)
• Inventors: Chu, Hao-hua, Kurakake, Shoji
• Granted Patent: US 7,080,159 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/220
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2209/482 Application
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/20 Software design
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/76 Adapting program code to run in a different environment; Porting
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/4856 resumption being on a different machine, e.g. task migration, virtual machine migration G06F9/5088 takes precedence

Abstract

The present invention provides a method and system for implementing migration of an application among heterogeneous devices. An application consists of sets of one or more component. The application running on a source device and the hardware configuration of the target device are examined to port the application to the target device by selecting at least one component from each set that fits to run on the target device. The running state of the application that exits on the source device is captured and sent to the target device. The target device loads the ported application and instantiates it, using the captured running state of the application.

Claims

1. A method for effecting migration of an application running on a source device to a target device, comprising the steps of:

(a) examining the application running on the source device and hardware configuration of the target device to port the application to the target device;

(b) loading the ported application on the target device;

(c) transferring to the target device a running state of the application that exists on the source device; and

(d) instantiating the ported application on the target device, using the running state transferred from the source device.

2. A method according to claim 1, wherein the step (c) precedes the step (b).

3. A method according to claim 1, wherein an application consists of sets of one or more components, and the application is ported to the target device by selecting from each set at least one component that best fits on the target device.

4. A method according to claim 3, wherein some of the sets each include one device-independent component, whereas the other sets each include a plurality of alternative device-dependent components.

5. A method according to claim 1, wherein the application is loaded on the target device from one or more third devices.

6. A method according to claim 5, wherein one or more third devices include the source device.

7. A method according to claim 1, wherein there is more than one target device, and the application is loaded dividedly on the more than one target device.

8. A system for effecting migration of an application running on a source device to a target device, comprising:

(a) a first agent that examines, in reference to hardware configuration of the target device, the application running on the source device in order to port the application to the target device and captures a running state of the application on the source device; and

(b) a second agent that loads the ported application and instantiates it thereon, using the captured running state of the application.

9. A system according to claim 8, wherein an application consists of sets of one or more components, and the application is ported to the target device by selecting from each set at least one component that best fits on the target device.

10. A system according to claim 9, wherein some of the sets each include one device-independent component, whereas the other sets each include a plurality of alternative device-dependent components.

11. A system according to claim 8, wherein the second agent loads the application on the target device from one or more third devices.

12. A system according to claim 11, wherein one or more third devices include the source device.

13. A system according to claim 8, wherein there is more than one target device, and the second agent loads the application dividedly on the more than one target device.

15. A computer network according to claim 14, wherein an application consists of sets of one or more components, and the application is ported to the target device by selecting from each set at least one component that best fits on the target device.

16. A computer network according to claim 15, wherein some of the sets each include one device-independent component, whereas the other sets each include a plurality of alternative device-dependent components.

17. A computer network according to claim 14, wherein the target device loads the application on it from one or more third devices.

18. A computer network according to claim 17, wherein one or more third devices include the source device.

19. A computer network according to claim 14, wherein there is more than one target device, and the application is loaded dividedly on the more than one target device.

14. A computer network comprised of heterogeneous devices among which migration of an application is effected, comprising:

(a) a source device on which an application to migrate runs; and

(b) a target device to which the application migrates, wherein

said source device examines the application in reference to hardware configuration of the target device in order to port the application to the target device and captures a running state of the application on the source device, and

the target device loads the ported application and instantiates it thereon, using the captured running state of the application.