Apparatus and method for managing application context

• US 20070136392A1
• Filed: 11/20/2006
• Published: 06/14/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 12/12/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute
• Original Assignee: Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute
• Inventors: Park, Ho Jin, Hwang, Tae In, Oh, Byeong Thaek
• Granted Patent: US 7,664,786 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/44505 Configuring for program initiating, e.g. using registry, configuration files
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/4856 resumption being on a different machine, e.g. task migration, virtual machine migration G06F9/5088 takes precedence

Abstract

An apparatus and method for managing application context is provided. A first one of a plurality of terminals, each including at least one application, collects and transmits context information of the application to a migration server so that it is stored and managed in the migration server. The migration server transmits the stored and managed context information to a second terminal corresponding to the first terminal in response to a request of the second terminal. The second terminal restores context based on the context information received from the migration server. This can reproduce the same application and desktop environments as those previously set to be suitable for each work situation, thereby increasing user convenience.

Claims

1. An apparatus for managing application context, the apparatus comprising:

a plurality of terminals, each of which includes at least one application, collects context information of the application, and restores context using the collected context information; and

a migration server that receives and stores collected context information from a first one of the plurality of terminals and transmits the context information to a second one of the plurality of terminals.

2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the context information is classified into user context, application context, and desktop context.

3. The apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the user context includes information regarding optional items which a user has set for migration and a personal folder to be migrated together with context information;

the application context includes the position of a application toolbar, arrangement of icons, the size and position of a window on which the user is working, a data file with which the user is working, an opened page of the data file, a currently connected URL, environment setting information, a multimedia file that is being played, and a playback position of the multimedia file; and

the desktop context includes OS background image information, window theme information, shortcuts, and toolbar setting information.

4. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of terminals includes:

at least one application, context information of which is to be collected;

an connection Application Programming Interface (API) that receives a list of context from the migration server, receives selection information of context information to be migrated from a user, and collects the selected context information; and

a migration client that transmits the context information collected by the connection API to the migration server so that the collected context information is stored in the migration server, requests the stored context information from the migration server, and restores context using the context information received from the migration server in response to the request.

5. The apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the migration client includes:

an application agent that extracts and restores application context information through the connection API and a standardized control API that is provided between the connection API and the migration client;

a desktop agent that extracts and restores context information of a desktop environment of the terminal;

a user preference manager that stores and restores selection information of context which the user desires to collect and preference information of the migration client; and

a migration agent that performs overall control of the context information collection and restoration.

6. The apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the migration client further includes a control API that provides a standardized interface between the connection API and the migration client.

7. The apparatus according to claim 4, wherein, if the application is a new application, the application includes the connection API.

8. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the migration server includes:

a user manager that manages and authenticates user information;

an application manager that manages a list of applications that can be migrated and a list of context that is collectable from the applications and manages application context information received from the first terminal; and

a storage that stores the application list, the collectable context list, and the application context information received from the first terminal.

9. The apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the migration server further includes a desktop manager that manages a list of desktop-related context information.

10. The apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the migration server can be included in a portable storage device.

11. A method for managing application context in an application context management apparatus including a plurality of terminals and a migration server that cooperates with the plurality of terminals through a communication network, the method comprising:

collecting and transmitting, by a first terminal including at least one application, context information of the application to the migration server;

storing the context information in the migration server;

transmitting the stored context information from the migration server to a second terminal corresponding to the first terminal in response to a request of the second terminal; and

restoring, by the second terminal, context based on the context information received from the migration server.

12. The method according to claim 11, wherein collecting and transmitting, by the first terminal, the context information of the application to the migration server includes:

receiving a migratable list from the migration server;

extracting a list of migratable context from the received migratable list;

outputting the extracted context list and allowing a user to select context information to be migrated; and

collecting and transmitting the selected context information to the migration server.

13. The method according to claim 11, wherein restoring, by the second terminal, the context based on the context information received from the migration server includes:

transmitting a context information list request signal to the migration server;

receiving a context information list from the migration server;

allowing a user to select context information to be restored based on the context information list; and

receiving the selected context information and restoring application context.

14. The method according to claim 13, wherein restoring, by the second terminal, the context based on the context information received from the migration server further includes:

transmitting an authentication request signal to the migration server; and

receiving an authentication response signal from the migration server.