COMPUTER SYSTEM WITH TUNNELING

• US 20090083630A1
• Filed: 09/19/2008
• Published: 03/26/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 09/20/2007
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: FH Innovations Limited
• Original Assignee: C & S Operations, Inc.
• Inventors: Peterson, David A.
• Application Number:
  US12/234,158
• Publication Number:
  US 20090083630A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/719
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 15/16 Combinations of two or more digital computers each having at least an arithmetic unit, a program unit and a register, e.g. for a simultaneous processing of several programs coordinating program control therefor G06F9/52; in regulating and control system G05B
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/53 by executing in a restricted environment, e.g. sandbox or secure virtual machine
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/45554 Instruction set architectures of guest OS and hypervisor or native processor differ, e.g. Bochs or VirtualPC on PowerPC MacOS
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/45558 Hypervisor-specific management and integration aspects

Abstract

A computer system with a CPU, at least one guest operating system and a controller kernel. The controller kernel includes a socket for running an application on the controller kernel itself. The controller kernel also includes a video integration module so that video output data from the guest OS may be combined with video output data from the guest OS. In this way, a user of the guest OS can use an application by tunneling, and without the need to virtualize the video output data of the application running on the controller kernel in order to incorporate it with the video output data of the guest OS. This is especially preferred when the controller kernel is written in a different form than the guest OS, such as when the controller kernel is in LINUX and the guest OS is in a Windows form because it allows a guest OS of one form (for example, Windows) to reliably, quickly, efficiently and robustly run applications written in another form (for example, LINUX).

Claims

1. A computer system comprising:

processing hardware;

a first guest operating system;

a controller kernel running on the processing hardware, with the controller kernel being programmed to allow the first guest operating system to receive first native form video frame data from the processing hardware through the controller kernel, with the controller kernel comprising a first socket; and

a first application program programmed to generate first application display data when it runs;

wherein;

the first socket is programmed to run the first application program; and

the controller kernel is programmed to receive the first application display data and to incorporate the first application display data into the first native form video frame data.

4. The system of claim 1 further comprising:

a first display structured to display a plurality of successive frames of a display over time; and

a video card programmed to receive the first native form video frame data, to generate a first frame display signal corresponding to the first native form video frame data and to send the first frame display signal to the first display;

wherein the first display is structured and/or programmed to display a frame of the plurality of successive frames corresponding to the first frame display signal.

5. The system of claim 4 wherein the first frame display signal is analog.

6. The system of claim 4 wherein the first frame display signal is digital.

7. The system of claim 1 wherein the controller kernel is in POSIX.

8. The system of claim 1 wherein the first guest operating system is of a Windows type.

9. The system of claim 8 wherein the controller kernel is LINUX.

10. The system of claim 7 wherein the controller kernel is LINUX.

11. The system of claim 1 further comprising a first user input device structured and electrically connected to receive a raw input data from a user, wherein:

the first guest operating system is further programmed to receive the raw input data from the first user input device and to convert it into user input data in native form;

the controller kernel is further programmed to receive the user input data in native form; and

the first socket is programmed to use the user input to at least partially control the manner in which the application program runs.

12. The system of claim 11 wherein the first user input device is a keyboard.

13. The system of claim 1 further comprising:

a second guest operating system; and

a second application program programmed to generate second application display data when it runs;

wherein;

the controller kernel is further programmed to allow the second guest operating system to receive second native form video frame data from the processing hardware through the controller kernel, with the controller kernel further comprising a second socket;

the second socket is programmed to run the application program; and

the processing hardware is programmed to receive the second application display data and to incorporate the second application display data into the second native form video frame data.

14. The system of claim 1 further comprising a second display structured to display a plurality of successive frames of a display over time, wherein:

the video card is further programmed to receive the second native form video frame data, to generate a second frame display signal corresponding to the second native form video frame data and to send the second frame display signal to the second display;

wherein the second display is structured and/or programmed to display a frame of the plurality of successive frames corresponding to the second frame display signal.

2. The system of claim 2 wherein the controller kernel is further programmed to send the first native form video frame data through the controller kernel to the first guest operating system.

3. The system of claim 2 wherein the first guest operating system comprises a display manager module that is native to the guest operating system, with the display manager module being programmed to receive the first native form video frame data.

15. A computer comprising:

processing hardware;

a first OS memory portion programmed with a first guest operating system;

a controller memory portion programmed with a controller kernel running on the processing hardware, with the controller kernel being programmed to allow the first guest operating system to receive first native form video frame data from the processing hardware through the controller kernel, with the controller kernel comprising a first socket; and

a first application memory portion programmed with a first application program programmed to generate first application display data when it runs;

wherein;

the first socket is programmed to run the first application program; and

the processing hardware is programmed to receive the first application display data and to incorporate the first application display data into the first native form video frame data.

16. The system of claim 15 wherein the controller kernel is in POSIX.

17. The system of claim 16 wherein the first guest operating system is of a Windows type.

18. A process comprising the steps of:

providing a computer system comprising processing hardware, a first guest operating system, a controller kernel, a first application program, with the controller kernel comprising a first socket;

running the controller kernel on the processing hardware;

running the first application program on the first socket;

generating, by the first application program, first application display data;

sending the first application display data from the socket to the processing hardware; and

incorporating, by the processing hardware, the first application display data into a first native form video frame data.

19. The method of claim 18 further comprising the step of:

sending the first native form video frame data from the processing hardware to the first guest operating system through the controller kernel.

20. The system of claim 18 wherein:

the controller kernel is in POSIX; and

the first guest operating system is of a Windows type.