Systems and Methods for Accelerating Delivery of a Computing Environment to a Remote User

• US 20100023582A1
• Filed: 09/28/2009
• Published: 01/28/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 04/12/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Citrix Systems, Inc. (Cloud Software Group)
• Original Assignee: Citrix Systems, Inc. (Cloud Software Group)
• Inventors: Sinha, Rajiv, Sundarrajan, Prabakar, Treder, Terry, Pedersen, Brad J.
• Granted Patent: US 7,970,923 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/203
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0272 Virtual private networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/105 Multiple levels of security
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/166 at the transport layer
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/06 specially adapted for file transfer, e.g. file transfer protocol [FTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/34 involving the movement of software or configuration parameters network booting or remote initial program loading [RIPL] G06F9/4416
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/568 Storing data temporarily at an intermediate stage, e.g. caching
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/10 Streamlined, light-weight or high-speed protocols, e.g. express transfer protocol [XTP] or byte stream
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/16 Implementation or adaptation of Internet protocol [IP], of transmission control protocol [TCP] or of user datagram protocol [UDP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/165 Combined use of TCP and UDP protocols; selection criteria therefor

Abstract

The present invention is directed towards a method and system for accelerating delivery of a computing environment to a remote client. The computing environment may include a plurality of files comprising an application program and may be streamed to a remote client from a server. Responsive to a determination of whether transmission of the application may be accelerated, an appliance, intercepting the plurality of files, may accelerate transmission of the application program by applying one or more transport layer transmission acceleration techniques to the plurality of files.

Claims

1. A method for accelerating delivery of a computing environment to a remote client, the method comprising the steps of:

intercepting, by an appliance deployed as an intermediary between a server and a remote client, a plurality of files comprising an application program streamed by the server responsive to a first request from the remote client to execute an application;

determining, by the appliance, whether the appliance may accelerate transmission of the application program; and

accelerating, by the appliance, responsive to the determination, transmission of the application program by applying one or more transport layer transmission acceleration techniques to the plurality of files.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more transport layer transmission acceleration techniques comprise:

Transmission Control Protocol multiplexing;

Transmission Control Protocol pooling; and

Transmission Control Protocol buffering.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining, by the appliance and responsive to determining the appliance may accelerate transmission of the application program, whether the remote client is configured with an acceleration program; and

transmitting, by the appliance and responsive to a determination that the remote client is not configured with the acceleration program, the acceleration program to the remote client.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising automatically installing and executing, by the remote client, the acceleration program upon receipt from the appliance.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

transmitting, by the appliance to the remote client, a license authorizing execution of the application program by the remote client for a predetermined time;

receiving, by the appliance, a heartbeat message from the remote client indicating that the application program is being executed; and

transmitting, by the appliance and responsive to receiving the heartbeat message, a renewed license authorizing execution of the application program by the remote client for a predetermined time.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

caching, by the appliance, the plurality of files comprising the application program; and

intercepting, by the appliance, a second request from the remote client for one or more of the plurality of files comprising the application program and transmitting the cached one or more of the plurality of files to the remote client in response to the request.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein accelerating transmission of the application program further comprises:

accelerating transmission of the application program from the server to the appliance by applying a first one or more transport layer transmission acceleration techniques to the plurality of files streamed by the server and accelerating transmission of the application program from the appliance to the remote client by applying a second one or more transport layer transmission acceleration techniques to the plurality of files transmitted to the remote client.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving from the server, by the appliance, the plurality of files comprising the application program via a pooled transport layer connection between the server and the appliance used by a plurality of clients communicating with the server via the appliance.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

receiving via the pooled transport layer connection, by the appliance, one or more data packets comprising a multiplexed communication session between the plurality of clients and the server; and

demultiplexing, by the appliance, the multiplexed communication sessions into one or more communications sessions between the server and each of the plurality of clients.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein determining whether the appliance may accelerate transmission of the application program further comprises:

determining whether the appliance may accelerate transmission of the application program, responsive to a log of past performance of the transport layer transmission acceleration techniques applied to one or more similar streamed pluralities of files.

11. A system for accelerating delivery of a computing environment to a remote client, the system comprising:

an appliance for accelerating communications between one or more clients and one or more servers, the appliance comprising;

means for intercepting, by a packet engine on the appliance, a plurality of files comprising an application program streamed by a server responsive to a first request from a remote client to execute an application,

means for determining, by the packet engine, whether the appliance may accelerate transmission of the application program, and

means for accelerating, by the packet engine, responsive to the determination, transmission of the application program by applying one or more transport layer transmission acceleration techniques to the plurality of files;

the server, comprising means for streaming the plurality of files comprising the application program; and

the remote client, comprising means for receiving and executing the plurality of files comprising the application.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the one or more transport layer transmission acceleration techniques comprise:

Transmission Control Protocol multiplexing;

Transmission Control Protocol pooling; and

Transmission Control Protocol buffering.

13. The system of claim 11, wherein the appliance further comprises:

a memory element storing a client-side acceleration program;

means for determining, by the packet engine and responsive to determining the appliance may accelerate transmission of the application program, whether the remote client is configured with an acceleration program; and

means for transmitting, by the packet engine and responsive to a determination that the remote client is not configured with the acceleration program, the acceleration program to the remote client.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the remote client further comprises means for receiving the acceleration program, installing the acceleration program, and executing the acceleration program.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the acceleration program is configured to provide:

means for storing the plurality of files comprising the application program in a cache;

means for receiving authorization to execute the plurality of files comprising the application program in the cache during a pre-defined period of time; and

means for redirecting, responsive to non-expiration of the pre-defined period of time, requests for the plurality of files comprising the application program to the stored plurality of application files in the cache.

16. The system of claim 11, wherein the appliance further comprises:

a memory element storing the plurality of files comprising the application program; and

means for intercepting, by the packet engine, a second request from the remote client for one or more of the plurality of files comprising the application program and transmitting the stored one or more of the plurality of files to the remote client in response to the request.

17. The system of claim 11, wherein means for accelerating streaming of the plurality of files comprising the application program further comprises:

means for accelerating transmission of the application program from the server to the appliance by applying a first one or more transport layer transmission acceleration techniques to the plurality of files streamed by the server and means for accelerating transmission of the application program from the appliance to the remote client by applying a second one or more transport layer transmission acceleration techniques to the plurality of files transmitted to the remote client.

18. The system of claim 11, wherein the appliance further comprises means for receiving from the server, by the packet engine, the plurality of files comprising the application program via a pooled transport layer connection between the server and the appliance used by a plurality of clients communicating with the server via the appliance.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the appliance further comprises:

means for receiving, via the pooled transport layer connection, one or more data packets comprising a multiplexed communication session between the plurality of clients and the server; and

means for demultiplexing, by the packet engine, the multiplexed communication sessions into one or more communications sessions between the server and each of the plurality of clients.

20. The system of claim 11, wherein the means for determining whether the appliance may accelerate transmission of the application program further comprises means for determining whether the appliance may accelerate transmission of the application program responsive to a log of past performance of the transport layer transmission acceleration techniques applied to one or more similar streamed pluralities of files.