VIRTUAL USER INTERFACE

• US 20110179106A1
• Filed: 01/15/2010
• Published: 07/21/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 01/15/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Guest-tek Interactive Entertainment Ltd.
• Original Assignee: iBAHN General Holdings Corporation (Guest-tek Interactive Entertainment Ltd.)
• Inventors: Hulse, David, Thomas, Jason
• Granted Patent: US 9,229,734 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/203
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/451 Execution arrangements for user interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2143 located in a single building, e.g. hotel, hospital or museum arrangements specially adapted for plural spots in a confined site in broadcast systems H04H20/63; adaptations for transmission by electric cable for domestic distribution in television systems H04N7/106
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/231 Content storage operation, e.g. caching movies for short term storage, replicating data over plural servers, prioritizing data for deletion
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2393 involving handling client requests scheduling or organising the servicing of application requests H04L67/60
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4312 involving specific graphical features, e.g. screen layout, special fonts or colors, blinking icons, highlights or animations
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4318 by altering the content in the rendering process, e.g. blanking, blurring or masking an image region image enhancement or restoration in general G06T5/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/436 Interfacing a local distribution network, e.g. communicating with another STB or one or more peripheral devices inside the home
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47217 for controlling playback functions for recorded or on-demand content, e.g. using progress bars, mode or play-point indicators or bookmarks specific graphical features in visual interfaces H04N21/4312
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/482 End-user interface for program selection broadcast systems using EPGs H04H60/72
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6543 for forcing some client operations, e.g. recording remote booting in general G06F9/4416

Abstract

Methods and apparatus are described that enable user interface virtualization for any of a wide variety of applications and computing environments.

Claims

1. A system for providing virtual user interfaces over a network, comprising:

one or more servers deployed on the network and configured to manage operation of a plurality of virtual frame buffers and a plurality of user interface applications, the one or more servers being further configured to associate each of the user interface applications with a corresponding one of the virtual frame buffers, each user interface application being configured to render a corresponding graphical user interface to the corresponding virtual frame buffer, the one or more servers being further configured to establish a first dedicated, persistent, bi-directional connection with each of a plurality of clients via the network to conduct a virtual user interface session, to allocate one of the virtual frame buffers to each of the clients, and forward updates of the graphical user interface from each virtual frame buffer to the corresponding client via the first connection, at least some of the updates including transparency information for use in blending the graphical user interface with additional visual information at the corresponding client, the one or more servers further being configured to receive user input from each client via the first connection and provide the user input to the corresponding user interface application, the user input representing interaction of a user associated with each client with a representation of the corresponding graphical user interface; and

the plurality of clients with associated displays, each client being configured to receive the graphical user interface updates from the corresponding virtual frame buffer via the first connection, and to render the representation of the corresponding graphical user interface with the additional visual information on the associated display using the updates and the transparency information, each client being further configured to transmit the user input to the one or more servers via the first connection.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein one or more of the clients is implemented in a set top box configured to provide interactive television services on the associated display.

3. The system of claim 2 wherein the graphical user interface comprises an interactive menu for navigating the interactive television services.

4. The system of claim 1 wherein one or more of the clients is integrated in a single device with the associated display.

5. The system of claim 1 wherein the first connection comprises one of a virtual network computing (VNC) connection, a remote desktop protocol (RDP) connection, or an Apple remote desktop protocol (ARD) connection.

6. The system of claim 1 wherein the first connection comprises a virtual network computing (VNC) connection, and wherein the one or more servers are configured to include the transparency information in at least some of the updates in response to a pseudo encoding message received from the corresponding client.

7. The system of claim 1 wherein one or more of the clients is further configured to provide media playback control functions using middleware, and wherein the one or more of the clients includes a middleware abstraction layer configured to facilitate communication between the corresponding user interface application and the middleware via a second connection over the network.

8. The system of claim 1, the one or more servers being further configured to establish a second connection with each of the clients over the network in response to corresponding connection requests from the clients, and to terminate the corresponding virtual interface session in response to termination of the second connection.

9. The system of claim 1 wherein each update comprises only one or more portions of the corresponding graphical user interface that has changed since a previous update.

22. The system of claim 1 wherein one or more of the user interface applications correspond to a mobile computing device.

10. A computer-implemented method for providing a virtual user interface over a network, comprising:

managing operation of a plurality of virtual frame buffers on one or more servers deployed on the network;

in response to a connection request from a remote client, associating a user interface application operating on a first one of the one or more servers with an allocated one of the virtual frame buffers, the user interface application being configured to render a graphical user interface to the allocated virtual frame buffer;

establishing a first dedicated, persistent, bi-directional connection between the first server and the remote client via the network to conduct a virtual user interface session;

forwarding updates of the graphical user interface from the allocated virtual frame buffer to the remote client via the first connection, at least some of the updates including transparency information for use in blending the graphical user interface with additional visual information at the remote client; and

receiving user input from the remote client via the first connection and providing the user input to the user interface application, the user input representing interaction of a user associated with the remote client with a representation of the graphical user interface.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 10 wherein the graphical user interface comprises an interactive menu for selecting the interactive television services.

12. The computer-implemented method of claim 10 wherein the first connection comprises one of a virtual network computing (VNC) connection, a remote desktop protocol (RDP) connection, or an Apple remote desktop protocol (ARD) connection.

13. The computer-implemented method of claim 10 wherein the first connection comprises a virtual network computing (VNC) connection, and wherein the transparency information is included in at least some of the updates in response to a pseudo encoding message received from the remote client.

14. The computer-implemented method of claim 10 further comprising establishing a second connection with the remote client over the network in response to a connection request from the client, and terminating the virtual interface session in response to termination of the second connection.

15. The computer-implemented method of claim 10 wherein each update comprises only one or more portions of the graphical user interface that has changed since a previous update, the method further comprising forwarding the updates either in response to a detected change in the graphical user interface or in response to a programmable trigger unrelated to change detection in the graphical user interface.

23. The method of claim 10 wherein the user interface application corresponds to a mobile computing device.

16. A computer-implemented method for interacting with a virtual user interface over a network, comprising:

transmitting a connection request to a server via the network, the server being configured to manage operation of a plurality of virtual frame buffers and, in response to the connection request, associate a user interface application operating on the server with an allocated one of the virtual frame buffers, the user interface application being configured to render a graphical user interface to the allocated virtual frame buffer;

establishing a first dedicated, persistent, bi-directional connection to the server via the network to conduct a virtual user interface session;

receiving updates of the graphical user interface from the allocated virtual frame buffer via the first connection, at least some of the updates including transparency information for use in blending the graphical user interface with additional visual information;

rendering a representation of the graphical user interface in conjunction with the additional visual information on a display using the updates and the transparency information; and

forwarding user input to the server via the first connection for presentation to the user interface application, the user input representing interaction of a user with the representation of the graphical user interface.

17. The computer-implemented method of claim 16 wherein the graphical user interface comprises an interactive menu for selecting interactive television services.

18. The computer-implemented method of claim 16 wherein the first connection comprises one of a virtual network computing (VNC) connection, a remote desktop protocol (RDP) connection, or an Apple remote desktop protocol (ARD) connection.

19. The computer-implemented method of claim 16 further comprising rendering content on the display using middleware, and mediating communications between the user interface application and the middleware via a second connection over the network.

24. The method of claim 16 wherein the user interface application corresponds to a mobile computing device.

20. A computing device configured to provide a virtual user interface, the computing device being configured to:

manage operation of a plurality of virtual frame buffers;

in response to a connection request from a remote client, associate a user interface application with an allocated one of the virtual frame buffers, the user interface application being configured to render a graphical user interface to the allocated virtual frame buffer;

establish a first dedicated, persistent, bi-directional connection to the remote client to conduct a virtual user interface session;

forward updates of the graphical user interface from the allocated virtual frame buffer to the remote client via the first connection, at least some of the updates including transparency information for use in blending the graphical user interface with additional visual information at the remote client; and

receive user input from the remote client via the first connection and provide the user input to the user interface application, the user input representing interaction of a user associated with the remote client with a representation of the graphical user interface.

25. The computing device of claim 20 wherein the user interface application corresponds to a mobile computing device.

21. A computing device for interacting with a virtual user interface, the computing device being configured to:

transmit a connection request to a remote server via, the server being configured to manage operation of a plurality of virtual frame buffers and, in response to the connection request, associate a user interface application with an allocated one of the virtual frame buffers, the user interface application being configured to render a graphical user interface to the allocated virtual frame buffer;

establish a first dedicated, persistent, bi-directional connection to the server to conduct a virtual user interface session;

receive updates of the graphical user interface from the allocated virtual frame buffer via the first connection, at least some of the updates including transparency information for use in blending the graphical user interface with additional visual information;

render a representation of the graphical user interface in conjunction with the additional visual information on a display using the updates and the transparency information; and

forward user input to the server via the first connection for presentation to the user interface application, the user input representing interaction of a user with the representation of the graphical user interface.

26. The computing device of claim 21 wherein the user interface application corresponds to a mobile computing device.