Providing User Interfaces and Window Previews for Hosted Applications

• US 20120084713A1
• Filed: 10/04/2011
• Published: 04/05/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 10/05/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Citrix Systems, Inc. (Cloud Software Group)
• Original Assignee: Citrix Systems, Inc. (Cloud Software Group)
• Inventors: Desai, Nitin, Momchilov, Georgy
• Granted Patent: US 8,713,474 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/788
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0481 based on specific properties of the displayed interaction object or a metaphor-based environment, e.g. interaction with desktop elements like windows or icons, or assisted by a cursor's changing behaviour or appearance
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/452 Remote windowing, e.g. X-Window System, desktop virtualisation protocols for virtual reality H04L67/131

Abstract

A local computing device may use a remote computing device to host various resources on behalf of the local computing device. The local computing device may receive data related to a graphical window of the remotely hosted resource and generate a graphical window on the local desktop environment for the remotely hosted resource. The local computing device may also update a taskbar to include the remote hosted resource. Window previews may also be generated by the local computing device and the window previews may include snapshots or dynamic images of the graphical window for the remotely hosted resource. In some instances, the snapshots may be provided to the local computing device from the remote computing device.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving, by a client computing device from a remote computing device, data for an application requested by the client computing device, wherein the application is being executed by the remote computing device, and wherein the data defines properties for a graphical window in which the application is presented on the client computing device;

generating, by the client computing device, a graphical window in which the application is presented on the client computing device; and

generating, by the client computing device, a window preview of said graphical window, wherein the window preview reflects an appearance of said graphical window without any overlapping portions of other remote application graphical windows being presented on the client computing device.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining that a preview is needed;

responsive to determining that the preview for said graphical window is needed, transmitting a request for a window preview to the remote computing device; and

generating a plurality of window previews, wherein the window preview of said graphical window is one of the plurality of window previews.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining that said graphical window is clipped or overlapped;

enabling a custom icon preview for said graphical window;

storing a last known snapshot as a custom icon for a window preview;

displaying the custom icon in the desktop environment of the client computing device as part of the window preview for said graphical window; and

transmitting a request for a window preview to the remote computing device.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a snapshot of the application from the remote computing device, wherein the snapshot includes an appearance of the application executing on the remote computing device;

wherein the window preview for said graphical window includes at least a portion of the snapshot.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

determining that said graphical window is not clipped and not overlapped;

responsive to determining that said graphical window is not clipped and not overlapped, transmitting a notification to the remote computing device that snapshots are no longer needed; and

subsequent to transmitting the notification, creating, by the client computing device, a second snapshot of said graphical window and generating a second window preview of said graphical window in the desktop environment of the computing device, wherein the second window preview includes at least a portion of the second snapshot.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining that previews for said graphical window are not needed;

responsive to determining that previews for said graphical window are not needed, transmitting a notification to the remote computing device that snapshots are no longer needed; and

ceasing to display the window preview of said graphical window.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

disabling updates to said graphical window; and

providing a dynamic window preview of said graphical window.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein said graphical window is overlapped or clipped by a second graphical window for a remotely hosted application, and said graphical window and said second graphical window are both included in a logical video buffer of the client computing device.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a first stream of data that includes an image for the window preview from the remote computing device;

receiving a second stream of data that includes data related to graphic acceleration features from the remote computing device;

wherein the window preview includes a composition of the image and the data related to graphic acceleration features.

10. An apparatus comprising:

one or more processors; and

memory storing computer executable instructions configured to, with the one or more processors, cause the apparatus to;

receive, from a remote computing device, data for an application requested by the apparatus, wherein the application is being executed by the remote computing device, and wherein the data defines properties for a graphical window in which the application is presented on the apparatus;

generate a graphical window in which the application is presented on the apparatus; and

generate a window preview of said graphical window, wherein the window preview reflects an appearance of said graphical window without any overlapping portions of other remote application graphical windows being presented on the apparatus.

11. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the memory further stores computer executable instructions configured to, with the one or more processors, cause the apparatus to:

determine that a preview is needed;

responsive to determining that the preview for said graphical window is needed, transmit a request for a window preview to the remote computing device; and

generate a plurality of window previews, wherein the window preview of said graphical window is one of the plurality of window previews.

12. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the memory further stores computer executable instructions configured to, with the one or more processors, cause the apparatus to:

determine that said graphical window is clipped or overlapped;

enable a custom icon preview for said graphical window;

store a last known snapshot as a custom icon for a window preview;

display the custom icon in the desktop environment of the apparatus as part of the window preview for said graphical window; and

transmit a request for a window preview to the remote computing device.

13. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the memory further stores computer executable instructions configured to, with the one or more processors, cause the apparatus to:

receiving a snapshot of the application from the remote computing device, wherein the snapshot includes an appearance of the application executing on the remote computing device;

wherein the window preview for said graphical window includes at least a portion of the snapshot.

14. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the memory further stores computer executable instructions configured to, with the one or more processors, cause the apparatus to:

determine that said graphical window is not clipped and not overlapped;

responsive to determining that said graphical window is not clipped and not overlapped, transmit a notification to the remote computing device that snapshots are no longer needed; and

subsequent to transmitting the notification, create a second snapshot of said graphical window and generating a second window preview of said graphical window in the desktop environment of the computing device, wherein the second window preview includes at least a portion of the second snapshot.

15. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the memory further stores computer executable instructions configured to, with the one or more processors, cause the apparatus to:

determine that previews for said graphical window are not needed;

responsive to determining that previews for said graphical window are not needed, transmit a notification to the remote computing device that snapshots are no longer needed; and

cease to display the window preview of said graphical window.

16. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the memory further stores computer executable instructions configured to, with the one or more processors, cause the apparatus to:

receive a first stream of data that includes an image for the window preview from the remote computing device;

receive a second stream of data that includes data related to graphic acceleration features from the remote computing device;

wherein the window preview includes a composition of the image and the data related to graphic acceleration features.

17. A method comprising:

receiving, at a computing device, a request for a hosted resource from a client;

executing the hosted resource by the computing device;

gathering data for the hosted resource, the data describing one or more attributes of a graphical window for the hosted resource;

transmitting the data to the client;

receiving, at the computing device, a request for a window preview of the hosted resource from the client;

creating, by the computing device, a snapshot of a graphical window corresponding to the hosted resource executing on the computing device; and

transmitting the snapshot to the client.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

determining that the graphical window corresponding to the hosted resource has changed;

as a response to determining that the graphical window has changed, taking a second snapshot of the graphical window corresponding to the hosted resource; and

transmitting the second snapshot to the client.

19. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

repeatedly determining whether the graphical window corresponding to the hosted resource has changed;

for each instance where it is determined that the graphical window corresponding to the hosted resource has changed, taking a new snapshot of the graphical window corresponding to the hosted resource and transmitting the new snapshot to the client;

receiving, from the client, a notification that snapshots are no longer needed; and

ceasing to repeatedly determine whether the graphical window corresponding to the hosted resource has changed.

20. The method of claim 17, wherein the snapshot is a differential bitmap or a compressed bitmap.