METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR REMOTE DESKTOP SESSION REDRAWING VIA HTTP HEADERS

• US 20120151370A1
• Filed: 12/10/2010
• Published: 06/14/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 12/10/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Dell Marketing Corporation (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Wyse Technology Incorporated (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Inventors: KOMINAC, Stevan, Stanley, Jeremy Michael, Schwebke, Curtis
• Granted Patent: US 8,966,376 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/740
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9577 Optimising the visualization of content, e.g. distillation of HTML documents
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/452 Remote windowing, e.g. X-Window System, desktop virtualisation protocols for virtual reality H04L67/131
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/025 for remote control or remote monitoring of applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/08 specially adapted for terminal emulation, e.g. Telnet
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/565 Conversion or adaptation of application format or content adding application control or application functional data H04L67/561
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/80 Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication

Abstract

Examples of methods, systems, apparatus, and machine-readable storage media are provided to facilitate access and control of a remote desktop of a remote machine by a web browser at a client device through a transcoding server without installing proprietary plug-ins or protocols on the client device. A transcoding server may translate user input requests from a web browser into input calls compatible with a remote desktop display protocol. The transcoding server may receive remote desktop drawing commands from the remote machine and translate the remote desktop drawing commands into web browser drawing updates compatible with the web browser. A transcoding server may communicate with a web browser via HTTP and communicate with a remote machine via a remote desktop display protocol. A web browser may be an HTML5 browser. A transcoding server may send drawing coordinates to the web browser via an HTTP header and may use long polling.

Claims

1. A method of facilitating a remote desktop session between a web browser of a client device and a remote machine through a transcoding server, utilizing hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) headers of HTTP for remote desktop session drawing, the method comprising:

receiving, at the transcoding server, drawing requests from the web browser at the client device;

receiving, at the transcoding server, a remote desktop drawing command from the remote machine using a remote desktop display protocol, wherein the remote desktop drawing command is based on an image of a remote desktop of the remote machine;

translating, at the transcoding server, the remote desktop drawing command into a display image and drawing coordinates for the display image;

placing, at the transcoding server, the drawing coordinates into an HTTP response header; and

in response to at least one of the drawing requests, facilitating providing the display image and the drawing coordinates together to the web browser in a single HTTP response, for drawing the display image of the remote desktop at the web browser, wherein the single HTTP response comprises the HTTP response header,

wherein the remote desktop display protocol is a push protocol, and

wherein HTTP is a pull protocol.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the translating comprises:

translating the remote desktop drawing command into a Java graphics drawing command, wherein the transcoding server comprises a Java compatible web application container;

updating a portion of a Java graphics bitmap of the remote desktop in response to the Java graphics drawing command;

generating coordinates for the updated portion of the Java bitmap from the Java graphics drawing command;

generating the display image compatible with the web browser based on the updated portion of the Java bitmap; and

obtaining the drawing coordinates for the display image based on the coordinates for the updated portion of the Java bitmap,

wherein the display image and the drawing coordinates are compatible with HTML,

wherein the updated portion of the Java graphics bitmap represents a portion of an entire image of the remote desktop of the remote machine,

wherein the display image and the drawing coordinates represent the portion of the entire image of the remote desktop of the remote machine.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the translating comprises:

translating the remote desktop drawing command into a graphics drawing command compatible with the transcoding server;

updating a portion of a bitmap of the remote desktop based on the graphics drawing command;

generating the coordinates for the updated portion of the bitmap;

generating the display image compatible with the web browser based on the updated portion of the bitmap; and

obtaining the drawing coordinates for the display image,

wherein the display image and the drawing coordinates are compatible with HTML.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the display image and the drawing coordinates are compatible with HTML5.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the transcoding server is an intermediary between the remote machine and the client device, and wherein the transcoding server is physically separate from the remote machine.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the remote desktop drawing command comprises coordinates of a region of the remote desktop that has changed relative to a previous remote desktop drawing command.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the coordinates specify a redrawing region.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the drawing coordinates are compatible with JavaScript client code of the web browser, and wherein the display image is compatible with HTML of the web browser.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the display image comprises a scaled image of the remote desktop.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the display image comprises an offset image of the remote desktop.

11. A machine-readable storage medium encoded with instructions executable by a processing system to perform a method of facilitating a remote desktop session between a web browser of a client device and a remote machine through a transcoding server, utilizing hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) headers of HTTP for remote desktop session drawing, the instructions comprising code for:

receiving, at the transcoding server, drawing requests from the web browser at the client device;

receiving, at the transcoding server, a remote desktop drawing command from the remote machine using a remote desktop display protocol, wherein the remote desktop drawing command is based on an image of a remote desktop of the remote machine;

translating, at the transcoding server, the remote desktop drawing command into a display image and drawing coordinates for the display image;

placing, at the transcoding server, the drawing coordinates into an HTTP response header; and

in response to at least one of the drawing requests, facilitating providing the display image and the drawing coordinates together to the web browser in a single HTTP response, for drawing the display image of the remote desktop at the web browser, wherein the single HTTP response comprises the HTTP response header,

wherein the remote desktop display protocol is a push protocol, and

wherein HTTP is a pull protocol.

12. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 11, wherein the translating comprises:

translating the remote desktop drawing command into a Java graphics drawing command, wherein the transcoding server comprises a Java compatible web application container;

updating a portion of a Java graphics bitmap of the remote desktop in response to the Java graphics drawing command;

generating coordinates for the updated portion of the Java bitmap from the Java graphics drawing command;

generating the display image compatible with the web browser based on the updated portion of the Java bitmap; and

obtaining the drawing coordinates for the display image based on the coordinates for the updated portion of the Java bitmap,

wherein the display image and the drawing coordinates are compatible with HTML,

wherein the updated portion of the Java graphics bitmap represents a portion of an entire image of the remote desktop of the remote machine,

wherein the display image and the drawing coordinates represent the portion of the entire image of the remote desktop of the remote machine.

13. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 11, wherein the translating comprises:

translating the remote desktop drawing command into a graphics drawing command compatible with the transcoding server;

updating a portion of a bitmap of the remote desktop based on the graphics drawing command;

generating the coordinates for the updated portion of the bitmap;

generating the display image compatible with the web browser based on the updated portion of the bitmap; and

obtaining the drawing coordinates for the display image,

wherein the display image and the drawing coordinates are compatible with HTML.

14. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 11, wherein the display image and the drawing coordinates are compatible with HTML5.

15. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 11, wherein the transcoding server is an intermediary between the remote machine and the client device, and wherein the transcoding server is physically separate from the remote machine.

16. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 11, wherein the remote desktop drawing command comprises coordinates of a region of the remote desktop that has changed relative to a previous remote desktop drawing command.

17. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein the coordinates specify a redrawing region.

18. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 11, wherein the drawing coordinates are compatible with JavaScript client code of the web browser, and wherein the display image is compatible with HTML of the web browser.

19. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 11, wherein the display image comprises a scaled image of the remote desktop.

20. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 11, wherein the display image comprises an offset image of the remote desktop.

21. A computing machine comprising the machine-readable storage medium of claim 11, wherein the computing machine is the transcoding server.

22. An apparatus for facilitating a remote desktop session between a web browser of a client device and a remote machine through a transcoding server, utilizing hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) headers of HTTP for remote desktop session drawing, the apparatus comprising:

means for receiving drawing requests from the web browser at the client device;

means for receiving a remote desktop drawing command from the remote machine using a remote desktop display protocol, wherein the remote desktop drawing command is based on an image of a remote desktop of the remote machine;

means for translating the remote desktop drawing command into a display image and drawing coordinates for the display image;

means for placing the drawing coordinates into an HTTP response header; and

means for, in response to at least one of the drawing requests, facilitating providing the display image and the drawing coordinates together to the web browser in a single HTTP response, for drawing the display image of the remote desktop at the web browser, wherein the single HTTP response comprises the HTTP response header,

wherein the remote desktop display protocol is a push protocol, and

wherein HTTP is a pull protocol.

23. The apparatus of claim 22, wherein the means for translating comprises:

means for translating the remote desktop drawing command into a Java graphics drawing command, wherein the transcoding server comprises a Java compatible web application container;

means for updating a portion of a Java graphics bitmap of the remote desktop in response to the Java graphics drawing command;

means for generating coordinates for the updated portion of the Java bitmap from the Java graphics drawing command;

means for generating the display image compatible with the web browser based on the updated portion of the Java bitmap; and

means for obtaining the drawing coordinates for the display image based on the coordinates for the updated portion of the Java bitmap,

wherein the display image and the drawing coordinates are compatible with HTML,

wherein the updated portion of the Java graphics bitmap represents a portion of an entire image of the remote desktop of the remote machine,

wherein the display image and the drawing coordinates represent the portion of the entire image of the remote desktop of the remote machine.

24. The apparatus of claim 22, wherein the means for translating comprises:

means for translating the remote desktop drawing command into a graphics drawing command compatible with the transcoding server;

means for updating a portion of a bitmap of the remote desktop based on the graphics drawing command;

means for generating the coordinates for the updated portion of the bitmap;

means for generating the display image compatible with the web browser based on the updated portion of the bitmap; and

means for obtaining the drawing coordinates for the display image,

wherein the display image and the drawing coordinates are compatible with HTML.

25. The apparatus of claim 22, wherein the display image and the drawing coordinates are compatible with HTML5.

26. The apparatus of claim 22, wherein the transcoding server is an intermediary between the remote machine and the client device, and wherein the transcoding server is physically separate from the remote machine.

27. The apparatus of claim 22, wherein the remote desktop drawing command comprises coordinates of a region of the remote desktop that has changed relative to a previous remote desktop drawing command.

28. The apparatus of claim 27, wherein the coordinates specify a redrawing region.

29. The apparatus of claim 22, wherein the drawing coordinates are compatible with JavaScript client code of the web browser, and wherein the display image is compatible with HTML of the web browser.

30. The apparatus of claim 22, wherein the display image comprises a scaled image of the remote desktop.

31. The apparatus of claim 22, wherein the display image comprises an offset image of the remote desktop.

32. The apparatus of claim 22, wherein the apparatus comprises the transcoding server.

33. The apparatus of claim 22, wherein the apparatus comprises a processing system and a memory.