REMOTELY RETRIEVING INFORMATION FROM CONSUMER DEVICES

• US 20120317237A1
• Filed: 06/13/2011
• Published: 12/13/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 06/13/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Kazan, Wissam, Przysucha, Marcin, Kopczynska, Aleksandra, Ponnuru, Hemantha, Ganapathy, Gnana Kasturi, Evans, Elizabeth
• Granted Patent: US 9,292,358 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/219
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2209/549 Remote execution
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/54 Interprogram communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/025 for remote control or remote monitoring of applications

Abstract

Users that access their personal information from a home computer typically only need access to data, and do not need to remotely control the desktops of their home computers. By providing a remote access server that coordinates access to the file system of a user device, such as a home computer, a remote device, such as a mobile phone, can send commands to the user device. The remote device sends requests including commands to the server. The user device periodically requests these commands from the server. An application on the user device processes these commands, and in response provides the requested information to the server. The server responds to the requests from the remote device with the requested information from the user device.

Claims

1. A computing device configured to allow a remote device to request commands to be performed on the computing device through a remote access service, comprising:

a connection manager having a network connection to receive requests for connections from the remote access service, and being configured to, in response to a request from the remote access service for a connection, connect to a server in the remote access service by issuing a sequence of requests to the server;

the connection manager further being configured to receive commands from the remote device through responses from the server to the requests; and

a data transfer module having an input for receiving the commands, and configured to cause the commands to be performed on the computing device, and an output for providing data resulting from the commands to the connection manager;

the connection manager further being configured to receive the data resulting from the commands and to send the data to the remote device by sending a message containing the data to the server.

2. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the commands include parameters identifying the remote device and wherein the computing device processes the data resulting from the commands into a format suitable for the remote device.

3. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the commands include instructions to enumerate a directory in the file system of the computing device.

4. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the commands include instructions to retrieve a file in the file system of the computing device.

5. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the commands include instructions to retrieve a collection of files in the file system of the computing device, and the data transfer module collects and aggregates the files into a package to be sent to the remote device.

6. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the data transfer module includes a queue for requests for each session between the remote device and the computing device.

7. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the connection manager includes a request state map for each request for managing information about the communication between the remote device and the computing device.

8. A remote access service for allowing a remote device to request commands to be performed on a computing device, comprising:

a load balancer connected to a computer network and configured to receive, from the remote device, requests to access the computing device;

a plurality of servers;

the load balancer selecting one of the plurality of servers for communication with the remote device and the computing device in response to a request from the remote device;

the selected server being configured to;

receive requests for commands from the remote device;

cause the computing device to be notified of the request for access by the remote device;

receive requests from the computing device for the commands from the remote device;

respond to the request from the computing device with the commands from the remote device;

receive results from the commands from the computing device; and

forward the received results to the remote device.

9. The remote access service of claim 8, wherein the load balancer selects the server according to geographic proximity of the server with the remote device and the computing device.

10. The remote access service of claim 8, further comprising a notification service, wherein the selected server instructs the notification service to inform the computing device about the request for a connection from the remote device.

11. The remote access service of claim 8, wherein the commands include parameters identifying the remote device and wherein the data transfer module processes the data resulting from the commands into a format suitable for the remote device.

12. The remote access service of claim 8, wherein the commands include instructions to enumerate a directory in the file system of the computing device.

13. The remote access service of claim 8, wherein the commands include instructions to retrieve a file in the file system of the computing device.

14. A system providing for access by a remote device of information, comprising:

a computing device on which information is stored;

a remote access service including a plurality of servers, wherein each server is configured to;

receive requests for commands from the remote device;

cause the computing device to be notified of the request for access by the remote device;

receive requests from the computing device for the commands from the remote device;

respond to the request from the computing device with the commands from the remote device;

receive results from the commands from the computing device; and

forward the received results to the remote device.

15. The system of claim 14 wherein the computing device comprises:

a connection manager having a network connection to receive the requests for connections from the remote access service, and being configured to, in response to a request from the remote access service for a connection, connect to the server by issuing a sequence of requests to the server;

the connection manager further being configured to receive commands from the remote device through responses from the server to the requests; and

a data transfer module having an input for receiving the commands, and configured to cause the commands to be performed on the computing device, and an output for providing data resulting from the commands to the connection manager;

the connection manager further being configured to receive the data resulting from the commands and to send the data to the remote device by sending a message containing the data to the server.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the commands include parameters identifying the remote device and wherein the data transfer module processes the data resulting from the commands into a format suitable for the remote device.

17. The system of claim 15, wherein the commands include instructions to enumerate a directory in the file system of the computing device.

18. The system of claim 15, wherein the commands include instructions to retrieve a file in the file system of the computing device.

19. The system of claim 15, wherein the commands include instructions to retrieve a collection of files in the file system of the computing device, and the data transfer module collects and aggregates the files into a package to be sent to the remote device.