PROVIDING ACCESS TO A REMOTE APPLICATION VIA A WEB CLIENT

• US 20140026057A1
• Filed: 07/23/2012
• Published: 01/23/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 07/23/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Vmware LLC (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: VMware, Inc. (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Inventors: CLARK, Jonathan, KIMPTON, Andrew, JOOSTE, Sarel Kobus
• Granted Patent: US 10,353,718 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/733
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/451 Execution arrangements for user interfaces

Abstract

Techniques for remote application access are described. Some embodiments provide access to an application executing on a host system via a Web browser of a client device. A user operating the Web browser may request access to the application via a uniform resource identifier. A service executing on the host system receives the request and facilitates access to the application. Facilitating access may include transmitting to the Web browser image data corresponding to a window or graphical user interface generated by the application and stored on the host system. Client logic executing within the Web browser receives the image data and displays a local copy of the application window on the client device. The client logic also forwards user input events made with respect to the to the local window to the remote presentation service, which in turn forwards the events to the window/application on the host system.

Claims

1. A method in a host computing system for providing access via a remote Web client to applications on the host computing system, the Web client executing on a client device having a display device, the method comprising:

providing a uniform resource identifier that identifies an application executing on the host computing system, the host computing system including a display buffer for storing an output graphical user interface generated by the application;

receiving a request to access the application, the request received from the remote Web client and based on the uniform resource identifier; and

facilitating user interaction with the application on the host computing system, by;

causing the remote Web client to display the graphical user interface of the application from the display buffer in the host computing system; and

receiving from the remote Web client indications of inputs made by the user with respect to the displayed graphical user interface.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the receiving a request to access the application includes:

receiving an HTTP request that identifies the application along with one or more arguments.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the one or more arguments include an indication of a file, and further comprising:

initiating execution of the application with the indicated file.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the one or more arguments include an indication of a preferred window state, and further comprising:

causing the graphical user interface to be displayed based on the preferred window state, the preferred window state being at least one of window maximized, window minimized, and/or window size.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein the one or more arguments include an indication of a user environment on the host computing system, and further comprising:

initiating execution of the application based on the user environment.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the host computing system is a virtual machine, wherein the user environment is a virtual desktop, and wherein causing the remote Web client to display the graphical user interface includes causing the remote Web client to display a portion of the virtual desktop, the portion being less than all of the virtual desktop.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein the host computing system is a physical machine, wherein initiating execution of the application based on the user environment includes executing an application that is installed on the physical machine and that is accessible via a user account identified by the user environment.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the facilitating user interaction with the application includes:

in response to the receiving a request to access the application, transmitting a code module that is configured, when executed by the Web client, to display via the Web client the graphical user interface and to transmit to the host computing system the indications of inputs made by the user.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the facilitating user interaction with the application includes:

facilitating user interaction via an HTTP connection between the remote Web client and a presentation service executing on the host computing system.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the causing the remote Web client to display the graphical user interface includes:

transmitting to the remote Web client image data representing a first window of the graphical user interface; and

causing the remote Web client to display a second window as a copy of the first window, the second window including the image data.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the causing the remote Web client to display the graphical user interface includes:

causing the remote Web client to display image data representing the graphical user interface via an HTML 5 canvas element.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the facilitating user interaction with the application includes:

determining one or more image blocks that include modified portions of the graphical user interface; and

transmitting the one or more image blocks to the remote Web client.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the receiving from the remote Web client indications of inputs includes:

receiving an indication of a mouse event and a corresponding location from the remote Web client.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

translating the location of the mouse event into a coordinate system of the host computing system.

15. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

tracking information about multiple applications executing on the host computing system, the tracked information including application identifiers, application window positions, application window sizes, and/or application events.

16. A system for providing access via a Web client to remote applications, the system comprising:

a host computing system including a processor, a memory, a display buffer, an application, a first window stored in the display buffer, and a remote presentation service module stored in the memory and configured, when executed by the processor, to;

receive a request to access the application, the request received from a remote Web client executing on a client computing device having a display device, the request based on a uniform resource identifier that identifies the application; and

facilitate user interaction with the application, by;

causing the remote Web client to display a second window on the display device of the client device, the second window based on the first window; and

receiving from the remote Web client indications of inputs made by the user with respect to the displayed second window.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the remote presentation service module is further configured to:

transmit client logic to the Web client, the client logic configured, when executed by the client computing device, to;

receive from the remote presentation service module image data representing the first window;

present the image data on the display device of the client computing device; and

transmit to the remote presentation service module the indications of inputs made by the user.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the client computing device is one of a smart phone, a tablet computer, a laptop computer, and/or a desktop computer.

19. The system of claim 17, wherein the remote presentation service module is further configured to, in response to the request to access the application, transmit to the client computing device the client logic as part of an HTTP transaction.

20. The system of claim 16, wherein the host computing system includes multiple virtual machines that each host one or more applications and that each provide remote access to the one or more applications to a distinct Web client.

21. The system of claim 16, wherein the uniform resource identifier includes a first portion that identifies the application, a second portion that identifies a file to be opened via the application, and a third portion that specifies a preferred window size.

22. The system of claim 16, wherein the remote presentation service module is further configured to translate a location of a mouse input event received from the Web client into a coordinate system of the host computing system.

23. The system of claim 16, wherein the host computing system executes a different operating system than the client computing device, and wherein the application is not configured to run natively on the operating system of the client computing device.

24. The system of claim 16, wherein the remote Web client is a Web browser application.

25. The system of claim 16, wherein the second window is not an identical copy of the first window, and wherein the remote presentation service module is configured to transmit to the Web client a compressed representation of image data from the first window.

26. A non-transitory computer-readable medium including contents that are configured, when executed, to cause a host computing system to perform a method for providing access via a remote Web client to applications on the host computing system, the Web client executing on a client device having a display device, the method comprising:

receiving a request to access an application executing on the host computing system, the application having a first window for display on a local display device of the host computing system, the request received from the remote Web client and based on a uniform resource identifier that identifies the host computing system and the application; and

facilitating user interaction with the application on the host computing system, by;

causing the remote Web client to display a second window on the display device of the client device, the second window based on the first window; and

receiving from the remote Web client indications of inputs made by the user with respect to the displayed second window.

27. The computer-readable medium of claim 26, wherein the contents include instructions that are stored in a memory of the computing system and that are configured to cause the computing system to perform the method.