LENDING TARGET DEVICE RESOURCES TO HOST DEVICE COMPUTING ENVIRONMENT

• US 20160085654A1
• Filed: 09/24/2014
• Published: 03/24/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 09/24/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Khoury, Issa Y., Davis, Darren Ray, Mikkola, Petteri, Threlkeld, Elizabeth Fay, Shipley, Kenton Allen, Moran, Keri Kruse, Balasubramanian, Ramrajprabu, Derks, Patrick
• Granted Patent: US 10,025,684 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3041 where the computing system component is an input/output interface interconnection of, or transfer of information or other signals between, memories, input/output devices or central processing units G06F13/00
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3051 Monitoring arrangements for monitoring the configuration of the computing system or of the computing system component, e.g. monitoring the presence of processing resources, peripherals, I/O links, software programs verification or detection of system hardware configuration G06F11/2247
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 13/10 Program control for peripheral devices G06F13/14 - G06F13/42 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 13/4068 Electrical coupling
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2209/503 Resource availability
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5011 the resources being hardware resources other than CPUs, Servers and Terminals
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5077 Logical partitioning of resources; Management or configuration of virtualized resources specific details on emulation or internal functioning of virtual machines G06F9/455

Abstract

Various models may enable a first device to share a device resource with a second device in various contexts, such as sharing computing sessions via terminal services; sharing displays via display mirroring; and sharing input components across devices. However, such techniques often utilize ad hoc sharing models that depend on configuration and/or administrative access of each device; limit the capabilities of such sharing; and/or exhibit security concerns. Instead, a target device may advertise an availability of a target device resource. A host device may request the target device to lend the target device resource to the computing environment of the host device. The target device may reserve the target device resource for the host device, which may then integrate the target device resource into the host computing environment. The model may enable the user to utilize resources even from target devices that the user is not otherwise permitted to use.

Claims

1. A method of integrating target device resources of a target device into a host computing environment of a host device having a processor, the method comprising:

executing, on the processor, instructions that cause the host device to;

detect an availability of the target device resource through the target device; and

responsive to receiving a request from a host device user to borrow the target device resource for use in the host computing environment;

transmit to the target device a request to borrow the target device resource for use in the host computing environment; and

responsive to receiving from the target device an acceptance of the request;

integrate the target device resource with host device resources of the host computing environment; and

present the target device resource to the host device user within the host computing environment.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein executing the instructions further causes the host device to, upon detecting the availability of the target device resource through the target device, notify the host device user of the availability of the target device resource for integration with the host computing environment.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein detecting the availability of the target device resource further comprises:

detecting a physical proximity, within a physical proximity threshold, of the host device to a target device that advertises the availability of the target device resource.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the target device advertises an availability of at least two target device resources through the target device;

the request from the host device user specifies a selected target device resource to be integrated with the host computing environment; and

transmitting the request to the target device further comprises;

transmitting to the device a request to borrow only the selected target device resource for use in the host computing environment.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the target device resource further comprises a target presentation component;

the request from the host device user specifies a content item to be presented through the presentation component of the target device; and

transmitting the request to the target device further comprises;

transmitting to the device a description of the content item to be presented through the presentation component of the target device.

6. A target device that fulfills a request to participate in a host computing environment of a host device, the target device comprising:

a processor executing a target computing environment; and

a target device resource provided within the target computing environment; and

a memory storing instructions that, when executed on the processor, provide;

a target device resource advertiser that advertises an availability of the target device resource; and

a device resource lender that, responsive to receiving a request to borrow a target device resource for use in the host computing environment;

reserves the target device resource for the host computing environment; and

transmits to the host device an acceptance of the request.

7. The target device of claim 6, wherein:

the availability of the target device resource is constrained by an access credential; and

reserving the target device resource further comprises, responsive to receiving the access credential associated with the request;

verifying the access credential; and

only responsive to verifying the access credential, reserving the target device resource for the host computing environment.

8. The target device of claim 6, wherein:

the target device is operated by a target device user; and

the device resource lender, responsive to receiving the request to borrow the target device resource for use by the host device;

presents the request to the target device user; and

only responsive to receiving an acceptance of the request from the user, reserves the target device resource for the host computing environment.

9. The target device of claim 8, wherein:

the target device further comprises at least two target device resources for which the target device resource advertiser advertises an availability;

the request further specifies, among the at least two target device resources, a selected target device resource to lend to the host computing environment;

presenting the request to the target device user further comprises;

presenting, associated with the request, an identification of the selected target device resource to lend to the host computing environment; and

reserving the target device resource further comprises;

responsive to receiving the acceptance of the request from the user, reserving only the selected target device resource for the host computing environment.

10. The target device of claim 6, wherein:

the target device resource further comprises a target presentation component;

the request further specifies a content item to be presented on the target presentation component; and

presenting the request to the target device user further comprises;

presenting, associated with the request, an identification of the content item to be presented on the target presentation component.

11. The target device of claim 10, wherein the device resource lender, responsive to detecting a completion of presenting the content item on the target presentation component, releases a reservation of the target device resource for the host computing environment.

12. The target device of claim 6, wherein:

the target device resource further comprises a target presentation component; and

the target device further comprises;

a host environment presenter that, responsive to receiving at least a portion of the host computing environment from the host device, presents the at least a portion of the host computing environment through the target presentation component.

13. The target device of claim 12, wherein the host environment presenter further suspends presentation of the target computing environment on the target device during presentation of the host computing environment through the target presentation component.

14. The target device of claim 12, wherein the host environment presenter, while presenting the at least a portion of the computing environment through the target presentation component, concurrently continues to execute the target computing environment on the target device.

15. The target device of claim 14, wherein the host environment presenter further isolates the target computing environment from the host computing environment presented on the target device.

16. The target device of claim 14, wherein the host environment presenter further shares the target device resource between the host computing environment and the target computing environment.

17. A memory device storing instructions that, when executed on a processor of a host device, cause the host device to integrate target device resources of a target device into a host computing environment of the host device, by:

detecting an availability of the target device resource through the target device; and

responsive to receiving a request from a host device user to borrow the target device resource for use in the host computing environment;

transmitting to the target device a request to borrow the target device resource for use in the host computing environment; and

responsive to receiving from the target device an acceptance of the request;

integrating the target device resource with host device resources of the host computing environment; and

presenting the target device resource to the host device user within the host computing environment.

18. The memory device of claim 17, wherein:

the target device resource further comprises a target presentation component;

the host device resources further comprise a host presentation component; and

integrating the target device resource with the host device resources further comprises;

within a presentation component layout, positioning the target presentation component relative to the host presentation component.

19. The memory device of claim 17, wherein:

the host device further comprises a curated computing environment that is limited to a selected application; and

executing the instructions further cause the host device to;

present the curated computing environment instead of the host computing environment on the host device; and

while presenting the curated computing environment on the host device, present the host computing environment through the target device resource of the target device.

20. The memory device of claim 17, wherein:

the target device resource further comprises a target presentation component; and

integrating the target device resource with the host device resources of the host computing environment further comprises;

using a host network resource of the host device, retrieving a content item; and

transmitting the content item to the target device for presentation through the target presentation component.