Instantaneous remote control of an unattended server

• US 6,691,154 B1
• Filed: 02/29/2000
• Issued: 02/10/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 11/18/1998
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: WebEx Communications Incorporated (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: Yuan, Zheng, Zhu, Min
• Primary Examiner(s): Winder, Patrice
• Assistant Examiner(s): WANG, LIANG CHE A
• Application Number:
  US09/515,684
• Time in Patent Office: 1,442 Days
• Field of Search: 709/204, 709/205, 709/208, 709/209, 714/4, 714/39
• US Class Current: 709/204
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management

Abstract

A method and a computer program product, implementing techniques for exchanging data in an unattended desktop sharing mode. The techniques include receiving a conferencing request, at a local unattended server, from a remote conferencing server; loading a desktop application on the local unattended server in response to the conferencing request to generate a loaded desktop; sending the loaded desktop to a virtual device to create a shared desktop; and sending the shared desktop to the remote conferencing server for distribution to one or more remote computers, whereby the shared desktop is displayed at each remote computer by a viewer application.

Claims

1. A method for assigning control of a local computer system to one or more remote computer systems, the method comprising:

providing a monitoring application and a desktop application on the local computer system, the monitoring application monitoring the status of one or more applications running on the local computer system;

the desktop application providing a desktop with access to all commands, files, or applications on the local computer system;

the monitoring application generating an event flag identifying an application on the local computer system requiring technical support and sending the event flag to a remote conferencing server;

in response to receiving the event flag, the remote conferencing server automatically establishing a data conference with the local computer system, and notifying the one or more remote computer systems that the data conference with the local computer system has been established; and

automatically assigning control of the local computer system to the one or more remote computer systems in response to the one or more remote computers joining the data conference, the one or more remote computer systems providing the technical support for the identified application including controlling the desktop application on the local computer system; and

displaying the desktop of the local computer system at each remote computer system through a respective viewer application during the data conference.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein automatically assigning control of the local computer system to the one or more remote computer systems includes:

loading the desktop application on the local computer system and generating a loaded desktop, the loaded desktop being the desktop converted into a document form;

sending the loaded desktop to a virtual device, the virtual device creating a shared desktop for use during the control of the local computer system by the one or more remote computer systems;

sending the shared desktop to the remote conferencing server for distribution to the one or more remote computer systems; and

displaying the shared desktop at each remote computer system through a respective viewer application during the data conference,

wherein the shared desktop represents the desktop of the local computer system.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein sending the loaded desktop to a virtual device comprises:

replacing a default device driver with a virtual device driver associated with the virtual device.

4. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

receiving a user input at the local computer system from a remote computer system;

driving a file editing application associated with the desktop application to edit the loaded desktop based on the user input;

receiving a loaded desktop update from the file editing application, the loaded desktop update occasioned by the editing of the loaded desktop;

sending the loaded desktop update to the virtual device, the virtual device creating a shared desktop update; and

sending the shared desktop update to the remote conferencing server for distribution to the one or more remote computer systems, each remote computer system updating the display of the shared desktop by a respective viewer applications.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the shared desktop update represents only the portion of the loaded desktop that was edited.

6. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

creating a transparent overlay screen appearing to be displayed over the shared desktop.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

creating a user-defined object at a user-specified position within the transparent overlay screen at a remote computer system; and

sending data representing the user-defined object and user-specified position from the remote computer system to the remote conferencing server for distribution to other ones of the one or more remote computers systems, wherein the transparent overlay screen is updated to display the user-defined object at the user-specified position within the transparent overlay screen by the respective viewer applications.

8. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

receiving a first user input, at the local computer system from a remote computer system selecting the identified application;

invoking the selected application on the local computer system in response to the first user input to generate an application screen;

sending the application screen to the virtual device, the virtual device creating a shared screen;

sending the shared screen to the remote conferencing server for distribution to the one or more remote computers systems; and

displaying the shared screen at each remote computer system by a respective viewer application.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

receiving a second user input at the local computer system from a remote computer system;

driving a file editing application associated with the selected application to edit the application screen based on the second user input;

receiving an application screen update from the file editing application, the application screen update occasioned by the editing of the application screen;

sending the application screen update to the virtual device, the virtual device creating a shared screen update; and

sending the shared screen update to the remote conferencing server for distribution to the one or more remote computer systems, each remote computer system updating the display of the shared screen by a respective viewer application.

10. The method of claim 2, wherein the local computer system is a local server.

11. The method of claim 2, wherein the local computer system is connected to a network and the one or more remote computer systems are located outside of the network.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a user input at the local computer system from a remote computer system selecting a document on the local computer system;

printing the document to a virtual printer, the virtual printer creating a shared document;

sending the shared document to the remote conferencing server for distribution to the one or more remote computers systems; and

displaying the shared document at each remote computer system by a respective viewer application.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

creating a transparent overlay screen appearing to be displayed over the shared document.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

creating a user-defined object at a user-specified position within the transparent overlay screen at a remote computer system;

sending data representing the user-defined object and user-specified position from the remote computer to the remote conferencing server for distribution to the one or more remote computers, wherein the transparent overlay screen is updated to display the user-defined object at the user-specified position within the transparent overlay screen at each remote computer system by a respective viewer application.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the local computer system includes a display device for displaying information to a user and includes a keyboard by which the user can provide input to the local computer system.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein the local computer system is a local server.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein the local computer system is unattended in which there is not a user present to interact with the local computer system.

18. The method of claim 1, wherein the local computer system is connected to a network and the one or more remote computer systems are located outside of the network.

19. A computer program product stored on a machine-readable medium for assigning control of a local computer system to one or more remote computer systems, the product comprising instructions operable to cause a programmable processor to:

provide a monitoring application and a desktop application on the local computer system, the monitoring application monitoring the status of one or more applications running on the local computer system, the desktop application being operable to provide a desktop with access to all commands, files, or applications on the local computer system;

the monitoring application being operable to generate an event flag identifying an application on the local computer system requiring technical support, and to send the event flag to a remote conferencing server;

the remote conferencing server being operable to automatically establish a data conference with the local computer system in response to receiving the event flag, and to notify the one or more remote computer systems that the data conference with the local computer system has been established; and

automatically assign control of the local computer system to the one or more remote computer systems in response to the one or more remote computers joining the data conference, the one or more remote computer systems being operable to provide the technical support for the identified application and to control the desktop application on the local computer system; and

display the desktop of the local computer system at each remote computer system through a respective viewer application during the data conference.

20. The product of claim 19, wherein the instruction to automatically assign control of the local computer system to the one or more remote computer systems includes instructions operable to cause a processor to:

load the desktop application on the local computer system and generate a loaded desktop, the loaded desktop being the desktop converted into a document form;

send the loaded desktop to a virtual device, the virtual device being operable to create a shared desktop for use during the control of the local computer system by the one or more remote computer systems;

send the shared desktop to the remote conferencing server for distribution to the one or more remote computer systems; and

display the shared desktop at each remote computer system through a respective viewer application during the data conference,

wherein the shared desktop represents the desktop of the local computer system.

21. The product of claim 20, wherein the instructions to send the loaded desktop to a virtual device comprises instructions operable to cause a programmable processor to:

replace a default device driver with a virtual device driver associated with the virtual device.

22. The product of claim 20, further comprising instructions operable to cause a programmable processor to:

receive a user input at the local computer system from a remote computer system;

drive a file editing application associated with the desktop application to edit the loaded desktop based on the user input;

receive a loaded desktop update from the file editing application, the loaded desktop update occasioned by the editing of the loaded desktop;

send the loaded desktop update to a virtual device, the virtual device being operable to create a shared desktop update; and

send the shared desktop update to the remote conferencing server for distribution to the one or more remote computer systems, each remote computer system being operable to update the display of the shared desktop by a respective viewer applications.

23. The product of claim 22, wherein the shared desktop update represents only the portion of the loaded desktop that was edited.

24. The product of claim 20, further comprising instructions operable to cause a programmable processor to:

create a transparent overlay screen appearing to be displayed over the shared desktop.

25. The product of claim 24, further comprising instructions operable to cause a programmable processor to:

create a user-defined object at a user-specified position within the transparent overlay screen at a remote computer; and

send data representing the user-defined object and user-specified position from the remote computer to the remote conferencing server for distribution to the one or more remote computers, wherein the transparent overlay screen is updated to display the user-defined object at the user-specified position within the transparent overlay screen by the respective viewer applications.

26. The product of claim 20, further comprising instructions operable to cause a programmable processor to:

receive a first user input at the local computer system from a remote computer system selecting the identified application;

invoke the selected application on the local computer system in response to the first user input to generate an application screen;

send the application screen to the virtual device, the virtual device being operable to create a shared screen;

send the shared screen to the remote conferencing server for distribution to the one or more remote computer systems; and

display the shared screen at each remote computer by a respective viewer application.

27. The product of claim 26, further comprising instructions operable to cause a programmable processor to:

receive a second user input at the local computer system from a remote computer system;

drive a file editing application associated with the selected application to edit the application screen based on the second user input;

receive an application screen update from the application, the application screen update occasioned by the editing of the application screen;

send the application screen update to the virtual device, the virtual device being operable to create a shared screen update; and

send the shared screen update to the remote conferencing server for distribution to the one or more remote computer system, each remote computer system being operable to update the display of the shared screen by a respective viewer application.

28. The product of claim 19, the product further comprising instructions operable to cause a programmable processor to:

receive a user input at the local computer system from a remote computer system selecting a document on the local computer system;

print the document to a virtual printer, the virtual printer being operable to create a shared document;

send the shared document to the remote conferencing server for distribution to the one or more remote computer systems, and

display the shared document at each remote computer system by a respective viewer application.

29. The product of claim 28, further comprising instructions operable to cause a programmable processor to:

create a transparent overlay screen appearing to be displayed over the shared document.

30. The product of claim 29, further comprising instructions operable to cause a programmable processor to:

create a user-defined object at a user-specified position within the transparent overlay screen at a remote computer system;

send data representing the user-defined object and user-specified position from the remote computer to the remote conferencing server for distribution to the one or more remote computers, wherein the transparent overlay screen is updated to display the user-defined object at the user-specified position within the transparent overlay screen at each remote computer by a respective viewer application.

31. The product of claim 19, wherein the local computer system is a local server.

32. The product of claim 19, wherein the local computer system is unattended in which there is not a user present to interact with the local computer system.

33. The product of claim 19, wherein the local computer system is connected to a network and the one or more remote computer systems are located outside of the network.

34. A system for controlling a local computer system with one or more remote computer systems, comprising:

a local computer system having a display and an input device to interact with a user, and having a desktop application providing a desktop for the display with access to all commands, files, or applications on the local computer system;

a remote conferencing server to send a conferencing request to the local computer system, the conferencing request containing information regarding a data conference;

the local computer system to receive the conferencing request from the remote conferencing server and join the data conference, the remote conferencing server to notify one or more remote computer systems that the local computer system has joined the data conference;

the local computer system to automatically assign control of itself to the one or more remote computer systems upon an event of the one or more remote computers joining the data conference,

wherein each of the one or more remote computer systems are operable to control the local computer system including the desktop application during the data conference, and display the desktop of the local computer system by a respective viewer application.