Methods and apparatuses for simultaneous access by multiple remote devices

• US 6,842,777 B1
• Filed: 10/03/2000
• Issued: 01/11/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 10/03/2000
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Raja Singh Tuli
• Original Assignee: Raja Singh Tuli
• Inventors: Tuli, Raja Singh
• Primary Examiner(s): Barot, Bharat
• Application Number:
  US09/677,857
• Time in Patent Office: 1,561 Days
• Field of Search: 709200-203, 709/208, 709217-219, 709/247, 370466-467, 345748-749
• US Class Current: 709/217
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9577 Optimising the visualization of content, e.g. distillation of HTML documents
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2340/145 related to small screens
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 5/346 for systems having a bit-mapped display memory
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/1867 Arrangements specially adapted for the transmitter end
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/04 specially adapted for terminals or networks with limited capabilities; specially adapted for terminal portability
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/2871 Implementation details of single intermediate entities
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/289 Intermediate processing functionally located close to the data consumer application, e.g. in same machine, in same home or in same sub-network
• 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: H04L 67/5651 Reducing the amount or size of exchanged application data
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/59 Providing operational support to end devices by off-loading in the network or by emulation, e.g. when they are unavailable
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/63 Routing a service request depending on the request content or context
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]

Abstract

The present invention aims to provide a system that allows multiple users operating a PDA (Personal Digital Assistant) to access the Internet or the World Wide Web (WWW), and to be able to view and interact with these images remotely on a display screen. It is a further aim to provide a RDP (Remote Data Protocol) client and sever system to facilitate multiple PDA users simultaneously on a single server. The host computer contains an RDP server which has multiple virtual machines contained within, with each virtual machine containing a web browser. Multiple RDP clients interact with the virtual machines with a dedicated virtual machine for each client on the server. Each client is represented by software, which sends the display of the virtual machine to a single remote PDA device via a dedicated modem port. This modem port allows two way communication between a single PDA and a dedicated virtual machine on the server, via a single RDP client. By implementing multiple virtual machines and multiple RDP clients with multiple modem ports, it is now possible to communicate with multiple users of PDA devices on the RDP. The RDP client relays information received via a modem port from the PDA, such as mouse clicks or keyboard commands, to the application program in the virtual machine, which is then processed and a refreshed display sent back to the PDA via the same dedicated RDP client and modem port.

Claims

1. A host computer which contains multiple virtual machines in software, each of the virtual machines containing a web browser, each of the virtual machines communicating with a dedicated client, the dedicated client being in software running on the host computer, the dedicated client converting information received from a corresponding one of the virtual machines into a display image, which is compressed and sent to a port for transmission to a remote portable display device.

2. A host computer as claimed in claim 1, wherein the display area of the portable display device is smaller than the image;

according to a location of an area of the image to be displayed on the portable display device, the dedicated client sends the area of the image first and then automatically sends areas surrounding the area of the image.

3. A host computer as claimed in claim 1, wherein during the transmission of the image to the portable display device, a mouse click or keyboard command from the portable display device is relayed immediately to the dedicated client through the port;

the dedicated client communicates with the web browser to send a new image to the portable display device if required, otherwise original activities are resumed.

4. A host computer as claimed in claim 1, wherein the port comprises a modem port for communication over a telephone connection;

beacons are relayed between the portable display device and the client to confirm a telephone connection is established;

a beacon not received is interpreted as a disconnection which initiates a reconnection sequence between the dedicated client and portable display device.

5. A host computer claimed in claim 1, wherein the dedicated client breaks the image into blocks for transmission in files;

an error protocol verifies the files for the image sent from the dedicated client to the portable display device are successfully received, decompressed and acknowledged by the portable display device.

6. A host computer as claimed in claim 1, wherein the image is sent over the Internet to be viewed by the portable display device comprising a display screen.

7. A method to provide simultaneous remote access, the method comprising:

running multiple virtual machines on a computer system, each of the virtual machines executing an application program; and

running multiple clients on the computer system, each of the clients;

communicating with one of the virtual machines to generate a display image of the corresponding one of the virtual machines, the display image showing the application program; and

transmitting the display image in a compressed format to a remote device for display.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the clients communicate with the virtual machines using a remote data protocol.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein a display area of the remote device is smaller than the display image;

the method further comprises;

breaking the display image into blocks;

receiving an indication of an area of the display image to be displayed on the remote device; and

transmitting one or more blocks to be displayed in the display area of the remote device before automatically transmitting blocks surrounding the one or more blocks.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein during said transmitting the method further comprises:

receiving a user input from the remote device to operate the application program;

if no new display image is generated from the user input, resuming said transmitting; and

if a new display image is generated from the user input, transmitting the new display image in a compressed format to the remote device for display.

11. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

determining if a connection between the remote device and one of the clients is disconnected; and

in response to a determination that the connection is disconnected, reconnecting the remote device and the corresponding one of the clients.

12. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

detecting an error in transmitting a block of the display image; and

retransmitting the block of the display image without retransmitting the entire display image.

13. A machine readable medium containing executable computer program instructions which when executed by a data processing system cause said system to perform a method to provide simultaneous remote access, the method comprising:

executing multiple virtual machines on a computer system, each of the virtual machines executing an application program; and

executing multiple clients on the computer system, each of the clients;

communicating with one of the virtual machines to generate a display image of the corresponding one of the virtual machines, the display image showing the application program; and

transmitting the display image in a compressed format to a remote device for display.

14. The medium of claim 13, wherein the clients communicate with the virtual machines using a remote data protocol.

15. The medium of claim 13, wherein a display area of the remote device is smaller than the display image;

the method further comprises;

breaking the display image into blocks;

receiving an indication of an area of the display image to be displayed on the remote device; and

transmitting one or more blocks to be displayed in the display area of the remote device before automatically transmitting blocks surrounding the one or more blocks.

16. The medium of claim 15, wherein during said transmitting the method further comprises:

receiving a user input from the remote device to operate the application program;

if no new display image is generated from the user input, resuming said transmitting; and

if a new display image is generated from the user input, transmitting the new display image is compressed format to the remote device for display.

17. The medium of claim 15, wherein the method further comprises:

determining if a connection between the remote device and one of the clients is disconnected; and

in response to a determination that the connection is disconnected, reconnecting the remote device and the corresponding one of the clients.

18. The medium of claim 15, wherein the method further comprises:

detecting an error in transmitting a block of the display image; and

retransmitting the block of the display image without retransmitting the entire display image.