Method and apparatus for appliance host supported network-based application delivery

• US 7,143,142 B1
• Filed: 05/15/2000
• Issued: 11/28/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 05/15/2000
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Ricoh Company Limited
• Original Assignee: Ricoh Company Limited
• Inventors: Piersol, Kurt W.
• Primary Examiner(s): Etienne, Ario
• Assistant Examiner(s): Halim, Sahera
• Application Number:
  US09/570,989
• Time in Patent Office: 2,388 Days
• Field of Search: 705/217, 705/52, 705/26, 709/217, 709/227, 709/219
• US Class Current: 709/217
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/445 Program loading or initiating bootstrapping G06F9/4401; security arrangements for program loading or initiating G06F21/57
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/34 involving the movement of software or configuration parameters network booting or remote initial program loading [RIPL] G06F9/4416
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/40 for recovering from a failure of a protocol instance or entity, e.g. service redundancy protocols, protocol state redundancy or protocol service redirection management of faults, events, alarms or notifications in data switching networks H04L41/06

Abstract

A method and apparatus for appliance host supported network-based application delivery is described. In one embodiment, a local client device requests access to a network-based application for use with data stored locally by the client. In one embodiment, an appliance host retrieves the network-based application from a remote server based upon the client request and negotiated access terms. In one embodiment, the appliance host operates much like a cache in that rather than automatically retrieving the client-requested network-based application from a remote server, the appliance host first determines if a local copy of the application is stored on the appliance host. If the network-based application is stored on the appliance host, whether pre-installed by the vendor or remaining from a previous client request, then the appliance host executes the locally stored version of the application rather than retrieving a copy from the remote server. Since the network-based application is executed locally (with respect to the client) rather than at the remote server location, any communication interruptions that may occur outside the local network will not affect execution of the network-based application.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

an appliance host device for negotiating one or more access terms on behalf of a client device of a local network to access a network-based application stored upon the appliance host device, wherein usage of the network-based application is to be leased from a remote application server other than the client device and the appliance host device over an external network, wherein the appliance host device interfaces the client device of the local network with the remote application server of the external network, and wherein the remote application server also provides services to other clients of the external network other than the appliance host device; and

enabling access by the client device over the local network to the network-based application for execution by the appliance host device based upon the negotiated one or more access terms in response to a request by the client device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more access terms are negotiated between the remote application server and the appliance host device.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

operating the remote application server by a first organization;

operating the appliance host device by a second organization; and

negotiating the one or more access terms between the first organization and the second organization.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the one or more negotiated access terms include an affirmation that the network-based application is to be executed only by the appliance host device within the local network specified by the one or more negotiated access terms.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more access terms include limitations on access distribution of the network-based application by the appliance host device within the local network.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

dynamically updating the network-based application stored on the appliance host device based on interaction between the client device and the appliance host device.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein dynamically updating includes retrieving one or more network-based application modules from the remote application server over the external network.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein dynamically updating includes retrieving one or more network-based application modules from a third-party device over the external network.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

disabling access by the client device to the network-based application in response to expiration of one or more negotiated lease terms.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein disabling access by the client device includes denying the client device access to the network-based application stored upon the appliance host device.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein disabling access by the client device includes removing the network-based application from the appliance host device such that further execution of the network-based application by the appliance host device is not possible.

12. A network comprising:

means for an appliance device for negotiating one or more access terms on behalf of a client device to access a network-based application stored upon the appliance host device, wherein usage of the network-based application is to be leased from a remote application server other than the client device and the appliance host device over an external network, wherein the appliance host device interfaces the client device of the local network with the remote application server of the external network, and wherein the remote application server also provides services to other clients of the external network other than the appliance host device; and

means for enabling access by the client device to the network-based application for execution by the appliance host device based upon the negotiated one or more access terms in response to a request by the client device.

13. The network of claim 12, wherein the one or more access terms are negotiated between the remote application server and the appliance host device.

14. The network of claim 12, wherein the remote application server is operated by a first organization and the appliance host device is operated by a second organization, and wherein the one or more access terms are negotiated between the first organization and the second organization.

15. The network of claim 14, wherein the one or more negotiated access terms include an affirmation that the network-based application is to be executed only by the appliance host device within the local network specified by the one or more negotiated access terms.

16. The network of claim 12, wherein the one or more access terms include limitations on access distribution of the network-based application by the appliance host device within the local network.

17. The network of claim 12, further comprising:

means for dynamically updating the network-based application stored on the appliance host device based on interaction between the client device and the appliance host device.

18. The network of claim 17, wherein means for dynamically updating includes means for retrieving one or more network-based application modules from the remote application server over the external network.

19. The network of claim 17, wherein means for dynamically updating includes means for retrieving one or more network-based application modules from a third-party device over the external network.

20. The network of claim 12, further comprising:

means for disabling access by the client device to the network-based application in response to expiration of one or more negotiated lease terms.

21. The network of claim 20, wherein means for disabling access by the client device includes means for denying the client device access to the network-based application stored upon the appliance host device.

22. The network of claim 20, wherein means for disabling access by the client device includes means for removing the network-based application from the appliance host device such that further execution of the network-based application by the appliance host device is not possible.

23. An appliance host device comprising:

a storage medium having stored therein a plurality of machine executable programming instructions that, when executed, operate to;

negotiate one or more access terms on behalf of a client device to access a network-based application stored upon the appliance host device, wherein usage of the network-based application is to be leased from a remote application server other than the client device and the appliance host device over an external network, wherein the appliance host device interfaces the client device of the local network with the remote application server of the external network and wherein the remote application server also provides services to other clients of the external network other than the appliance host device,

enable access by the client device to the network-based application, wherein the network-based application is to be executed by the appliance host device based upon the negotiated one or more access terms in response to a request by the client device; and

a processor coupled to said storage medium to execute the programming instructions.

24. The appliance host device of claim 23, wherein the one or more access terms are negotiated between the remote application server and the appliance host device.

25. The appliance host device of claim 23, wherein the one or more negotiated access terms include an affirmation that the network-based application is to be executed only by the appliance host device within the local network specified by the one or more negotiated access terms.

26. The appliance host device of claim 23, wherein the one or more access terms include limitations on access distribution of the network-based application by the appliance host device within the local network.

27. The appliance host device of claim 23, further comprising programming instructions that, when executed, operate to:

dynamically update the network-based application stored on the appliance host device based on interaction between the client device and the appliance host device.

28. The appliance host device of claim 27, wherein the programming instructions that, when executed, operate to dynamically update includes programming instructions that, when executed, operate to retrieve one or more network-based application modules from the remote application server over the external network.

29. The appliance host device of claim 27, wherein the programming instructions that, when executed, operate to dynamically update, includes programming instructions that, when executed, operate to retrieve one or more network-based application modules from a third-party device over the external network.

30. The appliance host device of claim 23, further comprising programming instructions that, when executed, operate to:

disable access by the client device to the network-based application in response to expiration of one or more negotiated lease terms.

31. The appliance host device of claim 30, wherein the programming instructions that, when executed, operate to disable access by the client includes programming instructions that, when executed, operate to deny the client device access to the network-based application stored upon the appliance host device.

32. The appliance host device of claim 30, wherein the programming instructions that, when executed, operate to disable access by the client includes programming instructions that, when executed, operate to remove the network-based application from the appliance host device such that further execution of the network-based application by the appliance host device is not possible.