Portable thin client for the enterprise workspace

• US 7,685,257 B2
• Filed: 11/10/2003
• Issued: 03/23/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 11/10/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Oracle America, Inc. (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Sun Microsystems Incorporated (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: Roles, Karen E., King, James E.
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen; Thu Ha T
• Application Number:
  US10/704,939
• Publication Number:
  US 20050102377A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,325 Days
• Field of Search: 709/216, 709/218, 709/228, 709/217, 709/219, 709/227, 455/435.1, 455/432.1, 34082501-82504, 370/431, 704/270.1
• US Class Current: 709/219
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/14 Session management for real-time applications in data packet communications networks H04L65/1066
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 Network security protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/00 Services specially adapted for wireless communication networks; Facilities therefor
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/02 Terminal devices

Abstract

A system and method is provided for designing (or re-architecting) a personal digital assistant (PDA) as a portable thin client of a network. The portable thin client is a small, stateless, “plug and work” computer whose main function is to process all input and output for the user, as well as to manage communication with at least one server. All other computational tasks (or services) for the user of the PDA are performed on the server which is shared amongst a community of thin clients. As a result of re-architecting the PDA as a portable thin client, there is no need to download application(s) and operating system(s) running the application(s) to the PDA because the server—through the network—provides these services. In addition, no data is lost when a PDA is faulty or has to be changed. Moreover, in one embodiment, the portable thin client (or thin client PDA) includes smart card capabilities so that an enterprise (or business organization) can pool its PDAs with the users of the PDA on a need-to-use basis.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

a first wireless client device;

a second wireless client device; and

one or more server computers, wherein the one or more server computers are configured to;

provide a user with access to a session representing one or more software services associated with the user by beginning transmission of first display information for the one or more software services to the first wireless client device;

receive a first notification from the first wireless client device indicating that the user has stopped using the first wireless client device, wherein each of the one or more software services associated with the user is in a respective state when the user stops using the first wireless client device;

in response to the first notification, terminate the transmission of the first display information to the first wireless client device;

maintain the session after the user has stopped using the first wireless client device by maintaining the respective state of each of the one or more software services associated with the user, wherein the one or more server computers are configured to maintain the respective state of each of the one or more software services associated with the user by continuing to execute each of the one or more software services associated with the user after receiving the first notification indicating that the user has stopped using the first wireless client device; and

in response to receiving a second notification from the second wireless client device indicating that the user has begun using the second wireless client device, provide the user with access to the session by beginning transmission of second display information for the one or more software services associated with the user to the second wireless client device, wherein the second display information indicates the respective state of each of the one or more software services associated with the user.

2. The system of claim 1,

wherein the first wireless client device comprises a first personal digital assistant (PDA);

wherein the second wireless client device comprises a second PDA.

3. The system of claim 1,

wherein receiving the second notification from the second wireless client device indicating that the user has begun using the second wireless client device comprises receiving user authentication information for the user from the second wireless client device;

wherein the one or more server computers are configured to authenticate the user using the user authentication information before transmitting the second display information for the one or more software services associated with the user to the second wireless client device.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the first wireless client device comprises a first display screen and the second wireless client device comprises a second display screen;

wherein the one or more server computers are further configured to;

receive information from the first wireless client device indicating display capability of the first display screen; and

receive information from the second wireless client device indicating display capability of the second display screen, wherein the display capability of the second display screen is different from the display capability of the first display screen;

wherein the one or more server computers are configured to format the first display information transmitted to the first wireless client device according to the display capability of the first display screen and format the second display information transmitted to the second wireless client device according to the display capability of the second display screen.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the first display screen has a first size and the second display screen has a second size, wherein the second size is different from the first size;

wherein the one or more server computers are configured to format the first display information transmitted to the first wireless client device for display on the first display screen of the first size and format the second display information transmitted to the second wireless client device for display on the second display screen of the second size.

6. The system of claim 1,

wherein the one or more server computers are configured to execute a display manager, wherein the display manager is operable to create one or more screen images for display on the first wireless client device, wherein the one or more server computers transmitting the first display information to the first wireless client device comprises the one or more server computers transmitting the one or more screen images to the first wireless client device.

7. The system of claim 6,

wherein the display manager creating the one or more screen images comprises the display manager creating one or more framebuffer images.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the first wireless client device is larger and heavier than the second wireless client device.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the first wireless client device is larger and heavier than a palm-sized computer, and wherein the second wireless client device is a palm-sized computer.

10. The system of claim 1,

wherein receiving the second notification from the second wireless client device indicating that the user has begun using the second wireless client device comprises receiving an identifier for the user from the second wireless client device;

wherein the one or more server computers are configured to request authentication information for the user from the second wireless client device in response to receiving the identifier for the user and before beginning transmission of the second display information for the one or more software services associated with the user to the second wireless client device.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the second wireless client device is configured to send the identifier for the user to the one or more server computers in response to the user inserting a smart card into the second wireless client device.

12. The system of claim 1,

wherein the one or more server computers include one or more wireless servers and one or more wired servers coupled to the one or more wireless servers;

wherein the one or more wired servers are configured to communicate with the one or more wireless servers through wired communication means;

wherein the one or more wireless servers are configured to communicate with the first wireless client device and the second wireless client device through wireless communication means.

13. The system of claim 1,

wherein the one or more software services associated with the user execute on the one or more server computers without possessing knowledge of which wireless client device the user is currently using.

14. The system of claim 1, wherein the first wireless client device is configured to execute a display driver, wherein at least one of the one or more server computers are configured to execute a corresponding virtual machine of said display driver, and wherein said virtual machine is configured to transmit the first display information to the display driver on the first wireless client device.

15. The system of claim 1,

wherein the first wireless client device is configured to communicate with the one or more server computers according to a thin client computing model such that the first wireless client device operates to provide input to and display output from the one or more software services associated with the user, and all other computation required by the one or more software services is performed on the one or more server computers.

16. The system of claim 1,

wherein the user is a first user;

wherein the session is a first session;

wherein the one or more server computers are further configured to;

after receiving the first notification from the first wireless client device indicating that the first user has stopped using the first wireless client device, receive a third notification from the first wireless client device indicating that a second user has begun using the first wireless client device; and

in response to the third notification, provide the second user with access to a second session representing one or more software services associated with the second user by transmitting third display information for the one or more software services associated with the second user to the first wireless client device.

17. The system of claim 1,

wherein the first wireless client device includes hardware and software resources for receiving user input and displaying the first display information received from the one or more server computers, but does not include hardware and software resources for executing user applications.

18. The system of claim 1,

wherein the first wireless client device includes hardware and software resources for receiving user input and displaying the first display information received from the one or more server computers, but does not include hardware and software resources for performing other functions.

19. The system of claim 1,

wherein the one or more server computers are further configured to receive user input to the one or more software services associated with the user from the first wireless client device before the user stops using the first wireless client device, wherein each of the one or more software services associated with the user enters its respective state in response to the user input.

20. The system of claim 1,

wherein the first wireless client device is configured to provide the one or more server computers with the first notification indicating that the user has stopped using the first wireless client device in response to the user removing a smart card identifying the user from the first wireless client device.

21. The system of claim 1,

wherein the first wireless client device and the second wireless client device do not have any knowledge of previous states of the one or more software services associated with the user.

22. A method comprising:

one or more server computers providing a user of a first wireless client device with access to a session representing one or more software services associated with the user by beginning transmission of first display information for the one or more software services to the first wireless client device;

the one or more server computers receiving a first notification from the first wireless client device indicating that the user has stopped using the first wireless client device, wherein each of the one or more software services associated with the user is in a respective state when the user stops using the first wireless client device;

in response to the first notification, the one or more server computers terminating the transmission of the first display information to the first wireless client device;

the one or more server computers maintaining the session after the user has stopped using the first wireless client device by maintaining the respective state of each of the one or more software services associated with the user, wherein maintaining the respective state of each of the one or more software services associated with the user comprises continuing to execute each of the one or more software services associated with the user after receiving the first notification indicating that the user has stopped using the first wireless client device; and

in response to receiving a second notification from a second wireless client device indicating that the user has begun using the second wireless client device, the one or more server computers providing the user with access to the session by beginning transmission of second display information for the one or more software services associated with the user to the second wireless client device, wherein the second display information indicates the respective state of each of the one or more software services associated with the user.

23. Memory medium storing program instructions executable by one or more processors of one or more server computers to cause:

the one or more server computers to provide a user of a first wireless client device with access to a session representing one or more software services associated with the user by beginning transmission of first display information for the one or more software services to the first wireless client device;

the one or more server computers to receive a first notification from the first wireless client device indicating that the user has stopped using the first wireless client device, wherein each of the one or more software services associated with the user is in a respective state when the user stops using the first wireless client device;

the one or more server computers to terminate the transmission of the first display information to the first wireless client device in response to the first notification;

the one or more server computers to maintain the session after the user has stopped using the first wireless client device by maintaining the respective state of each of the one or more software services associated with the user, wherein the program instructions are executable by the one or more processors of the one or more server computers to cause the one or more server computers to maintain the respective state of each of the one or more software services associated with the user by continuing to execute each of the one or more software services associated with the user after receiving the first notification indicating that the user has stopped using the first wireless client device; and

the one or more server computers to receive a second notification from a second wireless client device indicating that the user has begun using the second wireless client device; and

the one or more server computers to provide the user with access to the session in response to the second notification by beginning transmission of second display information for the one or more software services associated with the user to the second wireless client device, wherein the second display information indicates the respective state of each of the one or more software services associated with the user.