Associating multiple devices with remote computers

• US 7,941,508 B2
• Filed: 09/29/2006
• Issued: 05/10/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 09/29/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Inventors: King, James M., Hochmuth, Roland M.
• Primary Examiner(s): Meky; Moustafa M
• Application Number:
  US11/537,408
• Publication Number:
  US 20080082639A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,684 Days
• Field of Search: 709/220, 709/227, 709200-203, 709217-219, 709228-229
• US Class Current: 709/220
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/303 Terminal profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/24 Negotiation of communication capabilities

Abstract

A method comprises determining whether settings associated with a plurality of devices coupled to a client computer are provided in the client computer. The client computer is adapted to be coupled to a plurality of remote computer. If the settings are provided in the client computer, the method further comprises determining to which of the remote computers each device is to be associated, and operatively associating each device to the particular remote computer to which that device is determined to be associated. As a result, multiple devices can be concurrently associated with remote computers.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

determining whether settings associated with a plurality of devices coupled to a client computer are provided in said client computer, said devices being coupled to the same client computer, said client computer adapted to be coupled to a plurality of remote computers;

if said settings are provided in said client computer, determining to which of the remote computers each device is to be associated, and operatively associating each device to the particular remote computer to which that device is determined to be associated, thereby having multiple devices concurrently associated with remote computers;

determining whether a remote computer has been pre-designated for which a device is to be associated; and

as a result of determining that a remote computer has been pre-designated for association with said device, prompting the user to authorize the association.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising prompting a user to specify settings for each device if settings are not otherwise provided in said client computer for that device.

3. The method of claim 2 prompting the user to specify whether to save said specified settings.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising prompting a user to select a remote computer to be associated with a particular device.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising determining, for a particular device, whether that device is to be associated with a particular remote computer without user intervention.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein, as a result of determining that a remote computer has not been pre-designated for association with the device, prompting a user to select a remote computer to be associated with the device.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein, as a result of determining that a remote computer has been pre-designated for association with the device,

determining whether the device is to be associated with the remote computer without user intervention;

and

upon determining that the device is to be associated with the remote computer with user intervention, prompting the user to authorize the association.

8. The method of claim 7 further comprising, upon determining that the device is to be associated with the remote computer without user intervention, automatically associating the device with the remote computer.

9. A system, comprising:

a processor; and

a device manager executable on said processor, said device manager detects each of a plurality of devices being coupled to said system and separately determines, for each such device and, if present, based on settings previously stored in said system, the particular remote computer from among a plurality of remote computers that such device is to be operatively associated;

wherein the device manager determines, for a given device, whether a remote computer has been pre-designated for which the given device is to be associated and, as a result of determining that a remote computer has not been pre-designated for association with the given device, prompting the user to select a remote computer to associate with the given device.

10. The system of claim 9 wherein said device comprises a universal serial bus (USB) device.

11. The system of claim 9 wherein said settings for a given device comprise at least one setting selected from a group consisting of status, whether the given device is to be statically associated with a particular remote computer or whether a user is to be prompted to cause the given device to be associated with the remote computer, an identity of a remote computer to be associated with the given device, whether the given device is to be automatically associated with a remote computer, and an identity of the given device.

12. The system of claim 9 wherein said device manager prompts a user to specify device settings for a given device if settings for the given device are not otherwise stored in said system.

13. The system of claim 9 wherein said device manager causes a given device to be operatively associated with the particular remote computer.

14. The system of claim 9 wherein, upon a given device being coupled to said system, said device manager associates the given device with the particular remote computer without a prompt from a user.

15. The system of claim 9 wherein, upon a given device being coupled to said system, said device manager prompts a user to authorize the given device to be associated with the particular remote computer.

16. The system of claim 9, wherein the device manager determines whether auto-association for the given device has been enabled after determining that a remote computer has not been pre-designated for association with the given device and before prompting the user to select a remote computer.

17. A computer-readable medium containing software that, when executed by a processor in a client computer, causes the processor to:

detect that each of a plurality of devices are coupled to the client computer, said client computer adapted to be coupled to a plurality of remote computers;

determine whether settings associated with each device are provided in said client computer; and

if said settings are provided in said client computer for a given device, using said settings to determine to which of the remote computers said device is to be associated and operatively associate the device to the particular remote computer to which the device is determined to be associated;

wherein at least one setting has at least two states, a first state that specifies that the given device is to be statically associated with a pre-designated remote computer and a second state that specifies that a user is to be prompted to select a remote computer to be associated with the given device.

18. The computer-readable medium of claim 17 wherein, for a given device, said software also causes the processor to determine whether the given device is to be automatically associated with the particular remote computer.