Adjusting client display devices based on settings included in a notification from remote virtual machine host prior to connection establishment

• US 8,473,958 B2
• Filed: 05/31/2009
• Issued: 06/25/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 05/31/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Red Hat Israel Ltd. (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Red Hat Israel Ltd. (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Inventors: Kamay, Yaniv, Gilboa, Arnon
• Primary Examiner(s): An, Meng
• Assistant Examiner(s): Zhao, Bing
• Application Number:
  US12/475,541
• Publication Number:
  US 20100306771A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,486 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 718/104
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2009/45579 I/O management, e.g. providing access to device drivers or storage
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/451 Execution arrangements for user interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/45558 Hypervisor-specific management and integration aspects

Abstract

A method and system for display device configuration in a VM environment are disclosed. In one embodiment, the method includes determining one or more display devices of a client and transmitting client display information to a host running one or more VMs. Further, a notification is received by the client from the host indicating that display settings of the VM were configured based on the client display information.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

identifying, by a client device, one or more physical display devices coupled with the client device;

transmitting, by the client device, client display information to a host, the client display information comprising an identifier of each of the one or more physical display devices and current settings of each of the one or more physical display devices, the current settings of each of the one or more physical display devices specifying one or more properties of a respective physical display device, the host running one or more virtual machines (VMs), each VM having one or more virtual devices that emulate display device functionality for a corresponding VM, each of the one or more virtual devices being associated with one of the one or more physical display devices using a corresponding identifier in the client display information;

receiving, by the client device, a notification from the host indicating that current settings of a virtual device of the one or more virtual devices of the corresponding VM have been modified based on the client display information, the notification including the current settings of the virtual device of the corresponding VM; and

when the current settings of the virtual device of the corresponding VM differ from current settings of an associated physical display device, adjusting the current settings of the associated physical display device according to the current settings of the virtual device of the corresponding VM, prior to a communication between the corresponding VM and the associated physical display device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the client display information further identifies one or more alternative settings supported by each display device of the client.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising adjusting the current settings of the associated physical display device according to the current settings of the virtual device of the corresponding VM after establishing a display connection between the corresponding VM and the client associated physical display device.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the current settings include at least one of resolution, orientation, display position, color depth, and sub-pixel order.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

detecting a change in the settings of the client display devices during an active display connection between the corresponding VM and the client display device;

sending changed settings of the client display devices to the corresponding VM; and

receiving a notification from the corresponding VM indicating that the display information of the corresponding VM was configured based on the changed settings of the client display devices.

6. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

receiving, by a virtual machine (VM) running on a host computer, client display information comprising an identifier of each of one or more physical display devices of a client device remotely coupled to the host computer and one or more settings of each of the one or more physical display devices, the settings of each of the one or more physical display devices specifying one or more properties of a respective physical display device, the host VM having one or more virtual devices that emulate display device functionality for the VM, each of the one or more virtual devices being associated with one of the one or more physical devices using a corresponding identifier in the client display information;

configuring, by the VM, display device information of the VM based on the client display information, the display device information of the VM including settings of each of the virtual devices;

sending, by the VM, a notification that the display device information of the VM was configured based on the client display information, the notification including new display device information of the VM; and

receiving changed settings of the client display devices from the client during a display connection, where the changed settings of the client display devices were adjusted according to the new display information of the VM prior to the display connection.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the client display information further identifies one or more settings associated with each display device of the client.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising disabling, by the VM, a virtual device of the VM if a corresponding client display device is not included in the client display information.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein configuring the display device information of the VM further comprises updating one or more settings of at least one virtual device of the VM with settings specified for a corresponding display device of the client.

10. The method of claim 7, wherein the settings specified for the corresponding client display device in the client display information include at least one of resolution, orientation, display position, color depth, and sub-pixel order.

11. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

adjusting the display information of the VM based on the changed settings of the client display devices; and

sending a notification to the client indicating that the display information of the VM was adjusted based on the changed settings of the client display devices.

12. A method comprising:

receiving, by a device agent within a virtual machine (VM) hosted by a computer, data comprising an identifier of each of one or more physical display devices of the computer and one or more settings associated with each of the one or more physical display devices, the settings of each of the one or more physical display devices specifying one or more properties of a respective physical display device, the VM having one or more virtual devices that emulate display device functionality for the VM, each of the one or more virtual devices being associated with one of the one or more physical devices using a corresponding identifier in the received data;

determining, by the device agent within the VM hosted by the computer, whether display device settings of any of the virtual devices of the VM are different from the one or more settings associated with a corresponding physical display device associated of the computer;

if display device settings of one of the virtual devices of the VM are different from the one or more settings associated with a corresponding physical display device, replacing, by the device agent within the VM hosted by the computer, the display device settings of the one of the virtual devices of the VM with the one or more settings of the corresponding physical display devices of the computer; and

providing a notification including new display device settings of the one of the virtual devices of the VM; and

receiving changed settings of the corresponding physical display device during a display connection, wherein the changed settings of the corresponding physical display device were adjusted according to the new display device settings of the one of the virtual devices of the VM prior to the display connection.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein adjusting the display device settings of the VM comprises updating settings of one or more virtual devices of the VM with the one or more settings associated with the one or more display devices of the computer if the one or more settings associated with the one or more display devices are supported by the virtual devices of the VM.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein adjusting the display device settings of the VM comprises disabling a virtual device of the VM if a display device associated with the virtual device is not included in the received data.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein the received data contains a list of alternative settings.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein adjusting the display device settings of the VM comprises configuring one or more virtual devices of the VM using alternative settings supported by the virtual devices of the VM.

17. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

adjusting the display device settings of the VM based on the changed settings of the display device of the computer; and

sending a notification indicating that the display device settings of the VM were adjusted based on the changed settings of the client display devices.

18. A system, comprising:

a processor;

a memory;

one or more physical display devices coupled to the processor and memory; and

a virtual machine (VM) executed from the memory to virtualize the processor and memory and having one or more virtual devices that emulate display device functionality for the VM, the VM including a device agent operable to;

receive data comprising an identifier of each of one or more physical display devices of the computer and one or more settings associated with each of the one or more physical display devices, the settings of each of the one or more physical display devices specifying one or more properties of a respective physical display device, each of the one or more virtual devices being associated with one of the one or more physical devices using a corresponding identifier in the received data;

determine whether display device settings of any of the virtual devices of the VM are different from the one or more settings of a corresponding physical display device; and

if display device settings of one of the virtual devices of the VM are different from the one or more settings of a corresponding physical display device, replace the display device settings of the one of the virtual devices of the VM with the one or more settings of the corresponding physical display devices of the computer, and provide a notification including new display device settings of the one of the virtual devices of the VM; and

receive changed settings of the corresponding physical display device during a display connection, wherein the changed settings of the corresponding physical display device were adjusted according to the new display device settings of the one of the virtual devices of the VM prior to the display connection.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the display devices are display devices of a client coupled to the processor and memory remotely.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the client comprises a client display manager to create a list with display devices of the client and settings of the display devices of the client, to transmit the list to a host including the memory and the processor, and to receive a notification from the host indicating that display information of the VM was configured based on the list received from the client.

21. A non-transitory machine-readable storage medium including data that, when accessed by a client device, cause the client device to perform operations comprising:

identifying, by the client device, one or more physical display devices coupled with the client device;

transmitting, by the client device, client display information to a host, the client display information comprising an identifier of each of the one or more physical display devices and current settings of each of the one or more physical display devices, the current settings of each of the one or more physical display devices specifying one or more properties of a respective physical display device, the host running one or more virtual machines (VMs), each VM having one or more virtual devices that emulate display device functionality for a corresponding VM, each of the one or more virtual devices being associated with one of the one or more physical display devices using a corresponding identifier in the client display information;

receiving, by the client device, a notification from the host indicating that current settings of a virtual device of the one or more virtual devices of the corresponding VM have been modified based on the client display information, the notification including the current settings of the virtual device of the corresponding VM; and

when the current settings of the virtual device of the corresponding VM differ from current settings of an associated physical display device, adjusting the current settings of the associated physical display device according to the current settings of the virtual device of the corresponding VM, prior to a communication between the corresponding VM and the associated physical display device.

22. A non-transitory machine-readable storage medium including data that, when accessed by a host computer, cause the host computer to perform operations comprising:

receiving, by a virtual machine (VM) running on the host computer, client display information comprising an identifier of each of one or more physical display devices of a client device remotely coupled to the host computer and one or more settings of each of the one or more physical display devices, the settings of each of the one or more physical display devices specifying one or more properties of a respective physical display device, the host VM having one or more virtual devices that emulate display device functionality for the VM, each of the one or more virtual devices being associated with one of the one or more physical devices using a corresponding identifier in the client display information;

configuring, by the VM, display device information of the VM based on the client display information, the display device information of the VM including settings of each of the virtual devices;

sending, by the VM, a notification that the display device information of the VM was configured based on the client display information, the notification including new display device information of the VM; and

receiving changed settings of the client display devices from the client during a display connection, where the changed settings of the client display devices were adjusted according to the new display information of the VM prior to the display connection.