Methods and systems for facilitating a remote desktop session utilizing long polling

• US 8,504,654 B1
• Filed: 12/11/2010
• Issued: 08/06/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 12/10/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Dell Marketing Corporation (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Wyse Technology Incorporated (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Inventors: Kominac, Stevan, Stanley, Jeremy Michael, Schwebke, Curtis
• Primary Examiner(s): Lazaro, David
• Assistant Examiner(s): HENRY, MARIEGEORGES A
• Application Number:
  US12/965,822
• Time in Patent Office: 969 Days
• Field of Search: 709/245, 709/217, 709/219
• US Class Current: 709/219
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/452 Remote windowing, e.g. X-Window System, desktop virtualisation protocols for virtual reality H04L67/131
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/01 Protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/025 for remote control or remote monitoring of applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/08 specially adapted for terminal emulation, e.g. Telnet
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/55 Push-based network services
• 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 69/08 Protocols for interworking; Protocol conversion

Abstract

Examples of methods, systems, apparatus, and machine-readable storage media are provided to facilitate access and control of a remote desktop of a remote machine by a web browser at a client device through a transcoding server without installing proprietary plug-ins or protocols on the client device. A transcoding server may translate user input requests from a web browser into input calls compatible with a remote desktop display protocol. The transcoding server may receive remote desktop drawing commands from the remote machine and translate the remote desktop drawing commands into web browser drawing updates compatible with the web browser. A transcoding server may communicate with a web browser via HTTP and communicate with a remote machine via a remote desktop display protocol. A web browser may be an HTML5 browser. A transcoding server may send drawing coordinates to the web browser via an HTTP header and may use long polling.

Claims

1. A method of facilitating a remote desktop session between a web browser of a client device and a remote machine through a transcoding server, utilizing long polling to reduce traffic to the client device, the method comprising:

receiving, at the transcoding server, a plurality of drawing requests from the web browser at the client device, using HTTP, wherein HTTP is a pull protocol;

handling, at the transcoding server, the plurality of drawing requests as long polling requests by a long polling handler, comprises;

determining whether a drawing command is pending at the transcoding server for the web browser;

if there is no pending drawing command, then storing the plurality of drawing requests in a drawing requests queue as long polling requests; and

if there is a pending drawing command, then providing at least one of the plurality of drawing requests to an HTTP handler in the transcoding server to allow the HTTP handler to serve the pending drawing command in response to the at least one of the plurality of drawing requests;

receiving, at the transcoding server, a remote desktop drawing command from the remote machine;

notifying the long polling handler of the remote desktop drawing command;

translating, at the transcoding server, the remote desktop drawing command into a web browser drawing update, wherein the remote desktop drawing command is compatible with a push protocol, wherein the web browser drawing update is compatible with HTTP, wherein HTTP is a pull protocol; and

facilitating providing the web browser drawing update from the transcoding server to the web browser of the client device, utilizing HTTP, as a response to at least one of the plurality of drawing requests from the web browser.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the remote desktop drawing command represents a portion of an entire image of a remote desktop of the remote machine,

wherein the translating comprises:

translating the remote desktop drawing command into a Java graphics drawing command;

updating a portion of a Java bitmap of the entire image of the remote desktop in response to the Java graphics drawing command;

generating coordinates of the updated portion of the Java bitmap based on the Java graphics drawing command;

generating an image file based on the updated portion of the Java bitmap, wherein the image file is compatible with the web browser; and

obtaining drawing coordinates for the image file based on the coordinates of the updated portion of the Java bitmap,

wherein the web browser drawing update comprises the image file and the drawing coordinates.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the handling comprises:

determining whether a drawing command is pending at the transcoding server for the web browser;

if there is no pending drawing command, then storing the plurality of drawing requests in a drawing requests queue as long polling requests; and

if there is a pending drawing command, then providing at least one of the plurality of drawing requests to an HTTP handler in the transcoding server to allow the HTTP handler to serve the pending drawing command in response to the at least one of the plurality of drawing requests.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the facilitating providing comprises:

placing, at the HTTP handler, the drawing coordinates into an HTTP header of a single HTTP transmission response to the web browser; and

including, at the HTTP handler, the image file into the single HTTP transmission response to the web browser to facilitate providing the image file and the drawing coordinates together to the web browser in the single HTTP transmission response.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

when a drawing commands queue has new coordinates, sending a notification to the drawing requests queue to allow at least one of the plurality of drawing requests in the drawing requests queue to be forwarded to the HTTP handler.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a new drawing request from the web browser, in response to facilitating providing the web browser drawing update from the transcoding server to the web browser of the client device as a response to the at least one of the plurality of drawing requests from the web browser.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a request from the web browser to connect to the remote machine; and

facilitating providing a JavaScript client code to the web browser in response to the request to connect to the remote machine,

wherein the receiving the plurality of drawing requests comprises receiving the plurality of drawing requests from the JavaScript client code,

wherein the facilitating providing the web browser drawing update comprises facilitating providing the web browser drawing update to the JavaScript client code.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

facilitating deleting the JavaScript client code from the web browser when the remote desktop session is terminated.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, at the transcoding server, a user input request from the web browser for accessing or controlling a remote desktop of the remote machine,

translating, at the transcoding server, the user input request into an input command compatible with the push protocol;

facilitating providing the input command to the remote machine utilizing the push protocol,

wherein the receiving the remote desktop drawing command comprises receiving the remote desktop drawing command in response to the input command.

10. A non-transitory machine-readable storage medium encoded with instructions executable by a processing system to perform a method of facilitating a remote desktop session between a web browser of a client device and a remote machine through a transcoding server, utilizing long polling to reduce traffic to the client device, the instructions comprising code for:

receiving, at the transcoding server, a plurality of drawing requests from the web browser at the client device, using HTTP, wherein HTTP is a pull protocol;

handling, at the transcoding server, the plurality of drawing requests as long polling requests by a long polling handler, comprises;

determining whether a drawing command is pending at the transcoding server for the web browser;

if there is no pending drawing command, then storing the plurality of drawing requests in a drawing requests queue as long polling requests; and

if there is a pending drawing command, then providing at least one of the plurality of drawing requests to an HTTP handler in the transcoding server to allow the HTTP handler to serve the pending drawing command in response to the at least one of the plurality of drawing requests;

receiving, at the transcoding server, a remote desktop drawing command from the remote machine;

notifying the long polling handler of the remote desktop drawing command;

translating, at the transcoding server, the remote desktop drawing command into a web browser drawing update, wherein the remote desktop drawing command is compatible with a push protocol, wherein the web browser drawing update is compatible with HTTP, wherein HTTP is a pull protocol; and

facilitating providing the web browser drawing update from the transcoding server to the web browser of the client device, utilizing HTTP, as a response to at least one of the plurality of drawing requests from the web browser.

11. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 10, wherein the remote desktop drawing command represents a portion of an entire image of a remote desktop of the remote machine,

wherein the translating comprises:

translating the remote desktop drawing command into a Java graphics drawing command;

updating a portion of a Java bitmap of the entire image of the remote desktop in response to the Java graphics drawing command;

generating coordinates of the updated portion of the Java bitmap based on the Java graphics drawing command;

generating an image file based on the updated portion of the Java bitmap, wherein the image file is compatible with the web browser; and

obtaining drawing coordinates for the image file based on the coordinates of the updated portion of the Java bitmap,

wherein the web browser drawing update comprises the image file and the drawing coordinates.

12. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 11, wherein the handling comprises:

determining whether a drawing command is pending at the transcoding server for the web browser;

if there is no pending drawing command, then storing the plurality of drawing requests in a drawing requests queue as long polling requests; and

if there is a pending drawing command, then providing at least one of the plurality of drawing requests to an HTTP handler in the transcoding server to allow the HTTP handler to serve the pending drawing command in response to the at least one of the plurality of drawing requests.

13. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 12, wherein the facilitating providing comprises:

placing, at the HTTP handler, the drawing coordinates into an HTTP header of a single HTTP transmission response to the web browser; and

including, at the HTTP handler, the image file into the single HTTP transmission response to the web browser to facilitate providing the image file and the drawing coordinates together to the web browser in the single HTTP transmission response.

14. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 13, further comprising code for:

when a drawing commands queue has new coordinates, sending a notification to the drawing requests queue to allow at least one of the plurality of drawing requests in the drawing requests queue to be forwarded to the HTTP handler.

15. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 10, further comprising code for:

receiving a new drawing request from the web browser, in response to facilitating providing the web browser drawing update from the transcoding server to the web browser of the client device as a response to the at least one of the plurality of drawing requests from the web browser.

16. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 10, further comprising code for:

receiving a request from the web browser to connect to the remote machine; and

facilitating providing a JavaScript client code to the web browser in response to the request to connect to the remote machine,

wherein the receiving the plurality of drawing requests comprises receiving the plurality of drawing requests from the JavaScript client code,

wherein the facilitating providing the web browser drawing update comprises facilitating providing the web browser drawing update to the JavaScript client code.

17. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 16, further comprising code for:

facilitating deleting the JavaScript client code from the web browser when the remote desktop session is terminated.

18. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 10, further comprising code for:

receiving, at the transcoding server, a user input request from the web browser for accessing or controlling a remote desktop of the remote machine,

translating, at the transcoding server, the user input request into an input command compatible with the push protocol;

facilitating providing the input command to the remote machine utilizing the push protocol,

wherein the receiving the remote desktop drawing command comprises receiving the remote desktop drawing command in response to the input command.

19. A computing machine comprising the machine-readable storage medium of claim 10, wherein the computing machine is the transcoding server.

20. A system for facilitating a remote desktop session between a web browser of a client device and a remote machine through a transcoding server, utilizing long polling to reduce traffic to the client device, the system comprising:

a processor; and

a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium encoded with instructions executable by the processor, the instruction comprising code for;

receiving a plurality of drawing requests from the web browser at the client device, using HTTP, wherein HTTP is a pull protocol;

handling the plurality of drawing requests as long polling requests, comprises;

determining whether a drawing command is pending at the transcoding server for the web browser;

storing the plurality of drawing requests in a drawing requests queue as long polling requests if there is no pending drawing command; and

providing at least one of the plurality of drawing requests to an HTTP handler in the transcoding server, if there is a pending drawing command, to allow the HTTP handler to serve the pending drawing command in response to the at least one of the plurality of drawing requests;

receiving a remote desktop drawing command from the remote machine;

notifying a long polling handler of the remote desktop drawing command;

translating the remote desktop drawing command into a web browser drawing update, wherein the remote desktop drawing command is compatible with a push protocol, wherein the web browser drawing update is compatible with HTTP, wherein HTTP is a pull protocol; and

facilitating providing the web browser drawing update from the transcoding server to the web browser of the client device, utilizing HTTP, as a response to at least one of the plurality of drawing requests from the web browser.

21. The system of claim 20, wherein the remote desktop drawing command represents a portion of an entire image of a remote desktop of the remote machine, wherein the translating comprises:

translating the remote desktop drawing command into a Java graphics drawing command;

updating a portion of a Java bitmap of the entire image of the remote desktop in response to the Java graphics drawing command;

generating coordinates of the updated portion of the Java bitmap based on the Java graphics drawing command;

generating an image file based on the updated portion of the Java bitmap, wherein the image file is compatible with the web browser; and

obtaining drawing coordinates for the image file based on the coordinates of the updated portion of the Java bitmap,

wherein the web browser drawing update comprises the image file and the drawing coordinates.

22. The system of claim 20, wherein the facilitating providing comprises:

placing, at the HTTP handler, the drawing coordinates into an HTTP header of a single HTTP transmission response to the web browser; and

including, at the HTTP handler, the image file into the single HTTP transmission response to the web browser to facilitate providing the image file and the drawing coordinates together to the web browser in the single HTTP transmission response.

23. The system of claim 20, the instructions further comprising code for:

sending a notification to the drawing requests queue, when a drawing commands queue has new coordinates, to allow at least one of the plurality of drawing requests in the drawing requests queue to be forwarded to the HTTP handler.

24. The system of claim 20, the instructions further comprising code for:

receiving a new drawing request from the web browser, in response to facilitating providing the web browser drawing update from the transcoding server to the web browser of the client device as a response to the at least one of the plurality of drawing requests from the web browser.

25. The system of claim 20, the instructions further comprising code for:

receiving a request from the web browser to connect to the remote machine; and

facilitating providing a JavaScript client code to the web browser in response to the request to connect to the remote machine, wherein the receiving the plurality of drawing requests comprises receiving the plurality of drawing requests from the JavaScript client code, wherein the facilitating providing the web browser drawing update comprises facilitating providing the web browser drawing update to the JavaScript client code.

26. The system of claim 25, the instructions further comprising code for:

means for facilitating deleting the JavaScript client code from the web browser when the remote desktop session is terminated.

27. The system of claim 20, the instructions further comprising code for:

receiving a user input request from the web browser for accessing or controlling a remote desktop of the remote machine,

translating the user input request into an input command compatible with the push protocol;

facilitating providing the input command to the remote machine utilizing the push protocol,

wherein the receiving the remote desktop drawing command comprises receiving the remote desktop drawing command in response to the input command.

28. The system of claim 20, wherein the system comprises the transcoding server.

29. The system of claim 20, wherein the system comprises a memory.