System and method for pervasive computing

• US 8,959,141 B2
• Filed: 10/11/2011
• Issued: 02/17/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 08/27/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Net Power & Light, Inc (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Inventors: Vonog, Stanislav, Lemmey, Tara, Surin, Nikolay, Shtayura, Vadim
• Primary Examiner(s): Patel, Haresh N
• Application Number:
  US13/271,116
• Publication Number:
  US 20120124128A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,225 Days
• Field of Search: 709/203, 709217-228
• US Class Current: 709/203
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5072 Grid computing

Abstract

A method and system for pervasive computing are disclosed. According to one embodiment, a computer implemented method comprises a server communicating with a first device in a cloud computing environment, wherein the first device can detect surrounding devices, and an application program executable by the server, wherein the application program is controlled by the first device and the output of the application program is directed by the server to one of the devices detected by the first device.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

a plurality of client devices connected to a cloud computing environment;

an application server connected to the cloud computing environment;

a supervisor server communicating with the plurality of client devices and the application server over the cloud computing environment, the supervisor server including processor hardware for executing a plurality of operations, the plurality of operations including;

executing an application program at the application server;

streaming the application program from the application server to a first client device of the plurality of client devices;

receiving, from the first client device, an indication of a second client device detected within a vicinity of the first client device, wherein the first and second client devices include a device agent to be able to communicate with the cloud computing environment and further to detect presence of other client devices within a geographic vicinity;

authenticating the second client device in association with the cloud computing environment; and

subsequent to authenticating the second client device, transferring streaming of the application program to the second client device instead of to the first client device;

wherein, said receiving an indication of a second client device further includes;

automatically recognizing, by the first client device, presence of the second client device when the first client device is within a specified physical distance from the second client device.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein said transferring streaming of the application program further includes:

automatically transferring streaming of the application program to the second client device instead of to the first client device, subsequent to said authentication, without requiring any input from a user of the first client device or the second client device.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein said transferring streaming of the application program further includes:

receiving, from the first client device, a user-initiated gesture indicating an intent to transfer said streaming of the application program to the second client device instead of to the first client device.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein said streaming of the application program includes:

receiving, by the application server, an input stream associated with user input to the application program, from a client device of the plurality of client devices; and

transmitting, by the application server, an application output stream associated with the execution of the application program, to the client device;

wherein, the client device includes a user interface shell configured to receive the user input and present the application output.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein said transferring streaming of the application program further includes:

detecting, by the supervisor server, a state point of the application program at which streaming of the application program stopped prior to said transferring; and

initiating, by the supervisor server, streaming of the application program from the application server to the second client device, wherein the initiated streaming commences at the detected state point.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein said plurality of operations further includes:

receiving, by the supervisor server, an indication that the first client device is not within a vicinity of the previously detected second client device; and

transferring streaming of the application program back to the first client device instead of to the second client device.

7. A method of operating a pervasive computing environment, the method comprising:

connecting a plurality of client devices and an application server to a cloud computing environment, wherein the cloud computing environment includes a supervisor server communicating with the plurality of client devices and the application server over the cloud computing environment, the supervisor server further including processor hardware;

executing, by the supervisor server, an application program in the application server;

streaming, by supervisor server, the application program from the application server to a first client device of the plurality of client devices;

receiving, from the first client device, an indication of a second client device detected within a vicinity of the first client device, wherein the first and second client devices include a device agent to be able to communicate with the cloud computing environment and further to detect presence of other client devices within a geographic vicinity;

authenticating the second client device in association with the cloud computing environment; and

subsequent to authenticating the second client device, transferring streaming of the application program to the second client device instead of to the first client device;

wherein, said receiving an indication of a second client device further includes;

automatically recognizing, by the first client device, presence of the second client device when the first client device is within a specified physical distance from the second client device.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein said transferring streaming of the application program further includes:

automatically transferring streaming of the application program to the second client device instead of to the first client device, subsequent to said authentication, without requiring any input from a user of the first client device or the second client device.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein said transferring streaming of the application program further includes:

receiving, from the first client device, a user-initiated gesture indicating an intent to transfer said streaming of the application program to the second client device instead of to the first client device.

10. The method of claim 7, wherein said streaming of the application program includes:

receiving, by the application server, an input stream associated with user input to the application program, from a client device of the plurality of client devices; and

transmitting, by the application server, an application output stream associated with the execution of the application program, to the client device;

wherein, the client device includes a user interface shell configured to receive the user input and present the application output.

11. The method of claim 7, wherein said transferring streaming of the application program further includes:

detecting, by the supervisor server, a state point of the application program at which streaming of the application program stopped prior to said transferring; and

initiating, by the supervisor server, streaming of the application program from the application server to the second client device, wherein the initiated streaming commences at the detected state point.

12. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

receiving, by the supervisor server, an indication that the first client device is not within a vicinity of the previously detected second client device; and

transferring streaming of the application program back to the first client device instead of to the second client device.

13. A pervasive computing environment comprising:

a plurality of client devices connected to the pervasive computing environment;

an application server connected to the pervasive computing environment;

a supervisor server communicating with the plurality of client devices and the application server over the pervasive computing environment, the supervisor server including processor hardware for executing a plurality of operations, the plurality of operations including;

executing an application program in the application server;

streaming the application program from the application server to a first client device of the plurality of client devices;

receiving, from the first client device, an indication of a second client device detected within a vicinity of the first client device, wherein the first and second client devices include a device agent to be able to communicate with the pervasive computing environment and further to detect presence of other client devices within a geographic vicinity;

wherein said receiving an indication of a second client device further includes;

automatically recognizing, by the first client device, presence of the second client device when the first client device is within a specified physical distance from the second client device;

authenticating the second client device in association with the cloud computing environment; and

subsequent to authenticating the second client device, transferring streaming of the application program to the second client device instead of to the first client device.

14. The pervasive computing environment of claim 13, wherein said transferring streaming of the application program further includes:

automatically transferring streaming of the application program to the second client device instead of to the first client device, subsequent to said authentication, without requiring any input from a user of the first client device or the second client device.

15. The pervasive computing environment of claim 13, wherein said transferring streaming of the application program further includes:

receiving, from the first client device, a user-initiated gesture indicating an intent to transfer said streaming of the application program to the second client device instead of to the first client device.

16. The pervasive computing environment of claim 13, wherein said streaming of the application program includes:

receiving, by the application server, an input stream associated with user input to the application program, from a client device of the plurality of client devices; and

transmitting, by the application server, an application output stream associated with the execution of the application program, to the client device;

wherein, the client device includes a user interface shell configured to receive the user input and present the application output.

17. The pervasive computing environment of claim 13, wherein said transferring streaming of the application program further includes:

detecting, by the supervisor server, a state point of the application program at which streaming of the application program stopped prior to said transferring; and

initiating, by the supervisor server, streaming of the application program from the application server to the second client device, wherein the initiated streaming commences at the detected state point.

18. The pervasive computing environment of claim 13, wherein said plurality of operations further includes:

receiving, by the supervisor server, an indication that the first client device is not within a vicinity of the previously detected second client device; and

transferring streaming of the application program back to the first client device instead of to the second client device.

19. The pervasive computing environment of claim 18, wherein said plurality of operations further includes:

receiving, by the supervisor server, an indication that the first client device is not within a vicinity of the previously detected second client device; and

transferring streaming of the application program to a third client device instead of to the second client device.

20. The pervasive computing environment of claim 19, wherein the third client device is previously registered as an authenticated client in association with the cloud computing environment.