System and method for mobile platform virtualization

• US 9,063,770 B2
• Filed: 12/11/2012
• Issued: 06/23/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 12/11/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: TCL Research America, Inc. (TCL Technology Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: TCL Research America, Inc. (TCL Technology Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Tang, Jun, Wang, Haohong
• Primary Examiner(s): Huynh, Kim
• Assistant Examiner(s): Hefazi, Siamak S
• Application Number:
  US13/710,486
• Publication Number:
  US 20140164750A1
• Time in Patent Office: 924 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2009/45562 Creating, deleting, cloning virtual machine instances
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/45558 Hypervisor-specific management and integration aspects

Abstract

A method for a mobile platform containing a mobile terminal having an operating system includes initializing a plurality of user environments (UEs) on the mobile terminal over the operating system, including a current UE running on the mobile terminal. The plurality of UEs are capable of being switched among one another based on one or more of predetermined conditions without changing the operating system. The method also includes collecting sensing data on certain parameters associated with operation of the mobile terminal, and processing the sensing data to indicate at least one of the predetermined conditions. Further, the method includes determining whether the current UE suits the at least one of the predetermined conditions indicated by processing the sensing data and, when the current UE does not suit the condition of the mobile terminal, switching the current UE to a desired UE from the plurality of UEs.

Claims

1. A method for a mobile platform containing a mobile terminal having an operating system, comprising:

virtualizing hardware components of the mobile terminal by a virtualization layer in the operating system;

initializing a plurality of user environments (UEs) on the mobile terminal through the virtualization layer over the operating system, including a first current UE and a second current UE running independently in parallel on the mobile terminal, wherein the plurality of UEs share the same hardware components and are switched among one another based on one or more predetermined conditions without changing the operating system;

collecting sensing data on certain parameters associated with operation of the mobile terminal;

processing the sensing data to indicate at least one of the one or more predetermined conditions of the mobile terminal;

determining whether the first current UE suits the at least one of the one or more predetermined conditions of the mobile terminal indicated by processing the sensing data; and

when the first current UE does not suit the one or more predetermined conditions of the mobile terminal, switching the first current UE to a desired UE from the plurality of UEs;

wherein processing the sensing data includes;

forwarding the sensing data to a server in a cloud;

providing a user behavior database in the server, including a learned database to match the sensing data;

receiving an input of a user, including a label of an event created by the user, to facilitate a user behavior analysis, wherein the input is not user-specific and personal information of the user and private information of the user are not stored;

performing the user behavior analysis based on the sensing data on the server;

learning user behavior according to the user behavior analysis and the learned database; and

updating the user behavior database in an adaptive mode during run-time.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein:

a UE includes a part of the operating system, bundled applications, application configurations, and user interfaces for setting up a software environment for a user; and

the sensing data includes information on location, movement, and scene of the mobile terminal.

3. The method according to claim 1, further including:

determining whether the first current UE suits the at least one of the one or more predetermined conditions of the mobile terminal based on the user behavior analysis;

dynamically constructing the desired UE based on the at least one of the one or more predetermined conditions of the mobile terminal; and

making the dynamically constructed desired UE available to the mobile terminal.

4. The method according to claim 3, further including:

downloading the desired UE from the server to the mobile terminal; and

storing the desired UE as part of the plurality of UEs on the mobile terminal.

5. The method according to claim 3, wherein making the dynamically constructed desired UE available further includes:

determining whether there is an original UE available on the mobile terminal corresponding to the desired UE;

deriving a difference between the original UE and the desired UE;

compressing and encrypting the difference into a UE patch; and

making the UE patch available to the mobile terminal.

6. The method according to claim 5, further including:

downloading the UE patch to the mobile terminal;

uncompressing and decrypting the UE patch to restore the difference;

locating the original UE on the mobile terminal;

obtaining the desired UE based on the original UE and the difference; and

storing the desired UE as one of the plurality of UEs on the mobile terminal.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein:

the one or more predetermined conditions include a scene-based condition and location-based condition.

8. The method according to claim 1, wherein:

the first current UE is a home-place UE pre-loaded in the mobile terminal,

the desired UE is a work-place UE managed by the server for high reliability, and

the one or more predetermined conditions include a work-place wireless network ID indicated by the sensing data.

9. The method according claim 1, wherein:

when the mobile terminal is powered on or after reset, a processor of the mobile terminal executes a boot sequence to load software images of the operating system and the plurality of UEs;

the processor starts and configures a kernel of the operating system;

the processor performs a user space initialization process and starts a UE manager;

the UE manager is configured to control a start and a stop of the plurality of UEs and to maintain the plurality of UEs; and

the UE manager is configured to update one of the plurality of UEs when the first current UE and the second current UE are running on the mobile terminal.

10. The method according claim 1, wherein:

the first current UE is based on Linux and includes complete Android components;

the second current UE is based on Android; and

the first current UE runs in parallel with the second current UE on the mobile terminal.

11. A mobile platform, comprising:

a mobile terminal having a processor; and

an operating system running on the processor,

wherein the processor is configured to;

virtualize hardware components of the mobile terminal by a virtualization layer in the operating system;

initialize a plurality of user environments (UEs) on the mobile terminal through the virtualization layer over the operating system, including a first current UE and a second current UE running independently in parallel on the mobile terminal, wherein the plurality of UEs share the same hardware components and are switched among one another based on one or more predetermined conditions without changing the operating system;

collect sensing data on certain parameters associated with operation of the mobile terminal;

process the sensing data to indicate at least one of the one or more predetermined conditions of the mobile terminal;

determine whether the first current UE suits the at least one of the predetermined conditions of the mobile terminal indicated by processing the sensing data; and

when the first current UE does not suit the one or more predetermined conditions of the mobile terminal, switch the first current UE to a desired UE from the plurality of UEs;

wherein the mobile platform further comprises a server in a cloud configured to;

when the mobile terminal forwards the sensing data to the server, receive the sensing data forwarded from the mobile terminal;

provide a user behavior database in the server, including a learned database to match the sensing data;

receive an input of a user, including a label of an event created by the user, to facilitate a user behavior analysis, wherein the input is not user-specific and personal information of the user and private information of the user are not stored;

perform the user behavior analysis based on the sensing data;

learn user behavior according to the user behavior analysis and the learned database; and

update the user behavior database in an adaptive mode during run-time.

12. The mobile platform according to claim 11, wherein:

a UE includes a part of the operating system, bundled applications, application configurations, and user interfaces for setting up a software environment for a user;

the sensing data includes information on location, movement, and scene of the mobile terminal.

13. The mobile platform according to claim 11, wherein the server is further configured to:

determine whether the current UE suits the at least one of the one or more predetermined conditions of the mobile terminal based on the user behavior analysis;

dynamically construct the desired UE based on the at least one of the one or more predetermined conditions of the mobile terminal; and

make the dynamically constructed desired UE available to the mobile terminal.

14. The mobile platform according to claim 13, wherein the processor of the mobile terminal is further configured to:

download the desired UE from the server to the mobile terminal; and

store the desired UE as part of the plurality of UEs on the mobile terminal.

15. The mobile platform according to claim 13, wherein, to make the dynamically constructed desired UE available, the server is further configured to:

determine whether there is an original UE available on the mobile terminal corresponding to the desired UE;

derive a difference between the original UE and the desired UE;

compress and encrypt the difference into a UE patch; and

make the UE patch available to the mobile terminal.

16. The mobile platform according to claim 15, wherein the processor of the mobile terminal is further configured to:

download the UE patch to the mobile terminal;

uncompress and decrypt the UE patch to restore the difference;

locate the original UE on the mobile terminal;

obtain the desired UE based on the original UE and the difference; and

store the desired UE as one of the plurality of UEs on the mobile terminal.

17. The mobile platform according to claim 11, wherein:

the one or more predetermined conditions include a scene-based condition and location-based condition.

18. The mobile platform according to claim 11, wherein:

the current UE is a home-place UE pre-loaded in the mobile terminal,

the desired UE is a work-place UE managed by the server for high reliability, and

the one or more predetermined conditions include a work-place wireless network ID indicated by the sensing data.