Automatic resource balancing for multi-device applications

• US 9,146,716 B2
• Filed: 03/20/2014
• Issued: 09/29/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 03/21/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Razer (Asia-Pacific) Pte. Ltd. (Razer Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Nextbit Systems, Inc. (Razer Incorporated)
• Inventors: Chan, Michael A., Quan, Justin, Bornstein, Daniel R., Moss, Tom, Tong, Linda
• Primary Examiner(s): NGUYEN, PHUOC H
• Application Number:
  US14/220,984
• Publication Number:
  US 20140289413A1
• Time in Patent Office: 558 Days
• Field of Search: 709/226
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1451 by selection of backup contents
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1464 for networked environments
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1469 Backup restoration techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/113 Details of archiving lifecycle management in storage systems G06F3/0649; backup systems G06F11/1446
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/116 Details of conversion of file system types or formats
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/122 using management policies backup systems G06F11/1446; file migration policies for HSM systems G06F16/185
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/16 File or folder operations, e.g. details of user interfaces specifically adapted to file systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/168 Details of user interfaces specifically adapted to file systems, e.g. browsing and visualisation, 2d or 3d GUIs query results presentation G06F16/156
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/1734 Details of monitoring file system events, e.g. by the use of hooks, filter drivers, logs
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/178 Techniques for file synchronisation in file systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/1787 Details of non-transparently synchronising file systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/182 Distributed file systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24578 using ranking
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/27 Replication, distribution or synchronisation of data between databases or within a distributed database system; Distributed database system architectures therefor
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/44 Encoding
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/54 Interprogram communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0816 the condition being an adaptation, e.g. in response to network events
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/70 Admission control; Resource allocation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/78 Architectures of resource allocation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0853 using an additional device, e.g. smartcard, SIM or a different communication terminal cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for entity authentication involving additional secure or trusted devices H04L9/3234
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/06 : specially adapted for file transfer, e.g. file transfer protocol [FTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10 : in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1095 : Replication or mirroring of data, e.g. scheduling or transport for data synchronisation between network nodes
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1097 : for distributed storage of data in networks, e.g. transport arrangements for network file system [NFS], storage area networks [SAN] or network attached storage [NAS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 : User profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/535 : Tracking the activity of the user network monitoring arrangements H04L43/00; recording of computer activity G06F11/34
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/04 : Protocols for data compression, e.g. ROHC
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/06 : Authentication
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 10/00 : Energy efficient computing, e.g. low power processors, power management or thermal management

Abstract

At least one embodiment of this disclosure includes a method of resource balancing execution of an application involving multiple devices. The method can include: identifying an application executing on an operating system of a first computing device; identifying a resource type to facilitate the executing of the application; identifying multiple computing devices each having at least an available resource instance of the identified resource type, wherein the multiple computing devices are reachable by a communication protocol of the first computing device; and selecting a target computing device to offer up a target resource instance of the resource type to the application based at least partly on a comparable limitation of each available resource instance of the multiple computing devices.

Claims

1. A method of operating a resource brokerage system, comprising:

identifying an application executing on an operating system of a first computing device;

identifying a resource type to facilitate the executing of the application;

identifying multiple computing devices each having at least an available resource instance of the identified resource type, wherein the multiple computing devices are reachable by a communication protocol of the first computing device;

selecting a target computing device from the multiple computing devices to offer up a target resource instance of the resource type to the application based at least partly on a comparable limitation of each available resource instance of the multiple computing devices; and

notifying the first computing device with an offer for the target resource instance to be utilized by the application.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a resource request over a network from the application, the resource request indicating the resource type; and

wherein identifying the application and determining the resource type are based on the resource request.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a resource request from the application executing on the operating system, the resource request indicating the resource type; and

wherein identifying the application and determining the resource type are based on the resource request and wherein the selecting is also performed on the operating system.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying the multiple computing devices includes identifying the first computing device as one of the multiple computing devices.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the comparable limitation is a limited availability of resource instances of the resource type in each of the multiple computing devices.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the comparable limitation is an availability of a secondary resource that is consumed when each available resource instance is offered and utilized by the application.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the secondary resource is battery power consumption level of each of the multiple computing devices.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein the secondary resource is data plan usage through an Internet service provider of each of the multiple computing devices.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the comparable limitation is a location of each of the multiple computing devices relative to the first computing device.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying the multiple computing devices includes identifying the multiple computing devices that are accessible based on a first user profile associated with the execution of the application.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein selecting the target computing device is further based at least partly on a timing restriction of when the application requires to utilize the target resource instance.

12. A device comprising:

a memory storing executable instructions;

a processor configured by the executable instructions to;

identify an application executing on an operating system;

identify a resource type to facilitate the executing of the application;

identify multiple computing devices each having at least an available resource instance of the identified resource type, wherein the multiple computing devices are accessible to the application based on a first user profile associated with the execution of the application; and

select a target computing device from the multiple computing devices to offer up a target resource instance of the resource type to the application based at least partly on a comparable limitation of each available resource instance of the multiple computing device.

13. The device of claim 12, wherein the processor is configured to identify the application executing on the operating system implemented by the processor.

14. The device of claim 12, wherein the processor is configured to identify the application executing on the operating system implemented external to the device.

15. The device of claim 12, wherein the processor is configured to receive a resource request over a network from the application, the resource request indicating the resource type, further wherein the processor is configured to identify the application and the resource type based on the resource request.

16. The device of claim 12, wherein identifying the multiple computing devices includes identifying the first computing device as one of the multiple computing devices.

17. The device of claim 12, wherein the comparable limitation is a limited availability of resource instances of the resource type in each of the multiple computing devices.

18. The device of claim 12, wherein the comparable limitation is an availability of a secondary resource that is consumed when each available resource instance is offered and utilized by the application.

19. The device of claim 18, wherein the secondary resource is battery power consumption level of each of the multiple computing devices.

20. The device of claim 18, wherein the secondary resource is data plan usage through an Internet service provider of each of the multiple computing devices.

21. The device of claim 12, wherein the comparable limitation is a location of each of the multiple computing devices relative to the first computing device.

22. The device of claim 12, wherein identifying the multiple computing devices includes identifying the multiple computing devices that are accessible based on a first user profile associated with the execution of the application.

23. The device of claim 12, wherein selecting the target computing device is further based at least partly on a timing restriction of when the application requires to utilize the target resource instance.

24. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions that when executed by a computer cause the computer to perform a method for operating a resource brokerage system, the method comprising:

identifying an application executing on an operating system of a first computing device;

identifying a resource type to facilitate the executing of the application;

identifying multiple computing devices each having at least an available resource instance of the identified resource type, wherein the multiple computing devices are reachable by a communication protocol of the first computing device;

selecting a target computing device from the multiple computing devices to offer up a target resource instance of the resource type to the application based at least partly on a comparable limitation of each available resource instance of the multiple computing devices; and

notifying the first computing device with an offer for the target resource instance to be utilized by the application.

25. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 24, wherein the method further comprises:

receiving a resource request over a network from the application, the resource request indicating the resource type; and

identifying the application and determining the resource type are based on the resource request.

26. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 24, wherein identifying the multiple computing devices includes identifying the first computing device as one of the multiple computing devices.

27. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 24, wherein the comparable limitation is a limited availability of resource instances of the resource type in each of the multiple computing devices.

28. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 24, wherein the comparable limitation is an availability of a secondary resource that is consumed when each available resource instance is offered and utilized by the application.

29. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 24, wherein the secondary resource is battery power consumption level of each of the multiple computing devices.

30. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 24, wherein the secondary resource is data plan usage through an Internet service provider of each of the multiple computing devices.