Migrating functionality in virtualized mobile devices

• US 9,201,674 B2
• Filed: 05/07/2013
• Issued: 12/01/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 06/26/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Vmware LLC (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: VMware, Inc. (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Inventors: Rogel, Lawrence, Devine, Scott W.
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Dustin
• Application Number:
  US13/888,887
• Publication Number:
  US 20130254369A1
• Time in Patent Office: 938 Days
• Field of Search: 718/1, 709/227, 711/162
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2009/4557 Distribution of virtual machine instances; Migration and load balancing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/45533 Hypervisors; Virtual machine monitors
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/45558 Hypervisor-specific management and integration aspects
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/4856 resumption being on a different machine, e.g. task migration, virtual machine migration G06F9/5088 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/35 Protecting application or service provisioning, e.g. securing SIM application provisioning

Abstract

One embodiment of the present invention is a method of migrating functionality to a target virtualized mobile device including virtualization software that supports one or more virtual machines, the method including: (a) embodying the functionality in a virtual machine; and (b) migrating the virtual machine to the target virtualized mobile device.

Claims

1. A method of migrating a telephone functionality from a source mobile device to a target device, the method comprising:

embodying the telephone functionality that is offered by the source mobile device in a virtual machine of the source mobile device;

emulating, by a first virtualization software layer of the source mobile device, a first peripheral device of the source mobile device;

processing, by the first virtualization software layer of the source mobile device, a telephone communication using the telephone functionality embodied in the virtual machine via the emulated first peripheral device; and

migrating the virtual machine including the embodied telephone functionality to the target device, wherein a second virtualization software layer of the target device emulates a second peripheral device of the target device to process telephone communications using the telephone functionality embodied in the migrated virtual machine via the second peripheral device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein processing the telephone communication comprises:

receiving, by the first virtualization software layer, the telephone communication from the virtual machine; and

using, by the first virtualization software layer, a transformer configured to select the first peripheral device and to route the telephone communication to the first peripheral device.

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

mapping, via the transformer, the emulated first peripheral device to the first peripheral device of the source mobile device to have the telephone communication routed to the first peripheral device of the source mobile device, wherein the transformer maps a set of emulated devices to a set of physical devices on the source mobile device and the first peripheral device is one of the set of physical devices.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein:

the target device includes another transformer configured to select the second peripheral device and to route another telephone communication from the migrated virtual machine to the second peripheral device, and

the transformer maps another set of emulated devices to another set of physical devices on the target device and the second peripheral device is one of the another set of physical devices.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein migrating the virtual machine to the target device comprises:

performing an action that causes telephone communications to be routed to the target device instead of the source mobile device upon the migrating.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein performing the action comprises:

virtualizing a SIM chip for the source mobile device; and

migrating the virtualized SIM chip along with the virtual machine from the source mobile device to the target device, wherein the target device emulates a function of the virtualized SIM chip to process another telephone communication at the target device.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein migrating comprises:

encapsulating the virtual machine in a file upon processing of the telephone communication; and

transferring the file to the target device.

8. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium containing instructions for migrating a telephone functionality from a source mobile device to a target device, wherein the instructions, when executed, control a source mobile device to be configured for:

embodying the telephone functionality that is offered by the source mobile device in a virtual machine of the source mobile device;

emulating, by a first virtualization software layer of the source mobile device, a first peripheral device of the source mobile device;

processing, by the first virtualization software layer of the source mobile device, a telephone communication using the telephone functionality embodied in the virtual machine via the emulated first peripheral device; and

migrating the virtual machine including the embodied telephone functionality to the target device, wherein a second virtualization software layer of the target device emulates a second peripheral device of the target device to process telephone communications using the telephone functionality embodied in the migrated virtual machine via the second peripheral device.

9. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 8, wherein processing the telephone communication comprises:

receiving, by the first virtualization software layer, the telephone communication from the virtual machine; and

using, by the first virtualization software layer, a transformer configured to select the first peripheral device and to route the telephone communication to the first peripheral device.

10. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 9, wherein using the transformer comprises:

mapping, via the transformer, the emulated first peripheral device to the first peripheral device of the source mobile device to have the telephone communication routed to the first peripheral device of the source mobile device, wherein the transformer maps a set of emulated devices to a set of physical devices on the source mobile device and the first peripheral device is one of the set of physical devices.

11. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 10, wherein:

the target device includes another transformer configured to select the second peripheral device and to route another telephone communication from the migrated virtual machine to the second peripheral device, and

the transformer maps another set of emulated devices to another set of physical devices on the target device and the second peripheral device is one of the another set of physical devices.

12. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 8, wherein migrating the virtual machine to the target device comprises:

performing an action that causes telephone communications to be routed to the target device instead of the source mobile device upon the migrating.

13. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 12, wherein performing the action comprises:

virtualizing a SIM chip for the source mobile device; and

migrating the virtualized SIM chip along with the virtual machine from the source mobile device to the target device, wherein the target device emulates a function of the virtualized SIM chip to process another telephone communication at the target device.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 8, wherein migrating comprises:

encapsulating the virtual machine in a file upon processing of the telephone communication; and

transferring the file to the target device.

15. A source mobile device configured to migrate a telephone functionality from the source mobile device to a target device, the source mobile device comprising:

one or more computer processors; and

a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium comprising instructions, that when executed, control the one or more computer processors to be configured for;

embodying the telephone functionality that is offered by the source mobile device in a virtual machine of the source mobile device;

emulating, by a first virtualization software layer of the source mobile device, a first peripheral device of the source mobile device;

processing, by the first virtualization software layer of the source mobile device, a telephone communication using the telephone functionality embodied in the virtual machine via the emulated first peripheral device; and

migrating the virtual machine including the embodied telephone functionality to the target device, wherein a second virtualization software layer of the target device emulates a second peripheral device of the target device to process telephone communications using the telephone functionality embodied in the migrated virtual machine via the second peripheral device.

16. The source mobile device of claim 15, wherein processing the telephone communication comprises:

receiving, by the first virtualization software layer, the telephone communication from the virtual machine; and

using, by the first virtualization software layer, a transformer configured to select the first peripheral device and to route the telephone communication to the first peripheral device.

17. The source mobile device of claim 16, wherein using the transformer comprises:

mapping, via the transformer, the emulated first peripheral device to the first peripheral device of the source mobile device to have the telephone communication routed to the first peripheral device of the source mobile device, wherein the transformer maps a set of emulated devices to a set of physical devices on the source mobile device and the first peripheral device is one of the set of physical devices.

18. The source mobile device of claim 17, wherein:

the target device includes another transformer configured to select the second peripheral device and to route another telephone communication from the migrated virtual machine to the second peripheral device, and

the transformer maps another set of emulated devices to another set of physical devices on the target device and the second peripheral device is one of the another set of physical devices.

19. The source mobile device of claim 15, wherein migrating the virtual machine to the target device comprises:

performing an action that causes telephone communications to be routed to the target device instead of the source mobile device upon the migrating.

20. The source mobile device of claim 19, wherein performing the action comprises:

virtualizing a SIM chip for the source mobile device; and

migrating the virtualized SIM chip along with the virtual machine from the source mobile device to the target device, wherein the target device emulates a function of the virtualized SIM chip to process another telephone communication at the target device.

21. The source mobile device of claim 15, wherein migrating comprises:

encapsulating the virtual machine in a file upon processing of the telephone communication; and

transferring the file to the target device.