Unified notification bar between virtual mobile device and physical mobile device

• US 9,448,825 B2
• Filed: 08/03/2012
• Issued: 09/20/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 08/05/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Vmware LLC (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: VMware, Inc. (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Inventors: Newell, Craig, Burton, Mark M., Razavi, Hoofar, Wisner, Paul
• Primary Examiner(s): Nabi, Reza
• Assistant Examiner(s): Rodriguez, Daniel
• Application Number:
  US13/566,423
• Publication Number:
  US 20130145278A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,509 Days
• Field of Search: 715/738
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0484 for the control of specific functions or operations, e.g. selecting or manipulating an object, an image or a displayed text element, setting a parameter value or selecting a range
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/441 Multiboot arrangements, i.e. selecting an operating system to be loaded
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/452 Remote windowing, e.g. X-Window System, desktop virtualisation protocols for virtual reality H04L67/131
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/45533 Hypervisors; Virtual machine monitors
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/45545 Guest-host, i.e. hypervisor is an application program itself, e.g. VirtualBox

Abstract

One or more embodiments of the invention display alerts provided by applications of a guest environment in a notification bar controlled by a host operating system (OS) in a host environment of a mobile device, wherein the guest environment is running in a virtual machine supported by a hypervisor running within the host environment. A hypervisor-aware service in the virtual machine registers with a guest OS to be notified when applications request presentation of alerts in a notification bar controlled by the guest OS. Upon receipt of a notification by the guest OS of an application requesting presentation of an alert in the notification bar controlled by the guest OS, the hypervisor-aware service forwards the notification to the hypervisor and the hypervisor transmits a corresponding request to a notification management component of the host OS to present the alert on the notification bar controlled by the host OS.

Claims

1. A method for displaying alerts provided by applications of a guest environment in a notification bar controlled by a host operating system (OS) in a host environment of a mobile device, wherein the guest environment is running in a virtual machine supported by a hypervisor running within the host environment, the method comprising:

registering, by a hypervisor-aware service running on a guest OS of the virtual machine, with the guest OS to be notified by the guest OS when applications of the guest environment request the guest OS to present alerts in a notification bar controlled by the guest OS, wherein the hypervisor-aware service is aware that it is running in the virtual machine on top of the hypervisor and can request or provide data and services to and from the hypervisor;

upon receipt by the hypervisor-aware service of a notification by the guest OS of an application requesting presentation of an alert in the notification bar controlled by the guest OS, forwarding the notification to the hypervisor, wherein the alert is one of an e-mail alert, a calendar alert, and a telephone call alert; and

transmitting, by the hypervisor, a corresponding request to a notification management component of the host OS to present the alert on the notification bar controlled by the host OS, the notification management component configured to present the alert on the notification bar controlled by the host OS concurrently with a notification from an application of the host OS and system information generated by the host OS;

wherein display of the notification bar controlled by the host OS persists when a user interface (UI) of the guest environment is displayed in place of a UI of the host environment and when the UI of the host environment is displayed in place of the UI of the guest environment, and

wherein, upon a swipe motion by a user on the notification bar controlled by the host OS, the host OS displays an expanded notification bar that comprises additional detailed information that differentiates alerts of applications of the guest OS from alerts of applications of the host OS.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein, when displaying the UI of the guest environment on the mobile device, the notification bar controlled by the host OS is displayed rather than displaying the notification bar controlled by the guest OS.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the corresponding request transmitted by the hypervisor to the host OS includes an identifier associating the alert with the application.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

receiving, at the hypervisor, the identifier from the host OS upon a selection by a user of the alert on the notification bar controlled by the host OS;

transmitting, by the hypervisor, the identifier to the hypervisor-aware service; and

requesting, by the hypervisor-aware service, the guest OS to launch the application by providing the identifier to the guest OS.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the notification bar controlled by the host OS displays a guest environment icon when the UI of the host environment is displayed on the mobile device, wherein a selection of the guest environment icon causes the mobile device to display the UI of the guest environment.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the notification bar controlled by the host OS displays additional UI elements to differentiate icons displayed in the notification bar relating to applications of the guest OS from icons displayed in the notification bar relating to applications of the host OS.

7. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium including instructions that, when executed on a processor in a mobile device, causes the processor to display alerts provided by applications of a guest environment in a notification bar controlled by a host operating system (OS) in a host environment of the mobile device, wherein the guest environment is running in a virtual machine supported by a hypervisor running within the host environment, by performing the steps of:

registering, by a hypervisor-aware service running on a guest OS of the virtual machine, with the guest OS to be notified by the guest OS when applications of the guest environment request the guest OS to present alerts in a notification bar controlled by the guest OS, wherein the hypervisor-aware service is aware that it is running in the virtual machine on top of the hypervisor and can request or provide data and services to and from the hypervisor;

upon receipt by the hypervisor-aware service of a notification by the guest OS of an application requesting presentation of an alert in the notification bar controlled by the guest OS, forwarding the notification to the hypervisor, wherein the alert is one of an e-mail alert, a calendar alert, and a telephone call alert; and

transmitting, by the hypervisor, a corresponding request to a notification management component of the host OS to present the alert on the notification bar controlled by the host, the notification management component configured to present the alert on the notification bar controlled by the host OS concurrently with a notification from an application of the host OS and system information generated by the host OS;

wherein display of the notification bar controlled by the host OS persists when a user interface (UI) of the guest environment is displayed in place of a UI of the host environment and when the UI of the host environment is displayed in place of the UI of the guest environment, and

wherein, upon a swipe motion by a user on the notification bar controlled by the host OS, the host OS displays an expanded notification bar that comprises additional detailed information that differentiates alerts of applications of the guest OS from alerts of applications of the host OS.

8. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 7, wherein, when displaying the UI of the guest environment on the mobile device, the notification bar controlled by the host OS is displayed rather than displaying the notification bar controlled by the guest OS.

9. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 7, wherein the corresponding request transmitted by the hypervisor to the host OS includes an identifier associating the alert with the application.

10. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 9, wherein the instructions further cause the processor to perform the steps of:

receiving, at the hypervisor, the identifier from the host OS upon a selection by a user of the alert on the notification bar controlled by the host OS;

transmitting, by the hypervisor, the identifier to the hypervisor-aware service; and

requesting, by the hypervisor-aware service, the guest OS to launch the application by providing the identifier to the guest OS.

11. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 7, wherein the notification bar controlled by the host OS displays a guest environment icon when the UI of the host environment is displayed on the mobile device, wherein a selection of the guest environment icon causes the mobile device to display the UI of the guest environment.

12. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 7, wherein the notification bar controlled by the host OS displays additional UI elements to differentiate icons displayed in the notification bar relating to applications of the guest OS from icons displayed in the notification bar relating to applications of the host OS.

13. A mobile device, comprising:

a host operating system (OS) providing a host environment;

a hypervisor running within the host environment supporting a virtual machine, the

virtual machine having a guest OS providing a guest environment; and

a processor configured to execute the host OS and the hypervisor and configured to;

register a hypervisor-aware service running on the guest OS of the virtual machine with the guest OS to be notified by the guest OS when applications of the guest environment request the guest OS to present alerts in a notification bar controlled by the guest OS, wherein the hypervisor-aware service is aware that it is running in the virtual machine on top of the hypervisor and can request or provide data and services to and from the hypervisor;

forward the notification to the hypervisor upon receipt by the hypervisor-aware service of a notification by the guest OS of an application requesting presentation of an alert in the notification bar controlled by the guest OS, wherein the alert is one of an email alert, a calendar alert, and a telephone call alert; and

transmit, through the hypervisor, a corresponding request to a notification management component of the host OS to present the alert on a notification bar controlled by the host OS, the notification management component configured to present the alert on the notification bar controlled by the host OS concurrently with a notification from an application of the host OS and system information generated by the host OS;

wherein display of the notification bar controlled by the host OS persists when a user interface (UI) of the guest environment is displayed in place of a UI of the host environment and when the UI of the host environment is displayed in place of the UI of the guest environment, and

wherein, upon a swipe motion by a user on the notification bar controlled by the host OS, the host OS displays an expanded notification bar that comprises additional detailed information that differentiates alerts of applications of the guest OS from alerts of applications of the host OS.

14. The mobile device of claim 13, wherein, when displaying the UI of the guest environment on the mobile device, the notification bar controlled by the host OS is displayed rather than displaying the notification bar controlled by the guest OS.

15. The mobile device of claim 13, wherein the corresponding request transmitted by the hypervisor to the host OS includes an identifier associating the alert with the application.

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

receive, through the hypervisor, the identifier from the host OS upon a selection by a user of the alert on the notification bar controlled by the host OS;

transmit, through the hypervisor, the identifier to the hypervisor-aware service; and

request, through the hypervisor-aware service, the guest OS to launch the application by providing the identifier to the guest OS.

17. The mobile device of claim 13, wherein the notification bar controlled by the host OS displays a guest environment icon when the UI of the host environment is displayed on the mobile device, wherein a selection of the guest environment icon causes the mobile device to display the UI of the guest environment.

18. The mobile device of claim 13, wherein the notification bar controlled by the host OS displays additional UI elements to differentiate icons displayed in the notification bar relating to applications of the guest OS from icons displayed in the notification bar relating to applications of the host OS.