Apparatus and method for consumer-oriented distribution of information processing capability

• US 20060190556A1
• Filed: 02/18/2005
• Published: 08/24/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 02/18/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Texas Instruments, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Texas Instruments, Inc.
• Inventors: Lane, Bradley K., Ferrera, Lisa A., Adcock, Timothy A., Dorster, Pascal, Frantz, Gene A.
• Granted Patent: US 8,473,569 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/217
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2209/509 Offload
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5044 considering hardware capabilities
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/08 specially adapted for terminal emulation, e.g. Telnet

Abstract

In order to provide a home user with cost-effective PC processing capability, the home user is provided with a terminal which has only sufficient processing capability to communicate with a service provider over a network. Any processing and program execution is performed, in response to requests from the home user'"'"'s terminal, by the service provider and the results are returned to the terminal. In addition to the processing capability, data is stored in the service provider. Because the processing and data storage is performed by the service provider, changes to the programs and/or hardware can the confined to the processing resources of the service provider. In addition, the service provider can be provided with virus and hacking protection, protection that will then not be necessary for the home user'"'"'s terminal. In this manner, the home user can be charged for only the facilities and software that are actually used, while having available the full capability of a personal computer without the initial cost of a home computer, the on-going cost of maintenance, and the cost of upgrading hardware and software. The communication link can be a secure link.

Claims

1. A home computing resource system, the system comprising:

a communication link;

a user terminal, the user terminal including an adaptor, the adaptor exchanging signals with the communication link; and

a service provider, the service provider exchanging signals with the communication link, wherein the service provider processes data in response to user input to the user terminal.

2. The system as recited in claim 1 wherein the communication link includes a DSL link.

3. The system as recited in claim 1 wherein the communication link includes a cable link.

4. The system as recited in claim 1 wherein the communication link includes a modem link.

5. The system as recited in claim 1 further comprising at least one device coupled to the user terminal, the device selected from the group consisting of a display unit, a keyboard unit, a memory subsystem and a mouse unit.

6. The system as recited in claim 1 wherein data related to the user input is stored in the service provider.

7. The system as recited in claim 1 wherein the billing to the user terminal is a function of the use of the service provider resources by the user terminal.

8. The system as recited in claim 1 wherein the communication link is a secure communication link.

9. The system as recited in claim 1 wherein the system is an educational system, the user terminal being implemented by a PDA device, the communication link being implemented by a LAN network, and the service provider being implemented by a computer in the educational facility.

10. A method for processing data for a user, the method comprising:

providing home computing resources by a service provider; and

controlling the computing resources of the service provider by a user interacting with the service provider over a communication link.

11. The method as recited in claim 10 wherein the processing required by the user is performed by the service provider in response to input signals applied to a user terminal.

12. The method as recited in claim 11 further comprising storing software programs used in the processing by the service provider in the service provider.

13. The method as recited in claim 10 further comprising providing a secure communication link.

14. The method as recited in claim 10 further comprising billing the user terminal based on the amount of use of the resources of the service provider.

15. A method for providing data processing capability to a home user, the method comprising:

entering commands by a home user on a home user terminal;

applying the commands to a communication link through an adaptor box in the user terminal;

applying the commands on the communication link to a service provider; and

in the service provider;

interpreting and executing the commands from the communication link.

16. The method as recited in claim 15 further comprising providing a secure communication link.

17. The method as recited in claim 15 further comprising billing the user terminal based on the user terminal usage of the service provider.

18. The method as recited in claim 15 further comprising further comprising returning the results of the command execution to the adaptor box.

19. The method as recited in claim 16 further comprising, in the home terminal, decoding and formatting the results for use by the user terminal'"'"'s output devices.

20. The method as recited in claim 19 further comprising selecting output devices from at least one of the group consisting of display devices, printer devices and speaker devices.

21. The method as recited in claim 15 wherein the method is implemented in an educational environment, implementing the home user terminal by a PDA, implementing the communication link by a LAN network, and implementing the service provider by a computer in an educational facility.

22. A method for providing computer services for a user, the method comprising:

with a user home terminal, providing commands identifying a processing activity;

formatting the commands and applying the formatted commands to a communication link;

applying the formatted commands transmitted on the communication link to a service provider;

reformatting the formatted commands and executing the reformatted commands; and

returning the results of the executed reformatted commands to the user terminal.

23. The method as recited in claim 22, the method further comprising:

billing the home user based on the resource usage of the service provider.

24. The method as recited in claim 22, the method further comprising:

formatting the results of the executed commands for transmission over the communication link; and

reformatting the results of the executed commands for use by the user'"'"'s terminal.

25. The method as recited in claim 22 further comprising providing secure communication link.

26. The method as recited in claim 22 wherein the service provides stores data and software for use by the user.

27. A home terminal, the home terminal generating commands to transmitted over a communication link and be executed by a service provider, the home terminal receiving the results of the commands executed in the service provider, the home terminal comprising:

at least one input device, the input device entering commands in response to activity by a user; and

an adapter unit, the adapter unit formatting the commands and applying the formatted commands to the communication link, the adaptor reformatting results of formatted commands transmitted over the communication link; and

an output unit, the output unit providing the results of the execution of the reformatted commands.

28. The home terminal as recited in claim 27 wherein the input unit is at least one device selected from the group consisting of:

a keyboard device, a display device, a mouse device, and a storage media device.

29. The home terminal as recited in claim 27 wherein the home terminal is billed based on the of the service provider to the home terminal.

30. The home terminal as recited in claim 27 wherein the home terminal applies secure signals to the communication link.