Auto-configuration of a docked system in a multi-OS environment

• US 9,152,582 B2
• Filed: 08/24/2011
• Issued: 10/06/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 10/01/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Z124 LLC (Flexis)
• Original Assignee: Z124 LLC (Flexis)
• Inventors: Reeves, Brian, Reeves, Paul, Teltz, Richard, Reeves, David, Sirpal, Sanjiv, Tyghe, Chris, Hancila, Cristian
• Primary Examiner(s): Vo, Tim T
• Assistant Examiner(s): Huynh, Kim T.
• Application Number:
  US13/217,121
• Publication Number:
  US 20120084480A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,504 Days
• Field of Search: 710301-306, 713/300, 715/810
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 13/14 Handling requests for interconnection or transfer
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 13/4068 Electrical coupling
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 13/4282 on a serial bus, e.g. I2C bus, SPI bus on daisy chain buses G06F13/4247
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2009/45575 Starting, stopping, suspending or resuming virtual machine instances
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/4411 Configuring for operating with peripheral devices; Loading of device drivers
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/4418 Suspend and resume; Hibernate and awake
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/44505 Configuring for program initiating, e.g. using registry, configuration files
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/45533 Hypervisors; Virtual machine monitors
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/541 via adapters, e.g. between incompatible applications

Abstract

A mobile computing device with a mobile operating system and desktop operating system running concurrently and independently on a shared kernel without virtualization. The mobile operating system provides a user experience for the mobile computing device that suits the mobile environment. The desktop operating system provides a full desktop user experience when the mobile computing device is docked to a secondary terminal environment. The mobile computing device configures the mobile operating system and/or the desktop operating system to take advantage of a docked secondary terminal environment. The mobile computing device may be a smartphone running the Android mobile OS and a full desktop Linux OS distribution on a modified Android kernel.

Claims

1. A method for configuring an interface port of a mobile computing device, the mobile computing device running a mobile operating system in a first execution environment on a shared kernel and running a desktop operating system in a second execution environment concurrently on the shared kernel, the method comprising:

detecting a docking event of the mobile computing device, associated with a first user, and a computer system associated with a secondary terminal environment;

in response to the docking event, determining whether a user experience profile exists for the secondary terminal environment, wherein the user experience profile provides a user experience for the computer system associated with the secondary terminal environment and docked to the mobile computing device, wherein the user experience profile configures one or more of a group comprising;

a graphical user interface, an input/output device, and an application;

determining that a first user experience profile of the docked secondary terminal environment is associated with the desktop operating system, wherein the first user experience profile is associated with the first user, wherein the first user experience profile is dynamically configured by the first user;

configuring, in response to determining that the first user experience profile of the docked secondary terminal environment is associated with the desktop operating system, the desktop operating system to a display of the secondary terminal environment;

outputting a first graphical user interface of the desktop operating system from the interface port,

detecting a second docking event of the mobile computing device, associated with a second user; and

the computer system associated with the secondary terminal environment;

in response to the second docking event, determining whether the user experience profile exists for the secondary terminal environment, wherein the user experience profile provides a user experience for the computer system associated with the secondary terminal environment and docked to the mobile computing device, wherein the user experience profile configures one or more of a group comprising;

a graphical user interface, an input/output device, and an application;

determining that a second user experience profile of the docked secondary terminal environment is associated with the desktop operating system, wherein the second user experience profile is associated with the second user, wherein the second user experience profile is dynamically configured by the second user;

configuring, in response to determining that the second user experience profile of the docked secondary terminal environment is associated with the desktop operating system, the desktop operating system to the display of the secondary terminal environment; and

outputting a second graphical user interface of the desktop operating system from the interface port.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of configuring the desktop operating system to the display includes associating, by the shared kernel, a frame buffer of the mobile computing device with the desktop operating system, and configuring the frame buffer to a resolution of the display of the secondary terminal environment.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the steps of determining the user experience profile of the secondary terminal environment and configuring the desktop operating system are performed by a desktop monitor service of the mobile operating system.

4. The method of claim 1, further including the step of setting a flag that indicates that the secondary terminal environment has a user experience profile, and that the user experience profile is associated with the desktop operating system.

5. The method of claim 1, further including the step of ignoring, by the mobile operating system, input commands from input devices of the secondary terminal environment based on the determining that the secondary terminal environment has a user experience profile associated with the desktop operating system.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of determining the user experience profile of the secondary terminal environment includes receiving an indicator of the user experience profile of the secondary terminal environment from a dock connector.

7. A computing system, comprising:

a computer system comprising a memory and a processor;

a mobile computing device, comprising;

a processor operable to concurrently run a mobile operating system in a first execution environment and a desktop operating system in a second execution environment on a shared kernel, wherein the second execution environment is associated with the computer system; and

an interface port, the interface port operable to;

connect the mobile computing device to the computer system associated with the secondary terminal environment, wherein the mobile operating system includes a desktop monitor service that monitors the interface port;

in response to connecting, determine whether a user experience profile exists for the secondary terminal environment, wherein there are two or more user experience profiles, wherein each of the two or more user experience profiles is associated with a different computing environment, and wherein the user experience profile is associated with a graphical user interface (GUI) and applications of the mobile operating system and the desktop operating system, wherein the user experience profile provides a user experience for the computer system associated with the secondary terminal environment and docked to the mobile computing device, wherein the user experience profile configures one or more of a group comprising;

a graphical user interface, an input/output device, and an application, wherein a first user experience profile of the two or more user experience profiles is associated with a first user and a second user experience profile of the two or more user experience profiles is associated with a second user; and

determine whether the second terminal operating system is associated with the mobile operating system and the desktop operating system based on the user experience profile of the secondary terminal environment.

8. The computing system of claim 7, further comprising the secondary terminal environment.

9. The computing system of claim 8, wherein the secondary terminal environment includes a display device, and the interface port includes a display interface port.

20. The computing system of claim 7, wherein the user experience profile is one of user-selectable or dynamically-generated.

10. A method for configuring an interface port of a mobile computing device, the mobile computing device running a mobile operating system in a first execution environment on a shared kernel and running a desktop operating system associated with a computer system in a second execution environment concurrently on the shared kernel, the method comprising:

detecting a docking event of the mobile computing device with the computer system associated with a secondary terminal environment;

in response to the docking event, determining whether a user experience profile exists for the secondary terminal environment, wherein the user experience profile provides a user experience for the computer system associated with the secondary terminal environment and docked to the mobile computing device, wherein the user experience profile configures one or more of a group comprising;

a graphical user interface, an input/output device, and an application;

in response to determining that a user experience profile exists for the secondary terminal environment, determining that the user experience profile of the secondary terminal environment is associated with projecting the mobile operating system onto the computer system, wherein a first user experience profile is associated with a first user and a second user experience profile is associated with a second user, wherein a first user dynamically configures the first user experience profile and a second user dynamically configures the second user experience profile; and

configuring, in response to determining that the user experience profile of the secondary terminal environment is associated with the mobile operating system, the interface port to display a graphical user interface of the mobile operating system on a display of the secondary terminal environment.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the detecting of the docking event is performed by a device driver of the shared kernel.

12. The method of claim 10, further including instantiating, by a desktop monitoring service of the mobile operating system, a remotable object;

and

calling, by an event listener in the mobile operating system in response to detecting the docking event, the remotable object, the call to the remotable object including a notification of the docking event.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising the step of receiving, in the desktop monitoring service, the call to the remotable object indicating that a docking event has occurred.

14. The method of claim 10, wherein the step of configuring the mobile operating system to display the mobile operating system graphical user interface on the display of the secondary terminal environment includes configuring a frame buffer associated with the mobile operating system for a display resolution of the display of the secondary terminal environment.

15. The method of claim 10, wherein the step of configuring the interface port to display the mobile operating system graphical user interface on the display of the secondary terminal environment includes deactivating a display and other input devices of the mobile computing device.

16. The method of claim 10, further including configuring applications and tasks running on the mobile operating system for the display of the secondary terminal environment.

17. The method of claim 10, wherein the secondary terminal environment comprises a tablet-style secondary terminal environment.

18. The method of claim 10, wherein the display of the secondary terminal environment comprises a touch-enabled display.

19. A mobile computing device including a computer readable medium storing instructions for a physical processor, the instructions, when executed, causing the processor to perform the method of claim 10.