Distributed overlay browser for transparent streaming media support in virtualized desktop environment

• US 9,225,763 B2
• Filed: 06/07/2011
• Issued: 12/29/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 06/07/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: Baird, Randall B., Friedl, Stephan E., Wesselman, Thomas M.
• Primary Examiner(s): Kizou, Hassan
• Assistant Examiner(s): MUSA, ABDELNABI O
• Application Number:
  US13/154,558
• Publication Number:
  US 20120317295A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,666 Days
• Field of Search: 709/208, 709/209, 709/211, 709/228, 709/227, 709/229, 455/517, 455/219, 455/225, 455/551, 455/560
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/131 Protocols for games, networked simulations or virtual reality

Abstract

Techniques are provided for establishing an integrated and transparent overlay of a browser window for rendering data such as streaming media on a client endpoint device. A web browser on a Hosted Virtual Desktop (HVD) draws HVD display image comprising a browser window and communicates it to the client endpoint device for display, via a virtual desktop interface (VDI) protocol. The browser window comprises zero or more host-provided window elements such as a window frame and at least one placeholder element where a client-provided frameless browser window may be rendered. A browser (or browser extension) on the HVD works together with a browser server on the client endpoint device to render data such as streaming media in the client-provided frameless browser window in place of the placeholder, before displaying the frameless browser window and the HVD display as an integrated display at the client endpoint device.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

establishing an endpoint browser service on a client endpoint device;

receiving, via a Virtual Desktop Interface protocol at the client endpoint device, a Hosted Virtual Desktop (HVD) display comprising a browser window, the browser window comprising one or more host-provided browser window elements and at least one placeholder element where a client-provided frameless window may be rendered;

creating, by the endpoint browser service, an endpoint browser instance at the client endpoint device;

receiving data from a web content server at the endpoint browser instance;

generating a client endpoint display by rendering the HVD display and by the endpoint browser instance rendering the received data in a frameless window in place of the at least one placeholder element of the HVD display, wherein the frameless window comprises a web page rendering area;

displaying the client endpoint display to enable a user of the client endpoint device to simultaneously view the host-provided browser window elements and the client-provided frameless window in a composited window;

intercepting, at the client endpoint device, a request from the endpoint browser instance;

sending a query from the client endpoint device to determine whether the request should be handled by the client endpoint device or an HVD host; and

receiving a query response at the client endpoint device indicating whether the request should be handled by the client endpoint device or the HVD host.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the frameless window further comprises one or both of a page status bar and a scroll bar.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

establishing a communication session between the endpoint browser service and a host web browser or host web browser extension on an HVD host.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising creating the endpoint browser instance in response to the endpoint browser service receiving a request via the communication session.

5. The method of claim 3, further comprising destroying the endpoint browser instance in response to the endpoint browser service receiving a request via the said communication session.

6. The method of claim 3, further comprising, in response to the endpoint browser service receiving a request via the communication session, putting the endpoint browser instance to sleep, so that the endpoint browser instance remains active on the client endpoint device but no longer renders the frameless window.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising awakening the endpoint browser instance, so that it resumes rendering the frameless window, in response to the endpoint browser service receiving a request via the communication session.

8. The method of claim 3, further comprising, in response to the endpoint browser service receiving a request comprising a new Uniform Resource Locator (URL) via the communication session, causing the endpoint browser instance to render a web page from a source with the new URL.

9. The method of claim 3, further comprising receiving placeholder information from the host browser extension via the communication session, wherein the placeholder information comprises one or more of the following:

position of the at least one placeholder element in the browser window;

size of the at least one placeholder element; and

a description of regions of the at least one placeholder element that are occluded by other HVD applications in the HVD display.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the request comprises a page load of a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) describing a location of a web server;

and further comprising;

if it is determined that the URL should be handled by the client endpoint device, receiving data from the web server specified by the URL, at the endpoint browser instance, and rendering the received data into the frameless window, or

if it is determined that the URL should be handled by the HVD host, sending the URL in a request to the HVD host and terminating the endpoint browser instance.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising, if the URL should be handled by the client endpoint device, sending a browser history update to the HVD host.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein said interception of the request is performed by an endpoint browser extension on the endpoint browser instance.

13. The method of claim 10,

wherein sending the query comprises sending the query to a policy agent, wherein the query comprises the URL, and wherein the policy agent is accessible to the endpoint device and the HVD host.

14. The method of claim 10, wherein if the request from the endpoint browser instance is a file upload or file download request, said determination is always that the URL should be handled by the HVD host, and further comprising sending a file upload or file download request to the HVD, the request comprising the URL associated with the file upload or download.

15. The method of claim 10, wherein said determination comprises

extracting a Fully Qualified Domain Name (FQDN) from the URL;

and

wherein sending the query comprises querying a policy database to find and select data matching the FQDN, wherein if there is no matching data default data is selected; and

further comprising utilizing information in the selected data to determine whether the URL should be rendered by endpoint browser instance or an HVD host browser.

16. A method comprising:

establishing a host web browser on a Hosted Virtual Desktop (HVD) host;

generating an HVD display comprising a browser window, the browser window comprising one or more host-provided browser window elements and at least one placeholder window element where data may be rendered;

intercepting a request from the host web browser, wherein the request from the host web browser comprises a page load of a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) describing the location of data on a web content server;

determining whether the URL should be handled by the HVD host or a client endpoint device;

if it is determined that the URL should be handled by the HVD host, receiving the data from the web content server and rendering the received data in the at least one placeholder window element, or if it is determined that the URL should be handled by the client endpoint device, sending a request to render the URL to an endpoint browser service on the client endpoint device;

sending the HVD display to the client endpoint device via a Virtual Desktop Interface protocol using a Virtual Desktop Interface session;

intercepting from the host web browser a request to switch tabs from a current tab to a new tab;

detecting whether the new tab should be handled by the HVD host or by the client endpoint device, and

if it is detected that the current tab is handled by the HVD host and the new tab should be handled by the client endpoint device, sending a request to switch to the new tab to the endpoint browser service, or if it is detected that the current tab is handled by the client endpoint device and the new tab should be handled by the HVD host, sending a request to put an endpoint browser instance handling the current tab into a sleep state.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the interception of the request from the host web browser is performed by a host browser extension on the host web browser.

18. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

establishing a communication session between the HVD host and the endpoint browser service on the client endpoint device.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising sending a request to the endpoint browser service via the communication session, wherein the request is selected from the group consisting of:

a request to create an endpoint browser instance;

a request to destroy an endpoint browser instance;

a request to put an endpoint browser instance to sleep, so that the endpoint browser instance remains active on the client endpoint device but does not render a frameless window;

a request to awaken an endpoint browser instance, so that it resumes rendering a frameless window; and

a request comprising a new Uniform Resource Locator (URL), so that the endpoint browser instance renders a web page from a source with the new URL.

20. The method of claim 18, wherein the communication session is between a host browser extension on the host web browser and the endpoint browser service.

21. The method of claim 16, wherein if the page load request is from an anchor located inside an inline frame, said determination is always that the URL should be handled by the HVD host.

22. The method of claim 16, wherein if the page load request is associated with a conferencing or screen sharing application, said determination is always that the URL should be handled by the HVD host.

23. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

intercepting a request to create a new browser window, the request comprising a URL;

detecting whether the new browser window should be handled by the HVD host or the client endpoint device, and

if it is detected that the new browser window should be handled by the client endpoint device, sending a request to create a new endpoint browser instance to the endpoint browser service, the request comprising the URL, or if it is detected that the new browser window should be handled by the HVD host, allowing the new window to be created by the HVD browser.

24. The method of claim 16, further comprising sending a request to update placeholder information, said placeholder information comprising one or more of:

position of the at least one placeholder element in the browser window;

size of the at least one placeholder element; and

a description of regions of the at least one placeholder element that are occluded by other HVD applications in the HVD display.

25. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

receiving a browser history update from the client endpoint device; and

updating a browser history of the host web browser with the browser history update.

26. An apparatus comprising:

a display device; and

a processor configured to;

establish an endpoint browser service on the apparatus;

receive, via a Virtual Desktop Interface protocol at the apparatus, a Hosted Virtual Desktop (HVD) display comprising a browser window, the browser window comprising one or more host-provided browser window elements and at least one placeholder element where a client-provided frameless window may be rendered;

create, by the endpoint browser service, an endpoint browser instance at the apparatus;

receive data from a web content server at the endpoint browser instance;

generate a endpoint display by rendering the HVD display and by the endpoint browser instance rendering the received data in a frameless window in place of the at least one placeholder element of the HVD display, wherein the frameless window comprises a web page rendering area;

display the endpoint display to enable a user of the apparatus to simultaneously view the host-provided browser window elements and the client-provided frameless window in a composited window;

intercept, at the apparatus, a request from the endpoint browser instance;

send a query from the apparatus to determine whether the request should be handled by the apparatus or an HVD host; and

receiving a query response at the apparatus indicating whether the request should be handled by apparatus or the HVD host.

27. The apparatus of claim 26, wherein the web content server is a content source server or a content cache server.

28. The apparatus of claim 26, wherein the apparatus is a thin client or a personal computer.

29. The apparatus of claim 26, wherein the request comprises a page load of a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) describing a location of a web server;

and wherein the processor is further configured to;

send the query to a policy agent, wherein the query comprises the URL; and

if it is indicated that the URL should be handled by the apparatus, receive data from the web server specified by the URL at the endpoint browser instance and render the received data into the frameless window, or if it is indicated that the URL should be handled by the HVD host, send the URL in a request to the HVD host and terminate the endpoint browser instance.

30. The apparatus of claim 29, wherein the policy agent is resident on the apparatus.

31. One or more computer readable storage devices encoded with instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to:

establish an endpoint browser service on a client endpoint device;

receive, via a Virtual Desktop Interface protocol at the client endpoint device, a Hosted Virtual Desktop (HVD) display comprising a browser window, the browser window comprising one or more host-provided browser window elements and at least one placeholder element where a client-provided frameless window may be rendered;

create, by the endpoint browser service, an endpoint browser instance at the client endpoint device;

receive data from a web content server at the endpoint browser instance;

generate a client endpoint display by rendering the HVD display and by the endpoint browser instance rendering the received data in a frameless window in place of the at least one placeholder element of the HVD display, wherein the frameless window comprises a web page rendering area;

display the client endpoint display to enable a user of the client endpoint device to simultaneously view the host-provided browser window elements and the client-provided frameless window in a composited window,

intercept a request from the endpoint browser instance;

send a query to determine whether the request should be handled by the client endpoint device or an HVD host; and

receive a query response indicating whether the request should be handled by the client endpoint device or the HVD host.

32. The one or more computer readable storage devices of claim 31, wherein the instructions further cause the processor to establish a communication session between the endpoint browser service and a host web browser or host web browser extension on an HVD host.

33. The one or more computer readable storage devices of claim 31, wherein the request comprises a page load of a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) describing a location of a web server;

and wherein the instructions further cause the processor to;

send the query to a policy agent, wherein the query comprises the URL; and

if it is determined that the URL should be handled by the client endpoint device, receive data from the web server specified by the URL, at the endpoint browser instance, and render the received data into the frameless window, or if it is determined that the URL should be handled by the HVD host, send the URL in a request to the HVD host and terminate the endpoint browser instance.

34. The one or more computer readable storage devices of claim 33, wherein the policy agent is resident on an apparatus comprising the processor.