KR20100003059U - Client device for cellular telephone as server - Google Patents

Abstract

Client Devices for Cellular Phones as Servers A new kind of thin client called Trans Client, which works with smart cellular phones as its own server, does not have its own user interface (UI) and operating system (OS), and as a standalone device. It does not have the ability to run user programs. The purpose and capabilities of the new conventional thin client are to display remote content and provide a user input interface. The new conventional thin client is built with the slowest processing and lowest power consumption possible at the lowest cost and has security features to ensure the integrity of the operations.

Description

Client device for cellular phones as server {CLIENT DEVICE FOR CELLULAR TELEPHONE AS SERVER}

There are other pending patent applications in the assignee's portfolio.

The present invention relates to client-server technology. More specifically, the present invention relates to a thin client type device in a cellular phone environment.

A typical cellular phone is an end-user device and acts as a client in many respects. The cellular phone acts as a client within the cellular phone network, specifically as a client to a network cloud with web data. The cellular phone then acts as a client for host servers in the network cloud. Cellular phones have never been designed or intended to act as servers themselves. However, in connection with the present invention, in order to convert certain types of cellular phones into special purpose servers for use in a new type of proposed client as described more fully herein, the assignee of the present invention, Salt Lake, Utah The software was developed by Celio Corporation, Citi. Aspects of the software are described in connection with US Patent Application Nos. 12 / 042,911 and 12/042942 filed March 5, 2008, co-pending.

Conventional thin client devices of the prior art have an operating system having a processor, a user interface, where the operating system is capable of running so-called thin client programs, most commonly a web browser. Thin client applications typically run within this environment. Examples include a web-enabled word processor program, terminal programs displaying content requested from a host or server, and a remote access client program representing a desktop of a remote computer.

True thin client applications are conventional computer programs that run in a common operating system environment with ordinary user interface functions. Only a thin client computer is a full-function computer with limited storage or specialized input / output capability that communicates with a much more powerful computer that provides processing for multiple users via the thin client as a user interface. The thin client computer may run slightly slower than other desktop or laptop computers because the thin client application framework is all that is required to run the thin client computer. Nevertheless, the thin client computer and its operating system typically have all the features of a full-featured operating system, even if they are the same operating system as their server, and allow their users to decide to run standalone programs. A typical thin client program is a loadable application suitable for a thin client computer with an internal file system, system DLLs, and startup scripts that can be run locally.

Thin client programs and thin client computer systems appear to be inadequate in terms of power consumption and security. First, because thin client programs and thin client computer systems use much of the same hardware that any conventional computer system uses, much more power is consumed than is actually required to perform their tasks. If the battery is operated, the device has a huge battery, a charger or a very limited allowable operating period. Also, since the underlying operating system is derived from or is actually a general-purpose operating system, the device only accepts known security issues and vulnerabilities in its underlying operating system.

According to the present invention, a new kind of scene that works with a smart cellular phone as its server, does not include its own user interface (UI) and operating system (OS) but does not have the ability to run user programs as a standalone device. Clients are provided. The purpose and capabilities of the thin client are to display remote content and provide a user input interface. The thin client is built with the slowest processing and lowest power consumption possible at the lowest real cost and has security features to ensure the integrity of the operations. The device is referred to below as a trans client to distinguish it from a true thin client. As described below, the device additionally causes the new client to be a cellular phone of a type known as a smart phone that has been switched to a special purpose server. The mating of the non-obvious technologies allows a new kind of dependent peripherals to be created for portable smart phones that allow users to use a cell phone much like a full-size computer.

Unlike a thin client, the trans client according to the present invention has only a basic embedded operating system (OS): the trans client does not have an extensible window manager, the trans client cannot load user applications and has no user storage space. . The trans client hardware is built under a microprocessor with low power consumption and very limited computing power and consequently a relatively low speed (e.g., 50 MHz clock speed compared to current typical CPU clock speeds of 1 GHz). The purpose of the hardware design is to manage the data flow between the device and the server supplying the screen image while consuming minimal power. The trans client also has hardware components for rendering video images that utilize minimal power and do not have a large amount of storage. Trans clients are inexpensively designed with minimal power to maximize battery life, especially to enhance the user interface experience of cellular phones.

Because of the low computing requirements and custom embedded OS, the trans client has very minimal memory requirements, thus helping to reduce power consumption requirements. For example, if a typical thin client of the present age can require 128 MB to 512 MB of RAM, the trans client typically employs a moderate amount of low power mobile DDR random access memory (eg, 16 MB to 32 MB of RAM). In addition, in contrast to typical thin client requirements for 64MB to 128MB persistent memory storage, such as flash memory, a trans client may only require 1MB to 2MB of persistent memory for the operating system image. The key difference is that the trans client must be built with the lowest power requirements and the highest security in order to allow the trans client to access the cell phone server while maintaining long battery life, good security and low cost. Is the point.

The invention will be better understood from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

1 illustrates the essential key features of a trans client 10 according to the present invention.

The trans client 10 according to the present invention is dedicated to operate with the smart cellular phone 11 as its server, and includes the following components and features:

1) a low power and therefore slow (eg, 50 MHz) embedded microprocessor as CPU 12, controlled by an appropriately slow internal system clock 13;

2) USB hosted ports 14, 15, which may be of the so-called high speed type;

3) embedded display 16;

4) embedded QWERTY keyboard 18;

5) low power consumption suitable for use in the battery 20 with long life and / or small size and minimum cost, depending on the user configuration;

6) Bluetooth port 22;

7) VGA output port 36 for external display;

8) a small embedded operating system 24 stored in RAM as a single non-extensible image;

9) an operating system 24 configured without a desktop shell, a loadable file system, or any mechanism by which a user can load independent programs;

10) adequate capacity of non-expandable random access memory, such as low power (slower) mobile DDR memory 26;

11) 1MB of non-expandable persistent memory, such as SPI flash memory 28;

12) touch pad 30;

13) an internal hardware based video display engine 32; And

14) Firmware 34 including data processing protocols to limit CPU usage.

One of the features that the trans client 10 does not have in particular is the window manager rather than the basic functions for displaying simple error and connection messages.

Thanks to the intentional utilization of the slow CPU 12, the absence of user accessible storage, and the features of the hardware-based video rendering 32 built into the device, low power usage is an important advantage of the device.

Prior art thin clients are not capable of sufficient reconfiguration to match the capabilities of the present invention, including energy efficiency. Thin client computers are designed to run as quickly as possible by their very nature. In the case of a web browser of thin client computers, the full HTML display engine resides on the thin client computer and must be updated to maintain over-chaining HTML protocols. Each new update adds more instructions that require more processing power and increases security risks.

The trans client 10 according to the present invention cannot process any other data from the server except for a simple instruction set specific to the operating system of its server, that is, a smart phone operating system adapted to communicate with the trans client. For example, the command to execute "Display this form this way" is a basic video command. Although video instructions are fundamental in nature, the video instructions may include advanced 3D operations that the hardware can easily display at low power.

The trans client 10 according to the present invention is intended to consume as little power as possible. To this end, the trans-client CPU 12 is as completely as possible needed to display server screen data, non-intuitive concepts, in any comparable computer environment where the speed is all and each new device requires a faster processor. It is a low speed microprocessor implemented to run at a slow speed. By employing access to a reduced hardware platform with constraints on storage space and scalability, the trans client 10 can be manufactured inexpensively and operate for a long time, thereby making the trans client 10 useful. The low cost product allows for optimal utilization of storage space, processing power, and the appropriate cellular phone 11 to act as a server with a conventional operating system such as Windows Mobile, while still allowing the trans client 10 to be battery operated. It has several times longer battery life than conventional thin clients.

Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) is another significant advantage derived from the choice of features of the trans client 10. While some thin clients can be advanced to have a "reduced" total cost of ownership, they still rely on off-the-shelf operating systems such as Windows XP or Linux. Such systems require regular updates that can be expensive. The trans client 10 functions the same even if it has external I / O devices, and therefore does not require an internal touch pad, external keyboard or display.

In an alternate embodiment, the trans client may be designed to have only less internal features, i.e., no internal ports, without external ports.

The present invention has been described with reference to specific embodiments. Other embodiments will be apparent to those skilled in the art. Therefore, it is not intended that the present invention be limited, except as indicated by the appended claims.

1 is a schematic block diagram of a trans client 10 according to the present invention.

Claims (12)

A client device that provides an enhanced user interface for a cellular phone that acts as a server, comprising: Low power embedded microprocessor operating under control of a relatively slow system clock; USB hosted ports; An embedded operating system as a single non-extensible image; Non-expandable random access memory; Non-expandable persistent memory; An internal hardware-based video display engine; And Including firmware with data processing protocols to limit the use of the CPU such that the device is functionally dependent on the cellular phone; Client device. The method of claim 1, Battery connections for providing long term and / or portable operation; Embedded display; Internal QWERTY keyboard; Bluetooth port; And At least one of the touch pad, Client device. The method of claim 1, The non-expandable random access memory is less than 32MB capacity, Client device. The method of claim 3, wherein The persistent memory is a flash memory of less than 2MB, Client device. The method of claim 1, Further comprising a computer video output port, Client device. The method of claim 1, The operating system does not have a user shell, file system that can allow independent operation, and cannot load application programs, Client device. A client device that provides an enhanced user interface for a typical portable client device that acts as a server, A video interface element operative to receive video instructions from a typical client device and display a corresponding output; A user interface input operative to receive interrupt events including keyboard and mouse commands and an output for forwarding the interrupt events to the general client device; And An output interface for supplying displays to the display element, Client device. The method of claim 7, wherein Further comprising input / output ports providing the generic client device with a mechanism to couple input / output ports to possible storage devices, including mass storage devices, Client device. The method of claim 7, wherein The generic client device is a video source operative to provide PAL or NTSC output. Client device. The method of claim 7, wherein A micro processing unit characterized by low power consumption and limited clock speed; An embedded operating system with a limited feature set; And Further comprising a dedicated hardware video processor, Client device. The method of claim 10, Non-expandable capacity of persistent memory; And Further comprising non-extensible capacity of random access memory, Client device. The method of claim 11, The operating system does not have a user shell, file system that can allow independent operation, and cannot load application programs, Client device.

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