Method and system for extending the capabilities of embedded devices through network clients
A method and system for extending the capabilities of resource-constrained embedded devices by leveraging the memory and processing resources of clients such as web browsers (“clients”) installed on host computational devices (“host computers”). The embedded device delegates computational tasks such as generation of content (e.g., user interfaces, reports, configuration files, etc.) to clients and acts as a simple file and data server. The embedded device provides static resource files to each client, including static template files and a client processing engine. The client processing engine: interprets processing instructions contained in static template files; utilizes managed communication channels to exchange dynamic data sets with the embedded device in real-time; generates various forms of content by processing, transforming, manipulating, and aggregating dynamic data sets and static resource files; and reads and writes arbitrarily large files from and to the host computer, overcoming resource limitations of the embedded device.
1. A method for enabling an embedded device to work in concert with a client on a host computer, to access content of a file, comprising the steps of:
selecting a file accessible to the host computer, but not directly accessible to the client, at the client;
establishing a communication link between the client and the embedded device;
sending a portion of the file from the client to the embedded device of a size that fits within the resource limitations of the embedded device, which then returns the portion to the client;
adding the portion of the file returned by the embedded device to any previous portions received at the client; and
repeating the previous sending and adding steps until the file has been completely reconstructed at the client;
wherein the client accesses the reconstructed file as a proxy for the embedded device.
2. The method as described in claim 1 , wherein the communication link protocols are selected from the group consisting of HTTP, FTP, and any combination thereof.
3. The method as described in claim 1 , wherein the reconstructed file comprises content that is at least one of processed, transformed, manipulated, and aggregated at the client.
4. The method as described in claim 1 , further comprising the step of using a plurality of communication links to concurrently access content of multiple files.
5. The method as described in claim 1 , wherein the communication link comprises a first connection that sends the portion of the file and a second connection that returns the portion.
6. The method as described in claim 5 , further comprising the step of using a TCP window to provide automatic flow control between the first connection and the second connection.
7. The method as described in claim 1 , wherein the method is utilized for manufacturing performance management applications.
8. A method for enabling an embedded device to work in concert with a client on a host computer to generate a file at the client to be stored or opened via the host computer, comprising the steps of:
generating content of a file in a memory of the client having limited access to file systems accessible to the host computer;
establishing a communication link between the client and the embedded device;
determining one of the following at the client:
where the file shall be stored in the file system accessible to the host computer; and
whether the file shall be opened;
sending a portion of the file from the client to the embedded device of a size that fits within the resource limitations of the embedded device, which returns the portion back to the client;
adding the portion of the file returned from the embedded device to any previous portions of the file received at the host computer;
repeating the previous sending and adding steps until the entire file has been completely sent and returned; and,
either storing or opening the entire file consistent with the determining step.
9. The method as described in claim 8 , wherein the communication link protocols are selected from the group consisting of HTTP, FTP, and any combination thereof.
10. The method as described in claim 8 , wherein the step of generating content comprises generating content in real time from data as that data is provided by the embedded device.
11. The method as described in claim 8 , wherein the step of generating content comprises processing information received by the client from the embedded device in one of the following ways: transformation, manipulation, aggregation, and any combination thereof.
12. The method as described in claim 8 , further comprising the step of using a plurality of communication links to concurrently send and return multiple files.
13. The method as described in claim 8 , wherein the communication link comprises a first connection that sends the portion of the file and a second connection that returns the portion.
14. The method as described in claim 13 , further comprising the step of using a TCP window to provide automatic flow control between the first connection and the second connection.
15. The method as described in claim 8 , wherein the method is utilized for manufacturing performance management applications.