Granted Patent B2

US 7,970,923 · App. 12/568,410 · Granted Jun 28, 2011

Assignee: Citrix Systems, Inc.

Abstract

Claims (48)

1. A method for accelerating delivery of a computing environment to a remote client, the method comprising:

intercepting, by an appliance deployed as an intermediary between a server and a remote client, a plurality of files comprising an application program streamed by the server responsive to a first request from the remote client to execute an application;

determining, by the appliance, whether the appliance may accelerate transmission of the intercepted plurality of files comprising the application program streamed by the server responsive to the first request;

determining, by the appliance and responsive to determining the appliance may accelerate transmission of the application program, whether the remote client is configured with an acceleration program; and

accelerating, by the appliance and responsive to determining the appliance may accelerate transmission of the application program and that the remote client is configured with the acceleration program, transmission of the application program by applying one or more transport layer transmission acceleration techniques to the intercepted plurality of files comprising the application program streamed by the server responsive to the first request.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the one or more transport layer transmission acceleration techniques comprise:

Transmission Control Protocol multiplexing;

Transmission Control Protocol pooling; and

Transmission Control Protocol buffering.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

transmitting, by the appliance and responsive to a determination that the remote client is not configured with the acceleration program, the acceleration program to the remote client.

4. The method of claim 3 , further comprising automatically installing and executing, by the remote client, the acceleration program upon receipt from the appliance.

5. The method of claim 4 , further comprising:

transmitting, by the appliance to the remote client, a license authorizing execution of the application program by the remote client for a predetermined time;

receiving, by the appliance, a heartbeat message from the remote client indicating that the application program is being executed; and

transmitting, by the appliance and responsive to receiving the heartbeat message, a renewed license authorizing execution of the application program by the remote client for a predetermined time.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

caching, by the appliance, the plurality of files comprising the application program; and

intercepting, by the appliance, a second request from the remote client for one or more of the plurality of files comprising the application program and transmitting the cached one or more of the plurality of files to the remote client in response to the second request.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein accelerating transmission of the application program further comprises:

accelerating transmission of the application program from the server to the appliance by applying a first one or more transport layer transmission acceleration techniques to the plurality of files streamed by the server and accelerating transmission of the application program from the appliance to the remote client by applying a second one or more transport layer transmission acceleration techniques to the plurality of files transmitted to the remote client.

8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising receiving, by the appliance from the server, the plurality of files comprising the application program via a pooled transport layer connection between the server and the appliance used by a plurality of clients communicating with the server via the appliance.

9. The method of claim 8 , further comprising:

receiving, by the appliance via the pooled transport layer connection, one or more data packets comprising a multiplexed communication session between the plurality of clients and the server; and

demultiplexing, by the appliance, the multiplexed communication sessions into one or more communications sessions between the server and each of the plurality of clients.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining whether the appliance may accelerate transmission of the application program further comprises:

determining whether the appliance may accelerate transmission of the application program, responsive to a log of past performance of the transport layer transmission acceleration techniques applied to one or more previous transmissions of the plurality of files comprising the application program.

11. A system for accelerating delivery of a computing environment to a remote client, the system comprising:

an appliance deployed as an intermediary device between one or more clients and one or more servers, intercepting a plurality of files comprising an application program streamed by a server responsive to a first request from a remote client to execute an application, determining whether the appliance may accelerate transmission of the intercepted plurality of files comprising the application program streamed by the server responsive to the first request, and determining, responsive to determining the appliance may accelerate transmission of the application program, whether the remote client is configured with an acceleration program; and

a packet engine of the appliance, responsive to determining the appliance may accelerate transmission of the application program and that the remote client is configured with the acceleration program, accelerating transmission of the application program by applying one or more transport layer transmission acceleration techniques to the intercepted plurality of files comprising the application program streamed by the server responsive to the first request.

12. The system of claim 11 , wherein the one or more transport layer transmission acceleration techniques comprise:

Transmission Control Protocol multiplexing;

Transmission Control Protocol pooling; and

Transmission Control Protocol buffering.

13. The system of claim 11 , wherein the appliance further comprises:

a memory element storing a client-side acceleration program; and the appliance:

transmits, responsive to a determination that the remote client is not configured with the acceleration program, the acceleration program to the remote client.

14. The system of claim 13 , wherein the remote client further installs the acceleration program, and executes the acceleration program.

15. The system of claim 14 , wherein the acceleration program is configured to provide a cache for storing the plurality of files comprising the application program in a cache; and

the acceleration program receives authorization to execute the plurality of files comprising the application program in the cache during a pre-defined period of time, and

redirects, responsive to non-expiration of the pre-defined period of time, requests for the plurality of files comprising the application program to the stored plurality of application files in the cache.

16. The system of claim 11 , wherein the appliance further comprises a memory element storing the plurality of files comprising the application program; and

the packet engine intercepts a second request from the remote client for one or more of the plurality of files comprising the application program and transmits the stored one or more of the plurality of files to the remote client in response to the request.

17. The system of claim 11 , wherein the packet engine further accelerates transmission of the application program from the server to the appliance by applying a first one or more transport layer transmission acceleration techniques to the plurality of files streamed by the server and accelerates transmission of the application program from the appliance to the remote client by applying a second one or more transport layer transmission acceleration techniques to the plurality of files transmitted to the remote client.

18. The system of claim 11 , wherein the appliance further receives, from the server, the plurality of files comprising the application program via a pooled transport layer connection between the server and the appliance used by a plurality of clients communicating with the server via the appliance.

19. The system of claim 18 , wherein the appliance further receives, via the pooled transport layer connection, one or more data packets comprising a multiplexed communication session between the plurality of clients and the server; and

the packet engine demultiplexes the multiplexed communication sessions into one or more communications sessions between the server and each of the plurality of clients.

20. The system of claim 11 , wherein the appliance determines whether the appliance may accelerate transmission of the application program responsive to a log of past performance of the transport layer transmission acceleration techniques applied to one or more previous transmissions of the plurality of files comprising the application program.

Assignments (10)

Continuity (3)