Synchronizing machines in groups
View Patent ↗Apparatus, systems, and methods may operate to support synchronizing machines in groups. In some embodiments, synchronization is implemented by receiving an indication to activate a selected machine of a group of sync-aware machines connected to a subnet of a network, where each member of the group has information identifying all members of the group. Further activities include transmitting an activation message from the selected machine to the remainder of the group to notify the remainder that the selected machine is active, capturing a record of activities conducted at the selected machine while the selected machine is active, and transmitting information, based on the record, to the remainder of the group from the selected machine to synchronize results of the activities with the remainder after the selected machine becomes inactive. Additional apparatus, systems, and methods are disclosed.
1. An apparatus, comprising:
a node including:
a receiver to receive an indication that the node is to be activated as a selected machine of a group of sync-aware machines connected to a subnet of a network, each member of the group having information identifying all members of the group, wherein an identification of each member of the group is discovered via a monitoring engine included in the receiver of the node, wherein the information identifying all the members of the group is received by the monitoring engine monitoring multicast domain name service traffic on the subnet, and wherein the monitoring engine includes a multicast domain name service (mDNS) engine to listen to packages broadcast within the subnet, to search for other mDNS engines on other machines in the group, and to pair the mDNS engine and the other mDNS engines in the group; and
a transmission module to transmit information, based on a record of activities conducted at the selected machine while the selected machine is active, to a remainder of the group to synchronize results of the activities with the remainder when the selected machine becomes inactive, wherein an active machine is activated due to the detected presence of a user operating that particular machine and an inactive machine is inactivated where the presence of the user operating that machine has not been detected for a time period though a processor of the inactive machine is still being utilized.
2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the transmission module is to transmit an activation message from the selected machine to the remainder to notify the remainder that the selected machine is active.
3. The apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising:
a recorder to capture the record of the activities; and
a user input device to provide the indication.
4. A system, comprising:
a first node in a group of sync-aware machines connected to a subnet of a network, the first node being a physical machine and including a receiver to receive an indication that the first node is to be activated as a selected machine of the group; and
a second node in the group, each member of the group having information identifying all members of the group, the second node being a physical machine and comprising a reception module to receive an activation message from the selected machine to notify the second node that the selected machine is active, the selected machine to transmit information, based on a record of activities conducted at the selected machine while the selected machine is active, to the second node to synchronize results of the activities with the second node when the selected machine becomes inactive, wherein an identification of each member of the group is discovered via a monitoring engine included in the receiver of the first node, wherein the information identifying all the members of the group is received by the monitoring engine monitoring multicast domain name service traffic on the subnet, wherein the monitoring engine includes a multicast domain name service (mDNS) engine to listen to packages broadcast within the subnet, to search for other mDNS engines on other machines in the group, and to pair the mDNS engine and the other mDNS engines in the group, and wherein an active machine is activated due to the detected presence of a user operating that particular machine and an inactive machine is inactivated where the presence of the user operating that machine has not been detected for a time period though a processor of the inactive machine is still being utilized.
5. The system of claim 4 , further comprising:
a storage unit coupled to the subnet to store the record; and
a display coupled to the first node to display visible indications of the activities.
6. A machine-readable storage device comprising instructions, which when executed by one or more processors, perform a method comprising:
receiving an indication to activate a selected machine of a group of sync-aware machines connected to a subnet of a network, each member of the group having information identifying all members of the group, wherein an identification of each member of the group is discovered via a monitoring engine included in the selected machine, and wherein the monitoring engine includes a multicast domain name service (mDNS) engine to listen to packages broadcast within the subnet, to search for other mDNS engines on other machines in the group, and to pair the mDNS engine and the other mDNS engines in the group;
transmitting an activation message from the selected machine to a remainder of the group to notify the remainder that the selected machine is active;
capturing a record of activities conducted at the selected machine while the selected machine is active;
transmitting information, based on the record of the activities, to the remainder from the selected machine to synchronize results of the activities with the remainder once the selected machine becomes inactive, wherein an active machine is activated due to the detected presence of a user operating that particular machine and an inactive machine is inactivated where the presence of the user operating that machine has not been detected for a time period though a processor of the inactive machine is still being utilized; and
monitoring multicast domain name service traffic on the subnet to receive the information identifying all the members of the group.
7. The machine-readable storage device of claim 6 , wherein the receiving comprises:
detecting manipulation of a user input device coupled to the selected machine indicating the presence of the user operating the selected machine.
8. The machine-readable storage device of claim 6 , wherein the subnet is defined by a sub-level portion of an Internet protocol address.
9. The machine-readable storage device of claim 6 , wherein capturing the record comprises:
recording at least one of data values or user input device conditions that change on the selected machine as a result of the activities.
10. The machine-readable storage device of claim 6 , wherein capturing the record comprises:
capturing the record of the activities at least one of directly or indirectly.
11. The machine-readable storage device of claim 6 , wherein the method further comprises:
receiving the information identifying all the members of the group.
12. The method of claim 6 , further comprising:
determining that the selected machine is no longer active.
13. The method of claim 6 , further comprising:
receiving a request to enter the selected machine as a member of the group.
14. A machine-readable storage device comprising instructions, which when executed by one or more processors, perform a method comprising:
receiving an activation message from a selected machine at an inactive machine, the selected machine and the inactive machine forming part of a group of sync-aware machines connected to a subnet of a network, each member of the group having information identifying all members of the group, the activation message to notify the inactive machine that the selected machine is active, wherein an identification of each member of the group is discovered via the activity of a monitoring engine included in a receiver of the selected machine, and wherein the monitoring engine includes a multicast domain name service (mDNS) engine to listen to packages broadcast within the subnet, to search for other mDNS engines on other machines in the group, and to pair the mDNS engine and the other mDNS engines in the group;
receiving information at the inactive machine from the selected machine, based on a record of activities conducted at the selected machine while the selected machine is active, to synchronize results of the activities with the inactive machine once the selected machine becomes inactive, wherein an active machine is activated due to the detected presence of a user operating that particular machine and an inactive machine is inactivated where the presence of the user operating that machine has not been detected for a time period though a processor of the inactive machine is still being utilized; and
monitoring multicast domain name service traffic on the subnet.
15. The machine-readable storage device of claim 14 , wherein the method further comprises:
synchronizing the results by synchronizing data stored in each member of a remainder of the group, including the inactive machine.
16. The machine-readable storage device of claim 14 , wherein the method further comprises:
detecting occurrence of a status change at the inactive machine, by the inactive machine, after receiving the activation message; and
transmitting an indication of the status change as a local status notification message to the selected machine while the selected machine is active.
17. The machine-readable storage device of claim 14 , wherein the method further comprises:
synchronizing the results using a single sign-on procedure for applications on the selected machine to gain access to applications on the inactive machine.