Client computing system for and method of receiving cross-platform remote access to 3D graphics applications
View Patent ↗A client computing system in a client-server computing environment includes a client display driver that receives a transmission from a server, decodes graphics commands from the transmission using a client application, executes the functions using a client 3D library stored in a memory of the client, and renders the resulting image data to a display. The client may transmit capability information to the server, allowing the resolution of differences between the graphics application programming interfaces (APIs) supported on the server and the client.
1. A server computing system for providing cross-platform remote access to three dimensional (3D) graphics applications, the server computing system comprising:
memory for storing a server application having a resident 3D library;
a communication interface for receiving a request over a network from a client device to access the server application; and
a processor for executing instructions stored in memory, wherein execution of the instructions by the processor:
determines that the request from the client device pertains to a graphics call to the resident server 3D library, and
encodes the determined graphics call for a resident client 3D library on the client device,
wherein the communication interface:
transmits the encoded graphics calls to the client device, the encoded graphics call associated with the request; and
exchanges capability information with the client device by sending information regarding the resident server 3D library and/or receiving information regarding the resident client 3D library.
2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the resident server 3D library and the resident client 3D library are associated with different operating systems.
3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the resident server 3D library and the resident client 3D library include one or more graphics functions in common.
4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the capability information includes one or more application program interfaces (APIs) supported by the server.
5. The system of claim 1 , wherein the processor encodes the determined graphics call by assigning an ID to each graphics function and converting one or more function arguments from a platform-specific byte order into a common byte order.
6. A method for providing cross-platform remote access to three dimensional (3D) graphics applications, the method comprising:
storing a server application having a resident server 3D library in memory of a server;
receiving a request at the server, the request sent over a communication network from a client device regarding access to the server application;
executing instructions stored in memory, wherein execution of the instructions by a processor:
determines that the request from the client device pertains to a graphics call to the resident server 3D library, and
encodes the determined graphics calls for a resident client 3D library;
transmits the encoded graphics calls from the server to the client device, the encoded graphics call associated with the request; and
exchanges capability information with the client device by sending information regarding the resident server 3D library and/or receiving information regarding the resident client 3D library.
7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the resident server 3D library and the resident client 3D library are associated with different operating systems.
8. The method of claim 6 , wherein the resident server 3D library and the resident client 3D library include one or more graphics functions in common.
9. The method of claim 6 , wherein the capability information includes one or more application program interfaces (APIs) supported by the server.
10. The method of claim 6 , wherein encoding the determined graphics call comprises assigning an identifier (ID) to each graphics function and converting one or more function arguments from a platform-specific byte order into a common byte order.
11. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, having embodied thereon a program executable by a processor to perform a method for providing cross-platform remote access to three dimensional (3D) graphics applications, the method comprising:
storing a server application having a resident server 3D library;
receiving a request from a client device to access the server application;
determining that the request from the client device pertains to a graphics call to the resident server 3D library;
encoding the determined graphics calls for a resident client 3D library;
transmitting the encoded graphics calls to the client device, the encoded graphics call associated with the request; and
exchanging capability information with the client device by sending information regarding the resident server 3D library and/or receiving information regarding the resident client 3D library.
12. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 11 , wherein the resident server 3D library and the resident client 3D library are associated with different operating systems.
13. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 11 , wherein the resident server 3D library and the resident client 3D library include one or more graphics functions in common.
14. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 11 , wherein the capability information includes one or more application program interfaces (APIs) supported by the server.
15. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 11 , wherein encoding the determined graphics call comprises assigning an identifier (ID) to each graphics function and converting one or more function arguments from a platform-specific byte order into a common byte order.