METHOD FOR MANAGING GRAPHIC CARDS IN A COMPUTING SYSTEM

1 . A method for managing graphic cards in a computing system, comprising:

upon initiation of a virtual machine in the computing system, assigning at least a virtual graphic card and a physical graphic card to the virtual machine for processing graphical instructions, basic graphical instructions originating from the virtual machine being processed by the virtual graphic card;

disconnecting the physical graphic card from the virtual machine to release the physical graphic card to a pool of available physical graphic cards;

detecting the need of the virtual machine to process advanced graphical instructions and, upon detection, selecting an available physical graphic card in the pool of available physical graphic cards;

connecting the available physical graphic card to the virtual machine for processing the advanced graphical instructions.

2 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising disconnecting the physical graphic card from the virtual machine to release it to the pool once the advanced graphical instructions have been processed.

3 . The method of claim 2 , wherein disconnecting the physical graphic card comprises:

directing the virtual machine to use the virtual graphic card;

shutting down, in the virtual machine, the driver of the physical graphic card;

de-assigning the physical graphic card from the virtual machine to release the physical graphic card to the pool of available physical graphic cards.

4 . The method according to claim 3 , wherein the advanced graphical instructions comprise a DirectX command, an OpenGL command, a hardware acceleration request, or a full screen mode.

5 . The method according to claim 4 , wherein the need of the virtual machine to process advanced graphical instructions is detected by receiving an advanced graphical instruction at the virtual graphic card.

6 . The method according to claim 4 , wherein the need of the virtual computer to process advanced graphical instructions is detected by identifying an advanced graphical instruction in a process executing in the virtual machine.

7 . The method according to claim 4 , wherein the need of the virtual computer to process advanced graphical instructions is detected by reference to a database or a reference file upon execution of a process.

8 . The method of claim 2 , wherein the disconnecting the physical graphic card comprises:

identifying a communication pattern exchanged between the virtual machine and the physical graphic card, the communication pattern comprising a repeated request to the physical graphic card and a repeated reply from the physical graphic card;

emulating the presence of the physical graphic card by sending the repeated reply to the virtual machine upon reception of the repeated request.

9 . The method according to claim 8 , wherein the advanced graphical instructions comprise a DirectX command, an OpenGL command, a hardware acceleration request, or a full screen mode.

10 . The method according to claim 9 , wherein the need of the virtual computer to process advanced graphical instructions is detected by receiving, at the emulated physical graphic card, a request differing from the repeated request.

11 . The method according to claim 10 , wherein the need of the virtual machine to process advanced graphical instructions is detected by receiving an advanced graphical instruction at the virtual graphic card.

12 . The method according to claim 10 , wherein the need of the virtual computer to process advanced graphical instructions is detected by identifying an advanced graphical instruction in a process executing in the virtual machine.

13 . The method according to claim 10 , wherein the need of the virtual computer to process advanced graphical instructions is detected by reference to a database or a reference file upon execution of a process.

14 . The method of claim 1 , wherein disconnecting the physical graphic card comprises:

directing the virtual machine to use the virtual graphic card;

shutting down, in the virtual machine, the driver of the physical graphic card;

de-assigning the physical graphic card from the virtual machine to release the physical graphic card to the pool of available physical graphic cards.

15 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the disconnecting the physical graphic card comprises:

identifying a communication pattern exchanged between the virtual machine and the physical graphic card, the communication pattern comprising a repeated request to the physical graphic card and a repeated reply from the physical graphic card;

emulating the presence of the physical graphic card by sending the repeated reply to the virtual machine upon reception of the repeated request.

16 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the advanced graphical instructions comprise a DirectX command, an OpenGL command, a hardware acceleration request, or a full screen mode.

17 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the need of the virtual machine to process advanced graphical instructions is detected by receiving an advanced graphical instruction at the virtual graphic card.

18 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the need of the virtual computer to process advanced graphical instructions is detected by identifying an advanced graphical instruction in a process executing in the virtual machine.

19 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the need of the virtual computer to process advanced graphical instructions is detected by reference to a database or a reference file upon execution of a process.