 toolkits and applications need not to be persistently stored in the device in advance, instead, they can be acquired on demand by downloading from servers storing these resource. As long as the hardware interface of the device can support these OS, users can dynamically download and install these OSs, toolkits, applications etc., according to their needs. During this process, the existing local software systems and programs will be overwritten to save a large amount of storage and computing time resource of the client devices.
Another strength of Transparence Computing is that its servers are used only for storing various resources, not the applied computing. This substantially reduces the server's burden and shortens its response time for users.
The physical driver layer of Transparence Computing provides the network connection between servers and clients. It consists of NIC, drivers and the network-connecting programs. For example, Ethernets, including the high-speed Ethernet and wireless Ethernet of 802.11, can all serve as the physical driver layer for Transparence Computing. Other examples include IEEE1394, infrared, bluetooth, and cable TV. The physical driver layer corresponds to the pervasive communication, making the Transparence Computing paradigm usable in various environments like wired, wireless and mobile environments. Since Transparence Computing uses universal communication networks to support communication, it can be easily inter-connected to the Internet, TV-Cable, and the like.
The Transparence Computing layer is the key layer of Transparence Computing. It consists of: the Multi-OS Booting Connection protocol, the Application Schedule and Management module, the User Request Management module, the User Management module, and the Server Resource Management module.
The application computing layer accepts and serves users computing requests. It enables the user to use a client (computer) as if it is a common PC. The layer can also implement the Active Services (referring to: ZHANG YAO XUE, “Active Service: Concept, Architecture and Implementation”, ISBN: 7030145763), which could provide users with more intelligent, personalized and comprehensive computing services.
Based on the Transparence Computing paradigm, the present invention provides a computing system which consists of client-side and server-side devices, as well as the booting method of its client devices, and the self-organizing method of its server clusters. In particular, the invention is an NC (Network Computing) system based on the Transparence Computing paradigm.
The concept of the Network Computer was brought forward in 1995 by Ellision, who developed Oracle. Simplifying the hardware of the PC, the initial NC is a low-cost, diskless system with an embedded system in its main board ROM. Its software consists mainly of a Java virtual machine and a WWW browser. After the embedded OS has been run, it downloads and loads Java Applets stored on the servers by the WWW method. The representative NC of this kind is the Java station NC of SUN Microsystems®. It has a similar but simpler hardware configuration than the PC. As for software, it has an embedded OS in local ROM (JavaOS), and can support Java virtual machine and Internet protocols. After the local embedded OS has been run, it can access programs and data stored on application servers. This kind of NC can support very limited applications and cannot support prevalent Windows applications.
NetPC is another similar solution provided by Microsoft. Like a normal PC, NetPC has a local hard disk, but it does not store any OS. After being powered on, it downloads an OS and applications from servers to its local hard disk, and then executes all of the applications locally. However, NetPC has less flexibility and scalability than the traditional PC. It can only run the Microsoft Windows® operating systems. Moreover, it downloads and loads not only the OS, but also all applications to the local hard disk in one batch, which could easily result in a strong network traffic burst and possible network co