Cloud Desktop User State Management via Virtual Hard Disk Mounting
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Solution Overview
Problem
In cloud-based remote desktop systems, users often face challenges in maintaining personalization and continuity of their desktop settings and data across different virtual desktop sessions, as they may not always reconnect to the same virtual desktop, leading to a loss of personalized information and settings.
Innovation Solution
The implementation of a virtual hard disk (VHD) that is mounted to the user's endpoint, storing personal data and personalization information such as settings, profiles, and files, which is demounted when the user disconnects but saved for subsequent sessions, ensuring that user state and preferences are preserved and applied to new sessions.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If users reconnect to different virtual desktops in cloud-based systems, then system flexibility and resource utilization are improved, but user personalization and settings continuity are lost
Solution Approach 1:
The patent separates user personalization information from the virtual desktop instance by storing it in a persistent virtual hard disk (VHD) that is independently managed. The VHD contains user profiles, settings, and personal data, while the virtual desktop can be dynamically assigned from a pool of instances. This segmentation allows the desktop to change while the user's personalization is preserved in the detached VHD.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent creates a persistent copy of user personalization data in the virtual hard disk that can be attached to different virtual desktop instances. Instead of relying on the specific desktop instance to retain user settings, the system copies user state information into a separate VHD that persists across desktop assignments and can be mounted to any desktop in the pool.
2Productivity
If virtual desktop instances are dynamically assigned from a pool, then resource utilization and system efficiency are improved, but user state persistence and session continuity deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the virtual desktop system into two independent components: a persistent virtual hard disk that stores user state and a transient virtual desktop instance that provides computing resources. The VHD remains stationary and persistent while desktop instances can be created, destroyed, and reassigned from a pool, allowing resource optimization without compromising user state reliability.
Solution Approach 2:
The virtual hard disk acts as an intermediary between the user and the virtual desktop instances. It mediates the connection by providing a persistent storage layer that can be attached to any desktop instance, ensuring that user state is preserved regardless of which specific desktop instance the user connects to.
3Ease of operation
If user personalization data is stored locally on each virtual desktop, then user experience customization is improved, but system complexity and data management overhead increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent makes the virtual hard disk a universal component that can be attached to any virtual desktop instance in the pool. Rather than having personalization data tied to a specific desktop, the VHD serves multiple desktops and multiple users over time, reducing redundancy and simplifying data management while maintaining full personalization capability.
Solution Approach 2:
The system automatically manages the attachment and detachment of virtual hard disks to and from virtual desktop instances based on user connections. This self-service mechanism eliminates the need for manual data management or complex configuration, as the system handles persisting user state to VHDs and restoring it to appropriate desktops automatically.
Data Source
AI summary
A mechanism is described for provisioning remote desktops in a cloud based infrastructure while maintaining user personalization. In cloud based systems, a user may not always reconnect to the same VM endpoint. In one embodiment, the virtual hard disk assigned to a user is mounted to the endpoint assigned to the user. The virtual hard disk includes the user's personal data and personalization information (e.g., settings, profiles, files, etc.). When the user disconnects from the remote desktop, the virtual hard disk is demounted from the endpoint. The virtual hard disk thus provides information regarding the user's state when the user is disconnected.