Unified workspace for thin, remote, and SAAS applications

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10063552-B2
Application number	US-201514666051-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 23, 2015
Priority date	Aug 30, 2010
Publication date	Aug 28, 2018
Grant date	Aug 28, 2018

Abstract

Application-manager software authenticates a user of a client device over a channel. The authentication operation is performed using a directory service. The application-manager software presents a plurality of applications in a GUI displayed by the client device. The plurality of applications depends on the authentication, the client device, and the channel. And the plurality of applications includes a thin application and a software-as-a-service (SaaS) application. The application-manager software receives a selection as to an application from the user. If the selection is for the SaaS application, the application-manager software provisions the SaaS application. The provision includes automatically logging the user onto an account with a provider of the SaaS application using a single sign-on and connecting the user to the account so that the user can interact with the SaaS application. If the selection is for the thin application, the application manager software launches the thin application.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising operations:
presenting, by an application management system, a plurality of applications in a graphical user interface (GUI) displayed by a client device, wherein the plurality of applications depends at least in part on an authentication of the user of the client device and wherein the plurality of applications includes a plurality of software-as-a-service (SaaS) applications, and wherein each SaaS application is associated with user account login information generated and stored by the application management system when entitling the corresponding SaaS application for the user;
receiving a selection of an SaaS application from the user;
provisioning, by the application management system, the selected SaaS application, wherein the provisioning includes automatically logging the user onto an account with a remote provider of the SaaS application using a single sign-on protocol including retrieving the stored user account login information for the SaaS application, using the user account login information transparently to the user, and connecting the user to the account so that the user can interact with the SaaS application; and
providing a user interface of the selected SaaS application for presentation on the client device.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of application further includes a thin application.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of applications further includes a remote application.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the remote application is a desktop virtualization application.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the SaaS application is a web application.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of applications displayed to the user depends at least in part on the geolocation of the user.

7. The method of claim 6 , further comprising the operation of gathering statistics on use of the plurality of applications displayed to the user and the geolocation of the user.

8. The method of claim 1 , comprising:
authenticating the user of the client device, wherein the authentication is performed using a directory service.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of applications further depends on the client device and a channel indicating a type of connection of the client device.

10. A method comprising:
presenting a plurality of applications in a graphical user interface (GUI) displayed by a client device, wherein the plurality of applications depends at least in part on an authentication of the user of the client device and wherein the plurality of applications includes at least one application of each of a plurality of types;
receiving a selection of one or more applications from the user of the client device;
for each selected application:
determining a corresponding provisioning driver based on the type of application,
obtaining provisioning operation data including a tuple of user, application, and device policy, and
provisioning the application using the provisioning driver and the provisioning operation data.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the application types of the plurality of types include two or more of a software-as-a-service (SaaS) application, a thin application, or a remote application.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein provisioning a SaaS application using the corresponding provisioning driver further includes automatically logging the user onto an account with a provider of the SaaS application using a single sign-on and connecting the user to the account so that the user can interact with the SaaS application.

13. The method of claim 11 , wherein provisioning a thin application using the corresponding provisioning driver further includes performing licensing accounting and making the application available for download.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein the thin application is a virtualized application that provides a sandbox for holding runtime modifications made by the application.

15. The method of claim 11 , wherein provisioning a remote application using the corresponding provisioning driver further includes performing licensing accounting and retrieving related files including remote desktop protocol files.

16. The method of claim 15 , wherein the remote application is a desktop virtualization application that runs on a guest operating system on a virtual machine.

17. The method of claim 10 , wherein the provisioning operation data is determined based on a determination of the corresponding entitlement parameters with respect to the application and the user.

18. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing a program that when executed, instructs one or more processors configured to perform the following operations:
presenting, by an application management system, a plurality of applications in a graphical user interface (GUI) displayed by a client device, wherein the plurality of applications depends at least in part on an authentication of the user of the client device and wherein the plurality of applications includes a plurality of software-as-a-service (SaaS) applications, and wherein each SaaS application is associated with user account login information generated and stored by the application management system when entitling the corresponding SaaS application for the user;
receiving a selection of an SaaS application from the user;
provisioning, by the application management system, the selected SaaS application, wherein the provisioning includes automatically logging the user onto an account with a remote provider of the SaaS application using a single sign-on protocol including retrieving the stored user account login information for the SaaS application, using the user account login information transparently to the user, and connecting the user to the account so that the user can interact with the SaaS application; and
providing a user interface of the selected SaaS application for presentation on the client device.

19. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 18 , wherein the plurality of application further includes a thin application.

20. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 18 , wherein the plurality of applications further includes a remote application.

21. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 20 , wherein the remote application is a desktop virtualization application.

22. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 18 , wherein the SaaS application is a web application.

23. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 18 , wherein the plurality of applications displayed to the user depends at least in part on the geolocation of the user.

24. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 23 , further configured to perform operations comprising the operation of gathering statistics on use of the plurality of applications displayed to the user and the geolocation of the user.

25. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 18 , configured to perform operations comprising:
authenticating the user of the client device, wherein the authentication is performed using a directory service.

26. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 18 , wherein the plurality of applications further depends on the client device and a channel indicating a type of connection of the client device.

27. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing a program that when executed, instructs one

Assignees

• Vmware Inc

Inventors

• Pugh William
• Eakes Michael
• Bernander Ojvind
• Gundavaram Pradyumna

Classifications

• G06F21/41 Primary

  where a single sign-on provides access to a plurality of computers · CPC title

• H04L67/02

  based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP] · CPC title

• G06F21/105

  Arrangements for software license management or administration, e.g. for managing licenses at corporate level · CPC title

• H04L63/0815

  providing single-sign-on or federations · CPC title

• H04L63/10 Primary

  for controlling access to devices or network resources · CPC title