Cart mode provisioning of shared computing devices

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10462008-B2
Application number	US-201615375751-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 12, 2016
Priority date	Apr 29, 2016
Publication date	Oct 29, 2019
Grant date	Oct 29, 2019

Abstract

Cart mode provisioning of shared computing devices refers to provisioning or configuring the shared computing devices so that the shared computing devices operate in an appropriate mode for a particular shared usage environment. Such a shared usage environment can be, for example, a school environment in which the appropriate mode is a mode in which the shared computing devices are locked so that a limited number of programs and network accessibility is available to the shared computing devices. A user of a setup computing device selects some preferences regarding the setup of the shared computing devices, and a configuration package is generated that includes various configuration information based on the user selections. The configuration package is then made available to the shared computing devices, which are configured or provisioned in accordance with the configuration information.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method implemented in a setup computing device, the method comprising:
accessing a shared device setup tool;
receiving, through a user interface of the shared device setup tool, user input specifying configuration information for a set of shared computing devices, the configuration information including at least one supported login type for the set of shared computing devices, and a network for the set of shared devices;
generating a shared device configuration package, the shared device configuration package including the specified configuration information as well as additional configuration information, the additional configuration information including credentials for the set of shared computing devices to access the network;
providing, through the user interface based on generation of the shared device configuration package, a user interface prompt requesting a connection of a portable storage device with the setup computing device;
recognizing the connection of the portable storage device;
storing, based on a recognition of the connection of the portable storage device, the shared device configuration package for transfer to the portable storage device; and
providing, through the user interface, a user interface sharing prompt requesting that a user connect the portable storage device with a shared computing device of the set of shared computing devices.

2. The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein the portable storage device is a universal serial bus (USB) drive.

3. The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein the storing of the shared device configuration package further comprises encoding both the credentials for the set of shared computing devices to access the network and a uniform resource locator (URL) identifying a location on the network where at least part of the additional configuration information and the specified configuration information can be obtained by the set of shared computing devices.

4. The method as recited in claim 3 , wherein the storing of the shared device configuration package further comprises encoding both the credentials for the set of shared computing devices to access the network and the URL in a quick response (QR) code, and wherein the method further comprising: displaying the QR code on a display device of the setup computing device.

5. The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein the at least one supported login type for the set of shared computing devices comprising a login type requiring users of the set of shared computing devices to login to the shared computing devices with user accounts verified by an identity service on the network.

6. The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein the at least one supported login type for the set of shared computing devices comprising a login type allowing users to login to the shared computing devices anonymously.

7. The method as recited in claim 6 , wherein obtaining the configuration information includes automatically retrieving the configuration information for the shared device configuration package based on the connection of the portable storage device.

8. The method as recited in claim 6 , further comprising: managing the temporary user account, wherein the managing of the temporary user account comprises:
determining that less than a threshold amount of storage space is available on the shared computing device; and
deleting, in response to determining that less than the threshold amount of storage space is available on the specialized classifier, the temporary user account from the shared computing device.

9. The method as recited in claim 6 , further comprising:
receiving a first login request for the temporary user account to login to the shared computing device for temporary access to the shared usage environment;
allowing a login to the shared usage environment using the temporary user account; and
deleting the temporary user account from the shared computing device in response to a logging off of the temporary user account from the shared usage environment.

10. The method as recited in claim 9 , further comprising:
receiving a second login request for a user to login to the shared computing device for temporary access to the shared usage environment;
generating a second temporary user account that is a different temporary account than the temporary account;
allowing the user to login to the shared usage environment using the second temporary user account; and
deleting the second temporary user account from the shared computing device in response to the user logging off the shared usage environment.

11. The method as recited in claim 6 , wherein the recognizing comprising detecting a connection of a universal serial bus (USB) drive at the shared computing device, and automatically initiating access to the shared device configuration package based on the connection of the USB drive.

12. The method as recited in claim 6 , wherein the recognizing comprising capturing a QR code that encodes a link indicating a network location to access to obtain the configuration information, and wherein the obtaining comprising obtaining the configuration information from the network location.

13. The method as recited in claim 12 , wherein the recognizing comprising capturing the QR code as displayed by a setup computing device.

14. The method as recited in claim 1 , further comprising: launching, on the shared computing device, an examination environment that enables testing of a student based on the connection of the portable storage device with the shared computing device.

15. The method as recited in claim 1 , further comprising: detecting access to the shared usage environment using the temporary user account; and removing the configuration of the shared computing device based on detecting that the temporary user account logs out from the shared usage environment.

16. A method implemented in a shared computing device, the method comprising:
recognizing the presence of a shared device configuration package accessible to the shared computing device based on a connection of a portable storage device;
obtaining configuration information identified by the shared device configuration package, the configuration information including credentials for the shared computing device to access a network and types of user logins to be supported by the shared computing device;
configuring the shared computing device in accordance with the shared device configuration package;
creating, based on a configuration of the shared computing device with the shared device configuration package, a temporary user account for access to a shared usage environment;
launching, based on the configuration of the shared computing device, a user interface for the shared usage environment, wherein the launching comprises providing a customized user interfaced prompt for access to the shared usage environment by the temporary user account, and
removing the configuration of the shared computing device based on detecting that the temporary user account logs out from the shared usage environment.

17. A shared computing device comprising:
a processor; and
a computer-readable storage medium having stored thereon multiple instructions that, responsive to execution by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations that comprise:
recognizing the presence of a shared device configuration package accessible to the shared computing device based on a connection of a portable storage device;
obtaining configuration information identified by the shared device configuration package, the config

Assignees

• Microsoft Technology Licensing Llc

Inventors

• Wei Yaou
• Tanna Shrikesh Himanshu
• Tricanowicz Steven Joseph
• Rawat Anshul
• Donahue Tyler J
• Krause Michael H
• Anthony Christopher Ronald
• Lu Phillip Feng
• Milton Victoria Elizabeth

Classifications

• G06F13/4282

  on a serial bus, e.g. I2C bus, SPI bus (on daisy chain buses G06F13/4247) · CPC title

• G06F8/61

  Installation · CPC title

• H04L41/0886

  Fully automatic configuration · CPC title

• H04L41/0813

  characterised by the conditions triggering a change of settings · CPC title

• H04L41/0806

  for initial configuration or provisioning, e.g. plug-and-play · CPC title