A Framework for Transferring Desktop Images and Remote Operations in Multiple Computer Environments

A remote display system, which allows users to view a desktop image and to control a remote machine, can be valuable for small group communication in which each member is operating several machines. However, conventional server/client based remote display systems have not been considered for group communication or multi-machines environments. Most of these systems restrict the direction of transferring from server to client. Switching the direction of transferring may require several procedures. Moreover, the settings of the server on each host tend to be troublesome. We propose a tool for group communication based on remote display system with natural and intuitive interface. We have implemented a system “comDesk,” which utilizes P2P (peer to peer) mechanism suitable for group communication. P2P mechanism minimizes the users’ setting burden with autonomous configuration and reduces restriction of transferring directions. comDesk provides a visual interface, in which users can specify both the source host and the destination host freely, with simple dragging operations. comDesk will encourage small group communication based on sharing desktop images.