Multi-Operating System Device, Notification Device and Methods Thereof

Abstract

The application relates to a multi-operating system (multi-OS) device and a notification device. The multi-OS device comprises a processor, a transceiver, and an output device. The processor is configured to host a first operating system (OS1) in a foreground and a second operating system (OS2) in a background, or vice versa. The output device is configured to be controlled by an operating system hosted in the foreground. The transceiver is configured to receive a first signal (S.sub.1) from a notification device over a communication system, where the S.sub.1 indicates a notification associated to the OS2. The output device is further configured to output the notification associated to the OS2 when the OS1 is hosted in the foreground.

Claims

1. A multi-operating system (multi-OS) device, comprising: a processor; a transceiver coupled to processor; and an output device coupled to the processor, wherein the processor is configured to simultaneously host a first operating system (OS1) in a foreground and a second operating system (OS2) in a background or vice versa, wherein the output device is configured to be controlled by an operating system hosted in the foreground, wherein the transceiver is configured to receive a first signal (S.sub.1) from a notification device over a communication system, wherein the S.sub.1 indicates a notification associated to the OS2 hosted in the background, and wherein the output device is further configured to output the notification associated to the OS2 hosted in the background when the OS1 is hosted in the foreground.

2. The multi-OS device according to claim 1, wherein the OS2 is not running in the processor when hosted in the background.

3. The multi-OS device according to claim 2, wherein the notification is triggered by the OS2 when hosted in the foreground.

4. The multi-OS device according to claim 3, wherein the transceiver is further configured to transmit a second signal (S.sub.2) to the notification device, and wherein the S.sub.2 indicates a notification trigger associated to the notification.

5. The multi-OS device according to claim 4, wherein the transceiver is further configured to transmit a third signal (S.sub.3) to the notification device, and wherein the S.sub.3 indicates a request for push notification service associated to the OS2 when hosted in the background.

6. The multi-OS device according to claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to install operating systems (OSs) on the multi-OS device, wherein the transceiver is further configured to transmit a fourth signal (S.sub.4) to the notification device, and wherein the S.sub.4 indicates an installation of an OS on the multi-OS device.

7. The multi-OS device according to claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to remove operating systems (OSs) on the multi-OS device, wherein the transceiver is further configured to transmit a fourth signal (S.sub.4) to the notification device, and wherein the S.sub.4 indicates a removal of an OS on the multi-OS device.

8. The multi-OS device according to claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to move an operating system currently hosted in the background to the foreground and an operating system currently hosted in foreground to the background, wherein the transceiver is further configured to transmit a fifth signal (S.sub.5) to the notification device, and wherein the S.sub.5 indicates which operating system is currently hosted in the foreground.

9. A notification device for a multi-operating system (multi-OS) device, comprising: a processor; and a transceiver coupled to the processor, wherein the processor is configured to host an operating system delegate for a corresponding operating system (COS) hosted on the multi-OS device, wherein the operating system delegate is configured to determine a notification associated to the COS hosted on the multi-OS device, wherein the transceiver is configured to transmit a first signal (S.sub.1) to the multi-OS device over a communication system, and wherein the S.sub.1 indicates the notification associated to the COS hosted on the multi-OS device.

10. The notification device according to claim 9, wherein the transceiver is further configured to receive a second signal (S.sub.2) from the multi-OS device, wherein the S.sub.2 indicates a notification trigger associated to the COS, and wherein the operating system delegate is further configured to determine a notification based on the notification trigger.

11. The notification device according to claim 10, wherein the transceiver is further configured to receive a third signal (S.sub.3) from the multi-OS device, wherein the S.sub.3 indicates a request for push notification service associated to the COS when hosted in a background, and wherein the operating system delegate is further configured to determine notifications according to the push notification service associated to the COS.

12. The notification device according to claim 11, wherein the transceiver is further configured to receive a sixth signal (S.sub.6) from a communication device of the communication system, wherein the S.sub.6 indicates another notification trigger associated to the COS when hosted in the background, and wherein the OS delegate is further configured to determine a notification based on the other notification trigger.

13. The notification device according to claim 9, wherein the processor is further configured to host an operating system delegate for each COS hosted on the multi-OS device, wherein the operating system delegates are configured to determine notifications associated to corresponding operating systems (COSs) currently hosted in a background of the multi-OS device, wherein the transceiver is further configured to transmit first signals (S.sub.1s) to the multi-OS device over the communication system, and wherein the S.sub.1s indicate the notifications associated to the COSs.

14. The notification device according to claim 13, wherein the transceiver is further configured to receive a fourth signal (S.sub.4), wherein the S.sub.4 indicates an installation or a removal of an operating system on the multi-OS device, and wherein the processor is further configured to create or delete a corresponding OS delegate on the notification device based on the operating system indicated in the received S.sub.4.

15. The notification device according to claim 14, wherein the transceiver is further configured to receive a fifth signal (S.sub.5) indicating which of the operating systems hosted on the multi-OS device is currently in a foreground, and wherein the transceiver is further configured to transmit the S.sub.1s to the COSs currently hosted in the foreground.

16. The notification device according to claim 15, wherein the transceiver is further configured to: transmit S.sub.1s indicating notifications associated to the COSs currently hosted in the background; and omit transmitting S.sub.1s indicating notifications associated to the COSs currently hosted in the foreground.

17. A method for a multi-operating system (multi-OS) device, comprising: simultaneously hosting a first operating system (OS1) in a foreground and a second operating system (OS2) in a background; receiving a first signal (S.sub.1) from a notification device over a communication system, wherein the S.sub.1 indicates a notification associated to the OS2 hosted in the background; and outputting the notification associated to the OS2 hosted in the background when the OS1 is hosted in the foreground.

18. A method for a notification device for a multi-operating system (multi-OS) device, comprising: hosting an operating system delegate corresponding to an operating system (OS) hosted on the multi-OS device; determining a notification associated to a corresponding OS (COS) hosted on the multi-OS device; and transmitting a first signal (S.sub.1) to the multi-OS device over a communication system, and wherein the S.sub.1 indicates the notification associated to the COS hosted on the multi-OS device.

19. A computer program product with a program code for performing a method when the program code runs on a computer, comprising: simultaneously hosting a first operating system (OS1) in a foreground and a second operating system (OS2) in a background; receiving a first signal (S.sub.1) from a notification device over a communication system, wherein the S.sub.1 indicates a notification associated to the OS2 hosted in the background; and outputting the notification associated to the OS2 hosted in the background when the OS1 is hosted in the foreground.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0065] The appended drawings are intended to clarify and explain different embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0066] FIG. 1 shows a multi-OS device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0067] FIG. 2 shows a method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0068] FIG. 3 shows a notification device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0069] FIG. 4 shows another method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0070] FIG. 5 illustrates signalling aspects according to an embodiment of the present disclosure; and

[0071] FIG. 6 illustrates further signalling aspects according to embodiments of the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0072] An OS hosted in the background cannot notify the user of the multi-OS device according to conventional solutions. Hence, the user will not receive pop up messages, alarms, or other types of notifications associated with the OS hosted in the background. Further, push notifications associated with the OS in the background and generated externally will not either be notified to the user. Generally, with conventional solutions the user will not be able to receive any notifications associated with the OS hosted in the background while another OS is running in the foreground in the multi-OS device.

[0073] FIG. 1 shows a multi-OS device 100 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure which solves the above described problem. The multi-OS device 100 is a computing device configured to host two or more OSs. The case of hosting two OSs is often denoted as a dual-OS device. Examples of computing devices with the mentioned capabilities of hosting two or more OSs are smartphones, laptop computers, stationary computers, tablet computers, etc.

[0074] The present multi-OS device 100 comprises a transceiver 1.04 coupled to an optional antenna unit 108 and/or modem unit 110 for wireless and/or wired communications, respectively, in a communication system 500. Wireless communications may be over third generation partnership project (3GPP) radio access networks, WI-FI networks, or any other types of wireless communication systems well known in the art. Wired communications may e.g. be performed according to International Telecommunication Union (ITU) standards or any other suitable wired communication standards.

[0075] The present multi-OS device 100 comprises a processor 102 which is coupled to the transceiver 104 with communication means as illustrated with the dashed arrow in FIG. 1. The processor 102 is configured to host two or more independent OSs (designated as OS1 and 052 in the example in FIG. 1). In a certain time instance one OS is hosted in the foreground of the processor 102 and simultaneously at least another OS is hosted in the background. The multi-OS device 100 further comprises at least one output device 106 which is configured to be controlled by the OS hosted and running in the foreground of the processor 102. The output device 106 is further configured to output one or more different types of notifications, such as audio/sound notifications, tactile notifications, visual notifications, etc. The multi-OS device 100 often comprises more than one output device 106 but only one such output device is shown in FIG. 1. For example, a smartphone is often configured to notify the user of all three mentioned types of notifications and therefore comprises at least three output devices or combinations thereof.

[0076] The transceiver 104 of the multi-OS device 100 is according to embodiments of the present disclosure configured to receive a first signal S.sub.1 from a notification device (not shown) over the communication system 500. The first signal S.sub.1 as shown in FIG. 1 indicates a notification associated to a second OS OS2 currently hosted in the background. Furthermore, the output device 106 of the multi-OS device 100 is configured to output the notification associated to the second OS OS2 when the first OS OS1 is currently hosted in the foreground. This means that the first OS OS1 running in the foreground, on behalf of the second OS OS2 in the background, controls the output device 106 such that notifications associated with the second OS OS2 are outputted to the user. As described above, the multi-OS device 100 receives the first signal S.sub.1 from the notification device. The notification device handles notifications on behalf of OSs hosted in the background in the multi-OS device 100. Thereby, notifications associated with OSs in the background can be notified to the user.

[0077] FIG. 2 shows, with respect to the FIG. 1, a flowchart of a corresponding method which may be executed in a multi-OS device 100, such as the one shown in FIG. 1. The method 200 comprises a step 202 of hosting a first operating system OS1 in the foreground and simultaneously hosting a second operating system OS2 in the background. The method 200 further comprises a step 204 of receiving a first signal S.sub.1 from a notification device 300 over a communication system 500, the first signal S.sub.1 indicating a notification associated to the second operating system OS2 hosted in the background. Finally, the method 200 comprises a step 206 of outputting the notification associated to the second operating system OS2 hosted in the background when the first operating system OS1 is hosted in the foreground.

[0078] FIG. 3 shows a notification device 300 according to an embodiment of present disclosure. The notification device 300 comprises a processor 302 configured to host OS delegates 306a, 306b, . . . , 306n (where n denotes the number of OS delegates in the notification device 300). Each OS delegate 306 is configured to handle notifications for its Corresponding OS (COS) in a multi-OS device (not shown). In this respect, the OS delegate 306 is configured to determine a notification for a COS hosted on the multi-OS device. When a notification is to be notified to the user of the multi-OS device and the COS is hosted in the background of the multi-OS device, the notification device 300 transmits the first signal S.sub.1 to the multi-OS device. Hence, a transceiver 304 of the notification device 300 is configured to transmit the first signal S.sub.1 indicating the notification associated to the COS hosted on the multi-OS device. The processor 302 and the transceiver 304 of the notification device 300 are communicably coupled to each other with communication means illustrated with the dashed arrow in FIG. 3. The notification device 300 may also comprise optional antenna unit 308 and/or modem unit 310 for wireless and/or wired communications, respectively, in the communication system 500 as described above. The mentioned OS delegates 306a, 306b, . . . , 306n can be implemented as software applications running in the processor 302 of the notification device 300.

[0079] FIG. 4 shows, with respect to the FIG. 1 and FIG. 3, a flowchart of a corresponding method which may be executed in a notification device 300, such as the one shown in FIG. 3. The method 400 comprises a step 402 of hosting an OS delegate 306 corresponding to an OS hosted on a multi-OS device 100. The method further comprises a step 404 of determining a notification associated to the corresponding operating system COS hosted on the multi-operating system device 100. The method further comprises a step 406 of transmitting a first signal S.sub.1 to the multi-operating system device 100 over a communication system 500, the first signal S.sub.1 indicating the notification associated to the corresponding operating system COS hosted on the multi-operating system device 100.

[0080] The present notification device 300 as shown in FIG. 3 may be a network server providing cloud services of the kind explained above to the multi-OS device 100 which therefore acts as a client. Embodiments of the present disclosure therefore manifests the present inventive idea to have corresponding OS delegates in a remote device, i.e. the notification device 300 is configured to control and handle notifications for the different OSs hosted in the multi-OS device. The OS delegates 306a, 306b, . . . , 306n can receive notifications on behalf of a background COS and forward the notifications to another OS which is in the foreground of the multi-OS device.

[0081] This is illustrated in FIG. 5 which shows signalling aspects in a communication system 500 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. In this example, OS1 and OS2 are hosted by the multi-OS device 100. Either, OS1 is in the foreground and the OS2 is in the background, or vice versa. It is further shown in the notification device 300 that COS delegates 306a (for OS1) and 306b (for OS2) are hosted in the processor 302 of the notification device 300. This means that each OS on the multi-OS device 100 has a COS delegate in the notification device 300 that can be reachable through e.g. Internet. Further, for every multi-OS device 100, there may be an OS delegate manager 312 in the notification device 300 that manages the OS delegates and knows which OS is the current foreground OS running on the multi-OS device 100, and which OS(s) is in background, etc. The OS delegate manager 312 is therefore an entity in the notification device 300 that is responsible for, and controls all OS delegates 306a, 306b, . . . , 306n for a specific multi-OS device 100. The notification device 300 can host a plurality of OS delegate managers, and each OS delegate manager 312 is associated with its own multi-OS device 100. To effectively achieve the above, specific capabilities in the multi-OS device 100 and the notification device 300, and interaction between the multi-OS device 100 and the notification device 300 will be described in the following.

[0082] According to another embodiment of the present disclosure the processor 102 of the multi-OS device 100 is further configured to install or remove OSs on the multi-OS device 100. The transceiver 104 of the multi-OS device 100 is further configured to transmit a fourth signal S.sub.4 (see FIG. 6) to the notification device 300 over the communication system 500. The fourth signal S.sub.4 indicates the installation or removal of an OS on the multi-OS device 100. At the receiver side, the transceiver 304 of the notification device 300 is configured to receive the fourth signal S.sub.4. Further, the processor 302 of the notification device 300 is configured to create or delete a corresponding OS delegate 306a, 306b, . . . , 306n on the notification device 300 based on the information in the fourth signal S.sub.4. This signalling is illustrated in FIG. 6 and the creation or deletion of corresponding OS delegates is handled by the mentioned OS delegate manager 312.

[0083] For improved notification management, the processor 102 of the multi-OS device 100 is further configured to move the OS currently hosted in the background to the foreground and to move the OS currently hosted in foreground to the background. Further, the transceiver 104 of the multi-OS device 100 is further configured to transmit this information in a fifth signal S.sub.5 to the notification device 300. Hence, the fifth signal S.sub.5 indicates which OS is currently hosted in the foreground. The notification device 300 receives the fifth signal S.sub.5 and derives the information in the fifth signal S.sub.5. The derived information is used by the OS delegate 306 and/or the OS delegate manager 312 when first signals S.sub.1 are transmitted to the corresponding OS COS1, COS2, . . . , COSn currently hosted in the foreground of the multi-OS device 100.

[0084] FIG. 6 also shows yet further signalling aspects between the multi-OS device 100 and the notification device 300.

[0085] The second signal S.sub.2 transmitted by the multi-OS device 100 indicates a notification trigger associated to the notification. This is the case when the notification (such as an alarm or timer or a reminder, etc.) is triggered by an OS hosted in the foreground of the multi-OS device 100 (a so called internal notification) but is to be notified when the said OS is hosted in the background. The notification device 300 receives the second signal S.sub.2 and the notification trigger is handled by the corresponding OS delegate 306a, 306b, . . . , 306n which, based on the notification trigger, determines a notification and transmits the notification in the first signal S.sub.1 to the multi-OS device 100 at the correct time instance.

[0086] The third signal S.sub.3 transmitted by the multi-OS device 100 indicates a request for push notification service associated to an OS when hosted in the background of the multi-OS device 100. The notification device 300 receives the third signal S.sub.3 which indicates the request for push notification service. The corresponding OS delegate, i.e. one of 306a, 306b, . . . , 306n, is further configured to determine notifications according to the push notification service. Thereby, an OS at the multi-OS device 100 can subscribe to a push notification service and notifications associated with the said OS can be notified to the user of the multi-OS device 100 no matter if the said OS is currently hosted in the foreground or in the background. The OS delegate manager 312 can therefore provide the push notification service to the multi-OS device 100. So when an OS is brought to foreground, it registers itself to the push notification service handled by the OS delegate manager 312. Hence, the OS delegate manager 312 can push notifications to the foreground OS for all OSs in the multi-OS device 100.

[0087] A convenient way to register to a push notification service is by sending a Hypertext transfer Protocol (HTTP) request (or any other suitable protocol request, possibly including a request message) to the notification device 300 (acting as a server). The notification device 300 does not need reply to the request but keeps the connection active until there is a notification to dispatch to the multi-OS device 100. Otherwise the request can time out, e.g. after 15 minutes. Thereafter, the multi-OS device 100 (acting as a client) will send a new HTTP request to the notification device 300, and so on. The OS that is hosted in the foreground can also register to the push notification service. Generally, the HTTP request can include the identity (ID) of the OS, such as OS ID or any other name that can be used by the server to identify the OS, the multi-OS device 100 ID, and optionally the user ID and possibly a password for verification and improved security.

[0088] FIG. 6 also illustrates the case when the notification is triggered by an external communication device 504 of the communication system 500, i.e. a so called external notification. The external communication device 504 may be another computing device, a server, a service host unit, another dedicated notification device, or any other communication device 504 which is configured to generate notification trigger(s) for the multi-OS device 100 and to address the multi-OS device 100 via its corresponding OS delegates 306a, 306b, . . . , 306n and/or OS delegate manager 312. The external communication device 504 transmits a sixth signal S.sub.6 to the notification device 300. An OS delegate 306 associated with the sixth signal S.sub.6 processes the notification trigger of the sixth signal S.sub.6 and determines a notification based on the notification trigger. Thereafter, the transceiver 304 sends the notification in a first signal S.sub.1 to the multi-OS device 100 as described above.

[0089] In the above described solutions, the multi-OS device 100 relies on communication connectivity (such as access to the Internet) to receive internal notifications from background OSs. Also it may be complicated to make an OS delegate 306 raise internal notifications like location-based notifications. This can be solved by a hybrid solution while external notifications are handled by OS delegates 306a, 306b, . . . , 306n, internal notifications of a OS in the background are still triggered in the multi-OS device 100 locally using other methods. The difference is that internal notifications of OSs currently in the background are not raised by their own corresponding OS delegates 306a, 306b, . . . , 306n in the notification device 300. Instead, such internal notifications are handled internally in the multi-OS device 100 with internal methods. Therefore, according to this solution only external notifications are dispacted from the notification device 300 to the multi-OS device 100.

[0090] Furthermore, any method according to the present disclosure may be implemented in a computer program, having code means, which when run by processing means causes the processing means to execute the steps of the method. The computer program is included in a computer readable medium of a computer program product. The computer readable medium may comprise of essentially any memory, such as a ROM, a PROM, an EPROM, a Flash memory, an EEPROM, or a hard disk drive.

[0091] Moreover, it is realized by the skilled person that the present multi-OS device 100 and notification device 300 further comprises necessary communication capabilities in the form of e.g., functions, means, units, elements, etc., for performing the present solution. Examples of such means, units, elements and functions are processors, memory, buffers, control logic, encoders, decoders, rate matchers, de-rate matchers, mapping units, multipliers, decision units, selecting units, switches, interleavers, de-interleavers, modulators, demodulators, input means, output means, screens, displays, antennas, amplifiers, receiver units, transmitter units, digital signal processors (DSPs), mass storage devices (MSDs), trellis-coded modulation (TCM) encoder, TCM decoder, power supply units, power feeders, communication interfaces, communication protocols, etc. which are suitably configured together for implementing and/or executing the present solution.

[0092] Especially, the processors of the present devices may comprise, e.g., one or more instances of a Central Processing Unit (CPU), a processing unit, a processing circuit, a processor, an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), a microprocessor, or other processing logic that may interpret and execute instructions. The expression “processor” may thus represent a processing circuitry comprising a plurality of processing circuits, such as, e.g., any, some or all of the ones mentioned above. The processing circuitry may further perform data processing functions for inputting, outputting, and processing of data comprising data buffering and device control functions, such as call processing control, user interface control, or the like.

[0093] Finally, it should be understood that the present disclosure is not limited to the embodiments described above, but also relates to and incorporates all embodiments within the scope of the appended independent claims.