US 11,734,032 B1
Virtual desktop switching and communications
Christiaan Brinkhoff, Woodinville, WA (US); Sandeep Patnaik, Kirkland, WA (US); Jinhua Fei, Bellevue, WA (US); Prasanna Padmanabhan, Redmond, WA (US); Randall Cook, Washington, UT (US); Matthew Shadbolt, Melbourne (AU); Roland Radtke, Brier, WA (US); John Christopher Whytock, Portland, OR (US); Gary Liao, Bellevue, WA (US); Alexander Ryan Fromm, Woodinville, WA (US); and Parthasarathy Sundararajan, Bothell, WA (US)
Assigned to Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC, Redmond, WA (US)
Filed by Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC, Redmond, WA (US)
Filed on May 14, 2022, as Appl. No. 17/744,637.
Claims priority of provisional application 63/326,178, filed on Mar. 31, 2022.
Int. Cl. G06F 3/0481 (2022.01); G06F 9/451 (2018.01)
CPC G06F 9/452 (2018.02) [G06F 3/0481 (2013.01)] 20 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A local computer which is configured to provide equal user interface navigational access to local desktops and remote desktops during human-computer interaction, the local computer comprising:
a digital memory;
a display;
a desktop switcher residing in the digital memory, the desktop switcher configured for switching between virtual desktops;
a processor in operable communication with the digital memory and the display, the processor configured to perform virtual desktop access management including: displaying a remote computer desktop thumbnail and a local computer desktop thumbnail in the desktop switcher on the local computer, the local computer desktop thumbnail operationally representing a local computer virtual desktop of the local computer, the remote computer desktop thumbnail operationally representing a remote computer virtual desktop of a remote computer which is physically remote from the local computer, each thumbnail displayed in the desktop switcher at the same navigational depth with respect to tool invocations, obtaining via the desktop switcher a user selection of the remote computer desktop thumbnail, setting a current user interface desktop focus on the local computer to be the remote computer virtual desktop, and communicating with the remote computer in response to human-computer interaction at the local computer; and
wherein the processor is further configured to display a visual separator in the desktop switcher, the visual separator located between a local desktop thumbnail set display area and a remote desktop thumbnail set display area, the local desktop thumbnail set display area configured to display at least one local desktop thumbnail, the remote computer desktop thumbnail set display area configured to display at least one remote desktop thumbnail, the visual separator thereby visually distinguishing between local and remote desktop thumbnails.