WO2008012829A2

WO2008012829A2 - Desktop utility delivery model

Info

Publication number: WO2008012829A2
Application number: PCT/IN2006/000264
Authority: WO
Inventors: Alok Singh; Ashok Zutshi; Yuvaraj Galada; Vinodkumar Gopinathan; Saleem Taha Mahin; Mukul Chitrao; Padmalakshmi Shankar; Centhiul Kumaran Kumaran; Kumaran Meenatchi Sundaram; Johnson Adaikal Raj; Charu Latha Prasanna; Siva Rama Krishna Obul Reddy; Nisheeth Mishra
Original assignee: Alok Singh; Ashok Zutshi; Yuvaraj Galada; Vinodkumar Gopinathan; Saleem Taha Mahin; Mukul Chitrao; Padmalakshmi Shankar; Centhiul Kumaran Kumaran; Kumaran Meenatchi Sundaram; Johnson Adaikal Raj; Charu Latha Prasanna; Siva Rama Krishna Obul Reddy; Nisheeth Mishra
Priority date: 2006-07-26
Filing date: 2006-07-26
Publication date: 2008-01-31
Also published as: WO2008012829B1; WO2008012829A3

Abstract

The present invention relates to a utility computing system and in particular, to a utility computing system adapted for convergence platform for data, video and voice access and utility. The utility computing system is adapted to favour wide scale computer based applications and data access utility ranging from simple productivity suites and internet browsing to complex usage such as streaming multi media or information and entertainment. The system (OS) over dispersed physical location.

Description

DESKTOP UTILITY DELIVERY MODEL

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a utility computing system and in particular, to a utility computing system adapted for convergence platform for data, video and voice access and utility. Importantly, the system advantageously incorporates a simple and user friendly user (customer) premise equipment (CPE) which is operatively connected to network protocol and transport, server side hardware and software to favour simple, fast and effective computing utilizing the utility system of the invention. The utility computing system is adapted to favour wide scale computer based applications and data access utility ranging from simple productivity suites and internet browsing to complex usage such as streaming multi media or information and entertainment. The system is adapted to cooperate with multiple server and operating system (OS) over dispersed physical location. The user (customer) premise equipment used in the system would enable the service provider to make the computing resources available to the customer as needed and charged the users based on specific usage of the system rather than any flat rate. The system is user friendly and also cost effective for the user apart from enabling access and utility of wide ranging data application involving convergence platform for data video and voice at customer's premises.

BACKGROUND ART

It is well known that technology platforms are available for each of the computing- communication-entertainment such as mobile platforms for voice applications, integrated device platforms for voice and data application. However, mostly such devices or application presently available in the market are all personal computer based, Video on Demand Set-Top Boxes, Residential Gateways and Integrated Access Devices. Importantly, such presently available platforms such as the video on demand set top boxes are only capable of providing single function. Such devices which are application specific and personal computer based, are complex to use for mass adaptation. There are a few devices presently available in the market which are capable of handling any two of the above functions but a device that could provide simplicity in operation and use and yet facilitate triple play application selected from computing, communication and entertainment is highly desirable for the users of such system.

In our co pending PCT International Application No. PCT/IN2005/000380 dated November 25, 2005 there disclosed an integrated simplified convergence platform for triple play applications including computing, communication and entertainment applications comprising

a simple & single platform providing (i)means for computational application ;(ii)means for entertainment applications; and(iii) means for voice and data applications; plurality of customized user access terminals/devices operatively connected to said common platform for said desired triple play applications.

The above integrated technology platform rests on the server and provides access to the user for said computing or media applications. Importantly, to facilitate the management of the plurality of the user access devices a device management console is available. The said user access terminals /devices are free of any moving components and/or heat generating units. In our said co-pending application there is also disclosed the integrated access system platform comprising of: plurality of user access terminal/devices in a server centric Computing environment; a LAN and/or WAN operating connection to server and a device management console.

The server cluster used in the system can be selectively comprised of Content servers and Computing Servers, or the functionality of the cluster could be provided by a single server.

Further, client management software is also provided for managing multiple simplified user terminals / devices in the system. The software is embedded in the hardware to impart desired operational capability to the hardware of the simplified convergence platform of the invention.

It would be apparent from the above that the convergence platform imparts simplicity and user friendly characteristics to the operation / use of triple play gadgets / components by way of providing for the first time very simple appliance like attributes to the access terminal/devices in the system of the invention. Such appliance like attributes of the access terminals / devices would enable deployment of multiple access terminal / devices in hundred or thousands with very simple to manage network set up. Importantly, the system is adapted such that there is no additional burden or complexity of managing typical personal computer for individual work station.

Also, in order to further favour user friendly application and use of the above convergence platform in particular, incorporating user friendly access terminal having facilities for implementing the local mouse technology , in our other co-pending application no there is disclosed in an integrated simplified convergence platform for triple play applications including computing, communication and entertainment applications a local mouse implementation facility comprising said media processor adapted to store locally the initial mouse shape received form the server; said network processor adapted to capture the coordinates whenever the user moves the mouse and to forward the coordinates to the said media processor and the server; said ^"media processor adapted to draw the mouse on the screen with respect to the x and y coordinates ;said server adapted to recognize any change in shape of the mouse and forward the pattern and mask to the to the network processor; the network processor further adapted to receive the same as a separate mouse packet and forward the data to the media processor; and said media processor adapted to recognize and handle the mouse packet and draw the packet on the screen as a graphics operation.

It would be apparent from the above existing state of the art that while utility computing and variety of end user applications are desired to be provided to the customers / users, there has been a need in the art to favour provision of user / customers access and utility for such services by way of cost effective and simple gadgets/provisions. The afore discussed convergence platform for data video and voice access and utility disclosed and claimed under said co-pending applications are basically directed to meet such requirements of end-users / customer for a simple and cost effective manner of application and use of triple play applications involving data, video and voice.

While the above provisions are directed to meet such user requirement to access the convergence platform providing for the triple play application and utility, ,however, in order to provide for the desired wide scale application and use of such systems it is also important to provide for systems which would enable utility computing. Importantly, such provision of utility computing is not available under the conventional art and thus the user's / customers are required to invest in the purchase of hardware (PC / LAPTOP) and software (OS), productivity suits and applications to meet desired utility computing requirements. Also the user under the prevailing systems / provisions have only limited access to few of the utility applications depending upon the system configuration. Moreover, it is usually experience that while obtaining the systems or variety of applications the system provided usually provides all standard hardware and software features, all of which may not be of use to the specific user / customers. For example, some customer might never use this spreadsheet application that he or she is required to purchase as a part of the productivity package. Moreover, the amount of use that an end user is required to make of a system may be a very small fraction of the PCs computing power and applications and thus spending huge aniounts on purchase of standard packages / systems is not worth while to the end user.

Apart from the above problems of purchase of PC and software, which go against the basic principle of utility computing there are other limitations and complexities in use of such PCs. In particular, under the current approach the customer in a PC is required to store many of the data and applications. However, these PCs are mostly not backed up implying that in case the system goes down the customer does not have access to his or her data or applications. Thus, the very important feature / need of any time availability of computing to the customer is not guaranteed.

Moreover, it is also experienced while use of PCs as the number and complexities of the user's application increases, the PCs for performance decreases. Thus, the users/ customers do not get best computing experience under such present PC application environment. Added to the above, it is also known that the lifetime of the PC in the present rapid and fast changing technology is usually very low, say about 2 to 3 years. Thus, many of the applications and operating system do not run effectively in older machines. Also, considering that a PC is inherently a sophisticated and complete device and that may be required for the customer there is also accompanying heavy maintenance cost for a PC. These costs add on to the overall cost or experience that the user / customer as to bear to make use of such personal computers. Thus, the PC as presently available can not serve as a utility computing system and necessarily is cost extensive and unnecessarily complex of the end user.

It is also important to note that the power consumption of traditional PCs/ laptops are about 200 W. Considering the power situation and the growing demands and since the utility application is required to be supported throughout as per the users needs and requirements it is important to look for alternative which would avoid the need for UPS (which involve high power consumption ) and also battery cost, air conditioning to operate such present conventional computing devices.

OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION

It is the thus the basic object of the invention to provide a utility computing system and a user (customer) premise equipment adapted for use under above discussed convergence platform for data voice and video at the customer's premises which would avoid the limitation and complexities of presently available / PCs and the like.

A further object of the present invention is directed to a utility computing system which would achieve the unique combination of simple to use user / customer premise equipment, network protocol and transport, server side hardware and adaptability to deliver computing and utility.

A further object of the present invention is directed to simple and cost effective utility computing system which would favour computer based application and data utility by a user / customer whereby computing ranging from simple productivity suites and internet browsing to complex uses as streaming multimedia for information and entertainment can be provide.

A further object of the present invention is directed to a utility computing system and a user (customer) premise equipment which would enable the service provider to make computing resources available to the customer as needed and charge them for specific usages rather than at any flat rate including for variety of applications, such as usage of a productivity applications, browsing the world wide web (internet), video on demand application, voice over IP (VoIP) application, chat applications, close / open network video conferencing application.

A further object of the present invention is directed to a utility computing system which would be utility computing and would not require the user / customer to pay or face complexities that the conventional PC based applications require and rather enable the user / customer to spend reasonably following "pay-as-you-use" protocol.

A further object of the present invention is directed to a utility computing system and a user (customer) premise equipment which would consume low power vis-a-vis a traditional computing devices, such as PC and laptop and yet guarantee computing application throughout 24x7 without concerns of power shortage and consequential loss of sessions and data.

A further object of the present invention is directed to simple and cost effective user (customer) premise equipment adapted for convergence platform for data video and voice access / utility at the customer's premises which would consume only about 5Wt. of steady state power and would not required any uninterrupted power supply to avoid loss of sessions and data and also reduce power consumption and heat emission greatly saving on UPS (Power Backup) cost, battery cost and air conditioning.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Thus according to the basic aspect of the present invention there is provided a utility computing system adapted for convergence platform for data, video and voice access and utility comprising:

user (customer) premise equipment;

remote processing unit adapted for remote processing for rendering services for the user based on said user (customer) premise equipment inputs;

network means adapted to operatively connect the said user (customer) premise equipment to the said remote processing unit; said user (customer) premise equipment comprising means to collect user inputs, means to pass it to said remote processing unit , means to receive output data from the said processing unit and means to provide output to the user.

The means to collect user input selectively comprises of input devices associated with computers preferably keyboard and mouse, USB peripherals preferably selected from USB stick /thumb drive, USB hard disk, digital camera, mobile phone and web cam and audio input means preferably microphones. The said means to provide output to the user comprises output in audio -visual format. Preferably, the said means for audio-visual format output selectively comprises of VGA (computer) monitor , Television screen, USB peripherals and speaker means.

In accordance with a preferred aspect of the invention the said user (customer) premise equipment comprises decoders embedded therein adapted to favour reducing the bandwidth requirement between remote processing unit and the CPE. The said decoders are adapted to favour audio-video synchronization enabling a real-time audio-video experience for the user. Preferably, the decoders in the CPE include MPEGl/2/4,MP3, WMA and WMV. Also, said user (customer) premises equipment comprises selective protocols to communicate to the different processing units preferably ^"selected form Remote Frame Buffer (RFB)/Virtual Network Computer (VNC), Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP), RTP/RTSP and File Transfer protocols.

Also, according to an aspect the said network connecting said user (customer) premises equipment to said remote processing unit comprises selectively provided network preferably selected from Ethernet for Local Area Network (LAN),DSL/ADSL for Wide Area Network (WAN), Wireless Networks preferably WiFi networks ranging from smaller area LANs to the Wider Area Wireless Mesh Networks.

The said remote processing unit comprises set of servers comprising of hardwares and adapted to provide variety of services to the end users(customers) .In accordance with an aspect the said remote processing unit comprises selectively one or more of Computing Server, Authentication Server, File Server, Application Server, Entertainment Server, Billing Server, Advertisement and other services server and Administrative Server.

In accordance with an aspect the said entertainment server comprises of two sub-units (i) content server adapted to store all audio-video contents and (ii) entertainment portal server providing for the required portal enabling the user(customer) to browse through available entertainment and computing contents;-

In accordance with another preferred aspect the said billing server is adapted to track the user(customers) usage of different computing and entertainment services.The said advertisement server is adapted to provide user(customers) locality based advertisement

/facilities options.Preferably, the said administrative server is adapted for anyone or more of (i) monitoring the status of the user (customer) premise equipment (ii) controlling the user

(customer) premise equipment remotely (iii) monitoring the entire network (iv) monitoring and controlling the server components and (v) controlling user (Customer) facilities and management.

Preferably the server unit can be adapted to carry out desired data and applications preferably including, a) user application, such as productivity applications, browsers, chat applications, etc. b) user data, such as all kinds of user data maintained as files, c) system utility such as utilities that ensures load balancing backup and high availability of servers and d) usage data, such as customer usage data required for billing purposes.

It is thus possible by way of the above disclosed utility computing system involving convergence platform for data, voice and video at customer's premises having a unique combination of simple to use customer premise equipment, network protocol and transport server side hardware and adaptability to deliver computing as a utility. Importantly, above system of the invention would enable computer based application and data access more simply and purposeful and would be serve variety of purposes to the customer such as for use to do computing involving simple productivity suits and internet browsing to complex multi media sessions and entertainment.

Advantageously, the above utility computing system involves applications and data utility residing across multiple servers and operating system (OS) over dispersed locations.

In accordance with another aspect of the present invention there is provided an user (customer) premise equipment adapted for convergence platform based data, video and voice access and utility comprising: means to collect user inputs, means to pass it to said remote processing unit providing the convergence platform based data, video and voice access and utility , means to receive output data from the said processing unit and means to provide output to the user.

In the above user (customer) premise equipment the said means to collect user input selectively comprises of input devices associated with computers preferably keyboard and mouse, USB peripherals preferably selected from USB stick /thumb drive, USB hard disk, digital camera, mobile phone and web cam and audio input means preferably microphones.

In particular, the said means to provide output to the user comprises output in audio -visual format selectively comprises of VGA (computer) monitor , Television screen, USB peripherals and speaker means.

Preferably, the said user (customer) premise equipment comprises decoders embedded therein adapted to favour reducing the bandwidth requirement between remote processing unit and the CPE.The said decoders are adapted to favour audio-video synchronization enabling a real-time audio-video experience for the user. Preferably, the decoders in the CPE include MPEGl/2/4,MP3,WMA and WMV.

Advantageously, the said user (customer) premises equipment comprises selective protocols to communicate to the different processing units preferably selected form Remote Frame Buffer (RFB)/Virtual Network Computer (VNC) ,Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP), RTP/RTSP and File Transfer protocols. Importantly, the above user (customer) premise equipment is adapted to operate under very minimal power requirement of only about 5 W of steady state power.

Importantly, in accordance with the above aspect of the invention involving the provision of the simple and cost effective user / customer premise equipment (CPE) of the invention it is possible to provide utility computing wherein a service provider can make computing resources available to the customer as needed and charge them for specific usages rather than at a flat rate. Thus, by way of the present utility computing system the user / customer is not required to buy a software by paying up ahead to use it. Instead he / she can pay for it based on the usage pattern, like number of hours and the application involve such as usages of the productivity application, browsing the world wide web / internet, video on demand application, voice over IP (VoIP) application, chat application and closed /open network video conferencing applications.

Importantly, the utility computing system of the invention as disclosed above basically involves the customer premise equipment (CPE) which is zero maintenance and easy to use device that provides access to data and applications, a net work adapted to operatively connect the CPE to the servers to enable / execute and post applications and data and the server with desired hardware and adaptability and carry out variety of data and application based functions depending upon the user input.

Details of the invention, its objects and advantages are explained hereunder in greater details in relation to non-limiting exemplary illustration as per the following accompanying figure ;-

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE ACCOMPANYING FIGURE

Figure 1 illustrates by way of blocked diagram the utility computing system involving the user's/customer/s premise equipment (CPE), network interfaces (NI) and remote processing unit (RPU).

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE ACCOMPANYING FIGURES:

As clearly illustrated in the accompanying figure 1 the utility computing system of the invention advantageously includes the user's customer's premise equipment (CPE) which is shown operatively connected to the remote processing unit (RPU) via the network interfaces (NI).

As also illustrated in the figure, the customer premise equipment can be interfaced to the remote processing unit (RPU) for multimedia and data applications via network interfaces selectively such as Ethernet, DSM and Wi Fi. The customer premise equipment is adapted to favour collection of user inputs, passing it to remote processing unit, getting the data processing unit and finally provide an output to the user. For such purpose, the CPE is provided with number of decoders embedded in it. Advantageously, such an encoded stream sent by the server text less bandwidth and help reducing the band width requirement of the system.

The CPE is adapted to use different types of protocol to communicate the different processing unit.

The remote processing unit is provide with set of server consisting of hardware and adaptability to provide variety of different services to the end user / customers.

The utility computing system according to the invention and its features and functions are explained hereunder to further details in relation to set accompanying figure 1. Reference is invited to the user (Customer) premise equipment (CPE) shown in Figure 1. The primary responsibility of this CPE device is as follows.

(a) Collect user inputs which can come in many forms. Such classes of input devices include keyboard and mouse ,the classic input devices that are associated with a computer, USB Peripherals such as USB stick (or thumb drive), USB hard disk,

Digital camera, Mobile phone and web cam, microphones as audio input means from a user.

(b) Pass it to a remote processing unit (server) - The device does not store any of the applications or user data. It is dependant on a remote processing unit for this. So all the user data is passed on the appropriate remote processing unit.

(c) Get the data from the processing unit - The CPE receives all the data that is sent from the remote processing unit. Most of the data are output to the user but some are used for maintenance and monitoring of the CPE.

(d) Give the output to the user - The output to the user is in the audio-visual format. The following output means can be provided:

VGA (Computer) Monitor - The CPE is provided with a decoder that converts the data it receives from the remote processing unit to a format that can be displayed on a VGA screen. In accordance with an aspect the CPE is capable of supporting 800x600 and 1024x768 resolutions on a VGA monitor.

Television screen - The CPE is capable of converting the screen data that it receives from the remote processing unit to a television monitor. The CPE is capable of supporting Dl resolution on a television and is compatible to the NTSC and PAL formats. USB Peripherals - The CPE is capable of sending the data received from the remote processing unit to a USB peripheral, like USB Stick, USB Hard disk, USB printer, etc.

Speaker - The audio data that the CPE receives is decoded and sent to the speaker.

In accordance with the preferred aspect of the invention the CPE has a number of decoders embedded in it. An encoded stream sent by the server takes less bandwidth. So the presence of these decoders helps in reducing the bandwidth requirements between the remote processing unit and the CPE. The decoders also aid in ensuring audio-video synchronization, thus enabling a real time audio-video experience for the user. The decoders present in the CPE include MPEG 1/2/4, MP3, WMA and WMV.

The Network means in the utility computing system of the invention is provided to connect the CPE to the remote processing units through different kinds of networks. The following are the types of networks that the CPE can be connected to.

Ethernet - 10/100 Mbps connections that are primarily used in Local Area Networks (LAN).

DSL/ADSL - These networks are range from 256 Kbps to 24 Mbps. They are used in Wide Area Networks (WAN). Wireless Networks - The CPE is capable of connecting to a Wireless networks. The WiFi networks range from smaller area LANs to the wider area Wireless Mesh networks.

In accordance with another aspect of the invention the CPE is adapted to use different types of protocols to communicate to the different processing units such as :

Remote Frame Buffer (RFB) / Virtual Network Computer (VNC) - This protocol is used to communicate with Linux and UNIX servers.

Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) - This protocol is used to communicate with

Microsoft Windows Servers and desktops.

RTP/RTSP - Audio-Video data are streamed using these protocols.

File transfer protocol - Different file transfer protocols are used to exchange data required by the USB peripherals.

The Remote Processing Units (RPU) used in the system of the invention comprises of of a set of servers, consisting of hardware and software that provide different services for the customers. In accordance with a preferred aspect such set of servers in the RPU can be selected from : Computing Server - The CPE gets the customer's desktop from this server.

The server runs the Windows, Linux or UNIX OS depending on the user's choice.

Authentication Server - The customer authentications are handled from this component. It handles the permissions of a particular customer and also the set of applications that a customer has access to. The server could also act as a load balancer for the servers.

File Server - The customer data reside in these servers. The Computing server connects to the file server when the user requests for any of his/her data.

Application Server - This server hosts many the applications required by the customers. The Computing server hosts most of the applications that come with an operating system (for example, in case of Microsoft Windows - Notepad, WordPad, etc.). The other applications that a normal user needs to buy are stored in the application server (for example, in case of Microsoft Windows - Microsoft Office, etc.).

Entertainment Server - Such entertainment server in accordance with an embodiment comprises two sub-units including (i) Content server - This server stores all the audio-video contents that the customers can utilize and (ii) Entertainment Portal Server - This server provides a portal that enables the customer to browse through all the available entertainment and computing contents. For example, this portal has a section on movies that the customer can watch and pay. Another section lists all the available software that the user that use and pay.

Billing Server - The server keeps tracks of the customer's usage of the different computing and entertainment services. This information is then used to generate bills for the customer. The server also keeps track of the customer's payments and is used to enable and disable service based on different parameters.

Advertising and other Services - This server provide locality based advertisement and other service to the customers. Based on the user's location and his/her usage patterns, appropriate advertisements are shown to the user from time to time. Location based services like connectivity to a local restaurant or pharmacy for order and delivery services are also done out of this server.

Administrative Server - This component consists of hardware and software that remotely monitors and controls the entire network. The functionality of the component includes (a) Monitor status of the CPEs - Besides flagging off CPE problems, the component proactively flags potential problems (b)Control CPEs remotely - Enable/Disable the different ports in a CPE. Remotely upgrade the software in a CPE (c) Monitor the entire network - Aids in the early identification of the bottlenecks in the network (d) Monitor and control the server components - Monitoring status of the servers and controlling the server. Remote upgrade of the server (e) Control of users - Management of user requirement.

It is thus possible by way of the above invention to provide a utility computing system adapted for convergence platform for data, video and voice access and utility which advantageously incorporates a simple and user friendly user (customer) premise equipment (CPE). The utility computing system is adapted to favour wide scale computer based applications and data access /utility ranging from simple productivity suites and internet browsing to complex usage such as streaming multi media or information and entertainment. The user (customer) premise equipment used in the system enable the service provider to make the computing resources available to the customer as needed and charge the users based on specific usage of the system rather than any flat rate. The system is user friendly and also cost effective for the user for advantageous and beneficial use of convergence platform for data video and voice at customer's premises.

Claims

WE CLAIM:

1. A utility computing system adapted for convergence platform for data, video and voice access and utility comprising:

user (customer) premise equipment;

network means adapted to operatively connect the said user (customer) premise equipment to the said remote processing unit;

said user (customer) premise equipment comprising means to collect user inputs, means to pass it to said remote processing unit , means to receive output data from the said processing unit and means to provide output to the user.

2. A utility computing system as claimed in claim 1 wherein said means to collect user input selectively comprises of input devices associated with computers preferably keyboard and mouse, USB peripherals preferably selected from USB stick /thumb drive, USB hard disk, digital camera, mobile phone and web cam and audio input means preferably microphones.

3. A utility computing system as claimed in anyone of claims 1 or 2 wherein said means to provide output to the user comprises output in audio -visual format.

4. A utility computing system as claimed in claim 3 wherein said means for audio-visual format output selectively comprises of VGA (computer) monitor , Television screen, USB peripherals and speaker means.

5. A utility computing system as claimed in anyone of claims 1 to 4 wherein said user (customer) premise equipment comprises decoders embedded therein adapted to favour reducing the bandwidth requirement between remote processing unit and the CPE.

6. A utility computing system as claimed in claim 5 wherein said decoders are adapted to favour audio-video synchronization enabling a real-time audio-video experience for the user.

7. A utility computing system as claimed in anyone of claims 5 or 6 wherein the decoders in the CPE include MPEGl/2/4,MP3,WMA and WMV.

8. A utility computing system as claimed in anyone of claims 1 to 7 wherein said network connecting said user (customer) premises equipment to said remote processing unit comprises selectively provided network preferably selected from Ethernet for Local Area Network (LAN),DSL/ADSL for Wide Area Network (WAN), Wireless Networks preferably WiFi networks ranging from smaller area LANs to the Wider Area Wireless Mesh Networks.

9. A utility computing system as claimed in anyone of claims 1 to 8 wherein said user (customer) premises equipment comprises selective protocols to communicate to the different processing units preferably selected form Remote Frame Buffer (RFB)/Virtual Network Computer (VNC) ,Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP), RTP/RTSP and File Transfer protocols.

10. A utility computing system as claimed in anyone of claims 1 to 9 wherein said remote processing unit comprises set of servers comprising of hardware and adapted to provide variety of services to the end users(customers) .

11. A utility computing system as claimed in anyone of claims 1 to 10 wherein said remote processing unit comprises selectively one or more of Computing Server, Authentication

Server, File Server, Application Server, Entertainment Server, Billing Server, Advertisement and other services server and Administrative Server.

12. A utility computing system as claimed in claim 11 wherein said entertainment server comprises of two sub-units (i) content server adapted to store all audio-video contents and (ii) entertainment portal server providing for the required portal enabling the user(customer) to browse through available entertainment and computing contents.

13. A utility computing system as claimed in anyone of claim 11 or 12 wherein said billing server is adapted to track the user(customers) usage of different computing and entertainment services.

14. A utility computing system as claimed in anyone of claim 11 or 13 wherein said advertisement server is adapted to provide user(customers) locality based advertisement /facilities options.

15. A utility computing system as claimed in anyone of claim 11 or 14 wherein said administrative server is adapted for anyone or more of (i) monitoring the status of the user (customer) premise equipment (ii) controlling the user (customer) premise equipment remotely (iii) monitoring the entire network (iv) monitoring and controlling the server components and (v) controlling user (Customer) facilities and management.

16. An user (customer) premise equipment adapted for convergence platform based data, video and voice access and utility comprising: means to collect user inputs, means to pass it to said remote processing unit providing the convergence platform based data, video and voice access and utility , means to receive output data from the said processing unit and means to provide output to the user.

17. An user (customer) premise equipment as claimed in claim 16 wherein said means to collect user input selectively comprises of input devices associated with computers preferably keyboard and mouse, USB peripherals preferably selected from USB stick /thumb drive, USB hard disk, digital camera, mobile phone and web cam and audio input means preferably microphones.

18. An user (customer) premise equipment as claimed in anyone of claims 16 or 17 wherein said means to provide output to the user comprises output in audio -visual format.

19. An user (customer) premise equipment as claimed in claim 18 wherein said means for audio-visual format output selectively comprises of VGA (computer) monitor , Television screen, USB peripherals and speaker means.

20. An user (customer) premise equipment as claimed in anyone of claims 16 to 19 wherein said user (customer) premise equipment comprises decoders embedded therein adapted to favour reducing the bandwidth requirement between remote processing unit and the CPE.

21. An user (customer) premise equipment as claimed in claim 20 wherein said decoders are adapted to favour audio-video synchronization enabling a real-time audio-video experience for the user.

22. An user (customer) premise equipment as claimed in anyone of claims 16 to 21 wherein the decoders in the CPE include MPEGl/2/4,MP3,WMA and WMV.

23. An user (customer) premise equipment as claimed in anyone of claims 16 to 22 wherein said user (customer) premises equipment comprises selective protocols to communicate to the different processing units preferably selected form Remote Frame Buffer (RFB)/Virtual Network Computer (VNC) ,Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP), RTP/RTSP and File Transfer protocols.

24. An user (customer) premise equipment as claimed in anyone of claims 16 to 23 adapted to operate under very minimal power requirement of only about 5 W of steady state power.

25. A utility computing system adapted for convergence platform for data, video and voice access and utility and a user (customer) premise equipment for use in such system substantially as herein described and illustrated with reference to the accompanying figure.