JP2001147679A - Image display system, plural screen linkage control method, and storage medium - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To realize an image display system capable of linking picture displays of plural image display devices with each other and speedily controlling them by using a personal computer with USB ports without adding a special hardware. SOLUTION: Plural image display devices 102 are connected to a control device 100 via an USB interface. In the control device 100, a transmission data producing part 118 sequentially selects image data with file names set to each row of a two-dimensional arrangement in a storage part 116, produces area updating data based on those image data, transmits them to the corresponding image display devices 102 by a transmission part 120, and updates those screen displays simultaneously. As the control device 100, a personal computer with USB ports can be utilized.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] The present invention relates to an image display system using a plurality of image display devices.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In making a presentation, a wide screen and a high resolution can be obtained by using a plurality of projectors. In addition, if a plurality of image display devices are arranged on a desk and an image is displayed by using them, it is possible to display more information in a dynamic manner than when using one image display device.

A window manufactured by Microsoft Corporation of the United States
ws98 (registered trademark) or MacO manufactured by Apple Inc.
An operating system such as S (registered trademark) provides a function of using a plurality of image display devices. However, in order to utilize this function, as shown in FIG. 12, a plurality of video cards 702 are added corresponding to each image display device 704 connected to the computer 700, or a plurality of image cards are displayed. It is necessary to prepare special hardware such as a video card to which the device can be connected.

A VNC for displaying a display screen of a computer on a screen of another computer via a network.
There is software called. This VNC is
nRichard, Quentin Stafford-Fraser, Kenneth R. Wood, A
It is free software created by ndy Hopper, which can transfer the raster data of the updated area on the screen and send the fill command for the uniform area on the screen, so that the screen can be updated at high speed. Yes (Tris
tan Richard, Quentin Stafford-Fraser, Kenneth R. Woo
d, Andy Hopper, "Virtual Network Computing", IEEE In
ternetComputing, Volume 2, Number 1, January / February
1998).

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide an image display which can be operated in cooperation with the display screens of a plurality of image display devices and which can be easily realized using a general personal computer or the like. It is to provide a system. Another object of the present invention is to make it possible to update the screen display of a plurality of image display devices at a high speed even in an interface connecting the control device and the image display device in such an image display system. . Another object of the present invention is to provide a method for operating screen displays of a plurality of image display devices in cooperation.

[0006]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image display system comprising a control device and a plurality of image display devices connected to the control device by a bus-type interface. A storage unit for storing a set of screen data in which a correspondence and a display order to each of the plurality of image display devices are set in advance; and the screen data stored in the storage unit. Transmission data generation means for selecting screen data from the set according to the association and the display order, and generating transmission data for screen display of each of the plurality of image display devices based on the selected screen data; and Transmitting means for transmitting the transmission data generated by the transmission data generating means to corresponding ones of the plurality of image display devices.

A feature of the image display system according to the second aspect of the present invention is that the image display system comprises a control device and a plurality of image display devices connected to the control device by a bus-type interface. A set,
A storage unit for storing a two-dimensional array in which file names of the screen data associated with each of the plurality of image display devices are arranged in advance according to a display order; and By referring to the two-dimensional array, image data associated with each of the plurality of image display devices is selected in accordance with the display order, and screen display of each of the plurality of image display devices is performed based on the selected screen data. And transmission means for transmitting the generated transmission data to the corresponding one of the plurality of image display devices.

A feature of the image display system according to the third aspect of the present invention is that, in the configuration of the image display system according to the first or second aspect of the present invention, a user operates each of the plurality of image display devices of the image data. The control device is provided with a means for setting in advance the correspondence and the display order.

A feature of the image display system according to the fourth aspect of the present invention is that, in the configuration of the image display system according to the first or second aspect of the invention, a user inputs a setting instruction using a graphical user interface. And a setting unit for setting in advance the association of the image data with each of the plurality of image display devices and the display order in accordance with the setting instruction input by the unit. is there.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image display system according to the first or second aspect of the present invention, wherein the image data selected arbitrarily by the user is selected. The control device includes means for instructing display on the image display device,
The transmission data of the instructed image data is generated by the transmission data generation unit, and the generated transmission data is transmitted to the instructed image display device by the transmission unit.

The image display system according to the sixth aspect of the present invention is characterized in that in the configuration of the image display system according to the first or second aspect of the invention, the user has arbitrarily selected using a graphical user interface. The control device includes means for instructing display of the image data on the arbitrarily selected image display device, and transmission data of the instructed image data is generated and generated by the transmission data generation means. The transmitted data is transmitted to the designated image display device by the transmission means.

According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, in the configuration of the image display system according to the first or second aspect, the transmission data is a data designating a display update area in a screen. And data representing the contents of the image in the display update area.

The image display system according to an eighth aspect of the present invention is characterized in that in the configuration of the image display system according to any one of the first to seventh aspects, the bus type interface is a USB interface. The control device comprises a computer having a USB terminal.

According to a ninth aspect of the present invention, a method of controlling the screen display of a plurality of image display devices connected to the control device in cooperation with each other is characterized in that in the control device, each of the plurality of image display devices is provided. A set of screen data whose correspondence and display order are set in advance is stored, and a set of screen data corresponding to each of the plurality of image display devices is stored from the set of screen data according to the correspondence and the display order. Screen data is selected, and the screen display of each of the plurality of image display devices is simultaneously updated based on the selected screen data.

According to a tenth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a multi-screen cooperative control method according to the ninth aspect of the present invention, wherein the control device controls the data for designating a display update area in a screen. And updating the screen display of each of the plurality of image display devices simultaneously by transmitting area update data including data representing the content of the image in the display update region to each of the plurality of image display devices. That is.

[0016]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an example of a block configuration of an image display system according to the present invention. This image display system includes a control device 100
And a plurality of image display devices 102 connected thereto. The control device 100 and each image display device 102 are connected by a bus-type interface that allows a plurality of devices to be connected to one bus. This image display system uses a USB (Universal Serial
al Bus) interface. Therefore,
The control device 100 has a USB interface unit 110, and each of the image display devices 102
An interface unit is provided. According to the USB interface, if at least one USB terminal 112 is provided on the control device side 100, the USB terminal 112 is connected to the USB terminal 112.
Hub (HUB) which is an inexpensive concentrator via cable
By connecting a plurality of image display devices 102 to the hub 114 via a USB cable, the plurality of image display devices 102 and the control device 100 can be connected. It should be noted that a bus-type interface other than the USB interface may be employed. Further, the number of image display devices 102 to be connected is arbitrary, but here, the three image display devices 102_1 and 102_
2 and 102_3 will be described as being connected.

The control device 100 stores at least a storage unit 1 for storing a set of screen data in which the association with each of the plurality of image display devices 102 and the display order are set in advance.
16 and screen data is selected from the set of screen data stored in the storage unit 116 in accordance with the association and the display order, and the screen display of each of the plurality of image display devices 102 is selected based on the selected screen data. Transmission data generating section 118 for generating transmission data for transmission, a transmission section 120 for transmitting the transmission data generated by the transmission data generating section 118 to the corresponding image display device 102,
B interface unit 110. In this image display system, the control unit 100 further uses a setting unit 122 for setting in advance the association of screen data with each of the image display devices 102 and the display order, and a graphical user interface (GUI). And an instruction input unit 124 for the user to input instructions to the setting unit 122 and the transmission data generation unit 118.

As such a control device 100, a USB
A computer such as a general personal computer having one or more terminals or a similar program-controlled information processing device can be used without adding special hardware. An example of such a computer is shown in FIG. This computer has a CPU 200, a main memory 202,
Video memory 204, display controller 20
6, a CRT display 208, a USB interface circuit 210, a user input device 212 such as a keyboard and a mouse (or other pointing device), a medium drive 216 for reading and writing a storage medium 214 such as a floppy disk, an optical disk, and a magneto-optical disk;
Communication device 220 such as a hard disk device 218 and a modem
Are of a general configuration connected to the bus structure 222.

Then, on this computer, the control device 1
The function of each means of 00 is realized by a program.
The program 230 for that purpose is read directly from the storage medium 214 in which it is recorded into the main memory 230 and executed by the CPU 200, for example. Alternatively, the read program 230 is temporarily stored in the hard disk device 218, and is read from the hard disk device 218 to the main memory 202 and executed when necessary. The program 230 may be mounted on a computer as a semiconductor ROM in which the program 230 is fixedly recorded. Various storage media on which such a program is recorded are also included in the present invention. Further, the program 230 can be read from another computer or the like by the communication device 220 via a communication line. Although not shown, programs such as an operating system for providing a GUI environment and the like are also loaded from the hard disk device 218 to the main memory 202. Storage unit 116 of control device 100
For example, an arbitrary storage area of the main memory 202 or the hard disk device 218 is used. Control device 10
As the 0 instruction input unit 124, a mouse or the like of the user input device 212 is used in a GUI environment. The USB interface circuit 210 corresponds to the USB interface unit 1 shown in FIG.
Corresponds to 10. The USB terminal 224 is connected to the U terminal of FIG.
Corresponds to the SB terminal 112.

Next, referring to FIG. 1 and FIG.
The operation of this image display system will be described. First, as preparation work, screen data is created. The screen data is data for one screen of each image display device 102. In this image display system, the screen data is not raster data but HTML data. Such screen data is
For example, an editor or an H that is read from the hard disk device 218 into the main memory 202 as needed and operates.
It is created in advance using a TML creation tool or the like. The created screen data is stored in the hard disk device 218 as a file. Since the HTML data is structural data representing graphic elements such as characters and lines, the drawing area of the graphic elements can be easily known as compared with the raster data, and transmission data described later can be easily generated.

Next, the association of the screen data with the image display device 102 and the setting of the display order are performed. The setting process is performed by the setting unit 12 according to the setting instruction input from the instruction input unit 124 by the user using the GUI.
2 is performed. In this image display system, as shown in FIG. 3, the file name of image data is used as an element, each column corresponds to the number (1, 2, 3) of each image display device 102, and each row corresponds to the display order. A two-dimensional array 240 is created. That is, the element at the i-th row and the j-th column of the two-dimensional array 240 is the file name of the screen data displayed i-th on the j-th image display device. Such a two-dimensional array 24
The work of registering the file name of the image data in 0 is the setting work of the association and the ordering of the screen data, and this setting work is performed on the computer of FIG. 2 as follows, for example.

A window 300 as shown in FIG. 4, for example, is displayed on the screen of the CRT display 208. Also, a list of file names or reduced images of the screen data is displayed in another window on the screen. By selecting the screen data (A_1) to be displayed first on the first image display device 102_1 from the list of screen data, and dragging the screen data to the setting frame 301 using, for example, a mouse. The file name of the image data (A_1) is set as an element in the first row and first column of the two-dimensional array 240 on the main memory 202. At this time, preferably, the screen data (A_1) is reduced and displayed in the setting frame 301. Similarly, the second image display device 102_
2 by dragging the image data (A_2) to be displayed first to the setting frame 302, the file name of the image data is set as the element of the first row and second column of the two-dimensional array 240, and preferably, The image data (A_2) is reduced and displayed in the setting frame 302. Third image display device 1
By dragging the image data (A_3) to be displayed first on 02_3 to the setting frame 303, the file name of the image data is set in the element of the first row and third column of the two-dimensional array 240. Next, image data (B_1, B_2, B_3) to be displayed on each image display device 102 is set in setting frame 3
04, 305, and 306, the file names of those image data are displayed in the two-dimensional array 24.
0 is set as an element of each column of the second row. Image data (C_1, C_1) to be displayed next on each image display device 102
Similarly, by dragging (2, C_3) to the setting frames 307, 308, 309, the file names of the image data are set in the third row and each column of the two-dimensional array 240. If there is image data to be displayed further, the subsequent setting frame is displayed by operating the scroll bar 310 at the right corner of the window 300 with a mouse to scroll the window 300, and similarly, the screen data file First name can be set. Such a GUI
Is easier to understand and associate the image data, and the setting work using the GUI is easier than the case where the GUI is not used. The two-dimensional array 240 created in this way is stored in the hard disk device 218 as a file.

Next, the operation in the case where images are displayed in a coordinated manner on the three image display devices 102 will be described. FIG. 5 is a flowchart of this operation (a flowchart of a related processing portion of the program).

First, necessary data is read into the storage unit 116 (step S1). In the computer of FIG. 2, the entire two-dimensional array 240 is read from the hard disk drive 218 to the main memory 202, and all the screen data is stored in the main memory 20.
2 or only a part of the screen data in the display order is read into the main memory 202 (in this case, the remaining screen data is transferred from the hard disk device 118 to the main memory 202 when needed). Read).

At this time, a window 400 as shown in FIG. 6 is opened on the screen of the CRT display 208, and display frames 401, 402, and 4 in the upper area of the window 400 are displayed.
03, screen data (A_1, A_2, A_3) having file names which are elements of the first row and each column of the two-dimensional array 240
Are sequentially displayed, and display frames 404, 405, 406, 407, and 4 in the lower area of the window 400 are displayed.
08 and 409, screen data (B) having a file name which is an element of each of the second row and each column of the two-dimensional array 240
_1, B_2, B_3, C_1, C_2, C_3) are sequentially displayed. By operating the scroll bar 410 of the window 400 and scrolling the lower area of the window 400, subsequent display frames can be displayed.
A reduced image of screen data having a file name which is an element in the fourth and subsequent lines of 0 is displayed.

The transmission data creation unit 118 refers to the two-dimensional array 240 in the storage device 116, and first obtains screen data having a file name set in the first row and each column of the two-dimensional array 240, that is, each image. Three screen data items that are associated with the display device 102 in advance and are set in the earliest display order are sequentially selected (step S2). In other words, the display frames 401, 402, 403 of the window 400
Screen data (A_1, A_2,
A_3) are sequentially selected. The selected three screen data are displayed on the corresponding image display device 102, the details of which will be described later.

Next, when the user inputs an instruction to switch to the display of the screen data set in the next display order by the instruction input unit 124, the transmission data creation unit 118
, Three screen data (B_B) having a file name set as an element of the second row and each column of the two-dimensional array 240
1, B_2, B_3) are selected (step S2), and the screen data is displayed on the corresponding image display device 102. That is, the screen displays of the three image display devices 102 are switched at the same time. This operation is performed by, for example, pressing the space key on the keyboard of the user input device 212 in the computer shown in FIG.
At this time, in the window 400 on the screen of the CRT display 208, the reduced image of the screen data moves upward by one stage, and becomes a state as shown in FIG. That is, the display frames 401, 402, and 40 in the upper area of the window 400
3 shows the screen data currently displayed (B_1, B_2, B_3).
3) is reduced and displayed.

Similarly, by inputting a display switching instruction (by pressing the space key on the keyboard), the display switching instruction is associated with each image display device 102 in advance according to the display order preset in the two-dimensional array 240. Screen data is sequentially selected three by three, and the screen displays of the three image display devices 102 are simultaneously switched according to the screen data.

In addition to the cooperative switching of the screen display of the three image display devices 102 as described above, the user inputs an instruction to the transmission data generation unit 118 from the instruction input unit 124 to set the screen data set in advance. It is possible to select arbitrary screen data and display it on an arbitrary image display device 102 without depending on the association and the ordering of the screen data. In the computer of FIG. 2, such an operation is performed by, for example, dragging screen data reduced and displayed in an arbitrary display frame in the lower area of the window 400 as shown in FIG. 7 to an arbitrary display frame in the upper area. It can be carried out. For example, if the screen data (D_3) reduced and displayed in the display frame 409 is dragged to the display frame 403, the screen data (D_3) is selected and displayed on the third image display device 102_3 (another image display device 102_3). The screen display of the image display devices 102_1 and 102_2 does not change).
Such a method using a GUI is easy to specify and easy to specify.

Description will be made again with reference to the flowchart of FIG. When screen data (HTML data) is selected in the transmission data generation unit 118 (step S2), the position and size of a drawing area (rectangular area) of each graphic element such as a character or a line of the selected screen data are calculated ( Step S
3) Further, each graphic element is drawn (step S4), and transmission data is created using the drawn data and the calculated position and size of the drawing area (step S5). In the computer of FIG. 2, for example, the frame buffers 231, 232, and 233 prepared for the respective image display devices 102 on the main memory 202 are used for drawing each graphic element of the screen data (step S4). The generated transmission data is transmitted by the transmission unit 120 to the associated image display device 102 (step S6).

Steps S2 to S6 are repeated until the user inputs an end instruction from the instruction input section 124. When the end instruction is input (step S7, Ye
s), a series of operations ends.

The transmission data generated by the transmission data generation unit 118 is, for example, area update data having a structure as shown in FIG. 8, and data (501, 501) specifying a rectangular area to be updated in display content on the screen. 502), and data (503, 504, 50)
5). 501 is the x, y coordinate value of the upper left corner of the rectangular area to be updated, and 502 is the width and height of the rectangular area. 503 is a data type, 504 is a data content length,
Reference numeral 505 denotes data content (variable length). Data type 5
03 designates whether the data content 505 is raster data or fill data. When the data type 503 specifies a raster data type, the data content 505 is raster data of 3 bytes per pixel,
The data content length 504 indicates the number of bytes of the raster data (= rectangular area width × rectangular area height × 3 bytes). When the data type 503 specifies the filling type, the data content 505 is the designation data (3 bytes length) of the color for filling the rectangular area, and the data content length 504 is 3
Specify bytes.

For example, in the case of the screen data having the contents shown in FIG. 9, the area update data of a fill type for clearing the entire screen and the drawing area (update area) of five characters shown as rectangles in FIG. The area update data of the raster data type is created as transmission data, and these are sequentially transmitted.

In this image display system, the control device 100 and the image display device 102 are connected by a USB interface which is a bus type interface. In the bus-type interface, data transferred to all the image display devices 102 passes through a single bus. Therefore, as the number of image display devices increases, the amount of data transferred on the bus increases, and Update takes time. Since the maximum communication speed of the USB bus is 12 Mbps, if one screen of raster data (1024 × 768 pixels, 24 bits per pixel) is directly transferred, it takes about 1.6 seconds for the transfer. If the number of the image display devices 102 is three, the transfer time becomes about 4.8 seconds, and rapid screen updating cannot be performed. However, in this image display system,
Since the above-described area update data is transmitted instead of the raster data of one entire screen, the transfer data amount is greatly reduced. Therefore, even if the number of the image display devices 102 increases, the screen displays of all the image display devices can be updated almost simultaneously and quickly.

In the control device 100, a method of compressing the raster data for one screen of each image display device 102 to reduce the amount of data and then transmitting the same may be effective in shortening the transfer time. However, it is not always easy to compress the data to the same amount as the area update data, and it is necessary to provide a means for expanding the compressed data on each image display device 102 side. However, there is a disadvantage that the screen update is delayed due to processing time for data compression and decompression.

FIG. 11 is a block diagram showing an example of the configuration of each image display device 102. The image display device 102 shown here includes a USB interface unit 601, a display control unit 602, a frame buffer memory 603, an LCD
Panel (liquid crystal display panel) 604 and projection optical system 605
And a projector-type image display device comprising: Note that a projector-type image display device having another configuration or various non-projector-type image display devices is connected to the image display device 1.
02 may be used.

The area update data transmitted from the control section 100 is taken in via the USB interface section 501. The display control unit 602 interprets the received area update data and rewrites the contents of the frame buffer memory 603. That is, if the data is the filling type area update data, the designated color data is copied to the designated area of the frame buffer memory 603 (filled with the designated color). If it is raster data type area update data, the received raster data is copied to a specified area of the frame buffer memory 603. in this way,
Since the area update data having the above-described structure is used, the processing in the display control unit 602 becomes very simple. The frame buffer memory 60 thus rewritten
3 is displayed on the LCD panel 604, and the displayed content is projected on the screen 606 by the projection optical system 605.

[0038]

As is apparent from the above description, according to the present invention, it is possible to realize (1) an image display system capable of operating the screen displays of a plurality of image display devices in cooperation with each other in a preset manner. Moreover, a general personal computer having a bus-type interface such as a USB interface can be used as the control device without adding special hardware, so that an image display system can be realized at low cost. (2) The user can arbitrarily set the association of the screen data with the image display device and the display order. Further, it is possible for the user to display arbitrary screen data on an arbitrary image display device regardless of the contents set in advance. These operations can be easily and reliably performed by using the GUI. (3) Since the update area data is transmitted from the control device to the image display device to update the screen display, even if the interface connecting the control device and the image display device is low speed, the screen display of a plurality of image display devices is performed at high speed. Updatable. In addition, since it is not necessary to provide a means for compressing and expanding data in the control device and the image display device, the configuration of the control device and the image display device can be simplified, and the screen display is updated by the data compression and expansion processing time. Can be avoided. (4) Screen displays of a plurality of image display devices can be controlled in cooperation with each other in a preset order, and so on.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an example of an image display system according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a computer used as a control device in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a two-dimensional array in which information of association and ordering of screen data with an image display device is set.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a window for setting association of screen data with an image display device and setting of ordering.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the control device of the image display system.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an initial state of a window for selecting screen data.

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating a state of a window for selecting screen data after a single screen display switching operation is performed.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a structure of area update data.

FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating an example of screen data.

10 is a diagram showing a drawing area (update area) of five characters of the screen data shown in FIG. 9;

FIG. 11 is a block diagram illustrating an example of an image display device.

FIG. 12 is a diagram for explaining a conventional technique.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 100 control device 102 image display device 110 USB interface unit 112 USB terminal 114 hub (HUB) 116 storage unit 118 transmission data generation unit 120 transmission unit 122 setting unit 124 instruction input unit 200 CPU 202 main memory 208 CRT display 210 USB interface circuit 212 User input device (keyboard, mouse) 214 Storage medium 216 Medium drive 218 Hard disk drive 230 Program for realizing control device 231, 232, 233 Frame buffer 240 Two-dimensional array 300 Window 301-309 Setting frame 400 Window 401-409 Display Frame 601 USB interface 602 Display control unit 603 Frame buffer memory 604 LCD panel 605 Projection optical system 60 Screen

Claims (11)

[Claims] 1. A control device, comprising: a plurality of image display devices connected to the control device via a bus-type interface, wherein the control device has a correspondence between each of the plurality of image display devices and a display order set in advance. Storage means for storing a set of screen data, and selecting screen data from the set of screen data stored in the storage means in accordance with the association and the display order, based on the selected screen data, Transmission data generation means for generating transmission data for screen display of each of the plurality of image display devices, and transmission for transmitting the transmission data generated by the transmission data generation means to a corresponding one of the plurality of image display devices Image display system comprising: 2. A control device, comprising: a plurality of image display devices connected to the control device via a bus interface; wherein the control device associates a set of screen data files with each of the plurality of image display devices. Storage means for storing a two-dimensional array in which file names of the obtained screen data are arranged in advance according to the display order; and by referring to the two-dimensional array stored in the storage means, Transmission data generation for selecting image data associated with each of the image display devices according to the display order and generating transmission data for screen display of each of the plurality of image display devices based on the selected screen data. Means, and transmission means for transmitting the transmission data generated by the transmission data generation means to a corresponding one of the plurality of image display devices. Image display system. 3. The control device according to claim 1, wherein the control device includes means for allowing a user to set the correspondence between the image data and each of the plurality of image display devices and the display order in advance. Image display system as described. 4. A means for a user to input setting instructions using a graphical user interface;
2. The control device according to claim 1, wherein the control device includes a setting unit configured to previously set a correspondence between the image data and each of the plurality of image display devices and a display order in accordance with a setting instruction input by the unit. Or the image display system according to 2. 5. The control device further comprises means for instructing a user to arbitrarily select the image data to be displayed on the arbitrarily selected image display device, wherein the transmission data of the specified image data is transmitted. 3. The image display system according to claim 1, wherein the transmission data is generated by the transmission data generation unit, and the generated transmission data is transmitted to the designated image display device by the transmission unit. 6. The control device further comprises means for instructing a user to arbitrarily select the image data to be displayed on the image display device by using a graphical user interface. 3. The transmission data of the image data thus generated is generated by the transmission data generation means, and the generated transmission data is transmitted to the designated image display device by the transmission means. Image display system. 7. The transmission data according to claim 1, wherein the transmission data is area update data including data designating a display update area in the screen and data representing the contents of an image in the display update area. Or the image display system according to 2. 8. The system according to claim 1, wherein said bus-type interface is a USB interface, and said control device comprises a computer having a USB terminal.
An image display system according to any one of the preceding claims. 9. A method for controlling screen display of a plurality of image display devices connected to a control device in cooperation with each other, wherein the control device associates each of the plurality of image display devices with a display order. A set of screen data set in advance is stored, and a set of screen data corresponding to each of the plurality of image display devices is selected from the set of screen data according to the association and the display order. A multi-screen cooperative control method, wherein the screen display of each of the plurality of image display devices is simultaneously updated based on the obtained screen data. 10. An area update data comprising data designating a display update area in a screen and data representing the contents of an image in the display update area is sent from the control device to each of the plurality of image display devices. 10. The multiple screen cooperation control method according to claim 9, wherein the screen display of each of the plurality of image display devices is simultaneously updated by transmitting. 11. A computer-readable storage medium storing a program for realizing the functions of each means of the control device according to claim 1 on a computer.