JPH09198329A - System and method for displaying window image - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To improve operability by distributing window images and easily sharing them even when the application of window display is not operated on a window sharing program. SOLUTION: When a window sharing control part 40 makes other work stations 20A and 20C share a window screen W which is displayed at present in a prescribed work station 20B, the window screen W is selected based on an inputted window selection signal and an image acquirement part 26B acquires the image of the window screen W. An image output part 27B converts the image into image data and the window sharing control part 40 distributes image data into the other work stations 20A and 20C. The other work stations 20A and 20C display the window screen W based on this image data.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a window image display system and its method used in a computer system such as a conference system, and more particularly to a window image display system capable of easily sharing a fixed screen such as a document. Regarding the method.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Recently, with the development of communication lines, a window image sharing system in which operators at places separated from each other can talk via a screen has been widely used. In addition, this type of window image sharing system is applied as an example of an attended meeting system that allows staff members in remote locations to hold meetings, and creation of documents and materials that allow design instructions and corrections from remote locations. There are a system, a distributed software development system that enables joint development and debugging of software from a distance, a demonstration system for newly introduced software, and a remote education system such as operation guidance.

[0003] Here, these application systems have different uses, but have a configuration in which operators at places separated from each other have a conversation on a screen. For example, in this type of conference system, information is displayed on a conference screen by a participant's operation, and conversation is possible via the conference screen.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing the configuration of this type of conference system. In the following description, symbols A to
The letter C is used to indicate a component that belongs to the same workstation with the same letter.

That is, in this type of conference system, as shown in FIG. 4, input devices 1A, 1B and 1C, output devices 2A, 2B and 2C, window servers 3A and 3B, respectively.
3C, client applications 4A, 4B, 4C
A plurality of workstations 6A, 6B, 6C having window sharing control units 5A, 5B, 5C are connected to each other via a network 7.

Here, the client application 4
A to 4C are, for example, data for displaying a document or image in a window and an editing program for moving the document or image. Further, the window sharing control units 5A to 5C are distribution programs for sharing and displaying the display contents by the client applications 4A to 4C of its own to the other workstations 6A to 6C.

Thus, for example, when a conference system is started in a certain workstation 6B, the client application 4B is operated based on the operation of the operator, and a window screen based on this operation is displayed on its own conference screen. Let

When the window screen is shared, the workstation 6B operates the client application 4B on the window sharing control section 5B and distributes the client application 4B to the other workstations 6A and 6C. Window sharing controller 5B for each workstation 6A, 6C
A window image sharing method of sharing a window screen by operating the above is applied.

[0009]

However, in the above window image sharing system and method, each of the workstations 6A to 6C connected by the network 7 shares the client application 4B of its own workstation 6B. At this time, it is necessary to operate this client application on the window sharing control unit 5B of each of the workstations 4A and 4C, which causes a problem that sharing is troublesome.

Further, the conference system based on this
Once activated, it is difficult to join the conference halfway. The reason is that in order to newly display the current conference screen, it is necessary to reproduce all the screen movements from the start of the conference system startup, which causes a problem of sharing the conference screen. is there.

The present invention has been made in consideration of the above situation. Even if an application for displaying a window is not operating on the window sharing program, the window image is distributed and easily shared, so that the operability is improved. It is an object of the present invention to provide a window image display system and method that can improve the image quality.

[0012]

The invention according to claim 1 is a window image display system in which a plurality of workstations are connected to each other through a network and a common window screen can be displayed in each of the workstations. When the window screen of this workstation is selected, the image data of this window screen is acquired and the image data for displaying the image is distributed to the other workstations. It is a window image display system provided with a window distribution means.

The invention according to claim 2 is a window image display system in which a plurality of workstations are connected to each other via a network and a common window screen can be displayed in each of the workstations. When the window screen being displayed on the workstation is shared by other workstations, the window selecting means for selecting the window screen based on the input window selection signal, and the window selected by the window selecting means. Image acquisition means for acquiring an image of the screen, distribution means for distributing the image data for displaying the image acquired by the image acquisition means to each of the other workstations, and each of the other workstations individually. Is provided in the distribution means Based on the distributed image data Ri, a window image display system comprising a display means for displaying the window screen.

Further, the invention according to claim 3 is a window image display method in which a plurality of workstations are connected to each other via a network and a common window screen can be displayed in each of the workstations. When the window screen being displayed on the workstation is shared with other workstations, a step of selecting this window screen, a step of acquiring an image of the selected window screen, and displaying the acquired image Window image display method including the steps of: distributing image data for each of the other workstations to each other; and displaying a window screen at each of the other workstations based on the distributed image data. Is.

Therefore, according to the invention corresponding to claim 1, by taking the above means, when the window distributing means is operated by one workstation and the window screen of this workstation is selected, This window image is acquired and the image data for displaying the image is distributed to other workstations, so even if the window display application is not running on the window sharing program, the window image is distributed. Therefore, it is possible to easily share and improve the operability.

The invention according to claims 2 and 3 is based on a window selection signal input when the window selection means causes the other workstations to share the window screen being displayed at one workstation. Then, the image acquisition means acquires the image of the window screen selected by the window selection means, and the distribution means outputs the image data for displaying the image acquired by the image acquisition means. The display means displays the window screen on each of the other workstations based on the image data distributed by the distributing means, so that the same operation as the operation corresponding to claim 1 is achieved. Can play.

[0017]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. Before that, a schematic configuration of the present invention will be briefly described with reference to FIG. For example, when it is desired to display a common window screen W on a plurality of workstations 10A, 10B, and 10C, only one workstation 10B operates the window sharing control unit 20 to share the window as shown in FIG. Control unit 2
0 extracts the image of the window screen W from the client application 11B to create window image data, and at the same time, distributes the window image data to the window servers 12A and 12C of the other workstations 10A and 10C respectively. Window servers 12A, 12C of stations 10A, 10C
Output device 1 based on this window image data
Since the window screen W is displayed by controlling 3A and 13C, the workstations 10A to 10C do not need to operate the client applications 11A and 11C corresponding to the window screen W on the other workstations 10A and 10C. Common window screen W
Can be displayed.

Further, as shown by the broken line in FIG. 1, the window sharing control unit 20 sets the client application 11B of the window screen W to the other workstations 1.
Even if the client applications 11A to 11C of the window screen W are operated on all the workstations 10A to 10C by giving them to the workstations 0A and 10C, the client application corresponding to the window screen W is different from the conventional ones. All the workstations 10A to 10C even if they are not operating on the window sharing control units of the workstations 10A and 10C.
The common window screen W can be displayed at.

An embodiment of a window image sharing (display) system and a method thereof having such a schematic structure will be described below. FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a conference system to which the window image sharing system according to the first embodiment of the present invention is applied. This conference system includes a plurality of workstations 20A, 2
0B and 20C are TCP / IP (Transmisson Contr
Each workstation 20 is connected via a network 30 such as ol protocol / Internet Protocol) communication.
Input device 21A, 21B, 2 for each A, 20B, 20C
1C, output devices 22A, 22B, 22C, window servers 23A, 23B, 23C, local client applications 24A, 24B, 24C, shared client applications 25A, 25B, 25C, image acquisition units 26A, 26B, 26C, image output unit 27.
It has A, 27B and 27C. Further, each of the workstations 20A, 20B, 20C potentially has a window sharing control unit 40, and the window sharing control unit 4
Reference numeral 0 denotes a processing unit that can be realized and operated by a single operation right that can be passed and received.
Of the 20C, only a single workstation having the operation right can operate.

Each of the workstations 20A-20
Since the Cs have the same configuration except for the presence or absence of the operation right of the window sharing control unit 40, the respective components 21B to 27B will be described here by taking the workstation 20B as an example.

Here, the input device 21B can input a signal indicating data or a command to the window server 23B in the workstation 20B by an operation of the operator, and, for example, a mouse or a keyboard can be used. Has become.

The output device 22B is the workstation 2
It is controlled by the 0B window server 23B to display and output the conference screen. For example, a CRT display or a liquid crystal display can be used.

The window server 23B controls input / output during operation on the window system. Here, the local client application 24B and the shared window control section 40 are used based on a command input from the input device 21B. It also has a function of controlling the image acquisition unit 26B, and also has a function of controlling the output device 22B under the control of the local client application 24B and the window sharing control unit 40.

Local client application 2
Reference numeral 4B denotes a window screen display application that is operated by the window server 23B and is not individually shared by the other workstations 20B and 20C but is being individually operated by the own workstation 20B. Request from the image acquisition unit 26B Has a function of giving an image of the currently displayed window screen to the image acquisition unit 26B.

Shared client application 25B
Is a window screen display application that is operated by the window sharing control unit 40 and is shared by the workstations 20A to 20C and is in operation.

The image acquisition unit 26B is a processing unit made up of a program started from the window sharing control unit 40 via the window server 23B, requests the image of the window screen currently displayed to the local client application 24B, It has a function of changing and saving the image of the window screen given from the client application 24B into window image data and giving the saved window image data to the image output unit 27B.

The image output unit 27B is a processing unit composed of a program activated by the window sharing control unit 40, and has a function of giving the window image data given from the image acquisition unit 26B to the window sharing control unit 40.

The window sharing controller 40 operates the window server 2 in the workstation 20B having the operation right.
3B is a processing unit made up of a program started, and has a function of inquiring about a window screen to be shared, a function of starting the image acquisition unit 26B and the image output unit 27B, and window image data given from the image output unit 27B. It also has a function of giving to the window servers 23A and 23C of the other workstations 20A and 20C to display and output.

Next, a window image sharing (displaying) method by the conference system configured as described above will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. Now, in a certain workstation 20B, the window screen W is displayed by the local client application 24B, but it is assumed that the window screen W is not displayed in the other workstations 20A and 20C. Here, a case will be described in which the window screen W is shared by the other workstations 20A and 20C and displayed.

At one work station 20B, another work station 20A, 20
Inquiry is made to C regarding whether or not the operation right is present, and the operation right is received from the workstation which responds that the operation right is present.

Upon receiving the operation right, the workstation 20B activates the window sharing controller 40 (ST
1). When started, the window sharing control unit 40 causes the output device 22B to display and output a selection request for inquiring about a window screen to be shared, via the window server 23B.

Based on this selection request, the output device 22B displays and outputs the message "Please select the window to be shared" to prompt the operator to select the window screen.

Next, in the input device 21B, a window selection signal for selecting the window screen W is input to the window server 23B by the operation of the operator (ST.
2). The window server 23B inputs this window selection signal to the window sharing control unit 40.

Based on this response data, the window sharing control unit 40 determines whether the client application corresponding to the window screen W to be shared is the shared client application 25B (ST3), and the determination result is "shared client application". 25B "
In the case of indicating, the process proceeds to step ST6 and the window screen W is displayed on the window servers 23A and 23C of the other workstations 20A and 20C and the output devices 22A and 22C.
Although it is displayed and output via, here, the window screen W
"No" because the client application corresponding to is the local client application 24B.
Is determined.

The window sharing control unit 40 executes step S
Since the determination result of T2 is “No”, the image acquisition unit 2
6B is activated (ST4), and the image output unit 27 is also activated.
B is started (ST5), and the local client application 24B corresponding to the window screen W is notified to the image acquisition unit 26B via the window server 23B based on the response data.

In response to this notification, the image acquisition unit 26B requests the image of the window screen W currently being displayed from the local client application 24B, changes the image of the given window screen to window image data, and saves it. The created window image data is given to the image output unit 27B.

The image output section 27B gives the given window image data to the window sharing control section 40. The window sharing control unit 40 uses the image output unit 2
The window image data given from 7B is distributed to the window servers 23A and 23C of the other workstations 20A and 20C (ST6), and the window servers 23A and 23C control the output devices 22A and 22C based on the window image data. To do.

As a result, each of the other workstations 2
At 0A and 20C, the image of the window screen W is displayed and output at the output devices 22A and 22C (ST7). Therefore, in each of the workstations 20A to 20C, the common window screen W can be displayed on the conference screen.

As described above, according to this embodiment, the window sharing control unit 40 is provided in a certain workstation 2.
When the window screen W being displayed at 0B is shared by the other workstations 20A and 20C, the window screen W is displayed based on the window selection signal input.
, The image acquisition unit 26B acquires the image of the window screen W, the image output unit 27B converts the image into image data for display, and the window sharing control unit 40 converts the image data into another image data. The output devices 22A and 22C of the other workstations 20A and 20C are distributed to the respective workstations 20A and 20C.
However, since the window screen W is displayed based on the distributed image data, even if the window display application is not operating on the window sharing program, the window image is distributed and easily shared, and the operation is performed. It is possible to improve the sex.

Further, according to the present embodiment, only the image data is given to each of the other workstations 20A and 20C and the image is displayed.
The CPU load and network load at the time of sharing can be reduced as compared with the conventional method of operating the client application for each workstation.

Further, according to the present embodiment, images are acquired and distributed, which is preferable when a fixed screen such as a material or a document is shared. For example, when a certain document is desired to be shared, it is necessary to operate a client application capable of reading, displaying, and editing (so-called word processor) of the document on a shared window program to read and operate the document file. However, if the client application that can read the document file to be shared does not operate on the shared window program (normal operation), the client application must be restarted on the shared window program. Actually, there is a case where it is not necessary to operate the client application on the shared window program. In this case, only the document image may be shared, comments and the like may be written, and the correction may be made by the local client application already started locally. The technique of sharing only the document image at this time is the present invention.

Further, in a conference system, when it is desired to share a window screen, it is relatively more frequent to share a fixed screen of this kind than a screen that needs to be operated, which is extremely practical. Has become. In addition, the present invention can be modified in various ways without departing from the scope of the invention.

[0043]

As described above, according to the invention of claim 1, when the window distributing means is operated by one workstation and the window screen of this workstation is selected, the image of this window screen is selected. Image data to acquire the image and distribute the image data to other workstations, so even if the window display application is not running on the window sharing program, the window image is distributed and easily shared. Therefore, it is possible to provide a window image display system and method that can improve the operability.

Further, according to the inventions of claims 2 and 3, when the window selecting means causes the other workstations to share the window screen being displayed at one workstation, the window selecting means is based on the window selection signal inputted. hand,
This window screen is selected, the image acquisition means acquires the image of the window screen selected by the window selection means, and the distribution means displays the image data for displaying the image acquired by the image acquisition means to each other. A window image display system having the same effect as that of claim 1, wherein the display means displays the window screen on each of the other workstations based on the image data distributed by the distributing means. The method can be provided.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram for explaining a schematic configuration of a window image display system according to the present invention,

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a conference system to which the window image sharing system according to the first embodiment of the present invention is applied,

FIG. 3 is a flowchart for explaining a window sharing method according to the same embodiment,

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a conventional conference system.

[Explanation of symbols]

10A to 10C, 20A to 20C ... Work station, 11A to 11C ... Client application, 12A, 12B, 12C, 23A to 23C ... Window server, 13A, 13B, 13C, 22A to 22C ... Output device, 20, 40 ... Window sharing Control unit, 21A to 21C ... Input device, 24A to 24C ... Local client application, 25A to 25C ... Shared client application, 26A to 26C ... Image acquisition unit, 27A to 27C ... Image output unit, 30 ... Network.

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A window image display system in which a plurality of workstations are connected to each other via a network, and a common window screen can be displayed on each of the workstations, which is operated by one workstation. When a window screen of a workstation is selected, the window is provided with window distribution means for acquiring an image of the window screen and distributing image data for displaying the image to other workstations. Image display system. 2. A window image display system in which a plurality of workstations are connected to each other via a network and a common window screen can be displayed on each workstation, and the window screen being displayed on a certain workstation. When the image is shared by other workstations, a window selecting means for selecting this window screen based on an input window selecting signal, and an image acquiring means for acquiring an image of the window screen selected by the window selecting means. Distribution means for distributing the image data for displaying the image acquired by the image acquisition means to each of the other workstations, and a distribution means provided separately for each of the other workstations and distributed by the distribution means. Image data Based on,
A window image display system comprising a display means for displaying a window screen. 3. A window image display method in which a plurality of workstations are connected to each other via a network and a common window screen can be displayed on each workstation, and a window screen being displayed on a workstation. When sharing the image with other workstations, selecting the window screen, acquiring an image of the selected window screen, and image data for displaying the acquired image in the other window screen. A method of displaying a window image, comprising: a step of distributing to each workstation; and a step of displaying a window screen on each of the other workstations based on the distributed image data.