JPH0991228A - Application sharing system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To share the AP(application) that is started by the optional one of plural computers connected together via a network with other computers. SOLUTION: A host sharing control means 108 starting in a host 101 acquires the BMID(bit map image data) on an AP 109 to be shared from a multiwindow OS(MWOS) and transfers the BMID to a guest 102 via a network 103. A guest sharing control means 115 of the guest 102 receives the BMID to show it in its own window of a display 113 and also transfers the mouse operation information and the keyboard operation information on its own window to the host 101 via the network 103. The host 101 receives those operation information via the means 108 and restores the mouse and keyboard operations as if they were identical with the operations to be applied to the AP 109 via the mouse and keyboard information restoration means of the MWOS.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an application sharing system, and more particularly to an application sharing system for collaborating among a plurality of computers connected by a network.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, this type of technology is disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No.
As disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 168007, it is used for the purpose of performing collaborative work among computers connected to a plurality of networks.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram showing an example of a conventional application sharing system. Reference numeral 1021 denotes a main body of the image communication apparatus, and the image encoding / decoding means 100 is provided inside
9, line I / F means 1011 and voice coding / decoding means 1
012, a control means 1013, a personal computer display signal processing means 1025, a display control means 1026, a data control means 1027, and a multiplexing / demultiplexing means 1028 are mounted. The image communication apparatus main body 1021 includes a handwriting input unit 1004, a camera 1002, a voice input / output unit 100.
5, an interface for connecting to the dial means 1006, the personal computer 1022, and the multi-scan monitor 1024. The personal computer display screen signal is taken into the image communication apparatus main body 1021 by pulling the personal computer screen display signal sent from the personal computer 1022 to the personal computer monitor 1023 via the signal line 1201.

Next, the operation will be described. The personal computer display signal processing means 1025 has a personal computer display signal 1201
Is supplied. In addition, the display signal data 1 of the partner terminal PC
204 is input from the data control means 1027. The personal computer display signal processing means 1025 is the control means 10.
One is selected according to the control signal 1111 sent from the computer 13, and the selected personal computer display signal 1203 is
Output to the display control means 1026. Here, the personal computer display signal fetched into the image communication apparatus main body 1021 is transmitted from the personal computer 1022 to the personal computer monitor 1023.
From the personal computer display signal 1201 sent to
The image signal and the horizontal and vertical sync signals are fetched.

Next, the display control means 1026 will be described. The display control means 1026 has its own terminal image signal 1101 from the camera 1002 and the partner terminal image signal 1106 from the image coding / decoding means 1009.
Is supplied. Further, the signal supplied to the display control means 1026 includes the personal computer display signal processing means 1025.
There is a personal computer display signal of the own terminal or the other terminal input via the signal line 1203, and handwritten data 1205 from the data control means 1027. The display control means is a control signal 11 from the control means 1013.
According to 11, switching the display composition,
Image signal 120 for multi-scan monitor 1024
2 is output.

The image signal to be displayed by the multi-scan monitor 1024 is an image signal having a different resolution according to a TV camera or a personal computer image display signal. Horizontal and vertical signals having different frequencies are used for synchronizing these image signals. The synchronization signal is also output to the multi-scan monitor 1024 so that it can be displayed. Display control means 1
Reference numeral 026 denotes an image signal having a different resolution according to a camera image signal or a personal computer image signal, and a horizontal signal having a different frequency.
It also has a function of generating a vertical synchronization signal and outputting it to the multi-scan monitor 1024, which makes it possible to display image signals of different resolutions, and the image encoding / decoding means 10
09, the self terminal image signal 1106 is output.

The data control means 1027 has its own personal computer display data 1204 from the personal computer display signal processing means 1025, its own handwritten signal data 1103 from the handwriting input means 1004, and the multiplexing / demultiplexing means 102.
8, the handwritten signal data of the partner terminal and the personal computer screen display signal of the partner terminal are input via the signal line 1206. Then, the handwritten data 1206 is output to the display control means 1026, the own terminal personal computer display signal data and the own terminal handwritten signal data are output to the multiplexing / demultiplexing means 1028 via the signal line 1206, and the personal computer display signal processing means. Outputs a display signal of the personal computer screen of the partner terminal to 1025. Here, the control of the data control means 1027 is performed by the control means 1013 from the control signal 11
11 is performed.

A personal computer display signal and a handwriting input signal from the data control means 1027 are input to the multiplexing / separating means 1028, and a partner terminal personal computer display signal and a partner terminal handwriting signal are output to the data control means 1027. . Here, control of multiplexing / demultiplexing of each signal is performed by the control means 1013 via the signal line 1111.

As described above, the personal computer display signal processing means 1025 for fetching and processing the display signal of the personal computer, the display control means 1026 for displaying on the multi-scan monitor 1024, and the personal computer display signal for other signals such as voice and moving images. By providing the data control means 1027 for multiplexing / demultiplexing and the multiplexing / demultiplexing means 1028, the personal computer display screen can be shared by a plurality of image communication terminals, and smooth meetings can be performed.

[0010]

This conventional application sharing system requires the image communication device main body and means for taking in the personal computer display signal sent from the personal computer to the personal computer monitor in order to realize the collaborative work. In addition to the need for adding special equipment, the scale of the equipment increases.

[0011]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to realize application sharing only by an existing computer without requiring addition of a special device.

Therefore, in the application sharing system of the present invention, the bitmap image data of the application to be shared, which is only activated on the host computer connected to the network, is acquired and transferred to the guest computer of the communication partner. The host computer is provided with host sharing control means for transferring mouse and keyboard operation information sent from the guest computer to the multi-window operating system. In addition, the above-mentioned object is achieved by providing guest sharing control means for receiving and displaying the bitmap image data of the sharing target application transferred from the host computer and transferring the operation information of the mouse and keyboard to the host computer. ing.

[0013]

Next, the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 1, a host computer 101
And the guest computer 102 are connected to each other by the network 103. This network has, for example, a daisy chain or tree type topology. On the host computer 101 and guest computer 102, multi-window operating systems (hereinafter abbreviated as multi-window OS) 107 and 114 are operating as operating systems.

This multi-window OS is a means for acquiring information input from a mouse and a keyboard like Microsoft's Microsoft Windows without affecting an application running on the multi-window OS, and an arbitrary means. It has means for displaying bitmap data, and it is possible to restore the acquired information input from the mouse and keyboard to the multi-window OS, and display the display information of an arbitrary area of the display screen displayed by the multi-window OS as a bit. Multi-window OS having means for acquiring as map data
It is.

The host computer 101 has a first
A first mouse 104 for operating an application running on the multi-window OS 107 of
A first keyboard 105 is connected, and a first display 106 is connected to display the processing content of an application running on the multi-window OS 107.

The guest computer 102 also has a second
The second mouse 111 and the second keyboard 112 for operating the application running on the multi-window OS 114 are connected, and the multi-window O
The second display 113 is connected to display the processing content of the application activated in S114.

Further, the first of the host computer 101
On the multi-window OS 107, the sharing target application 10 that is the target of the application sharing work
9 and host sharing control means 10 for controlling sharing
8 and the first that is not the target of application sharing work
The non-shared target applications 110 are operating. Similarly, on the multi-window OS of the guest computer 102, application sharing work is performed,
In addition, the guest sharing control unit 115 that controls and the second non-shared target application 116 that is not the target of the application sharing work are operating.

Next, the operation of FIG. 1 will be described.

The host sharing control means 108 running on the host computer 101 uses the bitmap image data acquisition means built in the first multi-window OS 107 to share the target application 109.
Get the bitmap image data of. The acquired bitmap image data is transferred to the guest computer 102 via the network 103 after being subjected to encoding processing such as compression.

In the guest computer 102, the guest sharing control means 115 receives the encoded bitmap image data of the sharing target application 109 transferred from the host computer 101. The guest sharing control means 115 decodes the encoded bitmap image data and displays the decoded bitmap image data in its own window on the display 113.
Further, the guest sharing control unit 115 uses the second multi-window OS 114 to the second multi-window OS 114.
The mouse operation information acquisition unit included in the guest sharing control unit 115 acquires the information on the mouse operation for the guest sharing control unit 115, and at the same time, the keyboard operation information acquisition unit included in the second multi-window OS 114 acquires the guest sharing control unit 115. Get keyboard operation information for. The mouse operation information and the keyboard operation information obtained by the guest sharing control means 115 are transferred to the host computer 101 via the network 103.

In the host computer 101, the host sharing control means 108 receives the mouse operation information and the keyboard operation information transferred from the guest computer 102. The host sharing control unit 108 transfers the mouse operation information and the keyboard operation information to the mouse information restoring unit and the keyboard information restoring unit included in the multi-window OS 107, and performs the mouse operation and the keyboard operation as if they were the operations for the sharing target application 109. Restore. By these operations, the host computer 101
A bitmap image of the sharing target application 109 operating on the above is displayed on the guest computer 102, and at the same time, a mouse for the guest sharing control unit 115,
The keyboard operation information is transferred to the host computer 101 and restored, and the sharing target application 109 is shared between the host computer 101 and the guest computer 102.

FIG. 2 shows the sharing target application 109.
Is a host computer 101 and a guest computer 10
Host computer 1 when shared between 2
01 shows the state of the screen displayed on the display 106 of 01. The sharing target application 202 and the non-sharing target application 203 are activated on the display screen 201.

FIG. 3 shows the sharing target application 109.
Is a host computer 101 and a guest computer 10
Guest computer 1 when shared between 2
02 shows the state of the screen displayed on the display 113 of No. 02. The guest sharing control unit 302 displaying the bitmap image of the sharing target application 202 and the non-sharing target application 303 are activated on the display screen 301.

FIG. 4 is a flow chart showing the operation of the host sharing control means 108. When the process is started (step 401), it is determined whether mouse operation information is received via the network 103 (step 40).
2). If received, the mouse operation information is restored to the sharing target application by transferring the mouse operation information to the multi-window OS 107 (step 403), and the process is passed to step 409.

If the mouse operation information is not received in step 402, it is determined whether keyboard operation information is received via the network 103 (step 404). If received, the keyboard operation information is restored to the sharing target application by transferring the keyboard operation information to the multi-window OS 107 (step 405), and the process is passed to step 409.

If no keyboard operation information is received in step 404, the host computer 1
In 01, the mouse operation information acquisition means included in the multi-window OS 107 determines whether or not there is a mouse input to the sharing target application (step 406). If there is an input, the process proceeds to step 409.
If there is no keyboard input to the sharing target application in the host computer 101, it is determined by the keyboard operation information acquisition unit of the multi-window OS 107 (step 407). If there is an input, the process proceeds to step 40.
If it is not passed to step 9, if it is not, then it is determined whether or not a certain fixed time, which can be certified, has passed since the last time the bitmap image data of the sharing target application was captured (step 408).

If the fixed time has not elapsed, the process is passed to step 402. If the fixed time has elapsed, the process is passed to step 409. In step 409, the bitmap image of the sharing target application 109 is captured by the bitmap image acquisition means provided in advance in the multi-window OS 107 (step 409). Further, the obtained bitmap image data is subjected to encoding such as compression (step 410). Next, the encoded bitmap image data is transferred to the network 103 (step 411). Then, the process proceeds to step 402.
Hand over to.

FIG. 5 is a flow chart showing the operation of the guest sharing control means 115. When the process is started (step 501), it is determined whether the encoded bitmap image data transferred from the network 103 is received (step 502). If received, the received encoded bitmap image data is decoded to obtain bitmap image data (step 503). Further, the guest sharing control unit 1 is provided with the obtained bitmap image data by the bitmap image display unit included in the multi-window OS 114.
It is displayed in the own window of 15 (step 504) and the process is passed to step 502.

When the encoded bitmap image data is not received in step 502, the guest sharing control means 1 in the guest computer 102.
It is determined by the mouse operation information acquisition unit of the multi-window OS 114 whether or not there is an input operation of the mouse with respect to 15 (step 505). When there is an input, the obtained mouse operation information is transferred to the network 103 (step 506). When it is determined in step 505 that there is no input, it is determined by the keyboard operation information acquisition means included in the multi-window OS 114 whether or not there is a keyboard input operation to the guest sharing control means 115 in the guest computer 102 (step 507). . When there is an input, the obtained keyboard operation information is transferred to the network 103 (step 508). If it is determined in step 505 that there is no input, the process is passed to step 502.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing another embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 6, the host computer 101, the first guest computer 102, and the second guest computer 117 are connected to each other by the network 103. Host computer 101, first guest computer 102, and second guest computer 11
On OS 7, first, second, and third multi-window OSs 107, 114, 121 are operating as OSs. A first mouse 104 and a first keyboard 105 for operating an application running on the first multi-window OS 107 are connected to the host computer 101, and the first multi-window OS is connected.
A first display 106 is connected to display processing contents of an application running on 107. Similarly, in the first guest computer 102 and the second guest computer 117 as well, the second and third mouse 11 for operating the applications running on the second and third multi-window OSs 114 and 117.
1, 118 and the second and third keyboards 112 and 119 are respectively connected, and the multi-window OSs 114 and 11 are connected.
Second and third displays 113 and 120 are respectively connected to display the processing contents of the application running on the computer 7. Furthermore, on the first multi-window OS 107 of the host computer 101,
Shared target application 109 that is the target of shared work
And host sharing control means 108 for controlling sharing
And the first non-shared target application 110 that is not the target of the shared work is operating. Similarly the first
Second and third multi-window OS 11 of guest computer 102 and second guest computer 117 of
4, 121, the first and second guest sharing control means 115 and 122 that perform and control shared work, and the second and third non-shared target applications 116 and 123 that are not the target of shared work. Each is working.

Next, the operation of FIG. 6 will be described. The host sharing control unit 108 running on the host computer 101 acquires the bitmap image data of the sharing target application 109 by the acquisition unit of the bitmap image data included in the first multi-window OS 107. The acquired bitmap image data is transferred to the first guest computer 102 and the second guest computer 117 via the network 103 after being subjected to encoding processing such as compression.

In the first guest computer 102 and the second guest computer 117, the first guest sharing control means 115 and the second guest sharing control means 122 are provided.
Receives the encoded bitmap image data of the sharing target application 109 transferred from the host computer 101. First guest sharing control means 11
5 and the second guest sharing control unit 122 decodes the received encoded bitmap image data in its own window and then displays it on the first display 113 and the second display 120.

Also, the first guest sharing control means 115 and the second guest sharing control means 122 are the second multi-window OS 114 and the third multi-window OS.
121 to the first guest sharing control unit 11 by the mouse operation information acquisition unit included in the second multi-window OS 114 and the third multi-window OS 121.
At the same time as acquiring the information of the first and second mouse operations for the fifth and second guest sharing control means 122, the second
Of the first and second keyboard operations for the first guest sharing control means 115 and the second guest sharing control means 122 by the keyboard operation information acquisition means possessed by the multi-window OS 114 and the third multi-window OS 121. Get information.

The first and second mouse operation information and the first and second keyboard operation information obtained by the first guest sharing control means 115 and the second guest sharing control means 122 are transmitted to the host computer via the network 103. 101 is transferred. In the host computer 101, the host sharing control means 108 receives the first and second mouse operation information and the first and second keyboard operation information transferred from the first guest computer 102 and the second guest computer 117.

The host sharing control means 108 transfers the first and second mouse operation information and the first and second keyboard operation information to the mouse information restoring means and keyboard information restoring means included in the first multi-window OS 107. The mouse operation and the keyboard operation are restored as if they were the operation for the application 109 to be shared.

By these operations, the host computer 1
01 is the bitmap image of the shared target application 109 operating on the first guest computer 102.
And a mouse for the guest sharing control means 115, 122 displayed on the guest sharing control means 115, 122 of the second guest computer 117, respectively, and simultaneously provided on the first guest computer 102 and the second guest computer 117. , The sharing target application 109 transfers the keyboard operation information to the host computer 101 and restores it so that the host computer 101 and the first guest computer 10
2, shared between the second guest computers 117.
Similarly, by connecting an arbitrary number of guest computers to the network, it becomes possible to share applications between the host computer and a plurality of guest computers.

[0037]

As described above, the application sharing method according to the present invention acquires the bitmap image of the application to be shared by using the means for acquiring the bitmap image provided in the multi-window OS. It does not require any special equipment and can be realized by software.

Further, since the mouse operation information acquiring means provided in the multi-window OS is used to acquire the mouse operation information in the guest computer, it is possible to realize it only by software without adding a special device. Is.

Furthermore, the means for acquiring keyboard operation information provided in the multi-window OS is used to acquire the keyboard operation information in the guest computer, so that it is possible to realize it only by software without adding any special device. Is.

Furthermore, since the data for displaying the image of the application to be shared with the other party to share is bitmap image data, the application can be shared even between computers running different operating systems.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an example of a display screen of a host computer during application sharing.

FIG. 3 is an example of a display screen of a guest computer during application sharing.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of host sharing control means.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of guest sharing control means.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram illustrating a conventional technique.

[Explanation of symbols]

101 host computer 102, 117 guest computer 103 network 104, 111, 118 mouse 105, 112, 119 keyboard 106, 113, 120 display 107, 114, 121 multi-window operating system 108 host sharing control means 109 sharing target application 110, 116, 123 Non-shared target application 115, 122 Guest sharing control means

Claims (15)

[Claims] 1. In a network system environment in which a plurality of computers are connected, a host computer operating an application and the application operating on the host computer are shared by a mechanism for sharing the application. There is a guest computer that is present, and on the host computer, a first multi-window operating system and a sharing target application that is an arbitrary application program that is a target of sharing that is running on the first multi-window operating system. And host sharing control means, which is a mechanism on the side of the host computer for sharing the sharing target application, is operating, and at least the host computer is One or more of the first
Input means and first display means for displaying processing contents, and on the guest computer, a second multi-window operating system and the first multi-window operating system of the host computer. Guest sharing control means, which is a mechanism for sharing the application to be shared operating on the system, is operating, and the guest computer is
It has at least one or more second input means and second display means for displaying the contents of processing, and the first multi-window operating system has an area arbitrarily limited from the screen. A bitmap acquisition means for acquiring the bitmap of the
First input operation information acquisition means for acquiring first input operation information from the input means, and host for operating the second input operation information in the guest computer as if the first multi-window operating system is operating. The second multi-window operating system has an input operation restoring unit that reproduces as if there was an operation input from the first input unit of the computer; Under such a network system environment, the host sharing control means has a second input operation information acquisition means for acquiring the second input operation information and a bitmap display means for displaying arbitrary bitmap information. And the first input provided by the first multi-window operating system The input synthesizing means for synthesizing the first input operation information obtained through the information obtaining means and the second input operation information transferred from the guest computer through the network, and the input synthesizing means. Means for reflecting the input operation information on the sharing target application in operation by the input operation restoring means provided by the first multi-window operating system;
An input operation determination unit that determines whether or not there is an input from either the host computer or the guest computer, the information obtained from the input operation determination unit, and a time measurement by a timer are combined to generate a trigger, Providing a mechanism for acquiring a bitmap by the bitmap acquisition means based on the trigger, encoding the acquired bitmap, and transmitting the encoded bitmap to the guest computer through the network; and the guest sharing control means. , Transmitting the second input operation information of the own device obtained from the second input operation information acquisition means provided by the second multi-window operating system to the host computer through the network while performing timing control. By providing a mechanism for The display information of the application to be shared operating on the computer is reflected on the guest computer, and the second input operation information of the guest computer is operated on the host computer together with the first input operation information of the host computer. The application sharing system is characterized in that the function provided by the multi-window operating system can be utilized by reflecting it in the application to be shared, and can be realized without the need of adding another device or the like. 2. In the configuration described in claim 1, in addition to the function provided by the host sharing control means of claim 1, when a user shares an application, a screen of the host computer is displayed by the user. The display information of the limited area is shared between the host computer and the guest computer by providing a user interface for designating an arbitrary area of a rectangle or an arbitrary shape, and the sharing operating on the host computer Reflecting the display information of the target application on the guest computer,
Provided by the multi-window operating system by reflecting the second input operation information of the guest computer together with the first input operation information of the host computer on the sharing target application running on the host computer. The application sharing system according to claim 1, wherein the application sharing system can be realized by utilizing a function without the need for adding any other device or the like. 3. The structure according to claim 2, wherein the first multi-window operating system has the means already described in claim 1 and claim 2.
In addition to the function provided in claim 1 by the host sharing control means, the means for knowing the display area occupied by an arbitrary application, and the function operating on the host computer. A user interface for designating an arbitrary application is provided, and a mechanism for inquiring to the first multi-window operating system is provided in order to automatically obtain the display area occupied by the application from the arbitrary application designated here. By sharing the applications, the user can specify one or more of the arbitrary applications running on the host computer, so that only the display information of the specified applications is displayed. Host computer,
Characterized by being shared between the guest computers,
The application sharing system according to claim 1. 4. The application sharing system according to claim 1, wherein the first input means is a keyboard. 5. The application sharing system according to claim 1, wherein the first input means is a mouse. 6. The application sharing system according to claim 1, wherein the second input means is a keyboard. 7. The application sharing system according to claim 1, wherein the second input means is a mouse. 8. The application sharing system according to claim 1, wherein the first display means is a display. 9. The application sharing system according to claim 1, wherein the second display means is a display. 10. The application sharing system according to claim 1, wherein the second multi-window operating system is a multi-window operating system different from the first multi-window operating system. 11. The application sharing system according to claim 1, wherein, in addition to the guest computer, a plurality of guest computers having the same configuration as the guest computer and performing the same operation are connected to a network. 12. The application sharing system according to claim 1, wherein the network is a connection type network such as ISDN. 13. The application sharing system according to claim 1, wherein the network is a bus wiring or a collision detection type network such as Ethernet. 14. The application sharing system according to claim 1, wherein the network is a network forming a star type topology such as ATM. 15. The application sharing system according to claim 1, wherein the network is a network that forms a daisy chain or tree type topology.