KR20070018818A - Multiscreen display system - Google Patents

Abstract

The system includes two or more devices enabled for screen sharing. At least one of the devices resides with a screen access function. Operation of the screen access function initiates screen sharing between devices. Screen sharing can include sharing display performance of one device with another device. Additionally or instead of sharing display performance, other functions such as processing power, touch screen control, and the like may be shared between the devices. Screen sharing may include transmission of a user interface or portion thereof from the first device to the second device. This user interface or part thereof operating on the second device serves as the user interface of the first device. Screen sharing can be enabled when the devices are in close proximity to each other. The screen access function can initiate this screen sharing.

Description

Multi-Screen Display System {MULTISCREEN DISPLAY SYSTEM}

The present invention relates generally to a method and device using a distributed screen system for facilitating the operation of a given device, and more particularly to a method for sharing functionality among devices with limited display capabilities. It's about the system.

Conventional systems are known that allow a master device to display a predetermined display area across a plurality of displays. For example, many current video cards used in conventional computers allow the display area to be shared by two or more computer monitors. For example, an ATI Radeon 9800 Pro® video card can share a display area across two monitors. The left border of the monitor located to the right of the user's field of view shares the right border of the monitor located to the left of the user's field of view. These two monitors together display a single display area. In this way, for example, an object cut by the left border of the monitor located on the right is serialized past the right border of the monitor located on the left to produce the effect of a single display area shared across the two monitors. This function is provided by a video card that divides the display area across two monitors. The monitors themselves do not recognize this result because each monitor only displays the image data provided by the video card to these monitors.

US 2002/0197993 and US 2002/0196196 describe client / server systems in which a centralized server communicates with a plurality of devices via a network (eg, wired, wireless). In operation, the centralized server distributes individual portions of the image across a plurality of devices. These devices act as clients of a centralized server. In these systems, because the server also determines how the images are distributed across a plurality of wireless devices, the server operates similarly to the ATI Radeon 9800 Pro® video card described above. In this system, it is also disclosed that a plurality of wireless devices can also share a single user interface (UI), with the functions of the user interface being distributed across the wireless devices. However, these devices still operate in a server / client environment, so the relationship between the devices is determined by the server.

Sametime® is a product of IBM Corp. that allows a user to share a display experience across multiple distributed computer systems. In a Sametime® environment, the display of operations on one computer system is reflected in one or more other computer systems to enable visual display of the operations across a distributed computer system. In some of the screens of one or more other computer systems, for example, typing of questions is reflected back to each computer in a distributed computer system, enabling an ongoing chat environment. Still, even in Sametime®, one computer acts as a master computer display and the other acts as a slave display.

In another system, such as disclosed in GB 2,384,064A, a mobile phone is used by another device to enable intelligent devices to connect to the network via the mobile phone and the mobile phone network. In this system, a telephone is a means by which an intelligent device can access a wireless network.

Problems exist in that none of these systems enable the operation of these devices without having at least one server system to coordinate and manage the distribution of images across a plurality of devices. . In addition, even the distribution of a single user interface across multiple devices does not add anything to the performance of a given device.

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to overcome these and / or other disadvantages of the prior art.

These and other objects of the present invention are achieved by a system comprising two or more devices enabled for screen sharing. In operation, the screen connection function resides in at least one of these devices. Operation of the screen access function initiates screen sharing between devices. According to the present invention, screen sharing may include sharing display performance of one device with another device. Additionally or instead of sharing display performance, other functions such as processing power, touch screen control, and the like may be shared between the devices.

Screen sharing may include transmission of a user interface or portion thereof from the first device to the second device. This user interface or a portion thereof operating on the second device functions as or in conjunction with the user interface of the first device. Screen sharing can be enabled when the devices come close to each other. The screen access function can initiate screen sharing.

In either case, by initiating screen sharing, the functionality of one of the devices is used to enhance or add the functionality of the other device.

These and other features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the accompanying drawings and the following detailed description.

The following is a detailed description of exemplary embodiments of the present invention, which will show the above mentioned features and advantages, and further features and advantages when associated with the following figures. It is to be understood that the drawings are included for illustrative purposes and do not represent the scope of the invention. In the figures, like parts of the present system are indicated by like numbers.

The invention is best understood when combined with the accompanying drawings.

1 illustrates an exemplary system in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

2 is a flow diagram illustrating the operation of a system in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention.

The invention will be described below with reference to exemplary systems for ease of explanation. It should not be construed as limiting the claims appended hereto. The system of the present invention is also applicable to many other embodiments that can be easily devised by those skilled in the art. It is to be understood that these other systems are included in the appended claims.

1 illustrates an exemplary embodiment of a system 100 in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, including a portable wireless device 110 and a portable wireless device 150.

The device 110 includes a display 120, one or more control buttons 130, and an antenna 140. This device 110 is illustratively shown as having a form of a personal digital assistant (PDA). The device 150 includes a display unit 160, one or more control buttons 170, and an antenna 180. This device 150 is illustrated by way of example in the form of a cellular phone. Obviously, any of these forms of devices 110, 150 may be replaced by other known devices, and are still within the scope of the present invention. In addition, the devices 110 and 150 need not be different types of devices. For example, both devices may be cellular phones. In some embodiments according to the present invention, any one of the devices may have a better display or other performance than the other of the devices. However, even if both devices have the same performance, it should be clearly understood that performance sharing according to the present invention can enhance the performance of any one of the individual devices. Obviously, other devices such as portable multimedia players, portable memory devices, digital still (still image) cameras, digital video cameras, wristwatches, other wearable micro displays, such as those inserted into glasses, may also be operated by the present invention. have. Each of these devices has limitations in performance, including the display of images (eg, size, functionality, etc.) that may be enhanced by the use of the present invention as discussed in more detail below.

It should be understood that in either environment, one of the devices may have better performance (display, processing, functionality, etc.) than the performance of the other of the devices. However, in other environments a device with inferior performance may be superior or equivalent to another device. For example, in example devices 110, 150, device 150, which is a telephone device, may have inferior performance than device 110, which is illustratively shown as a PDA. However, if the device 150 is in close proximity to another device (not shown) that is, for example, a portable multimedia player, the device 150 may have better performance than the portable multimedia player, and thus (as described herein) In the detailed example included therein, the device 110 may operate as it operates. Thus, performance may be transferred to or from one device in certain combinations of devices, and performance may be transferred from or to that device in other combinations of devices. .

One aspect of the present invention has the ability for each of the devices 110, 150 to communicate with each other. This may be achieved through a communication system particularly suited to the operation according to the invention or may be achieved as a secondary result of a communication system which also has other functions. By way of example, this communication may be via a short range communication system such as a Bluetooth communication protocol. System aspects and protocols that enable communication between devices 110 and 150 are outside the scope of the present invention and should not be understood as limiting the invention unless specific elements are claimed as a scope. . Obviously, other means of enabling communication between devices, such as infrared (IR) communication, other radio frequency (RF) communication protocols, and the like, may be readily apparent to those skilled in the art. By way of example, the devices 110, 150 may be provided with antennas 140, 180, respectively, which may be capable of standard operation and / or may be enabled for communication between the devices 110, 150. Is shown. Obviously, in some embodiments, antennas 140 and 180 may be unnecessary or hidden.

More specific operation of the present invention will be described below with respect to the exemplary system 100 shown in FIG. 1 and with respect to FIG. 2 showing a flow diagram 200 according to an embodiment of the present invention. .

As illustrated in the flow diagram 200, at operation 210, two devices, such as mobile devices, are located in proximity to each other. This proximity state may occur at operation 210 or may already exist prior to operation 210. As adjacent to each other, the prerequisites for a particular proximity state between devices do not actually exist. In one embodiment of the invention, it may be useful for the devices to be in close proximity to each other. However, only those devices 110, 150 are in sufficient proximity to be able to communicate between the devices 110, 150 are actually required.

Thereafter, at operation 220, the devices 110, 150 are operated in accordance with the present invention, due to their proximity, the pressing of control buttons 130, 170 or other means acting as a screen connection button, according to the present invention. It is enabled for screen sharing that occurs at. Screen sharing according to the present invention means that a display, function, user interface, or a portion of one device such as device 110 can be used to operate a function of another device, such as device 150. For example, device 150 is illustratively shown as a cellular phone. Cellular phones typically have very limited display performance. Device 110 is illustrated by way of example as a PDA. PDAIs today typically have better performance, including better display performance such as wider displays, better visibility, more features, and the like, with better processing performance and touch screens. As will be appreciated, the performance of the devices may be equivalent, but the performance of any one of the devices may be further enhanced by sharing the capability to perform the operation.

According to one embodiment of the invention, at operation 240, at least one function, operation, etc. of one device is enabled for operation on another device. For example, at operation 240, a phone book or dialing capability of device 150 (shown as a cellular phone) may now be operated on a PDA. This is not intended to represent a conventional PDA, which is also a cellular phone, so it should be understood that the communication according to the invention is not intended to indicate that it does not add functionality. It is intended in accordance with the present invention that by means of direct communication between devices 110, 150, a previous function that is not present in one device, such as device 110, is enabled or achieved.

Thus, prior to communication between devices 110 and 150, there was no capability in device 110 to manage an address book of device 150, for example on device 110. However, after communication between the devices 110, 150 according to the present invention, for example, the device 110 has the ability to manage the address book of the device 150 on the device 110. However, this is not the only function that can be enhanced according to the present invention. Other capabilities, such as the ability to view an image stored in device 150 on one device, for example device 110, may also be enabled between devices 110 and 150.

Other functions may also be enabled in accordance with the screen sharing of the present invention, for example by means of communication according to the present invention between the devices 110, 150, on the convenience of which the device 110 may be connected to the device 110. Can be manipulated to make a call using the display and manipulation capabilities of the device and the call capabilities of the device 150. In this embodiment, by operation 220, the display and function of device 110 may now show the display and function of device 150. In other words, display 120 of device 110 may now show a virtual keypad that may be operated, for example, to initiate a call. In one embodiment, display 120 may be capable of touch input typical of PDA devices. By operation in accordance with the present invention, the touch input capability of display 120 may be used to manipulate dialing features of device 150 to initiate dialing. In addition, perhaps the microphone and speaker capabilities of device 110 may be operated to further facilitate the use of the calling capabilities of device 150. These capabilities are true sharing in that the operation so far resident and / or operating in one of the devices is now operated through the use of both devices. For example, this may be useful for editing the text portion of the phone book entry residing on device 150 on device 110. However, it may be useful for inputting speech recognition for this entry directly into device 150 for this same phonebook entry. Thus, the term "screen sharing" as used herein should be understood to include any one or combination of each of these shared capabilities in accordance with the present invention.

In one embodiment, the present function simplifies operation of one device, such as device 150 with limited display capability, by displaying the same or similar display on a device, such as device 110 with less limited display capability. It may be easy. In this way, a typical display of device 150 may simply be viewed in a larger format on device 110. In this operation, the device 150 may transmit intact display information to the device 110. Of course, in other embodiments, simple screen-like descriptions, such as HTML descriptions, may be shared by device 150 and device 110. Other screen sharing means such as XML, HAVi Data Driven Input (HAVi-DDI), VNC, etc. may also be used. Capabilities that enable devices to recognize each other, operate together, communicate with each other, and / or be suitable for operation in accordance with the present invention, including UPnP, XML-RPC, UPnP remote I / O, and the like. Other techniques are known that allow for such interchanges. It is to be understood that these and other means are within the scope of the present invention.

In another embodiment, the device 110 enhances the performance of the device 150 through the use of the touch screen or through other additional functions borrowed from a display device (eg, device 110). Can be operated. For example, in one embodiment, device 110 to further enhance the functionality of device 150 such that more elaborate or configurable display and functionality of device 150 is enabled by operation through device 110. Processing power may be used.

In one embodiment, these features may be generated by transmission of the user interface (UI) of the device 150 or a portion thereof to the device 110. In this way, the operation of other portions of the device 110, such as the control button 130, may also manipulate the features of the device 150 in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention.

Such transmission of display performance, UI performance, and the like may optionally occur at operation 230 as shown in FIG. 2. In another embodiment, device 110 may be enabled by having a program portion residing in device 110 and configured to provide functionality to other devices, such as device 150. In these embodiments, the program portion resides on device 110, but until a proximity state exists between devices 110, 150 or when a screen connection command operation is initiated to one of devices 110, 150. Until it is enabled.

In these and other embodiments, the proximity state between the devices 110, 150 initiates the appearance of the screen connection icon 125 on the device 110 or on the device 150 (not shown). You can. Screen connection icon 125 may then be used to enable operations in accordance with the present invention as discussed above with respect to control button 130. Proximity can actually be a contact of one device to another. This contact or other example (eg, operation of the screen connection function) may also control which function is transferred from the first of these devices to the other of these devices. For example, in bringing device 150 into contact with device 110, the editing capabilities (larger screen, touch display, etc.) of device 110 reside on device 150 as described above. It can be enabled for editing phonebook entries. However, by bringing device 110 into contact with device 150, voice input capability of device 150 may be enabled for operation of a function residing on device 110.

In another operation, a text entry on one device (eg, device 110) may support functionality on another device (eg, device 150). It can enable drag and drop operations, and can actually operate as drag and drop on a single device Color display of one device can be useful for an application on another device. In contrast, a display on a PDA can only support grayscale images, whereas a display on a telephone can support a color image. Can be used to manipulate, manipulate, etc. Scroll wheel resident on a telephone It can be very useful for retrieving lists stored in a PDA As discussed above, and as apparent from these examples, screen sharing capabilities can be moved from one device to another. Selectable or may be a function of which screen sharing capability is being shared between the devices.

Another example of screen sharing capability may be to use the processing capability of device 110 to edit an image residing on device 150. This may be useful because many telephone devices have the ability to take pictures using a camera residing on a telephone today. However, due to camera limitations, these photos often have low display quality. However, according to the present invention, it allows the device 110 to edit and sensitize the picture, so that a picture of better quality is available than is available in other ways for use on the device 150. Screen sharing can be used to enable it.

Those skilled in the art will readily appreciate that there are a number of ways to achieve the functions described above. Therefore, it is to be understood that the described embodiments are not limited to any one specific embodiment.

The above-described embodiments of the present invention are for illustration only and should not be construed to limit the appended claims to any particular embodiment or group of embodiments. Numerous alternative embodiments may be devised by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the following claims.

In interpreting the appended claims, the following should be understood:

a) The term "comprising" does not exclude the presence of elements or acts other than those described in a given claim;

b) The term "a" or "an" placed before an element does not exclude the presence of a plurality of such elements;

c) reference signs in the claims do not limit their scope;

d) several "means" may be represented by the same item or structure or function implemented in hardware or software;

e) each of the disclosed elements may consist of a hardware portion (eg, including separate or integrated electronic circuitry), a software portion (eg, computer programming), and any combination thereof;

f) the hardware portion may consist of either or both of an analog portion and a digital portion;

g) any of the disclosed devices or portions thereof may be integrated with each other or divided into more portions unless specifically stated otherwise;

h) Unless specifically indicated, no specific sequence of operations is essential.

As described above, the present invention can be used in a method and a system using a distributed screen system for facilitating the operation of a given device, in particular in a method and system for function sharing among devices with limited display performance. have.

Claims (15)

A plurality of devices, each of the plurality of devices configured to enable screen sharing from one of the devices to another of the devices, A screen connection function residing in at least one of the plurality of devices, wherein operation of the screen connection function initiates the screen sharing function between the plurality of devices; Including system. The method of claim 1, The screen sharing includes sharing at least one display capability and function from one of the plurality of devices to another of the plurality of devices. The method of claim 2, The display performance of the one of the plurality of devices is more limited than the display performance of the other one of the plurality of devices. The method of claim 2, The processing capability of the one of the plurality of devices is more limited than the processing capability of the other one of the plurality of devices. The method of claim 1, One of the plurality of devices is a cellular telephone. The method of claim 1, One of the plurality of devices is a personal digital assistant (PDA) device. The method of claim 2, And a display of the one of the plurality of devices is sent to a display of the other one of the plurality of devices. The method of claim 7, wherein The display of the one of the plurality of devices is transmitted as at least one of HTML, XML or HAVi-DDI screen description. The method of claim 2, A portion of a user interface of the one of the plurality of devices is transmitted to the other one of the plurality of devices to act as a user interface of the one of the plurality of devices System. The method of claim 1, The screen connection function is enabled when each of the plurality of devices is in proximity to each other of the plurality of devices. The method of claim 10, A proximity state between each of the plurality of devices enables a screen connection icon in one of the plurality of devices to enable operation of the screen connection function. As a portable device, Means for enabling screen sharing from the portable device to another device, and As a screen access function, the operation of the screen access function initiates a screen access function, which initiates screen sharing between the devices. A portable device comprising. The method of claim 12, The screen sharing includes sharing at least one display capability and function. The method of claim 12, And the device is configured to enable a user to selectively transmit an operation residing on the device for operation on another device. The method of claim 12, And the device is configured to determine which portion of the operation is to be sent for operation on another device.

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