Abstract:
A device that may be part of a wireless network may support a service that may adjust the presentation of client image data on a display. Client image data may be adjusted for display on either the entire display screen or a portion thereof.

Description:
BACKGROUND  
         [0001]    This invention relates generally to wireless networks.  
           [0002]    Many devices that are part of a wireless network may have their own display. For example, a desktop PC, personal digital assistant (PDA) and cellular telephone may be part of a wireless network, each with its own display. In some instances a user may wish to view one display that includes information from one or more of the network components. However, a given network device may only allow one other network device at a time access to its display.  
           [0003]    In other instances it may be desirable to display the same information on one or more network devices. For example, one person may want to present data to other persons in a group, each using a display device that is part of the wireless network. However, one or more of the networked displays may have different dimensions and resolutions. Thus, a user interface may not be appropriately formatted for display on the desired network devices.  
           [0004]    Thus, there continues to be a need for improved ways to display information on a wireless network device where the information to be displayed comes from another device that is part of substantially the same wireless network.  
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0005]    [0005]FIG. 1 is a schematic depiction of a wireless network in accordance with some embodiments of the present invention;  
         [0006]    [0006]FIG. 2 is a flow chart for software for subdividing a display on a wireless display sponsor according to some embodiments of the present invention;  
         [0007]    [0007]FIG. 3 is a subdivided display according to some embodiments of the present invention;  
         [0008]    [0008]FIG. 4 is alternate embodiment of the subdivided display according to another embodiment of the present invention;  
         [0009]    [0009]FIG. 5 is a flow chart for software for dynamically formatting image data for presentation of a user interface on a wireless display sponsor according to some embodiments of the present invention;  
         [0010]    [0010]FIG. 6 is a flow chart for software for transferring image data from a display client according to some embodiments of the present invention; and  
         [0011]    [0011]FIG. 7 is a block depiction of a wireless processor-based system in accordance with some embodiments of the present invention. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION  
       [0012]    Referring to FIG. 1, a wireless network  10  may include a plurality of display devices  12 . For example, the wireless network  10  may include a laptop computer  12   a,  a personal digital assistant (PDA)  12   b,  a two way pager  12   c  and a pen computer  12   d.  Although four devices  12  are illustrated in FIG. 1, any number or variety of different devices may be included in the network  10 , including peripheral devices and the scope of the present invention is not limited in this respect. Moreover, the number of devices that are part of the network may be determined by the applicable wireless communication standard, such as the Bluetooth standard or the I.E.E.E. standard 802.11 as examples. The Bluetooth protocol allows for short-range wireless communications between devices and peripherals. See a complete description of the Bluetooth specification in two sections: A Core Specification (Volume I) and Definitions (Volume II) Profile published July, 1999, which are available on the Internet at the Bluetooth official website. In contrast, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineer specification 802.11 (I.E.E.E. 802.11) allows for longer-range wireless communications between processor-based devices and peripherals. See the I.E.E.E. 802.11 standard entitled “I.E.E.E. Standard 802.11 1999 Edition”, which may be obtained from the I.E.E.E. Customer Service Center, 445 Hoes Lane, P.O. Box 1331, Piscataway, N.J. 08855-1331.  
         [0013]    According to the Bluetooth standard, a wireless network may be formed when enabled devices come within about 10 meters of each other. Thus, a variety of devices including peripherals may enter and leave the network in an ad hoc fashion. While part of the network, different processor-based systems may communicate directly with each other.  
         [0014]    Once part of the network  10 , it may be desirable to present image data that is obtained from one or more display devices  12  on a display  14  that is associated with another display device  12 . For example, it may be desirable to simultaneously present information that is obtained from the PDA  12   b,  two-way pager  12   c  and pen computer  12   d  on the display  14   a  of the laptop computer  12   a.  Alternately, it may be desirable to present information that is obtained from the laptop computer  12   a  on the display  14  of the PDA  12   b,  two-way pager  12   c  and pen computer  12   d.  In either case, according to embodiments of the present invention, one or more display services  16  and  40  and software module  50  resident on the display device  12  may coordinate the actions for implementing the desired presentation outcome. As used herein, the term image data refers to any data or information relating to any object, letter, number, graphic, image, text, picture, photograph, table or the like. Thus, the scope of the present invention is not limited in this respect.  
         [0015]    The display services  16  and  40  may be provided by a service model based infrastructure such as Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) or Jini™ as examples. However, the scope of the present invention is not limited in this respect. Generally, UPnP and Jini™ technologies facilitate building networks with little or no user involvement.  
         [0016]    UPnP is defined by the Universal Plug and Play forum. Available standards, specifications and other documents are available over the Internet on the Forum&#39;s official website. Likewise, the Jini™ technology specification v1.2 is available over the Internet on Sun® Microsystems&#39; Official website.  
         [0017]    According to some embodiments of the present invention, one or more display devices  12  may act as a display client by querying the network  10  for example over a wireless link such as link  13 ,  15 ,  17 ,  19 ,  21  or  23  to determine if a particular display service is available. When the display client locates the display service, one or more display devices  12  supporting the service may act as a display sponsor by processing the image data obtained from the display client over a wireless link  13 ,  15 ,  17 ,  19 ,  21  or  23  for display on the display  14  associated with the sponsor. Alternately, in other embodiments, the display sponsor may announce over wireless link  13 ,  15 ,  17 ,  19 ,  21  or  23  that the sponsor supports a particular display service. Thereafter, one or more display clients may request over wireless link  13 ,  15 ,  17 ,  19 ,  21  or  23  the use of the display service. Thus, the display devices  12  in the wireless network  10  may act either as a display client or a display sponsor. Moreover, a display device  12  that previously acted as a display client may reverse roles to act as a display sponsor and vice versa. Communications between all network devices, display devices and peripherals alike may be over a wireless link such as link  13 ,  15 ,  17 ,  19 ,  21  or  23 .  
         [0018]    In one embodiment of the present invention as shown in FIG. 2, the software module to provide a display service  16  automatically subdivides the display  14  associated with display sponsor into a plurality of viewing areas. As used herein, “automatic”, “automatically” and derivatives thereof generally means that a service does not require user input for execution, rather, once client data is received over a wireless link, it may be processed without requiring user input.  
         [0019]    The display service  16  may begin when one or more requests from display clients are received by the display sponsor as shown in diamond  18 . When no requests are received, the display  14  may be dedicated to the display sponsor. However, when one or more clients request the use of the display  14  associated with the display sponsor, the display sponsor may receive image data from the requesting display clients as shown in block  20 . Client image data may be in the form of a bit mapped image data as one example. However, the scope of the present invention is not limited to bit-mapped image data.  
         [0020]    Thereafter, the display sponsor may buffer the image data received from the requesting display clients in its own virtual display memory area at full resolution as shown in block  22 . The software for the service  16  may determine the number of client requests, as shown in block  24 . Thereafter, the number of viewing areas that the display is to be divided into may be determined as shown in block  25 . The number of viewing areas that the display  14  associated with the display sponsor is subdivided into may be based in part on the number of client requests that the display sponsor receives. For example, when there are three client requests, the service  16  may determine that the display  14  should be subdivided into four viewing areas, one for each client and one for the display sponsor. Thereafter, the display service  16  may dynamically resize the image data obtained from one or more display clients and the display sponsor as shown in block  26 . Image data may be resized to occupy one of the viewing areas. When the image data for one or more display devices  12  is resized, it may be presented in one of the viewing areas on the display sponsor&#39;s physical display, as shown in block  28 . In this way, display quality may be retained as the viewing areas change in size.  
         [0021]    Subdividing the display into an appropriate number of viewing areas may depend in part upon the number of client requests that the display sponsor receives. As an illustration only, in which the scope of the present invention is not limited, referring back to FIG. 1, the laptop  12   a  may be designated as a display sponsor. One or more of the PDA  12   b,  two-way pager  12   c  and pen computer  12   d  may act as a client. Accordingly, one or more client devices  12   b,    12   c  and  12   d  may detect the service  16  and may request the use of the laptop&#39;s  12   a  display  14   a.  The sponsor laptop  12   a  may receive image data transmitted from one or more client devices  12   b,    12   c  and  12   d.  To retain image quality, the service  16  may buffer one or more client&#39;s  12   b,    12   c  and  12   d  image data. In this example there are three client requests. Thus, when determining the appropriate number of viewing areas to divide the sponsor display  14   a  into, the service  16  may fashion an area for the display of data received from one or more clients  12   b,    12   c  and  12 . Moreover, the service  16  may retain a viewing area to display the sponsor&#39;s  12   a  data. When the appropriate number of viewing areas is determined, display service  16  may dynamically resize the image data obtained from one or more client  12   b,    12   c  and  12   d  for presentation on the sponsor display  14   a.  In some embodiments, the display sponsor&#39;s  12   a  data may also be resized before display.  
         [0022]    According to one embodiment, display service  16  may subdivide the sponsor display into substantially equal viewing areas, as shown in FIG. 3. Thus, according to the above example, the display  14   a  on the laptop  12   a  may be divided into substantially four equal viewing areas  30   a,    30   b,    30   c  and  30   d.  One viewing area  30   a  may be for the presentation of the sponsor&#39;s  12   a  image data. The other three viewing areas  30   b,    30   c  and  30   d  may be allocated for presentation of data obtained from the PDA  12   b,  two-way pager  12   c  and pen computer  12   d  respectively in this example. When resizing image data, display service  16  may attempt to retain the same aspect ratios.  
         [0023]    In an alternate embodiment, display service  16  may subdivide the sponsor display into unequal viewing areas, as shown in FIG. 4. According to the present example, the display  14   a  on the laptop  12   a  may still be subdivided into four viewing areas. However, one area  32  may be a primary viewing area whereas those areas remaining may be secondary viewing areas  34 . In this example, the primary viewing area  32  may be retained for displaying the laptop&#39;s  12   a  image data. However, the image data obtained from any one of the client devices may occupy the primary viewing area  32 . Likewise, according to the example, the secondary viewing areas  34   a,    34   b  and  34   c  may be fashioned for displaying client image data  12   c,    12   b  and  12   d  respectively. However, the sponsor&#39;s  12   a  image data may just as easily occupy a secondary viewing area  34 . Secondary viewing areas may be picture-in-picture windows or pop-up windows. Again, the image data received from one or more clients may be resized for display in a designated viewing area. When doing so, display service  16  attempts to retain the same aspect ratios. Additionally, in this embodiment, the display sponsor&#39;s image data may or may not be resized.  
         [0024]    It should be noted that the embodiments outlined above are only two of the possible ways to divide display space and the scope of the present invention is not limited in this respect.  
         [0025]    Allocation of display space may be updated when a display device  12  enters or leaves the network  10  or when the display sponsor receives one or more additional requests for use of the sponsor&#39;s display. Moreover, in some embodiments of the present invention, an allocated viewing area may be retained for use by a given client or sponsor device should the client or sponsor temporarily become inactive or leave the network  10 .  
         [0026]    An alternate display service  40  as shown in FIG. 5 may dynamically format a user interface that is obtained from a client device to occupy a viewing area on one or more sponsor devices. In some embodiments of the present invention, the software for the display service  40  may be utilized alone or in conjunction with display service  16 . Moreover, in embodiments of the present invention, during interface development image elements have been prioritized and/or grouped in a logical manner according to their importance. For example, required elements or the most important features of the interface may be given a higher priority whereas optional elements or elements of lesser importance may be given a lower priority. The prioritization and grouping of image elements may be similar to a HyperText Markup Language (HTML) form although the scope of the present invention is not limited in this respect. As used herein, the term image element is intended to include any element that may be displayed on a user interface such as objects, letters, numbers, graphics, photographs, pictures, text, tables and images as a few examples. However, the scope of the present invention is not limited to these examples.  
         [0027]    The prioritization and/or grouping of the interface image elements may be stored as presentation metadata that is associated with the user interface data. Thus, when a display sponsor receives a request from a client to utilize its display as shown in diamond  42 , that display sponsor may receive interface data and presentation metadata from a client as shown in block  44 . When the interface data and presentation metadata are received, the display service  40  may construct a user interface that may reflect the prioritization of one or more image elements and the display properties and capabilities for that particular sponsor device as shown in block  46 . When finished constructing the user interface for a particular display sponsor, the display service  40  may display the modified user interface as shown in block  48 .  
         [0028]    As an illustration, which does not limit the scope of the present invention, please refer to FIG. 1. It may be desirable to present a user interface obtained from the laptop  12   a  on the display  14  of the PDA  12   b,  two-way pager  12   c  and pen computer  12   d.  Accordingly, when the display service  40  is recognized by the client laptop  12   a,  the client  12   a  may send a request to one or more sponsor devices  12   b,    12   c  and  12   d  to use one or more sponsor  12   b,    12   c  or  12   d  displays  14 . Alternately, in some embodiments, the display sponsor  12   b,    12   c  and/or  12   d  may request user interface data from the client  12   a.  In either embodiment, one or more sponsor devices  12   b,    12   c  and  12   d  may receive interface data and presentation metadata from the client  12   a.  Thereafter, the service  40  may format the client  12   a  data pursuant to the prioritization and/or grouping of one or more image elements and the dimension and resolution of the particular display  14   b,    14   c  or  14   d.    
         [0029]    When formatting the user interface for presentation on one or more sponsor devices  12   b,    12   c  and/or  12   d,  the required interface elements may be displayed first and most prominently. Moreover, the display service  40  may also take the particular sponsor&#39;s display size and resolution into account when formatting interface image elements for presentation. Thus, when going from a display client with a larger viewing area to one or more display sponsors with a smaller viewing area, some of the interface image elements may appear on one screen whereas other interface elements may appear on subsequent screens. Those interface elements that appear on the first screen may be required elements having higher priority whereas image elements on subsequent screens may be optional elements of lower priority. Navigation between screens may be by any conventional means such by depressing a next button or key although the scope of the invention is not limited in this respect. In this way, a graphical user interface viewed on one display device  12  in a wireless network may be modified for viewing on another display device  12  within the network  10  in a seamless, logical manner.  
         [0030]    Referring to FIG. 6, one or more display devices  12  that may act as a client may have software module  50 . The software module  50  may have instructions for transferring image data, and when applicable presentation metadata, to one or more display sponsors in one embodiment. When in the client mode, the display device  12  may request the use of one or more displays  14  via the associated display sponsor as shown in block  52 . When the request is received by a display sponsor that supports a display service  16  and/or  40 , the client display device may package the client&#39;s interface data as shown in block  54  and may transmit that data as shown in block  56  to one or more receiving display sponsors. Packetizing the client interface data may be done by methods known in the art.  
         [0031]    Referring to FIG. 7, in one embodiment one or more of the display devices  12  that are part of the wireless network  10  may include a processor  58  coupled to a bridge  60 . The bridge  60  may be coupled to a system memory  62 , a bus  64  and a display interface  66 . The system memory  62  may include a buffer  68  for the virtual display of client image data. Moreover, the memory  62  may be any suitable memory such as an Electrically Erasable Programmable Read Only Chip (EEPROM), a flash memory or a Programmable Read Only Memory (PROM) as a few examples, although the scope of the present invention is not limited in this respect. The display interface  66  may be coupled to the display  14 .  
         [0032]    Bus  64  may be coupled to a bridge  70 , which may be coupled to a hard disk drive  74  and a bus  72 . Hard disk drive  74  may store software for services such as display service  16  that subdivides a sponsor display into a plurality of viewing areas, display service  40  that modifies client interface data for presentation on a display sponsor and software module  50  that transmits client image data to a display sponsor. The bus  72  may be coupled to a serial input/output (SIO)  76  and a basic input/output system (BIOS)  78 . The SIO  76 , in turn, is coupled to a radio frequency (RF) interface  80 , which is coupled to an antenna  82  such as a dipole antenna as one example, although the scope of the present invention is not limited in this respect.  
         [0033]    The above architecture is exemplary for a processor-based device of a wireless network. However, any appropriate architecture may be utilized or modified for a particular device and the scope of the present invention is not limited in this respect.  
         [0034]    While the present invention has been described with respect to a limited number of embodiments, those skilled in the art will appreciate numerous modifications and variations therefrom. It is intended that the appended claims cover all such modifications and variations as fall within the true spirit and scope of this present invention.