Presentation system for individual personal computers in a personal computer network

The network presentation system includes a database on a network server, the database being administered and controlled by an administration software module. The administration module creates individual images from text and/or visual material and then organizes a series of such images into a presentation which is stored in the database. The presentation is displayed on the screens of the individual PCs in the network by the action of a messenger software module present in each PC, following passage of a selected amount of time during which the PC is on but is not used. The messenger module maintains control over the presentation of the images in the particular presentation sequence following interruptions of actual use by the PC. A PC user has the capability of returning the PC to its conventional use, but also has the capability of controlling the presentation to an extent, or even changing to an entirely different presentation among the several which may be available to that specific user.

TECHNICAL FIELD 
This invention relates generally to personal computer network systems, and 
more specifically to a system for providing selected presentations to the 
personal computers in the network at selected times. 
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
Personal computers and personal computer networks are well-known in the 
computer field. A personal computer network is a linked plurality of 
individual personal computers; typically, each computer is at a different 
location (station), controlled by a common server. A computer network 
enables data and work-in-progress to be readily transferred between 
individual computers in the network, so as to maintain commonality of the 
data and the work-in-progress between them. Typically, not all of the 
personal computers which make up such a network are operating at the same 
time. In fact, for most of the individual computers in a network, there 
could be significant time during the working day when they are not being 
used, even though they may be "ON" during the entire working day. 
When a personal computer is in its "ON" state but not in use, its computer 
screen is still lit, which will ultimately lead to damage or degradation 
of the screen. "Screen saver" techniques are frequently used in such 
situations, in which a selected image appears on the screen. Such screen 
saver images, however, serve no other useful purpose. Accordingly, it 
would be desirable that useful information or other presentation material 
be made available to the user on his/her computer screen at selected times 
when the computer is not being used, as an alternative to conventional 
screen saver images. 
DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION 
Accordingly, the present invention is a system for presenting information 
to a plurality of personal computers formed into a personal computer 
network, the personal computers capable of conventional task operation, 
comprising: a system database for storing at least one presentation 
sequence which includes a selected sequence of images suitable for display 
on a personal computer screen; an administration module for composing said 
presentation sequence; messenger module means for controlling the display 
of said presentation sequence on the screen of a selected personal 
computer which is associated with said messenger module when said personal 
computer has been on but unused for a preselected period of time; and 
means at each personal computer for returning the personal computer to its 
conventional task operation.

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION 
As discussed above, personal computers (PCs), particularly when they are 
used in a business context, are typically left in an "ON" state during the 
entire work day, even when they are not actually being used. Such PCs may 
have a conventional "screen saver" module, which produces certain images 
on the screen when the computer is not in use, in order to extend the life 
of the computer screen. 
The present invention, which is for use in a computer network, in basic 
overview includes a repertoire of presentations, each of which typically 
takes the form of a series of successive slides or screen images. These 
presentations are stored in a system database located on a network server 
PC, and in operation of the system are provided to the individual network 
PCs for display on their computer screens. The presentations are initiated 
for each PC in the network following a selected amount of time during 
which each PC has been in an "on" state but has not been in use. These 
presentations in effect replace the conventional screen saver, but in 
addition, provide information in visual form which is intended to be 
beneficial to the user of the PC. 
The presentations may be educational, providing information and/or 
instruction, or they may be more personal in nature, providing 
encouragement or similarly helpful information. In addition, of course, 
the presentations could include a measure of entertainment value. It 
should thus be clear that a wide variety of information can form the 
individual presentations provided to the personal computers in the 
network. 
FIGS. 1 and 2 show a basic system view of the present invention. The 
overall computer network within which the present invention operates is 
shown generally at 10. The network 10 comprises a plurality of individual 
network personal computers 12, 14 and 16. The network of course can 
include a selected number of personal computers in excess of that shown. 
The network 10 also includes a network server PC 18 which is responsible 
for maintaining control over the flow of information in the network. Every 
other PC in the network has access to the network server and, in 
particular, the system database located thereon, which typically is on the 
hard disk of the PC. The system database on network server 18 contains the 
scripts and slides comprising the various available presentations, 
discussed in more detail below. 
Referring to FIG. 2 for an overview of the data flow and control of the 
system, each network PC has a messenger software module 22. The messenger 
modules 22--22 communicate with system database 24 on the network server 
18 and provide a certain amount of local control over the presentation at 
its associated PC. The messenger module can be loaded into a network PC 
from any external source, including the hard disk on the server. The 
system also includes an administration software module 26 which can be 
loaded into and executed from any PC in the network. The administration 
module 26 can be loaded from the server's hard disk storage, a diskette, 
or the PC's own memory. The administration module 26 has the basic 
responsibility of composing, adding to, or deleting information from the 
database 24 on server 18. 
Administration module 26 also has the capability of communicating with 
external sources, including other network servers with databases having 
presentation information, as well as other outside sources of data and 
images. The administration module 26 and database 24 on server 18 are 
responsible for generating the various slide presentations, selecting 
particular slide presentations for the individual PCs in the network and 
scheduling those presentations in a particular sequence. A presentation is 
provided to an individual PC by action of its messenger module 22 through 
database 24. The appearance of the successive slides on the PC screen is 
monitored by the messenger module to ensure that the individual slides in 
the presentation are presented in sequential order, even in the event that 
there is a break in the immediate presentation, such as caused by the user 
operating the PC. At any point in the presentation, the user may begin use 
of the PC, such as for work-in-progress, by simply pushing any key on the 
PC keyboard except for a designated key which is for manual control of the 
presentation. 
Thus, as can be seen from the above basic explanation, the present 
invention comprises a system database 24 located on the network server, an 
administration module 26 which communicates with database 24 on server 18, 
as well as external sources, and a plurality of messenger modules, with 
one messenger module being present in each network PC. The messenger 
modules also communicate with the database 24. 
The administration module 26 is capable of a number of specific system 
functions. First, it is capable of displaying all the users in the network 
that have an installed messenger module. The individual users may be 
arranged into various groups according to the selection of the system 
operator, using the administration module 26. Each user is identified by a 
unique network identification (ID). Hence, a command to view the network 
users in the database 24 is provided through the administration module 26. 
The user's IDs and the individual presentations are contained in the 
system database 24. 
Another function of administration module 26 in the embodiment shown 
concerns the creation of the individual presentations, which may be 
alternatively referred to as scripts. Each presentation or script consists 
of one or more individual slides or screens composed around a particular 
topic. The topic could be educational in nature, such as health or 
business or could involve particular training, or it could also be 
inspirational or motivational in nature. In addition, entertainment could 
be made a portion of individual presentations, or it could be a separate 
presentation. In any event, each script comprises a series or sequence of 
slides. The composition of each slide or image is discussed below. 
Administration module 26 creates particular presentations by arranging 
individual slides in a selected sequence. The presentations are then 
stored in database 24. 
A further function of the administration module 26 concerns the actual 
creation of the individual slides or screens themselves. Each individual 
slide consists of text and/or images, with the images being provided from 
existing memory or files in the server 18 or from any external library 
source available to the system. The images may be of course quite varied. 
Further, there is the capability of altering existing images to a more 
preferred image. The same capability is true for text as well, with the 
operator having the ability to input text and use it for a particular 
slide, either alone or with an image. In addition, there is the capability 
of overall composition, including use of color, various backgrounds, 
different kinds of text fonts, etc. 
All of the above concerns the composition or creation of individual slides. 
The basic capability of creating such slides is available in standard PC 
operating systems. One example is Powerpoint in WINDOWS software from 
Microsoft, Inc., of Redmond, Washington, which is now widely available. 
Administration module 26 is arranged to interface with such operating 
systems so that slides can be created and then arranged into presentations 
which are in turn stored in database 24 and made available to the network 
PCs in the system. 
Still another function of the administration module 26 is the assignment of 
specific presentations to the individual PCs. This capability allows the 
administration module 26 to match or select particular presentations to 
particular users, depending upon the needs or requirements of those users. 
The presentations available to each user also are subject to an extent to 
the control of the user, as explained in more detail in the following 
paragraphs. 
A related function of the administration module 26 concerns the particular 
schedule which is established for the appearance of the individual 
presentations at each of the network PCs. For instance, each user in the 
system (each network PC) will have its own unique schedule of 
presentations, including a particular sequence of different presentations 
and a specific time of nonuse required before a presentation begins. This 
scheduling of presentations is established through the administration 
module and stored in system database 24. 
Lastly, presentations may be obtained or provided to external systems 
and/or other outside sources over external communication lines. This 
enables the one administration module for the system to obtain or provide 
presentations directly from or to external sources, so as to eliminate the 
need for composing them within the system. 
A software flow chart for these particular functions are shown in FIGS. 
3-16. Most of these flow charts concern the administration module 26. FIG. 
3 shows a main screen or overall flow chart for viewing the information 
associated with the various functions described above, and for reading 
that information. FIG. 4 shows more detail concerning the groups and/or 
specific users in the network system, including updating of the system 
database. FIG. 5 concerns generally the composition of a presentation from 
a sequence of available slides or screens. A particular slide may be 
edited at any time for presentation flexibility. The system database 24 is 
updated immediately upon such editing so as to impact presentations in 
effect on-line. FIG. 6 concerns the composition process for individual 
slides. As can be seen, a significant number of slide composition 
functions are available. 
FIGS. 7 and 8 concern the assignment of particular presentations in the 
database to one or more network PCs, and the scheduling or selected 
sequence of the presentations for the individual network PCs. 
It should be noted, as indicated above with respect to some of the 
functions, that all changes, compositions, scheduling, etc. which are made 
by the administration module are ultimately stored in the system database 
24. 
FIG. 9 shows the details of the system menu available to the user. In one 
embodiment, for instance, this could be a WINDOWS menu. It should be 
understood, however, that the present invention is not restricted to a 
WINDOWS operating environment. 
FIGS. 9-13 concern the overall operating means of the system, including 
menu options, which in the embodiment shown, is in a "pulldown" menu 
format. In FIG. 10, control is provided over the importing and exporting 
of presentations (scripts) and over the options available for printing the 
text and the visual information. A "quit" or terminate option is also 
provided. FIG. 11 is an "edit" menu, including choices which are active or 
non-active, depending on location of the administration module's cursor. 
In FIG. 12, a highlighted script can be run, a picture editor can be run, 
or the content of a buffer viewed. In FIG. 13, the basic system 
configurations for both the administration module 26 and the messenger 
module 22 can be changed, if desired. 
As indicated above, each network PC in the system includes a messenger 
module which operates in conjunction with the system database 24 and has a 
communications capability with the database. When a network PC has not 
been in use for the specific period of time established for that 
particular PC, the messenger module, in coordination with the database, 
will automatically begin the assigned presentation on the PC's screen. The 
messenger module maintains control of the presentation on the screen to 
the extent that it has stored in its user's own setup file (a file on the 
PC's hard disk) the last slide which has been shown in the particular 
presentation then being used, even if the presentation has been 
interrupted by use of the PC. The presentation begins at the same point at 
which it was interrupted. The messenger module is responsible for this 
control. Each slide is shown for a preselected period of time, and then, 
if the PC is still not being used, the next slide in the presentation 
sequence is shown, again under the control of the messenger module. 
As discussed briefly above, the administration module has the capability of 
scheduling a sequence of different scripts for each user. When one script 
is completed at a particular PC, the messenger module for that PC may 
either repeat that script or go to the next presentation in the schedule. 
Each messenger module is controlled to some extent by the individual PC 
with which it is associated. 
For instance, by pressing a designated key on the PC keyboard (or the 
correct mouse button), when a presentation is in progress, a control menu 
will appear on the user's screen over the current slide. This menu gives 
the user various possibilities by which to control the presentation. It is 
possible, for example, to reverse the presentation slide by slide, or the 
presentation may be fast-forwarded, slide by slide. 
By pushing an eject button or other designated key, the user will also be 
able to go to another selected presentation among the several available to 
it through the administration module. The newly selected presentation will 
remain the "current" presentation until the broadcast schedule previously 
established in the administration module for that PC indicates that 
another presentation is due. 
FIGS. 14 and 15 show the software control of the flow of data and the 
operating process for the system of the present invention. FIG. 14 shows 
the sequence of messenger module operation, including reading of database 
24. The operation sequence begins each time the PC has not been used for a 
selected period of time. This is initiated by a trigger signal, which 
could originate at the PC or from the network server. FIG. 15 shows the 
functional process steps for showing an actual slide at the user's PC. 
FIG. 16 shows the "quit" sequence for the messenger module, terminating 
current operation of its associated network PC in the presentation 
network. This sequence permits the PCs to return to their previous tasks. 
As indicated above, FIGS. 3-16 are software flow charts for the present 
invention. These flow charts, in addition to the explanation provided 
above, provide sufficient information for one of ordinary skill in the art 
to produce the actual program code to accomplish the stated operation of 
the system. 
Accordingly, a system has been described which is useful in the context of 
a network of personal computers. It includes the presentation of 
information and/or encouraging messages originated and provided from a 
network server to the individual PCs in the network at selected times, 
specifically after a certain elapsed time during which the PC has been on 
but has not been used. 
Although a preferred embodiment of the invention has been disclosed herein 
for illustration, it should be understood that various changes, 
modifications and substitutions may be incorporated in such embodiment 
without departing from the spirit of the invention which is defined by the 
claims which follow.