Abstract:
Presenting a slide. Anticipating a slide to be selected for display. Receiving data of the anticipated slide in an unconstructed format. Constructing the anticipated slide from the received data. Caching the constructed slide. Pre-drawing the constructed slide in construction memory. Receiving instructions to display a slide. In the event that the instructed slide is the cached and pre-drawn slide, rendering the pre-drawn slide to display memory.

Description:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
       [0001]    This application claims priority from U.S. Provisional Pat. App. Ser. No. 61/319,694, filed on Mar. 31, 2010, the contents of which are incorporated herein in their entirety for all purposes. 
     
    
     FIELD 
       [0002]    The technology disclosed herein (the “technology”) relates to processor-implemented presentation systems. More specifically, the technology relates to caching a constructed slide of a presentation. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0003]    Reference will now be made, by way of example, to the accompanying drawings that show example implementations of the technology of the present application. 
           [0004]      FIG. 1  is a schematic diagram of a wireless communication system; 
           [0005]      FIG. 2  is a block diagram of components of a portable electronic device  112  forming part of the communication system of  FIG. 1 , according to an implementation; 
           [0006]      FIG. 3  is a block diagram showing functional components of the technology; 
           [0007]      FIG. 4  is a flowchart illustrating methods of the technology, using the functional components of  FIG. 3 ; 
           [0008]      FIG. 5  is a flowchart illustrating methods of the technology, using the functional components of  FIGS. 1-3 ; and 
           [0009]      FIG. 6  is a flowchart illustrating methods of caching a ready-to-display representation of an anticipated slide in slide construction memory of a presentation device  113 . 
           [0010]      FIG. 7  illustrates a data processing system suitable for storing a computer program product of the present technology and for executing the program code of the computer program product. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       [0011]    Reference will now be made in detail to implementations of the technology. Each example is provided by way of explanation of the technology only, not as a limitation of the technology. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made in the present technology without departing from the scope or spirit of the technology. For instance, features described as part of one implementation can be used on another implementation to yield a still further implementation. Thus, it is intended that the present technology cover such modifications and variations that come within the scope of the technology. 
         [0012]    Electronic slide presentations are a common way to present information to one or more viewers. Slide presentation software (e.g. Microsoft® Office PowerPoint®) facilitates the creation of multimedia files incorporating text, images, audio and/or visual clips for presentation in one or more slides. Often the files are presented in a slideshow, displaying the slides sequentially. The slides may be displayed to a display screen of a computing device (e.g., a personal computer), or via a presentation device such as a projector for projecting the presentation to a remote screen. 
         [0013]    More particularly, portable electronic devices such as wireless mobile devices (cellular phones, PDAs, etc.) among others, may include a viewer for displaying slide presentations in multiple display modes, such as a text mode for displaying text information distilled from the slides, a preview mode for displaying thumbnail slide images rendered from the slides and a mixed mode for displaying both text information and thumbnail slide images together. The slide presentation viewer may also include a slide show mode to display the slide images in full screen along with an interface (e.g. menu) for selecting among the multiple modes and for invoking and controlling the slide show. For handheld wireless communication devices in particular, a network server may process slide presentation files to generate the text information and slide images for communicating to wireless devices equipped with appropriate slide presentation viewers. The network server may be an attachment server providing services for email attachments and the slide presentation viewers may be attachment viewers for email or dedicated viewers for presentations. 
         [0014]    Handheld communication devices may also be capable of remotely controlling display of an electronic slide presentation. For example, a presentation mode of operation may be provided for wirelessly controlling display of a slide presentation on, or through, a presentation device. When controlling a presentation in this fashion, the slides being displayed on the handheld electronic device can be the same as those displayed on the presentation device (or on a display connected to the presentation device). 
         [0015]    The term “slide” as used throughout the specification and drawings includes, but is not limited to, a single presentation slide (such as a PowerPoint® slide), a page in a PDF file, or a single photo image. 
         [0016]      FIG. 1  shows a communication network system  100  comprising at least one portable electronic device  112 , an IP network  114  (including a wireless carrier network and base station (not shown)), a wireless network gateway  116 , an enterprise email server  117 , an enterprise wireless communication device server or proxy server  118 , an attachment server  119 , a display  190 , and interconnections therebetween. 
         [0017]    The portable electronic device  112  can be operable to effect communications over an IP network  114  via a radio communications channel  160 , and can communicate with the base station (not shown) while located within a coverage area that is defined by the base station. The base station can be part of the IP network  114 , or other network such as a Wireless Wide Area Network (WWAN). Data can be delivered to the portable electronic device  112  via wireless transmission from the base station. Similarly, data can be sent from the portable electronic device  112  via wireless transmission to the base station. 
         [0018]    It will be appreciated that the portable electronic device  112  can be movable within the coverage area and can be moved to coverage areas defined by other base stations. Generally, portable electronic devices  112  can be connected to a wireless network that may comprise one or more of a WWAN and a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) or other suitable network arrangements such as  114 . In some implementations, the devices  112  can be configured to communicate over both the WWAN and WLAN, and to roam between these networks. In some implementations, the wireless network may comprise multiple WWANs and WLANs. 
         [0019]    The WWAN may be implemented as any suitable wireless access network technology. By way of example, but not limitation, the WWAN may be implemented as a wireless network that includes a number of transceiver base stations where each of the base stations provides wireless Radio Frequency (RF) coverage to a corresponding area or cell. The WWAN is typically operated by a mobile network service provider that provides subscription packages to users of the mobile communication devices. In some implementations, the WWAN conforms to one or more of the following wireless network types: Mobitex Radio Network, DataTAC, GSM (Global System for Mobile Communication), GPRS (General Packet Radio System), TDMA (Time Division Multiple Access), CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access), CDPD (Cellular Digital Packet Data), iDEN (integrated Digital Enhanced Network), EvDO (Evolution-Data Optimized) CDMA2000, EDGE (Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution), UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunication Systems), HSPDA (High-Speed Downlink Packet Access), IEEE 802.16e (also referred to as Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access or “WiMAX”), or various other networks. Although WWAN is described as a “Wide-Area” network, that term is intended herein also to incorporate wireless Metropolitan Area Networks (WMAN) and other similar technologies for providing coordinated service wirelessly over an area larger than that covered by typical WLANs. 
         [0020]    The WWAN may further comprise, or interface with, a wireless network gateway  116  that connects the devices  112  to transport facilities, and through the transport facilities to an enterprise system  120 . Transport facilities may include one or more private networks or lines, the Internet, a virtual private network, or any other suitable network. The enterprise system  120  may be operated, for example, by an organization or enterprise such as a corporation, university, or governmental department that allows access to a network  124  such as an internal or enterprise network (e.g., an intranet) and its resources, or the enterprise system  120  may be operated by a mobile network provider. In some implementations, the network  124  may be realized using the Internet rather than or in addition to an internal or enterprise network. 
         [0021]    The portable electronic device  112  can be further operable to deliver content to and control a presentation device  113 . For example, device  112  can send slide presentation content and control signals to the presentation device  113  for controlling display of a presentation, such as a Microsoft® Office PowerPoint® presentation or successive pages of an image attachment, such as a Portable Document Format (PDF) document. The electronic device  112  can communicate with the presentation device  113  over communications link  170 , e.g., a wired or wireless link. Communications link  170  between the electronic device  112  and the presentation device  113  can be, for example, a Bluetooth® wireless technology communications link. 
         [0022]    Proxy server  118  can handle client requests from the portable electronic device  112  for documents stored within attachment server  119 . The attachment server  119  can communicate with the proxy server  118  to transmit attachments such as documents, spreadsheets, images, multimedia files, etc. through the gateway  116  and network  114  for viewing via an attachment viewer of the portable electronic device  112  so as to allow a user to view attachments that are received in email messages. While only one attachment server  119  is shown for illustration purposes, a person skilled in the art will understand that the attachment server  119  alternatively can be a network of attachment servers. Sources for the attachments stored within server  119  can include mail server  117 , and may include a web server, IM server, etc. Preferably the attachment data is downloaded to portable electronic device  112  in chunks of binary data in an attachment viewer readable format, for example Universal Content Stream (UCS) format. 
         [0023]    Referring now to  FIG. 2 , a block diagram of some typical components within the portable electronic device  112  is shown. In the illustrated implementation, the portable electronic device  112  is based on the computing environment and functionality of a wireless personal digital assistant (PDA). It will be understood, however, that the portable electronic device  112  is not limited to wireless personal digital assistants. Other portable electronic devices are possible, such as smart telephones, laptop computers, and tablet computers. 
         [0024]    The portable electronic device  112  can include a processor  200  connected to a read-only-memory (ROM)  210  that can contain a plurality of applications executable by the processor  200  that can enable the portable electronic device  112  to perform certain functions including, for example, PIN message functions, SMS message functions and cellular telephone functions, and at least one attachment viewer application for viewing attachments (e.g. document attachments to emails or documents from other sources, such as web servers, etc.). The processor  200  is also connected to a random access memory unit (RAM)  220  and a persistent storage device  230 , which are responsible for various storage functions of the portable electronic device  112 . The processor  200  receives input from input devices such as a keypad  240  and a trackball or touch sensitive input  250 . The processor  200  outputs to various output devices, such as an LCD display  260 . A microphone  270  and phone speaker  280  are connected to the processor  200  for cellular telephone functions. The processor  200  is also connected to a modem and radio device  290 . The modem and radio device  290  is used to connect to wireless networks for transmitting and receiving voice and data communications through an antenna  294 . A Bluetooth® wireless technology receiver/transmitter  296  is provided to effect wireless communication between device  112  and other Bluetooth-enabled devices, such as presentation device  113 , as discussed in greater detail below. A content store  298 , which is generally a file storage system for the portable electronic device  112 , is also provided. Though not illustrated, the device  112  can include other near-range communications interfaces, e.g., an infrared interface operating similar to television remote control interface. 
         [0025]    Request/view functionality for an attachment can be provided by the client/server combination of attachment viewer within the portable electronic device  112  and the attachment server  118 . More particularly, with reference to  FIG. 3 , portable electronic device  112  can be configured (e.g. via software stored, for example, in ROM  210 ) to comprise various components including an operating system  300 , a communications system  305  for wireless communication, an email application  310  and other applications  315 . Email application can comprise or otherwise cooperate with various attachment viewers  320  for retrieving and viewing attachments. One such attachment viewer is slide presentation viewer  325 . Other viewers  330  include spreadsheet viewers, image viewers, word processing document viewers, etc. (not described herein). Other applications  315  include other communication and control applications  317  and a presentation application  319  for communicating with and controlling presentation device  113 . The presentation application  319  can communicate with one or more presentation devices via wired or wireless connections, including cables, radio frequency, and infrared media. 
         [0026]    Attachment server  119  can be configured (e.g. via software stored, for example, in non-volatile memory (not shown)) to comprise various components including a operating system  335 , communications system  340 , slide presentation attachment handler  345  as well as other attachment handlers  347  for other attachment types. Slide presentation attachment handler  345  can comprise or otherwise cooperates with a text distiller  350  and slide renderer  355 . Text distiller  350  can be configured to parse or otherwise review slide presentation documents to extract text information for delivery to handheld devices such as portable electronic device  112 . Slide renderer  355  can define rasterized slide images (e.g. in a jpeg, tiff or other image format) from the slide presentation document for each slide for similar delivery. 
         [0027]    The attachment server  119  and/or proxy server  118  and portable electronic device  112  can communicate such that when a user invokes the attachment viewer  325  to view the content of a slide presentation, the portable electronic device  112  can transmit one or more requests for slide information, (i.e. the text information and slide images) and receives same in response. Requests and responses are illustrated notionally as communicating directly between the portable electronic device  112  and attachment server  119  but it is understood that communications are through network  114  via gateway  116  and proxy server  118 . 
         [0028]    Due in part at least to communication protocol constraints on a message&#39;s size, a single message may be insufficient to communicate all of the text information and/or all of the slide images for a slide presentation document. Thus, the portable electronic device  112  can make multiple requests either automatically or in response to direct or indirect user actions. For example, as described above, during a slide show, the slide presentation viewer  325  can automatically make requests for slide information in the background while a slide show is being viewed. For example, the viewer  325  can anticipate the need for more slide information in response to input via trackball or touch input  250  scrolling toward the end of the slides present on the handheld device. In some implementations, a menu choice may be invoked (e.g. a “More” command) for additional slide information, as applicable, to pre-load slides. 
         [0029]    In some implementations, a request (e.g. for slide information) includes a flag or other data indicating a screen size for the portable electronic device  112  when rendering slide images. This can be a specific pixel size (e.g. 340×280), a code flag (1=340×280 pixels) or a device type, among other types, where the attachment server  119  or proxy server  118  determines the screen size from the code flag or device type. Other display capabilities can be indicated to the attachment server  119  as well or alternatively. For example, the color capabilities of the display screen (e.g. back and white only or the number of colors available), reflective type, etc. can be indicated to help render slide images. The attachment server  119  then can adjust the color palette of the rendered slide presentation for viewing on the requesting device. 
         [0030]    Slide presentation viewer  325  can provide a graphical user interface (GUI) to present the slides in the various modes and provides a menu or other command interface for user input to invoke the presentation application  319  for transmitting the slide presentation to presentation device  113  and controlling the presentation thereat. 
         [0031]    More particularly, presentation device  113  can include a presentation adapter  360  for communicating with presentation application  319 . 
         [0032]    In addition to presentation adapter  360 , presentation device  113  includes other hardware and software such as communications  365 , other projector applications  370  (e.g., for communicating with display  190 ) and operating system  375 . 
         [0033]    With reference to  FIG. 4 , example methods are set forth for downloading and viewing a presentation on the portable electronic device  112 , e.g., using the functional components of  FIG. 3 . First, at  400 , the portable electronic device  112  can request an attachment (e.g. slide presentation) from attachment server  119 . The request can be initiated, for example, by a trackball click or menu item selection to “Open attachment” or “Download attachment.” The presentation attachment may be an attachment to an email, calendar event, instant message (IM), browser link, or other attachment-enabled object. 
         [0034]    If the presentation attachment has been saved to memory of the device  119 , e.g. a persistent store  230  or Secure Digital (SD) card (not shown), then the attachment can be retrieved locally to the device  119 , and process flows continues at  FIG. 5 . 
         [0035]    If the presentation attachment has not been previously requested (e.g., a “No” at  410 ), attachment server  119  can build a DOM that represents the attachment, e.g., by parsing the attachment document (step  420 ). In this manner, a graph structure can be built within attachment server  119  representing a model of the original attachment file. The DOM contains textual content, font, style and formatting attributes as well as layout attributes, such as page/slide size, positioning information (i.e. x, y and z coordinates on the page), embedded graphics and tables, for example. DOM structure is known and is disclosed in United States Patent Application No. 2006/0055693. Approaches other than use of DOMs to represent a presentation are within the scope of the present technology. The DOM representation is used as an example. 
         [0036]    Once the DOM of the attachment has been built the attachment server  119  can transcerpt and encapsulate the DOM in UCS data, as indicated at  430 . The UCS data then can be sent to portable electronic device  112  in chunks, as indicated at  440 . Each chunk is a self-contained data representation of a portion of the presentation attachment (e.g. one image of a slide, one slide of a presentation). That is, there is sufficient data contained in a chunk to enable the attachment viewer to display the content of the chunk. Depending on the size of the chunks and the size of the attachment, the entire attachment can be transmitted in one chunk or in multiple chunks. Depending on the nature of the request from the attachment viewer, attachment server  119  can transmit the chunks in sequence or out of sequence. For example, if the attachment viewer requests the fifth slide of a presentation attachment, attachment server  119  can transmit the chunks corresponding to the fifth slide, even if chunks for slides  1  to  4  have not been transmitted to the device  112 . 
         [0037]    The attachment then can be previewed via display  260 , and several menu or command options are made available ( 450 ) such as “Present”, “Retrieve Info/View Info”, “Zoom”, “Rotate”, “Fit to Screen”, “Next Slide”, “Prey Slide (if applicable), “Save Slide”, “Download Attachment”, “Help”, “Call Voice Mail”, etc. Additional operations can be performed in response to actuation of the trackball/touch input device  250 , such as scrolling to a next (or previous) slide. 
         [0038]    If the attachment has been previously requested (e.g., a “Yes” at  410 ), attachment server  119  can transcerpt and encapsulates the DOM in UCS data, and transmit the UCS data to portable electronic device  112  in chunks, as indicated at  445 , for display ( 450 ). 
         [0039]    In some implementations, device  112  can perform one or more of DOM build and UCS formatting, e.g., on presentation files stored on the device. 
         [0040]    Upon selection of the “Present” command ( 500 ), the presentation application  319  is launched, as shown in  FIG. 5 . At  510 , the application can check to see that the presentation adapter  360  is connected. If not, a communication channel is established between portable electronic device  112  and presentation device  113 , e.g. via a pairing connection process ( 515 ) such as Bluetooth® wireless technology pairing. A typical pairing connection process calls up a wizard for presenting steps to establish communication pairing between the device  112  and presentation adapter  360  of the presentation device  113  using the communications applications  305  and  365  (e.g. Bluetooth discovery and pairing). Other wireless and wired communications technologies can be used between the device  112  and the presentation device  113 . 
         [0041]    At  520 , the application  319  sends a session ID to the paired presentation adapter  360 . The application then checks for slide presentation data (e.g. a first UCS chunk representing the first slide) having already been transmitted to and locally stored at the presentation adapter  360  ( 525 ). This can be accomplished, for example, by comparing check sums, or any other appropriate method. If not, the presentation application  319  sends the slide data to the presentation adapter  360  (and, in some implementations, requesting additional data from the attachment server  119 , as discussed above in connection with  FIG. 4 ). 
         [0042]    Referring to  FIG. 6 , methods  600  of the technology are illustrated. UCS data representing a slide of a presentation is now stored in memory of presentation device  113 , whether from the portable electronic device  112 , SD memory card of the presentation device  113 , or otherwise. The presentation device  113  constructs the slide from the stored UCS data  602  (typically a collection of objects, e.g., text, static graphics, animated graphics) to a format compatible with the targeted display technology  190 . Such processes can include, e.g., image decompression, text rendering, color conversion, setup of animation information for the slide. In some implementations of the presentation device  113 , the device  113  includes UCS data processing memory allocated to text construction. The text construction memory  380  is sized to accommodate a full slide of text, e.g., filling a 1024×768 display. Processing of the UCS data in this fashion results in a constructed slide. 
         [0043]    The constructed slide is rendered  604  to a region of presentation device  113  memory allocated to direct display, e.g., a visible region in a ready-to-display format, typically in response to an instruction from an electronic device  112 . Rendering the ready-to-display data in a visible region frees up memory space used during slide construction, e.g., the text construction region. In typical presentation devices, the slide construction region remains unused until the presentation device  113  receives UCS data for another slide, e.g., as a consequence of the mobile device  112  receiving a command to transition to a slide of the presentation that has not been stored as UCS data on the presentation device  113 . 
         [0044]    Implementations of the present technology anticipate the next slide to be presented  606 . If the UCS data for the anticipated slide is not stored on the presentation device, some implementations can request the UCS data for the anticipated slide  608 . After receiving the anticipated slide UCS data  610 , whether by request or otherwise (and preferably after copying any earlier-constructed slide to a visible region of presentation device  113  memory), implementations of the technology construct the anticipated slide  612 . The constructed anticipated slide is cached and pre-drawn into the memory space allocated to slide construction  614 . In this fashion, the anticipated slide is ready for copying to a visible region (e.g., main buffer, flip buffer under control of a video driver) of presentation device  113  memory. 
         [0045]    In some implementations, the anticipated slide is the next slide in sequence in the presentation. In some implementations, the anticipated slide can be determined from slide metadata, e.g., the title slide, the heading slide of a next presentation section, the slide that has been displayed the most times during the presentation, the slide that has been displayed for the longest period of time during the presentation, etc. In some implementations, the memory space otherwise allocated to slide construction that is used to pre-draw the anticipated slide can be the text construction memory  380 . 
         [0046]    When the presentation device  113  is instructed to proceed to a slide different than the one currently being made available for display  616 , the presentation device can determine if the cache holds the constructed new slide and if the new slide is pre-drawn in construction memory  618 , i.e., if the anticipated slide is the slide for which it received a new display instruction. If so, then the presentation device  113  can copy the pre-drawn anticipated slide into the visible portion of memory (display memory  390 ), and use the cached constructed anticipated slide for rendering the new slide as necessary  620 . In this fashion, the presentation device  113  can reduce the latency between slides when the anticipated slide is the new slide that the presentation device is instructed to display. 
         [0047]    In some implementations, slide construction is a higher-priority use than slide caching for the memory used for slide caching. In those implementations, when the presentation device  113  has a slide construction task, that task takes priority over slide caching. 
         [0048]    The present technology can take the forms of hardware, software or both hardware and software elements. In some implementations, the technology is implemented in software, which includes but is not limited to firmware, resident software, microcode, a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) or Application-Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), etc. In particular, for real-time or near real-time use, an FPGA or ASIC implementation is desirable. 
         [0049]    Furthermore, the present technology can take the form of a computer program product comprising program modules accessible from computer-usable or computer-readable medium storing program code for use by or in connection with one or more computers, processors, or instruction execution system. For the purposes of this description, a computer-usable or computer readable medium can be any apparatus that can contain, store, communicate, propagate, or transport the program for use by or in connection with the instruction execution system, apparatus, or device. The medium can be an electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system (or apparatus or device) or a propagation medium (though propagation mediums in and of themselves as signal carriers are not included in the definition of physical computer-readable medium). Examples of a physical computer-readable medium include a semiconductor or solid state memory, magnetic tape, a removable computer diskette, a random access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), a rigid magnetic disk and an optical disk. Current examples of optical disks include compact disk—read only memory (CD-ROM), compact disk—read/write (CD-R/W) and DVD. Both processors and program code for implementing each as aspect of the technology can be centralized or distributed (or a combination thereof) as known to those skilled in the art. 
         [0050]    A data processing system suitable for storing a computer program product of the present technology and for executing the program code of the computer program product will include at least one processor coupled directly or indirectly to memory elements through a system bus. The memory elements can include local memory employed during actual execution of the program code, bulk storage, and cache memories that provide temporary storage of at least some program code in order to reduce the number of times code must be retrieved from bulk storage during execution. Input/output or I/O devices (including but not limited to keyboards, displays, pointing devices, etc.) can be coupled to the system either directly or through intervening I/O controllers. Network adapters can also be coupled to the system to enable the data processing system to become coupled to other data processing systems or remote printers or storage devices through intervening private or public networks. Modems, cable modem and Ethernet cards are just a few of the currently available types of network adapters. Such systems can be centralized or distributed, e.g., in peer-to-peer and client/server configurations. In some implementations, the data processing system is implemented using one or both of FPGAs and ASICs. 
         [0051]    Referring to  FIG. 7 , a data processing system (e.g.,  700 ) suitable for storing a computer program product of the present technology and for executing the program code of the computer program product can include at least one processor (e.g., processor resources  712 ) coupled directly or indirectly to memory elements through a system bus (e.g.,  718  comprising data bus  718   a , address bus  718   b , and control bus  718   c ). The memory elements can include local memory (e.g.,  716 ) employed during actual execution of the program code, bulk storage (e.g.,  760 ), and cache memories (e.g., including cache memory as part of local memory or integrated into processor resources) that provide temporary storage of at least some program code in order to reduce the number of times code must be retrieved from bulk storage during execution. Input/output or I/O devices (including but not limited to keyboards  750 , displays  730 , pointing devices  720 , etc.) can be coupled to the system either directly or through intervening I/O controllers (e.g.,  714 ). Network adapters can also be coupled to the system to enable the data processing system to become coupled to other data processing systems or remote printers or storage devices through intervening private or public networks. Modems, cable modem and Ethernet cards are just a few of the currently available types of network adapters. Such systems can be centralized or distributed, e.g., in peer-to-peer and client/server configurations. In some implementations, the data processing system is implemented using one or both of FPGAs and ASICs.