Abstract:
This present disclosure provides a display device and display control method thereof. The display method used in an interactive display system which is made up of several display devices, the method includes: establishing an interactive display system; performing interactive display in the interactive display system; deletion the interactive display system when the interactive display is ended.

Description:
BACKGROUND 
       [0001]    1. Technical Field 
         [0002]    The present disclosure relates to a display device and a display control method thereof. 
         [0003]    2. Description of Related Art 
         [0004]    Display devices (e.g., digital photo frames) have many functions, such as, displaying images, communicating with other electronic devices, and so on. However, there is no function for interaction among these display devices. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0005]    The components in the drawings are not necessarily drawn to scale, the emphasis instead being placed upon clearly illustrating the principles of the display device. Moreover, in the drawings, like reference numerals designate corresponding parts throughout the several views. 
           [0006]      FIG. 1  is a schematic diagram of an interactive display system, including multiple display devices, in accordance with an exemplary embodiment. 
           [0007]      FIG. 2  is a block diagram of hardware infrastructure of the display devices of  FIG. 1 , in accordance with an exemplary embodiment. 
           [0008]      FIG. 3  is a block diagram showing main function modules of a central processing unit (CPU) of one of the display devices in  FIG. 2 . 
           [0009]      FIG. 4  is a flowchart of an interactive display method implemented by the system of  FIG. 1 , in accordance with an exemplary embodiment. 
           [0010]      FIG. 5  is a detailed flowchart of the interactive display method, in accordance with an exemplary embodiment. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       [0011]      FIG. 1  is a schematic diagram of an interactive display system, including multiple display devices, in accordance with an exemplary embodiment. The interactive display system includes at lease two display devices. As shown in  FIG. 1 , four display devices  1 - 4  are taken for example. The display device that establishes the interactive display system is regarded as an administrator; other display devices that join in the interactive display system are regarded as members. Take display device  1  as the administrator in the interactive display system for example, the display device  1  establishes the interactive display system and sends control signals to the display devices  2 - 4  to perform the interactive display. For example, when the display device  1  sends a display signal of “displaying swimming fish” to the display devices  2 - 4  one by one, the fish will look like swimming among these display devices  1 - 4 . The display devices  1 - 4  may be digital photo frames or other electronic devices. 
         [0012]      FIG. 2  is a block diagram of hardware infrastructure of the display devices of  FIG. 1 , in accordance with an exemplary embodiment. The display devices  1 - 4  have the same physical structures, so, for simple description, only display device  1  is taken for example in the following disclosure. 
         [0013]    The display device  1  includes a CPU  10 , a communication unit  12 , an input unit  14 , a storage unit  16 , and a display unit  18 . The CPU  10  is configured to generate control signals to establish the interactive display system and perform the interactive display among the display devices  1 - 4 . The communication unit  12  is configured to communicate with external devices (e.g., the display devices  2 - 4 ). The communication unit  12  may be a wireless communications unit, such as a BLUETOOTH device, and may further be a wired communications unit, such as that based on RS232 standard. The input unit  14  is configured to generate signals in response to user inputs. The storage unit  16  is configured to provide space for storing data. The data include, but not limited to, images, text, video files, and names, paths or other attribute of the above files. The display unit  18  is configured to display the data. 
         [0014]    The CPU  10  includes a management unit  100  and an interactive display unit  200 . The management unit  100  is configured to select one or more external display devices to join in the interactive display system. The management unit  100  is further configured to delete members in the interactive display system. The interactive display unit  200  is configured to control members to perform an interactive display in turn or at random, and determine whether the interactive display is ended. 
         [0015]      FIG. 3  is a block diagram showing main function modules of a central processing unit (CPU) of one of the display devices in  FIG. 2 . The management unit  100  includes a system establishing module  101  and a deletion module  102 . The system establishing module  101  is configured to select one or more display devices to establish an interactive display system. The deletion module  102  is configured to delete the display devices from the system when the interactive display is ended. 
         [0016]    Each display device is corresponding to a unique identifier (ID). The system establishing module  101  detects the IDs of the available display devices connected in a network, and adds a plurality of IDs to a record (e.g., a table), which is saved in the storage unit  16 . The deletion module  102  deletes the IDs from the record when the interactive display is ended. 
         [0017]    The interactive display unit  200  includes a command generating module  201  and a judging module  202 . The command generating module  201  is configured to generate commands, which includes IDs of the display devices, information of display content, display parameters, and so on. The command generating modules  201  is further configured to send the commands to the members that have corresponding IDs. The judging module  202  is configured to determine whether the interactive display is ended, and is further configured to determine whether there is a next display device to perform the interactive display when the interactive display is not ended. There are two determining modes applied by the judging module  202  to determine whether the interactive display is ended. One determining mode is determining whether there is a next member to perform the interactive display command according to the IDs stored in the record, that is, determining whether there is a next ID stored in the record. The other determining mode is determining when a current time reaches a predetermined time (e.g., 18: 38: 08) regarded as the interactive display is ended. 
         [0018]    The system establishing module  101  includes a detecting sub-module  1010  and a selecting sub-module  1011 . The detecting sub-module  1010  is configured to detect available external display devices through the communication unit  12 , and obtain the external display devices&#39; IDs. The selecting sub-module  1011  is configured to select external display devices&#39; IDs to establish the interactive display system. There are two selecting modes applied by the selecting sub-module  1011 . One selecting mode is selecting all of the available IDs. The other selecting mode is random selecting a part of the available IDs. 
         [0019]    The command generating module  201  includes a command performer determining sub-module  2010 , a content determining sub-module  2011 , and a parameters determining sub-module  2012 . 
         [0020]    The command performer determining sub-module  2010  is configured to determine which display device is to perform the current command that sent from the display device  1  according to the IDs stored in the record. For example, in a first exemplary embodiment, the command performer determining sub-module  2010  serially obtains an ID from the record and determines the display device corresponding to the obtained ID as the current display device to perform the current command. In a second exemplary embodiment, the command performer determining sub-module  2010  randomly selects an ID from the record and determines the display device corresponding to the obtained ID as the current display device to perform the current command. 
         [0021]    The content determining sub-module  2011  is configured to determine information (e.g., name or path) of the current display content to be displayed on the current display device to perform the current command. The determined information is used to guide the current display device to obtain the display content. 
         [0022]    The parameters determining sub-module  2012  is configured to determine display parameters of the current content. The display parameters include, but not limited to, display speed, display effect, and so on. For example, the display speed is 60 frames per second and the display effect is flying into from right. In another exemplary embodiment, the parameters determining sub-module  2012  is further configured to determine display starting time of the current display content. For example, the display starting time is 18: 36: 02. 
         [0023]      FIG. 4  is a flowchart of an interactive display method implemented by the system of  FIG. 1 , in accordance with an exemplary embodiment. In step S 21 , the system establishing module  101  establishes an interactive display system. In step S 22 , the command generating module  201  generates and sends commands to perform the interactive display. In step S 23 , the deletion module  102  deletes the interactive display system when the judging module  202  determines the interactive display is ended. 
         [0024]      FIG. 5  is a detailed flowchart of interactive display method, in accordance with an exemplary embodiment. In step S 31 , the command performer determining sub-module  2010  determines the current display device to perform the current command. In step S 32 , the content determining sub-module  2011  determines information of the current display content to be displayed on the determined display device. In step S 33 , the parameters determining sub-module  2012  determines display parameters of the current display content. In step S 34 , the command generating module  201  generates and sends the command to the determined display device, wherein the command includes the current display device&#39;s ID, information of the current display content, and the display parameters. In step S 35 , the judging module  202  determines whether the interactive display is ended. If the interactive display is ended, the process goes to S 36 , if the interactive display is not ended, the process return to S 23 . In step S 36 , the judging module  202  determines whether there is a next display device to perform the interactive display. If no, the process repeats S 36 ; if yes, the process returns to S 31 . 
         [0025]    It is believed that the present embodiments and their advantages will be understood from the foregoing description, and it will be apparent that various changes may be made thereto without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention or sacrificing all of its material advantages, the examples hereinbefore described merely being preferred or exemplary embodiments of the disclosure.