Patent ID: 7818367

Claim:
A switching system comprising: computer-side connectors including (1) plural computer-side user input device connectors for separately electrically connecting to respective user-input device inputs of plural computers and (2) plural computer-side video connectors for separately electrically connecting to analog video outputs of the plural computers, wherein the plural computer-side user input device connectors are electrically separate from the plural computer-side video connectors; a first set of user-side connectors including (1) a first user-side user-input device connector for electrically connecting to a first user-input device and (2) a first user-side video connector for electrically connecting to an analog video input of a first monitor, wherein the first user-side user-input device connector is electrically separate from the analog video input of the first monitor; a first analog video receiving circuit interposed between the computer-side connectors and the first set of user-side connectors for receiving analog video signals from one of the plural computers through at least one of the computer-side connectors; and a first analog video processing circuit, interposed between the computer-side connectors and the first set of user-side connectors, for selecting, for at least one sub-region of an image to be displayed on the first monitor, at least one of (1) a portion of the analog video signals received by the first analog video receiving circuit and (2) internally generated analog video signals, to form an output analog video signal that is output to the first monitor via the first user-side video connector.