Patent ID: 8594467

Claim:
A system for adapting an arbitrary display surface into a thin client having a plurality of concurrent virtual interactive displays each corresponding to one of a plurality of remote heterogeneous computing devices, comprising: a display interface module having one or more communication mechanisms for providing a video input to an arbitrary display surface; wherein the display interface module further includes one or more communication mechanisms for receiving a local user input; wherein the display interface module further includes one or more communication mechanisms for communicating with a plurality of heterogeneous computing devices across one or more networks; wherein the display interface module periodically receives a virtual display from each of the remote heterogeneous computing devices, and wherein the display interface module composes each of the received virtual displays into a combined video output that is provided to the arbitrary display surface via the one or more communication mechanisms for providing the video input to the arbitrary display surface; wherein the display interface module monitors received user input to determine which of the virtual displays comprising the combined video output the user intends to interact with, and sends corresponding control events to the corresponding heterogeneous computing devices via the one or more networks; and wherein each corresponding heterogeneous computing device receiving control events interprets those control events as a local user input to control the actions of the corresponding heterogeneous computing device.