Patent ID: 8819296

Claim:
An apparatus comprising: at least one local input/output device; and an interface that is configured to interface between at least one application hosted by the apparatus and the at least one local input/output device and is configured to interface between the at least one application hosted by the apparatus and at least one remote input/output device hosted by another apparatus; wherein the interface has a first state in which the interface is configured to couple the application and the least one local input/output device but not couple the application and the at least one remote input/output device hosted by the another apparatus; wherein the interface has a second state in which the interface is configured to couple the application and the least one local input/output device and to couple the application and the at least one remote input/output device hosted by another apparatus; wherein the interface is configured to be responsive to a proximity detection trigger, indicative that the another apparatus hosting the remote input/output device is available to be coupled to by the interface, to change its state from the first state to the second state; wherein the proximity detection trigger comprises a message produced in response to a proximity event; wherein the message has a standard format for conveying characteristics of the remote input/output device hosted by the another apparatus; wherein the characteristics of the remote input/output device hosted by the another apparatus comprise: position information, orientation information, display size information and display resolution information; wherein the at least one local input/output device comprises a first display and the at least one remote input/output device comprises a second different display; and wherein the interface in the second state is configured to generate a viewing map comprised of first content of the first display and second content of the second display, wherein the second content is different to the first content; and wherein the viewing map is a logical display formed from a combination of at least the first content of the first display and the second content of the second display and wherein at least one of the first content and the second content is dependent on the relative positions of the first display and the second display.