Patent ID: 7770131

Claim:
A method for sharing control of subsystems, the method comprising: identifying an integration system comprising a first display processor and a first command processor; receiving, by the first display processor, a plurality of display signals comprising a display signal from each subsystem of a plurality of subsystems, the plurality of display signals further comprising two display signals physically disparate in form sufficient to be incompatible with one another; translating, by the first display processor, the two display signals that are incompatible with one another into a common form and integrating the translated display signals into first and second composite display signals that are passed from the first display processor to respective displays of a first and second workstation; storing, by the integration system, a first display layout personalized by a first operator interacting with the integration system via the first workstation; storing, by the integration system, a second display layout personalized by a second operator interacting with the integration system via the second workstation; monitoring, simultaneously by the first and second operators via the first and second workstations, respectively, functionality of the plurality of subsystems receiving, by the integration system via the first workstation, a first command input by the first operator into the first workstation; receiving, by the integration system via the second workstation, a second command input by the second operator into the second workstation; translating, by the first command processor, one or both of the first and second commands into a form compatible with a first subsystem whenever the one or both of the first and second commands, as originally generated, is incompatible with the first subsystem; and routing, by the first command processor, the translated first and second commands to the first subsystem of the plurality of subsystems.