This Application claims priority of Taiwan Patent Application No. 100142227, filed on Nov. 18, 2011, the entirety of which is incorporated by reference herein.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to editing, and in particular relates to collaborative editing by a plurality of mobile devices.
2. Description of the Related Art
In group discussions, frequently it is necessary to share files quickly and simply during a presentation. It is also necessary to instantly edit the content of the presentation stuff during the discussion of a presentation. In a related art, a mobile device, including a display module, a short-range communication module and a controller used for searching at least one device available for short-range communication and displaying the location of the searched device on the display module, is presented for file transmissions between mobile devices.
However, this method emphasizes how to search the device and could only shares files one-by-one. Therefore, a novel design for collaborative editing by a plurality of mobile devices is highly required.
According to one aspect, an electronic device for collaborative editing by a plurality of mobile devices includes a wireless module communicating with a plurality of mobile devices via a wireless network to receive packets from the mobile devices, respectively, and an embedded processing unit decoding the received packets to obtain an editing command, editing a collaborative editing file according the editing command, generating a display image, and transmitting the display image to a display unit to display the display image.
According to one aspect, a method for collaborative editing by a plurality of mobile devices, is suitable for an electronic device which includes an processing unit and a wireless module. The method includes communicating with a plurality of mobile devices by the wireless module and a wireless network to receive packets from the mobile devices, respectively, and decoding the received packets to obtain an editing command, editing a collaborative editing file according the editing command, generating a display image, and transmitting the display image to a display unit to display the display image by the embedded processing unit.
The present invention can be more fully understood by reading the subsequent detailed description and examples with references made to the accompanying drawings, wherein:
a shows a schematic block diagram of an electronic device according to an embodiment of the invention;
b shows a schematic block diagram of an electronic device according to another embodiment of the invention;
a shows a method of configuring the display image when there are three sharing files;
b shows a method of configuring the display image when there are five sharing files;
c shows a method of configuring the display image when there is a sharing file;
d shows a method of configuring the display image when there are two sharing files;
The following description is of the best-contemplated mode of carrying out the invention. This description is made for the purpose of illustrating the general principles of the invention and should not be taken in a limiting sense. The scope of the invention is best determined by reference to the appended claims.
a shows a schematic block diagram of an electronic device according to an embodiment of the invention. As shown in
When a collaborative editing file is stored in the embedded processing unit 104, the embedded processing unit 104 decodes the received packets to obtain an editing command, edits the collaborative editing file according to the editing command, generates a display image, and transmits the display image to a display unit 114 to display an image. The embedded processing unit can be processing units such as ARM processors, MIPS processors, PowerPC processors, and so on, but it is not limited thereto.
Further, the electronic device 100 may comprise the display unit 114 to display the display image generated by the embedded processing unit 104. The electronic device 100 may not comprise the display unit 114 but be connected to an external display unit to display the display image. In some embodiments, the electronic device 100 can be a Set-top Box (STB), the display unit 114 can be a TV, and the STB and the TV can be combined into an Internet-enabled TV. The electronic device 100 can be combined with the display unit 114 into a commercial product such as a digital photo frame and a digital TV. In another embodiment, the electronic device 100 can be a projector, and the display unit 114 can be a projection unit of the projector used for projecting the generated display image.
Further as shown in
Further, the mobile device 102 may further comprise a file editing module 120 (not shown in
And then by the wireless communication module (available for short-range communication) of the mobile devices 102, the file processing module 120 detects if there are electronic devices (electronic device 100) with display devices nearby for communication and collaborative editing. When the file processing module 120 has found an electronic device with a display device and available for short-range communication, the file processing module 120 shows a list on the display device of the mobile device 102 in order to provide the user of the mobile device 102 with selection of a desired electronic device to connect with. Then the file processing module 120 connects with the wireless module 118 of the electronic device 100 by the wireless module of the mobile device 102 and transmits a first file (a file to be shared) and/or an access permission setting corresponding to the first file and/or an editing command to the electronic device 100. If the file processing module 120 has transmitted the first file, the first file can be used as a collaborative editing file.
After the wireless module 118 receives packets of the first file (a file to be shared), the wireless module 118 transmits the packets to the packet processing module 110. The packet processing module 110 decodes the received packets and stores the first file into a storage module (not shown in
Further, when a second mobile device (another mobile device) is also connected to the electronic device 100, the embedded processing unit 104 may also receive packets from the second mobile device, decode the received packets to obtain a second file and an editing command, and then edit the second file and the collaborative editing file.
Further, an access permission setting corresponding to the first file is transmitted by the wireless module of mobile device 102 with the first file to the electronic device 100. After the wireless module 118 receives packets of the file, the access permission setting of the first file, and the editing command, the wireless module 118 transmits the packets to packet processing module 110. The packet processing module 110 decodes the received packets to obtain the access permission setting of the file set by the user of the mobile device 102 and stores the first file into the storage module. The packet processing module 110 transmits the file access permission setting to the control module 116. The control module 116 shares and edits the file with other mobile devices which are connected to the wireless module 118 according to the file access permission setting of the mobile device 102. Sharing files means all of the uploaded files (the first file or the collaborative editing file) are stored in the storage module or the control module 116, and all the mobile devices 102 can download, transmit, and edit files from the storage module or the control module 116 according to access permission setting of the file.
Further, when a plurality of mobile devices transmit sharing files to the electronic device 100, the image display module 112 generates the display image of the display unit 114 according to the number of all the shared files (one of the collaborative editing file, the first file, the second file, . . . , or a combination of the files above). The methods of configuring the display images corresponding to different numbers of shared files are shown in
Then the image display module 112 transmits the display image to the display unit 114 and the wireless module 118. The wireless module 118 transmits the received display image to the mobile device 102 to display a display image on the screen of the mobile device 102. The display unit 114 of the electronic device 100 displays the display image. In one embodiment, the display unit 114 can be a projection unit, the image display module 112 configures the display image which is projected by the projection unit according to the number of all the shared files (files to be displayed) and generates the display image. The projection unit projects a projection image according to the display image.
Further, when a plurality of mobile devices transmit sharing files to the electronic device 100 and select a sharing file from all the sharing files as a collaborative editing file, the mobile devices 102 which are connected to the wireless module 118 are in a collaborative editing mode. The users of all the mobile devices 102 which are in the collaborative editing mode may edit (ex: display, split screen, transmit, add, delete, revise, search, and so on) the collaborative editing file according to the file access permission setting. For example, the packet processing module 110 decodes the received packets from the first mobile device to obtain a first file, wherein the first file may be used as the collaborative editing file. Then the packet processing module 110 decodes the received packets from the second mobile device to obtain a second file, decodes the received packets from the mobile devices (including the first and second mobile device) to obtain editing commands, and transmits the editing commands to the control module 116 in order to let the control module 116 manage the edition of the collaborative editing file and the second file stored in the storage module. For example, the user of the mobile device 102 can paste a second file (a picture) on the collaborative editing file, a user of another mobile device (a third mobile device) can add a text description besides a picture to describe the picture. After the mobile devices finish editing and all the mobile devices close the collaborative editing mode, the control module 116 deletes the files stored in the storage unit.
In another embodiment as shown in
In another embodiment, the graphical user interface which is generated by the file processing module 120 comprises a plurality of display regions, wherein each display region corresponding to the electronic device and one of the mobile devices, respectively. The user interface provides a touch gesture movement detection, which is capable of determining the display regions corresponding to a start point and an end point of a gesture, for generating an editing command transmitting the corresponding file of a start display region to the corresponding device of an end display region. As shown in
In one embodiment, the electronic device 100 may decode the packets transmitted by the mobile device 102 to obtain an editing command, and provide the following operations such as addition, deletion, revision, and searching of text, picture, and data accordingly. For example, the user of the mobile device 102 may drag a picture from the lower part of its screen to the upper part to add a picture to the collaborative editing file from the mobile device 102. For example, the user of the mobile device 102 may drag a selected text from the lower part of its screen to the upper part to add a text description to the collaborative editing file.
To begin, by the wireless module and a wireless network, a plurality of mobile devices are communicated with to receive packets therefrom, respectively (Step S602).
Then, by the embedded processing unit, the received packets are decoded to obtain an editing command, wherein a collaborative editing file is edited according to the editing command, a display image is generated and the display image is transmitted to a display unit to display the display image (Step S604).
The function of the electronic device 100 which includes the embedded processing unit is the same with the paragraph recited above. Therefore, the function of the electronic device 100 is not described here again.
Further, the method of the invention further includes decoding the received packets from a first mobile device of the mobile devices to obtain a first file, and using the first file as the collaborative editing file, and decoding the received packets from a second mobile of the mobile devices to obtain a second file, and editing the second file and the collaborative editing file according to a editing command.
Further, the method of the invention further includes transmitting the display image to a specified mobile device of the mobile devices to display the display image, and the specified mobile device includes a graphical user interface used for displaying according to the display image. The interface further includes a plurality of display regions used for displaying the display image from the electronic device and file image of the specified mobile device, respectively; and each display region corresponds to the electronic device and one of the mobile devices, respectively. The interface further provides a touch gesture movement detection, which is capable of determining the display regions corresponding to a start point and an end point of a gesture, for generating an editing command transmitting the corresponding file of a start display region to the corresponding device of an end display region.
Therefore, the above-described embodiments of the present invention can improve the efficiency of collaborative sharing, editing, and file managing in group discussions. The electronic device and projector of the invention is capable of providing an efficient way for file editing by a plurality of users of mobile devices. Also, the method of the invention can be implemented by an electronic device with an embedded processing unit rather than a computer system.
Various aspects of the disclosure have been described above. It should be apparent that the teachings herein may be embodied in a wide variety of forms and that any specific structure, function, or both being disclosed herein is merely representative. Based on the teachings herein one skilled in the art should appreciate that and aspect disclosed herein may be implemented independently of any other aspects and that two or more of these aspects may be combined in various ways.
While the invention has been described in connection with various aspects, it will be understood that the invention is capable of further modifications. This application is intended to cover any variations, uses or adaptation of the invention following, in general, the principles of the invention, and including such departures from the present disclosure as come within the known and customary practice within the art to which the invention pertains.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
100142227 | Nov 2011 | TW | national |