Field of the Disclosure
This disclosure relates generally to information handling system displays and, more particularly, to multi-mode display sharing.
Description of the Related Art
As the value and use of information continues to increase, individuals and businesses seek additional ways to process and store information. One option available to users is information handling systems. An information handling system generally processes, compiles, stores, and/or communicates information or data for business, personal, or other purposes thereby allowing users to take advantage of the value of the information. Because technology and information handling needs and requirements vary between different users or applications, information handling systems may also vary regarding what information is handled, how the information is handled, how much information is processed, stored, or communicated, and how quickly and efficiently the information may be processed, stored, or communicated. The variations in information handling systems allow for information handling systems to be general or configured for a specific user or specific use such as financial transaction processing, airline reservations, enterprise data storage, or global communications. In addition, information handling systems may include a variety of hardware and software components that may be configured to process, store, and communicate information and may include one or more computer systems, data storage systems, and networking systems.
Display devices, such as liquid crystal displays (LCDs) are commonly integrated within portable information handling systems configured in the form of laptop, notebook, netbook, and tablet computers, among others, and personal mobile devices, such as smart phones. Desktop or non-portable information handling systems also use display devices, which are often implemented as separate devices with input ports for graphical display signals. As users of information handling systems increasingly own and operate multiple systems, including portable systems and personal mobile devices, it may be difficult for users to easily integrate display outputs from multiple sources into a single display device.
In one aspect, a disclosed method for sharing a multi-mode display device includes detecting, at the multi-mode display device, a first connection with a primary display source and a second connection with a secondary display source. The method may include sending, to the primary display source, display mode data indicating which display modes are supported by the multi-mode display device when simultaneously outputting display data to the primary display source and the secondary display source. Responsive to sending the display mode data, the method may include receiving, from the primary display source, selection data indicating a user-selected display mode based on the display mode data. The user-selected display mode may specify a first display region and a second display region for simultaneously outputting display data on the multi-mode display device. The method may include outputting first display data received via the first connection to the first display region, and outputting second display data received via the second connection to the second display region.
Other disclosed aspects include an article of manufacture including a non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions executable by a processor of a multi-mode display device, and a multi-mode monitor, including a processor having access to a memory, storing instructions executable by the processor.
For a more complete understanding of the present invention and its features and advantages, reference is now made to the following description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:
In the following description, details are set forth by way of example to facilitate discussion of the disclosed subject matter. It should be apparent to a person of ordinary skill in the field, however, that the disclosed embodiments are exemplary and not exhaustive of all possible embodiments.
As used herein, a hyphenated form of a reference numeral refers to a specific instance of an element and the un-hyphenated form of the reference numeral refers to the collective or generic element. Thus, for example, widget “72-1” refers to an instance of a widget class, which may be referred to collectively as widgets “72” and any one of which may be referred to generically as a widget “72”.
For the purposes of this disclosure, an information handling system may include an instrumentality or aggregate of instrumentalities operable to compute, classify, process, transmit, receive, retrieve, originate, switch, store, display, manifest, detect, record, reproduce, handle, or utilize various forms of information, intelligence, or data for business, scientific, control, entertainment, or other purposes. For example, an information handling system may be a personal computer, a PDA, a consumer electronic device, a network storage device, or another suitable device and may vary in size, shape, performance, functionality, and price. The information handling system may include memory, one or more processing resources such as a central processing unit (CPU) or hardware or software control logic. Additional components or the information handling system may include one or more storage devices, one or more communications ports for communicating with external devices as well as various input and output (I/O) devices, such as a keyboard, a mouse, and a video display. The information handling system may also include one or more buses operable to transmit communication between the various hardware components.
For the purposes of this disclosure, computer-readable media may include an instrumentality or aggregation of instrumentalities that may retain data and/or instructions for a period of time. Computer-readable media may include, without limitation, storage media such as a direct access storage device (e.g., a hard disk drive or floppy disk), a sequential access storage device (e.g., a tape disk drive), compact disk, CD-ROM, DVD, random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), and/or flash memory (SSD); as well as communications media such wires, optical fibers, microwaves, radio waves, and other electromagnetic and/or optical carriers; and/or any combination of the foregoing.
As larger displays become more widespread with certain information handling systems, and as more uses own and operate multiple devices, including portable information handling systems and personal mobile devices, the ability to integrate display outputs of different devices on a single display screen becomes increasingly desirable. As will be described in further detail, the inventors of the present disclosure have developed methods and systems disclosed herein for multi-mode display sharing that enables a multi-mode display device (also referred to as a multi-mode monitor, or simply, a multi-mode display) to concurrently display at least two display regions where each display region corresponds to an output from a different information handling system. For example, one display region may correspond to a stationary information handling system while a second display region may correspond to a portable information handling system, such as a personal mobile device.
Particular embodiments are best understood by reference to
Turning now to the drawings,
As shown in
In
As depicted in
Also in
As noted previously, a user of information handling system 100 may desire to display the output from display adapter 144 as well as the output from a portable information handling system (i.e., a tablet computer) or from a personal mobile device (i.e., a smart phone) on a single display. As will be described in further detail herein, information handling system 100 and/or display adapter 144 may support operation with a multi-mode display that is enabled to simultaneously display graphical content from at least two different sources.
Turning now to
As shown in
In
In operation, portable information handling system 200 may be enabled to send display data that is output on display screen 208 to a multi-mode monitor via wireless transceiver 204, which the multi-mode monitor is configured to receive and output on a display region.
Turning now to
As shown in
In
In multi-mode display device 300, processor 330 and memory 332 represent data processing functionality where memory 332 may store data and/or instructions executable by processor 330. Processor 330 may also communicate with screen driver 306, which may also include processing functionality (not shown). In certain embodiments, processor 330 may be coupled to graphics ports 308, either via screen driver 306 as shown in
In operation, multi-mode display device 300 may be set up to receive display data from an information handling system, such as information handling system 100 (see
Referring now to
In conventional operation of multi-mode display system 400 in
It is noted that display region 1404 and display region 2406 are shown in
Certain examples of particular pixel resolutions, among other possible resolutions, for display region 2406 are given below in Table 2.
Based on the resolutions given in Tables 1 and 2, non-limiting exemplary combinations of display regions that may be used with multi-mode display system 400 are given below in Table 3.
It is noted that in certain embodiments, more than one floating display region may be used. For example when multi-mode display 300-1 is at least about 30 inches in diameter and has at least 3840×2160 resolution, a third display region (not shown) in the form of a second floating display region may be used to output display data from an additional portable information handling system (not shown).
In operation of multi-mode display system 400, executable code (i.e., processor-executable instructions) may be executed on multi-mode display 300-1, information handling system 100-1, and/or portable information handling system 200-1 to provide multi-mode display functionality. For example, a user may connect a personal computer (represented by information handling system 100-1) to multi-mode display 300-1 and may also establish wireless link 410 with a tablet computer (represented by portable information handling system 200-1) to multi-mode display 300-1. Then, multi-mode display 300-1 may send information handling system 100-1 supported display modes for a particular display configuration, for example, based on the options given above in Table 3. It is noted that the display options may additionally include a relative position of display region 1404 and display region 2406 with respect to each other (i.e., right side or left side for a particular display region). After the user selects a desired display mode, information handling system 100-1 may transmit the user selection to multi-mode display 300-1 and may set an output resolution of display adapter 144 accordingly. Multi-mode display 300-1 may then establish display region 1404 and display region 2406 according to the user selection and may begin to receive first display data from information handling system 100-1. The first display data may be scaled and/or otherwise processed at multi-mode display 300-1 (e.g., by screen driver 306) before outputting to display region 1404. Concurrently and/or simultaneously second display data may be received from portable information handling system 200-1. The second display data may be scaled and/or otherwise processed at multi-mode display 300-1 (e.g., by screen driver 306) before outputting to display region 2406.
Referring now to
In
In certain embodiments, the following operations may be performed prior to operation 510. The first connection may be deactivated and then activated. A request for extended display identification data (EDID) may be received via the first connection. The extended display identification data may be generated according to the first display region. The extended display identification data may be sent via the first connection. In this manner, the primary display source may be configured to output the user-selected display mode received in operation 506.
While multi-mode display 300-1 performs method 500, information handling system 100-1 may perform the following operations. After operation 504, options for selecting a display mode supported by the multi-mode display device may be presented to the user and an indication of the user-selected display mode may be received from the user. After operation 506, the user-selected display mode for the first display region may be set and output to the multi-mode display device.
While multi-mode display 300-1 performs method 500, portable information handling system 200-1 may perform the following operations. After operation 508, the user-selected display mode for the second display region may be set and output to the multi-mode display device.
As described herein, a multi-mode display device may, responsive to a user-selection, divide a display region into different regions corresponding to display data received from different user devices, such as a primary information handling system and a secondary portable information handling system. First display data received from the primary information handling system may be output to a first display region and second display data received from the secondary portable information handling system maybe output to a second display region.
The above disclosed subject matter is to be considered illustrative, and not restrictive, and the appended claims are intended to cover all such modifications, enhancements, and other embodiments which fall within the true spirit and scope of the present disclosure. Thus, to the maximum extent allowed by law, the scope of the present disclosure is to be determined by the broadest permissible interpretation of the following claims and their equivalents, and shall not be restricted or limited by the foregoing detailed description.
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Number | Date | Country | |
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20150279328 A1 | Oct 2015 | US |