This disclosure relates generally to data processing devices and, more particularly, to a method, a device and/or a system of remotely controlling one or more display unit(s) communicatively coupled to a data processing device and/or display data rendered thereon.
A data processing device (e.g., a desktop computer, a laptop computer, a notebook computer, a netbook, a mobile device such as a mobile phone or a tablet) may have multiple display units communicatively coupled thereto. One display unit may be at a location of a user of the data processing device and another display unit may be remote from the location of the user; for example, the another display unit may be communicatively coupled to the data processing device through a computer network. In order to determine proper execution of application(s) assigned to the pipeline associated with the another display unit, the user may have to move to the remote location and/or leverage another user at the remote location. The aforementioned arrangement may severely inconvenience the user.
Disclosed are a method, a device and/or a system of remotely controlling one or more display unit(s) communicatively coupled to a data processing device and/or display data rendered thereon.
In one aspect, a method includes executing a process on a data processing device, and defining, through a driver component, mapping between: the process and a display unit communicatively coupled to the data processing device, and one or more other processes executing on the data processing device and one or more other display unit(s) communicatively coupled to the data processing device. Based on the execution of the process on the data processing device, the method also includes providing a capability to: preview display data rendered on the one or more other display unit(s) through the display unit in a user interface provided through the process, and configure the display data rendered on the one or more other display unit(s) and/or one or more parameter(s) associated with the display data rendered on the one or more other display unit(s) and/or the one or more other display unit(s) directly through the preview.
In another aspect, a non-transitory medium, readable through a data processing device and including instructions embodied therein that are executable through the data processing device, is disclosed. The non-transitory medium includes instructions to execute a process on the data processing device, and instructions to define, through a driver component, mapping between: the process and a display unit communicatively coupled to the data processing device, and one or more other processes executing on the data processing device and one or more other display unit(s) communicatively coupled to the data processing device. Based on the execution of the process on the data processing device, the non-transitory medium also includes instructions to provide a capability to: preview display data rendered on the one or more other display unit(s) through the display unit in a user interface provided through the process, and configure the display data rendered on the one or more other display unit(s) and/or one or more parameter(s) associated with the display data rendered on the one or more other display unit(s) and/or the one or more other display unit(s) directly through the preview.
In yet another aspect, a data processing device includes a memory and a processor communicatively coupled to the memory. The processor is configured to execute instructions associated with a process and one or more other processes. The data processing device also includes a driver component to define mapping between: the process and a display unit communicatively coupled to the data processing device, and the one or more other processes and one or more other display unit(s) communicatively coupled to the data processing device. The execution of the process is configured to provide a capability to: preview display data rendered on the one or more other display unit(s) through the display unit in a user interface provided through the process, and configure the display data rendered on the one or more other display unit(s) and/or one or more parameter(s) associated with the display data rendered on the one or more other display unit(s) and/or the one or more other display unit(s) directly through the preview.
The methods and systems disclosed herein may be implemented in any means for achieving various aspects, and may be executed in a form of a non-transitory machine-readable medium embodying a set of instructions that, when executed by a machine, cause the machine to perform any of the operations disclosed herein.
Other features will be apparent from the accompanying drawings and from the detailed description that follows.
The embodiments of this invention are illustrated by way of example and not limitation in the figures of the accompanying drawings, in which like references indicate similar elements and in which:
Other features of the present embodiments will be apparent from the accompanying drawings and from the detailed description that follows.
Example embodiments, as described below, may be used to provide a method, a device and/or a system of remotely controlling one or more display unit(s) communicatively coupled to a data processing device and/or display data rendered thereon. Although the present embodiments have been described with reference to specific example embodiments, it will be evident that various modifications and changes may be made to these embodiments without departing from the broader spirit and scope of the various embodiments.
In one or more embodiments, data processing device 100 may include a number of display units 1061-N (e.g., Cathode Ray Tube (CRT) displays, Liquid Crystal Displays (LCDs)) configured to have display data output from processor 102 rendered thereon.
Referring back to
In one or more embodiments, driver component 190 may provide metadata information associated with display units 1062-N; for example, processor 102 may trigger execution of instructions associated with driver component 190 to extract the aforementioned metadata information (e.g., metadata 194 shown as being stored in memory 104). The aforementioned metadata information (e.g., model name/information associated with display units 1062-N) may be applied to preview 202 to enable user 150 be aware of display units 1062-N coupled to data processing device 100 and identify the corresponding display data 1082-N associated therewith.
In one or more embodiments, driver component 190 may include definitions 196 associated with the mapping between processes (e.g., applications 1282-N; application 114 may be regard as application 1281) executing on data processing device 100 and display units 1061-N. For example, a gaming application may be rendered along with display data 1082 on one display unit 1062 and a word processing application on another display unit 1063. Alternately, display data 1083 associated with one display unit 1063 may be spanned/cloned across another display unit 1064. Operating system 180 may provide a virtual desktop background surface on which display data 1081-N associated with each display unit 1061-N is overlaid. In the case of spanning of display data 1083 rendered on one display unit 1063 across another display unit 1064, driver component 190 may include definitions (e.g., definition(s) 196) associated with distributing the virtual desktop background surface across display unit 1063 and display unit 1064.
Again, in one or more embodiments, application 114 may leverage the virtual desktop background surfaces provided by operating system 180 on which display data 1082-N is overlaid and apply a scaled version thereof onto preview 202. In one or more embodiments, for the aforementioned purpose, the execution of instructions associated with application 114 may cause processor 102 to scale display data 1082-N being rendered on display units 1062-N appropriately to fit the scaled versions of the virtual desktop background surfaces in preview 202.
It should be noted that definitions 196 in driver component 190 may include the mapping between application 114 and display unit 1061, thereby enabling user 150 view preview 202 on display unit 1061.
Thus, in one or more embodiments, when multiple display units 1061-N are coupled to processor 102, user 150 may perform functions such as resizing windows, changing orientations of the windows and enabling three dimensional (3D) content as part of editing display data 1082-N, and changing pixel resolution and display resolution as part of editing parameters 1602-N. Other examples (e.g., clearing display data 1082-N, operating a display unit 1062-N in a power savings mode) are within the scope of the exemplary embodiments discussed herein. The aforementioned editing may be possible because both the scaled versions of display data 1082-N and display data 1082-N may be mapped as processing outputs (e.g., output data from processor 102) such that modifying one (e.g., a scaled version of display data 1082-N) also results in the modification of the other (e.g., display data 1082-N).
In one or more embodiments, user 150 may also perform inter-display data 1082-N functionalities such as transferring/copying data (e.g., a file) from one set of display data 1082-N (e.g., display data 1083) to another (e.g., display data 1082). The aforementioned may merely require a drag and drop operation to be performed by user 150. Further, in one or more embodiments, data may also be transferred/copied from display data 1081 being rendered on display unit 1061 through which preview 202 is viewable to another set of display data 1082-N (e.g., a scaled version of display data 1084) in preview 202. Other inter-display data 1081-N/inter-display unit 1061-N functionalities are within the scope of the exemplary embodiments discussed herein.
Thus, exemplary embodiments may enable user 150 be aware of content being rendered on display units 1062-N remote from data processing device 100. In one or more embodiments, as mentioned above, user 150 may be able to edit display data 1082-N and/or parameters associated with display data 1082-N and/or display units 1062-N directly through preview 202, which provides for remote control of display units 1062-N and/or display data 1082-N associated therewith. User 150 may not be required to move to a remote location of a display unit 1062-N and/or utilize another user at the remote location to confirm the dynamic modification of display data 1082-N associated therewith.
In one or more embodiments, operation 606 may involve providing, based on the execution of the process on data processing device 100, a capability to: preview (e.g., preview 202) display data 1082-N rendered on the one or more other display unit(s) 1062-N through display unit 1061 in user interface 200 provided through the process, and configure display data 1082-N rendered on the one or more other display unit(s) 1062-N and/or one or more parameter(s) 1602-N associated with display data 1082-N and/or the one or more other display unit(s) 1062-N directly through preview 202.
Although the present embodiments have been described with reference to specific example embodiments, it will be evident that various modifications and changes may be made to these embodiments without departing from the broader spirit and scope of the various embodiments. For example, the various devices and modules described herein may be enabled and operated using hardware circuitry (e.g., CMOS based logic circuitry), firmware, software or any combination of hardware, firmware, and software (e.g., embodied in a non-transitory machine-readable medium). For example, the various electrical structures and methods may be embodied using transistors, logic gates, and electrical circuits (e.g., application specific integrated (ASIC) circuitry and/or Digital Signal Processor (DSP) circuitry).
In addition, it will be appreciated that the various operations, processes and methods disclosed herein may be embodied in a non-transitory machine-readable medium and/or a machine-accessible medium compatible with a data processing system (e.g., data processing device 100). Accordingly, the specification and drawings are to be regarded in an illustrative rather than a restrictive sense.