METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR SELECTIVE CONTENT DISPLAY FROM A PERSONAL COMPUTER TO OTHER CONNECTED DISPLAY DEVICES
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention pertains to a method and system for selective content display from a personal computer to other connected display devices.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Display devices are used to present information including images and text dynamically in a visual medium. They may be of several types including analog and digital displays, electronic displays and projectors. Digital electronic displays include computer display screens that display signals generated by a computer as images on a screen. A projector is a device used for displaying an image on a projection screen or similar surface for the view of an audience. It is connected to a computer during presentations to make the presentation viewable by a large group of people. Alternately the computer that is controlling the presentation can be connected to the computers of all the people in the audience and the presentation may then be viewed over their respective monitors. Presentations can be made using software such as Microsoft PowerPoint, Keynote and OpenOffice.org Impress.
Often the presenter needs to bring a certain area of the display into focus. He may do so by highlighting the area with software aids or marking the area over the physical display unit such as a white board. He may also point to this area using a pointer. These ways to focus on a particular area of the display screen often prove to be inconvenient. Since only a part of the screen is being referred to, the audience at the back, in case of the presentation being displayed via a projector, may find it difficult to view it correctly. Also if the area is being marked, in case of the main computer being linked to the computers of the audience, the encirclement will not be available over everybody's monitor.

Further, if the presenter needs to open any other applications to refer to without the audience viewing it, he is unable to do so. The audience views everything that is accessed on the presenter's computer. Thus the required flexibility is not present.
US patent number 6717596 describes a method and system for controlling a complementary user interface on a display surface. An alternate display content controller provides a technique for controlling a video display separately from and in addition to the content displayed on the operating system display surface. Where the display is a computer monitor, the alternate display content controller interacts with the computer utility operating system and hardware drivers to control allocation of display space and create and control one or more parallel graphical user interfaces in addition to the operating system desktop. An alternate display content controller may be incorporated in either hardware or software. As software, an alternate display content controller may be an application running on the computer operating system, or may include an operating system kernel of varying complexity ranging from dependent on the utility operating system for hardware system services to a parallel system independent of the utility operating system and capable of supporting dedicated applications. The alternate display content controller may also include content and operating software delivered over the Internet or any other LAN. The alternate display content controller may also be included in a television decoder/set top box to permit two or more parallel graphical user interfaces to be displayed simultaneously. Here selective content display from a computer to other connected monitors or projector is not addressed.
US patent 5307055 describes a method and system for a display control device incorporating an auxiliary display. The method describes the steps for controlling a system for presenting to an audience images on a primary display or displays that incorporates an auxiliary monitor. The auxiliary monitor may be used in a variety of ways to assist in the presentation of information on the primary display. The preferred embodiment of the present invention contains a hand-held display control including an array of key switches providing control of the main monitor and an auxiliary monitor allowing the operator to view any one of several options. These options include a duplicate of the image being displayed on the main monitor, the next image to be displayed on the main monitor, any other image available from the image generator, a list of the images available from the image generator, and notes associated with each

image or with the entire presentation. Here, the device described requires additional hardware including an adaptor. It also requires a hand-held display control including an array of key switches providing control of the main monitor and an auxiliary monitor allowing the operator to view any one of several options. Further, it does not address selective content display.
US patent 6522309 describes a method and system for a multi-screen PC display. It includes in its specification a computer providing multiple display capability where one display presents the current document and another display may show a true display of a previously opened document. The computer is a singular processed video data signal source that presents a primary monitor with current video data. A user selected video screen sample of the current processed video data signal is diverted to this invention where it is stored in a memory. Subsequently the stored video screen sample of the processed video data signal is read-out of the memory and reconstituted as an absolute copy of the original processed video data signal and concurrently presented on a secondary monitor. User selection may be attained by a keyboard key-sequence entry, a mouse button click or using an external button-switch. Operation is absolutely independent from operating system constraints, being of equivalent usefulness while running any Operating System versions of Windows.RTM., Unix, MS-DOS, Linux, CP/M86 or Apple-OS. The device is preferably configured as a standalone peripheral, having two video ports connected essentially between the computer's "video output" port and the primary monitor's "video input" port and a third video port coupled with the secondary monitor's "video input" port. Here also additional hardware including an adaptor is required. Further, here also selective content display is not addressed.
US patent application 200509161OA1 describes a method and system for selective display of windows on an auxiliary output. It states a method, apparatus, system, and signal-bearing medium that in an embodiment select a subset of windows displayed on an output device for display via an auxiliary output device, e.g., a projector. In various embodiments, the selection of the subset is based on a group affiliation or based on a list of allowed or disallowed applications. In other embodiments, the image on the auxiliary output device is selectively frozen or displays a pre-set image while the image on the output device changes. In this way, the displayed content on the auxiliary output device is selectively controlled, which allows for a more effective presentation.

EP patent application 1526445A2 describes systems and methods for projecting content from computing devices. The systems and methods provided enable an alternate display device to wirelessly receive content from a computing device, freeing users from the burden of physically connecting the computing device via a cable. The content sent to the display device can also be simultaneously or separately viewed on the computing devices of other nearby computing devices. Generic mechanism(s) and corresponding user interfaces are provided for computing devices to engage in discovery of devices, to which content may be delivered, for accepting delivery and for initiating transmission of content.
In both the above stated patents, it is not possible to select a part or portion of an application or window, transmit that part to an auxiliary display device and display it in full screen mode i.e., selective content display of a window is not addressed.
Thus none of the above patents offers a system for selective content display from one computer to other connected monitors or a projector. Further, there is a need to make this approach more efficient by giving the facility to completely shield applications which the user does not want the audience to see by not transmitting these to the projector or connected monitors. Also to increase usability it must not be application specific and nor should it have any dependency on the type of monitor or display card. It should also not need any additional hardware for functioning.

OBJECTS AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of the instant invention to obviate the above drawbacks and provide a method and system for providing selective content display from a computer to other monitors or a projector connected to it.
It is an object of the instant invention to filter the desktop contents in an intelligent manner so that only the specific application or contents from the desktop are transmitted to the other connected monitors, projector or display devices.
It is another object of the instant invention to enable the presenter to control the display contents and at the same time to run or open other applications on the desktop which will not be displayed on the other connected monitors or projector.
It is further an object to allow restricting an application, such as MS PowerPoint slide show mode, to a window rather than the entire desktop enabling the user to access utilities such as speaker notes and spreadsheets without them being shown on connected monitors or projector.
It is yet another object to allow switching the display on the connected monitors or projector from one selected area or window to another selected area or window thereby preventing the need for the desktop contents to be displayed on the connected monitors or projector.
To achieve the aforementioned objectives, the instant invention provides a method and system for the user to select sections from the display of the main computer to be displayed onto the connected monitors or projector without disturbing the contents on its own desktop. In this feature, it also makes switching from one region to another possible at the connected monitors or projector. It also enables the user to run other applications alongside without them being transmitted onto the connected display units. Also, it allows the user to use other utilities of the software currently being run on the main computer.

Being user friendly and efficient the method used in the instant invention is not application specific. It is not dependent on any particular type of monitor or display card either. As an added advantage, it does not require the use of any additional hardware.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
• FIG 1 illustrates a diagram depicting the structure of the invention in application
no US 6717596
• FIG 2 illustrates a diagram depicting the structure of the invention in application
no US 5307055
• FIG 3 illustrates a diagram depicting the structure of the invention n application
no US 6522309
• FIG 4 defines a flowchart depicting the basic operation of the instant invention
• FIG 5 illustrates a block diagram depicting the architecture of the instant
invention
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
The instant invention provides a system wherein the user is allowed to filter the desktop contents in an intelligent manner so that only the specific application or contents from the desktop are transmitted on to the other connected display units. This way the user can control the display contents and at the same time can run other applications and open other utilities on the desktop that won't be displayed on the connected display units. As an added advantage this invention is not dependent on the type of the display device or display card installed. It makes use of existing graphics card and its interfaces. Further, it is not an application specific method.
Its features also include enabling the user to restrict Windows applications like MS PowerPoint in a slideshow mode to a window rather than the entire desktop. This aspect allows the user to access other utilities in his or her desktop like speaker notes, spreadsheets etc. Further, the instant invention makes it possible to switch the display on the connected display units from one selected area or window to another selected

area or window without the need for accessing the desktop in between thereby preventing the desktop contents from being displayed to the connected units.
FIGURE 1 illustrates a flowchart depicting the basic operation of the instant invention, the procedure involved in selecting regions to be displayed and projecting them on the connected display devices.
In step 101, the user selects the contents that he wishes to be displayed on the connected display devices. The user uses the selection tool to choose one or more areas that he wants to display on the entire screen of the connected monitors or projector. He may choose the entire window also. Only the parts selected by the user are displayed on the connected devices.
Next, in step 102, the region capturing means mark the selected areas in order to calculate the attributes and related parameters of the areas.
Further, in step 103, the region capturing means adjusts the window properties so that the required contents fit into the display area of the connected devices.
Next, in step 104, the parameters such as size and coordinates of the selected areas required to display the selected contents on the connected devices are collected by the region capturing means.
In step 105, the selected window context is saved and the region capturing means keeps track of its movements between primary and secondary displays.
Now, in step 106, the display driver means receive information about the user selected area such as window parameters including window co-ordinates, boundaries and colour palettes. This information is received in the driver escape routine that corresponds to user mode graphics device interface invoked.
Next, in step 107, the display driver means maps the window parameters received to the display device parameters.

Further in step 108, the display device means invokes the splitter engine means to extract regions of interest based on the window parameters received such that the region extracted remains unmodified on the primary surface and is copied onto the destination surface maintaining all parameters intact.
Now, in step 109, the context of the selected area is saved by the splitter engine means and the movement on the secondary display is tracked.
Next, in step 110, the display driver means creates a new surface for the secondary display.
Further, in step 111, the display driver means draws the extracted contents onto the created surface.
Lastly, in step 112, the display driver means invokes the virtual video adaptor means to display the required contents on the connected display devices.
FIGURE 2 illustrates the architecture of the instant invention showing the main components involved in its functioning.
The region capture means (201) allows the user to select the area or region of interest that is to be displayed on the other connected display devices. It captures the coordinates of the area(s) selected and marks the regions. It also keeps track of all the changes happening within the marked regions. It gives this input to the display driver means via the function calls or routines provided by the graphics device interface residing at the graphics engine (202). It also makes all its input output calls via the IO manager (203).
Further, the display driver means (204) works as a wrapper to the existing primary display driver installed in the system and intercepts display related data communication between the graphics engine (202) and the existing display driver. It is used to filter graphics rendering functions and works in conjunction with the splitter engine means (205).

The splitter engine means (205) extracts the regions of interest from the rendered display related data after receiving it from the display driver means (204). Its basic functionality is to split rendered display data into required and non-required segments.
The virtual video adaptor means (206) works as a virtual video card. It acts as a secondary display interface. Extracted display data are displayed on the other display device through this interface.
This entire setup accesses the graphics card secondary port (207) of the PC to transfer display related data to the connected display devices. The graphics card secondary port (207) in turn transfers this display data onto the connected display units monitor 1 (208), monitor 2 (209) and monitor 3 (210) to be displayed.

We claim:
1. A method for selective content display from a personal computer to other
connected display devices, said method comprising the steps of:
- asking the user to select the contents to be displayed on the connected
display devices
- marking the selected window
- adjusting the window properties so as to fit it in the display area of the
connected display devices
- collecting the required parameters of the selected window with respect to
the primary display device
- saving the window context to keep track of its movement between primary
and secondary displays
- receiving information about the user selected window in the driver escape
routine that corresponds to user mode graphical interface function
invoked
mapping the window parameters received to the display device parameters
- extracting the regions of interest based on the window parameters
received keeping primary surface intact
- saving window context and keeping track of window's movement on
secondary display
- creating a new surface for the secondary display
- drawing the extracted contents on extracted surface
- displaying the selected contents on the connected display devices

2. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the regions of interest are extracted via
the splitter engine means.
3. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the contents are displayed on the
connected display devices via the virtual video adaptor.

4. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the contents are displayed on the
connected display devices in such a manner that the presenter can control the
display contents and at the same time run or open other applications or utilities
on the primary device that will not be displayed on the connected display
devices.
5. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the display on the connected display
devices can be switched from one selected area or window to another selected
area or window without accessing the desktop in between at the primary device.
6. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein Windows applications can be restricted
to a window rather than the entire desktop to ease switching between various
applications while displaying them on the connected devices.
7. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein information about the user selected
window area includes parameters such as window co-ordinates, boundaries and
colour palettes.
8. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the region of interest is extracted such
that the region extracted remains unmodified on the primary surface and is
copied onto the destination surface maintaining all parameters intact.
9. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the said method is independent of the
type of the display device or the display or graphics card.
10. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the said method is carried out using the
existing graphics card and its interfaces.
11. A system for selective content display from a personal computer to other
connected display devices, the said computing system comprising:
region capture means for enabling a user to select areas or regions of interest at the primary device to be displayed on the other connected display devices

- display driver means for filtering graphic rendering functions and
intercepting display related data communication between the graphics
engine and the existing display driver
- splitter engine means for splitting rendered display data into required and
non required segments
virtual video adaptor means acting as an interface through which the extracted display data are displayed on the connected display device
12. A system as claimed in claim 11, wherein the display driver means work as a
wrapper to the existing primary display driver installed in the system.
13. A system as claimed in claim 11, wherein the display driver means mark and
keep track of the selected regions.
14. A system as claimed in claim 11, wherein the display driver means work in
conjunction with the splitter engine means.
15. A system as claimed in claim 11, wherein the splitter engine means receive data
from the display driver means.
16. A system as claimed in claim 11, wherein the virtual video adaptor means work
as a virtual video card.
17. A system as claimed in claim 11, wherein the virtual video adaptor means serve
as a secondary display interface.
18. A system as claimed in claim 11, wherein the region capture means interface to
the display driver means via application programming interface calls provided by
the graphical device interface.
19. A system as claimed in claim 11, wherein the display driver means interface to
the active display driver provided by graphics card vendors originally installed in
the system through calls to original driver routines in wrapper functions.

20. A system as claimed in claim 11, wherein the display driver means interface to
the graphics engine by working as a wrapper to the original display driver.
21. A system as claimed in claim 11, wherein the display driver means communicate
to the splitter engine means and virtual video adaptor means to communicate
display related data with each other.
Dated this 11th day of October 2006
Of Anand and Anand Advocate Attorney for the Applicant