System and method for electronic presentations

• US 20040008221A1
• Filed: 05/27/2003
• Published: 01/15/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 05/25/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: The Learning Box LLC
• Original Assignee: The Learning Box LLC
• Inventors: OʼNeal, David Sheldon, Smith, Sean Dare, Ackerman, Stuart
• Granted Patent: US 7,131,068 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/730
• CPC Class Codes: B01L 2300/041 Connecting closures to device or container
• CPC Class Codes: B01L 2400/0415 electrical forces, e.g. electrokinetic
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 2030/285 electrically driven carrier
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 2030/565 slurry packing
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 30/56 Packing methods or coating methods
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 30/6095 Micromachined or nanomachined, e.g. micro- or nanosize
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04803 Split screen, i.e. subdividing the display area or the window area into separate subareas
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0481 based on specific properties of the displayed interaction object or a metaphor-based environment, e.g. interaction with desktop elements like windows or icons, or assisted by a cursor's changing behaviour or appearance
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0488 using a touch-screen or digitiser, e.g. input of commands through traced gestures
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1423 controlling a plurality of local displays, e.g. CRT and flat panel display
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 5/00 Electrically-operated educational appliances working with questions and answers G09B7/00; simulators G09B9/00; advertising or displaying in general G09F
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 5/08 providing for individual presentation of information to a plurality of student stations
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2340/12 Overlay of images, i.e. displayed pixel being the result of switching between the corresponding input pixels
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 5/003 Details of a display terminal, the details relating to the control arrangement of the display terminal and to the interfaces thereto specific for a CRT G09G1/165; for a flat panel G09G3/2092
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 5/14 Display of multiple viewports
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/74 Projection arrangements for image reproduction, e.g. using eidophor

Abstract

An electronic presentation system and method provides multiple display screens for presentation materials as well as permits dynamic annotations to presentation materials that do not permanently alter the presentation materials. The presentation materials can easily be directed to any one of the display screens and any annotations can be saved for future use or simply deleted. A single interface screen allows simple annotation of either the left or right screen images while a zoom feature allows slides to be presented in a variety of different ways.

Claims

1. A system providing electronic presentations comprising:

a plurality of presentation slides stored in a first memory accessible by a programmable computer;

a first display screen coupled with the programmable computer and having a first video input signal;

a second display screen coupled with the programmable computer and having a second video input signal;

a third display screen coupled with the programmable computer and having a third video input signal;

a presentation control application stored in a second memory accessible by the programmable computer; and

the programmable computer being configured to execute the presentation control application to provide an interface, displayed on the third display screen, by which each of the plurality of slides is dispatched for display to either one of the first or second display screens, wherein said interface is configured to simultaneously display;

a first window displaying a first image corresponding to the first video input signal;

a second window displaying a second image corresponding to the second video signal; and

a third window displaying an image of a next presentation slide.

2. The system according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of slides are arranged in a presentation file.

3. The system according to claim 2, further comprising:

a plurality of presentation files stored in the first memory; and

wherein the presentation control application is further configured to;

display a list of the plurality of presentation files via the interface, and

select one presentation file based on input received via the interface.

4. The system according to claim 1, further comprising:

a video switch having a plurality of inputs coupled with said programmable computer and a plurality of outputs coupled with said first and second display screens, said video switch configurable to selectably couple any of its inputs to any of its outputs.

5. The system according to claim 4, further comprising:

a demonstration computer providing demonstration video output coupled with a particular one input of the video switch wherein the presentation control application is configured to direct the demonstration video output to either of the first or second display screens.

6. The system according to claim 2, further comprising a preference data associated with the presentation file, said preference data stored in the first memory and including one or more entries, each entry associated with a slide of the presentation file;

and

wherein said presentation control application is configured to automatically dispatch a particular slide to either the first or second display screen based on an entry in the preference data corresponding to that particular slide.

7. The system according to claim 6, wherein after dispatching the particular slide, the presentation control application retrieves the next slide in the presentation file.

8. The system according to claim 7, wherein the third display screen is a touch-screen device.

9. The system according to claim 8, further comprising:

a slide annotation application executing on the programmable computer and interfacing with the presentation control application.

10. The system according to claim 9, wherein said interface further comprises a selection mechanism configured to select one of the first and second windows for annotation and to initiate the slide annotation application.

11. The system according to claim 10, wherein the third display screen is configured to respectively provide tactile feedback information to the slide annotation application and wherein the presentation control application is configured to modify one of the first and second video input signals based on the respective tactile feedback information and selected window.

12. The system according to claim 11, wherein the slide annotation application is configured to store in the first memory an annotation history file based on the respective tactile feedback information.

13. The system according to claim 12, wherein the presentation control application is configured to retrieve any annotation history file associated with a particular slide dispatched for display and display of that particular slide on any of the first, second or third display screens is modified according to the annotation history file.

14. The system according to claim 1, wherein:

said first video input signal corresponds to a full view representation of a current presentation slide;

said second video input signal corresponds to a magnified representation of a portion of the current presentation slide.

15. The system according to claim 14, wherein said presentation control application further comprises a selection tool for selecting the portion of the current presentation slide.

16. A method for providing an electronic presentation of a plurality of slides using multiple display screens, comprising the steps of:

providing a presentation control interface on a center display screen;

displaying a slide, from among the plurality of slides, in a preview window within the presentation control interface;

receiving input via the presentation control interface indicating whether to direct the slide to a right display screen or a left display screen;

dispatching the slide for display on the indicated display screen;

displaying simultaneously with the slide in the preview window within the presentation control interface, a first window corresponding to any slide currently displayed on the right display screen and a second window corresponding to any slide currently displayed on the left display screen, and

retrieving a next slide for display in the preview window.

17. The method according to claim 16, further comprising the steps of:

retrieving a first list of presentation files, each said presentation file comprising a respective plurality of slides;

displaying on the center screen the first list via the presentation control interface; and

selecting one of the presentation files, for the electronic presentation, based on input received in response to the display of the first list.

18. The method according to claim 17, further comprising the steps of:

retrieving preference data associated with the one presentation file;

determining if the received input indicates automatic dispatch of the slide; and

referring to an entry in the preference data to determine which display screen to dispatch the slide to.

19. The method according to claim 17, further comprising the steps of:

directing video output from a demonstration computer to either one of the left or right screens in place of a presentation slide.

20. The method according to claim 19, wherein the step of directing includes the step of:

selectably controlling a video switch which includes one input coupled with the demonstration computer and respective outputs coupled with the left and right screens.

21. The method according to claim 16, further comprising the steps of:

outputting the slide as right-side video data if the slide is dispatched to the right display screen; and

outputting the slide as left-side video data if the slide is directed to the left display screen.

22. The method according to claim 21, further comprising the steps of:

selecting one of the first window and second window via the presentation control interface; and

displaying the selected window so as to substantially fill the center display screen.

23. The method according to claim 22, further comprising the step of:

providing an annotation application associated with the center display screen which is a touch screen device.

24. The method according to claim 23, wherein:

the annotation application is configured to receive feedback from the center display screen indicating graphic overlay data associated with a particular slide corresponding to the selected window.

25. The method according to claim 24, further comprising the steps of:

adjusting the right-side video data based on the graphic overlay data, if the selected window corresponds to the right display screen; and

adjusting the left-side video data based on the graphic overlay data, if the selected window corresponds to the left display screen.

26. The method according to claim 24, further comprising the step of:

storing any graphic overlay data.

27. The method according to claim 26, further comprising the steps of:

recalling a particular slide for display;

retrieving any stored graphic overlay data associated with the recalled slide;

displaying the recalled slide along with the retrieved graphic overlay data on the preview screen; and

dispatching the recalled slide and retrieved graphic overlay data to either the left-side or right-side screen.

28. A method for providing an electronic presentation of a plurality of slides using multiple display screens, comprising the steps of:

providing a presentation control interface on a center display screen;

displaying a slide, from among a plurality of slides, in a preview window within the presentation control interface;

receiving input via the presentation control interface indicating whether to display a current slide in split-screen mode or in zoom mode;

displaying simultaneously with the slide in the preview window within the presentation control interface, a first window corresponding to a first portion of the current slide for display on a right display screen and a second window corresponding to a second portion of the current slide for display on a left display screen.

29. The method according to claim 28, wherein in zoom mode, the first portion is the entire current slide and the second portion is a magnified portion of the current slide.

30. The method according to claim 28, wherein in zoom mode, the second portion is the entire current slide and the first portion is a magnified portion of the current slide.

31. The method according to claim 28, further comprising the step of:

receiving input via the presentation control interface indicating a selected portion of the current slide to magnify.

32. A computer readable medium bearing instructions for providing an electronic presentation of a plurality of slides using multiple display screens, said instructions being arranged to cause one or more processors upon execution thereof to perform the steps of:

providing a presentation control interface on a center display screen;

displaying a slide, from among the plurality of slides, in a preview window within the presentation control interface;

receiving input via the presentation control interface indicating whether to direct the slide to a right display screen or a left display screen;

dispatching the slide for display on the indicated display screen;

displaying simultaneously with the slide in the preview window within the presentation control interface, a first window corresponding to any slide currently displayed on the right display screen and a second window corresponding to any slide currently displayed on the left display screen, and

retrieving a next slide for display in the preview window.

33. A system providing electronic presentations comprising:

a plurality of presentation slides stored in a first memory accessible by a programmable computer;

a first display screen coupled with the programmable computer and having a first video input signal;

a second display screen coupled with the programmable computer and having a second video input signal;

a third display screen coupled with the programmable computer and having a third video input signal;

a presentation control application stored in a second memory accessible by the programmable computer; and

the programmable computer being configured to execute the presentation control application to provide an interface, displayed on the third display screen, by which each of the plurality of slides is dispatched for display to either one of the first or second display screens, and

wherein said first video input signal corresponds to a full view representation of a current presentation slide and said second video input signal corresponds to a magnified representation of a portion of the current presentation slide.

34. The system according to claim 33, wherein said presentation control application further comprises a selection tool for selecting the portion of the current presentation slide.