Interface for consistent program interaction with auxiliary computing devices

• US 20060176271A1
• Filed: 02/07/2005
• Published: 08/10/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 02/07/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Fuller, Andrew J., Rhoten, Matthew P., Polivy, Daniel J., Viji, Sriram, Bernstein, Michael S.
• Granted Patent: US 7,784,065 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/156
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1613 for portable computers cooling arrangements therefor G06F1/203; constructional details or arrangements for pocket calculators, electronic agendas or books G06F15/0216; constructional details of portable telephone sets: with several bodies H04M1/0202
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1647 including at least an additional display G06F1/1692 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2209/545 Gui
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/542 Event management; Broadcasting; Multicasting; Notifications

Abstract

Described is a system and method including an auxiliary display platform having an interface (API) set that provides a way for client applications running on a main computer system to interact with various types of auxiliary displays, irrespective of differences between various device implementations. Interaction includes displaying content and notifications provided by the application, and returning events to the application. In one implementation the API set comprises a set of COM objects that register and perform configuration checks of a client application, send content and notifications to attached devices, and return events from the attached devices. The application may send data to an endpoint corresponding to a communication destination (e.g., a particular auxiliary device application) and a contract (e.g., a format) for the data. The platform and API set thus provide an abstraction layer for applications to provide information independent of any particular auxiliary device implementation.

Claims

1. In a computing environment having a main computer system and at least one auxiliary device coupled thereto, a method comprising:

providing an abstraction layer by which client applications on the main computer system may provide information for sending to one or more auxiliary devices independent of any particular device implementation; and

receiving a request at the abstraction layer directed towards sending information from a client application to an auxiliary device, and in response, sending information provided by the application to at least one device in accordance with a particular device implementation of each device.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the information to send corresponds to content, and wherein sending the information comprises pulling the information from the client application in a device-independent format.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the abstraction layer comprises an API set of objects, wherein one of the objects comprises a content manager object, and wherein receiving the request comprises receiving a call at an interface of the content manager object provided to the application, and calling back to the application to obtain the information to send.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the information to send corresponds to a notification, and wherein sending the information comprises pulling the information from the client application in a device-independent format.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the abstraction layer comprises an API set of objects, wherein one of the objects comprises a notification manager object, and wherein receiving the request comprises receiving a call at an interface of the notification manager object provided to the application, and calling back to the application to obtain the notification-related information to send.

6. The method of claim 1 further comprising receiving a specified endpoint from a client application during a registration call.

7. The method of claim 6 further comprising, evaluating in response to the registration call whether the client application is authorized to send information to devices using the specified endpoint.

8. At least one computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions which when executed perform the method of claim 1.

9. In a computing environment having a main computer system and an auxiliary device coupled thereto, a system comprising:

an auxiliary platform on the main computer system, the auxiliary platform including a client API set, the client API set comprising,

a registration object that receives a call from a client application running on the main computer system identifying the application and requesting that content be sent to an endpoint of an auxiliary device, the registration object configured to instantiate a content manager object and return a pointer to the content manager object to the application in response to the call; and

the content manager object configured to obtain content from the application in response to a call from the application, and communicate the content provided by the application to the endpoint.

10. The system of claim 9 wherein the registration object evaluates whether the client application is authorized to send information to devices using the specified endpoint.

11. The system of claim 9 further comprising a notification manager object instantiated by the registration object in response to a registration request from the client application directed to showing a notification on an auxiliary display device, the notification manager object configured to obtain notification data from the application in response to a call from the application, and communicate the notification data provided by the application to the endpoint.

12. The system of claim 10 wherein the notification data includes at least one item of data in a set containing title, message, image data and expiration time.

13. The system of claim 9 wherein the client application communicates content to the auxiliary device based on a contract corresponding to the endpoint, and wherein the content manager does not interact with the content.

14. The system of claim 9 wherein the content obtained from the application is identified by a content identifier that is unique to that application program.

15. The system of claim 9 further comprising another client application, wherein the client API set isolates the client applications from one another with respect to auxiliary device communication.

16. The system of claim 9 further comprising another endpoint, wherein the client application communicates content to each endpoint based on separate contracts, each contract corresponding to each endpoint.

17. The system of claim 16 wherein the endpoints correspond to different programs on different auxiliary devices.

18. The system of claim 9 further comprising a lifetime manager that provides lifetime-related notifications to the client manager corresponding to an operating state of the auxiliary device.

19. In a computing environment having a main computer system and at least one auxiliary device coupled thereto, a system comprising:

an interface by which client applications on the main computer system may provide information for sending to one or more auxiliary devices independent of any particular device implementation;

means for registering a client application via the interface for sending content or a notification from the client application to an auxiliary device;

means for obtaining information provided by the client application, the information corresponding to the content or the notification; and

means for sending the information to at least one auxiliary device.

20. The system of claim 19 further comprising, means for registering the client application via the interface for receiving events from the auxiliary device, means for receiving an event from the auxiliary device, and means for propagating the event to the client application.