Simulating multi-monitor functionality in a single monitor environment

• US 20070079252A1
• Filed: 10/03/2005
• Published: 04/05/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 10/03/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Citrix Systems, Inc. (Cloud Software Group)
• Original Assignee: Citrix Systems, Inc. (Cloud Software Group)
• Inventors: Ramnani, Subash
• Granted Patent: US 8,191,008 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/781
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/451 Execution arrangements for user interfaces

Abstract

The systems and methods of the present provide techniques for virtualizing, simulating or providing multiple displays for an environment having one display device or less display devices than desired. The techniques of the present invention virtualize a client'"'"'s display environment by modifying and controlling the behavior and appearance of an application window displayed on the client based on a desired display layout for the client. The present invention provides a window message processing mechanism to intercept a selected message to a window of an application. The window message processing mechanism compares the behavior and appearance of the window in view of the desired display layout and modifies the message to display the window on the client based on the desired display layout. As such, the present invention processes selected window messages to translate the behavior or appearance of the window to the desired display layout.

Claims

1. A method for displaying a window of an application based on a client display environment, the method comprising the steps of:

(a) providing a desired display layout of a client using one or more display devices;

(b) intercepting, by a window message processing mechanism, a message to a window displayed on the client by an application; and

(c) modifying, by the window message processing mechanism, the message to provide the window on the client based on the desired display layout.

2. The method of claim 1, comprising modifying the message to modify one of a behavior or an appearance of the window based on the desired display layout.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the desired display layout comprises a resolution and a work area of the one or more display devices.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the message comprises a change to one of a size, a position, or an attribute of the window.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the message comprises a change to one of the following:

a display resolution, a maximized size and position, a default minimum tracking size, or a default maximum tracking size.

6. The method of claim 1, comprising performing, by the window message processing mechanism, the steps of:

intercepting the message related to a change to one of a position or a size of the window about to occur;

determining a display of the desired display layout the window should be maximized to; and

modifying the message to maximize the window to a location and a resolution corresponding to the determined display.

7. The method of claim 1, comprising performing, by the window message processing mechanism, the steps of:

intercepting the message related to a change to one of a position, a size, or an attribute of the window about to occur;

determining if the window is in a maximized state; and

if the window is maximized, modifying an attribute of the window to fix the position of the window on a screen area of a display.

8. The method of claim 1, comprising the steps of:

comparing the window'"'"'s location to the desired display layout to determine if the window is visible on a screen area of a display; and

if the window is not located to be visible on the screen area of the display, modifying the position of the window to be visible on the screen area of the display.

9. The method of claim 8, comprising comparing, by a session login mechanism, the window'"'"'s location upon reconnection of a session.

10. The method of claim 1, comprising performing, by the window message processing mechanism, the steps of:

intercepting the message related to a change to a resolution of a display;

suspending processing of messages to the window until a second display layout is provided; and

modifying messages to the window based on the second display layout.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the window message processing mechanism comprises a hooking mechanism to intercept a message comprising one of the following Windows operating system window messages:

WM_GETMINMAXINFO, WM_WINDOWPOSCHANGING, WM_WINDOWPOSCHANGED, and WM_DISPLAYCHANGE.

12. The method of claim 1, comprising the application executing on an application server and displaying output to the client via a remote display protocol.

13. The method of claim 1, comprising displaying output to the client associated with the desired display layout having one of a display device in a negative coordinate system or a primary display device not in a top left display location.

14. The method of claim 1, comprising modifying the message to maximize the window in a screen area of a display device displaying the application.

15. The method of claim 1, comprising modifying the message to display a menu of the application in a screen area of a display device displaying the application.

16. The method of claim 1, comprising storing the desired display layout, and associating the stored desired display layout with the client.

17. A system for providing a multiple display environment on a client having one or more display devices, the system comprising:

a client display layout representing a desired display environment of a client having one or more display devices; and

a window message processing mechanism intercepting a message to a window provided by an application, and modifying the message to provide the window on the client based on the client display layout.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the message is related to one of a behavior or an appearance of the window.

19. The system of claim 17, wherein the window message processing mechanism modifies one of a behavior or an appearance of the window based on the client display layout.

20. The system of claim 17, wherein the application executes on one of the client or an application server.

21. The system of claim 17, comprising an application server executing the application on behalf of the client and transmitting display output to the client via a remote display protocol.

22. The system of claim 21, wherein the remote display protocol comprises of the following protocols:

Independent Computing Architecture (ICA) and Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP).

23. The system of claim 17, wherein the client display layout comprises a resolution and a work area of the one or more display devices.

24. The system of claim 17, wherein the message comprises a change to one of a size, a position, or an attribute of the window.

25. The system of claim 17, wherein the message comprises a change to one of the following:

a display resolution, a maximized size and position, a default minimum tracking size, or a default maximum tracking size.

26. The system of claim 17, wherein the window message processing mechanism intercepts the message related to a change to one of a position or a size of the window about to occur, determines a display device of the client display layout the window should be maximized to, and modifies the message to provide a location and resolution corresponding to the determined display.

27. The system of claim 17, wherein the window message processing mechanism intercepts the message related to a change to one of a position, a size, or an attribute of the window about to occur, determines if the window is in a maximized state, and if the window is maximized, modifies an attribute of the window to fix the position of the window.

28. The system of claim 17, comprising a session login mechanism, the session login mechanism compares the window'"'"'s location to the client display layout to determine if the window'"'"'s location is visible on a screen area of a display device, and if the window'"'"'s location is not visible on the screen area of the display device, modifies the position of the window to be visible on the screen of the display device.

29. The system of claim 17, wherein the window message processing mechanism intercepts the message related to a change to a resolution of a display, suspends processing of messages to the window until a second display layout is provided, and modifies messages based on the second display layout.

30. The system of claim 17, wherein the client display layout comprises one of a display device in a negative coordinate system or a primary display device not in a top left display location.

31. The system of claim 17, wherein the window message processing mechanism modifies the message to maximize the window in a screen area on a display device displaying the application.

32. The system of claim 17, wherein the window message processing mechanism modifies the message to display a menu of the application in a screen area on a display device displaying the application.

33. The system of claim 17, comprising an application server storing the client display layout in a storage element, and associating the stored display layout with the client.

34. In one of a server-based or thin-client computing environment, a method for remotely displaying a window on a client having multiple display devices, the method comprising the steps of:

(a) requesting, by a client having a plurality of display devices, to have an application executed on the application server and to have display output from the application executing on the application server transmitted to the client;

(b) transmitting, by the client, a desired display layout to the application server;

(c) executing, by the application server, the application on behalf of the client;

(d) providing, by the application, the display output to have one or more windows display on the client according to the desired display layout of the client; and

(e) transmitting, by the application server, the display output to the client via a remote display protocol.

35. The method of claim 34, comprising associating, by the application server, the desired display layout with the client and storing the desired display layout to a storage element on the application server.

36. The method of claim 35, comprising storing, by the application server, the desired display layout to a globally mapped data file.

37. The method of claim 34, comprising processing, by the client, the display output provided by the application to display the one or more windows on a display device of the plurality of display devices.

38. The method of claim 34, comprising translating, by the application, a portion of the display output to a resolution of a display device of the plurality of display devices.

39. The method of claim 34, wherein the desired display layout comprises a display device located in a negative coordinate system of a layout.

40. The method of claim 34, wherein the desired display layout comprises a primary display device not in a top left location of a layout.

41. The method of claim 34, comprising maximizing, by the application, a window on a display device displaying the display output of the application.

42. The method of claim 34, comprising displaying, by the application a menu, on a display device displaying the display output of the application.

43. The method of claim 34, wherein the remote display protocol comprises of the following protocols:

Independent Computing Architecture (ICA) and Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP).

44. The method of claim 34, comprising the steps of:

providing a hooking mechanism in the application executed on the application server;

intercepting, by the hooking mechanism, a window message to a window of the application; and

modifying, by the hooking mechanism, the window message to provide the display output regarding the window based on the desired display layout of the client.

45. The method of claim 44, comprising modifying, by the hooking mechanism, the window message to modify one of a behavior or an appearance of the window based on the desired display layout.