Display service method, network device capable of performing the method, and storage medium storing the method

• US 20080016539A1
• Filed: 11/30/2006
• Published: 01/17/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 07/13/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: Na, Kee-wook
• Granted Patent: US 9,270,779 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 725/105
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/131 Protocols for games, networked simulations or virtual reality
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/62 Establishing a time schedule for servicing the requests
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4122 additional display device, e.g. video projector digital output for controlling a plurality of local displays G06F3/1423
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4312 involving specific graphical features, e.g. screen layout, special fonts or colors, blinking icons, highlights or animations
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4314 for fitting data in a restricted space on the screen, e.g. EPG data in a rectangular grid
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/43615 Interfacing a Home Network, e.g. for connecting the client to a plurality of peripherals home Audio Video Interoperability [HAVI] data switching networks H04L12/2805
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/440263 by altering the spatial resolution, e.g. for displaying on a connected PDA

Abstract

Provided are a display service method for automatically displaying the same screen image on a plurality of network devices at the same time based on pre-set schedule information in a network based on a plurality of network devices, a network device capable of performing the method, and a storage medium thereof. The method includes capturing a screen image of a first network device based on pre-set schedule information, and transmitting the captured screen image to at least one second network device. Accordingly, screen images displayed on a network device can be displayed on different network devices regardless of a format of the screen images.

Claims

1. A display service method in a network based on a plurality of network devices, the method comprising:

capturing a screen image of a first network device based on pre-set schedule information; and

transmitting the captured screen image to at least one second network device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the captured screen image is one of an entire screen image that is being currently displayed on the first network device, a portion of the entire screen image, and an image of a specific program executed by the first network device.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising transmitting at least one content file stored in the first network device based on the pre-set schedule information.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the content file comprises at least one of a music content file, a still image content file, a moving picture content file, and a composite content file in which music content and image content are mixed.

5. The method of claim 2, further comprising executing the specific program if the specific program is not being executed by the first network device when the image of the specific program is transmitted,

wherein the capturing of the screen image comprises capturing the image of the specific program after the specific program is executed.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein if a number of second network devices is N,

the capturing of the screen image comprises capturing N screen images, and

the transmitting of the captured screen image comprises transmitting the captured N screen images to the N second network devices, respectively.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the pre-set schedule information is timer-based schedule information, containing information on a screen image to be captured, information on a screen image transmission time, and information on a network device to which a captured screen image is transmitted.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein if the network based on the plurality of network devices is a server-client based network, the first network device is a server, and the second network device is a client.

9. A network device capable of providing a display service between network devices, the network device comprising:

a display unit which displays a screen image;

a scheduler which manages a schedule for the display service based on pre-set schedule information;

a screen capture module which captures a screen image displayed on the display unit under the control of the scheduler; and

a transmission module which transmits the captured screen image to at least one different network device under the control of the scheduler.

10. The network device of claim 9, further comprising a buffer which stores information on at least one screen image displayed on the display unit.

11. The network device of claim 9, wherein the screen capture module captures one of an entire screen image that is being currently displayed on the first network device, a portion of the entire screen image, and an image of a specific program executed by the network device.

12. The network device of claim 11, wherein the image of the specific program is displayed in a virtual display environment.

13. The network device of claim 11, wherein if the specific program is not being executed by the network device when the image of the specific program is transmitted,

the screen capture module executes the specific program and then captures the image of the specific program.

14. The network device of claim 9, further comprising a content storage module outputting at least one content file to the transmission module under the control of the scheduler,

wherein the transmission module transmits the at least one content file and the captured screen image to different network devices.

15. The network device of claim 14, wherein the at least one content file comprises at least one of a music content file, a still image content file, a moving picture content file, and a composite content file in which music content and image content are mixed.

16. The network device of claim 9, wherein if the number of different network devices is N,

the screen capture module captures N screen images, and

the transmission module transmits the captured N screen images to the N network devices, respectively.

17. A computer readable recording medium storing a computer readable program for executing a display service method in a network based on a plurality of network devices, the method comprising:

capturing a screen image of a first network device based on pre-set schedule information; and

transmitting the captured screen image to at least one second network device.