METHOD FOR SELECTIVELY REMOTING WINDOWS

• US 20090096810A1
• Filed: 10/11/2007
• Published: 04/16/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 10/11/2007
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Citrix Systems, Inc. (Cloud Software Group)
• Original Assignee: Citrix Systems, Inc. (Cloud Software Group)
• Inventors: Green, Brian D.
• Application Number:
  US11/870,926
• Publication Number:
  US 20090096810A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/620
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1454 involving copying of the display data of a local workstation or window to a remote workstation or window so that an actual copy of the data is displayed simultaneously on two or more displays, e.g. teledisplay
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/452 Remote windowing, e.g. X-Window System, desktop virtualisation protocols for virtual reality H04L67/131
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2340/10 Mixing of images, i.e. displayed pixel being the result of an operation, e.g. adding, on the corresponding input pixels
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 5/14 Display of multiple viewports

Abstract

Methods and apparatus for the display of an image at a remote computer, where the image includes a graphical object to be at least partially omitted from the image displayed at the remote computer. Different regions of the desktop are identified and processed by different capture methods, in such a way as to achieve the desired result while keeping the computational cost low. Applications include the sharing of a local user'"'"'s desktop with remote users without sharing a local user interface.

Claims

1. A method for the display of an image at a remote computer, the image including a graphical object to be at least partially omitted from the image displayed at the remote computer, the method comprising:

determining a first region in the image, the first region comprising at least part of the graphical object;

selectively capturing pixels that fall outside the first region; and

selectively re-rendering pixels that fall within the first region to omit the graphical object.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first region comprises the entirety of the graphical object.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the first region coincides with the area of the image that is covered by the graphical object.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the image comprises opaque and translucent objects, and the graphical object is a translucent object.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

determining a second region in the image, the second region comprising translucent objects not overlapping with the graphical object;

determining a third region in the image, the third region not comprising translucent objects;

selectively capturing pixels of the second region including both opaque and translucent objects; and

selectively capturing pixels of the third region including opaque objects only.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein the opaque and translucent objects are arranged in a hierarchy, and wherein the step of re-rendering pixels comprises:

retrieving the contents of each opaque and translucent object that intersects the first region; and

composing the contents according to their order in the hierarchy and their being opaque or translucent.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

updating the first region in response to changes in the graphical object.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

updating the first region at predetermined times.

9. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

updating at least one of the first, second and third regions in response to changes in the number and position of translucent objects.

10. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

selectively rendering updated pixels in the first region;

detecting a change by comparing the updated pixels with previously rendered pixels; and

if a change is detected, updating at least one of the first, second and third regions.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein:

the image is captured at a first average frequency; and

the step of selectively rendering updated pixels is performed at a second average frequency which is substantially lower than the first average frequency.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the image represents a desktop of a local computer system; and

the graphical object represents the user interface of an application running on the local computer system.

13. An apparatus for the display of an image at a remote computer, the image including a graphical object to be at least partially omitted from the image displayed at the remote computer, the apparatus comprising:

a facility for determining a first region in the image, the first region comprising at least part of the graphical object;

a facility for selectively capturing pixels that fall outside the first region; and

a facility for selectively re-rendering pixels that fall within the first region to omit the graphical object.

14. A computer-readable medium storing a program for the display of an image at a remote computer, the image including a graphical object to be at least partially omitted from the image displayed at the remote computer, the program comprising instructions for:

determining a first region in the image, the first region comprising at least part of the graphical object;

selectively capturing pixels that fall outside the first region; and

selectively re-rendering pixels that fall within the first region to omit the graphical object.