APPLICATION DISPLAY SWITCH

• US 20090207097A1
• Filed: 02/18/2009
• Published: 08/20/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 02/19/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Modu Limited (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Sherman, Itay, Bychkov, Eyal, Segalov, Yaron
• Granted Patent: US 9,448,814 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/1.300
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/143 Markup, e.g. Standard Generalized Markup Language [SGML] or Document Type Definition [DTD]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/452 Remote windowing, e.g. X-Window System, desktop virtualisation protocols for virtual reality H04L67/131

Abstract

A bridge system for auxiliary display devices connected to a computer, including a computer running a plurality of mini-programs, each mini-program sending information of a specific nature from the computer to a corresponding auxiliary display device, for presentation to a user, a plurality of auxiliary display devices, each auxiliary display device including an auxiliary screen and each auxiliary display device having look & feel display parameters, for receiving information from the corresponding plurality of mini-programs, and for displaying the received information on the auxiliary screens according to the corresponding look & feel parameters, and at least one bridge device coupled to the computer, each bridge device coupled to at least one of the auxiliary display devices, each bridge device including a bridge screen, and each bridge device receiving information from a corresponding at least one of the mini-programs, forwarding the received information to the at least one of the auxiliary display devices, and displaying the received information on the bridge screen according to the look & feel display parameters of the at least one of the auxiliary display devices. A method is also described and claimed.

Claims

1. A bridge system for auxiliary display devices connected to a computer, comprising:

a computer running a plurality of mini-programs, each mini-program sending information of a specific nature from the computer to a corresponding auxiliary display device, for presentation to a user;

a plurality of auxiliary display devices, each auxiliary display device comprising an auxiliary screen and each auxiliary display device having look &

feel display parameters, for receiving information from the corresponding plurality of mini-programs, and for displaying the received information on said auxiliary screens according to the corresponding look &

feel parameters; and

at least one bridge device coupled to said computer, each bridge device coupled to at least one of said auxiliary display devices, each bridge device comprising a bridge screen, and each bridge device receiving information from a corresponding at least one of the mini-programs, forwarding the received information to the at least one of said auxiliary display devices, and displaying the received information on said bridge screen according to the look &

feel display parameters of the at least one of said auxiliary display devices.

2. The bridge system of claim 1 further comprising a configuration manager running on said computer, for setting up a configuration of which bridges are permitted to display information from which mini-programs.

3. The bridge system of claim 1 further comprising at least one bridge configuration manager running on said at least one bridge device, each bridge configuration manager specifying which auxiliary display devices connected to the bridge device are permitted to display information from which mini-programs.

4. The bridge system of claim 1 wherein said plurality of auxiliary display devices includes an e-mail reader.

5. The bridge system of claim 1 wherein said plurality of auxiliary display devices includes a calendar scheduler.

6. The bridge system of claim 1 wherein said plurality of auxiliary display devices includes a GPS navigator.

7. The bridge system of claim 1 wherein said plurality of auxiliary display devices includes a weather reporter.

8. The bridge system of claim 1 wherein said plurality of auxiliary display devices includes a home entertainment system.

9. The bridge system of claim 1 wherein said plurality of auxiliary display devices includes a digital picture frame.

10. The bridge system of claim 1 wherein said plurality of auxiliary display devices includes a portable music player.

11. The bridge of claim 1 wherein said plurality of auxiliary display devices includes a cellular telephone.

12. A method for managing auxiliary display devices connected to a computer, comprising:

receiving XML information of a specific nature from a mini-program running on a computer, and receiving look &

feel parameters from an auxiliary display device that displays information in a display format conforming to the look &

feel parameters, for presentation to a user;

transforming the XML information to a BMP image conforming to the look &

feel parameters of the auxiliary display device;

transmitting the BMP image to the auxiliary display device for presentation to the user;

receiving an indication of an action performed by the user on the auxiliary display device in response to viewing the BMP image;

generating a second BMP image based on the received indication, conforming to the look &

feel parameters of the auxiliary display device; and

further transmitting the second BMP image to the auxiliary display device for further presentation to the user.

13. A method for managing auxiliary display devices connected to a computer, comprising:

receiving XML information of a specific nature from a mini-program running on a computer, and receiving look &

feel parameters from an auxiliary display device that displays information in a display format conforming to the look &

feel parameters, for presentation to a user;

transforming the XML information to a BMP image conforming to the look &

feel parameters of the auxiliary display device;

transmitting the BMP image to the auxiliary display device for presentation to the user;

receiving additional XML information from the mini-program;

generating a second BMP image based on the additional XML information, conforming to the look &

feel parameters of the auxiliary display device; and

further transmitting the second BMP image to the auxiliary display device for further presentation to the user.

14. The bridge system of claim 13 wherein the XML information of a specific nature is e-mail information.

15. The bridge system of claim 13 wherein the XML information of a specific nature is calendar schedule information.

16. The bridge system of claim 13 wherein the XML information of a specific nature is picture information.

17. The bridge system of claim 13 wherein the XML information of a specific nature is GPS navigational information.

18. The bridge system of claim 13 wherein the XML information of a specific nature is weather information.