METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR COORDINATING DATA SHARING IN A NETWORK WITH AT LEAST ONE PHYSICAL DISPLAY DEVICE

• US 20090271848A1
• Filed: 04/25/2008
• Published: 10/29/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 04/25/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Smart Technologies ULC (Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Smart Technologies ULC (Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd.)
• Inventors: Antonyuk, Viktor, Leung, Andrew
• Granted Patent: US 8,862,731 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 726/6
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/4015 where at least one of the additional parallel sessions is real time or time sensitive, e.g. white board sharing, collaboration or spawning of a subconference
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/14 Session management for real-time applications in data packet communications networks H04L65/1066
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/146 Markers for unambiguous identification of a particular session, e.g. session cookie or URL-encoding
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/75 Indicating network or usage conditions on the user display

Abstract

An apparatus for coordinating data sharing in a computer network with at least one physical display device is provided. The apparatus includes a code generator generating at least one unique temporary session connection code (SCC), and a storage device storing associations between each of the at least one SCC and one or more of the at least one physical display device. An interface receives requests from one or more source computers to establish communications sessions for sharing data, and a processor in response to a request establishes a communications session between the requesting source computer and at least one physical display device only in the event that at least one condition is met. The at least one condition includes that a valid SCC is received with the request. The establishing is based on the received SCC. Related methods and computer programs are disclosed.

Claims

1. An apparatus for coordinating data sharing in a computer network with at least one physical display device, comprising:

a code generator generating at least one unique temporary session connection code (SCC);

a storage device storing associations between each of the at least one SCC and one or more of the at least one physical display device;

an interface receiving requests from one or more source computers to establish communications sessions for sharing data; and

a processor in response to a request establishing a communications session between the requesting source computer and at least one physical display device only in the event that at least one condition is met,

wherein the at least one condition comprises that a valid SCC is received with the request, the establishing being based on the received SCC.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the apparatus is a network appliance.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the apparatus is a controller for controlling the at least one physical display device.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein a received SCC is considered to be invalid in the event that there is no association in the storage device between the received SCC and at least one physical display device.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the storage device stores at least one condition parameter.

6. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the at least one condition parameter is an SCC expiry date.

7. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the at least one condition parameter is an SCC activation date.

8. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the at least one condition parameter specifies whether an SCC is considered invalid after its first use for establishing a communications session.

9. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the at least one condition parameter specifies whether or not a physical display device is permitted to share data with more than one source computer.

10. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the at least one condition parameter specifies whether a request is to be queued in the event that a communications session with the at least one physical display device associated with the received SCC has already been established with another source computer.

11. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the at least one condition parameter specifies whether, in the event that a communications session with the at least one physical display device associated with the received SCC has already been established with another source computer, a communications session is to be established with at least one available physical display device with which the received SCC is not associated.

12. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the at least one condition parameter specifies whether a source computer is permitted to share data with more than one physical display device.

13. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the storage device stores associations between a single SCC and at least two physical display devices.

14. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the establishing is based on associations stored in the storage device between the received SCC and one or more physical display devices.

15. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the establishing comprises:

determining the at least one physical display device associated with the received SCC in the storage device thereby to establish the communications session accordingly.

16. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the physical display device is an interactive whiteboard.

17. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the shared data includes video data from the source computer.

18. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the shared data includes touch data from the interactive whiteboard.

19. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the shared data includes electronic files.

20. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the at least one condition parameter specifies whether receipt of a single valid SCC from different source computers permits establishing simultaneous sharing of data between multiple source computers and respective physical display devices.

21. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the at least one SCC is a data sequence of at least one of letters, numbers, symbols, gestures, voice data, and light sequence data.

22. A method for coordinating data sharing in a network with at least one physical display device, comprising:

generating at least one temporary unique session connection code (SCC);

associating each of the at least one SCC with one or more of the at least one physical display device;

receiving requests from one or more source computers to establish a communications session for sharing data; and

in response to a request, establishing a communications session between the requesting source computer and at least one physical display device only in the event that at least one condition is met, the at least one condition comprising that a valid SCC is received in connection with the request, and further wherein the establishing is based on the received SCC.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein each SCC has an expiry date.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein each SCC is automatically dissociated from any physical display devices after its expiry date.

25. The method of claim 22, wherein each of the at least one SCC has an activation date.

26. The method of claim 22, wherein an SCC is deemed invalid after its first successful use to establish a communications session.

27. The method of claim 22, wherein the communications session is established with one physical display device.

28. The method of claim 22, wherein the communications session is established with at least two physical display devices.

29. The method of claim 28, wherein the communications session supports the sharing of data between an application on the source computer and a first of the at least two physical display devices, and another application on the source computer and a second of the at least two physical display devices.

30. The method of claim 22, further comprising storing one or more condition parameters, the one or more condition parameters including:

whether the at least one physical display device with which the received SCC is associated is permitted to share data with more than one source computer.

31. The method of claim 22, wherein

in the event that the at least one physical display device with which the received SCC is associated is already sharing data with another source computer, refusing the request.

32. The method of claim 22, wherein

in the event that the at least one physical display device with which the received SCC is associated is already sharing data with another source computer, instructing the at least one physical display device to also share data with the requesting source computer.

33. The method of claim 22, wherein in the event that the at least one physical display device with which the received SCC is associated is already sharing data with another source computer, queuing the request.

34. The method of claim 33, further comprising re-evaluating the queued request for establishing a new communications session, when the communications session with the other source computer has ended.

35. A method for establishing a communications session for sharing data, comprising:

generating a unique temporary session connection code (SCC) for a first physical display device in a computer network;

receiving the SCC at a user interface of a source computer in the network; and

using the SCC, establishing a communications session for sharing data between the source computer and the first physical display device via the network.

36. The method of claim 35, wherein establishing comprises:

establishing a communications session for sharing data via a controller, wherein the controller routes data from the source computer to the first physical display device, and vice versa.

37. The method of claim 36, wherein establishing comprises:

the source computer broadcasting the SCC in an SCC request on the network; and

the controller responding to the broadcasting to initiate the communications session.

38. The method of claim 37, wherein broadcasting and responding is conducted according to the UDP network protocol.

39. The method of claim 35, wherein the SCC comprises a base component and a payload component.

40. The method of claim 39, wherein the payload component comprises data identifying the network address of the controller.

41. The method of claim 40, wherein establishing comprises:

the source computer using the network address of the controller to initiate the communications session with the controller.

42. The method of claim 40, wherein the payload component comprises a display device identifier that distinguishes the first physical display device from any other devices connected to the controller.

43. The method of claim 42, wherein establishing comprises:

the source computer using the network address of the controller to initiate the communications session with the controller; and

using the display device identifier to inform the controller that the data is for display by the first physical display device.

44. The method of claim 39, wherein the payload component comprises a display device identifier that distinguishes the first physical display device from any other devices connected to the controller.

45. The method of claim 44, wherein establishing comprises:

broadcasting the SCC by the source computer across the network;

responding to the broadcasting by the controller to initiate the communications session; and

the display device identifier being used to inform the controller that data being provided is for display by the first physical display device.

46. The method of claim 36, wherein the SCC distinguishes the first physical display device from any other devices connected to the controller.

47. The method of claim 46, wherein at least one other device connected to the controller is associated with respective unique SCC for establishing a communications session for providing data to the at least one other device via the network.

48. The method of claim 35, wherein the communications session is established via at least one additional device in the network.

49. The method of claim 36, wherein the controller generates the SCC prior to the session being established.

50. The method of claim 49, wherein the controller generates a unique SCC for each of a plurality of physical display devices under control of the controller.

51. The method of claim 35, wherein the SCC is randomly generated based on predetermined code parameters.

52. The method of claim 51, wherein the predetermined code parameters comprise at least one of code length, ineligible numbers, ineligible letters, and ineligible symbols.

53. The method of claim 35, wherein during the communications session only the source computer is permitted to share data with the first physical display device.

54. The method of claim 35, further comprising:

storing data from or based on the communication session in association with the SCC for subsequent access using the SCC.

55. The method of claim 35, wherein the SCC becomes unusable for establishing the communications session under predetermined conditions.

56. The method of claim 55, wherein the predetermined conditions comprise at least one of:

expiry of a predetermined time limit, and first use of the SCC for establishing a communications session.

57. A method of establishing a communications session for accessing a resource in a network, comprising:

generating a unique temporary session connection code (SCC) for the resource;

receiving the SCC at a user interface of a computing device in the network; and

using the SCC, establishing a communications session for enabling access by the computing device to the resource via the network.

58. The method of claim 57, wherein the resource is a physical display device receiving video data during the communications session from the computing device for display on the physical display device.

59. The method of claim 57, wherein the resource is an electronic file for access by the computing device.

60. A system for establishing a communications session for displaying video data, comprising:

at least one physical display device in a computer network;

a code generator generating a unique temporary session connection code (SCC) for association with a respective physical display device; and

at least one source computer in the network having a user interface for receiving a SCC and in response executing a session establishing procedure controlling establishing of a communications session for sharing data between the source computer and the physical display device associated with the received SCC.

61. The system of claim 60, further comprising:

a controller controlling the physical display device associated with the received SCC, wherein the controller coordinates with the source computer to establish the communications session.

62. The system of claim 61, wherein the controller controls a plurality of physical display devices, the controller comprising:

a storage device storing a table associating each SCC with its respective physical display device.

63. The system of claim 61, wherein the code generator resides in the controller.

64. A method performed by a source computer in a computer network for establishing a communications session for sharing data, comprising:

providing a user interface for receiving a session connection code (SCC);

providing an SCC request including the received SCC to the network;

receiving a response to the SCC request from a controller; and

establishing the communications session with the controller for sharing data between the source computer and the physical display device.

65. A system for establishing a communications session in a computer network, comprising:

at least one resource in the network;

a code generator generating a unique temporary session connection code (SCC) for association with the at least one resource; and

at least one computer in the network having a user interface for receiving an SCC and in response executing a session establishing procedure controlling establishing of a communications session for accessing the resource associated with the received SCC.

66. The system of claim 65, further comprising:

a controller controlling the resource associated with the received SCC, wherein the controller coordinates with the computer to establish the communications session.

67. The system of claim 66, wherein the controller controls a plurality of resources, the controller comprising:

a storage device storing a table associating each SCC with its respective resource.

68. The system of claim 66, wherein the code generator resides in the controller.

69. A computer readable medium embodying a computer program for coordinating data sharing in a network with at least one physical display device, the computer program comprising:

program code for generating at least one temporary unique session connection code (SCC);

program code for associating each of the at least one SCC with one or more of the at least one physical display device;

program code for receiving requests from one or more source computers to establish a communications session for sharing data; and

program code for, in response to a request, establishing a communications session between the requesting source computer and at least one physical display device only in the event that at least one condition is met, the at least one condition comprising that a valid SCC is received in connection with the request, and further wherein the establishing is based on the received SCC.

70. A computer readable medium embodying a computer program for establishing a communications session for sharing data, the computer program comprising:

program code for generating a unique temporary session connection code (SCC) for a first physical display device in a computer network;

program code for receiving the SCC at a user interface of a source computer in the network; and

program code for, using the SCC, establishing a communications session for sharing data between the source computer and the first physical display device via the network.

71. A computer readable medium embodying a computer program for establishing a communications session for accessing a resource in a network, the computer program comprising:

program code for generating a unique temporary session connection code (SCC) for the resource;

program code for receiving the SCC at a user interface of a computing device in the network; and

program code for using the SCC, establishing a communications session for enabling access by the computing device to the resource via the network.

72. A computer readable medium embodying a computer program for establishing a communications session for sharing data, the computer program comprising:

program code for providing a user interface for receiving a session connection code (SCC);

program code for providing an SCC request including the received SCC to the network;

program code for receiving a response to the SCC request from a controller; and

program code for establishing the communications session with the controller for sharing data between the source computer and the physical display device.