SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR CONCURRENT DISPLAY OF A VIDEO SIGNAL ON A PLURALITY OF DISPLAY DEVICES

• US 20140104242A1
• Filed: 10/12/2012
• Published: 04/17/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 10/12/2012
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: NVIDIA Corporation
• Original Assignee: NVIDIA Corporation
• Inventors: Muntianu, Adrian, Agarwal, Rajat
• Application Number:
  US13/650,280
• Publication Number:
  US 20140104242A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/204
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/14 Digital output to display device ; Cooperation and interconnection of the display device with other functional units
• 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: G09G 2320/08 Arrangements within a display terminal for setting, manually or automatically, display parameters of the display terminal
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2370/22 Detection of presence or absence of input display information or of connection or disconnection of a corresponding information source
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 5/003 Details of a display terminal, the details relating to the control arrangement of the display terminal and to the interfaces thereto specific for a CRT G09G1/165; for a flat panel G09G3/2092

Abstract

A system and method are provided for displaying a video signal concurrently on a plurality of display devices. The system includes an operating system (OS) and a device driver. The device driver identifies a subset of display devices connected to the system, where the subset includes two or more of the display devices. The device driver also connects to the OS a virtual display device that is representative of the subset of display devices. The device driver further configures the system to route a video signal to all of the subset of display devices.

Claims

1. A method for displaying a video signal concurrently on a plurality of display devices, the method comprising:

identifying a subset of display devices connected to a system, the subset comprising a plurality of the display devices connected to the system; and

configuring the system to route a video signal to all of the subset of display devices.

2. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the identifying comprises:

receiving one or more display device characteristics; and

identifying the subset of display devices based upon the received one or more display device characteristics.

3. The method as recited in claim 2, wherein the receiving comprises:

determining characteristics of the display devices connected to the system; and

receiving a selection of one or more of the determined characteristics.

4. The method as recited in claim 2, further comprising:

sensing the connection of a further display device to the system;

determining characteristics of the further display device and

based upon the determined characteristics of the further display device and the received one or more display device characteristics;

adding the further display device to the subset of display devices; and

configuring the system to route the video signal to the further display device.

5. The method as recited in claim 2, further comprising storing information relating to the received one or more display device characteristics in a persistence database.

6. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the configuring comprises configuring one or more video switching devices coupling the subset of display devices to the system.

7. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising:

sensing a disconnection from the system of a display device in the subset of display devices;

removing the disconnected display device from the subset of display devices; and

configuring the system based upon the removal of the disconnected display device from the subset of display devices.

8. A system comprising:

an operating system (OS); and

a device driver,

wherein the device driver is configured to;

identify a subset of display devices connected to the system, the subset comprising a plurality of the display devices connected to the system;

connect to the OS a virtual display device representative of the subset of display devices; and

configure the system to route a video signal to all of the subset of display devices.

9. The system as recited in claim 8, the device driver further configured to:

receive one or more display device characteristics;

identifying the subset of display devices based upon the received one or more display device characteristics; and

characterize the virtual display device based upon characteristics of the subset of display devices.

10. The system as recited in claim 9, the device driver further configured to:

determine characteristics of the display devices connected to the system; and

receive a selection of one or more of the determined characteristics as the one or more display device characteristics.

11. The system as recited in claim 9, the device driver further configured to:

sense the connection of a further display device to the system;

determine characteristics of the further display device and

based upon the determined characteristics of the further display device and the received one or more display device characteristics;

add the further display device to the subset of display devices; and

configure the system to route the video signal to the further display device.

12. The system as recited in claim 9, the device driver further configured to:

upon being unloaded, store information relating to the received one or more display device characteristics in a persistence database; and

upon being loaded;

read the stored information;

identify a subset of display devices currently connected to the system based upon the stored information; and

configure the system to route a video signal to all of the subset of display devices currently connected to the system.

13. The system as recited in claim 8, the device driver further configured to:

sense a disconnection from the system of a display device in the subset of display devices;

remove the disconnected display device from the subset of display devices; and

configure the system based upon the removal of the disconnected display device from the subset of display devices.

14. The system as recited in claim 13, the device driver further configured to:

determine that the subset of display devices is empty; and

in response, disconnect from the OS the virtual display device.

15. A non-transitory, computer readable medium storing instructions that, when executed by a processing system, cause the processing system to display a video signal concurrently on a plurality of display devices, by performing the steps of:

identifying a subset of display devices connected to the processing system, the subset comprising a plurality of the display devices connected to the processing system; and

configuring the processing system to route a video signal to all of the subset of display devices.

16. The computer readable medium as recited in claim 15, wherein the step of identifying comprises:

receiving one or more display device characteristics; and

identifying the subset of display devices based upon the received one or more display device characteristics.

17. The computer readable medium as recited in claim 16, wherein the step of receiving comprises:

determining characteristics of the display devices connected to the system; and

receiving a selection of one or more of the determined characteristics.

18. The computer readable medium as recited in claim 16, wherein the steps further comprise:

sensing the connection of a further display device to the processing system;

determining characteristics of the further display device and

based upon the determined characteristics of the further display device and the received one or more display device characteristics;

adding the further display device to the subset of display devices; and

configuring the processing system to route the video signal to the further display device.

19. The computer readable medium as recited in claim 16, wherein the steps further comprise:

storing information relating to the received one or more display device characteristics in a persistence database

20. The computer readable medium as recited in claim 15, wherein the steps further comprise:

sensing a disconnection from the processing system of a display device in the subset of display devices;

removing the disconnected display device from the subset of display devices; and

configuring the processing system based upon the removal of the disconnected display device from the subset of display devices.