Method and system for displaying information uniformly on tethered and remote input devices

• US 6,390,371 B1
• Filed: 02/13/1998
• Issued: 05/21/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 02/13/1998
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Round Rock Research LLC
• Original Assignee: Micron Technology, Inc.
• Inventors: Armga, Dave, Gaige, Gary, Wykert, Brad
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Chanh
• Assistant Examiner(s): Alphonse, Fritz
• Application Number:
  US09/023,389
• Time in Patent Office: 1,558 Days
• Field of Search: 345/764, 345/716, 345/866, 345/970, 345/1.1, 345/1.2, 345/2.1, 345/2.2, 345/156, 235/462.45, 235/462.15, 235/462.25, 235/472.01
• US Class Current: 235/472.01
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1431 using a single graphics controller
• 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

Abstract

A system for displaying information with a uniform visual display appearance on a variety of computer display devices, regardless of varying display capabilities of the display devices and of whether the display devices are tethered to the computer system or are remote. The system acts as an intermediary between an application program and the display devices. The system first receives information from the application program that is to be displayed on one of the display devices. The system then determines the location and display capabilities of the display device, and generates appropriate instructions that will display the received information on the display device. These instructions are generated in such a manner as to compensate for the varying display capabilities of the display devices, thus allowing the information to appear with a uniform visual display appearance on any of the devices to which the information may be displayed. If the display device is tethered to the computer system via a physical connection, the system directly invokes the display interface to the display device. If the display device is instead a remote device that is not local and tethered, the system generates instructions to invoke the display interface to the remote device and transmits the instruction to the remote device using a communication interface. If the application program is responding to information received from a peripheral device, the system can select an appropriate display device on which to display the response information.

Claims

1. A method in a computer system for displaying information on a bar code scanning device, the computer system having a tethered bar code scanning device with a display and having an untethered bar code scanning device with a display, the tethered bar code scanning device being physically connected to the computer system and the untethered bar code scanning device being not physically connected to the computer system, the display of the tethered bar code scanning device having different display capabilities for displaying information than the display of the untethered bar code scanning device, the method comprising:

selecting display capabilities that are common to the displays of the tethered and untethered bar code scanning devices;

receiving input information from one of the bar code scanning devices;

in response to receiving the input information, generating information to be displayed on the display of the one bar code scanning device;

generating an instruction to display the generated information on the display of the one bar code scanning device by using the selected display capabilities so that the generated information when displayed will have a uniform visual appearance regardless of whether the one bar code scanning device is the tethered bar code scanning device or the untethered bar code scanning device; and

displaying the generated information with the uniform visual appearance on the one bar code scanning device by,

when the one bar code scanning device is the tethered bar code scanning device, executing the generated instruction on the computer system; and

when the one bar code scanning device is the untethered bar code scanning device, sending the generated instruction to the untethered bar code scanning device for execution by the untethered bar code scanning device.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein there is only one possible visual appearance for the generated information when displayed on the untethered bar code scanning device, and including the step of selecting the one possible visual appearance to be the uniform visual appearance.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein when the one bar code scanning device is the tethered bar code scanning device, the display of the untethered bar code scanning device is emulated on the display of the tethered bar code scanning device.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein a computer program is designed to display information on the display of the untethered bar code scanning device with a specified visual appearance, and wherein the emulated display is used to test whether the computer program can display the information on the display of the untethered bar code scanning device with the specified visual appearance.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the computer system has a plurality of untethered bar code scanning devices, and wherein each of the plurality receive distinct generated instructions from the computer system such that each of the plurality displays different information.

6. In a computer system having a device of either a tethered type or an untethered type, the tethered type and the untethered type each having an associated display, the associated display for the tethered type having different display capabilities than the associated display for the untethered type, a method for displaying information with a uniform appearance comprising:

receiving information from an application program, the received information to be displayed on the associated display for the device;

determining a uniform appearance such that the received information when displayed will have the determined uniform appearance regardless of whether the device is tethered or untethered; and

displaying the received information with the determined uniform appearance on the associated display for the device by,

when the device is tethered, executing a first instruction on the computer system; and

when the device is untethered, sending a second instruction to the device for execution by the device, the second instruction distinct from the first instruction.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein when the device is untethered, the second instruction is sent to the device via a wireless medium.

8. The method of claim 6 wherein the computer system and the device each have an identifier, and including the steps of:

determining the identifier for the device; and

after determining the uniform appearance, determining the device to be untethered when the identifier for the device is different from the identifier for the computer system.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein the computer system has a plurality of untethered devices each with an identifier, wherein the computer system and the untethered devices are part of a shared network, wherein the identifiers are unique network addresses, and wherein the sending of the second instruction to the device is performed by invoking network functionality that transfers data to a specified destination, the specified destination being the identifier for the device.

10. The method of claim 6 wherein a computer program that displays information on an untethered device is tested by executing the computer program on a computer system with a tethered device and by displaying the information on a display device for the computer system.

11. A method in a computer system for displaying information, the computer system having a tethered display device, a tethered data input device and an untethered data input device, the untethered device having an attached display with different capabilities for displaying information than the tethered display device, the method comprising:

selecting display capabilities that are common to the tethered display device and the attached display;

receiving input information from one of the data input devices;

in response to receiving the input information, generating information to be displayed;

generating an instruction to use at least one of the selected display capabilities to display the generated information in such a manner that the generated information will have a uniform appearance when displayed on either the tethered display device or the attached display;

when the one data input device is the tethered data input device, executing the generated instruction on the computer system to display the generated information with the uniform appearance on the tethered display device; and

when the one data input device is the untethered data input device, sending the generated instruction to the untethered data input device for execution so as to display the generated information with the uniform appearance on the attached display.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein there is only one possible appearance for the generated information when displayed on the attached display, and including the step of selecting the uniform appearance to be the one possible appearance.

13. The method of claim 11 wherein the computer system has a plurality of untethered data input devices, wherein each of the data input devices has an identifier, and including the steps of:

determining the identifier for the one data input device;

determining that the one data input device is the untethered device when the determined identifier is different than an identifier for the computer system; and

determining that the one data input device is the tethered device when the determined identifier is the same as the identifier for the computer system.

14. The method of claim 11 including the steps of:

before receiving the input information, determining the uniform appearance based on the selected display capabilities; and

after determining the uniform appearance, determining whether the one data input device is the tethered data input device or the untethered data input device.

15. The method of claim 11 wherein a computer program that displays information on untethered data input devices is tested by executing the computer program on the computer system and displaying the information on the tethered display device.

16. In a computer system having a tethered data input device and an untethered data input device, a method for displaying information uniformly on either device comprising the steps of:

receiving information to be displayed;

determining a uniform appearance such that the received information when displayed on a data input device will have the determined uniform appearance regardless of whether the data input device is the tethered device or the untethered device;

receiving an indication of the data input device on which to display the received information;

after determining the uniform appearance, determining whether the indicated data input device is the tethered device or the untethered device;

generating an instruction to display the received information on the indicated data input device; and

displaying the received information with the determined uniform appearance by,

when the indicated data input device is the tethered device, executing the generated instruction on the computer system to display the received information on a display for the tethered device; and

when the indicated data input device is the untethered device, executing the generated instruction to send the received information to the untethered device for display by the untethered device.

17. The method of claim 16 wherein the untethered device is a portable device with an integrated display, and wherein the generated instruction is sent to the untethered device via a wireless medium.

18. The method of claim 16 wherein the computer system has an identifier and a plurality of untethered data input devices, wherein each of the plurality has a unique identifier, wherein the received indication is the identifier for the data input device, and wherein when the indicated data input device is untethered, sending the received information to the indicated data input device by sending the received indication and the generated instruction to an intermediate transmitting device, the transmitting device for sending information to the plurality of untethered data input devices.

19. The method of claim 16 wherein a computer program that displays information on an untethered data input device is tested by executing the computer program on a computer system with a tethered data input device and by displaying the information on a display device for the computer system.

20. In a computer system having a first data input device and a second data input device, each of the data input devices having an associated display with display characteristics that affect appearance of displayed information, the associated display for the first device having different display characteristics than the associated display for the second device, a method for displaying information with a uniform appearance on either associated display comprising the steps of:

selecting display characteristics that are shared by the associated displays for the first and second devices;

receiving information to be displayed;

receiving an indication of a data input device;

generating an instruction based on whether the indicated data input device is the first device or the second device, the generated instruction to display the received information on the associated display of the indicated data input device by using at least one of the selected display characteristics in such a manner that the received information will be displayed with a uniform appearance regardless of whether the indicated data input device is the first device or the second device; and

executing the generated instruction so as to display the received information with the uniform appearance on the associated display for the indicated data input device.

21. The method of claim 20 wherein the first device is a portable device with an integrated display, wherein the associated display for the first device is the integrated display, and wherein the associated display for the second device is a display device tethered to the computer system.

22. The method of claim 21 wherein the integrated display is emulated on the display device.

23. The method of claim 20 wherein the instruction generated when information is to be displayed on the associated display for the first device is different than the instruction generated when that same information is to be displayed on the associated display for the second device.

24. The method of claim 20 wherein the display characteristics of the associated display for one of the data input devices is a subset of the display characteristics of the associated display for the other data input device, and wherein the selecting of the shared display characteristics involves choosing the display characteristics of the associated display for the one data input device.

25. The method of claim 20 wherein the information to be displayed is text, wherein each associated display has a display size, and wherein determining the appearance includes:

determining a smaller of the display sizes for the associated displays;

selecting the determined smaller display size as a maximum display size in which the text can be displayed;

determining a text font type and a text font size which can be displayed by both associated displays, the determined font type and determined font size such that displaying the text using the determined font type and determined font size requires an amount of space on an associated display that is less than the selected maximum size;

determining a text font color which can be displayed by both associated displays; and

designating the appearance of the displayed text to include the determined font type, the determined font size, and the determined font color.

26. A computer system for displaying information with a uniform appearance, comprising:

a display device;

a data input device with a display, the data input device either of a tethered type or of an untethered type; and

a display generator that determines a uniform appearance for information to be displayed to either the display device or the display of the data input device, that determines whether the data input device is tethered or untethered, that when the data input device is tethered, executes a first instruction to display the information on the display device with the uniform appearance, and that when the data input device is untethered, sends a second instruction distinct from the first instruction to the data input device to display the information on the display of the data input device with the uniform appearance,

whereby information displayed on the display device appears substantially similar to information displayed on the display of the untethered data input device.

27. The computer system of claim 26 wherein the data input device includes the means for receiving the second instruction via a wireless medium and the means for executing the second instruction, and wherein the computer system includes a processing unit that executes the first instruction.

28. The computer system of claim 26 wherein the computer system additionally comprises a plurality of untethered data input devices that are each part of a network, wherein the computer system and each of the plurality has a unique network identifier, wherein a data input device is determined to be untethered when the network identifier for the data input device is different from the network identifier for the computer system, and wherein the sending to the data input device involves invoking network data transfer functionality with a destination of the network address for the data input device.

29. The computer system of claim 26 including a computer program that displays information on an untethered data input device, and wherein the computer program is tested by displaying the information on the display device.

30. A computer system for displaying information with a uniform appearance on one of multiple data input devices, comprising:

a first data input device with a first associated display, the first associated display having a first set of display characteristics that affect appearance of displayed information, and

a second data input device with a second associated display, the second associated display. having a second set of display characteristics that affect appearance of displayed information, the second set different from the first set;

a display generator for selecting display characteristics that are shared by the first and second sets, for receiving information to be displayed, for determining an appearance such that the received information when displayed on an associated display will have the determined appearance regardless of whether the associated display is the first associated display or the second associated display, for determining an associated display on which the received information will be displayed, and for displaying on the determined associated display the received information with the determined appearance by executing an instruction using display characteristics in the selected set of display characteristics; and

a processor for executing instructions.

31. The computer system of claim 30 wherein the display characteristics of the first associated display are a subset of the display characteristics of the second associated display, and wherein the selecting of the set of display characteristics involves choosing the display characteristics of the first associated display.

32. The computer system of claim 30 wherein the computer system has a plurality of portable data input devices each with an integrated display, and wherein distinct information is sent to each of the plurality of portable data input devices via a wireless medium and is displayed with the determined appearance on the integrated display of the portable data input device to which the information was transmitted.

33. A computer-readable medium containing instructions for controlling a computer system to display information with a uniform appearance, the computer system having a device of either a tethered type or an untethered type, the tethered type and the untethered type each having an associated display, the associated display for the tethered type having different display capabilities than the associated display for the untethered type, by:

receiving information from an application program, the received information to be displayed on the associated display for the device;

determining a uniform appearance such that the received information when displayed will have the determined uniform appearance regardless of whether the device is tethered or untethered; and

displaying the received information with the determined uniform appearance on the associated display for the device by,

when the device is tethered, executing a first instruction on the computer system; and

when the device is untethered, sending a second instruction to the device for execution by the device, the second instruction distinct from the first instruction.

34. The computer-readable medium of claim 33 wherein the computer system has an identifier and a plurality of untethered devices, wherein each untethered device has a identifier distinct from the identifier for the computer system, and wherein the computer system is further controlled to perform the steps of:

determining an identifier for the device; and

after determining the uniform appearance, determining the device to be untethered when the identifier for the device is different from the identifier for the computer system.

35. The computer-readable medium of claim 33 wherein a computer program that displays information on an untethered device is tested by executing the computer program on a computer system with a tethered device and by displaying the information on a display device for the computer system.

36. A computer-readable medium containing instructions for controlling a computer system having a display device, a tethered data input device and an untethered data input device, the untethered device having an attached display with different capabilities for displaying information than the display device, the controlling to display information by:

selecting display capabilities that are common to the display device and the attached display;

receiving input information from one of the data input devices;

in response to receiving the input information, generating information to be displayed;

generating an instruction to use at least one of the selected display capabilities to display the generated information in such a manner that the generated information will have a uniform appearance when displayed on either the display device or the attached display;

when the one data input device is the tethered data input device, executing the generated instruction on the computer system to display the generated information with the uniform appearance on the display device; and

when the one data input device is the untethered data input device, sending the generated instruction to the untethered data input device for execution so as to display the generated information with the uniform appearance on the attached display.

37. The computer-readable medium of claim 36 wherein the untethered device is a portable device with the attached display integrated with the untethered device, wherein the display capabilities of the integrated display are a subset of the display capabilities of the display device, and wherein the selecting of the display capabilities involves choosing the display capabilities of the integrated display.

38. The computer-readable medium of claim 37 wherein the integrated display is emulated on the display device.

39. The computer-readable medium of claim 37 wherein the instruction generated when information is to be displayed on the display device is different than the instruction generated when that same information is to be displayed on the integrated display.