Controlling the display of contents designated by multiple portable terminals on a common display device in a segmented area having a terminal-specific cursor

• US 7,461,121 B2
• Filed: 08/29/2003
• Issued: 12/02/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 05/21/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Maxell, Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
• Inventors: Doi, Koji, Morimoto, Yoshiaki, Maeoka, Jun, Shibata, Yoshitaka, Satoyama, Motoaki, Morinaga, Takenori
• Primary Examiner(s): Caldwell; Andrew
• Assistant Examiner(s): Frink; John M
• Application Number:
  US10/651,254
• Publication Number:
  US 20040236825A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,922 Days
• Field of Search: 709/203, 709/204, 709/205, 715/751, 715/753
• US Class Current: 709/203
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72412 using two-way short-range wireless interfaces

Abstract

An information display system in which a single display device can be shared by a plurality of information terminal users is disclosed. An interface sets each of the portable telephones held by users in correspondence with the display device for communication. The display device is adapted to be connected with a plurality of portable terminals and manage the data exchange. In displaying the screen, a cursor identifiable on the screen is assigned to each portable terminal, the screen is segmented into a plurality of areas to display a plurality of contents on a single screen, and the screen of the portable terminal is also used as a display area.

Claims

1. An information display system comprising:

a display device, including a display screen, for controlling the contents of display in accordance with a request from at least one of portable terminals held by users;

a display server for controlling said display device such that said display screen on which the contents of display are displayed can be shared by a plurality of users and the contents displayed on said display screen can be controlled separately from each other in accordance with requests from the users; and

a portable terminal server for forwarding a program for using said information display system to said portable terminals and acting as an intermediary for data exchange between said portable terminals and said display server,

wherein said display server divides a display area of said display screen into a plurality of display areas, assigns the users the divided display areas each performing a display including a menu, displays each divided display area with an icon unique to the divided display area on the display screen, and renders, via said portable terminal server, the icon applied to the divided display area on said display screen to be displayed on a display screen of the portable terminal of the user using the display area with the icon; and

wherein said display screen of the portable terminal is different from said display screen of the display device.

2. An information display system according to claim 1, wherein data of said display contents are stored in a memory of said display server.

3. An information display system according to claim 1, wherein said program includes a function of transmitting a key input for said portable terminal to said portable terminal server, and a function of displaying data transmitted from said portable terminal server on the screen of said portable terminal.

4. An information display system according to claim 2, wherein said program includes a function of transmitting a key input for said portable terminal to said portable terminal server, and a function of displaying data transmitted from said portable terminal server on the screen of said portable terminal.

5. In an information display system comprising a display screen, a display server for controlling the display screen and a portable terminal server configured to forward a program to portable terminals for using the display screen and to coordinate data exchange between the portable terminals and the display server, a method for users of the portable terminals to share the display screen comprising:

dividing the display screen into a plurality of display areas, wherein each display area is assigned to a respective user of a portable terminal to view contents, and each display area is separately controllable in accordance with request from each assigned user;

in each display area, displaying a menu;

for each respective display area, displaying an icon unique to the respective display area;

and for each respective display area, rendering, via the portable terminal server, the icon unique to the respective display area to be displayed on a display screen of a portable terminal of a corresponding user assigned to use the respective display area;

wherein the display screen of the respective portable terminal is different from the display screen of the information display system.

6. A display server for working with a display device and a portable terminal server to allow the display device to be shared among multiple portable terminals, wherein the display server is configured to:

divide the display device into a plurality of display areas, wherein each display area is assigned to a respective user of a portable terminal to view contents, and each display area is separately controllable in accordance with request from each assigned user;

in each display area, display a menu;

for each respective display area, display an icon unique to the respective display area; and

for each respective display area, render, via the portable terminal server, the icon unique to the respective display area to be displayed on a display screen of a portable terminal of a corresponding user assigned to use the respective display area, wherein the portable terminal server is configured to forward a program to the portable terminals for using the display screen and to coordinate data exchange between the portable terminals and the display server, and the display screen of the respective portable terminal is different from the display device.