Componentized application sharing

• US 7,835,596 B2
• Filed: 12/16/2003
• Issued: 11/16/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 12/16/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Wrp IP Management, LLC
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Hornback, Raymond Jr., Ortwein, Andrew M., Kressin, Mark S., Johnston, James S., Quinn, William M.
• Primary Examiner(s): PERUNGAVOOR, SATHYANARAYA V
• Application Number:
  US10/737,064
• Publication Number:
  US 20050128511A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,527 Days
• Field of Search: 382/303
• US Class Current: 382/303
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00127 Connection or combination of a still picture apparatus with another apparatus, e.g. for storage, processing or transmission of still picture signals or of information associated with a still picture

Abstract

The present invention is a method, system and apparatus for componentized application sharing. The system can include a multiplicity of different pluggable image processing modules. Each of the different pluggable image processing modules can conform to a single interface expected by the application sharing module. Additionally, a communicative coupling can be provided between the application sharing module and a selected one of the different image compression modules.

Claims

1. A componentized application sharing system, the system comprising:

a shared application host computer sharing images with at least a plurality of shared application viewer computers;

a plurality of different pluggable image processing modules implemented on said shared application host computer, each of said different pluggable image processing modules conforming to a corresponding single interface expected by an application sharing module implemented on said shared application host computer, each of said different pluggable image processing modules being selectable to meet requirements of a shared application, said pluggable image processing modules comprising;

a plurality of different pluggable image region selection modules configured to process selected image sub-partitions of shared application imagery, each of said different pluggable image region selection modules configured for selecting and ordering of processing of said selected image sub-partitions differently;

a plurality of different image compression modules comprising image compression logic programmed to produce one of a smallest possible image size to provide a highest possible rate of transmission for a compressed image, a lowest level of image resolution loss to provide a highest level of image fidelity for a compressed image, and a moderate image size to provide an intermediate rate of transmission and an intermediate level of image fidelity for a compressed image; and

a communicative coupling between the shared application host computer and the shared application viewer computers, for transmitting images.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein said pluggable image processing modules comprises a plurality of different pluggable image capturing modules.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein said pluggable image processing modules comprises a plurality of different pluggable image transmission modules.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein said pluggable image processing modules comprises a plurality of different pluggable image change detection modules configured to trigger image updates responsive to changes in portions of a shared application image.

5. A componentized application sharing system, the system comprising:

a shared application host computer sharing images with at least a plurality of shared application viewer computers;

a plurality of different pluggable image processing modules implemented on said shared application host computer, each of said different pluggable image processing modules conforming to a corresponding single interface expected by an application sharing module implemented on said shared application host computer, each of said different pluggable image processing modules being selectable to meet requirements of a shared application, said pluggable image processing modules comprising;

a plurality of different pluggable image region selection modules configured to process selected image sub-partitions of shared application imagery when triggering image updates for said shared application, each of said different pluggable image region selection modules configured for selecting and ordering of processing of said selected image sub-partitions differently;

a plurality of different image compression modules comprising image compression logic programmed to produce one of a smallest possible image size to provide a highest possible rate of transmission for a compressed image, a lowest level of image resolution loss to provide a highest level of image fidelity for a compressed image, and a moderate image size to provide an intermediate rate of transmission and an intermediate level of image fidelity for a compressed image; and

a communicative coupling between the shared application host computer and the shared application viewer computers, for transmitting images.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein said componentized application sharing module comprises a plurality of different pluggable image capturing modules and an integration with only one of said modules based upon an application strategy selected through said selection logic.

7. The system of claim 5, wherein said componentized application sharing module comprises a plurality of different pluggable image transmission modules and an integration with only one of said modules based upon an application strategy selected through said selection logic.

8. The system of claim 5, wherein said componentized application sharing module comprises a plurality of different pluggable image change detection modules configured to trigger image updates responsive to changes in portions of a shared application image, and an integration with only one of said modules based upon an application strategy selected through said selection logic.