System and method of switching between multiple viewing modes in a multi-head computer system

• US 7,952,569 B2
• Filed: 08/08/2002
• Issued: 05/31/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 08/08/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Inventors: Ali, Vali, Salazar, Pablo J., Baerenstecher, Mark E., Wang, Lan, Hunt, Peter D.
• Primary Examiner(s): Brier; Jeffery A.
• Application Number:
  US10/214,818
• Publication Number:
  US 20040039862A1
• Time in Patent Office: 3,218 Days
• Field of Search: 345/659, 345/3.1, 345/3.4, 345/156, 345/179, 707/303, 707/304, 710/303, 710/304, 361/681, 361/682, 361/679.06, 361/679.41, 361/679.44
• US Class Current: 345/179
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1626 with a single-body enclosure integrating a flat display, e.g. Personal Digital Assistants [PDAs]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1632 External expansion units, e.g. docking stations
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1656 Details related to functional adaptations of the enclosure, e.g. to provide protection against EMI, shock, water, or to host detachable peripherals like a mouse or removable expansions units like PCMCIA cards, or to provide access to internal components for maintenance or to removable storage supports like CDs or DVDs, or to mechanically mount accessories mounting of accessories to a computer display G06F1/1607; display hoods G06F1/1603; cooling arrangements for portable computers G06F1/203
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/166 related to integrated arrangements for adjusting the position of the main body with respect to the supporting surface, e.g. legs for adjusting the tilt angle
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1669 Detachable keyboards
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1671 Special purpose buttons or auxiliary keyboards, e.g. retractable mini keypads, keypads or buttons that remain accessible at closed laptop G06F1/1666 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/169 the I/O peripheral being an integrated pointing device, e.g. trackball in the palm rest area, mini-joystick integrated between keyboard keys, touch pads or touch stripes G06F1/1643 takes precedence; constructional details of pointing devices G06F3/033
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2200/1614 Image rotation following screen orientation, e.g. switching from landscape to portrait mode
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/03545 Pens or stylus
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0488 using a touch-screen or digitiser, e.g. input of commands through traced gestures

Abstract

The present technique provides a system and method for automatically switching a computer system between multiple display profiles in response to a system event, such as a hardware event. The present technique detects the system event, identifies the hardware configuration of the computer system, and automatically reconfigures the computer system to accommodate the hardware configuration in real-time. The system event may be a physical rotation of a display between landscape and portrait orientations or between viewing and writing orientations. The system event also may be a physical docking or undocking of a first computing device with a second device in a variety of mounting positions. Any suitable sensor, switch, or hardware/software detection mechanism may be used for the foregoing event detection.

Claims

1. A computer system, comprising:

a docking device;

a portable computing device dockable with the docking device, wherein the portable computing device comprises a first display;

a docking event detection mechanism disposed on one or both of the docking device and the portable computing device; and

an automatic profile reconfiguring mechanism responsive to the docking event detection mechanism in real-time and disposed on one or both of the docking device and the portable computing device, wherein the automatic profile reconfiguring mechanism is configured to enable user input by a computer pen in a writing application on the portable computing device in response to a detected substantially horizontal plane orientation of the first display with respect to a work surface that supports the docking device.

2. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the docking device comprises a second video display.

3. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the docking device comprises a multi-positionable dockable structure.

4. The computer system of claim 3, wherein the multi-positionable dockable structure is mountable in an upright orientation and in a generally horizontal orientation.

5. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the portable computing device is a tablet computer.

6. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the portable computing device comprises a screen orientation switching mechanism adapted to switch screen views between portrait and landscape orientations.

7. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the automatic profile reconfiguring mechanism comprises a multi-display viewing rearrangement mechanism adapted to alter viewing profiles in response to configuration changes in one or more displays of a multi-display system.

8. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the portable computing device comprises a tablet computing device having the first display, the docking device comprises a multi-positionable docking device having a communications connector dockable with the tablet computing device, and the automatic profile reconfiguring mechanism further comprises a real-time display profile switching mechanism.

9. The computer system of claim 8, wherein the real-time display profile switching mechanism comprises a plurality of display configuration profiles.

10. The computer system of claim 9, wherein the plurality of display configuration profiles comprises screen orientation settings.

11. The computer system of claim 9, wherein the plurality of display configuration profiles comprises screen visual settings.

12. The computer system of claim 9, wherein the plurality of display configuration profiles comprises software application settings.

13. The computer system of claim 9, wherein the plurality of display configuration profiles comprises configuration settings for the first display and at least one other display of the multi-positionable dockable device.

14. The computer system of claim 9, wherein the real-time display profile switching mechanism comprises a profile editing interface for the plurality of display configuration profiles.

15. The computer system of claim 8, wherein the real-time display profile switching mechanism comprises a display view rearrangement mechanism for a multi-display system.