Apparatus and system for managing multiple computers

• US 8,639,812 B2
• Filed: 10/29/2007
• Issued: 01/28/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 04/12/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Belkin International Incorporated (Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Belkin International Incorporated (Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd.)
• Inventors: Leibow, Michael
• Primary Examiner(s): Avellino, Joseph
• Assistant Examiner(s): KHAN, AFTAB N
• Application Number:
  US11/927,625
• Publication Number:
  US 20080048975A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,283 Days
• Field of Search: 709/201, 709/216, 709/218, 709/226, 709/223, 345/156, 345/168, 345/545, 345/530, 710/62, 710/73
• US Class Current: 709/226
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04803 Split screen, i.e. subdividing the display area or the window area into separate subareas
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/023 Arrangements for converting discrete items of information into a coded form, e.g. arrangements for interpreting keyboard generated codes as alphanumeric codes, operand codes or instruction codes
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/038 Control and interface arrangements therefor, e.g. drivers or device-embedded control circuitry
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0481 based on specific properties of the displayed interaction object or a metaphor-based environment, e.g. interaction with desktop elements like windows or icons, or assisted by a cursor's changing behaviour or appearance
• 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 2354/00 Aspects of interface with display user
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2370/10 Use of a protocol of communication by packets in interfaces along the display data pipeline
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2370/20 Details of the management of multiple sources of image data
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2370/24 Keyboard-Video-Mouse [KVM] switch
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 5/14 Display of multiple viewports

Abstract

A system is presented for interconnecting a single user console having user interface devices, including a console keyboard, a console video display unit, a console mouse, and speakers, to a plurality of host computers each capable of using user interface devices, including a keyboard, a video display unit, and a mouse, and allowing the user to access one or more of the host computers from the single user console. The video output from each of the host computers is scaled and cropped as appropriate so that the video output of each host may be simultaneously displayed as host computer “windows” on the console video display unit or overlaid with the background suppressed to display application windows from multiple hosts on a single screen. The user may easily navigate between the host computers through a convenient and intuitive user interface that allows control of individual host computers, the transfer of files between computers using familiar a “drag and drop” interface, and copying and pasting of data between applications running on different computers. The audio output from each of the host computers may be mixed or switched for output to the speakers as desired.

Claims

1. A computer management system comprising:

a plurality of host computers, each one including a memory buffer and a host software program executing thereon;

a user console having associated user interface devices including a keyboard, a cursor control device, and a video display unit; and

a management device operatively connecting the user console to the plurality of host computers via a communications channel, wherein the management device manages keyboard control signals and cursor control signals transmitted from the user console to the plurality of host computers, buffers incoming video frames received from the plurality of host computers, permits selection of a selected one of the plurality of host computers, and permits simultaneous display of the incoming video frames from the plurality of host computers on the video display unit, the management device including a management software program executing thereon and a video processing unit including a video frame buffer memory;

wherein the host software program and the management software program operate together to provide automatic generation of commands to transfer data from the selected one of the plurality of host computers to at least a second one of the plurality of host computers by monitoring a first memory buffer of the selected one of the plurality of host computers, and upon detecting the data being added to the first memory buffer, copying the data to a second memory buffer of the second one of the plurality of host computers;

wherein the video processing unit is adapted to display on the video display unit windows controlled by each of the plurality of host computers while suppressing display of portions of video frames generated by respective ones of the plurality of host computers; and

wherein the video processing unit is adapted to reduce total video bandwidth processed by the video processing unit by performing at least one of selectively reducing resolution of the chrominance and selectively cropping video data corresponding to portions of incoming video frames from one of the plurality of host computers when the portions of incoming video frames would be displayed behind video from other ones of the plurality of host computers.

2. The computer management system of claim 1, wherein the management device is configured to permit copying of the data from the selected one of the plurality of host computers to the second one of the plurality of host computers via the communications channel by dragging an image corresponding to the data from a first one of the incoming video frames as displayed on the video display unit to a second one of the incoming video frames as displayed on the video display unit, wherein the first one of the incoming video frames is provided by the selected one of the plurality of host computers and the second one of the incoming video frames is provided by the second one of the plurality of host computers.

3. The computer management system of claim 1, wherein the management device is configured to permit copying and pasting of the data by saving the data to the first memory buffer and retrieving the data from the second memory buffer.

4. The computer management system of claim 1, wherein the video processing unit is further adapted to selectively crop the incoming video frames received from the plurality of host computers to prevent the portions of video frames from being stored in the video frame buffer memory in the video processing unit.

5. The computer management system of claim 1, wherein the video processing unit is adapted to selectively crop output video sent to the video display unit to prevent the display of the portions of video data on the video display unit.

6. The computer management system of claim 1, wherein the video processing unit is further adapted to resize the incoming video frames received from each of the plurality of host computers to a size up to and including 100 percent of a full size of the video display unit.

7. The computer management system of claim 1, wherein the video processing unit is further adapted to reposition points of origin of the incoming video frames received from each of the plurality of host computers for display on the video display unit, including those positions at which the incoming video frames from the plurality of host computers overlap.

8. The computer management system of claim 1, wherein the communications channel comprises a controller permitting transfer of the data among the plurality of host computers using at least one of a PS/2 serial protocol, a Universal Serial Bus (USB) protocol, and a Transfer Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) protocol.

9. The computer management system of claim 8, wherein the communications channel comprises at least one of a fixed-wire network and a wireless network.

10. The computer management system of claim 1, wherein the host software program and the management software program further operate together to perform at least:

a) selection of a host computer, from among the plurality of host computers, that controls a window, displayed on the video display unit, that a user selects using the console cursor control device;

b) switching of user control to the selected host computer;

c) activation of the window selected by the user; and

d) deactivation of all non-selected windows controlled by each of the plurality of host computers.

11. The computer management system of claim 10, wherein the host software program and the management software program further operate together to provide automatic generation of commands to transfer the data from the selected host computer to said second one of the plurality of host computers via the communications channel when the user selects the data using the console cursor control device.

12. The computer management system of claim 11, wherein the data comprises at least a file stored on the selected host computer.

13. The computer management system of claim 11, wherein the selected host computer includes an application program running thereon, wherein the data is associated with the application program.

14. The computer management system of claim 11, wherein the host software program and the management software program operate together to monitor the memory buffer associated with the selected host computer, and upon detecting a change in the contents of the selected host memory buffer, to copy at least a portion of the contents of the selected host memory buffer to each of the plurality of memory buffers associated with respective ones of the plurality of host computers.

15. A computer management system comprising:

a plurality of host computers, each one including a memory buffer;

a user console having associated user interface devices including a keyboard, a cursor control device, and a video display unit; and

a management device operatively connecting the user console to the plurality of host computers via a communications channel, wherein the management device manages keyboard control signals and cursor control signals transmitted from the user console to the plurality of host computers, and includes a video processing unit including a video frame buffer memory;

wherein the management device permits the display of video from a selected one of the plurality of host computers on the video display unit and permits display of video representations of the host computers on the video display unit;

wherein the management device permits selection of one of the plurality of host computers by selecting a corresponding one of the video representations using the cursor control device;

wherein the management device is configured to permit copying of data from a selected one of the plurality of host computers to at least a second one of the plurality of host computers via the communications channel;

wherein the management device is configured to permit copying and pasting of data from at least the selected one of the plurality of host computers to at least the second one of the plurality of host computers via the communications channel by monitoring the memory buffer of the selected one of the plurality of host computers, and upon detection of the data being added to the memory buffer of the selected one of the plurality of host computers, copying the data to the memory buffer of the second one of the plurality of host computers; and

wherein the video processing unit is adapted to display on the video display unit windows controlled by each of the plurality of host computers while suppressing display of portions of video frames generated by respective ones of the plurality of host computers, and to perform at least one of (i) selectively cropping the incoming video frames received from the plurality of host computers to prevent the portions of video from being stored in the video frame buffer memory in the video processing unit, and (ii) selectively cropping output video sent to the video display unit to prevent the display of the portions of video data on the video display unit.

16. The computer management system of claim 15, wherein the communications channel comprises a controller permitting transfer of the data among the plurality of host computers using at least one of a PS/2 serial protocol, a Universal Serial Bus (USB) protocol, and a Transfer Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) protocol.

17. The computer management system of claim 16, wherein the communications channel comprises at least one of a fixed-wire network and a wireless network.

18. In a computer management system comprising a plurality of host computers, and a user console having associated user interface devices including a keyboard, a cursor control device, and a video display unit, a management device operatively connects the user console to the plurality of host computers via a communications channel,

wherein the management device manages keyboard control signals and cursor control signals transmitted from the user console to the plurality of host computers, buffers incoming video frames received from the plurality of host computers, permits selection of a selected one of the plurality of host computers, and permits simultaneous display of the incoming video frames from the plurality of host computers on the video display unit;

wherein the management device is configured to permit copying of data from the selected one of the plurality of host computers to at least one other one of the plurality of host computers by monitoring a first memory buffer of the selected one of the plurality of host computers, and upon detecting the data being added to the first memory buffer, copying the data to memory buffers of the remaining ones of the plurality of host computers; and

wherein the management device includes a video processing unit including a video frame buffer memory, the video processing unit being configured to display on the video display unit windows controlled by each of the plurality of host computers while suppressing display of portions of video frames generated by respective ones of the plurality of host computers, and to perform at least one of (i) selectively cropping the incoming video frames received from the plurality of host computers to prevent the portions of video from being stored in the video frame buffer memory in the video processing unit, and (ii) selectively cropping output video sent to the video display unit to prevent the display of the portions of video data on the video display unit.

19. The computer management system of claim 18, wherein the management device is configured to permit copying of the data via the communications channel and in response to the cursor control device being used to drag a representation of the data from a first one of the incoming video frames as displayed on the video display unit to a second one of the incoming video frame as displayed on the video display unit, wherein the first one of the incoming video frames is provided by the selected one of the plurality of host computers and the second one of the incoming video frames is provided by the second one of the plurality of host computers.

20. The computer management system of claim 18, wherein each one of the plurality of host computers includes a host software program executing thereon and the management device includes a management software program, wherein the host software and management software programs are configured to permit copying of the data via the communications channel by copying data from the memory buffer of the selected one of the plurality of host computers to the memory buffer of the second one of the plurality of host computers.

21. The computer management system of claim 18, wherein the video processing unit is further adapted to resize the incoming video frames received from each of the plurality of host computers to a size up to and including 100 percent of a full size of the video display unit.

22. The computer management system of claim 18, wherein the video processing unit is further adapted to reposition points of origin of the incoming video frames received from each of the plurality of host computers for display on the video display unit, including those positions at which the incoming video frames from the plurality of host computers overlap.

23. The computer management system of claim 18, wherein the communications channel comprises a controller permitting transfer of the data among the plurality of host computers using at least one of a PS/2 serial protocol, a Universal Serial Bus (USB) protocol, and a Transfer Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) protocol.

24. The computer management system of claim 23, wherein the communications channel comprises at least one of a fixed-wire network and a wireless network.

25. The computer management system of claim 18, wherein the management device further includes a management software program executing thereon, the management software program operating to perform at least:

a) selection of a host computer from among the plurality of host computers, that controls a window displayed on the video display unit, that a user selects using the console cursor control device; and

b) switching of user control to the selected host computer.

26. The computer management system of claim 25, wherein the management software program further provides automatic generation of commands to transfer data from the selected host computer to at least the second one of the plurality of host computers via the communications channel when the user selects the data using the console cursor control device.

27. The computer management system of claim 26, wherein the data comprises at least a file stored on the selected host computer.

28. The computer management system of claim 26, wherein the selected host computer includes an application program running thereon, wherein the data is associated with the application program.

29. The computer management system of claim 26, wherein the management software program is operative to monitor the memory buffer associated with the selected host computer, and upon detecting a change in the contents of the selected host memory buffer, to copy at least a portion of the contents of the selected host memory buffer to each of the plurality of memory buffers associated with respective ones of the plurality of host computers.

30. In a computer management system comprising a plurality of host computers, and a user console having associated user interface devices including a keyboard, a cursor control device, and a video display unit, a management device operatively connects the user console to the plurality of host computers via a communications channel, wherein the management device manages keyboard control signals and cursor control signals transmitted from the user console to the plurality of host computers, and permits the display of video from a selected one of the plurality of host computers on the video display unit and permits display of a video representation of the host computers on the video display unit;

wherein the management device permits selection of one of the plurality of host computers by selecting a corresponding one of the video representations using the cursor control device;

wherein the management device is configured to permit copying of files from any one of the plurality of host computers to any other one of the plurality of host computers via the communications channel;

wherein the management device is configured to permit copying and pasting of data from at least the selected one of the plurality of host computers to at least one other one of the plurality of host computers via the communications channel by monitoring a first memory buffer of the selected one of the plurality of host computers, and upon detection the data being added to the first memory buffer, copying the data to at least one other memory buffer of at least one other one of the plurality of host computers; and

wherein the management device includes a video processing unit including a video frame buffer memory, the video processing unit being configured to display on the video display unit windows controlled by each of the plurality of host computers while suppressing display of portions of video frames generated by respective ones of the plurality of host computers, and to perform at least one of (i) selectively cropping the incoming video frames received from the plurality of host computers to prevent the portions of video from being stored in the video frame buffer memory in the video processing unit, and (ii) selectively cropping output video sent to the video display unit to prevent the display of the portions of video data on the video display unit.

31. The computer management system of claim 30, wherein the communications channel comprises a controller permitting transfer of the data among the plurality of host computers using at least one of a PS/2 serial protocol, a Universal Serial Bus (USB) protocol, and a Transfer Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) protocol.

32. The computer management system of claim 30, wherein the communications channel comprises at least one of a fixed-wire network and a wireless network.