Simultaneous screen saver operations

• US 8,756,535 B2
• Filed: 11/17/2008
• Issued: 06/17/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 11/17/2008
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Micro Focus Software, Inc. (Open Text Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Novell Incorporated (Open Text Corporation)
• Inventors: Sudhakar, Gosukonda Naga Venkata Satya
• Primary Examiner(s): Pham, Linh K
• Application Number:
  US12/272,024
• Publication Number:
  US 20100125819A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,038 Days
• Field of Search: 715/867, 715/827, 715/759, 715/764, 715/778, 345/618, 345/628, 345/636
• US Class Current: 715/867
• 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: G09G 3/006 Electronic inspection or testing of displays and display drivers, e.g. of LED or LCD displays testing individual LED's G01R31/2635; testing lamps G01R31/44; testing of optical features of LCD displays G02F1/1309
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 5/00 Control arrangements or circuits for visual indicators common to cathode-ray tube indicators and other visual indicators image data processing or generation, in general G06T
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 5/005 Adapting incoming signals to the display format of the display terminal
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 5/006 Details of the interface to the display terminal specific for a display terminal using a CRT G09G1/167; using a flat panel G09G3/2096; circuits for interfacing with colour displays G09G5/04

Abstract

Apparatus, systems, and methods may operate to execute a plurality of screen saver program instances to display a plurality of separately visible screen saver images using a single display device at substantially the same time. In some embodiments, some or all of the screen saver images are displayed in a plurality of non-overlapping display compartments. The images may be selectively assigned a dominant color, or color scheme. The compartments may have boundaries that can be selectively revised. Additional apparatus, systems, and methods are disclosed.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

detecting cursor movement activity by a user;

redrawing, according to the activity, a compartment boundary of at least one of a plurality of compartments into which a display surface is divided, wherein the compartment boundary limits display coverage of at least one of the screen saver images;

executing a plurality of screen saver program instances to display a plurality of separately visible screen saver images using a single display device at substantially the same time, wherein at least one of a speed of display or a dominant color is selectively assigned to at least one screen saver image of the plurality of separately visible screen saver images using one of a random assignment or a user-selected assignment; and

recording at least one portion of the at least one screen saver image for later playback while the at least one screen saver image is displayed via the single display device, wherein the recording is performed responsive to receiving an indication that the at least one of the speed of display or the dominant color of the at least one screen saver image being displayed matches a predetermined display criteria.

2. The method of claim 1, comprising:

displaying a voting entry field associated with the at least one screen saver image, wherein the voting entry field comprises at least one of an approval sub-field or a rejection sub-field.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the dominant color can be selectively assigned during a time of continuously displaying the plurality of separately visible screen saver images or during a time when the plurality of separately visible screen saver images are not displayed.

4. The method of claim 1, comprising:

receiving at least one of a random assignment or a user-selected assignment corresponding to a selection of at least one of the plurality of screen saver program instances.

5. The method of claim 1, comprising:

resizing a screen saver image associated with one of the plurality of screen saver program instances in response to receiving an indication of a user selection with respect to the screen saver image associated with the one of the plurality of screen saver program instances.

6. The method of claim 1, comprising:

receiving one of a random assignment or a user-selected assignment of a display speed associated with at least one of the plurality of screen saver program instances.

7. The method of claim 1, comprising:

exporting, from a first computer to a second computer, a group of screen saver management settings to determine a sequence of the display.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

displaying at least one of the plurality of separately visible screen saver images over at least a part of another one of the separately visible plurality of screen saver images.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

displaying discrete portions of at least a part of one of the plurality of distinct instances in a sequence.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

displaying at least a part of one of the plurality of distinct images in a continuously panned sequence.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one portion of the at least one screen saver image is recorded in a memory associated with the single display device.

12. A method, comprising:

executing a plurality of screen saver program instances to display a plurality of separately visible screen saver images in a corresponding plurality of non-overlapping display compartments using a single display device at substantially the same time, wherein a shape of at least one of the display compartments is determined in response to user manipulation of compartment boundaries while the plurality of separately visible screen saver images are continuously displayed;

moving at least one of the plurality of separately visible screen saver images from being displayed in one of the display compartments to being displayed in another of the display compartments as part of a timed movement sequence; and

recording at least one portion of one or more screen saver images of the plurality of separately visible screen saver images for later playback while the one or more screen saver images are displayed via the single display device, wherein the recording is performed responsive to receiving an indication that at least one of a speed of display or a dominant color of a corresponding screen saver image of the one or more screen saver images being displayed matches a predetermined display criteria.

13. The method of claim 12, comprising:

receiving one of a random assignment or a user-selected assignment to divide a display surface managed by the display device into the display compartments.

14. The method of claim 12, comprising:

receiving one of a random assignment or a user-selected assignment of a dominant color to at least one of the display compartments.

15. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

receiving a color scheme assignment, including a dominant color, to the at least one of the display compartments.

16. The method of claim 12, comprising:

receiving a first indication of a user selection associated with a first one of the display compartments; and

dragging one of the plurality of images from the first one of the display compartments and dropping the one of the plurality of images into a second one of the display compartments according to a second indication of a user selection.

17. The method of claim 12, comprising:

prior to the display, buffering output of at least one of the plurality of screen saver program instances to provide a stored record that can be replayed at a selected speed during the display.

18. The method of claim 12, wherein the user manipulation comprises cursor movement indicating the boundaries are to be dragged across a display surface managed by the display device.

19. An apparatus comprising:

a processor;

a display device;

a memory to store instructions which, when executed by the processor, result in displaying at least one screen saver image using the display device; and

a screen saver management module to;

detect cursor movement activity by a user;

redraw, according to the activity, a compartment boundary of at least one of a plurality of compartments into which a display surface is divided, wherein the compartment boundary limits display coverage of at least one of the screen saver images;

manage execution of a plurality of screen saver program instances to display, using the display device, a plurality of separately visible screen saver images, including the at least one screen saver image, at substantially the same time, wherein a display speed associated with any one or more of the screen saver program instances can be independently regulated by the screen saver management module according to a user-specified frame rate; and

record at least one portion of the at least one screen saver image for later playback while the at least one screen saver image is displayed via the display device, wherein the recording is performed responsive to receiving an indication that at least one of a speed of display or a dominant color of the at least one screen saver image being displayed matches a predetermined display criteria.

20. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein the display device comprises:

one of a surface display and a projection display.

21. The apparatus of claim 19, further comprising:

a user input device to provide an indication that the display of the at least one screen saver image is to be terminated.

22. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein the user-specified frame rate can be selected by a user during a time of continuously displaying the images or during a time when the images are not displayed.

23. A non-transitory machine-readable storage medium having instructions stored thereon that, when executed by a machine, cause the machine to perform operations comprising:

detecting cursor movement activity by a user;

redrawing, according to the activity, a compartment boundary of at least one of a plurality of compartments into which a display surface is divided, wherein the compartment boundary limits display coverage of at least one of the screen saver images;

executing a plurality of screen saver program instances to display a plurality of separately visible screen saver images using a single display device at substantially the same time, wherein at least one of a speed of display or a dominant color is selectively assigned to at least one screen saver image of the plurality of separately visible screen saver images using one of a random assignment or a user-selected assignment; and

recording at least one portion of the at least one screen saver image for later playback while the at least one screen saver image is displayed via the single display device, wherein the recording is performed responsive to receiving an indication that the at least one of the speed of display or the dominant color of the at least one screen saver image being displayed matches a predetermined display criteria.

24. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 23, wherein the operations further comprise:

prompting the executing at a client device from a server device.