Smart Display

• US 9,086,777 B2
• Filed: 02/20/2013
• Issued: 07/21/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 09/14/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Branson, Michael J., Hintermeister, Gregory R.
• Primary Examiner(s): Tran, Tuyetlien
• Assistant Examiner(s): RAMSEY, PATRICK RANDAL
• Application Number:
  US13/772,293
• Publication Number:
  US 20130179809A1
• Time in Patent Office: 881 Days
• Field of Search: 715/765, 715/744, 715/866
• US Class Current: 1/1
• 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 3/048 Interaction techniques based on graphical user interfaces [GUI]
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2340/0464 Positioning
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2340/14 Solving problems related to the presentation of information to be displayed
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2360/18 Use of a frame buffer in a display terminal, inclusive of the display panel
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 5/003 Details of a display terminal, the details relating to the control arrangement of the display terminal and to the interfaces thereto specific for a CRT G09G1/165; for a flat panel G09G3/2092
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4858 for modifying screen layout parameters, e.g. fonts, size of the windows

Abstract

A smart display allows a user to build custom layouts of user interface blocks on the smart display independent of the software on the computer creating the user interface. A customization mechanism in the smart display allows a user to select portions of a user interface and move them to different positions on the display. The customization mechanism creates custom layout metadata that defines a screen offset for portions of a user interface moved by the user. The smart display monitors the incoming display data and re-assigns pixel rendering data to the new location in the moved user interface blocks as the data coming from the computer application changes.

Claims

1. A smart display comprising:

a display screen connected to a pixel memory in the smart display, wherein the pixel memory includes an input pixel buffer and a custom pixel buffer;

a processor and a memory;

a display data input that receives display data from a single video source, wherein the display data is pixel rendering data that includes pixel position and color with user interface blocks having an original layout, wherein the display data is received from a graphics processing unit of a computer connected to the display data input of the smart display and placed in the input pixel buffer;

a customization mechanism stored in the memory of the smart display and executing on the processor of the smart display that creates custom layout metadata in response to user input for a plurality of the user interface blocks in the display data received from the single video source of the computer connected to the smart display and placed in the input pixel buffer;

layout customization logic in the memory of the smart display that uses the custom layout metadata to reassign the received display data in the input pixel buffer to a new location in the custom pixel buffer to relocate the plurality of user interface blocks to a custom layout on the display screen; and

wherein the layout customization logic uses the pixel offset to reassign the at least one pixel block to the user assigned location on the display screen.

2. A smart display comprising:

a display screen connected to a pixel memory in the smart display, wherein the pixel memory includes an input pixel buffer and a custom pixel buffer wherein the custom pixel buffer is an array for holding custom display data for the display screen;

a processor and a memory;

a display data input that receives display data from a single video source, wherein the display data is pixel rendering data that includes pixel position and color with user interface blocks having an original layout, wherein the display data is received from a graphics processing unit of a computer connected to the display data input of the smart display and placed in the input pixel buffer;

a customization mechanism stored in the memory of the smart display and executing on the processor of the smart display that creates custom layout metadata in response to user input for a plurality of pixel blocks in the display data received from the single video source of the computer connected to the smart display and placed in the input pixel buffer, wherein the custom layout metadata comprises data of the original layout of the user interface blocks, a user assigned location for at least one pixel block, and a pixel offset for the user assigned location of the pixel block in the custom layout;

layout customization logic in the memory of the smart display that uses the custom layout metadata to reassign the received display data in the input pixel buffer to a new location in the custom pixel buffer to relocate the plurality of pixel blocks to a custom layout on the display screen, wherein the layout customization logic uses the pixel offset to reassign the at least one pixel block to the user assigned location on the display screen; and

a border detection mechanism to scan the input pixel buffer for changes in user interface blocks that are defined by the user and stored in the custom layout metadata to determine when the user interface block being re-assigned is no longer present in the display data.

3. The smart display of claim 2 wherein the display screen is a touch display.

4. The smart display of claim 2 and wherein the customization mechanism of the display screen allows a user to create custom layout metadata to relocate the pixel blocks to a custom layout by allowing the user to select user interface blocks and drag corresponding pixel blocks to a custom location on the display screen.

5. The smart display of claim 2 wherein the custom pixel buffer is a register for holding display data for a pixel of custom display data for the display screen.