Efficient screen image transfer

• US 9,235,905 B2
• Filed: 03/13/2013
• Issued: 01/12/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 03/13/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: OLogN Technologies AG
• Original Assignee: OLogN Technologies AG
• Inventors: Ignatchenko, Sergey, Ligoum, Dmitri
• Primary Examiner(s): Wu, Jingge
• Application Number:
  US13/800,819
• Publication Number:
  US 20140270557A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,035 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• 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: G06T 9/00 Image coding bandwidth or redundancy reduction for static pictures H04N1/41; coding or decoding of static colour picture signals H04N1/64; methods or arrangements for coding, decoding, compressing or decompressing digital video signals H04N19/00
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2340/02 Handling of images in compressed format, e.g. JPEG, MPEG
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2350/00 Solving problems of bandwidth in display systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/90 Buffering arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10 in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/65 using error resilience

Abstract

A system including a source display, externally updatable, an image compression algorithm database, a network connection, and a frame transfer engine. The algorithm database comprises a plurality of image compression algorithms. The frame transfer engine is configured to receive a plurality of updates made to the source display, store at least some of the updates in a queue, and select, based on a bandwidth of the network connection, a size of the update, and sizes and times of updates currently present in the queue, an image compression algorithm in the algorithm database for current transfer over the network connection.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

a source display, externally updatable;

an algorithm database comprising a plurality of image compression algorithms;

a network connection; and

a frame transfer engine executing on a computer processor and configured to;

receive a plurality of updates made to the source display,

wherein the plurality of updates comprises at least a first update and a second update;

store at least the first update and the second update in a queue;

select, based on a first bandwidth of the network connection, a size of the first update, and sizes and times of updates currently present in the queue, a first image compression algorithm in the algorithm database for current transfer over the network connection;

process the first update using the first image compression algorithm to obtain a processed first update;

merge the first update with the second update to obtain a merged update;

select a second image compression algorithm in the algorithm database for current transfer over the network connection based on a second bandwidth of the network connection, a size of the merged update, and sizes and times of updates currently present in the queue;

process the merged update using the second image compression algorithm to obtain a processed merged update; and

transmit the processed merged update to the target computer system via the network connection.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the frame transfer engine uses Tguar to determine which image compression algorithm shall be used for the current transfer of the update in the queue, wherein Tguar comprises a maximum time which any update is allowed to stay within the frame transfer engine before it is completely transferred.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the frame transfer engine aborts the current transfer to satisfy Tguar requirements.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein storing at least some of the updates in the queue comprises:

generating a first queue item comprising the first update; and

storing the first queue item in the queue.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein selecting the image compression algorithm in the algorithm database for current transfer over the network connection comprises:

generating a first query using the first queue item;

querying the algorithm database with the first query;

receiving, in response to the first query, a first algorithm identifier identifying a first image compression algorithm.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the first queue item further comprises a first timestamp indicating a time at which the frame transfer engine received the first update.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein generating the first query using the first queue item comprises:

obtaining a first update size from the first queue item;

determining a first bandwidth of the network connection; and

generating the first query using the first update size and the first bandwidth.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the first query comprises a Tguar.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the processed first update is a size capable of transmission to the target computer system via the network connection with the first bandwidth within the Tguar.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the frame transfer engine is further configured to:

before the transmission of the processed first update is complete, receive a third update from the source display;

generate a second queue item comprising the third update and a second timestamp indicating a time at which the frame transfer engine received the third update; and

abort the transmission of the processed first update based on a determination that transmission of the third update following the transmission of the first update will exceed the Tguar.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the first bandwidth is greater than the second bandwidth.

12. The system of claim 8, wherein the frame transfer engine is further configured to:

process a fourth update using a third compression algorithm to obtain a processed fourth update, wherein the processed fourth update is a size capable of transmission to the target computer system via the network connection with a third bandwidth within the Tguar; and

transmit the processed fourth update to the target computer system via the network connection.

13. The system of claim 12,

wherein the third compression algorithm is used in response to a determination that the third bandwidth is larger than the first bandwidth, and

wherein the processed fourth update is a higher quality than the processed first update.

14. The system of claim 12,

wherein the third compression algorithm is used in response to a determination that a rate of updates to the source display has increased, and

wherein the processed fourth update is a lower quality than the processed first update.

15. The system of claim 5, wherein the frame transfer engine is further configured to:

determine that the transmission of the processed first update has completed;

determine that the first image compression algorithm is a lossy compression algorithm;

generate a flag in the first queue item indicating that the first update was transmitted using the lossy compression algorithm; and

merge the first queue item into the queue.

16. The system of claim 5, wherein the frame transfer engine is further configured to:

determine that the transmission of the processed first update has completed;

determine that the first image compression algorithm is a lossless compression algorithm;

process a fifth update using the lossless compression algorithm to obtain a processed fifth update; and

transmit the processed fifth update to the target computer system via the network connection.

17. The system of claim 5,

wherein the first image compression algorithm is a lossless compression algorithm,

wherein the lossless compression algorithm is received based on a determination that the first bandwidth is sufficient to transmit the first update using the lossless compression algorithm.

18. A method for updating a remote display comprising:

receiving a first display frame and a second display frame of a source display;

generating, using a computer processor, a first queue item comprising the first display frame, and a second queue item comprising the second display frame;

generating a first query using the first queue item;

querying an algorithm database with the first query;

receiving, in response to the first query, a first algorithm identifier identifying a first image compression algorithm;

processing, using the computer processor, the first display frame using the first image compression algorithm to obtain a processed first display frame;

merging the first display frame with the second display frame to obtain a merged display frame;

generating, using a computer processor, a third queue item comprising the merged display frame;

generating a second query using the third queue item;

querying an algorithm database with the second query;

receiving, in response to the second query, a second algorithm identifier identifying a second image compression algorithm;

processing, using the computer processor, the merged display frame using the second image compression algorithm to obtain a processed merged display frame; and

transmitting the processed merged display frame to a target computer system via a network connection.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the first queue item further comprises a first timestamp indicating a time at which the first display frame was received.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein generating the first query using the first queue item comprises:

obtaining a first display frame size from the first queue item;

determining a first bandwidth of the network connection; and

generating the first query using the first display frame size and the first bandwidth.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein the first query comprises a transfer guarantee time.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein the processed first display frame is a size capable of transmission to the target computer system via the network connection with the first bandwidth within the transfer guarantee time.

23. The method of claim 22, further comprising:

before the transmission of the processed first display frame is complete, receive a third display frame from the source display;

generating a second queue item comprising the third display frame and a second timestamp indicating a time at which the third display frame was received; and

aborting the transmission of the processed first display frame based on a determination that transmission of the third display frame following the transmission of the first display frame will exceed the transfer guarantee time.

24. The method of claim 18, wherein the first bandwidth is greater than the second bandwidth.

25. The method of claim 18, further comprising:

determining that the transmission of the processed first display frame has completed;

determining that the first image compression algorithm is a lossy compression algorithm;

generating a flag in the first queue item indicating that the first display frame was transmitted using the lossy compression algorithm; and

merging the first queue item into a transmission queue.

26. The method of claim 18, further comprising:

determining that the transmission of the processed first display frame has completed;

determining that the first image compression algorithm is a lossless compression algorithm;

processing a fourth display frame using the lossless compression algorithm to obtain a processed fourth display frame; and

transmitting the processed fourth display frame to the target computer system via the network connection.

27. The method of claim 18,

wherein the first image compression algorithm is a lossless compression algorithm,

wherein the lossless compression algorithm is received based on a determination that the first bandwidth is sufficient to transmit the first display frame using the lossless compression algorithm.