System for distributed information presentation and interaction

• US 9,424,106 B2
• Filed: 02/17/2010
• Issued: 08/23/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 11/05/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Accenture Global Services Limited (Accenture PLC)
• Original Assignee: Accenture Global Services Limited (Accenture PLC)
• Inventors: Dempski, Kelly L., Harvey, Brandon L.
• Primary Examiner(s): KINSAUL, DANIEL W
• Application Number:
  US12/707,128
• Publication Number:
  US 20100185947A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,379 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2209/544 Remote
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2209/545 Gui
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2209/546 Xcast
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/542 Event management; Broadcasting; Multicasting; Notifications
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/546 Message passing systems or structures, e.g. queues

Abstract

A system for distributed information processing and interaction includes a plurality of output devices arranged to produce a respective output portion of a system output, a plurality of application processors and a state server in data communication with the plurality of application processors. Each respective output portion is defined by context information. Each application processor is configured to process one or more respective application programs and is responsive to the context information. Each application processor is coupled with an associated respective output device for controlling the output device in producing the respective output portion. The state server provides the context information to the plurality of application processors. The architecture is extended to a more general system in which output devices produce a variety of outputs including device actuations, as well as video displays, and receive a variety of inputs.

Claims

1. A system for a multi-processor controlled interactive environment comprising:

a plurality of output devices arranged to produce a system output, wherein each of the plurality of output devices produces a respective output portion of the system output, the system output being an aggregate of the respective output portions of all of the plurality of output devices;

a plurality of application processors, each of the plurality of application processors configured to process one or more respective application programs, each of the plurality of application processors coupled with an associated respective output device of the plurality of output devices for controlling the associated respective output device in producing the respective output portion of the system output, wherein each change or output produced by each of the plurality of application processors is a local change in state of the application processor and each of the plurality of application processors automatically generates a local state change message based on the local change in state of the application processor and sends the automatically generated local state change message to a state server;

the state server in data communication with the plurality of application processors that provides shared state information to all of the plurality of application processors, the shared state information including system inputs and all local change in state information received by the state server in the automatically generated local state change messages from the plurality of application processors, wherein all of the plurality of application processors receives the shared state information from the state server,

wherein in instances when the received shared state information affects the respective output portion of the system output, each of the plurality of application processors controls the associated respective output device to change the respective output portion of the system output, the system output comprising the aggregate of the output portions of all of the plurality of output devices; and

in instances when the shared state information does not affect the respective output portion of the system output, each of the plurality of application processors controls the associated respective output device to maintain the respective output portion of the system output unchanged.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein the plurality of output devices comprises one or more display devices arranged to display respective display portions of an output display of the system.

3. The system of claim 2 wherein the plurality of application processors are each associated with one of the one or more display devices to control the associated display device in forming an image of a respective display portion of the system.

4. The system of claim 1 further comprising:

input detectors positioned to detect one or more user activations and produce user activation signals in response thereto; and

an input processor in data communication with the input detectors and the state server to convey information about the user activation signals for processing by the state server.

5. The system of claim 1 wherein each application processor is configured to dispatch an update message to the state server in response to processing the respective application program to produce a change in the associated respective output device, and wherein the state server reflects the update message to other application processors.

6. The system of claim 1 wherein the state server is configured to synchronize system information at each of the plurality of application processors so that application processors processing identical application programs have substantially the same program state.

7. The system of claim 6 wherein the state server is configured to send synchronize messages to the plurality of application processors to update the system information at each of the plurality of application processors.

8. The system of claim 6 wherein the state server maintains time synchronization of the system information.

9. A method for a multi-processor controlled interactive environment comprising:

processing on a plurality of separate application processors substantially identical application programs, wherein each of the plurality of separate application processors is associated with a respective output device of a plurality of output devices;

synchronizing the processing of the application programs in a synchronizer, the synchronizer maintaining a common state which is indicative of present local states of all of the plurality of separate application processors and providing update messages to the all of the plurality of separate application processors in response to changes to the common state, and at each of the plurality of separate application processors;

producing respective outputs of the application programs by respective application processors of the plurality of separate application processors, the respective outputs in aggregation forming a system output, the plurality of separate application processors each updating a local state in response to receiving the update messages from the synchronizer, each of the plurality of separate application processors automatically providing local state change messages to the synchronizer based on any local state change at the application processor;

wherein in instances when information in an update message affects respective output of an application program at a respective application processor, the respective application processor controls the associated respective output device to change the respective output, the respective outputs of the plurality of output devices in aggregation forming the system output; and

in instances when the information in an update message does not affect the respective output of the application program at the respective application processor, the respective application processor controls the associated respective output device to maintain the respective output unchanged; and

changing the common state at the synchronizer based on the local state change messages from all of the plurality of separate application processors.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein synchronizing comprises reflecting information contained in the state change messages received at the synchronizer to the plurality of separate application processors so that all of the plurality of separate application processors have the common state.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein synchronizing comprises maintaining a common time state among the synchronizer and the plurality of separate application processors.

12. The method of claim 10 wherein synchronizing comprises maintaining a common data state of input data and application output data among the synchronizer and the plurality of separate application processors.

13. The method of claim 9 wherein producing respective outputs of the application programs comprises, at each respective application processor, controlling a respective display device to display a respective display portion of an output display on the respective display device.

14. The method of claim 9 further comprising:

at a respective application processor of the plurality of separate application processors,

detecting user interaction with a respective application program at the respective application processor,

updating a respective output of the application programs in response to the user interaction, and

conveying information about the user interaction to the synchronizer; and

conveying synchronization information about the user interaction from the synchronizer to other respective application processors associated with the other respective display portions.

15. The method of claim 14 further comprising:

at each respective application processor of the plurality of separate application processors,

controlling an associated respective display device to display a respective display portion of an output display on the respective display device, in response to the user interaction,

determining if the user interaction should change the respective display on the associated respective display portion; and

if so updating the display on the respective display portion.

16. The method of claim 15 wherein detecting user interaction comprises detecting a plurality of substantially simultaneous user interactions with the respective display portion.

17. The method of claim 15 wherein detecting user interaction comprises at least one of:

detecting a manual motion in front of a display screen of the respective display portion,

detecting a user touch of a touch screen of the display screen of the respective display portion,

detecting absence of a user touch of a touch screen where there previously was a user touch.

18. The method of claim 15 further comprising:

if necessary based on the synchronization information,

updating the display on one or more of the other respective display portions in response to the user interaction.

19. The method of claim 15 further comprising:

receiving the synchronization information at another respective application processor; and

if the user interaction should change the display portion associated with the other respective application processor, updating the display portion.

20. A system for a multi-processor controlled interactive environment comprising:

a plurality of output devices and a plurality of respective application processors, wherein each of the plurality of respective application processors is coupled to a respective one of the plurality of output devices, the plurality of output devices arranged to produce together a system output,

the plurality of respective application processors each processing one or more respective local application programs and, in response thereto, producing respective local state changes,

each respective application processor and respective output device in combination producing only a respective designated portion of the system output, the respective designated portion being defined by context information known to the respective application processor,

the respective application processors each sending local state change messages automatically based on the respective local state changes, the local state change messages including information about the respective local state changes; and

a synchronization server in data communication with each of the plurality of respective application processors, the synchronization server receiving the local state change messages from each of the plurality of respective application processors defining a state change in a local state of each of the respective application processors when each of the plurality of respective application processors has a change in a respective local application program, and

reflecting the received local state change messages to all of the other respective application processors of the plurality of respective application processors so that the respective local application programs are updated to reflect the state changes of the received local state change messages;

wherein in instances when information in a reflected local state change message affects a respective designated portion of the system output, a respective application processor controls the respective output device to change the respective designated portion of the system output; and

in instances when information in the reflected local state change messages does not affect a respective designated portion of the system output, the respective application processor controls the respective output device to maintain the respective designated portion of the system output unchanged.