Permitting participant configurable view selection within a screen sharing session

• US 9,557,878 B2
• Filed: 04/25/2012
• Issued: 01/31/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 04/25/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Chen, Ying, Duquene, Joel, Eberwein, James P., Lieu, Dong K.
• Primary Examiner(s): VU, TOAN H
• Application Number:
  US13/455,704
• Publication Number:
  US 20130290863A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,742 Days
• Field of Search: 715/747, 715/704, 715/738, 715/758, 715/733, 715/751, 345/157, 345/502
• US Class Current: 1/1
• 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: G06F 9/445 Program loading or initiating bootstrapping G06F9/4401; security arrangements for program loading or initiating G06F21/57
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 5/14 Display of multiple viewports
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/4015 where at least one of the additional parallel sessions is real time or time sensitive, e.g. white board sharing, collaboration or spawning of a subconference

Abstract

A screen sharing session between a participating computer and a presenting computer can be established. A copy of a graphical user interface screen from the presenting computer can be presented within a display on the participating computer. A selection of the sub-portion of the copy of the graphical user interface screen from the participating computer can be received. Boundaries of the sub-portion can be determined and can be transmitted from the participating computer to the presenting computer. Responsive to receiving the boundaries, the remotely located computer can define the sub-portion of the graphical user interface screen of the presenting computer. The defined sub-portion of the graphical user interface screen can be conveyed over a network from the presenting computer to the participating computer without conveying data for other portions of the graphical user interface screen.

Claims

1. A system for improving application sharing comprising:

one or more processors;

one or more non-transitory storage mediums storing program instructions that are executed by at least one of the one or more processors;

a screen sharing engine, comprising at least a portion of the program instructions, configured to selectively share screen comprising a first and a second user-specified portion of a shared content within a screen sharing session of a multi-sectioned application having three or more distinct GUI sections each being a GUI frame of the multi-sectioned application, said distinct GUI sections comprising a first section corresponding to the first user-selected portion, a second section corresponding to the second user-specified portion, and a third section of a presenting computing device to a participating computing device in a real-time or a near real-time, without conveying data associated with non-user-specified portions of the screen sharing session, wherein the non-user specified portions comprises at least the third section, wherein the first and the section user-specified portion is determined by a participant utilizing the participating computing device, wherein the first and the second user specified portion presented within the participating computing device is displayed differently than the non-user specified portions on the presenting computing device, wherein the difference is at least one of an aspect ratio, a resolution, and a color depth; and

a data store, within at least one of the one or more non-transitory storage mediums, able to persist at least one of a mapping and a user preference, wherein the mapping associates at least one of a position and a dimension of the portion, wherein the user preference is associated with the first section and the second section, wherein the first section, the second section, and the third section each correspond to a frame of the multi-sectioned application.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the third section of the shared content not associated with the user-specified portion is not transmitted to the participating computing device.

3. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

a selection manager, comprising at least a portion of the program instructions, configured to receive the first and the second user-specified portion of the shared content;

a transmission component, comprising at least a portion of the program instructions, able to convey the first and the second user-specified portion of the shared content to the participating computing device; and

a sharing handler, comprising at least a portion of the program instructions, capable of mapping the first and the second user-specified portion of the shared content to a portion of the shared content.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the system is a component of an integrated development environment (IDE) application.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the system is a component of a display driver within the presenting computing device.

6. A computer program product comprising:

one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage devices;

program instructions, stored on at least one of the one or more non-transitory computer readable storage devices, to establish a screen sharing session between a participating computer and a presenting computer running and presenting a multi-sectioned application having a plurality of different interface frames;

program instructions, stored on at least one of the one or more non-transitory computer readable storage devices, to present within a display on the participating computer, a copy of a graphical user interface screen from the presenting computer in a real-time or a near real-time, within the screen sharing session;

program instructions, stored on at least one of the one or more non-transitory computer readable storage devices, to receive a selection of the sub-portion of the copy of the graphical user interface screen from the participating computer, said sub-portion corresponding to at least one of the different interface frames of the multi-sectioned application; and

program instructions, stored on at least one of the one or more non-transitory computer readable storage devices, to determine boundaries of the sub-portion for the selected one of the different interface frames, and transmitting the boundaries from the participating computer to the presenting computer, without conveying data for other portions of the graphical user interface screen, wherein content from non-selected ones of the different interface frames is considered outside the determined boundaries and is not conveyed, wherein the sub-portion associated with the selection as presented within the participating computer is displayed differently than on the presenting computer, wherein the difference is at least one of an aspect ratio, a resolution, and a color depth.

7. The computer program product of claim 6, further comprising:

program instructions, stored on at least one of the one or more non-transitory computer readable storage devices, to, responsive to receiving the boundaries, define at the remotely located computer the sub-portion of the graphical user interface screen of the presenting computer; and

program instructions, stored on at least one of the one or more non-transitory computer readable storage devices, to convey over a network from the presenting computer to the participating computer, the defined sub-portion of the graphical user interface screen without conveying data for other portions of the graphical user interface screen, which conserves on bandwidth conveyed over the network.

8. The computer program product of claim 7, wherein the receiving of the boundaries and the conveying of the sub-portion is independent of content of the graphical user interface handled by the presenting computer for any device other than the participating computer.

9. The computer program product of claim 6, wherein the presenting computer provides at least a portion of the graphical user interface screen to a plurality of different computers, including the participating computer, wherein the boundaries defined for the participating computer, which affects the sub-portion of the graphical user interface screen sent from the presenting computer to the participating computer has no effect on other ones of the different computers.

10. The computer program product of claim 6, wherein the boundaries defined for the participating computer, which affects the sub-portion of the graphical user interface screen sent from the presenting computer to the participating computer has no effect on a display of the graphical user interface screen for the presenting computer, which includes content outside the defined boundaries of the sub-portion.

11. A computer program product comprising:

one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage devices;

program instructions, stored on at least one of the one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage devices, to establish a screen sharing session between a second computer and a first computer and between a third computer and the second computer;

program instructions, stored on at least one of the one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage devices, to present within a display on the second computer, a copy of a graphical user interface screen from the first computer;

program instructions, stored on at least one of the one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage devices, to receive a selection of a sub-portion of the copy of the graphical user interface screen from the second computer;

program instructions, stored on at least one of the one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage devices, to communicate the selection of the sub-portion from the second computer to the third computer; and

program instructions, stored on at least one of the one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage devices, to cause the third computer to display the selection of the sub-portion on a third display of the third computer, wherein the sub-portion selected and presented within the first computer is displayed differently on the first computer than the sub-portion is displayed on the third computing device, wherein the difference is at least one of an aspect ratio, a resolution, and a color depth.

12. The computer program product of claim 11, wherein the content is content for a live or recorded presentation that is provided from the first computer to at least one of the first computer and the second computer over a network.

13. The computer program product of claim 11, wherein the content is content for a real-time remote desktop session that is provided from the first computer to at least one of the second computer and the third computer over a network.

14. The computer program product of claim 11, further comprising:

program instructions, stored on at least one of the one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage devices, to receive over a network from the first computer to the second computer, the defined sub-portion of the graphical user interface screen without conveying data for other portions of the graphical user interface screen, which conserves on bandwidth conveyed over the network.

15. The computer program product of claim 11, wherein the sub-portion is independent of content of the graphical user interface handled by the first computer for any device other than the second and third computer.

16. The computer program product of claim 11, further comprising:

program instructions, stored on at least one of the one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage devices, to determine boundaries of the sub-portion, and transmitting the boundaries from the second computer to the third computer, without conveying data for other portions of the graphical user interface screen.

17. The computer program product of claim 16, wherein the boundaries defined for the third computer, which affects the at least one sub-portion of the graphical user interface screen sent from the second computer to the third computer has no effect on a display of the graphical user interface screen for the second computer, which includes content outside the defined boundaries of the at least one sub-portion.

18. The computer program product of claim 16, wherein the boundaries comprise of at least one of a position and a dimension associated with the graphical user interface.

19. The computer program product of claim 11, wherein the sub-portion is redefined during a session by a user of the first computer.

20. The computer program product of claim 11, wherein a user of the first computer defines multiple concurrent sub-portions within a screen sharing session.