Multi-Display System And Method Of Automatically Setting Display Mode

• US 20080231546A1
• Filed: 03/22/2006
• Published: 09/25/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 09/28/2005
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Lenovo (Beijing) Limited (Lenovo Group Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Lenovo (Beijing) Limited (Lenovo Group Ltd.)
• Inventors: Li, Zhongqing
• Application Number:
  US12/088,371
• Publication Number:
  US 20080231546A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/3.4
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1423 controlling a plurality of local displays, e.g. CRT and flat panel display
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2320/08 Arrangements within a display terminal for setting, manually or automatically, display parameters of the display terminal
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2370/042 for monitor identification
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2370/045 using multiple communication channels, e.g. parallel and serial

Abstract

A multi-display system comprises a host, a main display, multiple second displays connectable to the host and multiple display detection units. The display detection units are adapted for detecting the statuses of the second displays and transferring detection signals to the host in real time. The host is adapted to record the display mode and display content of the currently connected second displays in real time, and conducts display control when receiving the detection signals from the display detection units. The host stops recording, saves the display content, modifies the display mode and transfers the content displayed by the second displays to the main display when the detection signals from the display detection units indicate the second displays have been disconnected from the host. Further, the host recovers the saved display mode and automatically sets the content displayed by the second displays based on the records of the second displays when the detection signal indicates that the second displays have been connected to the host. The present invention also discloses a method for automatically setting display mode in the multi-display system.

Claims

1. A multi-display system comprising:

one main display;

at least one second display;

a host connected to said at least one second display for controlling and recording the display mode and display content of at least one second display connected thereto currently in real time; and

at last one display detection unit for detecting the connection status between the host and said at least one second display and transferring a detection signal to said host in real time;

wherein said host stops recording the display mode and display content of at least one second display connected thereto currently, saves the currently recorded content, modifies the display mode and transfers the content displayed by said at least one second display to said main display when the detection signal from said at least one display detection unit indicates said at least one second display has been disconnected from said host; and

said host automatically sets the content displayed by said at least one second display based on the recorded display mode and display content of at least one second display when the detection signal indicates that said at least one second display has been connected to said host.

2. The multi-display system of claim 1, wherein said host comprises:

a second display content recorder for recording the display mode and display content of said at least one second display connected to said host currently,

a system window status recorder for recording window status corresponding to the display content of said at least one second display that is recorded by said second display content recorder, and

a system display mode controller started by the detection signal from said at least one display detection unit for deciding the display mode and display content of said at least one second display based on the content recorded by the second display content recorder as well as the window status recorded by the system window status recorder and transferring decided mode and content to a display memory for display adapter.

3. The multi-display system of claim 1, wherein the number of said at least one display detection unit corresponds to that of said at least one second display.

4. The multi-display system of claim 1, wherein said at least one display detection unit detects the status of said at least one second display by detecting Extended Display Identification Data (EDID) or by detecting the load of Video Graphics Array (VGA) signal.

5. The multi-display system of claim 1, wherein said at least one display detection unit comprises a mechanical contact plug sensor, an infrared plug sensor and/or an optical plug sensor.

11. The multi-display system of claim 2, wherein the number of said at least one display detection unit corresponds to that of said at least one second display.

12. The multi-display system of claim 2, wherein said at least one display detection unit detects the status of said at least one second display by detecting Extended Display Identification Data (EDID) or by detecting the load of Video Graphics Array (VGA) signal.

13. The multi-display system of claim 2, wherein said at least one display detection unit comprises a mechanical contact plug sensor, an infrared plug sensor and/or an optical plug sensor.

6. A method for automatically setting display mode in a multi-display system comprising one main display and at least one second display, said method comprising the steps of:

1) recording the display mode and display content of said at least one second display in real time;

2) detecting the connection status between said host and said at least one second display and generating a detection signal indicating the connection status when a change occurs in the connection status between said host and said at least one second display;

3) stopping recording the display mode and display content of said at least one second display connected thereto currently, saving the currently recorded content, modifying the display mode and transferring the content displayed by said at least one second display to the main display when the detection signal indicates said at least one second display has been disconnected from said host;

4) automatically setting the display content of said at least one second display based on the recorded display mode and display content of said at least one second display when the detection signal indicates that said at least one second display has been connected to said host.

7. The method for automatically setting display mode of claim 6, wherein said step 4) comprises a step of searching for the recorded display mode and display content of said at least one second display and searching for the current window status of the display content based on the display content.

8. The method for automatically setting display mode of claim 7, wherein the display content recorded at said step 1) is the attributes of a window displayed by said at least one second display;

setting the display content at said step

     4) comprises a step of deciding whether it is necessary to extract display data based on the window status or, extracting the display data and sending them to a display adapter if it is necessary, and extracting no display data temporarily and saving the original records if it is not necessary.

9. The method for automatically setting display mode of claim 8, further comprising a step of deciding to extract no display data when the window status is closed or minimized, and to extract and send display data based on the saved records when the window status becomes opened or maximized.

10. The method for automatically setting display mode of claim 6, wherein the status of said at least one second display is detected at said step 2) by detecting Extended Display Identification Data (EDID) or by detecting the load of Video Graphics Array (VGA) signal.

14. The method for automatically setting display mode of claim 7, wherein the status of said at least one second display is detected at said step 2) by detecting Extended Display Identification Data (EDID) or by detecting the load of Video Graphics Array (VGA) signal.

15. The method for automatically setting display mode of claim 8, wherein the status of said at least one second display is detected at said step 2) by detecting Extended Display Identification Data (EDID) or by detecting the load of Video Graphics Array (VGA) signal.

16. The method for automatically setting display mode of claim 9, wherein the status of said at least one second display is detected at said step 2) by detecting Extended Display Identification Data (EDID) or by detecting the load of Video Graphics Array (VGA) signal.