Mobile wireless display for accessing data from a host and method for controlling

• US 20090117890A1
• Filed: 05/14/2008
• Published: 05/07/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 05/14/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Kopin Corporation
• Original Assignee: Kopin Corporation
• Inventors: Jacobsen, Jeffrey J., Pombo, Stephen A., Parkinson, Christopher
• Granted Patent: US 9,116,340 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/419
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 27/017 Head mounted
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/14 Digital output to display device ; Cooperation and interconnection of the display device with other functional units
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2370/12 Use of DVI or HDMI protocol in interfaces along the display data pipeline
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2370/16 Use of wireless transmission of display information
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 5/005 Adapting incoming signals to the display format of the display terminal

Abstract

An apparatus includes a monocular display with a wireless communications interface, a user input device, a transmitter, and a controller. The monocular display is positioned relative to the user'"'"'s eye to display images to the user while occluding less than half of the user'"'"'s maximum viewing space. The apparatus can incorporate a wireless communication controller that not only provides a video link to a host device, but also provides for control and management of a host device and other more devices. In this context, a host device may be any appropriate device that sources audio, video, text, office functionality and other information, such as a cell phone, personal computer, laptop, media player, and/or the like. The apparatus and the host may support Microsoft Windows SideShow, Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP), and Virtual Network Computing (VNC).

Claims

1. A device comprising:

a portable, miniature display configured to display multimedia content; and

a wireless interface configured to establish a wireless connection between the device and at least one host computing device, the wireless interface configured to transmit a request to the at least one host computing device for multimedia content made available at a host display interface, and receive multimedia content from the at least one host computing device in response to the request for multimedia content.

2. The device of claim 1 wherein the wireless connection between the device and the at least one host computing device further supports Microsoft Windows SideShow, Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP), or Virtual Network Computing (VNC) protocols.

3. The device of claim 2 wherein the wireless connection between the device and the at least one host computing device further supports the device repeatedly polling the host computing device when in a sleep mode at intervals for updated multimedia content and returning the host computing device to the sleep mode.

4. The device of claim 1 wherein the wireless interface is a Bluetooth physical layer with a Bluetooth™

proxy to implement a packet switching gateway.

5. The device of claim 1 wherein the display is configured to be positioned in a peripheral field of vision of a user and occlude less than half of a normal field of vision of the user.

6. The device of claim 1 further comprising an input device configured to wirelessly communicate with the at least one host computing device.

7. The device of claim 1 wherein the wireless interface is configured to support one or more of Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 (Wi-Fi™

), IEEE 802.15 (Bluetooth™

), Wireless Universal Serial Bus (WUSB), Ultra Wide band (UWB), Wireless High Definition (WirelessHD), Wireless High Definition Multimedia Interface (WHDMI), or cellular protocols.

8. The device of claim 1 wherein the wireless interface is configured to establish a first wireless communication path with a first host computing device of the at least one host computing device and a second wireless communication path with a second host computing device of the at least one host computing device.

9. The device of claim 8 wherein the wireless interface is further configured to establish the first and second wireless communication paths employing protocols, standard or modified, providing simultaneous communication over a plurality of channels with a variable bit rate and a variable buffer.

10. The device of claim 1 wherein the multimedia content provided from the at least one host computing device is selected from a group consisting of:

broadcast video, broadcast television, broadcast radio, Internet access, audio, video, text, images, satellite service, or closed circuit communications.

11. The device of claim 1 wherein the at least one host computing device is a laptop computer, desktop computer, mobile telephone, cellular telephone, personal digital assistant (PDA), radio, satellite receiver, music player, video player, multimedia player, global positioning system (GPS) device, diagnostic computing device, or smartphone.

12. The device of claim 1 further comprising a device driver for each of the at least one host computing devices, the device driver configured to receive a markup language specification instructing the device how to display the multimedia content.

13. The device of claim 1 wherein the host computing device is further configured to operate a utility to provide multimedia content to the device at a time of operation of the host computing device in a state of power of on, off, or reduced-power sleep mode, and wherein the display is further configured to access the utility of the host computing device to receive the multimedia content.

14. The device of claim 13 wherein the utility operates remotely without requiring user interaction with the host computing device through protocols, such as Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP), Virtual Network Computing (VNC), and commercial services, such as GoToMyPC.

15. A method of providing multimedia content to a device, the method comprising:

establishing a wireless connection between the device and at least one host computing device;

transmitting a request from the device to the at least one host computing device for multimedia content made available at a display interface of the at least one host computing device;

receiving multimedia content from the at least one host computing device in response to the request for multimedia content; and

displaying the multimedia content at a portable, miniature display configured to display multimedia content.

16. The method of claim 15 wherein the wireless connection between the device and the at least one host computing device supports Microsoft Windows SideShow, Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP), or Virtual Network Computing (VNC) protocols, the method further comprising displaying the multimedia content according to the protocols.

17. The method of claim 16 further comprising:

polling repeatedly the host computing device when in a sleep mode at intervals for updated multimedia content; and

returning the host computing device to the sleep mode.

18. The method of claim 15 wherein the wireless interface is a Bluetooth™

physical layer with a Bluetooth™

proxy, the method further comprising implementing a packet switching gateway employing to the Bluetooth™

proxy.

19. The method of claim 15 wherein the portable, miniature display is configured to be positioned in a peripheral field of vision of a user and occlude less than half of a normal field of vision of the user.

20. The method of claim 15 further comprising controlling the at least one host computing device wirelessly via an input device.

21. The method of claim 15 further comprising supporting communications over the wireless interface employing one or more of Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 (Wi-Fi™

), IEEE 802.15 (Bluetooth™

), Wireless Universal Serial Bus (WUSB), Ultra Wide band (UWB), Wireless High Definition (WirelessHD), Wireless High Definition Multimedia Interface (WHDMI), or cellular protocols.

22. The method of claim 15 wherein establishing the wireless connection between the device and at least one host computing device includes establishing a first wireless communication path with a first host computing device of the at least one host computing device and a second wireless communication path with a second host computing device of the at least one host computing device.

23. The method of claim 22 wherein establishing the first and second wireless communication paths includes employing protocols, standard or modified, providing simultaneous communication over a plurality of channels with a variable bit rate and a variable buffer.

24. The method of claim 15 wherein the multimedia content displayed is selected from a group consisting of:

broadcast video, broadcast television, broadcast radio, Internet access, audio, video, text, images, satellite service, or closed circuit communications.

25. The method of claim 15 wherein the at least one host computing device is a laptop computer, desktop computer, mobile telephone, cellular telephone, personal digital assistant (PDA), radio, satellite receiver, music player, video player, multimedia player, global positioning system (GPS) device, diagnostic computing device, or smartphone.

26. The method of claim 15 further comprising receiving a markup language specification instruction the device how to display the multimedia content.

27. The method of claim 15 further comprising providing multimedia content to the device at a time of operation of the host computing device in a state of power of on, off, or reduced-power sleep mode.

28. The method of claim 27 wherein the host computing device provides multimedia content to the device without requiring user interaction with the host computing device through protocols, such as Remote Desktop protocol (RDP), Virtual Network Computing (VNC), and commercial services, such as GoTo MyPC.

29. A system for providing multimedia content to a user, the system comprising:

a device including a portable, miniature display configured to display multimedia content and a first wireless interface configured to establish a wireless connection between the device and at least one host computing device, the wireless interface further configured to transmit a request to the at least one host computing device for multimedia content made available at a host display interface of the at least one host computing device, and receive multimedia content from the at least one host computing device in response to the request for multimedia content, the portable, miniature display; and

at least one host computing device, including a host display interface and a second wireless interface configured to establish a wireless connection between the at least one host computing device and the device, the at least one host computing device configured to provide to the device multimedia content made available at a host display interface of the at least one host computing device, and the second wireless interface further configured to receive the request for multimedia content from the at least one host computing device and transmit multimedia content to the device in response to the request for multimedia content.

30. The system of claim 29 wherein the wireless connection between the device and the at least one host computing device further supports Microsoft Windows SideShow, Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP), or Virtual Network Computing (VNC) protocols.

31. The system of claim 30 wherein the wireless connection between the device and the at least one host computing device further supports the device repeatedly polling the host computing device when in a sleep mode at intervals for updated multimedia content and returning the host computing device to the sleep mode.

32. The system of claim 29 wherein the first wireless interface and the second wireless interface are a Bluetooth™

physical layer with a Bluetooth™

proxy to implement a packet switching gateway.

33. The system of claim 29 wherein the display is configured to be positioned in a peripheral field of vision of the user and occlude less than half of a normal field of vision of the user.

34. The system of claim 29 wherein the device further includes an input device configured to wirelessly communicate with the at least one host computing device.

35. The system of claim 29 wherein the wireless interface is configured to support one or more of Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 (Wi-Fi™

), IEEE 802.15 (Bluetooth™

), Wireless Universal Serial Bus (WUSB), Ultra Wide band (UWB), Wireless High Definition (WirelessHD), Wireless High Definition Multimedia Interface (WHDMI), or cellular protocols.

36. The system of claim 29 further comprising a first host computing device and a second host computing device of the at least one host computing device, the first wireless interface configured to establish a first wireless communication path with the second wireless interface of the first host computing device and a second wireless communication path with a third wireless interface of the second host computing device.

37. The system of claim 36 wherein the first wireless interface is further configured to establish the first and second wireless communication paths employing protocols, standard or modified, providing simultaneous communication over a plurality of channels with a variable bit rate and a variable buffer.

38. The system of claim 29 wherein the multimedia content provided from the at least one host computing device is selected from a group consisting of:

broadcast video, broadcast television, broadcast radio, Internet access, audio, video, text, images, satellite service, or closed circuit communications.

39. The system of claim 29 wherein the at least one host computing device is a laptop computer, desktop computer, mobile telephone, cellular telephone, personal digital assistant (PDA), radio, satellite receiver, music player, video player, multimedia player, global positioning system (GPS) device, diagnostic computing device, or smartphone.

40. The system of claim 29 wherein the device further includes a device driver for each of the at least one host computing devices, the device driver configured to receive a markup language specification instructing the device how to display the multimedia content.

41. The system of claim 29 wherein the host computing device is further configured to operates a utility to provide multimedia content to the device at a time of operation of the host computing device in a state of power of on, off, or reduced-power sleep mode, and therein the display is further configured to access the utility of the host computing device to receive the multimedia content.

42. The system of claim 41 wherein the utility operates remotely without requiring user interaction with the host computing device through protocols, such as Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP), Virtual Network Computing (VNC), and commercial services, such as GoToMyPC.

43. A monocular display device configured to be used in combination with a host computing system including a host processor, a host memory, and a host bus, which is connected to the host processor and the host memory, the host bus further connected to a host wireless communication interface, the monocular display device comprising:

a monocular display configured to be worn by a wearer so the monocular display is located in substantially a peripheral vision of the wearer and occludes less than half of a normal vision of the wearer when worn;

a monocular display device controller connected to the monocular display;

a monocular display device wireless communications interface configured to communicate with the host wireless communication interface;

an input device connected to the monocular display device controller;

the monocular display device controller configured to control the monocular display device wireless interface to send a control signal to the host computing system via the monocular display device wireless interface;

the host wireless interface configured to receive the control signal from the monocular display device wireless interface to link the monocular display device wireless interface to the host wireless communication interface, the link providing a bidirectional communication path;

the input device communicating with the host processor to provide an input signal to the host processor;

the host computing system having a primary display that receives a control signal to display images, and has a primary audio device that receives the control signal to play back audio on the primary audio device; and

the control signal being communicated along the bidirectional communication path to the monocular display and to the audio device, which display images and plays audio remote from the host computing system.

44. A monocular display device that wirelessly interfaces with two or more host devices including a first computing device, and a second computing device in a substantially simultaneous manner over at least two independent wireless communication paths, the monocular display device comprising:

a monocular display configured to be worn by a wearer, the monocular display configured to be worn so the display is located in a peripheral vision of the wearer and occludes less than half of a normal vision of the wearer; and

a wireless interface connected to the monocular display and configured to wirelessly communicate with the first and the second computing devices along the paths, the monocular display device configured as a central hub between the first and the second computing devices.