VIRTUAL DESKTOP VIEW SCROLLING

• US 20090282359A1
• Filed: 05/12/2008
• Published: 11/12/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 05/12/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Saul, Elton, Schmieder, Robert Wilhelm
• Granted Patent: US 8,176,434 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/784
• 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 3/0485 Scrolling or panning
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/452 Remote windowing, e.g. X-Window System, desktop virtualisation protocols for virtual reality H04L67/131
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 5/34 for rolling or scrolling

Abstract

Example embodiments of the present disclosure are related to scrolling the view of a virtual desktop on a client. The client can be in communication with a server that has a display driver. The server can be configured to transmit signals indicative of images to the client and the client can be configured draw the images in a virtual desktop. The client can be configured to render a view of the virtual desktop that includes a portion of the virtual desktop; track user input; and pan the view in response to the user input.

Claims

1. A method for navigating a virtual desktop, the method comprising:

generating, from geometry information received from a remote computer, a virtual desktop comprising a display resolution of a display driver of the remote computer;

drawing graphics received from the remote computer in the virtual desktop;

rendering a view of the virtual desktop, wherein the view is defined by edges and depicts a portion of the virtual desktop;

receiving relative cursor movement information;

determining, from the relative cursor movement information and the edges of the view, that a cursor has reached an edge of the view; and

scrolling the view of the virtual desktop in the direction of the relative cursor movement.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

applying a linear accelerating factor to the relative cursor movement information.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining the velocity of the cursor;

generating a dynamic accelerating factor, wherein the dynamic accelerating factor is a function of the velocity of the cursor; and

applying the dynamic accelerating factor to the relative cursor movement information.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the geometry information includes a bounding box and information that defines a display layout of the remote computer, further wherein the display resolution of the bounding box is calculated from display resolution information from a first and second display driver of the remote computer.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

receiving the display resolution information for the first and second display drivers of the remote device; and

determining edges for the first and second display drivers from the display resolution information.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

determining, from the edges the define the view and the edges that define the first and second display drivers, that an edge of the view has reached an edge of the first display driver;

determining that the velocity of the cursor is greater than a predetermined value; and

scrolling the view of the virtual desktop to the far edge associated with second display driver.

7. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

determining, from coordinate information for the cursor and the edges that define the first and second display drivers, that the cursor has reached an edge of the first display driver; and

generating a haptic response.

8. A computer readable storage medium including computer readable instructions for navigating a virtual desktop, the computer readable storage medium comprising:

instructions for rendering a view of a virtual desktop that depicts graphics received from a remote computer, wherein the view is defined by a range of pixels and the virtual desktop is defined by a range of pixels corresponding to a display resolution of a remote computer;

instructions for receiving relative cursor movement information;

instructions for determining, from the relative cursor movement information and the range of pixels that define the view, that a cursor has reached an edge of the view; and

instructions for scrolling a view of a virtual desktop in the direction of the relative cursor movement.

9. The computer readable storage medium of claim 8, further comprising:

instructions for dividing the virtual desktop into a plurality of zones;

instructions for assigning each zone to a key of a keyboard;

instructions for receiving a selection of a key assigned to a specific zone; and

instructions for centering the view on the specific zone in response to the selection of the key.

10. The computer readable storage medium of claim 8, further comprising:

instructions for rendering a mini-map in the view, wherein the mini-map depicts a scaled image of the virtual desktop and a scaled image of the view.

11. The computer readable storage medium of claim 10, wherein the mini-map comprises a wireframe image of the virtual desktop and a wireframe outline of the view.

12. The computer readable storage medium of claim 10, further comprising:

instructions for transmitting user input to the remote computer, wherein the remote computer is configured to execute a program in response to the user input;

instructions for receiving graphics indicative of a user interface for the program;

instructions for updating the mini-map with a scaled image of the user interface for the program.

13. The computer readable storage medium of claim 12, further comprising:

instructions for receiving coordinates indicating the position of the user interface on the virtual desktop;

instructions for receiving user input; and

instructions for centering the view on the user interface in response to the user input.

14. A computer system comprising:

circuitry for rendering a view of a virtual desktop, wherein the virtual desktop is defined by first a first pixel range that corresponds to a display resolution of a remote computer and the view is defined by a second pixel range;

circuitry for receiving cursor movement information;

circuitry for determining from the cursor movement information and the second pixel range, that a cursor has reached an edge of the second pixel range; and

circuitry for scrolling the view in the direction of the cursor movement.

15. The system of claim 14, further comprising:

circuitry for rendering a mini-map in the view, wherein the mini-map depicts a scaled image of the virtual desktop and a scaled image of the view.

16. The system of claim 15, further comprising:

circuitry for receiving pixel coordinates for a user interface of a program that was generated in the virtual desktop; and

circuitry for generating an identifier for the user interface of the program in the mini-map.

17. The system of claim 14, wherein the circuitry for scrolling the view further comprises:

circuitry for applying a linear accelerating factor to the cursor movement information.

18. The system of claim 14, wherein the circuitry for scrolling the view further comprises:

circuitry for determining the velocity of the cursor;

circuitry for generating a dynamic accelerating factor, wherein the dynamic accelerating factor is a function of the velocity of the cursor; and

circuitry for applying the dynamic accelerating factor to the cursor movement information.

19. The system of claim 14, wherein the first pixel range further correspond to a display resolution of a first display driver and a second display resolution of a second display driver of the remote computer, further wherein the display resolution of the first display driver is defined by first edges and the display resolution of the second display driver is defined by second edges.

20. The system of claim 19, further comprising:

circuitry for determining that the cursor has reached a specific edge of the display resolution of the first display driver, wherein the specific edge is proximate to a specific edge of the second display driver; and

circuitry for centering the view on an area of the virtual desktop corresponding to the second display driver.