Media fusion remote access system
View Patent ↗The present invention is a system that receives data in different formats from different devices/applications in the format native to the devices/applications and fuses the data into a common shared audio/video collaborative environment including a composite display showing the data from the different sources in different areas of the display and composite audio. The common environment is presented to users who can be at remote locations. The users are allowed to supply a control input for the different device data sources and the control input is mapped back to the source, thereby controlling the source. The location of the control input on the remote display is mapped to the storage area for that portion of the display and the control data is transmitted to the corresponding device/application. The fusion system converts the data from the different sources/applications into a common format and stores the converted data from the different sources in a shared memory with each source allocated a different area in the memory. A combined window like composite representation of the data is produced and also stored in the memory. The combined representation is transmitted to and can be controlled by the users.
1. A system, comprising:
a combining system configured to:
receive data from a first data source device in a first format and a second data source device in a second format different from the first format, and
create a combined representation comprising a first representation area for data from the first data source device and a second representation area for data from the second data source device;
a presentation device configured to present the combined representation and further configured to receive a control action associated with a location within the combined representation; and
a shared memory configured to map the control action to a shared memory region corresponding to a control target device, wherein the location of the control action identifies the control target device comprising:
the first data source device, if the location is within the first representation area, or
the second data source device, if the location is within the second representation area, and
wherein the combining system is further configured to transmit a control input corresponding to the control action and the location within the corresponding representation area to the control target device.
2. The system as recited in claim 1 , wherein the shared memory is further configured to store the data from the first and second data source devices.
3. The system as recited in claim 2 , wherein the shared memory comprises first and second data source storage areas dedicated to the data of the first and second data source devices respectively.
4. The system as recited in claim 3 , wherein the shared memory further comprises a representation storage area configured to store the combined representation of the data.
5. The system as recited in claim 4 , wherein the combining system is configured to transmit the combined representation from the representation storage area to the presentation device.
6. The system as recited in claim 1 , wherein the presentation device is connected to the combining system across a network.
7. The system as recited in claim 1 , wherein the combining system is configured to convert the data from the first and second data source devices into a common format.
8. The system as recited in claim 1 , wherein the combining system is configured to render the data from the first and second data source devices into a display.
9. The system as recited in claim 1 , wherein the corresponding representation areas comprise display windows.
10. The system as recited in claim 1 , wherein the combining system is configured to map the control input to an application control input for the control target device.
11. The system of claim 1 , further comprising:
a second presentation device configured to present the combined representation,
wherein the combining system is further configured to transmit the control input and the location to the control target device regardless of whether the control action is performed on the first presentation device or the second presentation device.
12. The system of claim 1 , wherein the presentation device is further configured to allow the creation of views of the data.
13. The system of claim 1 , wherein the control target device comprises:
the first data source device, if the location is within the first representation area,
the second data source device, if the location is within the second representation area, or
the combining system, if the location is not within the first or second representation areas.
14. A method, comprising:
receiving data in different formats from first and second data source devices;
creating a combined representation of the data;
presenting the combined representation at different locations;
receiving a control action corresponding to a location within the combined representation;
mapping the control action to a region of a shared memory corresponding to a control target device comprising one of:
the first data source device, if the location is within a first representation area of the combined representation, or
the second data source device, if the location is within a second representation area of the combined representation; and
transmitting a control input corresponding to the control action to the control target device.
15. The method as recited in claim 14 , further comprising:
mapping the control input to an application control input for the control target device; and
routing the application control input to control target device.
16. The method as recited in claim 14 , wherein the creating comprises:
storing the data from the first and second data source devices in first and second dedicated storage areas of the shared memory;
providing the data of the areas to corresponding windows for a display;
rendering the windows as a common display;
storing the common display in a representation storage area of the shared memory; and
transmitting the common display of the representation storage area to the different locations.
17. A system, comprising:
a combining system configured to:
receive data from a first data source device in a first format and a second data source device in a second format different from the first format, and
create a combined representation comprising a first representation area for data from the first data source device and a second representation area for data from the second data source device;
at least two presentation devices, each presenting the combined representation; and
shared memory configured to:
provide multiple simultaneous accesses to the combined representation in the shared memory, and
receive a control input associated with a location within the first or second representation areas,
wherein the control input is mapped to a region of the shared memory corresponding to a control target device, the control target device comprising:
the first data source device, if the location is within the first representation area, or
the second data source device if the location is within the second representation area, and
wherein the combining system is further configured to transmit the control input and the location within the corresponding representation area to the control target device.
18. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium having computer-executable instructions stored thereon that, if executed by a computing device, cause the computing device to perform a method comprising:
receiving data in different formats from first and second data source devices;
creating a combined representation of the data;
presenting the combined representation at different locations;
receiving a control action corresponding to a location within the combined representation;
mapping the control action to a region of a shared memory corresponding to a control target device comprising one of:
the first data source device, if the location is within a first representation area of the combined representation, or
the second data source device, if the location is within a second representation area of the combined representation; and
transmitting a control input corresponding to the control action to the control target device.