Methods and apparatus for managing a shared GUI
A system and methods for connecting a computer and at least one computing appliance to a graphic user interface comprising a display and peripheral devices is disclosed. A user interface session is associated with a computer connected to the graphic user interface by a network connection. A second user interface session, comprising a display overlay and new user interface settings is established in response to a user event such as a telephony event associated with the computing appliance. In an embodiment, user settings are adjusted on an ongoing basis in response to input device events.
1. A method of managing a Graphical User Interface (GUI) comprising a communicatively coupled set, the communicatively coupled set comprising a GUI module, a display and an at least one user input device, the at least one user input device enabled to generate Human Interface Device (HID) events, the method comprising:
establishing, by the GUI module, a remote desktop session between the GUI and a computer over an Internet Protocol (IP) network, the remote desktop session comprising a remote desktop image rendered and encoded by the computer;
selecting, by the GUI, User Interface (UI) settings responsive to a first event, the first event received from one of the at least one user input device, the computer or a computing appliance, the computing appliance in communicative coupling with the GUI via a GUI session, the computing appliance agnostic to the remote desktop session, the UI settings determining a distribution of the HID events between the remote desktop session and the GUI session;
and displaying, on the display, via the GUI session, an appliance image from the computing appliance, the appliance image combined with the remote desktop image based on the UI settings, wherein displaying the appliance image comprises selectively overlaying the remote desktop image with the appliance image by adjusting an overlaying parameter according to a priority, the priority determined from at least one of the first event, a user input event or the GUI session.
2. The method of claim 1 wherein the first event is received via the IP network.
3. The method of claim 1 wherein the first event initiates a display focus change between the computer and the computing appliance.
4. The method of claim 1 wherein the first event is a pointer device update.
5. The method of claim 1 wherein the overlaying parameter comprises a level of alpha blending for the appliance image with the remote desktop image.
6. The method of claim 5 wherein overlaying the remote desktop image comprises utilizing a display controller to blend the remote desktop image with the appliance image during display refresh.
7. The method of claim 1 wherein establishing the remote desktop session comprises reserving a display area for an overlay associated with the computing appliance.
8. The method of claim 7 wherein reserving the display area comprises reserving a sidebar function.
9. The method of claim 8 wherein the sidebar function is one of an operating system gadget or an application widget.
10. The method of claim 1 further comprising responding to the first event by at least one of updating a sprite of the GUI or changing an audio volume of the GUI.
11. The method of claim 1 wherein the selecting the UI settings comprises directing audio information between the computer and the computing appliance.
12. The method of claim 1 wherein the selecting the UI settings comprises communicating data between the computing appliance and equipment connected to the IP network, the equipment independent of the computer, the computing appliance separated from the IP network by the GUI.
13. The method of claim 1 wherein the selecting the UI settings comprises communicating data between the computing appliance and an Input/Output (I/O) device of the GUI, the I/O device comprising an audio output device.
14. The method of claim 1 wherein the establishing the remote desktop session comprises communicating at least one peripheral bus data structure between the GUI module and the computer, the at least one peripheral bus data structure related to a peripheral bus interconnect between the GUI module and the at least one user input device.
15. The method of claim 14 wherein the at least one peripheral bus data structure is a Universal Serial Bus (USB) descriptor data structure.
16. The method of claim 14 wherein the at least one peripheral bus data structure is an encoded High Definition Audio (HD Audio) data structure.
17. The method of claim 1 wherein the GUI session is established after the remote desktop session terminates.
18. The method of claim 1 wherein the GUI session is sustained when the remote desktop session terminates.