DISPLAY DEVICE
A display device for transmitting, over a general purpose data network, graphical data to a remote device, the display device comprising a framebuffer memory for storing the graphical data; and a network interface for maintaining two-way network transmission of graphical data to and from the display device and operable to read or write to the framebuffer memory; wherein the network interface transmits the contents of the framebuffer memory to at least one remote device over the network.
1 . A display device for transmitting, over a general purpose data network, graphical data to a remote device, the display device comprising:
framebuffer memory for storing the graphical data; and
a network interface for maintaining two-way network transmission of graphical data to and from the display device and operable to read or write to the framebuffer memory;
wherein the network interface transmits the contents of the framebuffer memory to at least one remote device over the network.
2 . A display device as claimed in claim 1 , further comprising:
a display screen for presenting graphical data visually;
driver circuitry for receiving the graphical data from the network interface and converting the data into pixel values; and
a raster module for taking the pixel values and rastering them onto the display screen, thereby displaying the graphical data on the display device.
3 . A display device as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the network interface transmits data under instructions from the local display device.
4 . A display device as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the network interface transmits data under instructions from the remote device.
5 . A display device as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the remote device is a display device.
6 . A display device as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the remote device is a recording device.
7 . A method for transmitting graphical data over a general purpose data network to a remote device, where that graphical data is also presented visually on a local display device, the method comprising:
storing in a framebuffer memory the graphical data for display on a local display device;
maintaining two-way network transmission of graphical data to and from the display device;
reading data from the framebuffer memory; and
transmitting the contents of the framebuffer memory to at least one remote device over the network.
8 . A method as claimed in claim 7 , further comprising:
receiving the graphical data from the framebuffer memory;
converting the graphical data into pixel values; and
rastering the pixel values onto a display screen in the local display device.
9 . A method as claimed in claim 7 , wherein the step of transmitting the contents of the framebuffer memory comprises:
receiving instructions from the local display device; and
transmitting the contents in accordance with the instructions.
10 . A method as claimed in claim 7 , wherein the step of transmitting the contents of the framebuffer memory comprises:
receiving instructions from the remote device; and
transmitting the contents in accordance with the instructions.
11 . A method as claimed in claim 7 , wherein the remote device is a display device.
12 . A method as claimed in claim 7 , wherein the remote device is a recording device.