Method of launching a selected application in a multi-monitor computer system and multi-monitor computer system employing the same

1. A method of launching a selected application in a multi-monitor computer system comprising a plurality of interactive whiteboards communicating with at least one computing device, each interactive whiteboard comprising a touch surface, said method comprising:

assigning each interactive whiteboard of the multi-monitor computer system a unique identifier thereby to register each interactive whiteboard with said at least one computing device, each interactive whiteboard transmitting its assigned unique identifier to said at least one computing device with every touch event thereon;

designating one of the registered interactive whiteboards as a default interactive whiteboard;

at the at least one computing device, determining if an application launch event was initiated from a registered interactive whiteboard of said multi-monitor computer system by determining the existence of a valid unique identifier accompanying the launch event; and

if so, launching the application associated with the launch event so that the launched application appears on the registered interactive whiteboard and if not, launching the application associated with the launch event so that the launched application appears on the default interactive whiteboard of said multi-monitor computer system.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising, prior to said launching, determining if multiple instances of the application associated with the launch event are permitted.

3. The method of claim 2 further comprising determining if unlimited instances of the application associated with the launch event are permitted and if so, automatically performing said launching.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein if unlimited instances of the application associated with the launch event are not permitted, said method further comprising determining if an instance of the application associated with the launch event already exists on the interactive whiteboard on which the application is to be launched and if not, automatically launching the application on that interactive whiteboard.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein if an instance of the application associated with the launch event already exists on the interactive whiteboard on which the application is to be launched, said method comprising one of resetting the existing application or ignoring the launch event.

6. The method of claim 2 wherein if multiple instances of the application associated with the launch event are not permitted, said method further comprises determining if an instance of the application associated with the launch event already exists on one of the interactive whiteboards of the multi-monitor computer system and if not, automatically launching the application.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein if an instance of the application associated with the launch event already exists, said method further comprising determining if the instance of the application exists on the interactive whiteboard on which the application is to be launched and if not, automatically moving the application to that interactive whiteboard.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein if an instance of the application associated with the launch event already exists on the interactive whiteboard on which the application is to be launched, said method comprising one of resetting the existing application or ignoring the launch event.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein during said launching, the launched application is presented in a window positioned either at a default location on the interactive whiteboard or at a user preferred position on the interactive whiteboard.

10. A non-transitory computer readable medium embodying a computer program for launching a selected application in a multi-monitor computer system, said multi-monitor computer system comprising a plurality of interactive whiteboards communicating with a common computing device, said computer program comprising:

program code for assigning each interactive whiteboard of the multi-monitor computer system a unique identifier thereby to register each interactive whiteboard with said computing device, each interactive whiteboard transmitting its assigned unique identifier to the common computing device with every touch event thereon;

program code for designating one of the registered interactive display devices as a default interactive whiteboard;

program code for determining if an application launch event was initiated from a registered interactive whiteboard of said multi-monitor computer system by determining the existence of a valid unique identifier accompanying the launch event; and

program code for, if so, launching the application associated with the launch event so that the launched application appears on the registered interactive whiteboard and if not, launching the application associated with the launch event so that the launched application appears on the default interactive whiteboard of said multi-monitor computer system.

11. A multi-monitor computer system comprising a plurality of interactive whiteboards communicating with a common computing device executing an application launching procedure for carrying out the method of claim 1 .

12. A computing device comprising memory storing an application launching procedure and a processing unit communicating with said memory, execution of said application launching procedure by said processing unit causing said computing device at least to:

assign each of a plurality of interactive whiteboards of a multi-monitor computer system a unique identifier thereby to register each interactive whiteboard with said computing device, each interactive whiteboard transmitting its assigned unique identifier to the computing device with every touch event thereon;

designate one of the registered interactive display devices as a default interactive whiteboard;

determine if an application launch event was initiated from a registered interactive whiteboard by determining the existence of a valid unique identifier accompanying the launch event; and

if so, launch the application associated with the launch event so that the launched application appears on the registered interactive whiteboard and if not, launch the application associated with the launch event so that the launched application appears on the default interactive whiteboard.

13. The computing device of claim 12 wherein execution of said application launching procedure further causes said computing device to, prior to said launching, determine if multiple instances of the application associated with the launch event are permitted.

14. The computing device of claim 13 wherein execution of said application launching procedure further causes said computing device to determine if unlimited instances of the application associated with the launch event are permitted and if so, automatically perform said launching.

15. The computing device of claim 14 wherein if unlimited instances of the application associated with the launch event are not permitted, execution of said application launching procedure further causes said computing device to determine if an instance of the application associated with the launch event already exists on the interactive whiteboard on which the application is to be launched and if not, automatically launch the application on that interactive whiteboard.

16. The computing device of claim 15 wherein if an instance of the application associated with the launch event already exists on the interactive whiteboard on which the application is to be launched, execution of said application launching procedure further causes said computing device to one of reset the existing application or ignore the launch event.

17. The computing device of claim 13 wherein if multiple instances of the application associated with the launch event are not permitted, execution of said application launching procedure further causes said computing device to determine if an instance of the application associated with the launch event already exists on one of the interactive whiteboards and if not, automatically launch the application.

18. The computing device of claim 17 wherein if an instance of the application associated with the launch event already exists, execution of said application launching procedure further causes said computing device to determine if the instance of the application exists on the interactive whiteboard on which the application is to be launched and if not, automatically move the application to that interactive whiteboard.

19. The computing device of claim 18 wherein if an instance of the application associated with the launch event already exists on the interactive whiteboard on which the application is to be launched, execution of said application launching procedure further causes said computing device to one of reset the existing application or ignore the launch event.

20. The computing device of claim 12 wherein the launched application is presented in a window positioned either at a default location on the interactive whiteboard or at a user preferred position on the interactive whiteboard.