Presentation scratch spaces

1. In a computing environment comprising one or more client devices and a display server, wherein the display server controls a plurality of different physical displays, a method of implementing scratch spaces to display one or more windows or slides previously streamed while displaying a currently streamed window or slide, the method comprising:

using one of the plurality of displays, displaying a source window or slide;

identifying a first scratch space location on a different physical display, the first scratch space location being a special window intended for displaying a copy of pixels taken from a source window or slide;

wherein the first scratch space location on the different physical display is associated with an accelerator such that user selection of the accelerator automatically causes pixels from the source window or slide to be copied to the first scratch space location on the different physical display;

detecting user input selecting the accelerator, the accelerator being one or more keys associated with the source window or slide and the first scratch space location; and

as a result of detecting user input selecting the accelerator, copying pixels of the source window or slide to the first scratch space location.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the accelerator is selected from among a plurality of accelerators, each accelerator being associated with different scratch space locations, and wherein identifying the first scratch space location is based on the accelerator selected.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the accelerator comprises at least one of a user input at an accelerator key including at least one of a right arrow, a left arrow, an up arrow, or a down arrow.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the computing environment comprises a plurality of scratch spaces and wherein the method further comprises prior to copying pixels of the source window or slide to the first scratch space location, copying pixels already in the first scratch space to a second scratch space.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of scratch spaces are arranged in a cascade such that pixels in a scratch space higher in the cascade are copied to a next lower scratch space in the cascade before pixels are copied into the scratch space higher in the cascade.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of scratch spaces are arranged in a rotation such that identifying a first scratch space location comprises identifying a next scratch space in the rotation.

7. In a computing environment comprising one or more client devices and a display server, wherein the display server controls a plurality of different physical displays, a method of implementing scratch spaces to display one or more windows or slides previously streamed while displaying a currently streamed window or slide, the method comprising:

using one of the plurality of displays, displaying a source window or slide;

identifying a first scratch space location on a different physical display, the first scratch space location being a special window intended to contain a copy of pixels taken from a source window;

wherein the first scratch space location on the different physical display is associated with a trigger image such that inclusion of the trigger image in pixels of the source window or slide causes pixels from the source window or slide to be copied to the first scratch space location on the different physical display;

determining that the source window or slide includes the trigger image in pixels of the source window or slide; and

as a result of determining that the source window or slide includes the trigger image in pixels of the source window or slide, copying pixels of the source window or slide to the first scratch space location.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein identifying a trigger image in the source window or slide comprises comparing the trigger image to pixels at a predetermined location in the source window or slide.

9. The method of claim 7 , wherein identifying a trigger image in the source window or slide comprises comparing the trigger image is compared to pixels within a range of a fixed location in the source image.

10. The method of claim 7 , wherein identifying a trigger image in the source window or slide comprises looking for a match to the trigger image at any or all pixel locations in the source image.

11. The method of claim 7 , wherein identifying a trigger image in the source window or slide comprises ignoring transparent or partially transparent pixels in the trigger image.

12. The method of claim 7 , wherein identifying a trigger image in the source window or slide comprises comparing pairs of corresponding pixels of the trigger image and pixels in the source window or slide and computing a distance between each pair of pixels and summing the distances across all pixels in the trigger image and determining that the source window or slide should be copied to the first scratch space location if the sum of the distances is less than a predetermined threshold.

13. The method of claim 7 , wherein identifying a trigger image in the source window or slide comprises comparing pairs of corresponding pixels of the trigger image and any or all pixels in the source window or slide and computing a distance between each pair of pixels and summing the distances across all pixels in the trigger image and determining that the source window or slide should be copied to the first scratch space location if the sum of the distances is less than a predetermined threshold.

14. In a computing environment comprising one or more client devices and a display server, wherein the display server controls a plurality of different physical displays, a physical computer readable storage medium comprising computer executable instructions that when executed by one or more processors cause one or more processors to perform the following:

using one of the plurality of displays, displaying a source window or slide;

identifying a first scratch space location on a different physical display, the first scratch space location being a special window intended for displaying a copy of pixels taken from a source window;

wherein the first scratch space location on the different physical display is associated with an accelerator such that user selection of the accelerator automatically causes pixels from the source window or slide to be copied to the first scratch space location on the different physical display;

determining that the source window or slide should be copied to the first scratch space location either by detecting user input selecting an accelerator to which the first scratch space location on the different physical display is associated or by identifying a trigger image included in pixels in the source window or slide; and

as a result of determining that the source window or slide should be copied to the first scratch space location, copying pixels of the source window or slide to the first scratch space location.

15. The computer readable medium of claim 14 , wherein the accelerator is selected from among a plurality of accelerators and wherein identifying the first scratch space location is based on the accelerator selected.

16. The method of claim 15 , wherein the accelerator comprises at least one of a user input at an accelerator key including at least one of a right arrow, a left arrow, an up arrow, or a down arrow.

17. The computer readable medium of claim 14 , wherein the computing environment comprises a plurality of scratch spaces and wherein the computer readable medium further comprises computer executable instructions that when executed by one or more processors cause one or more processors to: prior to copying pixels of the source window or slide to the first scratch space location, copy pixels already in the first scratch space to a second scratch space.

18. The computer readable medium of claim 14 , wherein the plurality of scratch spaces are arranged in a cascade such that pixels in a scratch space higher in the cascade are copied to a next lower scratch space in the cascade before pixels are copied into the scratch space higher in the cascade.

19. The computer readable medium of claim 14 , wherein the plurality of scratch spaces are arranged in a rotation such that identifying a first scratch space location comprises identifying a next scratch space in the rotation.