SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR CONFIGURING THE GRAPHICAL LAYOUT OF AT LEAST ONE MULTI-VIEWER DISPLAY

Abstract

A system for configuring the graphical layout of at least one multi-viewer display is described. The system includes a processing and presentation circuitry configured to receive an input signal, to process the input signal, thereby generating an output signal, and to output the output signal. The system includes a display circuitry configured to forward the output signal to an output device. The system includes a data base configured to store predefined information of a system setup. The predefined information includes configuration information that defines a desired application-specific layout of the multi-viewer display. The processing and presentation circuitry is enabled to access the data base, thereby retrieving the predefined information. The system is configured to provide an application-specific display of the multi-viewer display since the display circuitry is configured to forward data associated with the output signal in the application-specific layout based on the predefined information of the system setup, thereby providing an application-specific display layout and an application-specific room design.

Claims

1. A system for configuring the graphical layout of at least one multi-viewer display, comprising: at least one processing and presentation circuit configured to receive at least one input signal, to process the at least one input signal, thereby generating at least one output signal depending on the at least one input signal, and to output the at least one output signal; at least one display circuit connected with the processing and presentation circuit, wherein the at least one display circuit is configured to forward the at least one output signal to an output device; a data base configured to store predefined information of at least one system setup, wherein the predefined information comprises configuration information for the display circuit and/or the processing and presentation circuit, wherein the configuration information defines a desired application-specific layout of the at least one multi-viewer display, at least one interface configured to connect the processing and presentation circuit with the data base such that the processing and presentation circuit is enabled to access the data base, thereby retrieving the predefined information stored, wherein the system is configured to provide an application-specific display of the multi-viewer display since the display circuit is configured to forward data associated with the at least one output signal in the application-specific layout based on the predefined information of the at least one system setup, thereby providing an application-specific display layout and an application-specific room design.

2. The system according to claim 1, further comprising an operator and control room that accommodates a user interface device that is configured to enable a user of the system to control at least the processing and presentation circuit.

3. The system according to claim 1, wherein the predefined information of the at least one system setup defines which video and/or audio channels are used by the processing and presentation circuit for generating the at least one output signal.

4. The system according to claim 1, wherein the predefined information of the at least one system setup defines which video and/or audio channels together with their respective bit rates are used by the processing and presentation circuit for generating the at least one output signal.

5. The system according to claim 1, wherein customer-specific scenarios are stored in the data base together with predefined scenarios provided by the manufacturer.

6. The system according to claim 1, wherein the system is configured to provide a centralized monitoring, controlling and configuration of several multi-viewer devices connected with the system.

7. The system according to claim 1, wherein the system is further configured to download and install updates for multi-viewer devices connected with the system in a centralized manner.

8. The system according to claim 1, wherein the system is configured to toggle between different scenarios by a one-click input issued at a user interface.

9. The system according to claim 1, wherein several multi-viewer devices are operated in different scenarios by a one-click input.

10. The system according to claim 1, wherein the system is configured to generate a new scenario to be applied by a drag-and-drop functionality.

11. The system according to claim 1, wherein the input signal is at least one audio signal and/or video signal and/or wherein the input signal is at least one data signal.

12. The system according to claim 11, wherein the input signal is an IP signal.

13. The system according to claim 1, wherein the at least one interface is an IP interface, an ASI, a HDMI, a DisplayPort interface and/or an SDI.

14. The system according to claim 1, wherein the output device corresponds to a monitor or an additional subsystem configured to further process the at least one output signal.

15. The system according to claim 14, wherein the additional subsystem is an IP to multimedia interface converter.

16. The system according to claim 14, wherein the output device and/or the additional subsystem may be connected locally or remotely over a network.

17. The system according to claim 1, wherein the system comprises several multi-viewer devices connected with the at least one display circuit.

18. A method of configuring the graphical layout of at least one multi-viewer display, the method comprising: receiving at least one input signal by a processing and presentation circuit; processing the at least one input signal by the processing and presentation circuit; accessing, by the processing and presentation circuit, a data base via an interface configured to connect the processing and presentation circuit with the data base, wherein the data base comprises predefined information of at least one system setup, wherein the predefined information comprises configuration information for a display circuit and/or the processing and presentation circuit, wherein the configuration information defines a desired application-specific layout of the at least one multi-viewer display; generating at least one output signal depending on the at least one input signal; outputting the output signal by the processing and presentation circuit; receiving, by the display circuit, the output signal from the processing and presentation circuit; and forwarding the output signal to an output device.

19. The method according to claim 18, further comprising creating, by an operator, a customer-specific scenario that is saved in the data base together with predefined scenarios provided by the manufacturer.

20. The method according to claim 18, further comprising toggling, by an operator, between different scenarios by interacting with a one-click input provided at a user interface.

Description

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0045] The foregoing aspects and many of the attendant advantages of the claimed subject matter will become more readily appreciated as the same become better understood by reference to the following detailed description, when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein:

[0046] FIG. 1 schematically shows an overview of a system according to an embodiment of the present disclosure,

[0047] FIG. 2 schematically shows an overview illustrating an example physical room configuration,

[0048] FIG. 3 schematically shows an overview illustrating an example scenario configuration, and

[0049] FIG. 4 schematically shows an overview illustrating examples of different scenarios applied to different physical rooms.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0050] The detailed description set forth above in connection with the appended drawings, where like numerals reference like elements, are intended as a description of various embodiments of the present disclosure and are not intended to represent the only embodiments. Each embodiment described in this disclosure is provided merely as an example or illustration and should not be construed as preferred or advantageous over other embodiments. The illustrative examples provided herein are not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the disclosure to the precise forms disclosed. Similarly, any steps described herein may be interchangeable with other steps, or combinations of steps, in order to achieve the same or substantially similar result. Moreover, some of the method steps can be carried serially or in parallel, or in any order unless specifically expressed or understood in the context of other method steps.

[0051] In FIG. 1, a system 10 is shown that is used for configuring a graphical layout of at least one multi-viewer display that is used for illustrating the content of different input signals. The system 10 comprises at least one processing and presentation module 12 that has an input 14 for receiving at least one input signal. The at least one input signal may relate to an audio signal, a video signal and/or an IP signal. Hence, the at least one input signal may concern a combination of an audio signal, a video signal and/or an IP signal, e.g. a combined signal. In FIG. 1, three different input signals labelled with “A”, “B ”, and “C” are exemplarily shown. In some embodiments, the at least one processing and presentation module 12 includes circuitry configured to carry out its functionality described herein.

[0052] The at least one input signal received by the input 14 is processed internally by the processing and presentation module 12, thereby generating at least one output signal that depends on the at least one input signal. The output signal generated is outputted via an output 16 of the processing and presentation module 12 for further processing.

[0053] The system 10 further comprises at least one display module 18 that is connected with the processing and presentation module 12, for example its output 16. Hence, the display module 18 receives the output signal of the processing and presentation module 12.

[0054] The display module 18 may be accommodated in a certain physical room 20 wherein at least one output device 22 is connected with the display module 18, for example a multi-viewer device or a multi-viewer display. Hence, the display module 18 is configured to forward the at least one output signal received from the processing and presentation module 12 to the output device 22. In some embodiments, the display module 18 includes circuitry configured to carry out its functionality described herein.

[0055] Alternatively, the output device 22 corresponds to an additional subsystem that is configured to further process the at least one output signal, for example an IP to multimedia interface converter. The additional subsystem may be connected with the multi-viewer display. The multimedia interface may relate to HDMI, SDI or rather DisplayPort or any other suitable multimedia interface.

[0056] The system 10 further comprises a data base 24 that is connected with the processing and presentation module 12 via an interface 26, for instance an IP interface, an asynchronous serial interface (ASI) and/or a serial digital interface (SDI). The data base 24 stores predefined information of at least one system setup, wherein the predefined information comprises configuration information for the display module and/or the processing and presentation module. The configuration information defines a desired application-specific layout of the at least one multi-viewer display associated with the output device 22 connected with the display module 18.

[0057] Since the processing and presentation module 12 is connected with the data base 24 via the interface 26, the processing and presentation module 12 is enabled to access the data base 24, thereby retrieving the predefined information stored.

[0058] The display module 18 may also access the data base 24 directly or rather retrieve the respective information from the processing and presentation module 12.

[0059] Generally, the processing and presentation module 12 may process the at least one input signal and the predefined information accessed from the data base 24 in order to generate the output signal that is forwarded to the display module 18.

[0060] Accordingly, the entire system 10 is configured to provide an application-specific display of the multi-viewer display since the display module 18 is configured to forward data associated with the at least one output signal in an application-specific layout to the output device 22 connected with the display module 18. The application-specific layout is based on the predefined information of the at least one system setup that is stored in the data base 24. Hence, the predefined information itself is also application-specific.

[0061] In general, an application-specific display layout and an application-specific room design is ensured as information concerning the physical room 20 and its specific situation as well as information concerning the user of the output device 22, e.g. the viewers, are taken into account in order to provide the application-specific display of the multi-viewer display, namely the output device 22.

[0062] In the embodiment of FIG. 1, the system 10 may comprise several display modules 18 that are accommodated in different physical rooms 20, wherein each room 20 has an application specific room design requirement concerning the graphical layout of the multi-viewer display associated with the specific physical room 20.

[0063] This may depend on the physical requirements provided in the specific physical room 20 due to the multi-viewer devices provided in the specific physical room 20. For instance, small or rather medium sized display devices or monitors are located in the specific physical room 20 such that the layout of the multi-viewer display has to be adapted to the physical constraints provided by the respective hardware. The respective room configuration is also shown in FIG. 2.

[0064] The overview shown in FIG. 2 illustrates a graphical overview with a set of physical output devices 22 in a specific physical room 20. Moreover, the operator is enabled to adapt the room configuration by a drag-and-drop functionality, thereby adding a predefined monitor type to the specific room configuration. Furthermore, certain monitors, e.g. output devices 22, may be deleted by a drag-and-drop functionality as well.

[0065] Accordingly, the physical requirements of each room may be set by the overview shown, thereby providing the room configuration being part of the predefined information of the system setup, namely the physical environment. Moreover, room properties may be set by the graphical overview.

[0066] In addition, it is shown that the respective output devices 22, e.g. the multi-viewer displays, are associated with certain content to be illustrated, namely “news”, “weather”, “sport” and “view desk”.

[0067] The respective configuration can be stored for each of the individual physical rooms 20 by the room management such that the rooms 20 available are saved, e.g. their respective configurations.

[0068] Besides the application-specific room design, an application-specific display layout design is also taken into consideration as already mentioned above. This is exemplary shown in FIG. 3.

[0069] Accordingly, a certain physical room 20 may be selected such that the physical output devices 22 of the respective physical room 20 are illustrated for configuration purposes.

[0070] The operator may select pre-defined templates and, optionally, adapt these templates according to his needs. For instance, the screen of a single output device 22 may be divided into several tiles that can be used for illustrating different information, e.g. different kind of data or rather different input signals.

[0071] It is further shown that the operator is enabled to map the input signals to the specific tiles of the physical output devices 22 in the specific physical room 20 for a certain scenario.

[0072] In general, the respective scenario applied may depend on the content, namely the application, and the physical room 20 or rather the physical requirements of the specific physical room 20, for instance “live sports” or rather “news hour” as shown in FIG. 4.

[0073] In FIG. 4, it is illustrated that the same content, e.g. “live sports” or “news hour” is differently illustrated depending on the specific physical room 20, namely the number and types of output devices 22 provided. In the example shown, the rooms 20 relate to a newsroom, a master control room and an operations room, each having different numbers of output devices 22.

[0074] Depending on the content or application applied, a different layout is applied to the respective output device(s) 22.

[0075] Referring back to FIG. 1, the system 10 may further comprise an operator and control room 28 that accommodates a user interface device 30 that is configured to enable the operator of the system 10 to control the components of the system 10 accordingly. In some embodiments, the operator is enabled to select an application-specific layout based on the predefined information of the at least one system setup in order to define the graphical layout of the at least one multi-viewer display for a certain physical room 20.

[0076] Generally, the predefined information of the at least one system setup defines which video and/or audio channels together with the respective bitrates of the individual signals may be used by the processing and presentation module 12 that receives the several or rather all video and/or audio channels of the system 10, thereby generating the at least one output signal based on the predefined information retrieved when accessing the data base 24.

[0077] In the data base 24, customer-specific scenarios together with predefined scenarios, namely template scenarios, may be stored that can be selected by the operator accordingly.

[0078] In general, the system 10, for example the processing and presentation module 12, is enabled to provide a centralized monitoring, controlling and configuration of several multi-viewer devices, namely the output devices 22, connected with the system 10, namely the multi-viewer displays connected with a display module(s) 18.

[0079] In some embodiments, the system 10 is further configured to download and install update(s) for the devices connected with the system 10 in a centralized manner, thereby updating the output devices 22 accordingly.

[0080] Since the operator is enabled to operate the entire system 10 by the user interface device 30 accommodated in the operator and control room 28, the operator is enabled to toggle between different scenarios to be applied by a one-click input that is issued at a user interface provided by the user interface device 30. Thus, the operator may easily select or rather adapt a certain layout of a certain output device 22 accordingly by simply adapting the scenario to apply for the respective multi-viewer display.

[0081] In a similar manner, a new scenario may be generated easily by a drag-and-drop functionality as already indicated above. The operator may interact with the user interface device 30, thereby configuring a new scenario that can be stored in the data base 24 for subsequent usage.

[0082] In general, the system 10 enables a fast and easy configuration of a graphical layout of a multi-viewer display.

[0083] Certain embodiments disclosed herein utilize circuitry (e.g., one or more circuits) in order to implement protocols, methodologies or technologies disclosed herein, operably couple two or more components, generate information, process information, analyze information, generate signals, encode/decode signals, convert signals, transmit and/or receive signals, control other devices, etc. Circuitry of any type can be used. It will be appreciated that the term “information” can be use synonymously with the term “signals” in this paragraph. It will be further appreciated that the terms “circuitry,” “circuit,” “one or more circuits,” etc., can be used synonymously herein.

[0084] In an embodiment, circuitry includes, among other things, one or more computing devices such as a processor (e.g., a microprocessor), a central processing unit (CPU), a digital signal processor (DSP), an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field programmable gate array (FPGA), a system on a chip (SoC), or the like, or any combinations thereof, and can include discrete digital or analog circuit elements or electronics, or combinations thereof.

[0085] In an embodiment, circuitry includes combinations of circuits and computer program products having software or firmware instructions stored on one or more computer readable memories that work together to cause a device to perform one or more protocols, methodologies or technologies described herein. In an embodiment, circuitry includes circuits, such as, for example, microprocessors or portions of microprocessor, that require software, firmware, and the like for operation. In an embodiment, circuitry includes one or more processors or portions thereof and accompanying software, firmware, hardware, and the like.

[0086] In certain embodiments, circuitry includes special purpose hardware circuit implementations (e.g., implementations in analog circuitry, implementations in digital circuitry, and the like, and combinations thereof) specifically configured to carry out the methodologies and technologies described herein.

[0087] Various embodiments of the present disclosure or the functionality thereof may be implemented in various ways, including as non-transitory computer program products. A computer program product may include a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing applications, programs, program modules, scripts, source code, program code, object code, byte code, compiled code, interpreted code, machine code, executable instructions, and/or the like (also referred to herein as executable instructions, instructions for execution, program code, computer program instructions, and/or similar terms used herein interchangeably). Such non-transitory computer-readable storage media include all computer-readable media (including volatile and non-volatile media).

[0088] Embodiments of the present disclosure may also take the form of an apparatus, system, computing device, computing entity, and/or the like executing instructions stored on computer-readable storage media to perform certain steps or operations. The computer-readable media include cooperating or interconnected computer-readable media, which exist exclusively on a processing or processor system or distributed among multiple interconnected processing or processor systems that may be local to, or remote from, the processing or processor system. However, embodiments of the present disclosure may also take the form of an entirely hardware embodiment performing certain steps or operations.

[0089] Various embodiments are described above with reference to block diagrams and/or flowchart illustrations of apparatuses, methods, systems, and/or computer program instructions or program products. It should be understood that each block of any of the block diagrams and/or flowchart illustrations, respectively, or portions thereof, may be implemented in part by computer program instructions, e.g., as logical steps or operations executing on one or more computing devices. These computer program instructions may be loaded onto one or more computer or computing devices, such as special purpose computer(s) or computing device(s) or other programmable data processing apparatus(es) to produce a specifically-configured machine, such that the instructions which execute on one or more computer or computing devices or other programmable data processing apparatus implement the functions specified in the flowchart block or blocks and/or carry out the methods described herein.

[0090] These computer program instructions may also be stored in one or more computer-readable memory or portions thereof, such as the computer-readable storage media described above, that can direct one or more computers or computing devices or other programmable data processing apparatus(es) to function in a particular manner, such that the instructions stored in the computer-readable memory produce an article of manufacture including computer-readable instructions for implementing the functionality specified in the flowchart block or blocks.

[0091] The computer program instructions may also be loaded onto one or more computers or computing devices or other programmable data processing apparatus(es) to cause a series of operational steps to be performed on the one or more computers or computing devices or other programmable data processing apparatus(es) to produce a computer-implemented process such that the instructions that execute on the one or more computers or computing devices or other programmable data processing apparatus(es) provide operations for implementing the functions specified in the flowchart block or blocks and/or carry out the methods described herein.

[0092] It will be appreciated that the term computer or computing device can include, for example, any computing device or processing structure, including but not limited to a processor (e.g., a microprocessor), a central processing unit (CPU), a digital signal processor (DSP), an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field-programmable gate array (FPGA), a system on a chip (SoC), or the like, or any combinations thereof.

[0093] Accordingly, blocks of the block diagrams and/or flowchart illustrations support various combinations for performing the specified functions, combinations of operations for performing the specified functions and program instructions for performing the specified functions. Again, it should also be understood that each block of the block diagrams and flowchart illustrations, and combinations of blocks in the block diagrams and/or flowchart illustrations, or portions thereof, could be implemented by special purpose hardware-based computer systems or circuits, etc., that perform the specified functions or operations, or combinations of special purpose hardware and computer instructions.

[0094] In the foregoing description, specific details are set forth to provide a thorough understanding of representative embodiments of the present disclosure. It will be apparent to one skilled in the art, however, that the embodiments disclosed herein may be practiced without embodying all of the specific details. In some instances, well-known process steps have not been described in detail in order not to unnecessarily obscure various aspects of the present disclosure.

[0095] Further, it will be appreciated that embodiments of the present disclosure may employ any combination of features described herein. For example, all of the features disclosed above with respect to the example embodiments and/or the accompanying FIGURES can alone or in any sub-combination be combined with features of the aspects of the present disclosure including features of various embodiments thereof.

[0096] The present application may reference quantities and numbers. Unless specifically stated, such quantities and numbers are not to be considered restrictive, but exemplary of the possible quantities or numbers associated with the present application. Also in this regard, the present application may use the term “plurality” to reference a quantity or number. In this regard, the term “plurality” is meant to be any number that is more than one, for example, two, three, four, five, etc. The terms “about,” “approximately,” “near,” etc., mean plus or minus 5% of the stated value. For the purposes of the present disclosure, the phrase “at least one of A and B” is equivalent to “A and/or B” or vice versa, namely “A” alone, “B” alone or “A and B.”. Similarly, the phrase “at least one of A, B, and C,” for example, means (A), (B), (C), (A and B), (A and C), (B and C), or (A, B, and C), including all further possible permutations when greater than three elements are listed.

[0097] Throughout this specification, terms of art may be used. These terms are to take on their ordinary meaning in the art from which they come, unless specifically defined herein or the context of their use would clearly suggest otherwise.

[0098] The principles, representative embodiments, and modes of operation of the present disclosure have been described in the foregoing description. However, aspects of the present disclosure which are intended to be protected are not to be construed as limited to the particular embodiments disclosed. Further, the embodiments described herein are to be regarded as illustrative rather than restrictive. It will be appreciated that variations and changes may be made by others, and equivalents employed, without departing from the spirit of the present disclosure. Accordingly, it is expressly intended that all such variations, changes, and equivalents fall within the spirit and scope of the present disclosure, as claimed.