EP0657833A2
Expired / Lapsed
EP
⏱️ 0.0 years remaining
Workstation conference pointer-user association mechanism
Assignee: International Business Machines Corp
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Filing: 1994-10-06
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Granted: —
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Expires: 2014-10-06
Abstract
Abstract A conference communication system that includes multiple user terminals, each of which includes a display screen with a common working area, provides each user with a pointer icon that can be moved across all the display screens with a pointing device, provides the display screen of each user with a representation of all the conference participants, and, for each user, displays a line connecting each pointer icon of the other conference participants to the displayed representation of the user controlling the icon. Each user controls a pointer icon with a display mouse device having buttons, and the pointer icon and line connecting a user with the user's pointer icon is only displayed on the screens of the other conference participants if the user has pressed and held down a button of the user's mouse device. In this way, each user has control of a pointer icon and each pointer icon is readily associated with the user controlling it, while the number of objects displayed in the work area is kept to a minimum.
Inventors
- 👤 Howard Justin Glaser
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
EP
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-11-07 08:37
CPC Classifications
G; G06; G06F; G06F3/00; G06F3/01; G06F3/03; G06F3/033; G06F3/038; G06F3/048; G06F3/0481; G06F3/14; G06Q; G06Q10/00; G06Q10/10
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 24
Claim 1
Independent Claim
210 words
A communication system comprising a plurality of user workstations, having at least a first user workstation and a second user workstation, each workstation having a display device and a mouse pointer device that controls a pointer icon displayed on the display device of the respective user workstation and moves the pointer icon on the display device as the mouse pointer device is moved and that includes a mouse button; a network server that controls communication between the workstations; position means for generating a signal that indicates the position of the pointer icon on the display device of each user workstation and indicates the status of the mouse button; picture means for generating a representation of the system users in a conference window of the display device of each user workstation; designator means for generating a signal identifying a user workstation and providing the location of a pointer icon and system user representation on the display device of the user workstation; and association means for drawing a line on the display device of a user workstation connecting the display device location of a pointer icon identified by the designator means to the representation of the corresponding system user generated by the picture means for all other user workstations of the system.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
39 words
A system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the picture means comprises a workstation video camera that generates a video image of a workstation user and provides it to the network server for transmission to all conference participant workstations.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
19 words
A method as claimed in claim 2, wherein the picture means generates a digital representation of the video image.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
17 words
A system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the position means comprises a network message information packet.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
36 words
A system as claimed in claim 4, wherein the information packet includes a header field that identifies a message source workstation and a message target workstation and a data field that provides the mouse button status.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
26 words
A system as claimed in claim 5, wherein the data field further provides the mouse pointer icon location on the display device of the respective workstation.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
17 words
A system as claimed in claim 6, wherein the data field further provides conference window position information.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
42 words
A system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the network server maintains a conference participant table that contains an identification of each workstation participating in the conference and of the mouse pointer icon location on the display device of the respective workstation.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
55 words
A system as claimed in claim 8, wherein each workstation generates a network information packet message when the mouse button of its respective mouse device is pressed, the information packet including a header field that identifies a message source workstation and a message target workstation and a data field that provides the mouse button status.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
26 words
A system as claimed in claim 9, wherein the data field further provides the mouse pointer icon location on the display device of the respective workstation.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
17 words
A system as claimed in claim 10, wherein the data field further provides conference window position information.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
56 words
A system as claimed in claim 8, wherein each workstation generates a network information packet message when the mouse button of its respective mouse device is pressed, the information packet including a header field that identifies a message source workstation and a message target workstation and a data field that provides the mouse pointer icon location.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
21 words
A system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the designator means comprises a conference participant table maintained by the network server.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim
16 words
A system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the association means comprises a workstation conference interface.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim
41 words
A system as claimed in claim 14, wherein the conference interface displays a pointer arrow on the display devices of the remaining conference participants that is different in appearance from the mouse pointer icon of the button pressing first conference participant.
Claim 16
Independent Claim
162 words
A method for maintaining communications between users at conference workstations of a network, wherein each workstation in the network includes a display device on which is displayed a conference window and a mouse pointer device that includes a mouse button and that controls a pointer icon on the display device as the workstation mouse pointer device is moved, the method comprising the steps of: generating a representation of each conference participant; displaying the conference participant representations in the conference window of the display device of each conference participant workstation; determining when a first conference participant has pressed the mouse button of the participant's workstation mouse device; determining the display device location of the pointer icon of the button pressing first conference participant; and displaying a pointer arrow on the display devices of the remaining conference participants extending from the display device representation of the button pressing first conference participant to the determined pointer icon location of the button pressing first conference participant.
Claim 17
Dependent Claim
41 words
A method as claimed in claim 16, comprising the step of maintaining a conference participant table that contains an identification of each workstation participating in the conference and of the mouse pointer icon location on the display device of the workstation.
Claim 18
Dependent Claim
50 words
A method as claimed in claim 16, wherein the step of determining the pressing of a mouse button comprises generating a network information packet message including a header field that identifies a message source workstation and a message target workstation and a data field that provides the mouse button status.
Claim 19
Dependent Claim
39 words
A method as claimed in claim 18, wherein the step of determining the display device pointer icon location comprises generating a network information packet that further comprises generating a data field that also provides the mouse pointer icon location.
Claim 20
Dependent Claim
26 words
A method as claimed in claim 18, wherein the step of generating a data field further comprises providing conference window position information in the data field.
Claim 21
Dependent Claim
51 words
A method as claimed in claim 16, wherein the step of determining the display device pointer icon location comprises generating a network information packet message including a header field that identifies a message source workstation and a message target workstation and a data field that provides the mouse pointer icon location.
Claim 22
Dependent Claim
46 words
A method as claimed in claim 16, wherein the step of displaying a pointer arrow comprises displaying a pointer arrow on the display devices of the remaining conference participants that is different in appearance from the mouse pointer icon of the button pressing first conference participant.
Claim 23
Dependent Claim
42 words
A method as claimed in claim 16, wherein the step of generating a representation of each conference participant comprises producing a video image of each conference participant and transmitting the video images over the network to the workstation of each conference participant.
Claim 24
Dependent Claim
23 words
A method as in claim 23, wherein the step of producing a video image comprises generating a digital representation of the video image.
References Cited (Backward Citations)
No citation records indexed.
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