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    • 专利摘要:
    A recomposer (10) connects a plurality of designation peripherals (A, B, C) to a same central unit (90) of a computer system (100). The recomposer comprises inputs (11A, 11B, 11C) for exchanging, with each of the designation peripherals, data normally exchanged with the central unit (90); has an output (17) for exchanging data with the CPU (90); comprises digital processing means for transforming the data received by the recomposer into transmitted data. The transmitted data conforms in content and structure to data that would be transmitted by a single active surface designation device (16U), and individually correspond, on the single active surface, to the actions performed with the designation peripherals (A, B, C). A plurality of designation peripherals connected to a recomposer is an assembly that is connected to a central unit of a computer system (100) and viewed as a single designation device.
    公开号:FR3072803A1
    申请号:FR1759852
    申请日:2017-10-19
    公开日:2019-04-26
    发明作者:Julien Castet；Loic Semelle；Cedric Kervegant
    申请人:Immersion Corp；
    IPC主号:
    专利说明:

    SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR THE SIMULTANEOUS MANAGEMENT OF A PLURALITY OF DESIGNATION DEVICES
    FIELD OF THE INVENTION
    The invention belongs to the field of computer systems and in particular human-machine interfaces.
    The invention relates in particular to a system and a method for the management of several designation peripherals by which an operator interacts with a computer, when these designation peripherals are connected simultaneously in the same computer system.
    PRIOR ART
    In the field of peripherals allowing a user of a computer system to act on said computer system, it is known to use devices actuated by the user to interact on a screen with graphic elements.
    Among these devices are in particular keyboards, mice, styli, touch pads or touch screens.
    In order to ensure that these devices work with many computer systems, these devices communicate with the computer system by sending data frames formatted according to a standardized protocol called HID ("Human Interface Device").
    Generally the actions performed by the operator, through these devices, are displayed on one or more display surfaces of the computer system. This allows the operator to act according to his interaction needs, such as selection, validation, plots ...
    It is possible to connect several of these devices, for example several keyboards or several mice, to the same computer system, but in these cases, only one of the redundant devices can be used at a given time. Thus, a mouse makes it possible to act on the position of a pointer on the display surface and the position of the pointer becomes practically impossible to manage if several mice are activated simultaneously.
    This case is not penalizing in practice when it is not necessary to use two mice simultaneously even when they are connected, such as for example on a single-user computer station. On the other hand, this prohibits that two people each use a mouse on the same computer station in the context of collaborative work.
    In the case of designation systems of the touch screen or graphic tablet type, it may be desired to act simultaneously on the sensitive surfaces of these systems.
    Thus it is now widespread the use of touch screens which are adapted to detect and manage several simultaneous contact points to obtain particular effects by the software which uses the information of the contact points. However, this possibility of multiple contacts is today reserved for a single tactile surface and it is not possible, without specific computer processing, to act simultaneously on different tactile surfaces.
    This limitation is due to the difficulty of combining individual and standardized links between the designation peripherals and the central processing unit of the computer system.
    When the computer system comprises several designation peripherals (A, B, C), these various peripherals are each connected to the central unit individually by a dedicated link, today most often a USB link ("Universal Serial Bus >> ), as shown in Figure 1.
    It is then necessary in this hardware and logical configuration, to cease to act with a designation peripheral in order to be able to act with another, at least in a satisfactory manner from a functional point of view.
    To make the designation devices as independent as possible from the computer system to which they are connected, a specific HID standard, superimposed on the USB standard, defines the content and structure of the data exchanged between the terminal and the central unit.
    A disadvantage of this architecture comes from the fact that it is not possible to take into account simultaneous actions on several designation devices without conflict in the context of coordinated actions of the operator (s).
    To solve this problem, software solutions have been developed, but these solutions are specific to the operating system and the application used.
    The qualities of universality that are expected of designation devices, in particular touchscreen devices and graphics tablets, are therefore lost by users of computer systems.
    PRESENTATION OF THE INVENTION
    The present invention provides a solution to these problems of simultaneous implementation of a plurality of active surface designation peripherals by a computer system. This by means of a redialer arranging the data transmitted by a plurality of designation devices with active surface, into a set of data comprising all the data characterizing the actions carried out by an operator on the active surfaces of the various designation devices and having the structure of the data which are emitted by a single designation peripheral.
    For this, the invention relates to a redialer, for connecting a plurality of designation peripherals to the same central unit of a computer system.
    The redialer:
    - has inputs for exchanging, with each of the designation devices, when said designation device is connected to the redialer, data normally exchanged with the central unit when said designation device is connected directly to the central unit;
    - has an output for exchanging data with the central unit, when the redialer is connected to the central unit;
    - comprises digital processing means configured to transform the data received at the inputs of the redialer into data sent at the output of the redialer;
    the output data being conform in content and structure to data which would be emitted by a designation peripheral comprising a single active surface;
    the output data characterizing individually, at each instant, on the single active surface, actions carried out with the designation peripherals, actions characterized by the data received as inputs.
    By exchanging data with the redialer, the central unit is no longer confronted with inconsistencies and conflicts encountered when the plurality of designation peripherals is directly connected to the central unit. The redialer having transformed the data received from the various designation devices, to give them the values and the structure corresponding to their generation by a single designation device combining the functional characteristics of the different connected designation devices. The designation device combining said functional characteristics is comparable to a virtual designation device resulting from a digital assembly of the real designation devices connected to the redialer.
    The redialer of the invention includes all or part of the following characteristics insofar as they are technically combinable.
    In one embodiment, the digital processing means include:
    - at least one analyzer configured to extract, from the data received as inputs from each of the designation devices connected to said redialer, a table of variable data and descriptors from said designation device;
    - at least one configurator configured to define the dimensions and position of an active surface associated with each of the designation peripherals connected to said redialer in a coordinate system of the single active surface;
    - at least one controller for transforming variable data from the data received as input into variable data from the data output;
    - at least one conditioner configured to structure the data to be sent on the output in accordance with a communication protocol understood by the central unit to which the redialer must be connected.
    These various functions can be carried out by one or more microcontrollers, integrated in a box, or in a set of interconnected boxes, of the redialer. The configuration can be of an independent redialer to be quickly connected to a central unit without hardware intervention on the central unit, or mounted on an electronic card to be permanently installed in a central unit.
    In one embodiment, the configurator, for each active surface associated with a designation device connected to the redialer, defines dimensions and a position, in the single active surface, of an area corresponding to the active surface associated with the designation device through :
    - a scaling of each of an abscissa axis and an ordinate axis of the active surface known in a coordinate system of this active surface towards a coordinate system of the single active surface;
    - a position of a reference point of the active surface in the coordinate system of the single active surface.
    Each active surface associated with a designation device is thus defined as a particular area of the single active surface in which the actions of an operator carried out with the designation device are characterized.
    In one embodiment, coordinates of a designated point on the active surface in the coordinate system of a designation peripheral, transmitted in the variable data received on an input from the redialer or produced by the redialer from this data variables received, are transformed into coordinates of said point, designated on the active surface, in the coordinate system of the single active surface and incorporated into the variable data of the data transmitted by the output.
    In one embodiment, the redialer is configured to receive, on at least one input, data conforming to the requirements of an open standard, for example the USB standard and the HID overlay to said USB standard.
    In one embodiment, the redialer is configured to receive, on at least one input, data defined by a so-called "owner" protocol.
    In one embodiment, the output data conforms to the requirements of an open standard, for example the USB standard and the HID overlay to said USB standard.
    In one embodiment, at least one input corresponds to a wireless link to which a wireless designation device can connect, for example by radio link or by optical link.
    The invention also relates to an assembly comprising a redialer conforming to the redialer of the invention and comprising at least two designation peripherals.
    It is thus possible to create a complex designation device resulting from the assembly of several existing designation devices and thus to create designation surfaces of larger dimensions resulting from an assembly of designation surfaces associated with different designation devices and or associating ordinarily incompatible functions.
    In one embodiment, at least one device for designating this assembly comprises an active surface associated with a touch screen.
    In one embodiment, at least one peripheral of this assembly is stylus associated with a designation surface.
    In one embodiment, at least one designation device of this set is a scrolling designation device, such as a mouse or a trackball, the signals of which are processed to define a position on a designation surface.
    The invention also relates to a computer system comprising such an assembly, incorporating a redialer of the invention, in which the output of the redialer and connected to a central unit of the computer system.
    The invention also relates to a method for connecting several designation peripherals to the same central unit in a computer system, to allow the simultaneous interoperability of said designation peripherals, comprising the steps of connecting said designation peripherals to inputs d 'a redialer of the invention and to connect an output of this redialer to the central unit so that the designation peripherals connected to the redialer are seen by the central unit as a single designation peripheral.
    In one embodiment of this method, the method includes a step of configuring the redialer, this parametering step comprising defining an arrangement of the active surfaces, associated with each of the connected designation peripherals, in the single active surface.
    It is thus possible to achieve a consistency of the physical arrangement of the active surfaces with that which is assigned to them virtually in the single active surface.
    PRESENTATION OF THE FIGURES
    The invention is described with reference to the figures which are given by way of a nonlimiting example of an embodiment of the invention, which schematically represents:
    Figure 1: already cited, the principle of "alternative" operation of different designation devices in a computer system, a central unit receives signals from these different devices according to the principles of the prior art;
    Figure 2: the principle of simultaneous operation of different designation devices in a computer system, a central unit receives the signals from these different devices by a data redialer according to the invention;
    Figure 3: an example of internal architecture of an embodiment of a redialer according to the invention;
    Figure 4: a synoptic representation of data processing in the redialer;
    Figure 5: a representation of the main steps in the data processing process for designation devices by the redialer.
    In the figures, the drawings of the various parts of the system and of its components are represented symbolically.
    DESCRIPTION OF A DETAILED MODE FOR CARRYING OUT AND IMPLEMENTING THE INVENTION
    The general principle of the invention is presented in FIG. 2 which diagrams a computer system 100 comprising a central unit 90 to which a display surface 91 is connected and comprising three peripherals of designation A, B, C, intended to be used , simultaneously or not, by one or more operators. It will be noted here that the designation peripherals considered below are peripherals restoring the position of a pointer on a display surface.
    Such designation devices use, for example, designation surfaces to restore the position, on an active surface, or near and above the active surface, of a physical pointer such as a finger or a stylus.
    Such designation devices implement, for example, measurements of displacement of a cursor, in the manner of a mouse or of a tracking ball, from which displacements a position of a pointer is defined. a display surface, in particular by integrating displacements.
    It will be understood here that the invention is integrated into a conventional computer system in which peripherals interact with a central unit by means of standardized digital communication buses, for example buses with the USB standard (“Universal Serial Bus”). ) widely used today.
    Although other “central unit - peripheral” communication standards, existing or future, can be implemented in the invention, reference will be made in the description to communication buses meeting the USB standard and also in the case particular of the HID (Human Interface Device) overlay to the USB standard.
    The applicable standards, known to those skilled in the art, are in particular available from "USB Implementers Forum, Inc.".
    It will be noted here that several designation peripherals considered can be associated with the same display surface, for example in the case of a touch screen whose surface of the screen is greater than that of the active surfaces of the designation peripherals, and or can be associated with several screens, we can cite the example of juxtaposed touch screens.
    The display surface 91 of FIG. 2 is therefore a symbolic representation of a display device which comprises one or more screens, this aspect of the display system having no particular impact on the invention.
    In the following description, only some of the data transmitted by the designation devices A, B, C will be considered, for the attention of a central unit 90 of a computer system 100, which are necessary for understanding. of the invention and its operation.
    In particular, not all communication protocols and the detailed structure of the data that will be transmitted will be developed in accordance with the requirements of the applicable standard, for example the USB standard: "Universal Serial Bus
    Specification >> available for various revisions and to which reference may be made.
    In the example illustrated in FIG. 2, two peripheral devices of designation A and B of a first type each have an active surface arranged on the surface of the screen 91 to constitute one or more touch screens.
    Each designation device A, B generates data which is transmitted, via a digital USB bus, in accordance with the requirements of the HID standard. The data could however be transmitted via another type of bus and according to another transmission standard without calling into question the principles of the invention.
    The designation peripherals are therefore standard equipment, in this example meeting the HID communication standard, without technical specifications imposed for the implementation of the invention.
    In the following description, the expressions “designation device” and “HID device” will be used interchangeably to designate a designation device comprising an active surface and configured to transmit in particular the absolute position in a reference frame of the active surface of a point designated by an operator's finger or by a suitable tool, for example a stylus.
    It should be noted that the reference to the HID standard is here a particular case of standard, taken as an example because of its frequent use currently in the field of designation peripherals, but that this choice is not limitative of the invention. which can easily adapt to another communication standard.
    The computer system 100 also implements a redialer 10.
    The redialer 10 receives, on inputs 11 A, 11B of said redialer, data according to a standardized format, in the example in HID format, transmitted by the various HID peripherals, here from each of the designation peripherals A, B.
    The redialer 10 processes the data in standardized format, received on the different inputs 11 A, 11 B, to reconstruct composite data transmitted on a single output 17 of said redialer according to the standardized format.
    It should be understood here that the composite data sent as an output meet the requirements of a standard and therefore correspond, for the central unit 90, to the data sent by a single peripheral, here according to the HID standard.
    This specific construction is distinguished from that of USB hubs or switches well known in the field of communication networks between computers and which ensure the successive transmission of incoming data in a serial mode or without transformation on the background of this data.
    In the redialer 10 of the invention, data received as input, coming from at least two HID peripherals, are received on different inputs, and the data transmitted on the single output 17, in HID format, combines information contained in the data received at a given time so that the assembly comprising the redialer 10 and the HID peripherals connected to it is seen by the central unit 90 as if it were a single peripheral meeting the standard of HID communication, with which it therefore communicates without installing specific software or drivers on said central unit.
    It is obvious to a person skilled in the art that the redialer 10 must be designed to take into account the problems of synchronization and processing of the signals transmitted or received by the different peripherals, and to take care of the different constraints of the communication standard. used, both in reception and in transmission. The redialer will therefore in particular include buffer memories for the digital data received as input or to be transmitted and microcontrollers as much as necessary.
    The data transmitted by the redialer 10 are therefore constructed from the data received by said redialer, on different inputs, available at a given time.
    The redialer is advantageously designed around a microcontroller, comprising conventional elements such as processors, memories, peripheral units, input-output interface, programmed in its main embodiment to execute the transformations applied to the data received on the inputs and to build the output data whose characteristics are described below.
    FIG. 3 illustrates an example of internal architecture of a redialer 10 according to the invention and the operation of which, shown diagrammatically in FIG. 5, will be described in the case of the use of the HID standard for designation peripherals with active surfaces.
    In Figure 3 we find from left to right:
    the inputs 11 A, 11 B, for example associated with quick connectors to the USB standard, to which the data transmission buses connected by each of the HID peripherals are connected;
    - a conventional USB hub 14 used to transmit the data received to an analyzer 13;
    - the analyzer 13;
    - a controller 12;
    - a conditioner 15;
    - An output 17 to which a data transmission bus is connected, in this exemplary embodiment a serial bus to the USB standard.
    The concentrator of FIG. 3 also includes a configurator 16 in connection with the analyzer, the controller and the conditioner.
    It is also visible in FIG. 3 a radio receiver 11c transmitting received signals to an annex controller 14 ’then to an annex analyzer 13’ connected to the controller 12 and to the configurator 16.
    The functions and advantages of this radio receiver, the annex controller and the annex analyzer will be presented later.
    Considering the case of two HID peripherals, A and B, connected to the inputs 11A and 11B vice versa, each of them transmits a set of data relating to its characteristics and to its current state.
    Said data is transmitted, via the USB hub 14, to the analyzer 13 which interprets the data received according to the HID standard in order to extract the information necessary for the reconstruction of the data to be sent by the redialer.
    There are two types of data:
    - HID device descriptors;
    - variable data from the HID device.
    The descriptors are "fixed" data, if necessary configurable, characterizing the HID device regardless of the designations that are made, and which may be different from one HID device to another. They generally allow a central unit 90 to know the characteristics of the HID device from which it receives variable data so that an application implemented on said central unit is able to correctly interpret variable data received from this same HID device. In the case of the invention, they are processed by the analyzer.
    Variable data is related to the use of the HID device. On a tactile surface, this data indicates that a finger is in contact with the active surface and gives the position of the finger in the form of coordinates consistent with the descriptors. These data will be interpreted by an application implemented on the central processing unit, assuming that they comply with the HID standard.
    As already mentioned, peripherals compliant with the USB / HID standard can be supported by all applications and on any operating system, having integrated the standard in question in its communication protocols, without the need to set implementing specific pilots, as in the case of systems using so-called “proprietary” communication protocols.
    According to the method 50 for transforming the input data shown diagrammatically in FIG. 5, in a first analysis step 51, the analyzer 13 will thus reconstruct a data table, coming from the descriptors and the variable data, from each of the peripherals HID concerned by a processing by the controller.
    In the case of a HID device with a cursor, such as a mouse, the data relating to the movement of the cursor are interpreted by the controller to calculate a position of a pointer controlled by said cursor on a designation surface allocated to said device. .
    In a second description step 54, the configurator 16 processes the descriptors of each of the HID devices A, B, so as to develop a virtual assembly of the designation surfaces 16A, 16B of the HID devices A,
    B, to define a single active surface 16U, virtual, representative of a physical arrangement of the designation surfaces of said peripherals.
    This physical arrangement of the designation surfaces is known to the redialer in a simple case, for example when the configurator is intended for a predefined assembly of designation surfaces, we can cite the example of active surfaces of prepositioned touch screens.
    In another form, the physical arrangement is communicated in the form of parameters transmitted to the redialer during an initialization or configuration step, for example by a user of the computer system 100 via the central unit 90.
    FIG. 4 illustrates in particular a simple example of assembly defining such a single active surface 16U.
    The HID peripherals considered in this example include tactile surfaces sensitive to touch, capable of identifying the position of a finger touching the tactile surface.
    In this example, two display screens each covered with a touch surface are juxtaposed, substantially edge to edge, to form a composite screen 91 having the appearance of a single screen. In this configuration, the simulated active surface 16U physically corresponds to the assembly of tactile surfaces covering the screens.
    However, since the designation peripherals comprising these touch screens are a priori "off-the-shelf" equipment, it is not necessary that the two touch surfaces have the same characteristics, and they can in particular have different physical dimensions, dimensions different logic (resolutions), different detection technologies. The descriptors of each of the corresponding HID devices are therefore not only distinct but may be different.
    The single active surface 16U also corresponds to descriptors, arbitrarily chosen or conformed, into which the descriptors of the HID peripherals connected to the redialer 10 must be converted. The conversion carried out in the configurator 16 mainly determines the transformations by which a point on a surface of designation of a designation peripheral expressed by coordinates in a reference system of said designation surface, corresponds on the single active surface 16U at a point of said single active surface, expressed by coordinates in a coordinate system of said unique active surface.
    By way of example, the configurator of FIG. 4 illustrates the case of two rectangular designation surfaces joined by an edge of each of the same length, a height in the illustration, but points of said designation surfaces being determined in systems coordinates with different scales for the two designation surfaces.
    In the coordinate system of the first designation surface 16A, here associated with the display surface of the first HIDA device, a scale of said tactile surface is determined (by construction) by the coordinates of a point higher to the right: [ X = 2353; Y = 1322] compared to an origin of a point lower left: [X = 0; Y = 0] of said first designation surface, X being an abscissa along a width and Y an ordinate along a height of said designation surface.
    In the coordinate system of the second designation surface 16B associated with the display surface of the second HID B device, a scale of said designation surface is determined (by construction) by the coordinates of a point higher to the right: [ X = 19353; Y = 10886] compared to an origin of a point lower left: [X = 0; Y = 0] of said second designation surface.
    The single active surface 16U, representative of the assembly of the two designation surfaces, is associated with a coordinate system having the coordinates of a point higher to the right: [X = 32768; Y = 32768], values chosen arbitrarily, relative to an origin of a point lower left: [X = 0; Y = 0] of said single active surface.
    This single active surface 16U then comprises two zones, a first zone 16A 'of which is isomorphic of the first designation surface 16A and a second zone of which 16B' is isomorphic of the second designation surface 16B. The relative positions between said first and second areas are also those between the first actual designation surface 16A and the second designation surface 16B.
    Thus, in the coordinate system of the single tactile surface 16U the first zone 16A ’associated with the display surface of the first peripheral HID A is here determined by the coordinates of a point higher to the right: [X = 16384;
    Y = 32768] and an origin at a point lower left: [X = 0; Y = 0].
    The second zone 16B ’associated with the display surface of the second device HID B is for its part determined by the coordinates of a point higher to the right: [X = 32768; Y = 32768] and an origin of said second designation surface at a point lower left: [X = 16385; Y = 0]. The offset in X of the origin point of said second zone corresponds to the juxtaposed arrangement of the two designation surfaces 16A, 16B.
    In this simple example, the two tactile surfaces 16A and 16B have the same physical dimensions, which leads to two zones of the same width along X and the same heights along Y.
    However, this condition is not required.
    Indeed, the designation surfaces can have different dimensions between them, different shapes, different orientations. They can also be totally or partially superimposed.
    The area of the single active surface 16U associated with a designation surface may be a linear transformation of the physical tactile surface or be transformed by non-linear laws to produce particular effects, for example modifications of scale depending on the position. a designated point on the designation surface or curvature effects.
    Zones corresponding to different designation surfaces are not necessarily arranged in a similar manner to the physical arrangement of said designation surfaces, and in the single active surface 16U zones of different designation surfaces can be brought closer or apart or more or less superimposed . A zone can also declare locations of a designation surface as non-active. This latter configuration makes it possible, for example, to ensure the continuity of an action such as a sliding of an operator's finger, when there is a non-active zone between two juxtaposed designation surfaces concerned by the sliding.
    For example, in the simple case described of two designation surfaces, the two designation surfaces 16A and 16B can have the same physical height as shown but different widths, case not shown, and in this case the dimensions along Y of the two zones 16A 'and 16B' will be identical, and the dimensions along X will be different and in the ratio of the physical widths of said designation surfaces. They can also have different orientations: 90 or 45 degrees for example to form tactile mosaics. They may also not be contiguous to correspond to a physical arrangement of the designation surfaces.
    The two designation surfaces 16A and 16B can also have different physical heights, case not shown. In this case the single rectangular 16U active surface will not be fully active.
    In a third conversion step 52, the data characterizing the zones 16A ’, 16B’, associated with the HID peripherals A, B, established by the configurator 16 during the description step 54, are transmitted to the controller 12.
    In this conversion step, for each HID device connected to the redialer 10, the controller ^ transforms the variable data relating to the operation of the HID device so that said variable data transmitted by said HID device in correspondence with the descriptors of said HID device are expressed after transformation in correspondence with descriptors of the unique active surface 16U.
    Typically, the designated position, for example the detected position of a finger, on a designation surface of an HID device, which is transmitted by said HID device in the data as a pair of values (Xf, Yf) corresponding to the designated position in the coordinate system of the designation surface considered, is converted in the coordinate system of the single active surface 16U by a scale factor on each of the axes and by an offset from the origin of the coordinates, factor d 'scale and offset of origin as a function of the area of the single active surface 16U corresponding to the designation surface considered.
    Thus in the example illustrated previously exposed, a point of coordinates (Xfa, Yfa) of the first peripheral HID A will be transformed by simple homothety, without offset of origin because the origins are confused, in a point of coordinates (Xga, Yga) in the coordinate system of the single active surface 16U:
    Xga = Xfa x 16384/2353
    Yga = Yfa x 32768/1322 and a coordinate point (Xfb, Yfb) of the second HID B device will be transformed by homothety and origin offset into a coordinate point (Xgb, Ygb) in the coordinate system of the active surface single 16U:
    Xgb = (Xfb x 16384/19353) + 16385
    Ygb = Yfb x 32768/10886
    In a fourth formatting step 53, the HID conditioner 15 receives:
    - from the configurator 16, the data for reconstructing the descriptors of the single active surface 16U in accordance with the specifications of the HID standard, and;
    - the variable data, resulting from the transformation during the step of converting the variable data transmitted by each of the HID devices connected to the redialer 10, carrying said variable data from the HID devices and appearing as variable data related to the operation of the surface active single 16U, then;
    - reconstructs the data table, incorporating the descriptors and the variable data of the single active surface 16U to transmit said data according to the conditions of the standard relating to HID peripherals, that is to say the data corresponding to that which would be transmitted by a unique designation surface designation device the single active surface 16U.
    When the redialer 10 is in operation, the different steps of the method 50 for transforming the input data are carried out repeatedly when new variable data must be transformed.
    However, the second analysis step only needs to be implemented when the redialer is put into service in a computer system and when the configuration of the designation peripherals connected to said redialer is modified, for example by adding a designation device.
    It therefore follows from the invention that a plurality of HID peripherals A, B, connected to the redialer 10 is "seen" by the central unit 90 as a single HID peripheral comprising the combined designation capacities of the HID peripherals of said plurality of HID devices which are able to be implemented simultaneously by simple connection ("plug and play" according to the English expression).
    The redialer 10, associated with all of the designation peripherals which are connected thereto, therefore behaves vis-à-vis the central unit 90 as a single designation peripheral for which the known operating problems no longer arise when several designation peripherals are individually connected directly to the central unit.
    As already indicated in the introduction to the description of this exemplary embodiment, it is not presented in the description of details linked to the protocols exposed in the USB and HID standards which are associated with the operation of HID peripherals, these details known to the 'Man of the Trade does not provide useful information for understanding the invention.
    In addition, the invention can be implemented for designation devices using other data transmission standards than the HID standard, although this standard is widely used today.
    In one embodiment, the redialer 10 integrates at least one input for a designation device of a second type, comprising an active surface and designed to communicate with a central unit by specific protocols not meeting a public standard, designated generically by the expression "proprietary system", or to a standard different from that used for the designation devices of the first type connected to said redialer.
    In this embodiment, the data transmitted by this designation device of a second type is transformed by the redialer according to their structures to reconstruct a data table of shape equivalent to that of the other designation peripherals connected to said redialer.
    The data received from this designation device of a second type is then treated like that of the designation devices of the first type and taken into account in the formatting step 53 to be incorporated into the data table of the single active surface 16U .
    It will be noted that a designation device of the second type, at least some of them, does not necessarily include the descriptors necessary to assign to the active surface a particular zone of the single active surface 16U. In this case, an arbitrary zone will be assigned to said designation device, for example the entire single active surface 16U, or an area 16A, 16B of another designation device A, B, or an area selected by an operator from a computer station connected.
    An example of this embodiment is illustrated in FIG. 2 and in FIG. 3.
    In this example, the designation device C of the second type is a stylus C1 associated with an active surface C2. In the illustrated case, the peripheral C transmits the data by a radio link (Wifi, Bluetooth ®, essentially for practical reasons.
    Such a second type designation device, does not use the HID standardized communication standard (otherwise it would be considered a first type designation device), and generally requires driver software which must be installed on the central unit for its implementation.
    Such driver software is specific to the operating system installed on the central unit 90 and sometimes is not available for certain operating systems, which limits the use of these peripherals to the operating systems for which the driver software are available.
    In the illustrated embodiment of the redialer 10 of the invention, said redialer comprises, as illustrated in Figure 3, in addition to the features described above to support two HID devices:
    - an 11C receiver;
    - an annex controller 14C;
    - an annex analyzer 13C.
    The receiver 11C, here a radio receiver, receives the data transmitted by the stylus.
    These data include at least one identification of the peripheral so that the redialer can attribute the corresponding interactions to it on the surface C2.
    These operating data are, under conditions of ordinary use, normally extracted and interpreted by the driver software specifically adapted to the peripheral considered.
    In the case of the redialer 10, the data received by the radio controller 14C is processed by the annex analyzer 13C to obtain the variable data related to the use of the graphics tablet.
    For this, the annex analyzer 13C comprises for example a firmware which can be installed during the manufacturing of the redialer or downloaded into a flash memory, for example from the central unit 90.
    Advantageously, the stylus descriptors will be incorporated into the annex 13C analyzer.
    The variable data and the descriptors determined for the designation device of the second type C are then transmitted to the controller 12.
    The controller then reconstructs for said second type designation device, such as the stylus considered, a data table consistent with the data tables produced by the HID devices, and said second type designation device is then treated as a device. of designation of the first type, which is associated with a designation surface in which said designation peripheral is active, for example, in the case of a stylus C1 the active surface C2 associated with said stylus.
    The active surface of the designation device of the second type is then associated with a zone 16’C of the single active surface 16U.
    Said area 16C ′ is for example equal to the single active surface 16U so that the stylus C1 makes it possible to designate any point on the display surface 91 corresponding for example to the single active surface 16U.
    In practice, all or part of the zone 16C ’on which the stylus C1 acts can be juxtaposed with the other zones 16A’, 16B ’of the designation peripherals 16A, 16B, or or may cover all or part thereof.
    After having been reconstructed by the controller 12, the data linked to the designation device of the second type C has the same structure as the data of the other designation devices A, B, so that they are taken up and treated as the latter by the controllers to convert data according to data received from the configurator 16.
    As in the embodiment using two HID devices, the data is then transmitted to the conditioner 15 which reconstructs the data table, incorporating the transformed variable data from all the devices of designation A, B and C, of the first type or of the second type, connected to the redialer 10.
    These data are then transmitted via the communication bus connected to the output 17 in the forms and conditions of the standard relating to designation peripherals, the HID standard in the example, to be viewed by the central unit 90 as representative data. of the operation of the single active surface 16U.
    It can be noted here that the simultaneous use of a graphics tablet and a touch screen is generally not envisaged.
    This situation is however very linked to the limitation of current systems which do not allow such simultaneous use effectively and rather considered as disturbing.
    Conversely, the redialer 10 of the invention allows an operator to work with a graphic tablet on a touch screen, for example a large touch screen in vertical position, which can be made up of several display screen tiles and multiple touch surfaces, and simultaneously one or more other operators to work through direct interactions on the touch screen, as part of collaborative work.
    In addition, the redialer 10 also has the effect of making a designation device of the second type, communicating nominally according to a different protocol, open or proprietary, compatible with a standard such as the HID standard. In fact, thanks to the redialer of the invention, the second type designation peripheral can be used on any computer system compatible with the output standard of the data managed by said redialer, and without the need to use a driver specific on the computer system, assuming that this driver is available for said computer system.
    It will also be noted here that an HID device with cursors, such as a mouse, is via the redialer 10 usable with other designation devices simultaneously, these other designation devices can be of all types, surfaces tactile, stylus associated with active surfaces, and also other devices with cursors.
    In certain configurations, in particular to increase the number of HID peripherals to be connected to a single input of a central processing unit beyond a number of inputs of the redialer 10, said redialer 10 can receive one or more other redialers, each connected to an input of the first redialer 10, such a cascade arrangement making it possible, at least in theory, to multiply indefinitely the number of designation devices simultaneously connected to the central unit.
    Obviously, the number of inputs for connecting designation devices to the redialer is not, at least in theory, limited as long as the corresponding variable data can be put on a single output while remaining compatible with the standard considered .
    Advantageously, the redialer has at least two inputs in order to make at least two designation peripherals usable simultaneously.
    The standard used as output for the transmission of data to the central processing unit is not necessarily the same as that (s) used to receive the data as input from the redialer.
    As an example of implementation, the situation already described of two designation peripherals is considered, each comprising a tactile surface.
    The two touch surfaces are arranged to form a touch screen, for example each touch surface covering one half of a screen of dimensions larger than those of a touch surface, or else each touch surface covering a screen and the two screens being arranged to forming an overall display surface, the two tactile surfaces not necessarily being of the same technology, for example a tactile surface in capacitive technology and another in optical technology.
    Thanks to the redialer it is possible to carry out operations on the display system, conventional today on a simple touch screen but not achievable in a simple and intuitive way on the envisaged composite arrangement of tactile surfaces.
    Example 1: simple dragging: an operator places a finger on one of the tactile surfaces and moves it, for example to draw a line or move a "grabbed" object. If the path of his finger passes from one tactile surface to another, the movement will be perceived by the central unit as the continuous movement of the finger on a single tactile surface without discontinuity. In particular if for technical reasons a separation exists between the two tactile surfaces, the definition of a corresponding “dead” zone in the single active surface 16U will ensure the alignment of the trajectories followed by the finger on the two tactile surfaces, the momentary absence of signal which could in this example be considered as a momentary lifting of the finger.
    Example 2: simultaneous multiple contacts: an operator places two fingers, one finger on one of the tactile surfaces and the other finger on the other tactile surface. This double contact does not generate a conflict because it is received by the central unit as a double contact on the same tactile surface. It will therefore be possible to produce enlargement or shrinking effects of an image, of rotation of an image, by a coordinated action of sliding of the fingers on the tactile surfaces considered by the central unit as a single tactile surface.
    Example 3: collaborative work: an operator performs operations using a stylus and an active tablet, these operations taking place on a touch screen (simple or composite). Another operator interacts without conflict simultaneously by finger contacts on the shapes or other elements generated by the stylus and the active tablet.
    The invention thus makes it possible to overcome the defects of existing solutions by making it possible to assemble several existing designation peripherals, if necessary of different technologies, by ensuring the possibility of using them simultaneously in a transparent manner for the computer system including the central unit. identifies only one designation device, which nevertheless transmits all the individualized information of the actions carried out on each of the designation devices.
    It will be understood that the architecture of the redialer is described by way of example in a particular case and that the person skilled in the art may choose to carry out the various functions to be carried out by the redialer of the invention by implementing, if need, one or more analyzers, and or one or more controllers, and or one or more configurators, and or one or more conditioners. He may also choose to group certain elements or on the contrary to distribute the functions to be performed in different ways without departing from the invention.
    In one embodiment, the recomposer has several outputs so that it is able to transmit recomposed data to several computers.
    The invention described in this document is the result of work partially supported by the European Commission in the context of the 7th framework program under the Magellan grant agreement number 611526.
    权利要求:
    Claims (15)
    [1" id="c-fr-0001]
    1 - Redialer (10), for connecting a plurality of designation peripherals (A, B, C) to the same central unit (90) of a computer system (100), characterized in that said redialer:
    - Has inputs (11 A, 11 B, 11 C) for exchanging, with each of the designation peripherals, when said designation peripheral is connected to said redialer, data normally exchanged with the central unit (90) when said peripheral designation is connected directly to said central unit;
    - Has an output (17) for exchanging data with the central unit (90), when said redialer is connected to said central unit;
    - includes digital processing means (12, 13, 15, 13C, 14C, 16) configured to transform the data received into inputs (11 A, 11 B, 11 C) from the redialer into data sent at output (17) from the redialer ;
    said output data conforming in content and structure to data which would be emitted by a designation device comprising a single active surface (16U);
    said output data (17) characterizing individually, at each instant, on the single active surface (16U), actions performed with the designation peripherals (A, B, C), actions characterized by the data received as inputs (11 A, 11 B, 11 C).
    [2" id="c-fr-0002]
    2 - Redialer according to claim 1, in which the digital processing means comprise:
    - at least one analyzer (13, 13C) configured to extract, from the data received as inputs (11 A, 11 B, 11 C) from each of the designation devices connected to said redialer, a table of variable data and descriptors from said device designation;
    - at least one configurator (16) configured to define the dimensions and position of a designation surface (16A, 16B, 16C) associated with each of the designation peripherals connected to said redialer in a coordinate system of the single active surface (16U );
    - at least one controller (12) for transforming variable data from the data received as inputs (11 A, 11 B, 11 C) into variable data from the data output (17);
    - at least one conditioner (15) configured to structure the data to be transmitted on the output (17) in accordance with a communication protocol understood by the central unit (90) to which the redialer (10) must be connected.
    [3" id="c-fr-0003]
    3 - Redialer according to claim 2 in which the configurator (16), for each designation surface (16A, 16B, 16C) associated with a designation device connected to the redialer, defines dimensions and a position in the single active surface (16U ) an area (16A ', 16B', 16C ') corresponding to said active surface associated with the designation peripheral by:
    a scaling of each of an abscissa axis and of an ordinate axis of said known designation surface in a coordinate system of said designation surface towards a coordinate system of the single active surface (16U);
    - a position of a reference point of said designation surface in the coordinate system of the single active surface (16U).
    [4" id="c-fr-0004]
    4 - Redialer according to one of claims 2 or 3 wherein, coordinates of a designated point on a designation surface (16A, 16B, 16C) in the coordinate system of a designation device (A, B, C) transmitted in the variable data received on an input (11 A, 11 B, 11 C) from the redialer, or produced by the redialer from the variable data received, are transformed into coordinates of said designated point on the designation surface, in the coordinate system of the single active surface (16U), and incorporated into the variable data of the data emitted by the output (17).
    [5" id="c-fr-0005]
    5 - Redialer according to one of claims 1 to 4, configured to receive, on at least one input (11 A, 11 B), data conforming to the requirements of an open standard, for example the USB standard and the HID overlay to said USB standard.
    [6" id="c-fr-0006]
    6 - Redialer according to one of claims 1 to 5, configured to receive, on at least one input (11 C), data defined by a closed protocol called "owner".
    [7" id="c-fr-0007]
    7 - Recomposer according to one of claims 1 to 6 wherein, the output data (17) comply with the requirements of an open standard, for example the USB standard and the HID overlay to said USB standard.
    [8" id="c-fr-0008]
    8 - Redialer according to one of Claims 1 to 7, in which at least one input (11 C) corresponds to a wireless link to which a designation device (C) can be connected wirelessly, for example by radio link or by optical link.
    [9" id="c-fr-0009]
    9 - assembly comprising a redialer (10) according to one of claims
    1 to 8 and comprising at least two designation peripherals (A, B, C).
    [10" id="c-fr-0010]
    10 - assembly according to claim 9 wherein at least one designation device (A, B) has an active surface (16A, 16B) associated with a touch screen.
    [11" id="c-fr-0011]
    11 - assembly according to claim 9 or claim 10 wherein at least one designation device (C) is a stylus associated with a designation surface.
    [12" id="c-fr-0012]
    12 - Assembly according to one of claims 9 to 11 wherein at least one designation device is a scrolling device whose signals are processed to define a position on a designation surface.
    [13" id="c-fr-0013]
    13 - Computer system comprising an assembly according to one of claims 9 to 12 in which the output (17) of the redialer (10) is connected to a central unit (90) of said computer system.
    [14" id="c-fr-0014]
    14 - Method for connecting several designation peripherals (A, B, C) to the same central unit (90) in a computer system, to allow the simultaneous interoperability of said designation peripherals, comprising the steps of connecting said designation peripherals to inputs of a redialer (10) according to one of claims 1 to 8 and to connect an output of said redialer to the central unit (90) so that said designation peripherals connected to said redialer are seen by said unit central as a single designation device with active surface.
    [15" id="c-fr-0015]
    15 - method according to claim 14, comprising a step of setting up the redialer (10), said setting step comprising defining an arrangement of designation surfaces (16A, 16B, 16C), associated each of the designation devices (A, B, C) connected, in the single active surface (16U).
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    同族专利:
    公开号 | 公开日
    CA3079563A1|2019-04-25|
    EP3698236A1|2020-08-26|
    MA50393A|2021-03-24|
    FR3072803B1|2021-05-07|
    US20200293256A1|2020-09-17|
    CN111263928A|2020-06-09|
    WO2019077142A1|2019-04-25|
    SG11202002501VA|2020-05-28|
    JP2021500657A|2021-01-07|
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    法律状态:
    2019-04-26| PLSC| Publication of the preliminary search report|Effective date: 20190426 |
    2019-10-29| PLFP| Fee payment|Year of fee payment: 3 |
    2020-11-02| PLFP| Fee payment|Year of fee payment: 4 |
    2021-09-03| OR| Opposition filed|
    2021-10-28| PLFP| Fee payment|Year of fee payment: 5 |
    优先权:
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    FR1759852|2017-10-19|
    FR1759852A|FR3072803B1|2017-10-19|2017-10-19|SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR THE SIMULTANEOUS MANAGEMENT OF A PLURALITY OF DESIGNATION DEVICES|FR1759852A| FR3072803B1|2017-10-19|2017-10-19|SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR THE SIMULTANEOUS MANAGEMENT OF A PLURALITY OF DESIGNATION DEVICES|
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    MA050393A| MA50393A|2017-10-19|2018-10-19|SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR SIMULTANEOUS MANAGEMENT OF A PLURALITY OF DESIGNATION DEVICES|
    SG11202002501VA| SG11202002501VA|2017-10-19|2018-10-19|System and method for simultaneously managing a plurality of designation peripherals|
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