Display Manager for Multi-Topology Resource Allocation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Managing multiple displays connected to a single computer system is complicated due to varying display card and software driver policies, leading to inconsistent system behavior and user experience, especially when dealing with shared bandwidth and complex interconnection topologies.
Innovation Solution
A software infrastructure that discovers and manages multiple displays, associates them with frame buffers based on available bandwidth and resources, and dynamically updates associations upon topology changes, ensuring a consistent user experience across different display cards and drivers.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If multiple displays are connected through a single shared link, then the system can support complex display topologies, but bandwidth allocation becomes complicated and resource management becomes more difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a display manager as an intermediary component that sits between the operating system and display drivers. This display manager provides a standardized interface for discovering displays, determining topologies, and managing resources, thereby simplifying the complexity of managing multiple displays connected through shared links while maintaining support for complex display topologies.
2Adaptability or versatility
If different vendors produce display cards and drivers with different management policies, then device compatibility increases, but system behavior consistency deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates a universal display manager layer that provides consistent functionality across different vendor-specific display drivers. This display manager implements standardized interfaces for display discovery, topology determination, and resource management, ensuring that system behavior remains consistent regardless of which vendor's display card or driver is used, while still supporting diverse hardware from multiple vendors.
3Adaptability or versatility
If display drivers implement different management policies, then driver flexibility increases, but user experience consistency deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The display manager acts as a mediator between flexible vendor-specific display drivers and the user interface. It provides a standardized, consistent interface for users to interact with display devices regardless of the underlying driver implementation, ensuring uniform user experience while allowing drivers to maintain their policy flexibility for optimizing display performance.
Data Source
AI summary
The disclosed embodiments provide a system for managing multiple sink devices in a computer system. During operation, the system performs a discovery operation to identify one or more sink devices which are coupled to the computer system, wherein the discovery operation determines an interconnection topology between the computer system and the one or more sink devices, and wherein multiple sink devices can be coupled to the computer system through the same connector. Next, the system associates the one or more sink devices with one or more frame buffers which are used to assemble content streams for the one or more sink devices. Finally, the system drives the one or more sink devices through the one or more frame buffers.