Remote Access Appliance DDC Interface Multiplexing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Present remote access appliances do not provide direct, bi-directional communication with a monitor's Data Display Channel (DDC) interface, limiting real-time calibration and requiring rebooting of computers to obtain Extended Display Identification (EDID) information.
Innovation Solution
A remote access appliance with a controller and multiplexers that enables bi-directional communication with a monitor's DDC interface and provides non-volatile storage for EDID information, allowing selected computers to access this information without rebooting.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of information
If remote access appliances provide indirect access to EDID information, then computers can obtain monitor identification data, but they cannot perform real-time calibration operations and must reboot to access EDID
Solution Approach 1:
The appliance captures and stores EDID information from the monitor's DDC interface in advance (during monitor connection or appliance initialization) in its non-volatile memory. This preliminary action ensures that when a computer connects to the appliance, the EDID information is already available in the appliance's memory, eliminating the need for the computer to reboot or perform complex real-time DDC queries to obtain monitor identification data.
2Loss of information
If computers access DDC interface during boot up, then they obtain EDID information, but they require rebooting to access monitor calibration data
Solution Approach 1:
The appliance creates a copy of the monitor's EDID information from the DDC interface and stores it in its own non-volatile memory. When a computer needs to access EDID information, it queries the appliance's memory rather than directly accessing the monitor's DDC interface during boot-up. This copying mechanism allows computers to obtain EDID information immediately upon connection without requiring system reboot.
3Ease of operation
If direct bi-directional communication with DDC interface is implemented, then real-time calibration is enabled, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The appliance acts as an intermediary device between computers and the monitor's DDC interface. It captures EDID information from the DDC interface and stores it in its memory, then provides this information to computers through standard communication protocols. This intermediary approach enables real-time calibration operations without requiring computers to directly communicate with the DDC interface, thereby reducing the complexity burden on the overall system architecture.
Data Source
AI summary
A remote access appliance is disclosed which provides electronic display identification data (EDID) information associated with a monitor which is communicating with the appliance, to any one of a plurality of remote computers in communication with the appliance, without requiring rebooting of a selected one of the remote computers. A plurality of multiplexers is controlled by a controller for interfacing a selected one of the computers to a display data channel (DDC) interface associated with the monitor. Memory devices are accessible by each of the computers and by the controller which store the EDID information. The controller controls the multiplexers so that any selected one of the computers can communicate with the monitor, and can access an associated one of the memory devices to obtain the stored EDID information, or such that the EDID information can be loaded into each of the memory devices.