Virtual Desktop Screen Sharing for Online Meetings
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional screen sharing in online meetings lacks flexibility, requiring presenters to stop and start sharing applications, leading to interruptions and potential leaks of sensitive information when sharing the entire screen.
Innovation Solution
Implementing virtual desktops to allow presenters to selectively share specific applications by designating a shared virtual desktop, while keeping unshared virtual desktops and applications private, using metadata to track and manage user applications across desktops.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If the presenter shares an individual user application, then the presentation focus is maintained, but the presenter cannot share multiple applications simultaneously without stopping and starting sharing
Solution Approach 1:
The screen sharing functionality is segmented into multiple virtual desktops, each representing a separate sharing context. This allows the presenter to have multiple applications visible and shareable simultaneously across different desktops without interrupting the sharing process, resolving the contradiction between sharing continuity and application flexibility.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a virtual desktop dimension to the traditional screen sharing model. Instead of sharing a single application window in two dimensions, the system adds a third dimension by creating separate virtual desktop environments, enabling multiple applications to be shared concurrently across different desktop layers.
2Adaptability or versatility
If the presenter shares the entire screen, then multiple applications can be shared simultaneously, but local privacy is lost and sensitive content may be leaked
Solution Approach 1:
The screen is segmented into multiple virtual desktops, and the sharing functionality is segmented to operate at the desktop level rather than the entire screen level. This allows selective sharing of specific desktops containing particular applications, maintaining privacy by preventing exposure of unshared desktop content while enabling flexible multi-application sharing.
Solution Approach 2:
Different virtual desktops have different sharing qualities - some desktops are configured for sharing while others remain private. This local quality differentiation allows the system to share only the necessary applications and content while keeping other local actions private, preventing information leakage about unshared desktop activities.
3Adaptability or versatility
If the presenter switches between different applications during sharing, then different content can be displayed, but the sharing process is interrupted
Solution Approach 1:
Multiple applications are pre-organized into separate virtual desktops before the sharing session begins. The presenter can switch between these pre-configured desktops during sharing without interrupting the sharing process, as each desktop is ready to be displayed immediately when selected.
Solution Approach 2:
The virtual desktop switching mechanism is integrated into the sharing process dynamically, allowing the presenter to switch between desktops while maintaining the active sharing state. This dynamic integration eliminates the need to stop and restart sharing when changing applications.
Data Source
AI summary
A method comprises: at a computer device configured with user applications grouped in multiple virtual desktops hosted on and displayed by the computer device: establishing an online meeting with remote computer devices over a network; responsive to user input, selecting one of the multiple virtual desktops to be a shared virtual desktop, such that all other ones of the multiple virtual desktops become unshared virtual desktops; sharing, with the remote computer devices, the shared virtual desktop, including first user applications of the user applications that are grouped in the shared virtual desktop; and not sharing, with the remote computer devices, any of the unshared virtual desktops and second user applications of the user applications that are grouped in the unshared virtual desktops.