Virtual Display Layout for Unrestricted Cursor Movement
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Solution Overview
Problem
In multi-display environments, the mouse pointer can become stuck on display borders, invisible, or restricted from moving straight between displays due to the limitations of current display controllers, which hinder user productivity and navigation.
Innovation Solution
A method and system that create a virtual display layout with a rectangular overlay to track the mouse pointer's position, displaying markers on display borders to indicate the pointer's position even when it's outside visible areas, allowing unrestricted cursor movement by extrapolating virtual lines to define the crossing point within the virtual display area.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If the mouse pointer is moved to a border section of one display where no other display is directly adjacent, then the mouse pointer movement is restricted and the pointer gets stuck on the border, but allowing unrestricted movement would require the pointer to be visible and trackable in areas not covered by visible displays
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces markers as intermediary visual elements that are displayed on visible display borders to indicate the position of the mouse pointer when it is in invisible areas. These markers act as mediators between the invisible pointer position and the user's visual perception, allowing the user to understand pointer location without the pointer itself being visible.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces the traditional mechanical constraint where the mouse pointer must be strictly confined to visible display areas with a virtual coordinate system approach. The system now tracks pointer positions in a larger virtual space that extends beyond visible displays, using mathematical coordinate transformations rather than physical display boundaries to constrain movement.
2Productivity
If the mouse pointer is moved from one visible display area to another through an area not covered by visible displays, then the direct cursor movement is blocked and the user must move the cursor along a detour trajectory, but allowing straight movement would require tracking the pointer through invisible areas
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extends the two-dimensional visible display space into a larger virtual coordinate space that encompasses multiple displays and the invisible areas between them. This dimensional extension allows the system to track and allow direct movement between displays even when the straight-line path passes through areas not covered by visible displays, eliminating the need for detour trajectories.
3Adaptability or versatility
If different visible display areas touch only at a corner with no common boundary line, then cursor movement between display areas is not possible at all, but enabling movement would require defining cursor position and visibility at corner points
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the parameter definition from requiring continuous visible boundary lines between displays to allowing corner-point connectivity. The virtual coordinate system defines display areas by their corner coordinates, enabling movement between displays that touch only at corners by treating the corner point as a valid transition location in the virtual space, even though no visible boundary exists at that point.
Data Source
AI summary
A method for controlling a mouse pointer on at least two displays is provided. A virtual display layout defines a mutual relative positioning of display areas relating to the at least two displays. The method comprises creating the virtual display area and tracking a position of the mouse pointer within it. Upon the mouse pointer being positioned within an area of any of the display areas, the mouse pointer is displayed. Upon the mouse pointer being positioned outside the area of any of the display areas, but within the virtual display area, a first marker is displayed on a side border of the display in a direction the mouse pointer is positioned within the virtual display area, and a second marker is displayed on at least one other side border of another display in a direction the mouse pointer is positioned within the virtual display area.