Data formatting system for processing multiple independent input data

Abstract

A system is provided to enhance the capability of a display system which format digital images of different types from multiple input data streams for a high-resolution screen of arbitrary shape and size, with the display system adapted to receive independent data streams from different data sources at the same time and control how and where the images from the data streams are presented on the screen in a type-independent manner. The screen layout is controlled by an active screen format that specifies which data streams are to be received, where on the screen to present the images and how to present the images. Type-independent data formatting is accomplished by choosing the preprocessing handler/transformation handler pair suitable for the type of a data stream and activating the handlers so that they restore images from the data stream and transform them to fit on the preallocated portion of the screen on the fly. In one embodiment, the data stream manager dynamically creates a data stream server for each data stream to maintain data structures for management and preprocess data, and, with the knowledge of the shape and size of the screen, the screen format manager allocates a screen area and creates a screen format server for each data stream to generate images from the data preprocessed by the data stream server by performing the specified transformation on them to fit on the preallocated screen portion.