WO2011121275A2

WO2011121275A2 - Data input

Info

Publication number: WO2011121275A2
Application number: PCT/GB2011/000415
Authority: WO
Inventors: Mohamed Suliman Abbas; Gareth Joseph James Price; Ben Mitchell; Onno Baudouin
Original assignee: Liverpool John Moores Univ
Current assignee: Liverpool John Moores Univ
Priority date: 2010-03-31
Filing date: 2011-03-23
Publication date: 2011-10-06
Anticipated expiration: 2012-09-30
Also published as: GB201216813D0; GB2491755A; GB201005402D0; WO2011121275A3

Abstract

An apparatus for processing user input comprising a control server and a computing device in communication with the control server. At least one first input device is in communication with the computing device and at least one second input device is in communication with the control server. The computing device is configured to receive data from the at least one first input device, process the received data based upon at least one predetermined criterion to generate filtered data and provide the filtered data to the control server.

Description

DATA INPUT

The present invention relates to methods and apparatus suitable for use in data input. More particularly, but not exclusively, the invention relates to methods and apparatus for allowing multiple users to interact with a workspace.

Computers are widely used to aid presentation of information to groups of people. For example, computers can be used to prepare a presentation which may then be displayed to a group of people, for example using a projector display connected to the computer. One problem with presentations prepared and given to groups of people is that they do not allow interaction with the presentation from the people receiving the presentation.

Some systems allow groups of people to interact with a single document. For example, documents stored on a network may be accessed by different users with permission to access the document, however such systems generally allow only one user to write to the document at a time. A multiple user input system is therefore desirable.

It is an object of some embodiments of the present invention to obviate or mitigate at least some of the problems set out above.

According to a first aspect of the invention there is provided apparatus for processing user input. The apparatus comprises a control server; a computing device in communication with the control server; at least one first input device in communication with the computing device; and at least one second input device in communication with the control server. The computing device is configured to: receive data from the at least one first input device; process the received data based upon at least one predetermined criterion to generate filtered data; and provide the filtered data to the control server.

In this way, certain inputs (such as key commands) can be restricted from the at least one first input device, whilst input from the second input device is not restricted. Such restriction of the or each first input device allows users of the or each input devices who are not familiar with a system to use the system without causing unintentional l and potentially harmful effects on the system. An unfiltered input device (i.e. the second input device) on the other hand may be used to control overall input to the system from the other input devices.

The at least one first input device may be a keyboard and may be connected to the computing device in any convenient way. For example, the at least one first input device may be connected to the computing device by a wired connection such as a USB connection or alternatively the at least one first input device may be connected to the computing device by a wireless connection. Where there is a plurality of first input devices, some of the first input devices may be connected by a wired connection whilst others may be connected by a wireless connection.

The computing device may be an input server to which a plurality of first input devices is connected. In this way the input server may act to filter input from the plurality of first input devices before providing the input to the control server.

Alternatively, the at least one first input device may be an input device integral with the computing device and the computing device may be a portable computing device such as a laptop computer or a mobile telephone. For example where the computing device is a laptop computer, the first input device may be a keyboard of the first input device, or where the first input device is a mobile phone the first input device may be a keypad of the mobile phone. Alternatively the first input device may comprise a computer generated representation of a keyboard on a screen of a touch screen device such as a mobile telephone.

The control server may be arranged to receive control commands from the second input device, the control commands determining how data received from the at least one first input device is processed.

The apparatus may further comprise a display in communication with the control server. The display may be visible to a user of the at least one first input device. Where there is a plurality of first input devices, the display may be visible to a user of each of the first input devices. The control server may be configured to process input data from the input devices to generate output data and the output data may comprise data representing a workspace to be displayed on the display. The workspace may be a graphical representation of an area representing input data, such as representing questions and answers, as well as images. The workspace may represent connections between various data items such as connections between images and questions. The workspace may be a workspace to which each first input device can provide input, and in this way the workspace can facilitate group activities and development of ideas amongst users.

The workspace may comprise at least one text box, the text box comprising a plurality of text areas and one of the text areas may receive input only from the second input device. For example, the text box may be a question box and the second input device only may input a question, whereas the at least one first input device may input answers to the question. Where the at least one first input device is a plurality of input devices, each input device may input an answer or a plurality of answers.

At least some of the plurality of text areas may have an associated identifier. Additionally, at least some of the plurality of text areas may have an associated counter and the control server may be configured such that selection of a first identifier associated with a first text area by one of the input devices causes a respective counter associated with the first text area to increase, for example by incrementing the counter. In this way, a user of an input device may vote for a preferred text item.

The control server may be configured such that selection of a second identifier associated with a second text area by the one of the input devices causes the counter associated with the first text area to decrease, for example by decrementing the counter, and causes a counter associated with the second text area to increase, for example by incrementing the counter. In this way, a user of an input device may change their mind about assignment of, for example, a vote for a particular text item.

The control server may be configured such that receipt of a control command from the second input device causes the text areas to be arranged based upon values of the associated counters. This allows a most often selected, and therefore most popular, item to be quickly determined.

The control server may be arranged to receive from the second input device at least one selection command, the at least one selection command indicating at least one of the plurality of text areas and at least one further command, the further command causing the control server to modify the workspace in accordance with the at least one further command. The at least one further command may cause the control server to modify the workspace to generate a further text box, the further text box comprising text determined based upon the at least one selection command. For example, a text box may comprise a question and a plurality of answers, and some of the questions and/or answers may be selected by the at least one selection command. The further command may cause selected text to be copied into the generated further text box. For example, where the selected text is an answer or answers in a question box, the further text box may be generated with the selected answer or answers as question text, or alternatively the further text box may be generated with the question of the question box as question and the selected answers as answers.

The control server may comprise a memory and the control server may be configured such that copying data to a predetermined logical location in the memory causes the data to be displayed in the workspace. For example, the control server may comprise a file system organising data in the memory and the predetermined logical location may be a folder of the file system. The memory may be, for example, a hard disk drive.

The apparatus may comprise a plurality of first input devices and the workspace may comprise a plurality of input spaces. Each of the plurality of first input devices may have an associated input space into which the respective input device inputs text.

According to a second aspect of the invention there is provided a method of processing user input. The method comprises receiving, at a computing device, data from at least one first input device; processing, at the computing device, the received data based upon at least one predetermined criterion to generate filtered data; and providing the filtered data from the computing device to a control server, wherein the control server is in communication with at least one second input device.

The method may further comprise receiving the filtered data, at the control server and processing, at the control server, the filtered data to generate output data, the output data comprising data representing a workspace to be displayed on a display.

According to a further aspect of the invention there is provided a method of inputting data to be displayed on a display device adapted to display the data, the display device being connected to a computer. The method comprises adding data to a location within a memory accessible to the computer, wherein the adding causes the data added to the location to be automatically displayed on the display device.

The memory location may be managed by a file system and the memory location may be defined by the filesystem.

Providing a convenient memory location to which data can be added to cause automatic display allows a user of a computer to conveniently cause data to be displayed without requiring a user to navigate a possibly complicated and deeply nested filesystem.

The data may be received at the computer from a further computer and automatically added to the memory location. The further computer may be a portable computer such as a mobile telephone, and the data may be received by, for example, GPRS. In this way, information may be received from a portable computer or a plurality of portable computers and automatically displayed.

The method may further comprise monitoring the memory location so as to determine when the data is added to the location and displaying the data based upon the monitoring.

Processing the data added to the location may comprise processing the data to cause the data to be displayed in a graphical representation of a workspace on the display device. The workspace may be arranged to receive input from a plurality of input devices. The memory may be a volatile memory or the memory may be a non-volatile memory.

According to a further aspect of the invention there is provided a computing device having directly connected thereto a plurality of keyboards, the computing device being arranged to process data received from the plurality of keyboards to generate an output data stream.

Such a computing device allows a plurality of input devices to simultaneously interact with the computing device.

At least some of the plurality of keyboards may be connected to the computing device by a wired connection such as, for example, by a USB connection. Additionally, or alternatively, at least some of the plurality of keyboards may be connected to the computing device by a wireless connection.

According to a further aspect of the invention there is provided a computer system comprising a computer; at least one first input device in communication with the computer; and a second input device in communication with the computer, wherein the computer is arranged to receive control commands from the second input device, the control commands determining how data received from the at least one first input device is processed.

In this way, a user of the second input device can facilitate interaction of a plurality of users with a computer. Users of the plurality of input devices need not be familiar with operation of the computer to effectively interact with the computer.

The at least one first input device may be a keyboard.

The computer system may further comprise: a plurality of first input devices; and an input server connected to the computer. The plurality of first input devices may be connected to the input server. At least one of the first input devices may be connected to the input server by a wired connection such as, for example, by a USB connection. Alternatively, the at least one first input device may be connected to the input server by a wireless connection. Where the at least one first input device is a plurality of input devices, the input devices may be connected by a combination of wired and wireless connections.

The at least one first input device may be integral with a computing device, and the computing device may be in communication with the computer.

The apparatus may further comprise a display in communication with the computer. The display may be visible to a user of the at least one first input device.

The computer is configured to process input data from the input devices to generate output data and the output data may comprise data representing a workspace to be displayed on the display. The workspace may be a workspace to which each first input device can provide input, and in this way the workspace can facilitate group activities and development of ideas amongst users.

The workspace may comprise at least one text box, the text box comprising a plurality of text areas and one of the text areas may receive input only from the second input device.

At least some of the plurality of text areas may have an associated identifier, and/or an associated counter. The computer may be configured such that selection of a first identifier associated with a first text area by one of the input devices causes a respective counter associated with the first text area to increase. The computer may be configured such that selection of a second identifier associated with a second text area by the one of the input devices causes the counter associated with the first text area to decrease, for example by decrementing the counter, and causes a counter associated with the second text area to increase, for example by incrementing the counter. The computer may be configured such that receipt of a control command from the second input device causes the text areas to be arranged based upon values of the associated counters. The computer may be arranged to receive from the second input device at least one selection command, the at least one selection command indicating at least one of the plurality of text areas and at least one further command, the further command causing the computer to modify the workspace in accordance with the at least one further command.

The at least one further command may cause the computer to modify the workspace to generate a further text box, the further text box comprising text determined based upon the at least one selection command.

The computer may have access to a memory and the computer may be configured such that copying data to a predetermined logical location in the memory causes the data to be displayed in the workspace.

The control server may comprise a file system organising data in the memory and the predetermined logical location may be a folder of the file system.

The workspace may comprise data based upon output of an activity involving Lego® Serious Play.

Data received from at least one of the plurality of input devices may be filtered.

A still further aspect of the invention provides a method of processing input data from a plurality of input devices. The method comprises receiving at a computer control commands from a second input device; and determining how data received from the plurality of input devices is processed based upon the control commands.

In each of the aspects of the invention the data may take any convenient form. For example, the data may be image data or text data.

Where aspects of the invention provide a workspace, the workspace may comprise data based upon various activities. For example the workspace may comprise data based upon output of an activity involving Lego® Serious Play, or output of a treasure hunt activity. The term "server" in each of the aspects of the invention is intended to not be limiting and includes any computer.

It will be appreciated that aspects of the invention can be implemented in any convenient form. For example, the invention may be implemented by appropriate computer programs which may be carried on appropriate carrier media which may be tangible carrier media (e.g. disks) or intangible carrier media (e.g. communications signals). Aspects of the invention may also be implemented using suitable apparatus which may take the form of programmable computers running computer programs arranged to implement the invention.

An embodiment of the present invention will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a schematic representation of a network of computers on which an embodiment of the present invention can be implemented;

Figure 1A is a schematic illustration of a control server shown in Figure 1 ;

Figure 2A is a screen shot from a workspace created using software running on the network of computers shown in Figure 1 ;

Figure 2B is a screen shot of an alternative workspace to the workspace of Figure 2A;

Figure 3 is a schematic illustration of an input server shown in Figure 1 ;

Figure 4 is a flow chart showing processing carried out by the input server in the network of Figure 1 to listen for input operations;

Figure 5 is a flow chart showing processing carried out by the control server in the network of Figure 1 to listen for input operations;

Figure 6 is a schematic illustration of operation a drop-box; Figure 7 is a flowchart showing processing carried out to import an image into a workspace using the drop-box of Figure 6;

Figure 8 is a flow chart showing processing carried out by the control server to load or create a workspace of the type shown in Figure 2;

Figure 9 is XML code representing a newly created workspace;

Figure 10A is a workspace containing a question;

Figure 10B is XML code representing the workspace of Figure 10A;

Figure 11 is a flow chart showing processing carried out by the control server in the network of Figure 1 to communicate with the input server and add an input to the workspace;

Figures 12A to 12F each illustrate the result of a command input to the control server of Figure 1 ;

Figure 13 is XML code representing the workspace of Figure 2A;

Figure 14 is an entity relationship diagram of a database for use in a multiple input system; and

Figure 15 is a schematic illustration of a probe server.

Figure 1 shows a network of computers to which a plurality of input devices in the form of keyboards are connected. An input server 1 has a plurality of keyboards 2 connected thereto. A Universal Serial Bus (USB) interface 1A provides the connection between the input server 1 and the keyboards 2. The USB interface may be an internal or external component to the input server 1 and may be connected to the input server 1 in any convenient way. Each of the keyboards 2 has its own connection to the USB interface 1A and each of the keyboards 2 is provided with circuitry adapted to transmit data from the keyboard to the USB interface 1A indicating particular key presses. The input server 1 is connected to a control server 3 such that data may be passed between the input server 1 and the control server 3. The connection between the input server 1 and the control server 3 can conveniently be provided by way of a computer network to which the input server 1 and control server 2 are connected by way of appropriate interfaces. In this way data is passed between the input server 1 and the control server 3 over the established connection.

In particular, data input using the keyboards 2 is provided to the control server 3. The input server 1 runs keyboard filter software arranged to filter data input using the keyboards 2 such that some data input using the keyboards 2 is not provided to the control server 3. In this way the input server 1 restricts the functionality of the keyboards 2, and provides protection from harmful input from the keyboards 2. The keyboard filter software may be arranged to prevent data indicating certain control commands from being provided from the input server 1 to the control server 3. On a computer running the Windows operating system, pressing the combination of keys Ctrl+Alt+Delete will result in normal operation of the computer being interrupted. The keyboard filter software can be arranged to prevent data indicating such key presses from being passed from the input server 1 to the control server 3. The particular input from the keyboards 2 that is to be filtered by the filter software (that is, input that is to not be passed to the control server) may be provided by the control server 3 in an initialisation stage or may be loaded onto the input server 1.

Additionally, the input server 1 may run a computer program arranged to determine the number of keyboards 2 connected to the USB interface 1A. Operating system software running on the input server 1 is adapted to manage communication with the USB interface 1A. Management of the USB interface 1A includes a determination of the number and type of devices connected to the USB interface 1A using known methods. The input server also identifies from which of the plurality of keyboards 2 input is received and this information can be associated with the input.

The control server 3 interfaces directly with a master keyboard 4. This interface can take the form of any suitable connection such as a USB connection. Given that the master keyboard 4 is not connected to the input server 2, but rather is connected directly to the control server 3, the keyboard filter software running on the input server 1 does not affect the data which can be input using the master keyboard 4. The master keyboard 4 therefore has additional functionality compared with the keyboards 2. Additionally, a mouse may be connected to the control server allowing further additional functionality.

The control server is provided with data storage which may take the form of a database server 5 connected to the control server or may be provided locally on the control server 3. Where the database server 5 is connected to the control server 3 the connection can be provided by means of a computer network. The data storage may take the form of a database 6 in which data is stored. The database 6 is adapted to store data created using software run on the control server 3, as discussed in further detail below. The control server is connected to a projector display 7 for displaying output. The projector display is generally visible to users of the keyboards 1 and the master keyboard 4, although in some circumstances the keyboards 1 may be provided by portable computers remote from the control server, as described below.

The control server 3 is adapted to run software for creating a multiple user workspace. Given the additional functionality allowed by the master keyboard 4, a user using the master keyboard 4 may be a facilitator of the multiple user workspace. The facilitator is able to perform top-level workspace functions such as creating and loading a session and saving a session to the database 6 as well as inputting various control commands using the master keyboard 4. Functions of this type cannot be performed using one of the keyboards 2 given that the keyboard filter software running on the input server 1 prevents data indicating such functions from being passed to the control server 3. The keyboard filter software also prevents data indicating database operations from being provided to the control server 3. It will be appreciated therefore that the master keyboard controls all database functionality.

The control server 3 outputs a graphical representation of the workspace to the projector display 7. The workspace provides a communal space to which all users of keyboards 2 are able to contribute which can be viewed by all users via the projector display 7 in real time. Although direct connections are shown between computers in Figure 1 it will be appreciated that any suitable connection method can be used such as a connection over any suitable computer network.

Figure 1A shows the control server server 3 of the system of Figure 1 in further detail. It will be appreciated that each of the input server 1 and the control server 3 have the general architecture shown in Figure 1A. It can be seen that the control server 3 comprises a CPU 3a which is configured to read and execute instructions stored in a volatile memory 3b which takes the form of a random access memory. The volatile memory 3b stores instructions for execution by the CPU 3a and data used by those instructions. For example, in use, the software used to generate a workspace may be stored in the volatile memory 3b.

The control server 3 further comprises non-volatile storage in the form of a hard disc drive 3c. Data such as the database 6 may be stored on the hard disc drive 3c, rather than on a separate database server 5 as shown in Figure 1. The control server 3 further comprises an I/O interface 3d to which are connected peripheral devices used in connection with the server 3 such as the keyboard 4. The control server 3 has a display 3e configured so as to display output from the server, in addition to the projector display 7 connected to server 3. The display 3e may display the same output as displayed on the projector display 7, and will in general display additional output data useful for performing tasks specific to the control server 3. Input devices are also connected to the I/O interface 3d. Such input devices include the keyboard 4, and a mouse 3g which allow user interaction with the server as well as control of the workspace as described. A network interface 3h allows the control server 3 to be connected to an appropriate computer network so as to receive and transmit data from and to other computing devices such as the other servers shown in Figure 1. The CPU 3a, volatile memory 3b, hard disc drive 3c, I/O interface 3d, and network interface 3h, are connected together by a bus 3i.

Referring now to Figure 2A, a multiple user workspace 8 created by software running on the control server 3 as displayed on the projector display 7 of Figure 1 is shown. A first question box 9, created by inputting a create question box command using the master keyboard 4, has question text 10 input using the master keyboard 4 and a plurality of answers 1 1. Each of the answers 11 is input by one of the keyboards 2 connected to the input server 1 or by the master keyboard 4 connected to the control server 3. One of the answers 1 1 has been selected and a second question box 12 has been generated from the selected answer, as indicated by a connection from the answer 11 to the new question box 12. Items in the workspace can be selected and moved using a cursor, which is controllable using an input device (e.g. the mouse 3g) connected to the control server 3. An item is indicated as the currently selected item in a workspace if appropriately highlighted, for example if highlighted in a particular colour, and indicates an item with which input from the keyboards 2 will be associated.

Upon receipt of text input from a keyboard the control server processes the input and causes the text to be displayed on an answer line in a selected item in the workspace (such as a question box). Upon receipt of a confirmation command from a user who has entered text into a selected item the entered text forms an answer which may no longer be modified. If the same user then types further text, the further text is processed by the control server 3 and displayed on a next available answer line in the selected item. The confirmation command may comprise pressing the "enter" key.

An alternative workspace 20 is shown in Figure 2B. Each of a plurality of user input lines 21 in the workspace 20 is associated with one of the input keyboards 2 of Figure 1. The number of keyboards 2 connected to the input server 1 of Figure 1 may be provided to the control server 3 by the input server 1 upon creation or loading of a new session. In this way the software running on the control server 3 is able to provide one input space 21 for each keyboard 2 connected to the input server 1. Data input using one of the keyboards 2 is received by the control server 3 and displayed in an input space 21 associated with the keyboard from which it was received. All users can view text entered using one of the keyboards 2 into a corresponding input space 21 displayed by the projector display 7 of Figure 1. Text entered into one of the input spaces 21 can be used to populate an answer box 22 of a currently selected item 23 upon receipt of a confirmation command (e.g. pressing an Enter key on the relevant keyboard 2). New answers are added to answer space 22 of the selected item 23 as input data is confirmed. A difference between the workspace arrangement of Figure 2A and the workspace arrangement of Figure 2B is that workspace 8 allows input to be entered anonymously given that each time text is added to a question box the text is added in a next available line, and is not always added into the same input line. In contrast, the workspace 8 adds input text from a particular user to the same input line 21 and a correspondence between input line and user may be determined by other users by observing particular users' input patterns.

Figure 3 shows the input server 1 of Figure 1 in more detail. Each of the keyboards 2 is connected to the input server 1 via a respective one of a plurality of USB ports 30. The USB ports 30 are controlled by USB control software 31 which forms a part of an operating system 32 running on the input server 1. The USB control software operates to receive and forward information from the keyboards 2. The USB ports 30 each have a unique identifier which the USB control software 31 uses to identify the keyboard from which an input originates. The number of keyboards 2 connected to the input server can be determined by the USB control software 31 by processing the unique identifiers of keyboards connected to the USB ports 30 to determine a number of connections. The USB control software 31 communicates with a keyboard filtering application 33 which operates to filter keyboard inputs from the keyboards 2 which are not valid. Invalid keyboard inputs may be determined in any convenient way. For example invalid keyboard inputs may be provided to the keyboard filtering application from the control server 3 upon initialisation of a session or may be stored on the input server as part of the keyboard filtering application. The keyboard filtering application provides valid keyboard inputs from the input server to the control server via a communications link and discards invalid keyboard inputs. Valid input keystrokes may be, for example, the alpha-numeric keys, punctuation (including spacebar keystrokes), a backspace input which causes a previously input character to be deleted from the answer and an enter input.

Figure 4 shows at a high level processing carried out by the input server 1 to provide input data to the control server 3. At step S1 the input server 1 of Figure 1 listens for input (typically in the form of a key press) from one of the keyboards 1 using the USB control software. At step S2 an input is received and at step S3 a check is performed to determine if the received input is blocked. System commands and operations that interface with the database are limited to the master keyboard 4, and therefore blocked by the keyboard filter software which is run on the input server 1. If it is determined that the received input is blocked, processing returns to step S1 where the input server continues to listen for inputs at step S1. If it is determined at step S3 that the received input is not blocked, the input server passes the input together with an identifier /^', corresponding to the individual keyboard from which the input originates (as determined from the USB port identifier), to the control server 3 at step

54. The input server then continues to listen for input at step S1.

Figure 5 shows processing carried out by the control server to receive data. At step

55, the control server 3 listens for input from either the input server 1 or the master keyboard 4 and at step S6 the control server receives an input. At step S7 a check is performed to determine if the input is valid at the current time. Operations such as adding text to a workspace, although not blocked by the input server, are only valid dependent upon certain conditions such as a suitable item being selected within the workspace into which input devices can type. These operations will therefore be valid at some times and invalid at others. If it is determined at step S7 that the input is not valid then the input is discarded and processing returns to step S5 where the control server 3 continues to listen for input. If it is determined that the input is valid then at step S8 the control server performs an action determined by the received input. Examples of valid operations are described in further detail below with reference to Figures 6, 9 and 10A to 10E.

The control server 3 may listen for any suitable input from sources other than the input server 1. For example, the operator of the master keyboard 4 will generally use a mouse to manipulate objects in the workspace, and these inputs are processed in a similar manner to the above. Additionally, a "drop-box" may be provided for inputting images to a workspace. Operation of a drop-box to import an image into a workspace is shown in Figure 6. A filesystem 35 such as a filesystem of the control server 3 has a predetermined location 36 such as a directory. The predetermined location is monitored by software running on the control server so that when an image 37 is copied into the directory 36 by a user (for example by dragging and dropping a file into the directory 36 using a mouse connected to the control server 3) an image 38 corresponding to the image 37 is rendered in a workspace 39. The software may identify the location in any convenient way, for example using a URL of a server on which the image is located and a path which identifies a location on the server where the image is located. The directory may be placed in any convenient location such as on a desktop so as to be easily accessed by a user of the control server 3.

Processing carried out by the control server 3 to render an image in a workspace using a drop-box will now be described with reference to Figure 6. At step S9 software running on the control server listens for input to the drop-box location. At step S10 a check is carried out to determine whether data has been added to the drop-box location. If it is determined that no data has been added to the drop-box location then the software running on the control server continues to listen for input at step S9, otherwise at step S1 1 the added data is copied to a convenient location for handling by the workspace software, such as a directory associated with the current workspace. At step S12 the image is rendered in the workspace and at step S13 the image is deleted from the drop-box location. The software running on the control software then continues to listen for further input data at step S9.

Images may be captured and transmitted to the control server in any convenient way. For example, a mobile phone camera may be used to capture an image and the image may be transmitted to the control server 3 using a suitable communications method such as GPRS or Bluetooth® or by a direct connection such as a USB connection to the control server. Alternatively, a further server that is in communication with the control server may be provided to receive images and to provide images to the control server, as described in further detail below. Software may be run on the control server 3 which processes received images and adds them to the drop-box location. Alternatively, a user may identify images to be added to the workspace by use of, for example, a file selection dialog box. Such identified images may be manually added to the drop-box location.

Figure 8 shows processing carried out at step S8 of Figure 5 to load or create a workspace in response to input received from the master keyboard 4. At step S19 the control server 3 receives either a load workspace or create workspace command. Such a command is restricted by the keyboard filter software running on the input server 1 and as such it can be determined that such a command can only be received from the master keyboard 4. At step S20 the control server 3 requests from the input server 1 data indicating the number n of keyboards connected to the input server 1 and at step S21 this data is received by the control server 3 from the input server 1. The data indicating the number of keyboards connected to the input server may be used to create a corresponding number of input lines in the case where a workspace of the type of Figure 2B is used. At step S22 processing follows one of two paths, dependent upon whether the received command was a create new workspace command or a load workspace command. If the command received by the control server is a create new workspace command, then at step S23 a new workspace is created by creating appropriate data defining the workspace and storing this data in the database 6. Otherwise a workspace already exists and does not need to be created and as such processing continues at step S24. At step S24 the control server requests session information from the database server 5 of Figure 1. The control server 3 receives the required session information from the database server 5 and at step S25 the control server loads and displays the workspace on the projector display 7 of Figure 1.

Data defining a workspace may take any convenient form. For example, data defining a workspace may take the form of an XML file. Upon creation of a workspace an XML file may be created including initialisation values. An example XML file defining a newly created workspace is shown in Figure 7. A "distiller" tag 41 defines a part of a workspace (or "distiller") that is to be displayed. Values x="0" y="0" in the "distiller" tag 41 indicate that when the workspace is displayed a point (0,0) in the workspace is located at a predetermined location of the display. The values x and y can take positive or negative values such that where x takes a positive value the displayed area of the workspace is shifted horizontally in a first direction relative to the point (0,0) and where x takes a negative value the displayed area of the workspace is shifted in the horizontally in a second opposite direction relative to the point (0,0). Variation of the value of y similarly causes a shift in the vertical direction and in each case, whilst the area is shifted, the size of the displayed area remains the same. The values xscale="150" yscale="150" define scaling factors in the x and y directions and indicate the relative size of objects that may be located in the workspace. For example where xscale and yscale take values smaller than 150 a relatively large amount of the workspace is displayed, and objects in the workspace therefore appear relatively small. Where xscale and yscale take values greater than 150 a relatively small amount of the workspace is displayed. Tags 42, 43 and 44 indicate that the workspace has no questions or images and that no connections exist between questions and images. This is the case since the workspace is a newly created workspace and as such no objects have been added to the workspace. A tag 45 indicates the end of the XML data. Changes to the workspace caused by input from either one of the keyboards 2 or the master keyboard 4 of Figure 1 are used to update the data defining the workspace upon receipt of a save command from the master keyboard, for example by creating a new XML file or by overwriting the existing XML file. Where save commands cause a new file to be created, each file may be provided with an identifier so that the most recently created file representing a workspace can be determined at step S24 and loaded at step S25 of Figure 8, whilst retaining historical workspace data.

Figure 10A shows a workspace containing a single question object 46 and Figure 10B shows an XML file corresponding to the workspace of Figure 10A. Values x and y in the "distiller" tag 47 indicate that the workspace area is shifted relative to the point (0,0) both horizontally and vertically. In the example of Figure 10A, the positional shift of the displayed workspace is of relatively little importance since only a single item exists in the workspace. Where the workspace is large and contains many objects, such a shift allows only the particular objects that are desired to be viewed to be displayed. A questions tag 48 indicates the start of the definition of question objects in the workspace (whether currently displayed or not). A single question object is defined by a question tag 49 corresponding to the question object shown in Figure 10A. The question has an id field which provides a label by which the question tag 49 can be referenced and x and y fields indicating the location of the question box relative to the point (0,0). Additionally, the question has a text field which indicates the displayed text. A minimized field indicates whether the answers in the question box are displayed in full or are minimized so as to not be visible in the workspace when the question box is displayed. A tag 50 indicates the end of the definition of question objects. All other fields are identical to the fields of Figure 9 given that no other question or image objects exist and no connections exist in the workspace.

Figure 11 shows processing carried out at step S8 of Figure 5 to add input to a question box within a workspace. At step S26 data is received from the input server 1. The data received from the input server 1 is generally received from a keyboard 2 and is filtered such that only data that represents valid inputs from the keyboard 2 is passed from the input server 1 to the control server 3. At step S27 the control server 3 determines an input identifier / identifying a particular one of the keyboards 2 from which the input was received. The particular one of the keyboards 2 is identified from data associated with the input data (determined by the USB control software 31 of Figure 3) and passed from the input server 1 to the control server 3.

At step S28 the control server processes the received data to determine whether previously unconfirmed text from the same keyboard has been received (as determined from the identifier associated with the text input). If text has previously been received from the same keyboard that has not been confirmed then at step S29 the new input is added to the previously unconfirmed input from the keyboard having the same identifier to generate an input stream including the previously received input and the input received at step S26. Otherwise a new input stream is begun for the input device at step S30. At step S31 a check is performed to determine if the user of the input device has confirmed the input stream (e.g. by pressing an enter key). If it is determined that the input has not been confirmed then processing continues at step S26 where more input is received and added to the input stream. If it is determined that the input has been confirmed then at step S32 the input is confirmed and added as an answer in a selected item (e.g. a question box). Once an input is confirmed in an input box the input can only be deleted using the master keyboard 4, however before an input stream is confirmed the input received at step S26 may be a backspace input such that previously input text may be deleted.

As indicated above, some input commands are restricted to a master keyboard 4. The master keyboard allows operations that it is desirable that most users are not able to initiate such as workspace manipulation. For example the user of the master keyboard may be a facilitator who is experienced with operation of the system whilst other keyboard users do not have experience of using the workspace. Operations that are restricted to the master keyboard 4 will now be described with reference to Figures 12A to 12F.

Figures 12A to 12C each show the result of commands after one or more answers 55 in a question box 56 are first selected. Referring first to Figure 12A, a question box 56 with four answers 55 is shown. One of the answers "answer 01" has been selected to form the basis of a new question box 57 having as its question the text of the selected answer. The answer "answer 01" is first selected in the question box 56 using a mouse or suitable keyboard input and a command is provided to indicate that the selected answer should be form the basis of the new question box 57.

Figure 12B shows the result of selecting two answers 55 in the question box 56 ("answer 01" and "answer 03") and providing a command to the control server to cause a new question box 58 to be generated having as its question the text of both of the selected answers.

Figure 12C shows the result of a command input initiated after selection of two answers which again causes a new question box to be created. The command of Figure 12C causes a question box 59 to be created that has the question of the question box 56 as its question and that only contains the selected answers of question box 56. That is, the command input of Figure 12C causes a copy of a question box in which answers are selected to be created, with any answers that are not selected in the original question box removed from the created question box.

Figure 12D shows the result of a command after selection of a question box 56. The command causes an identical question box 60 to be created with the same question text and the same answers. The original question box and the duplicate question box may subsequently be manipulated independently.

Figures 12E and 12F each show the result of commands relating to voting. Figure 10E shows a question box 61 with four associated answers. An input from the master keyboard causes letters 62 to appear beside each answer, and users of the keyboards 2 are provided with an opportunity to vote for a particular answer by selecting one of the letters 62. Each user is provided with a single vote and users may change their vote until the vote is confirmed by a further input command from the master keyboard. Additional to the letters that allow users to vote, numbers 63 appear beside each question indicating the total number of votes received for each answer. If a user chooses to change their vote before the vote is confirmed then the number associated with a previously selected answer decreases by one and the number associated with the newly selected answer increases by one. After voting is confirmed the letters disappear from the question box whilst the number of votes remains. Further voting sessions may be initiated in the same way. In further voting sessions the number of votes from previous voting sessions remain and votes received in the further voting sessions are added to the previous votes. It will be appreciated that other voting session strategies may be used. For example, upon initiation of a further voting session previously received votes may be set to zero. Different commands can be used to initiate different voting session strategies, dependent upon the user requirements. Figure 12E shows the question box 61 in which a command received from the master keyboard has caused the answers to be ordered according to the number of votes received for each question.

Figures 12A to 12F illustrate ways in which a workspace may be usefully varied. An example workspace after some of the commands of Figures 12A to 12F have been executed is shown in Figure 2A and an XML file corresponding to the workspace of Figure 2A will now be described with reference to Figure 13. The XML file of Figure 13 has the general structure described above with reference to Figures 9 and 10B.

The question box 9 of Figure 2A is defined by a question tag 65 in Figure 13. The question having id "0" has three associated answers defined by answer tags 66, 67 and 68 which have ids of "1 ", "2" and "3". Each answer tag 66, 67, 68 has an associated count which indicates a number of votes for the particular answer, input by keyboard users as described above. In the example of Figure 13 each answer has a count of "0" since no voting has been carried out in the workspace of Figure 2A. The tag 69 indicates the end of text defining question "0" and a question tag 70 defining question 12 of Figure 2A follows the tag 69. Image 13 of Figure 2A is defined by an image tag 71. The url field of the image tag 71 indicates the location of the image data to be loaded. A single connection between an answer of question 9 and question 12 of Figure 2A is indicated by a tag 72 having id "5", which indicates that a connection exists between item id "2" and item id "4".

XML files corresponding to workspaces may be stored and organised in any convenient way. For example sessions may be stored using a standard operating system folder structure with a folder created for each new session. XML files may be created each time a session is saved and, as indicated above, each file may have an identifier such that software can identify the most recently created session when a session is loaded. A session may be launched by selecting a directory in which the session XML files are stored and the most recently created session may be identified and loaded. Image files may be stored in a separate folder within the session and imported, as described above, using a URL to point to the image.

Alternatively a database may be used to store and manage sessions. The database may be arranged in any convenient way. For example, figure 14 is an entity relationship diagram of the database 6 which may be used to store and manage sessions. It can be seen that the database has 3 tables: a Session table 75, a SessionSave table 76 and a TheAutomatic table 77.

The Session table 75 has an Id field which is its primary key, a Name field for storing data indicating the name of a session, a BeginTime field for storing data indicating the time at which the session began, a Created field for storing data indicating when the session was created and a SessionTypeld for storing data indicating what type of session the session is. The Session Type Id records the purpose of the session, for example it may be data indicating that the session was a test session.

A Session is related to zero or more entries in the SessionSave table 76, each entry of the SessionSave table 76 indicates a saved instance of a session defined by data stored in the Session table. The SessionSave table has an Id field which is its primary key, an XMLFile field for storing data defining the workspace created using the software for creating a multiple user workspace, a Created field for storing data indicating when the session was created and a Sessionld field for storing data identifying a session to which a particular record of the SessionSave table belongs. The Session Id is obtained from TheAutomatic table 77 described below.

The Automatic table 77 has an Id field which is its primary key. A Current Sessionld field stores data indicating a session defined in the Session table 75 which is the current session. A Name field stores data indicating the Name of the current session. The Automatic table is used to set the current session and is used to determine to which session any created saves belong.

It has been described above that a plurality of keyboards are connected directly to the input server, however it will be appreciated that other connection methods and input devices may be used. For example the keyboards may be wirelessly connected to the input server, for example using Bluetooth®. Alternatively the input devices 2 of Figure 1 may each be a portable computer such as a laptop or mobile telephone, and each portable computer may be connected to a wireless network. The portable computers may be wirelessly connected to the control server 3 and each portable computer may run filtering software so as to filter the input passed to the control server 3. Alternatively, each computer may be wirelessly connected to the input server 1 which may operate in the same way as described above to filter input received from the portable computers.

Each portable computer may run software which allows the portable computer to display information to the user. For example, a currently selected question in a workspace may be displayed to a user. In this way a user may be at a different location to the projector display 7 of Figure 1 and can still participate in the session. Alternatively the workspace may be transmitted to a screen of the portable computer so that a user can view and interact with the workspace from a remote location.

Portable computers such as laptops and mobile telephones may additionally be used to provide users with predefined sequences of questions as shown in Figure 15. The predefined sequence of questions may be stored in question storage 80 on a probe server 81 which is accessed using communications software 82 by portable computers 83 in any convenient way, for example using Bluetooth® or wireless networks. Each question in the question storage 80 may be sent to each portable computer 83 from the probe server in order, such that a subsequent question is sent to a particular portable computer 83 once a response has been transmitted from the portable computer to the communications software 82. Alternatively all questions may be sent to the portable computer simultaneously and the portable computers 83 may be provided with an application which can be run so as to provide the questions to the user in order. An application run on the portable computer may automatically connect to the probe server. The received questions may be displayed to a user on a screen of the portable computer and the user may use an input device of the portable computer to input text or to capture an image in response to the displayed question. The portable computer may then send the input text or captured image to the probe server in the same way as the question is received from the probe server. The probe server 81 may communicate with the control server 3 such that data received from the portable computers 83 is loaded automatically into a workspace. Data received from the portable computers 83 may be displayed in a workspace in any convenient way. For example, the received data may be displayed such that each question sent to the portable computers is displayed and the question is connected to each received response. Subsequent questions may be displayed with a connection from the previous question such that the order of the sequence of questions may be determined from the way in which the questions are displayed.

Questions may be provided to the portable computers 83 in any convenient way. For example question storage 80 may be a database such as the database 6 of Figure 1. Different sequences of questions may be provided on the database 6 and each sequence of questions may be associated with an identifier. Different portable computers may be provided with different sequences of questions using the associated identifier to determine the correct questions to be provided to a particular portable computer. In this way, a plurality of sessions may be run simultaneously. The database may be remotely accessible from different control servers such that different sequences of questions may be provided to different control servers and different workspaces may be created from each sequence of questions.

The methods and apparatus described above allow a plurality of users to interact with a common workspace. Such a common workspace has many applications. For example, the common workspace may be used as a "brainstorming" tool in which a plurality of people can each contribute ideas, possibly anonymously, and the group can develop the ideas and democratically arrive at a conclusion. For example, the common workspace may be used to aid a plurality of users to arrive at a plan for business development.

Any suitable techniques may be used to identify and develop ideas which can then be input to the workspace for development. For example, the portable computers used to provide a predefined sequence of questions may be provided to the users prior to using the workspace so that information may be gathered and loaded into the workspace in preparation for a session in which the users interact with the workspace in person using the keyboards. For example, predefined questions may be provided to the users via their mobile phones, for example using a downloadable application, or mobile phones may be provided to the users that have been suitably adapted. The received data may be loaded into the workspace so that when the users interact with the workspace in person they are able to jointly identify key ideas, for example using the voting facility. Identified key ideas may be pulled out and further developed. Alternatively, or additionally, portable computers with predefined questions may be provided during a session to develop particular discussion points in small groups, for example by way of a "treasure hunt" in which users are asked to identify objects relevant to a particular idea. Identified objects may be provided to the workspace and made available for group discussion.

Further examples of suitable techniques include breakout groups and Lego® Serious Play™. Breakout groups allow some users discuss a particular idea may be used, and the results of the breakout group may be input to the workspace. Lego Serious Play may be used so as to provide groups of people with predefined tasks, and output from the predefined tasks such as photos of created models may be input to the workspace.

Although specific embodiments of the invention have been described above, it will be appreciated that various modifications can be made to the described embodiments without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. That is, the described embodiments are to be considered in all respects exemplary and non- limiting. In particular, where a particular form has been described for particular processing, it will be appreciated that such processing may be carried out in any suitable form arranged to provide suitable output data.

Claims

1. Apparatus for processing user input comprising:

a control server;

a computing device in communication with the control server;

at least one first input device in communication with the computing device; and

at least one second input device in communication with the control server; wherein the computing device is configured to:

receive data from the at least one first input device;

process the received data based upon at least one predetermined criterion to generate filtered data; and

provide said filtered data to said control server.

2. Apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein said at least one first input device is a keyboard.

3. Apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, wherein said at least one first input device is connected to said computing device by a wired connection.

4. Apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein said at least one first input device is connected to said computing device by a USB connection.

5. Apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, wherein said at least one first input device is connected to said computing device by a wireless connection.

6. Apparatus according to any preceding claim, wherein said computing device is an input server to which a plurality of first input devices are connected.

7. Apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein said at least one first input device in communication with the computing device is an input device integral with the computing device.

8. Apparatus according to any preceding claim, wherein said control server is arranged to receive control commands from said second input device, said control commands determining how data received from said at least one first input device is processed.

9. Apparatus according to any preceding claim, wherein the apparatus further comprises a display in communication with said control server.

10. Apparatus according to claim 9, wherein said display is visible to a user of said at least one first input device.

11. Apparatus according to claim 9 or 10, wherein said control server is configured to process input data from said input devices to generate output data.

12. Apparatus according to claim 11 , wherein said output data comprises data representing a workspace to be displayed on said display.

13. Apparatus according to claim 12, wherein:

said workspace comprises at least one text box, said text box comprising a plurality of text areas; and

wherein one of said text areas is configured to receive input only from said second input device.

14. Apparatus according to claim 13, wherein at least some of said plurality of text areas have an associated identifier.

15. Apparatus according to claim 14, wherein at least some of said plurality of text areas have an associated counter and the control server is configured such that selection of a first identifier associated with a first text area by one of said input devices causes a respective counter associated with said first text area to increase.

16. Apparatus according to claim 15, wherein the control server is configured such that selection of a second identifier associated with a second text area by said one of said input devices causes the counter associated with said first text area to decrease and causes a counter associated with said second text area to increase.

17. Apparatus according to claim 15 or 16, wherein the control server is configured such that receipt of a control command from said second input device causes said text areas to be arranged based upon values of said associated counters.

18. Apparatus according to any one of claims 13 to 17, wherein said control server is arranged to receive from said second input device:

at least one selection command, said at least one selection command indicating at least one of said plurality of text areas; and

at least one further command, said further command causing said control server to modify said workspace in accordance with said at least one further command.

19. Apparatus according to claim 18, wherein said at least one further command causes said control server to modify said workspace to generate a further text box, said further text box comprising text determined based upon said at least one selection command.

20. Apparatus according to any one of claims 12 to 19, wherein said control server comprises a memory and wherein said control server is configured such that copying data to a predetermined logical location in said memory causes said data to be displayed in said workspace.

21. Apparatus according to claim 20, wherein said control server comprises a file system organising data in said memory and wherein said predetermined logical location is a folder of said file system.

22. Apparatus according to claim 20 or 21 , wherein said data is image data.

23. Apparatus according to any one of claims 12 to 22, wherein said workspace comprises data based upon output of an activity involving Lego® Serious Play.

24. Apparatus according to claim 12 to 23, the apparatus comprising a plurality of first input devices:

wherein said workspace comprises a plurality of input spaces; and wherein each of said plurality of first input devices has an associated input space into which the respective input device inputs text.

25. A method of processing user input, the method comprising:

receiving, at a computing device, data from at least one first input device; processing, at the computing device, the received data based upon at least one predetermined criterion to generate filtered data; and

providing said filtered data from said computing device to a control server, wherein said control server is in communication with at least one second input device.

26. A method according to claim 25, further comprising:

receiving said filtered data, at said control server; and

processing, at said control server, said filtered data to generate output data, said output data comprising data representing a workspace to be displayed on a display.

27. A computer program comprising computer readable instructions configured to cause a computer to carry out a method according to claim 25 or 26.

28. A computer readable medium carrying a computer program according to claim 27.

29. A computer apparatus for processing user input comprising:

a memory storing processor readable instructions; and

a processor arranged to read and execute instructions stored in said memory; wherein said processor readable instructions comprise instructions arranged to control the computer to carry out a method according to claim 25 or 26.

30 A method of inputting data to be displayed on a display device adapted to display said data, the display device being connected to a computer, the method comprising:

adding data to a location within a memory accessible to said computer;

wherein said adding causes said data added to said location to be automatically displayed on said display device.

31. A method according to claim 30, wherein said memory location is managed by a file system and said memory location is defined by said filesystem.

32. A method according to claim 30 or 31 , wherein said data is image data.

33. A method according to claim 30, 31 or 32, wherein said data is received at said computer from a further computer and automatically added to said memory location.

34. A method according to any one of claims 30 to 33, further comprising:

monitoring said memory location so as to determine when said data is added to said location; and

displaying said data based upon said monitoring.

35. A method according to any one of claims 30 to 34, wherein processing said data added to said location comprises processing said data to cause said data to be displayed in a graphical representation of a workspace on said display device.

36. A method according to claim 35, wherein said workspace is arranged to receive input from a plurality of input devices.

37. A method according to any one of claims 30 to 36, wherein said memory is a volatile memory.

38. A method according to any one of claims 30 to 36, wherein said memory is a non-volatile memory.

39. A computer program comprising computer readable instructions configured to cause a computer to carry out a method according to any one of claims 30 to 38.

40. A computer readable medium carrying a computer program according to claim 39.

41. A computer apparatus for inputting data to be displayed on a display device adapted to represent said data comprising: a memory storing processor readable instructions; and

a processor arranged to read and execute instructions stored in said memory; wherein said processor readable instructions comprise instructions arranged to control the computer to carry out a method according to any one of claims 30 to 38.

42. A computing device having directly connected thereto a plurality of keyboards, said computing device being arranged to process data received from said plurality of keyboards to generate an output data stream.

43. A computing device according to claim 42, wherein at least some of said plurality of keyboards are connected to said computing device by a wired connection.

44. A computing device according to claim 42 or 43, wherein at least some of said plurality of keyboards are connected to said computing device by a USB connection.

45. A computing device according to any one of claims 42 to 44, wherein at least some of said plurality of keyboards are connected to said computing device by a wireless connection.