Device manager that utilizes physical position of display devices

Abstract

A system and method may provide for a computing system including multiple display devices. Data collected by sensors such as, for example, image sensors and positional sensors, of the display devices is leveraged to determine a position and/or an orientation of each of the display devices in the real world environment. This identification and utilization of the relative positioning of the display devices may be used to configure, and reconfigure, display settings, set display priorities, control movement of content, and respond to gesture based commands related to content management.

1 . A method, comprising:
 detecting, by a processor of a computing device, a plurality of display devices including a first display device and a second display device in a physical environment, the plurality of display devices being operably coupled to the computing device in the physical environment;   receiving image data related to the physical environment from at least one image sensor of the plurality of display devices;   receiving orientation data from at least one position sensor of the plurality of display devices;   detecting a physical position of the first display device and a physical position of the second display device in the physical environment based on the image data received from the at least one image sensor and the orientation data received from the at least one position sensor; and   controlling content displayed on at least one of the first display device or the second display device based on the physical position of the first display device and the physical position of the second display device.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 detecting a user input corresponding to a movement the content from the first display device to the second display device; and   displaying the content in response to the user input, including moving the content from a first display position on the first display device to a second display position on the second display device of the plurality of display devices.   
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein moving the content includes:
 detecting a physical discontinuity between the first display device and the second display device, based on the physical position of the first display device and the physical position of the second display device in the physical environment; and   adjusting the movement of the content from the first display device to the second display device based on the physical discontinuity.   
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 3 , wherein detecting the physical discontinuity includes at least one of:
 detecting a physical gap between the physical position of the first display device and the physical position of the second display device; or   detecting a physical bezel area surrounding a display area of at least one of the first display device or the second display device.   
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 3 , wherein adjusting the movement of the content includes delaying the displaying of the content on the second display device to correspond to movement of the content through the physical discontinuity. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein
 detecting the user input includes detecting a movement of the second display device, the second display device being included in a head mounted display device; and   displaying the content as a virtual object in a field of view of the head mounted display device in response to the user input.   
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein moving the content from the first display device to the second display device includes:
 adjusting a position and an orientation of the content, from a first position and a first orientation on the first display device to a second position and a second orientation on the second display device, based on the physical position of the first display device and the physical position of the second display device.   
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein:
 receiving the orientation data from at least one position sensor includes receiving orientation data from a position sensor of the first display device; and   detecting the physical position of the first display device includes:
 detecting a physical orientation of the first display device based on the orientation data from the position sensor of the first display device; and 
 detecting the physical position of the first display device relative to the second display device based on the physical orientation of the first display device and the image data related to the physical environment. 
   
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising;
 detecting a movement of one of the first display device or the second display device based on the orientation data; and   re-configuring display settings of the computing device in response to detecting the movement of the one of the first display device or the second display device.   
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 9 , wherein at least one of the first display device or the second display device is a mobile display device. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 9 , wherein re-configuring the display settings of the computing device includes at least one of dynamically setting an order of the plurality of display devices, dynamically setting a primary display device of the plurality of display devices, or dynamically setting relative positions of the plurality of display devices. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein detecting the physical position of the first display device and the physical position of the second display device includes:
 receiving updated image data from the at least one image sensor;   receiving updated orientation data from the at least one position sensor;   determining an updated physical position of the first display device and an updated physical position of the second display device based on the updated image data and the updated orientation data; and   updating the display settings of the computing device based on the updated physical position of the first display device and the updated physical position of the second display device.   
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising controlling an interaction of an auxiliary device with one of the first display device or the second display device, the auxiliary device including at least one of a display auxiliary device or a non-display auxiliary device. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 13 , wherein
 the display auxiliary device includes at least one of a tablet computing device or a wearable display device including at least one of an augmented reality head mounted display device or a wrist worn computing device, and   the non-display auxiliary device includes at least one of a keyboard input device, a mouse input device, or a touchpad input device.   
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein detecting the physical position of the first display device and the physical position of the second display device includes detecting the physical position of the first display device relative to the second display device, and detecting the physical position of the second display device relative to the first display device. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein controlling the content displayed on the at least one of the first display device or the second display device includes controlling display of user interface items displayed on the at least one of the first display device or the second display device. 
     
     
         17 . A computer program product tangibly embodied on a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, comprising instructions that, when executed by a computing device, are configured to cause the computing device to:
 detect a plurality of display devices, including first display device and a second display device in a physical environment;   receive image data related to the physical environment from at least one image sensor of the plurality of display devices;   receive orientation data from at least one position sensor of the plurality of display devices;   detect a physical position of the first display device and a physical position of the second display device in the physical environment based on the image data and the orientation data; and   control content displayed on the first display device and the second display device based on the physical position of the first display device and the physical position of the second display device.   
     
     
         18 . The computer program product of  claim 17 , wherein the instructions cause the computing device to:
 detect a user input, including a controller input that moves the content from the first display device to the second display device; and   move displayed content from a display position on the first display device to a display position on the second display device.   
     
     
         19 . The computer program product of  claim 18 , wherein the instructions cause the computing device to:
 detect the user input including a movement of the second display device, the second display device being included in a head mounted display device; and   display the content as a virtual object in a field of view of the head mounted display device in response to the user input.   
     
     
         20 . The computer program product of  claim 18 , wherein the instructions cause the computing device to:
 detect that a physical orientation of the first display device is different from a physical orientation of the second display device; and   adjust a position and an orientation of the content, from a first position and a first orientation on the first display device to a second position and a second orientation on the second display device, based on the physical orientation of the first display device and the physical orientation of the second display device.   
     
     
         21 . The computer program product of  claim 18 , wherein the instructions cause the computing device to:
 detect a physical discontinuity between the first display device and the second display device, the physical discontinuity including at least one of:
 a physical gap between the physical position of the first display device and the physical position of the second display device; or 
 a physical bezel area surrounding a display area of at least one of the first display device or the second display device; and 
   adjust movement of the content from the first display device to the second display device to correspond to movement of the content through the physical discontinuity.   
     
     
         22 . The computer program product of  claim 17 , wherein the instructions also cause the computing device to:
 detect a movement of one of the first display device or the second display device based on the orientation data; and   update display settings of the computing device in in response to the movement of the one of the first display device or the second display device.