Deskotheque: Improved Spatial Awareness in Multi-Display Environments

Abstract

In this paper we present the multi-display environment Deskotheque, which combines personal and tiled projected displays into a continuous teamspace. Its main distinguishing factor is a fine-grained spatial (i. e., both geometric and topological) model of the display layout. Using this model, Deskotheque allows seamless mouse pointer navigation and application window sharing across the multi-display environment. Geometric compensation of casually aligned multi-projector displays supports a wide range of display configurations. Mouse pointer redirection and window migration are tightly integrated into the windowing system, while geometric compensation of projected imagery is accomplished by a 3D compositing window manager. Thus, Deskotheque provides sharing of unmodified desktop application windows across display and workstation boundaries without compromising hardware-accelerated rendering of 2D or 3D content on projected tiled displays with geometric compensation.