The present invention relates to a method for displaying data. The invention also relates to a system for displaying data, as well as a computer program and a computer-readable medium that implement the method according to the invention.

Background of the invention

Business meetings often form an important factor when doing business, such as, for example, when it comes to establishing and strengthening business relationships. For example, a sales person may request a meeting in an attempt to sell or otherwise promote various kinds of goods and/or services. The meetings may also be of a company internal nature, i.e. meetings where two or more employees of a company oftentimes take place to discuss business matters.

Such meetings may be carried out e.g. in the form of video/web conference meetings, but meetings of this kind oftentimes take place in meeting/conference rooms located in a company's premises where participants to the meeting physically get together. When a meeting is taking place there is often a desire to display and share data such as presentations, spreadsheets, images, and/or other kinds of documents, where it is also often desirable to use display aid to facilitate the data to be comfortably and simultaneously viewed by all participants of the meeting. At least partly for such reasons, meeting rooms oftentimes comprise means for facilitating display of data to be viewed by the participants of the meetings, where such means e.g. may comprise any kind of display device, such as a flat panel display (e.g. LCD/LED/Plasma/OLED etc.), a projector, or similar means that are suitable for providing comfortable viewing by a plurality of participants by providing a larger image than that of e.g. a laptop computer.

Consequently, when a meeting is ongoing, one or more participants may use the display means to display data that is to be shared during the meeting, e.g. by connecting a laptop computer or other kind of user device to the display means using suitable cabling. Prior to the desired data is actually being displayed, however, participants to meetings may be subject to an often occurring hassle of finding appropriate cables or adapters, and/or selecting the appropriate signal source on display/projector prior to actually being able to present the desired material. This may be stressful to the presenter and occupy valuable meeting time.

Summary of the invention

It would be advantageous to achieve a method and system that reduces hassle with cables, adapters, signal source and other settings when data is to be presented to a plurality of users. It would also be advantageous to achieve a method and system that facilitates presentation of data by a plurality of users. To better address this concern a method and system having the features defined in the independent claims are provided.

According to the present invention, it is provided a method for displaying data, wherein:

- a control device is configured to receive data for display on display means,

- server means are accessible through a representation of an Internet Protocol (IP) address, the method including:

- said server means receiving, from a user device, a request for establishing data communication with said control device, said request being communicated to said server means using said representation of said IP address,

- based on said request, said server means initiating establishment of data communication between said control device and said user device, and

- when data communication is established between said control device and said user device, said control device receiving data from said user device to be displayed on display means, and

- said control device providing said data for display on said display means.

As was mentioned above, when two or more people get together to share

information, such as, for example, in a meeting room, a lecture room or lecture hall, at home or at any other location, there may be a desire to display various kinds of data on display means, to facilitate viewing by a plurality of participants. As was also mentioned, such display of data may be preceded by difficulties in finding the correct cable and/or adapter to connect a user device to the display means, where such cable/adapter may include means for connecting to the display means e.g. by HDM!, DVI, Display Port, VGA, USB etc., where also a single standard may provide various different sizes of the connection means. Furthermore, it may be required to set the display means to a particular signal source in order to display the desired data.

According to the invention, it is provided a method and system where such hassle can be substantially reduced when data is to be displayed on display means. With regard to the display means this may comprise any suitable display means, such as one or more flat panel display devices or by means of a projector or other suitable means for allowing comfortable viewing by a plurality of participants. With regard to flat panel display devices, such display devices may comprise any TV or other kind of flat panel display device, e.g. according to any flat panel technology such as, but not limited to LCD, LED, Plasma, OLED.

Objects according to embodiments of the invention are accomplished by means of a method where a control device is used, located in the premises in which the gathering is taking place, and which may be provided with means, such as by wire, for connecting to, or be integrated within, display means to be used for displaying data for a plurality of participants being present.

Instead of a user device such as a laptop computer being connected to the display means directly, as is a commonly used method, the method according to the invention include instead server means, where the server means are being distinct from the control device and in general being located at a different location. The server means are configured to receive, from a user device such as a laptop computer or any other device such as a smartphone, tablet etc. being used by a user that wishes to present data on the display means associated with the control device, a request for establishing data communication with the control device. The request is communicated to the server means using a representation of an IP address, and to request access to the control device it may be sufficient to access this address. That is, the mere access to the server means address may be taken as request for establishing data communication between user device and the control device.

The server means then initiate establishment of data communication between the control device and the user device, e.g. by suitable communication with control device and/or the user device. The server means may be accessible by the user device e.g. through the Internet, and hence communication between the user device and the control device may also take place over the Internet, i.e. also after

communication has been established between user device and control device.

According to embodiments of the invention, the server means assist in establishing communication between the control device and the user device, so that the control device and user device, following establishment of the communication, communicate directly with each other so that the server means need not participate in

communication of data to be displayed on the display means once communication between control device and user device has been established. Hence data may be communicated directly to the control device from the user device, and also directly from the control device to the user device. This has, inter alia, the advantage that since the server means may only involved in the establishment of the connection between control device and user device, the server means may be capable of handling establishment of a large plurality of connections between various control devices and user devices. The data then being transmitted between a user device and the control device does not impose a load on the server means.

According to embodiments of the invention, the server means in principle need only provide an address lookup service and/or redirect service. That is, when the user device contacts the server means to requests access to a control device, the server means may immediately lookup the address of the control device, e.g. in a table accessible by the server means, and redirect the user device to the control device so that communication may be carried out between user device and control device without need for traffic being routed by the server means.

According to embodiments of the invention, the server means is accessed by an IP address, e.g. an URL address, that includes an identifier representing the control device that the user device requests access to, so that the server means can immediately perform e.g. a directory lookup in a directory comprising an Internet address of the control device to redirect the user device to the control device so that the server device then need not be involved in the communication of data from the user device to control device to be displayed on the display means. Solutions of this kind e.g. has the advantage that the load on the server in regard of the communication between the control device and user device can be kept at a minimum.

The control device may hence receive the data to be displayed on display means directly from said user device when data communication is established between said control device and the user device without the data to be displayed passing the server means.

When data communication has been established between the control device and the user device, the control device may receive data from the user device to be displayed on the display means associated with the control device, and upon reception of such data, the control device may provide the data to the display means for being displayed. In this way, display means such as a flat panel display can be used for display of data from a user device, such as a laptop, without the need for any connection of cables and the hassle this may bring about. Hence, the invention provide an easy to use display/screen sharing functionality to enable gathered participants to focus on data being presented instead of focusing on technical problems. The invention make it easy to share information e.g. on a display such as a TV, other screen or using a projector without any need of any cables or dongles.

The control device may be configured to process data received by said user device to adapt received data for display on the display means. The control device may be configured to convert data received from the user device to a video signal for display on said display means.

The control device may receive the data from the user device in a computer (data) file format for conversion to a video signal for display on said display means. The transmission of a computer data file to the control device has, inter alia, the advantage that no streaming of data is required, since the computer file to be displayed can be uploaded to the control device so that the control device then converts the computer file to video signals being provided to the display means. Similarly, data being presented can be displayed on the user device. Only changes in data to be transmitted need then be changed, e.g. if a new page is to be displayed. Still most of the time only little or no data needs to be transmitted.

For example, e.g. computer mouse movements of the user device may be tracked, and data regarding e.g. pointer position can be transmitted to the control device for display on the display means, where this can be performed at a high frame rate while still only low levels of data is transmitted. Hence, if no data changes at the user device, no data needs to be transmitted to the control device while still the desired data is being displayed. Data needs only be transmitted when the data to be displayed changes.

In this way considerably less amounts of data needs to be transmitted in comparison to e.g. constantly streaming screen shots of the user device to the control device which would require high amounts of data, in particular in order to uphold a frame rate providing a decent user experience. This is a considerable advantage, and the invention may be utilised also in situations where communication capacity is limited.

According to embodiments of the invention, computer files comprising data to be presented on the display means by the control device may be arranged to be converted to another computer file format by the server means. That is, a computer file to be displayed is communicated to the server means, either by user device or the control device following receipt of the computer file from the user device, to be converted to a different computer file format.

This may be performed in order to render the computer file transmitted by the user device more adapted for being properly displayed on display means. For example, computer file formats such as Word, Power Point and Excel may be converted e.g. to PDF or any other suitable format that may be better suited for display on display means. For example, conversion to another format may allow display to begin as soon as a sufficient portion of the computer file has been received. When the conversion has been performed by the server means, the converted computer file can be returned either to the user device for transmission to the control device, or be transmitted directly to the control device.

Still, the actual conversion to video signals to be interpreted by the display means is performed by the control device, which hence still receives the data to be displayed in computer file format, either the full file at once or portion by portion. That is, the server means is not utilised to do the conversion to video signals.

With regard to the representation of the IP address, the control device may be configured to communicate the representation of the IP address, e.g. by displaying the representation of the IP address on the display means to thereby be accessible to meeting participants.

The control device may be configured to display the representation of the IP address on the display means when being turned on, possibly also a password according to the below when the control device is being turned on, and the control device may be configured to present address and/or password also when data of a user device is being presented on the display means.

With regard to the data being presented, this data may comprise any kind of data normally being displayed on a display, and may comprise any kind of computer file comprising data suitable for presentation. For example, data such as presentations, images, spreadsheets and/or various kinds of documents may be displayed on the display means, e.g. to be viewed by participants of a meeting.

The control unit may be provided with an output for output of data to be displayed on the display means. This output may comprise a socket for wired connection to the display means, where the control unit may be provided with a number of sockets to support various kinds of standards for output of data for display means. The sockets may be arranged to support one or more from the following common technologies for connecting display means to a device providing data for display: HDMI, Display port, optical communication means, VGA, USB, DVI and/or any other suitable connecting means. It is also contemplated that the control device may be provided with output means supporting any future similar technologies, once such become available. When the user device requests access to the control device, it may be requested that in order to establish data communication between the control device and the user device a password associated with said control device is entered via the user device. In this way it can be ensured that the control device may not be accessed by anyone simply by accessing the representation of the IP address.

The password may further be arranged to be regularly be changed so that a current password is only valid for a period of time, such as only for a shorter period of time than e.g. the duration of the ongoing gathering, such as a predetermined number of minutes. The password may alternatively or in addition be arranged to be valid only until the control device is turned off so that a new password becomes valid each time the control device is turned on.

The password may be generated in any suitable manner, and may generated e.g. by the server means and/or the control device. The password may be arranged to be provided to the server means prior to access is given to the control device.

Alternatively, or in addition the/a password may be entered from the user device directly to the control device upon establishment of communication.

Furthermore, as was mentioned, the control device may be configured to display on the display means the password to be entered by the user device when requesting establishment of data communication with said control device. The password may be available/generated in any suitable way using known technologies for generating passwords, and may e.g. be in the form of a string of characters, such as an alphanumerical string of characters and/or a PIN code.

As was also mentioned, in addition to displaying the password on the display means, the control device may be configured to display on the display means also the representation of said IP address. Consequently, the control device may be configured to display on the display means both the representation of the IP address and the password to be used, so that this information is easily accessible to the meeting participants, or only password or only representation of IP address. This data may be arranged to be presented at start-up of the control device, and also be arranged to be continuously displayed on the display device together with other data being displayed, so that any participant at any time may request access to the control device for display of data on the display device. As was mentioned, the displayed password may be arranged to change regularly, so that different passwords may be required by different user devices during an ongoing gathering in dependence on when communication with the control device is requested from a user device. When the server means receive the request for establishing data communication between the control device and the user device, the server means may communicate with the user device and/or the control device to establish the data communication between the user device and the control device. For example, the server means may communicate an IP address or other data through which the control device can be accessed, where this address/data may have been communicated to the server means from the control device e.g. when setting up the control device for first time of use, or at any instance access parameters of the control device have been changed.

As was mentioned, the user device may then communicate with the control device without any further engagement from the server means, so that data is

communicated between the user device and the control device independent from said server means, which may only serve as means for establishing the

communication.

Hence, as was mentioned above, the server means may be configured to perform a redirect to the control means, so that e.g. when a password is used, the password is entered directly to the control device without interaction with the server means in this regard.

According to embodiments of the invention, a solution is provided that requires no installation of software on the user device to access the control device.

In this way, the user device may always be capable of establishing communication with a control device. This may be accomplished, for example, by communicating through the use of web browser technology.

For example, the server means may be accessible using a web browser of the user device, and the representation of the IP address may be e.g. a Uniform Resource Locator (URL). The server means may comprise web server means accessible by entering the URL in a web browser of the user device. The control device may also be configured to allow the user device to communicate with the control device using a web browser, where data for display on the display means may be uploaded to the control device using the web browser, and where the control device may provide the data being displayed on the display means for display on the user device using a web interface and/or web service.

When communication between the control device and the user device has been established, the control device may communicate e,g, web interface data such as web page data to the user device, where the web page data may comp ise data to be displayed on the display means controlled by the control device, where this web page data may mirror data being displayed on the display means.

The web page data communicated by the control device may further comprise a representation of a plurality of areas to be displayed by a web browser of the user device, where at least one area may be configured to display data being displayed on the display means and at least one area may be configured for upload of data to be displayed by the display means. This may be performed e.g. by accessing a file structure on the user device and/or utilising drag and drop functionality. The data being displayed on the display means of the control device may be arranged to fill the web browser window of the user device, while any further areas may be overlays on the data being displayed on the display means of the control device. If a password is required according to the above, this may also be entered via the web browser, e.g. to the server means or directly to the control device as discussed above. In this way, access to the control unit and display device for display of data is made possible without the need for any system specific software installations on the user device. Also, the solution according to embodiments of the invention may be platform independent, so that e.g. any device may be used to upload data to the control device for display on the display device, and also to receive data being displayed on the display device for display on the user device.

This may be accomplished, for example, through the use of web browser technology, so that any device provided with a web browser may be used for display of data on the display means by connecting to the control device. Platform independency may 1

also be accomplished through the use of a dedicated program/application that may be Installed to the device. The program/application may be arranged to be installed beforehand and be generic for use with any of a plurality of control devices, such as any control device with which the program/application is designed to be used, and the software can be designed to be used to access control devices e.g. of different companies/enterprises so that e.g. a person visiting different companies only need to install the software once and then use the already installed software when

establishing a connection to a control device at a new location. Hence as an alternative to web page data, data suitable for a dedicated program/application according to the above may instead be communicated to the user device(s), and similar features and advantages relate to solutions of this kind.

Still, the use of a web browser or similar means has the advantage of eliminating the need for installing any software on the user device, other than possibly a web browser plug in, since existing web browsers support the file upload functionality.

When data such a computer file is to be uploaded to the control device and displayed on the display device, the control device may be configured to commence display of data prior to the complete file having been uploaded. For example, a first page of a multipage document may be displayed as soon as sufficient data for displaying the first page has been received by the control device, and data relating to subsequent pages may be uploaded when display of information in the data file has already commenced. This facilitates e.g. display of large documents without having to wast for the complete file to be uploaded prior to commencing display of the document.

Furthermore, the control device according to any of the described embodiments may be configured to concurrently communicate with a plurality of user devices, where the control device may be configured to communicate data being displayed on the display means to each of the user devices being in communication with the user device. Data being communicated to the user device that is responsible for the data being presented on the display device may e.g. differ from data being communicated to other user devices, e.g. to provide functionality for controlling the manner in which data is being displayed on the display device. For example, such functionality may include means for changing page in a document and/or zooming/panning. Also, if the complete file to be displayed is received by the control device, the control device, in turn, may communicate a part of this file for display by e.g. web browsers of the user devices, where the data to be displayed by each user device may be adapted by the control device, e.g. in terms of resolution, in dependence of the particular properties of the user device, respectively. Hence two different display devices being in simultaneous communication with a same control device may receive images of the same displayed data but of different resolution of the data being displayed by the control device.

The user device may further be configured to receive data for display on the display device from each of the plurality of devices. That is, a plurality of user devices may upload data for display on the display means. Further, according to embodiments, the lastly uploaded data will be displayed, but according to embodiments, data may be stored for each user device, where uploaded data can be selectively activated for display on the display means, by any user device or only the user device from which the data is uploaded.

The control unit may be connected to a first network, such as a local area network (LAN), and the user device may be connected to a second network, being different from said first network and from which the server means is accessible. The server means may further be located in the first network, or in the second network or in a third network. Consequently, the control device may e.g. be connected to a company internal network while the user device may be connected e.g. to a guest network or by other network means to the Internet. Hence, the user device may be arranged to communicate with the control device via the Internet.

The server means may also be arranged to control access to control devices of a plurality of locations, such as a plurality of locations belonging to same company, where the server means and the plurality of control units may be connected to the same network, but the server means may also be configured to control access to control devices of a plurality of companies, providing a central service accessible over the Internet. With regard to the invention, and the present specification and claims, the term meeting is intended to be broadly interpreted and include any kind of gathering of two or more persons.

Also, e.g. only one person may be capable of uploading data for display on the display device, such as e.g. a lecturer or other person responsible for the meeting, but where displayed data may be viewed by user devices of any number of users connecting with the control device.

The gathering may e.g. relate to an educational event, with a large number of participants viewing the display device, but the invention may also be utilised e.g. in domestic environments, e.g. to facilitate display of data such as images etc. on a larger display device such as a TV.

Further characteristics of the present invention and advantages thereof are indicated in the detailed description of exemplary embodiments set out below and the attached drawings.

Brief description of the drawings

Fig. 1 illustrates a system according to embodiments of the invention;

Fig. 2 illustrates a control device according to embodiments of the invention;

Fig. 3 illustrates an exemplary method according to embodiments of the invention;

Fig. 4 illustrates data being displayed in a web browser according to embodiments of the invention.

Detailed description of exemplary embodiments

Embodiments of the invention will now be described with reference to figure 1 , Figure 1 discloses an exemplary location such as a conference/meeting room 120 e.g. being located in company/enterprise premises (in the following the term company may be used interchangeably with enterprise, and may hence be read enterprise as well). As was mentioned above, when a meeting is to be carried out e.g. in a meeting room there is in general a desire to display data, such as presentations, images or other kinds of data on display means to be viewed by other members participating in the meeting. The meeting room 120 therefore comprises display means 121 such as e.g. any kind of display device such as e.g. any kind of TV or any other kind of flat panel display device or screen. For example the display means may be a flat panel display device according to any of the technologies LCD/LED/PLASMA/OLED etc. Alternatively, or in addition, the meeting room 20 may comprise e.g. a projector, preferably with associated projector screen. When the meeting is ongoing, one or more users having user devices 1 1 1 , 1 12, respectively may use the display device 121 to display data that is to be shared during the meeting.

This may be carried out, for example, by a user connecting e.g. user device 1 1 1 to the display device 121 by means of a suitable cable 122 or by connecting user device 1 1 1 e.g. to a projector for projecting data to be displayed on the screen.

According to the present example user devices 1 1 1 , 1 12 comprises laptop

computers. Such connections may require different means to allow connection, e.g. depending on the particular kind of user device being used, and oftentimes there is a hassle with cables, and/or equipment and/or adapters before data may be displayed as desired, in particular if participants that has not previously

According to the invention, it is provided a system that not only facilitates displaying of data e.g. on display means such as display device 121 , but that also provides further possibilities. According to the present example, it is provided a control device 101 which is present in the meeting room 120, and which is connected to the display device 121 . The control device 101 is disclosed more in detail in figure 2 and comprises means 102, such as Wi-Fi communication means for connecting to a network such as a company internal Wi-Fi network 130. According to the present example, the Wi-Fi network 130 is a company internal Wi-Fi network to which external persons may not have access.

With regard to user devices 1 1 1 and 1 12, these may have access to the Wi-Fi network 130 if being user devices belonging to employees of the company in which premises the meeting room 120 is located, but the user devices 1 1 1 , 1 12 may also be user devices belonging e.g. to visitors. Visitors are in general not allowed access to company internal networks since such networks oftentimes comprise sensitive data. Instead e.g. Guest networks are oftentimes available, and according to the present example at least user device 1 1 1 is not connected to network 130 but connected to a second Wi-Fi network 131 .

As will be apparent from the following, it is not required that a user device that is to display data on the display device 121 is connected to the same network as the control device 101 . In this case, user device 1 12 is a user device of an employee of the company in which premises the meeting room 120 is located and which therefore is connected to the same Wi-Fi network 130 as is the control device 101 . User device 1 1 1 , on the other hand, belongs to a person being a visitor, for which reason user device 1 1 1 is connected to a guest network 131 . As will be explained in the following, according to the present example, both user devices 1 1 1 , 1 12 will be able to display data on the display device 121 . According to embodiments of the invention, it may be required that both user devices are connected to the same network as control unit 101 , but according to the present example this is not required.

Consequently, the control device 101 may comprise means 102 for communication with a Wi-Fi network. According to embodiments of the invention, control device 101 may instead, or in addition, comprise means 103 for wired connection to a network, such as e.g. conventional 8P8C (RJ45) or similar connection means. The control device 101 further includes display output means, such as one or more from HDMI port, Display port, optical communication means, VGA port, USB port, DVI port and/or any other suitable connecting means for allowing, in general, wired connection to display device 121 .

The control device 101 further comprises processing means 105, such as a microprocessor, and a memory 106 comprising stored instructions, e.g. one or more computer programs, for carrying out at least parts of the method according to embodiments of the invention. This may include communication with user devices and providing data to be displayed on the display means in a format understandable by the display means to the display output means.

Returning to fig. 1 , the figure further discloses server means 140, according to the present example comprising a web server. Fig. 1 also illustrates communication via the Internet 150, and the web server 140 may be accessible through the Internet by accessing a representation of an IP address of the web server 140, such as, for example, a URL address. The web server 140 further communicates with the control device 101 , according to the present embodiment over the Internet 150.

When a control device 101 is set up for the first time it may be connected e.g. to the display device 121 or any other suitable display means. The installing person may then be guided e.g. using instructions displayed by the control device on the display screen e.g. to set up network communication, e.g. by selecting and entering password for accessing the network 130. This data may be entered e.g. through the use of a remote control unit RCU 109 which may be used to communicate with the control device 101 e.g. using IR, Bluetooth or any other suitable communication standard, and the remote control unit may e.g. be utilised for entering of set-up data, and/or for use to turn on and/or off the control device 101 .

When initializing the device for the first time, the device made e.g. be provided with an identity, which e.g. may be associated with the meeting room in which the control device 101 is being installed. The control device 101 further initiates a relation with the web server 140. This may be performed automatically if the address is already stored in the control device upon delivery, which e.g. may be the case if a central server service is used and which servers a plurality of companies. Alternatively data for allowing communication with the web server 140 may be provided upon installation, which may be the case at least when the web server is specific to the company in which the control device is being installed but also in case a web server serves a plurality of companies. In general such information need only be provided upon initialisation of the control device 101 , and if parameters regarding the web server changes and cannot be communicated directly to the control device 101 from the webs server. According to the present example such initialisation has been performed at a previous point in time and the system is up and running.

Operation of the system of fig. 1 will now be exemplified with reference to fig. 3, which illustrates a method 300 exemplifying operation according to embodiments of the invention. It is assumed that the control device 101 has been set up for use according to the above, and the method of fig. 3 is carried out e.g. when a meeting is taking place in the meeting room 120. If the control device 101 is turned off, or in a standby state, e.g. a person participating in the meeting may use the remote control 109 to turn on the control device 101 , The display device 121 may be arranged to be automatically turned on by the control device 101 , e.g. by signals on cable 122, or by means of a separate remote control.

In step 301 it is determined if the control device 101 and display device 121 are turned on. This may be determined by the control device 101 communicating with the display device 121 through cable 122, The determination of step 301 may also include the control device 101 determining if it is connected to the display device 121 and is capable of displaying data on the display device 121 . When requirements of step 301 are fulfilled, the method continues to step 302. In step 302 the control device 101 displays access data on the display device 121 , where this access data comprises a representation of an IP address of the web server 140, e.g. in the form of a URL address, and a password to be entered to be allowed access to the control device 101 . The representation of an IP address may be in representation of an IP address of the Internet in case the web server 140 is publicly available over the Internet. The web server 140 may also be arranged within, and only accessible from within, a company network in which case local network internal address may be stated.

In case the web server is only accessible from within a local network it may be required that any user device and the control device that is to display data on the display means is connected to the same network as the web server 140. According to the present example, however, this is not so. The password being displayed on the display means 101 may be a temporary password that is changed frequently, such as e.g. every minute, every few minutes or by any other suitable time interval so as to, as will be explained in the following, avoid situations where previous meeting members accidentally or deliberately accesses a subsequent meeting in which they are not participating.

For example, the display means 101 may be arranged to display data e.g. similar to the following format: viewshareJink/meetingroomlD Pin Code: 2323 on the display device 121 , where the password in the present example is a Pin Code and "meetingroom ID" in the address may be the identity of the particular control device 01 being accessed, where, as discussed below, the web server 140 may control a number of control devices 101 . These control devices may, but need not, be control devices of only a single company, but the web server may e.g. be providing services to a plurality of, such as a large number of, different companies. Meeting rooms of other companies being provided with control device communicating with web server 140 are schematically illustrated in fig. 1 as 160, 170, 180. The

address/link may alternatively or in addition be in any other suitable format, such as e.g. a QR code being displayed on the screen which may then be translated to the link/IP address representation to be used for accessing the web server. According to embodiments of the invention, only the password is displayed, while the address may be stated e.g. on a casing of the control device. The address is still the address of the web server, and this requires the web server address to never or only very seldom change. The password may be any string of characters, e.g. an alphanumerical string of characters.

A user of a user device, such as user of user device 1 1 1 , then enters, step 303, the URL address being displayed on the display device 121 e.g. in a web browser 1 1 1A of the user device 1 1 1 , and in step 304 it is determined if there is an access request from a user device, where this may be determined by web server 140. The accessing of the URL address, alternatively in combination with the entering of the Pin Code, is interpreted by the web server 140 as a request for access to the control device 101 . Upon receiving the request for access the web server 140, therefore, communicates with the control device 101 and/or user device 1 1 1 to setup a communication session, step 305, between the control device 101 and the user device 1 1 1 .

According to the present example, the communication between the control device 101 and the user device 1 1 1 is set up as a communication session where data is communicated directly between control device 101 and user device 1 1 1 so that following the establishment of this communication the web server 140 no longer participates in the communication between user device 1 1 1 and control device 101 . Hence, following establishment of the data communication between user device 1 1 1 and the control device 101 data is transmitted directly between these two entities the data having to pass the web server 140. The establishment of the communication between control device 101 and user device 1 1 1 may e.g. be carried out by the web server 140 communicating information required to set up the communication between control device 101 and user device 1 1 1 in any suitable manner such as according to any of the known technologies in the art regarding setting up of such communication.

With regard to the password, this may be entered to the web server 140 in order to be allowed access to the control device 101 , or directly to the control device 101 upon establishment of communication between control device 101 and user device 1 1 1 . In case the password is entered to the web server 140, this may have been generated by the control device and communicated to the web server 140.

Alternatively, the password may have been generated by the web server 140 and communicated to the control device 101 for display on the display device 121 . In addition to the password, the user may also provide a user identity, so that it may be displayed on the display e.g. who is currently displaying data in case of a plurality of users concurrently being connected to the control device 101 (see below).

Once communication has been established between the control device 101 and the user device 1 1 1 , data to be displayed on the display device 121 can be transmitted (uploaded) from the user device 1 1 1 to the control device 101 . This may be performed in any suitable way and exemplary methods are discussed below. This data may comprise any data suitable for presentation on the display means. For example, the data may comprise PowerPoint presentations or presentations of any other format, images, word processing documents, spreadsheets etc. The data is then received by the control device 101 which outputs the data in a format suitable for display on the display means being used, step 306, i.e. according to the present example data for display is provided to display device 121 through cable 122. Data is then being displayed for as long as there is a request for displaying data, and when it is determined, step 307, that data no longer is to be displayed, e.g. because the user device 1 1 1 terminates the session, e.g. by closing the web browser, display of data is discontinued and the method ended in step 308.

Furthermore, the control device 101 is arranged to communicate data to be displayed on the web browser 1 1 1 A of the user device 1 1 1 when communicating with the control device 101 , where this data mimics data being displayed on the display device 121 so that data being presented on the display device 121 is also displayed on the web browser 1 1 1A of the user device 1 1 1 . The control device 101 is further arranged to communicate with the user device such that the user of the user device 101 may control the data being displayed on the display device 121 , e.g. by changing pages/slides in case of a multipage document/presentation, zoom/pan etc. by communicating with the control device 101 using the web browser 1 1 1A. This may be accomplished by causing the web browser 1 1 1 A to display e.g. suitable buttons for performing such actions. The present invention, consequently, provides a method for allowing a user to display data on display means simply by accessing e.g. a web page and without physically connecting e.g. a computer to display means in the meeting room in which the meeting is taking place.

The user wishing to display data simply accesses a webpage, preferably enters a code, and uploads the data to be displayed on the display device. As was mentioned above, in case the web server 140 is publicly accessible through the Internet it is sufficient that the user device 1 1 1 is connected to the Internet using any network and need not be connected to a network of the company in the premises of which the meeting is taking place. With regard to upload of data to be displayed, this may, for example, be performed by the user of the user device 1 1 1 utilizing drag-and-drop functionality to drag-and-drop a document to be displayed on the display device 121 e.g. to a field/area displayed by the web browser 1 1 1 A adapted to receive data for display. The upload of data may also be carried out e.g. by accessing the file structure of the user device, by selecting e.g. a "Browse" button displayed by the control unit 101 via the web browser 1 1 1A.

A file to be displayed may be uploaded in its entirety to the control device, but the control device may also be arranged to load only portions of a document presently being displayed, so that the full document need not be downloaded prior to being displayed, but only as much as is required to start display of the document, so that e.g. also large documents can be accessed fast without having to wait for the full document to be downloaded. The control device may also be arranged to only store the data currently being presented, so that data essentially is being streamed to the control device from the user device.

The described method also provides further possibilities. So far, access to the control device 101 has only been requested by user device 1 1 1 . The described system, however, is not limited to a single user at a time accessing the control device 101 . Therefore, e.g. user device 1 12 may also access the control device 101 using the data being displayed on the display device 121 . That is, similar to the above, the user device 1 12 may access the web server 140 using the same link as the user device 1 1 1 and enters the pin code following which the web server 140 communicates with control device 101 and/or user device 1 12 to establish a further connection between the control device 101 and a user device. In this way, data being displayed on the display device 121 may be displayed also in the web browser of the user device 1 12. In this way, the data may also be shared by user device 1 12 e.g. by using drag-and- drop or any other suitable way to upload data to be displayed on the display device 121 to the control device 101 so that both user or user device 1 1 1 and user of user device 1 12 may share data through the display device 121 in a simple and

comfortable manner. The connection to the control unit 101 may be performed by any number of participants participating to the meeting so that any of the participants may display data on the display device 121 if desired. Furthermore, persons not being physically present in the meeting room 120 may also view data being displayed for as long as the login credentials are communicated to such outside persons.

Fig. 4 discloses an example of a manner in which data may be presented to the user by the web browser 1 1 1 A of the user device 1 1 1 . The area 401 represents the area of the web browser 1 1 1 A normally displaying content of a webpage, and according to the present example this whole area is used to display that which is currently being displayed on the display device 121 , such as a PowerPoint presentation etc. In addition, further data may be displayed by the web browser, e.g. using further fields being overlaid on the data being displayed on the display device 121 , where these fields may or may not be displayed also on the display device 121 . According to the present example there is also a field 402 which may or may not be used, and which may be e.g. a semi-transparent overlay on the field 401 and which e.g. may disclose the data required to join the ongoing session, e.g. the link and password stated above. The field may further disclose other meeting relevant data, such as currently connected participants.

A further e.g. semi-transparent field 403 which also may or may not be used displays an agenda of the meeting, where bullets 403A-D may be agenda points of the meeting which can be used e.g. for meeting management. Such data may also be communicated for display on web browsers of further user devices, or be arranged to only be visible on the web browser of the user device responsible for data currently being displayed. Fig. 4 further discloses a field/area 404 which may be used e.g. to upload data to be displayed e.g. by drag-and-drop files to the area 404 or, for example, by depressing a button or the like to access the file structure of the user device to select a file for display by the display device. The area 404 may be arranged to identify all documents to be displayed, e.g. also documents uploaded by other users connected to the control device 101 . When a document is selected e.g. by clicking on it or otherwise, a document currently being displayed on the display means may be replaced so that the newly selected document is displayed instead.

Furthermore, the control device 101 may be configured to detect whether e.g. an uploaded document is about to be selected for display. This may be detected, for example, by detecting if e.g. a mouse pointer is hovering above, or pauses in motion above, a representation of the document, and if this is the case the control unit may take any possible actions for preparing the document for display, so that time to display is reduced when the document is actually selected for display by the user. Other means for detecting whether e.g. an uploaded document is about to be selected for display may also be utilised, such as e.g. eye-tracking software.

Fig. 4 also shows a field 405, which may comprise e.g. "buttons" A-E for selecting next /previous page, zoom in/zoom out/pan and/or other functions for controlling the document currently being displayed. This field may be arranged to be displayed only in the web browser of the user device having selected and/or uploaded the document currently being displayed or be available for all participants. Furthermore, fields such as fields 402-405 may be designed to allow the fields to be toggled on and off, so that one or more of these fields can be selectively viewed on the display device 121 . Any change in the displaying of a document is immediately displayed on the display device 121 as well as in the web browser of the participants being connected to the control device 101 .

With regard to the password being displayed by the control device 101 upon initiation of the meeting, this password may be arranged to change at relatively short intervals so that, following a meeting being ended, a user of a previous meeting may not access the same control device 101 using the same password at a later point in time. In this way it can be ensured that previous meeting members may not access data being displayed in subsequent meetings. Also, if turning off control device 101 at the end of a meeting, all data relating to the meeting, including uploaded data, may be deleted so that the control device is cleared for subsequent meeting.

Embodiments of the invention further has the advantage that existing technology can be used, such as use of web browsers, so that no installations of software are required on the user device that is used to display data on the display device 121 .

Furthermore, the communication between the control device 101 and the user devices is preferably carried out using a protocol for secure communication, such as the HTTPS protocol or similar protocol. The web server is preferably provided with a globally accepted/verified certificate, which is preferably signed by a trusted certificate authority so that the web browser accepts the certificate without issuing warnings. In this way trust in the communication may be accomplished in a straightforward manner.

Finally, the present invention is not limited to the described embodiments but may be modified in various different ways without departing from the scope of the invention which is limited only by the appended claims.