Remote highlighting of objects in conferencing system by logically anding a highlight bitmap and a foreground bitmap

摘要

An apparatus and method for highlighting information between conference participants in a computer conferencing system is disclosed. In a computer conferencing system including a first participant coupled to a second participant via a communication medium, the first participant having a first display, a first cursor control device, and a first signal generation device, the second participant having a second display, a second cursor control device, and a second signal generation device, a process and apparatus is disclosed for highlighting information on a remote display. This process comprises the steps of: 1) selecting a highlighting tool using the first cursor control device and the first signal generation device, the highlighting tool being a computer implemented function represented by an icon; 2) displaying the icon representing the highlighting tool only on the first display and only while the tool is selected; 3) activating the highlighting tool using the first cursor control device and the first signal generation device; and 4) displaying a highlight image on both the first display, the colored highlight image being displayed by generating a highlight bitmap and a foreground image bitmap and logically ANDing together the highlight bitmap and the foreground image bitmap and the second display, the highlight image being displayed on the second display in a position corresponding to a position of the cursor on the first display.