Method and System of Video Wall Setup and Adjustment Using GUI and Display Images

Abstract

A system is disclosed for setup and operation of a video wall including a system for utilizing unique calibration display Images in combination with user input commands via a GUI to facilitate setup. A method and computer readable medium are also disclosed that operate in accordance with the system.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

[0001] This application claims priority from U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/926,295 filed on Jan. 12, 2014, which is hereby incorporated by reference.

FIELD OF INVENTION

[0002] Large electronic displays, may be formed from an array of monitors referred to as a "video-wall". For example video-wall might be comprised of a 3 by 3 array of nine monitors, each monitor simultaneously displaying a segment of a single image, thereby creating the appearance of a single large display comprised of rectangular portions.

[0003] The present invention relates generally to improving the setup and operation of such video-wall displays and particularly to network addressable displays.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0004] The present invention relates generally to improving the setup and operation of video-wall displays and particularly to network addressable displays.

[0005] A video-wall display system is a method to overcome the costs of manufacturing and installing very large displays, by assembling a large display using multiple smaller displays arranged and working together. By dividing a single image into several sub-images and displaying the sub-images on an appropriately arranged array of display devices a larger display with higher resolution can be created.

[0006] Because the plurality of display devices need to be operated together to display a single image or canvas across a video-wall (rather than a separate independent image for each display), the set-up of the output displays is critical and their fine tuning can be laborious. Informing the server of the initial positioning of each display (so that the image segments are sent to the appropriate displays); the precise cropping of each of the sub-images (to allow the eye to interpret continuity of the total image across the bezels of the displays where no image can appear); and the adjustment of the color of the sub-segments of the image to provide equal luminosity, color and intensity/brightness ranges across the whole array of displays within the video-wall, are all essential to providing the optimal viewing experience. With conventional approaches to video-wall setup these tasks can be laborious. This invention offers methods of improving the ease and speed of video-wall setup.

DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0007] A video wall server splits source-video into sub-images and distributes these sub-images to multiple listening display devices. Built-in algorithms optimize, parse and scale the individual video-wall segments. To accomplish this splitting efficiently it is beneficial to create a configuration file stored in a computer readable medium using information on the position, configuration and settings for each of individual physical display and how they relate to the video-wall canvas. Using such a configuration file allows the video wall server to efficiently create a seamless canvas across the display units. This invention deals with methods of supplying the information for the creation of such files by means of user feedback base on test-canvasses and to sequentially changing the configuration file before redeploying a test-canvas to further improve the overall viewer-image.

[0008] Configuration of Displays: This invention provides methods equipping the server with a configuration file containing: [0009] the overall shape of the video wall; [0010] the ordering of the sub-images within the video wall; [0011] any further rotation or displacement of displays required to form the appropriate canvas on the video wall; [0012] interactively fine-tuning the positioning and bezel width of the displays to achieve perfect alignment across display monitor bezels; [0013] adjusting the color intensity of displays to achieve a uniform color across the video-wall; Once this information is established it is stored in the server's configuration files.

[0014] The methods to achieve the five types of adjustments outlined above all involve a user interacting with the server via a GUI either available directly through an interface on the server or by interaction with the server via the web. The user observing the current state of the canvas on the video wall and making those changes appropriate for its improvement on the GUI. Examples of such changes are as follows.

[0015] The overall shape. Once the display units have been mounted to form the wall and connected to the server the server will know the number of display units involved and will present a GUI for shape. For example if there were 10 display units this could be a 10 by 10 array and the user might be asked to click on the approximate position in the array for each of the 10 monitors in the array.

[0016] The ordering of the sub-images within the canvas. For example one method to achieve this is for the server to display a canvas with a number on each of the displays (perhaps corresponding to the order in which they were connected to the server). The GUI might present a corresponding empty array with the same set of numbers as the canvas available for drag and drop. Once the user has dragged each number to the same relative position in the array on the GUI as occupies on the canvas, the server easily accomplishes the appropriate reordering of the displays.

[0017] Rotation and displacement. For example the canvas presented here could cover the monitors with a coherent pattern of lines and the GUI could present the user with an image of the current display positions. By clicking on one of these images the user would be able to move it or rotate it to bring the overall pattern onto better alignment. In response the server would make the corresponding changes to the canvas. This correction process would continue until the user was happy with the overall alignment.

[0018] Interactive fine tuning. Generally the canvas on the video wall will appear to be interrupted by the bezels making up the edges of each display monitor. The fine tuning is used to minimize the bezel effect by appropriately moving each of he displays a few pixel widths horizontally or vertically. For example this could be achieved by displaying a test canvas of diagonal lines on the video wall and supplying the GUI with a schematic of this pattern accompanied by a vertical slider to the left of, and a horizontal sliders above, each of the screens in the schematic. Movement of the slider corresponding to a pixel by pixel sliding of the corresponding display on the canvas. Through a series of slider combinations the user brings the canvas as displayed across the video wall into alignment.

[0019] Adjusting color intensity across the canvas. For example the canvas could display in turn lines of each of the three primary colors red, blue and green. The user would have a GUI containing an image of all the displays with vertical sliders to the left of each. By moving the slider fine adjustments would be made to the intensity of that hue on the corresponding display. By watching the response on the displayed canvas the intensities across each color could be brought into as close alignment as possible with the human eye.

[0020] Visual prompting and status indicators to assist during video-wall setup. As displays are linked into a video-wall it is helpful to the individual setting up the video-wall to receive visual feedback from the displays themselves as screens are added to or removed from the video-wall. In one embodiment of the invention, visual status indicators shows progress as each display's position within the video-wall has been successfully identified and the display is "linked into" the video-wall. For example, a line, pattern, color change, picture, or animated effect is used to differentiate monitors which have been added or positioned within the video-wall from those that haven't. A different status indicator such as an image, icon, or input prompt could be output to those displays which are being output to by the video-wall server, but are still awaiting placement/assignment/relative-positioning within the video-wall. In one embodiment, once an an adjacency relationship is established between edges of displays within the video-wall a status indicates that the edges of both displays have been successfully linked. In one embodiment, once the full video-wall has been setup, will show a visual success image indicator spanning the full video-wall.

[0021] Method of non-interactive video-wall setup without an external control interface. In some situations video-wall set-up must be accomplished on non-interactive displays (e.g. if the displays are televisions) without access to an interactive control interface as is provided by the video-wall server. Prompts are again displayed on the screen but since the user has no input devices, the user indicates the sequence and order of the displays by responding to the prompts by power cycling or re-plugging the monitors in the appropriate sequence. In one embodiment the server detects monitors being powered on/off and connected/disconnected through receiving display power management events detected and relayed to the operating system via the corresponding video driver. As displays are linked in sequence the central server updates the screen to indicate the successful links between the displays. Once the order has been establishes a second set of user actions can be used to indicate row ends allowing the server to set up the array in the correct shape (in the case of a video-wall with six display units: six in a row, two rows of three or three rows of two or a column of six). This method cannot be applied unless the displays are organized in a rectangular array, or the particular departures from regularity that could possibly be used are pre-programmed into the server.

[0022] Drag and drop method of arranging displays into a video-wall pattern. The server outputs a unique symbol to each of the displays and the GUI, in communication with the video-wall server, enables an administrative user to communicate the arrangements of the displays to the video-wall server. In a particular embodiment the administrative control panel GUI shows a miniature icon representations of each displays (each icon being labeled with the corresponding unique symbol being output to the physical display). The user can then drag and drop the icons into an arrangement mimicking the shape, orientation and positions of the displays in the physical video-wall. The administrator drags each icon to correspond, within the GUI, to that display's position on the physical video-wall. The method also allows for non-grid video-wall set-ups where the display's rotation is non standard by providing a method to rotate the icons. The user arranges and rotates the icons until they mirror the actual video-wall they see in front of them. Once the displays are aligned approximately correctly, the user can proceed with bezel correction and subsequent steps in display configuration (such as displaying a test pattern and asking for confirmation of correctness).

[0023] Specifying a rectangular array by entering a code into a GUI. When the pattern of displays has been pre-specified to the server, it presents the user with GUI of that rectangular array and the server displays a unique differentiating symbol/number/character/code on each of the available displays. The administrator then types the appropriate symbols into the empty sites in the GUI array, corresponding to the position of the symbol in the physical display. If the rectangular pattern is anticipated but not not pre-specified the server presents the user with a GUI having a very large square array, with the number of rows equal to the total number of displays connected. The user then types the symbol supplied into the appropriate cell and so communicates not only the display but also the array shape. This method works best for video-walls where the displays are arranged in a grid-like array.

[0024] Fine tuning display placement and bezel correction via a specialized test output image(s). In one embodiment, an administrator GUI in combination with a test image on the video-wall is used to fine-tune the bezel corrections. This facilitates installation by eliminating the need for physical measurements of display and bezel width or complex calculations on the part of the installer. In one embodiment, an administrative GUI is provided that shows a representation of the video-wall. As changes are made within the GUI the relative positioning of the displays within the video-wall canvas itself is simultaneously updated thus the output image that the administrator sees displayed on the video-wall is also updated, enabling the administrator to quickly bring display positioning and bezel size into optimal alignment. The administrator adjust spading and positioning via manipulation until the lines of the image displayed on the video-wall appear to be continuous. In the case of a uniform grid configuration of displays, the GUI provides tools for the user to simultaneously adjust the padding/spacing/bezel correction of the rows or columns of the displays in blocks. In the case of a non-grid (non-standard) video-wall layout the GUI could enable the administrator to rotate and adjust individual displays or groups of displays. The administrator continues adjustment until the image displayed on the video-wall appears in perfect alignment. The images used for alignment may take various forms. For example in one embodiment the canvas image is comprised of lines of multiple styles, angles, thicknesses, and colors so as to both be able to visually distinguish which lines should align across the bezel. The image may also include horizontal and vertical lines to assist an installer in ensuring that the rotation of the video-wall is correct in relation to the horizon or a level. The image may also include one or more perfect circles or perfect squares so as to quickly visually discern any aspect ratio distortion either within individual displays or within the entire canvas. In one embodiment lines are drawn on the borders (the outermost pixels) of the displays, and the administrator can then adjust padding until the border is fully visible within each display area. In a preferred embodiment of the invention, multiple test images are provided for the administrator to utilize. During this adjustment process, distortion or overlap of the test image(s) indicates that alignment is not yet correct. These test images ensure that alignment of multiple segments of a line can easily be discerned either visually or using tools such as a ruler, piece of string, a level, etc. In an alternative embodiment the administrator can initiate and/or adjust individual placement of the lines via the GUI to evaluate line continuity as displayed on the video-wall output itself.

[0025] Method of interactive video-wall color calibration by eye. To ensure a perfect image across the whole canvas it is important to ensure uniformity of color and brightness between each of the individual displays comprising the video-wall. Typically color calibration of displays requires sophisticated and sometimes expensive tools and software. In one embodiment of the invention this can be achieved by outputting a uniform color to all displays within the video-wall, and presenting the user with a GUI to adjust in real-time the color settings of any individual display within the array. This GUI provides the user with controls to adjust color attributes for each corresponding display within the video-wall array. In one embodiment the user dynamically adjusts the color for an individual display by selecting the display within the GUI then dragging a color calibration slider causing the corresponding display to adjust in real-time to the user's input. Once adjusting the sliders has brought color consistency across the canvas and once this has been signaled to the server it proceeds to provide the next color for evaluation. In one embodiment of the invention color calibration is done by controlling monitor settings via the centralized server software being in communication with the display settings (potentially via an RS232 or other interface) and a uniform image canvas is output to the display. In an alternative embodiment color adjustments are stored in the server software and color adjustments are done by the server as it is output to the display itself.

[0026] With the above embodiments in mind, it should be understood that the embodiments might employ various computer-implemented operations involving data stored in computer systems. These operations are those requiring physical manipulation of physical quantities. Usually, though not necessarily, these quantities take the form of electrical or magnetic signals capable of being stored, transferred, combined, compared, and otherwise manipulated. Further, the manipulations performed are often referred to in terms, such as producing, identifying, determining, or comparing. Any of the operations described herein that form part of the embodiments are useful machine operations. The embodiments also relate to a device or an apparatus for performing these operations. The apparatus can be specially constructed for the required purpose, or the apparatus can be a general-purpose computer selectively activated or configured by a computer program stored in the computer. In particular, various general-purpose machines can be used with computer programs written in accordance with the teachings herein, or it may be more convenient to construct a more specialized apparatus to perform the required operations.

[0027] The embodiments can also be embodied as computer readable code on a computer readable medium. The computer readable medium is any data storage device that can store data, which can be thereafter read by a computer system. Examples of the computer readable medium include hard drives, solid state drives (SSD), network attached storage (NAS), read-only memory, random-access memory, Optical discs (CD/DVD/Blu-ray/HD-DVD), magnetic tapes, and other optical and non-optical data storage devices. The computer readable medium can also be distributed over a network coupled computer system so that the computer readable code is stored and executed in a distributed fashion. Embodiments described herein may be practiced with various computer system configurations including hand-held devices, tablets, microprocessor systems, microprocessor-based or programmable consumer electronics, minicomputers, mainframe computers and the like. The embodiments can also be practiced in distributed computing environments where tasks are performed by remote processing devices that are linked through a wire-based or wireless network.

[0028] Although the method operations were described in a specific order, it should be understood that other operations may be performed in between described operations, described operations may be adjusted so that they occur at slightly different times or the described operations may be distributed in a system which allows the occurrence of the processing operations at various intervals associated with the processing.

[0029] While the system and method has been described in conjunction with several specific embodiments, it is evident to those skilled in the art that many further alternatives, modifications and variations will be apparent in light of the foregoing description. Thus, the embodiments described herein are intended to embrace all such alternatives, modifications, applications and variations as may fall within the spirit and scope of the appended claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0030] Embodiments will now be described more fully with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

[0031] FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the basic process of how mappings are used.

[0032] FIG. 2 illustrates an image output method of video-wall display identification.

[0033] FIG. 3 illustrates one drag`n`drop GUI method of specifying the shape of the video-wall.

[0034] FIG. 4 illustrates the need for bezel correction.

[0035] FIG. 5 illustrates one method of using sliders for fine bezel correction adjustment.

[0036] FIG. 6 illustrates manual placement of individual screens for precise placement of of canvas on non-grid displays.

[0037] FIG. 7 illustrates one specific embodiment of the whole video-wall system process of set-up and functioning.

[0038] FIG. 8 is the flow diagram for a typical administrative GUI video-wall set-up,

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0039] FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the basic process of how sub-images are pulled from a video wall "canvas" each sub-image portion then being separately output to individual corresponding displays according to the mapping. One of the key features of this disclosed innovation is an efficient method of creating these mappings. The illustration in FIG. 1 shows the rendering and delivery of sub-image portions to a non-standard "artistic" arrangement of the video wall displays. At (12) a particular source content (either the operating system, the window manager an application, a video player or another image source, such as for example HDMI capture) passes content to the GPU for conversion and storage in the GPU frame buffer, (13). Subsequently the designated sub-images, based on the mapping configuration between displays and the image canvas required for ultimate display on the video wall, are then read/cropped/processed from the frame buffer, shown in stage (14). Each individual sub-image portion is then processed from the frame buffer, each sub-frame appropriate to (and for ultimate output to) the particular display of the video wall being addressed (15). Each sub-image portion is delivered to the corresponding secondary display adapter show as, G1 to G6 at (15), each display adapter in turn then outputting the provided (processed) image data to the corresponding display units at (16).

[0040] FIG. 2 illustrates the "unique output symbol" method of video-wall setup using a GUI. The video-wall is shown schematically in the top half of the figure. The server assigns unique identifiers (in this case numbers) to each of the displays and outputs these to each of the screens in the video-wall as seen in the 3.times.3 array of displays at the top of FIG. 21). The user has a GUI (possibly a browser based GUI and possibly on a tablet or smart-phone in communication with the server via a web-server). The user has already communicated to the server that the display is a 3.times.3 array. In response the server has supplied a 3.times.3 grid within the GUI (22) with a 3.times.3 array with a blank in each of the nine segments of the array. At the stage illustrated the user has filled in several of the numbers of the displays as they appear on the video-wall by entering a `6` in the top right corner, a `1` for the display to its right and a `5` and `4` in the corresponding positions in the bottom row as illustrated in the schematic of the GUI running on a tablet (22). Once all of the numbers have been entered the server will have enough of the video-wall specified to support a single test-picture across the wall.

[0041] FIG. 3 illustrates the drag-GUI method of specifying the shape of the video-wall and the order of the displays. The top half of the figure is again a schematic of the video-wall (31). The bottom half (32) is the GUI as presented on the user's tablet. Across the bottom of the GUI icons for the nine connections to the video-wall server are presented, numbered from 1 to 9. Using the mouse the user has begun to form the numbering and shape of the video-wall by dragging the numbered icons to occupy the positions corresponding video-wall. Currently four icons have been shifted into place corresponding to the top row and first entry in the second row as seen on the video-wall. The icon 7 is being dragged into place and four icons, 2, 4, 5 and 8, remain available to be dragged at the bottom of the GUI. The result will inform the server not only of the ordering of the numbering but that the nine displays are in a 3 by 3 format rather than say a "triangle" with rows of 4, 3 and 2.

[0042] FIG. 4 illustrates the need for bezel correction. The figure shows two illustrations of a 3.times.3 video-wall presenting a canvas of diagonal straight lines which have been drawn to cover the whole canvas. The pattern is interrupted by the bezel edges of the nine displays which form pairs of horizontal and vertical interruption bands. The top half of FIG. 4 illustrates an early stage in the correction process, the bezel interruptions prevent the lines on the canvas from appearing as portions of a single straight line. This is emphasized by the straight diagonal lines (41) and (42). Notice that the lines on the canvas do not exactly follow these ruled lines. The bottom half of the figure illustrates the view after effective bezel adjustments have been made: the diagonals on the canvas line up accurately and the fine lines added at (43) and (44) confirm this. In practice such lines cannot be supplied by the canvas, and evaluation of alignment must be by eye or by image capture.

[0043] FIG. 5 illustrates the mechanics of one method of using sliders for fine adjustment of bezel correction. The top half of the FIG. 51) shows a schematic of the video-wall with diagonal lines displayed across the canvas. The lower half shows a schematic of the GUI on the user's tablet (52). The slider shown on the top (53) is currently active and to be used to make fine adjustment to the bezel correction by moving the blocks in columns as indicated by the column gap markers shown at (54). The vertical displacement slider (55) can also be adjusted to adjust the height of the vertical bezel between displays. Corrections are evaluated by inspecting the lines within a test image (the example test image illustrated here is a series of intersecting diagonal lines on the video-wall, various test patterns options are described in the description. As horizontal and vertical bezels can be different on different displays, both horizontal and vertical sliders are required.

[0044] FIG. 6 shows how manual placement of individual screens within a GUI combined with a test pattern can assist with configuration and precise placement of non-grid (non-standard) display orientations within a video-wall. Once the physical video-wall has been installed, the placement of the screens on the video-wall server can be accomplished using a drag-n-drop GUI method then by using the rotational facility once the link between each display and the GUI has been correctly established. Once the positions, order and rotations have been specified, the diagonal canvas covering the non-grid video-wall as seen in the top image (61) of FIG. 6 can be displayed. The fine-tuning of display placement can then be adjusted moving and rotating individual display representations within the GUI (62) to ensure exact alignment of the test pattern lines output to the physical video-wall.

[0045] FIG. 7 is an illustration of one specific embodiment of the whole video-wall system process of set-up and use with a networked video wall using zero clients (70). The server first discovers and connects to the zero-client devices over the network and builds a list of displays and assigns a unique identity to each display (71). Next it collects the available display resolutions and other available settings from all the connected displays (72). Then the GUI process is launched beginning with a browser accessible GUI for user input is launched (73), initially displaying an output an identification image (containing a unique identifier) to each individual display comprising the video wall. (74) For example display a representation of each display within the GUI to enable placement or matching between the GUI representation and the physical video wall via user input. Continue canvas/GUI presentation all identifiers have been placed. Create a settings file representing the positions and order of the display units as communicated in GUI, update this file as more information is gathered via the GUI and update both the GUI and individual displays as changes occur to this file updating individual displays with placement images each displaying appropriate to their corresponding position within the stored mapping of the video wall placement. Next output line calibration images to video-wall displays to fine-tune display placement within the GUI and enable fine-placement tools (75). Continue canvas/GUI presentation updating of both the GUI and the individual displays as placement progresses and update the settings file to current display positions and rotations of the displays as in the GUI. Once the user indicates that this processing is ended, update the displays with a sequence color calibration images to refine color correction settings and show control tools enabling the user to adjust color settings for individual ones of the displays within the GUI (76). Once the user has indicated satisfaction with the color fine tuning is complete. Calculate canvas size and position of displays within canvas and write all sub-image mapping info to the settings file.

[0046] The preliminary steps in the setup of the video wall system are now complete and the system is ready to process and deliver content to the video wall displays. It can now receive content for display via the primary GPU processing application output frame by frame to the frame buffer (78), and Process (e.g., crop/split/rotate/re-size/color-convert) based on stored identity, placement, and calibration settings individual sub-image portions (79) to be encoded and sent to the appropriate devices for output to the appropriate secondary display adapters which in turn outputs the transformed image data to the corresponding displays (710), together creating displaying the video wall image across all displays. This decoding and displaying process is continued while the video-wall is in use (711), and ends when terminated (712).

[0047] FIG. 8 is the flow diagram for a typical administrative GUI video-wall set-up [as exemplified in FIGS. 3,5 and 6]. The process begins at (80) and starts by outputting a unique identifier to each screen in the array (81). In response to this the user positions and controls the representations of displays within the control panel to indicate the spatial relationships between the screens and the ordering of the screens (82). Next the process outputs the special bezel adjustment image to displays (83), and the user adjusts the bezel spacing and/or screen placement (84). At this point the server asks the user if the bezel and spacing adjustments are all optimal (85) Adjustment continues until correct (83) and once correct the display arrangement process is complete and can then optionally proceed to color adjustment if desired by the user (86).

Claims

1. A system for adjusting, for ones of a plurality of displays, ones of their identity, placement and configuration settings within a video-wall canvas to facilitate operation of said plurality of displays as a video-wall, the system comprising: a control module in communication with each of said plurality of displays, configured to retrieve information from, and provide output commands to, individual ones of the plurality of displays; unique configuration images, optimized to visually accentuate ones of the corresponding display's current identity, placement, configuration and color characteristics within the video wall canvas, being output to individual ones of the plurality of displays in response to said output commands from the control module; a Graphical User Interface (GUI) comprising graphical representations of the plurality of displays comprising the video wall canvas and responsive to user input and in communication with the control module; a user, informed by the unique configuration images output to the plurality of displays, adjusting, via input commands to the GUI, ones of identification, placement, configuration and color characteristics settings for individual ones of said plurality of displays, the video wall canvas being updated in response to said adjusting.

2. The system of claim 1, where ones of the identity, placement, color settings and configuration settings for the plurality of displays are stored as a mapping in computer readable memory accessible to the control module.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein each display comprising the plurality displays is assigned a unique identifier accessible to the control module.

4. The system of claim 1, where the control module further comprises a web-server and the GUI further comprises a web-page being rendered by a web-browser in communication with the web-server.

5. The system of claim 1, where the control module is running on ones of: a server; a server in communication with ones of the displays via a network connection; an embedded computer housed within at least one of the plurality of displays comprising the video wall; a personal computer; a laptop; a mobile device.

6. The system of claim claim 1 wherein the user's input commands to the GUI is interacting with the GUI via ones of: a web browser; a laptop; a smart phone; a tablet; a personal computer; a mobile device; a touch-screen; a mouse; an input device; voice commands; gesture input; touch input.

7. The system of claim 1, where said graphical representations in the GUI further comprises a plurality of blocks, each block representing, and corresponding to, one of the plurality of display devices comprising the video wall.

8. The system of claim 7, where the correspondence between the blocks within the GUI and displays within the video wall is visually communicated to the user via ones of the blocks within the GUI: matching the relative size and aspect ratio of their corresponding display; matching the relative position and orientation of their corresponding display; being labeled with a unique identifier consisting of at least one letter, number, symbol, shape, color, or visual pattern the matching unique identifier being output to their corresponding display; being labeled with a unique identifier comprising ones of letters, numbers, symbols, shapes, colors, or visual patterns the matching unique identifier being output to their corresponding display; or combinations thereof, depicting graphical output that mirrors the output of their corresponding display.

9. The system of 8, where said adjusting via input commands to the GUI comprises manipulating ones of said plurality of blocks within the GUI such that they more closely represent the physical layout of said plurality of displays, by adjusting relative ones of: the block's position; the block's rotation; the block's spacing; the block's assignment by changing unique identifiers within the GUI to corresponding ones of the displays; the block's color characteristics; the block's display settings; the block's network settings; the block's device settings; the block's settings.

10. The system of claim 9, further comprising the output of a configuration status indicator, by updating, overlaying or visually marking said unique configuration images output to the corresponding ones of said plurality of displays in response to selecting and unselecting said blocks within the GUI, updating displays whose block representations within the GUI: are currently selected for editing with an "active" status indicator; are currently unselected but have unsaved changes with a "pending" status indicator; have not yet been adjusted with an "unaltered" status indicator; have completed and saved an adjustment with a `completed` status indicator.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the outputting of the unique configuration images and the adjusting by the user to the video-wall canvas occurs sequentially as part of a multi-step process, each step further improving alignment and uniformity of the plurality of displays comprising the video wall, the initiation of each subsequent step being in response to user input.

12. The system of claim 11, where the specific attributes being adjusted are ones of identification, rotation, position, bezel width, spacing, brightness, RGB color, intensity, gamma, contrast, white balance, grayscale of individual ones of the displays within the video wall.

13. The system of claim 9, where the unique configuration images correspond to ones of: output of a unique identifier image the user assigning ones of the blocks within the GUI to specific ones of the plurality of displays; output of a unique identifier image the user adjusting the relative position or rotation of blocks within the GUI; output of a line pattern image to the video wall canvas, each display showing its assigned sub-image portion thereof the user adjusting the relative position or rotation of blocks within the GUI; output of a line pattern image to the video wall canvas, each display showing its assigned sub-image portion thereof, the user adjusting the spacing between multiple blocks simultaneously using the GUI to compensate for display bezel or allow for edge-blending overlap between displays output of a uniform color image across ones of the displays to accentuate differences between actual output colors between the displays, the user adjusting color settings using controls supplied by the GUI; output of a line pattern image to the video wall canvas, each display showing its assigned sub-image portion thereof the user adjusting the position of ones of said displays via keyboard input for fine or pre-set position adjustments.

14. The system of claim 1, wherein the unique configuration image is a sequence of lines spanning the multiple displays within the video wall canvas, and the user input is adjusting the position and rotation of the representative displays within the GUI achieve perfect alignment of configuration images as output by the displays.

15. The system of claim 1, where the unique configuration image is a uniform color across all displays and the user input is to adjust color settings for individual ones of the displays within the GUI to achieve color uniformity across all displays for the configuration images as output by the displays.

16. The system of claim 1, further comprising outputting a visual status indicator to all displays comprising the plurality upon completion of one or more steps within the setup process.

17. The system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of displays comprise ones of: monitors; touch screen displays; front projected displays; rear-projected displays.

18. A method of adjusting mappings for plurality of displays to facilitate their operation as a video-wall, comprising: a control module, configured to retrieve information from, and provide output commands to, individual ones of the plurality of displays; a Graphical User Interface (GUI) module configured to display information to a user and receive input commands from the user; a storage unit, containing computer program code configured for outputting unique configuration images optimized to visually accentuate ones of the corresponding display's current identity, placement configuration and color characteristics, within the mapping; the method comprising: retrieving, by the control module, of information from individual ones of the plurality of displays; displaying, by the control module, ones of said unique configuration images to individual ones of the plurality of displays; providing within the GUI methods to adjust via input commands from the user ones of the respective identification, placement, configuration and color characteristics corresponding to individual ones of the plurality of displays; modifying the mappings by the control module, in response to said adjustments; updating the video wall canvas in response to said modifying.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein ones of the identity, placement and configuration settings for the plurality of displays are stored as a mapping in computer readable memory accessible to the control module.

20. A computer-readable medium storing one or more computer readable instructions configured to cause one or more processors to: display, by a control module in communication with each of a plurality of displays, a video wall a test canvas designed to emphasize ones of identity, placement, configuration and color settings of individual ones of a plurality of displays; display a Graphical User Interface (GUI) comprising graphical representations of the plurality of displays comprising the video wall canvas and responsive to user input and in communication with said control module; receive adjustments via input commands by a user, who in response to the test canvas adjusts via the GUI controls and display representations provided therein individual ones of the plurality of displays to substantially achieve alignment and uniformity in the video-wall canvas; store the modifications to settings arising from the said adjustment in computer readable memory and, update the video wall test canvas in response to said adjusting.