Method and apparatus for capturing video data to a virtual screen buffer

A method of processing video data for transmission to a remote system, the method comprising:

• obtaining a slice of video data output from a video graphics controller;
• calculating at least one value correlative to the slice of video data;
• if the calculated value for any portion of the slice differs from a value for a previously obtained corresponding portion, moving the a portion to a virtual screen buffer and updating a first table associated with the virtual screen buffer with the calculated value, the first table configured to store values for each slice of video data;
• accessing the video data from the virtual screen buffer;
• calculating a value correlative to the portion of video data in the virtual screen buffer;
• and
• processing the portion of video data in the virtual screen buffer for transmission to a remote system if the calculated value for the portion of video data in the virtual screen buffer differs from the calculated value for the corresponding portion of video data stored in a second table associated with an image related to the remote system.

A computer comprising:

• at least one central processing unit;
• main memory accessible by the at least one central processing unit;
• a video graphics controller configured to receive video data from the at least one central processing unit and to generate a video data output;
• a remote management controller coupled to receive the video data output from the video graphics controller, the remote management controller comprising a capture engine and a processor, the capture engine being configured to obtain a slice of video data output from a video graphics controller, calculate at least one value correlative to the slice of video data, and, if the calculated value for any portion of the slice differs from a value for a previously obtained corresponding portion, move the portion to a virtual screen buffer and update a first table associated with the virtual screen buffer with the calculated value, the first table configured to store values for each slice of video data and the processor being configured to access the video data from the virtual screen buffer, calculate a value correlative to each portion of the video data in the virtual screen buffer, and process the portion of video data in the virtual screen buffer for transmission to a remote management system if the calculated value for the portion of video data in the virtual screen buffer differs from the calculated value for the portion of video data stored in a second table associated with an image related to the remote system.