Method and apparatus for producing functionality and user interfaces for devices having an embedded operating system

• US 20020041289A1
• Filed: 08/21/2001
• Published: 04/11/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 08/21/2000
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: BSQUARE Corporation
• Original Assignee: BSQUARE Corporation
• Inventors: Yee, Steven, Hatch, John D., Almog, Adam, Cao, Anthony D.
• Application Number:
  US09/935,181
• Publication Number:
  US 20020041289A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/762
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/451 Execution arrangements for user interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/45512 Command shells

Abstract

The present invention is a comprehensive, flexible and extensible software technology used to easily create, implement and modify User Interfaces (UIs) and shells. The software tool includes a powerful design framework suitable for general purpose computing devices and ideal for mission-focused embedded devices. The software tools offers unlimited variations of navigational structure and appearance; an expansive choice of component commands with a simple scripting language; an ability to switch easily among multiple personalities on a single machine; and administrative control over permissions to password-protected commands. The shell functionality produced by the software includes application launching; file and task management; flexible control panels; power notifications; and shell application programming interfaces.

Claims

1. An apparatus for producing user interfaces and device functionality for processor-based devices having an embedded operating system and programming framework, comprising:

scripting means for receiving and storing instructions for a user interface and device functionality on a processor based device;

function means, coupled to said scripting means, for producing interface functions in accordance with the instructions for a user interface and device functionality received from the scripting means; and

output means, coupled to the functions means, for displaying the user interface and applying device functionality on said processor-based device.

2. An apparatus as recited in claim 1, wherein the scripting means includes:

a script writer for writing instruction for a user interface or device functionality; and

a script controller, coupled to the script writer, for producing objects in accordance with the instructions for a user interface or device functionality from the script writer.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein device functionality further comprises control of functionality of a first browser window by a second browser window.

4. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein device functionality further comprises control of multiple browser windows at once.

5. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein device functionality further comprises transfer of operational information to the script controller for further processing.

6. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein device functionality further comprises control of a browser window from outside the window.

7. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein device functionality further comprises scriptable shell control for replacement of a shell of an operating system.

8. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the function means further comprises a shell manager.

9. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the function means further comprises a configuration manager.

10. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the function manager further comprises at least one factory.

11. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the function manager further comprises commands.

12. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the function manager and the interface manager further comprise components.

14. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the scripting engine further comprises Jscript.

15. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the first object further comprises a browser window.

16. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the second object further comprises a shell control for gaining access to internal shell functionality and to register as a shell on the devices.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising the step of passing information from the script engine to script manager by the script site interface.

19. The method of claim 17, further comprising the step of specifying creation of a shell control object by script control.

20. The method of claim 17, further comprising the step of creating and using an EDL script file consisting of the substeps of:

selecting components to be used in the script;

selecting the commands to be used in the script;

compiling the script via an EDL compiler to produce a binary file;

downloading the binary file for testing or incorporating the binary file into an operating system image.

13. An apparatus for producing user interfaces and device functionality for processor-based devices having an embedded operating system and programming framework, comprising:

a scripting engine for executing a script file;

an input/output control for performing multiple actions on the device;

a first object control for providing control over a first object;

a second object control for providing control over a second object;

a keyboard control for providing control over keyboard events; and

a miscellaneous control for providing control functionality over various computer components.

17. A method for producing user interfaces and device functionality for processor-based devices having an embedded operating system and programming framework, comprising:

launching a shell startup program;

creating by the shell startup program an instance of a script manager;

creating by script manager an instance of a script site interface;

loading a script engine associated with the script site interface;

executing a master script file by the script engine;

interfacing by the master script to permit processing of external functions;

creating a script control by script manager for receiving instructions from the script engine and adding and removing named objects based on information in the master script file; and

creating named object manger by script manager for exposing named objects to the script engine and managing the existence of a generic sink.