Filter based authoring tool
First Claim
1. Data processing apparatus for processing data objects and comprising:
- a set of processing elements operable to perform respective processing tasks;
an operating environment receiving the processing elements in co-operable relationship;
a first channel defined by the operating environment and operatively connecting the processing elements in a sequence for communicating the data objects between successive processing elements in an order defined by the sequence;
a second channel defined by the operating environment for communicating a user interface control object between successive processing elements in the sequence;
and a user interface controller responsive to the user interface control object when output from a last processing element in the sequence to generate control data for controlling a user interface in use to present information to the user for controlling the processing elements.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A desktop personal computer 410 is provided with a system for building custom applications. A set of filters 3 is assembled by the user in an operating environment 4 by selection from a library 5 of available filters, each filter performing a respective processing task on data objects which may be input from a data memory 6. An output of the system is processed by a user interface controller 10 for display on a display screen 20 in which data is displayed in a data display area 21, the sequence of filters being represented graphically by a stack of filter boxes 24 in a filter display window 23, and the selection of filters from the library 5 being facilitated by a filter selector window 25. Each of the filters is controllable by the user interface provided within a respective filter box 24, data and user interface description objects being communicated by respective channels 811 and 88 connecting the filters in sequence. Some filters have the facility to amend the user interface component of other preceding filters in the sequence. A help filter may be included in the sequence to generate a help object which, when displayed, provides help information to the user. A further control channel 321 enables some filters to be bidirectional whereby edit commands may be communicated in a reverse direction to the order of the filter sequence in order to enable data stored internally within one of the filters or externally in a file system 348 to be edited. The system enables a user to construct customized programming applications from reusable processing elements in order to perform a wide variety of tasks commonly performed by personal computers.
93 Citations
117 Claims
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1. Data processing apparatus for processing data objects and comprising:
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a set of processing elements operable to perform respective processing tasks;
an operating environment receiving the processing elements in co-operable relationship;
a first channel defined by the operating environment and operatively connecting the processing elements in a sequence for communicating the data objects between successive processing elements in an order defined by the sequence;
a second channel defined by the operating environment for communicating a user interface control object between successive processing elements in the sequence;
and a user interface controller responsive to the user interface control object when output from a last processing element in the sequence to generate control data for controlling a user interface in use to present information to the user for controlling the processing elements. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 97, 98, 99, 100, 101, 102, 103, 104, 105, 106, 107, 108, 109, 110)
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23. A data processing method for processing data objects and comprising:
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loading a set of processing elements operable to perform respective processing tasks into an operating environment receiving the processing elements in co-operable relationship;
using a first channel defined by the operating environment and operatively connecting the processing elements in a sequence to communicate the data objects between successive processing elements in an order defined by the sequence;
using a second channel defined by the operating environment to communicate a user interface control object between successive processing elements in the sequence;
and operating a user interface controller responsive to the user interface control object when output from a last processing element in the sequence to generate control data controlling a user interface to present information to the user for controlling the processing elements.
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45. Data processing apparatus for processing data objects and comprising:
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a set of processing elements operable to perform respective processing tasks;
an operating environment receiving the processing elements in co-operable relationship;
a first channel defined by the operating environment and operatively connecting the processing elements in a sequence for communicating the data objects between successive processing elements in an order defined by the sequence;
at least one of the processing elements being operable to generate user interface output objects representative of respective data objects communicated via the sequence of processing elements;
a user interface controller responsive to the user interface output objects to generate presentation data for output to a user interface for presenting information representative of the data objects;
and wherein one of the processing elements in the sequence comprises a help object generator operable to generate a help object comprising a further user interface output object representative of help information whereby the user interface controller is responsive to the help object to generate presentation data containing said help information for assisting a user in controlling the processing elements.
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56. A method of data processing apparatus for processing data objects comprising:
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loading a set of processing elements operable to perform respective processing tasks into an operating environment receiving the processing elements in co-operable relationship;
using a first channel defined by the operating environment and operatively connecting the processing elements in a sequence to communicate the data objects between successive processing elements in an order defined by the sequence;
at least one of the processing elements generating user interface output objects representative of respective data objects communicated via the sequence of processing elements;
operating a user interface controller responsive to the user interface output objects to generate presentation data output to a user interface for presenting information representative of the data objects;
and wherein one of the processing elements in the sequence comprises a help object generator generating a help object comprising a further user interface output object representative of help information whereby the user interface controller is responsive to the help object to generate presentation data containing said help information for assisting a user in controlling the processing elements.
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67. Data processing apparatus for processing data objects and comprising:
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a set of processing elements operable to perform respective processing tasks;
an operating environment receiving the processing elements in co-operable relationship;
a first channel defined by the operating environment and operatively connecting the processing elements in a sequence for communicating the data objects between successive processing elements in an order defined by the sequence;
and a control channel defined by the operating environment for communicating control objects for controlling the operation of one or more of the processing elements, the control channel being operable to communicate the control objects between at least some of the processing elements in a reverse order which is the reverse of the order defined by the sequence.
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82. A data processing method for processing data objects and comprising:
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loading a set of processing elements operable to perform respective processing tasks into an operating environment receiving the processing elements in co-operable relationship;
using a first channel defined by the operating environment and operatively connecting the processing elements in a sequence to communicate the data objects between successive processing elements in an order defined by the sequence;
and using a control channel defined by the operating environment to communicate control objects for controlling the operation of one or more of the processing elements, the control channel communicating the control objects between at least some of the processing elements in a reverse order which is the reverse of the order defined by the sequence. - View Dependent Claims (83, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 111, 112, 113, 114, 115, 116, 117)
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Specification