Screen manager multiple viewport for a multi-tasking data processing system
First Claim
1. In a multi-tasking data processing system including memory means for storing data residing in document structures and active tasks, including a foreground task and one or more background tasks, each of said tasks being operable for directing operations to be performed on data and CPU means responsive to the tasks for operating on the data, screen manager means for creating visual display screens upon a display screen, the visual display screens representing data residing in a corresponding document structure to be displayed in association with corresponding active tasks, comprising:
- means responsive to active tasks for creating a screen manager control structure within the memory means,the screen manager control structure includinginformation relating each screen to a corresponding task, andfor each screen,information expressive at least of formatting information relative to the screen, andinformation relating the screen to the data residing in the document structure to be displayed therein, andmeans responsive to the corresponding tasks and corresponding screen manager control structures to access and display the corresponding data associated with the foreground task.
11 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A task control structure for transferring tasks from a storage device to a system memory and for controlling execution of tasks, and a document manager for loading document information in the form of document data structures from the storage device to the system memory and managing access to the data structures by the tasks are using task control blocks to manage the execution of tasks and document control blocks to manage access to the document data structures by the tasks. Each document file has a document control block and the document files and the document control blocks are designed to represent and relate to the structure of documents. Each document file has at least one page including at least one area, each containing at least one type of information. Each area including, in an area containing text information, at least one column for containing text information including at least one line, each line including a string of at least one text character, a reference to attribute applying to the characters or the string, and references to external data items associated with the line. A screen manager is used for creating visual display screens, each screen having a virtual screen with one or more viewpoints onto data to be displayed. The screen manager includes a control structure containing information relating each screen to a corresponding task, and, for each screen, information describing certain properties of the screen, and information relating the screen to the data residing in the document structure to be displayed.
51 Citations
9 Claims
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1. In a multi-tasking data processing system including memory means for storing data residing in document structures and active tasks, including a foreground task and one or more background tasks, each of said tasks being operable for directing operations to be performed on data and CPU means responsive to the tasks for operating on the data, screen manager means for creating visual display screens upon a display screen, the visual display screens representing data residing in a corresponding document structure to be displayed in association with corresponding active tasks, comprising:
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means responsive to active tasks for creating a screen manager control structure within the memory means, the screen manager control structure including information relating each screen to a corresponding task, and for each screen, information expressive at least of formatting information relative to the screen, and information relating the screen to the data residing in the document structure to be displayed therein, and means responsive to the corresponding tasks and corresponding screen manager control structures to access and display the corresponding data associated with the foreground task. - View Dependent Claims (2)
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3. In a data processing system including memory means for storing data residing in document structures and tasks, including a foregound task and one or more background tasks, directing operations to be performed on data and CPU means responsive to the tasks for operating on the data, screen manager means for creating visual display screens upon a display screen, the visual display screens representing data residing in a corresponding document structure to be displayed in association with corresponding active tasks, comprising:
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means responsive to active tasks for creating a screen manager control structure within the memory means, the screen manager control structure including information relating each screen to a corresponding task, and for each screen, information expressive at least of formatting information relative to the screen, and information relating the screen to the data residing in the document structure to be displayed therein, and means responsive to the corresponding tasks and corresponding screen manager control structures to access and display the corresponding data associated with the foreground task; wherein each screen is comprised of at least one viewport, each viewport containing data from a different portion of the document structure; the screen manager control structure further including; at least one virtual screen descriptor block, each virtual screen descriptor block corresponding to a screen associated with a corresponding task, each virtual screen descriptor block being comprised of data field including a field identifying the associated screen, a field identifying the associated task, and fields describing the associated screen, including a field containing a pointer to a first viewport associated with the screen, a field containing an array of numbers identifying all viewports associated with the screen, and a field for containing a pointer to a next virtual screen descriptor block associated with a screen, the screen manager control structure further including at least one viewport descriptor block, each viewport descriptor block corresponding to a viewport associated with the screen, each viewport descriptor block being comprised of data fields including a field containing a pointer to a page containing the data to be displayed within the viewport, fields describing the logical locations and dimensions of the viewport relativeto the data to be displayed therein, fields describing the location of a cursor within the viewport, the position of the cursor being associated with the operation of the associated task upon the data, and a field for containing a pointer to a next viewport descriptor block of a viewport associated with the screen.
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4. In a multi-tasking data processing system including memory means for storing data residing in document structures and active tasks, including a foreground task and one or more background tasks, each of the tasks being operable for directing operations to be performed on data and CPU means responsive to the tasks for operating on the data, a method for creating visual display screens upon a display screen, said visual display screens representing data residing in a corresponding document structure to be displayed in association with corresponding active tasks, comprising the steps of:
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responsive to an active task, creating a screen manager control structure within the memory means, the screen manager control structure including information relating each screen to a corresponding task, and for each screen, information expressive at least of formatting information relative to the screen, and information relating the screen to the data residing in the document structure to be displayed therein, and responsive to the corresponding tasks and corresponding screen manager control structures, accessing and displaying the corresponding data associated with the foreground task. - View Dependent Claims (5)
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6. In a data processing system including memory means for storing data residing in document structures and tasks, including a foreground task and one or more background tasks, directing operations to be performed on data and CPU means responsive to the tasks for operating on the data, a method for creating visual display screens upon a display screen, said visual display screens representing data residing in a corresponding document structure to be displayed in association with corresponding active tasks, comprising the steps of:
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responsive to an active task, creating a screen manager control structure within the memory means, the screen manager control structure including information relating each screen to a corresponding task, and for each screen, information expressive at least of formatting information relative to the screen, and information relating the screen to the data residing in the document structure to be displayed therein, and responsive to the corresponding tasks and corresponding screen manager control structures, accessing and displaying the corresponding data associated with the foreground task wherein each screen is comprised of at least one viewport portion of the document structure each viewport containing data from a different portion of the document structure; and
whereinthe screen manager control structure comprises; at least one virtual screen descriptor block, each virtual screen descriptor block corresponding to a screen associated with a corresponding task, each virtual screen descriptor block being comprised of data fields including a field identifying the associated screen, a field identifying the associated task, and fields describing the associated screen, including a field containing a pointer to a first viewport associated with the screen, a field containing an array of numbers identifying all viewports associated with the screen, and a field for containing a pointer to a next virtual screen descriptor block associated with a screen, the screen manager control structure further including at least one viewport descriptor block, each viewport descriptor block corresponding to a viewport associated with the screen, each viewport descriptor block being comprised of data fields including a field containing a pointer to a page containing the data to be displayed within the viewport, fields describing the logical location and dimensions of the viewport relative to the data to be displayed therein, fields describing the location of a cursor within the viewport, the position of the cursor being associated with the operation of the associated task upon the data, and a field for containing a pointer to a next viewport descriptor block of a viewport associated with the screen.
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7. In a multi-tasking data processing system including memory means for storing document related data and active tasks, including a foreground task and one or more backgrond tasks, each of said tasks being operable for controlling the processing of data related to one or more documents, the system further including a processing means operably coupled to said memory means for processing the data stored therein under control of the active tasks, the system further including a display means operable for visually displaying the document related data and a display manager means operable for managing the visual display, the display manager means comprising:
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means for communicating with a task, said means for communicating being operable for receiving a display generation request from a task; means for generating within said memory means a display control block data structure, said structure comprising data fields expressive of display related parameters associated with said document related data, said means for generating being operatively coupled to said means for communicating for generating said data structure in response to the received request; and means for displaying on said display means the document related data associated with a data structure generated in response to a request made by said foreground task. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9)
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Specification