Porthole window system for computer displays
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A system for generating porthole windows for a computer display, comprising:
- a screen memory;
an output driver connected to the screen memory and to the display for converting the contents of the screen memory into a signal suitable for use by the display;
at least one bit save array memory for holding the contents of information windows; and
a controller coupled to said screen memory and to said bit save array memories for selectively transferring the contents of the bit save array memories to the screen memory, and for selectively transferring information between selected bit save arrays, wherein at least one selected portion of a bit save array is not transferred to said screen memory;
wherein said controller includes a porthole bit save array which contains an exact copy of a selected portion of one of said bit save arrays which is not transferred to said screen memory from said bit save array, wherein said porthole bit save array is updated to reflect any changes which are made in the selected portion, and wherein the contents of the porthole bit save array are transferred to said screen memory by said controller.
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Abstract
A porthole window system for computer displays allows a user to look at a portion of a window which could otherwise not be seen. A porthole window acts as an opening in a window of the usual type through which underlying windows may be seen. A porthole window can have different features as desired, including links to selected source and target windows, real time movement on the display screen, and the ability to be updated when a target window is updated. The porthole system runs concurrently with the normal window handling system of the computer.
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Citations
29 Claims
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1. A system for generating porthole windows for a computer display, comprising:
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a screen memory; an output driver connected to the screen memory and to the display for converting the contents of the screen memory into a signal suitable for use by the display; at least one bit save array memory for holding the contents of information windows; and a controller coupled to said screen memory and to said bit save array memories for selectively transferring the contents of the bit save array memories to the screen memory, and for selectively transferring information between selected bit save arrays, wherein at least one selected portion of a bit save array is not transferred to said screen memory; wherein said controller includes a porthole bit save array which contains an exact copy of a selected portion of one of said bit save arrays which is not transferred to said screen memory from said bit save array, wherein said porthole bit save array is updated to reflect any changes which are made in the selected portion, and wherein the contents of the porthole bit save array are transferred to said screen memory by said controller. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5)
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6. In a computer system having a window system display, a method for generating a porthole window, comprising the steps of:
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(a) copying selected information from a first window memory to a porthole memory; (b) copying selected information from a plurality of window memories to a screen memory, wherein the select information copied in step (a) is not copied from the first window memory to the screen memory, and wherein the contents of the screen memory will be displayed in the window system display; and (c) copying the contents of the porthole memory to the screen memory, wherein the contents of the porthole memory will be displayed in the window system display. - View Dependent Claims (7)
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8. A system for generating porthole windows for a computer display, comprising:
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a screen memory; an output driver connected to the screen memory and to the display for converting the contents of the screen memory into a signal suitable for use by the display; and a controller for transferring information to such screen memory to define windows therein, wherein said controller defines a porthole memory which contains a copy of a selected portion of one of an overlapped window, wherein the information in the porthole memory is also transferred to said screen memory, and wherein the selected portion includes information which would not be, except for the porthole memory, transferred to said screen memory. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. A method for displaying information on a computer output device, comprising the steps of:
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(a) defining at least two overlapping windows of information at least one of which has a selected portion of information, and at least one of which has a non-selected portion of information; (b) defining a porthole which contains a selected area of the non-selected portion of information; and (c) displaying on the output device the selected portions of the said overlapping windows of information defined in step (a), and the information in the porthole at the selected location. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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21. A method for organizing information on a computer display, comprising the steps of:
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(a) defining a plurality of windows containing information; (b) displaying said windows on the computer display, wherein at least one window is defined to be wholly or partially covered by a portion of at least one other of the windows, and wherein any covered window parts are not selected for display; (c) defining a porthole which contains a copy of a selected covered window part; and (d) displaying said porthole at a select location on the computer display. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23)
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24. In a window display system for an electronic computer, wherein a plurality of overlapping windows are displayed, and wherein portions of windows which are overlapped by other windows are not displayed, the improvement comprising:
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a target window, having a first selected region therein, at least a portion of the first selected region being overlapped by another window, whereby the first selected region is not displayed; a porthole window, said porthole window containing a copy of information which is in the first selected region of the target window; and a source window, wherein a second selected region thereof is covered by said porthole window. - View Dependent Claims (25, 26, 27, 28, 29)
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Specification