Flexible data display
First Claim
1. A method of operating a data processing system for building a series of display screens such that content and format of said display screens is readily adapted for a specific application in response to suer input and data base format changes;
- said data processing system including a data display terminal, said data display terminal including means for displaying alphanumeric characters at specified screen coordinates and means for enabling a user to enter alphanumeric data;
a central processing unit; and
a memory;
an application program stored in said memory and executed by said central processing unit, and a data base stored in said memory;
said data base including a plurality of definitions of field of alphanumeric characters to be displayed by said display terminal, some of said fields being defined as output only fields and others of said fields being defined as updatable fields, and definitions of sequences of said fields including a definition of a respective sequence of said fields for each one of said display screens, wherein each one of said display screens is displayed by simultaneously displaying the respective sequence of said fields for said each one of said display screens;
said method comprising successively displaying said display screens by successively performing, for each one of said display screens, the steps of;
(a) reading said data base to obtain the definition of the respective sequence of said fields to be displayed simultaneously by said display terminal as said each one of said display screens;
(b) reading said data base to obtain said definitions of said fields of alphanumeric characters to be displayed simultaneously to obtain information about said fields of alphanumeric characters to be displayed simultaneously;
(c) computing respective screen coordinates for said fields of alphanumeric characters to be displayed simultaneously in response to said respective sequence of said fields of alphanumeric characters to be displayed simultaneously and said information about said fields of alphanumeric characters to be displayed simultaneously;
(d) transmitting said respective screen coordinates of said fields of alphanumeric characters to be displayed simultaneously along with said information about said fields of alphanumeric characters to be displayed simultaneously to said means for displaying to thereby simultaneously display said fields of alphanumeric characters to be displayed simultaneously; and
(e) displaying alphanumeric data entered by said user in selected ones of said fields defined as updatable and preventing alphanumeric data entered by said user from being displayed in said fields defined as output only fields.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A data display, preferably having screens or windows, is built from data in a data base according to a hierarchy of display knowledge. Therefore, the data values themselves are separate from the knowledge or rules that specify how the data values are displayed to a user. In particular, the display knowledge is arranged in a hierarchy so that an individual item of display knowledge may be applicable to a wide range of data values representing the attributes of a number of different objects. In many cases, the range of data values or the attributes which the data values represent can be changed without any need to change the display knowledge. In other cases, only minor changes to the display knowledge are needed to properly display values for new or different data. These minor changes, for example, need only be made by changing the lowest level in the hierarchy of the display knowledge or associating items of display knowledge in the lowest level with different display knowledge in the higher levels. In a preferred embodiment, the highest level of the hierarchy of display knowledge defines individual display screens, and the lowest level defines fields of successive character locations on the display screens. The individual display screens are defined by a particular sequence of fields and the data values to be displayed or associated with the fields.
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Citations
24 Claims
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1. A method of operating a data processing system for building a series of display screens such that content and format of said display screens is readily adapted for a specific application in response to suer input and data base format changes;
- said data processing system including a data display terminal, said data display terminal including means for displaying alphanumeric characters at specified screen coordinates and means for enabling a user to enter alphanumeric data;
a central processing unit; and
a memory;
an application program stored in said memory and executed by said central processing unit, and a data base stored in said memory;
said data base including a plurality of definitions of field of alphanumeric characters to be displayed by said display terminal, some of said fields being defined as output only fields and others of said fields being defined as updatable fields, and definitions of sequences of said fields including a definition of a respective sequence of said fields for each one of said display screens, wherein each one of said display screens is displayed by simultaneously displaying the respective sequence of said fields for said each one of said display screens;
said method comprising successively displaying said display screens by successively performing, for each one of said display screens, the steps of;(a) reading said data base to obtain the definition of the respective sequence of said fields to be displayed simultaneously by said display terminal as said each one of said display screens; (b) reading said data base to obtain said definitions of said fields of alphanumeric characters to be displayed simultaneously to obtain information about said fields of alphanumeric characters to be displayed simultaneously; (c) computing respective screen coordinates for said fields of alphanumeric characters to be displayed simultaneously in response to said respective sequence of said fields of alphanumeric characters to be displayed simultaneously and said information about said fields of alphanumeric characters to be displayed simultaneously; (d) transmitting said respective screen coordinates of said fields of alphanumeric characters to be displayed simultaneously along with said information about said fields of alphanumeric characters to be displayed simultaneously to said means for displaying to thereby simultaneously display said fields of alphanumeric characters to be displayed simultaneously; and (e) displaying alphanumeric data entered by said user in selected ones of said fields defined as updatable and preventing alphanumeric data entered by said user from being displayed in said fields defined as output only fields. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
- said data processing system including a data display terminal, said data display terminal including means for displaying alphanumeric characters at specified screen coordinates and means for enabling a user to enter alphanumeric data;
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13. A data processing system for building a series of display screens having a content and format that is readily adaptable to a specific application in response to user input and data base format changes, said data processing system including a data display terminal, said data display terminal including means for displaying alphanumeric characters at specified screen coordinates and means for enabling a user to enter alphanumeric data;
- a memory holding a hierarchical data base including a hierarchy of display knowledge including a lower level including definitions of fields of alphanumeric characters for display by said display terminal, some of said fields being defined as output only fields and others of said fields being defined as updatable fields, an intermediate level defining respective sequences of said fields for simultaneous display by said display terminal, and an upper level defining individual display screens as combinations of said respective sequences of said fields, said memory also holding an application program defining said specific application and referencing said hierarchical data base; and
processor means including means for interpreting said hierarchical data base to obtain said sequence of said fields, means for computing respective screen coordinates for said fields in response to said sequence of fields and said definitions of said fields, means for transmitting said respective coordinates of said fields along with information from said field definitions to said means for displaying to thereby simultaneously display said fields of alphanumeric characters, means for displaying the alphanumeric data entered by said user in selected ones of said fields defined as updatable and preventing alphanumeric data entered by said user from being displayed in said fields defined as output only fields, and means for executing said application program for displaying a series of said display screens defined by the upper level of said hierarchical data base, whereby the alphanumeric data to be displayed in the display screens are separate from the display knowledge that specifies how the alphanumeric data are to be displayed in the display screens.
- a memory holding a hierarchical data base including a hierarchy of display knowledge including a lower level including definitions of fields of alphanumeric characters for display by said display terminal, some of said fields being defined as output only fields and others of said fields being defined as updatable fields, an intermediate level defining respective sequences of said fields for simultaneous display by said display terminal, and an upper level defining individual display screens as combinations of said respective sequences of said fields, said memory also holding an application program defining said specific application and referencing said hierarchical data base; and
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14. A method of operating a data processing system including a data display terminal, said data display terminal including means for displaying alphanumeric characters at specified screen coordinates;
- a central processing unit; and
memory storing a program executed by said central processing unit, and a data base including definitions of fields of alphanumeric characters to be displayed by said display terminal, and a definition of a sequence of said fields to be displayed by said display terminal simultaneously as a single display screen, said method comprising the steps of;(a) reading said data base to obtain said definitions of the sequence of said fields to be displayed by said display terminal; (b) reading the data base to obtain the definition of the fields of alphanumeric characters to obtain information about said fields; (c) computing respective screen coordinates for said fields in response to said sequence of said fields and said information about said fields; and (d) transmitting said respective screen coordinates of said fields along with said information about said fields to said means for displaying to thereby simultaneously display said fields of alphanumeric characters; wherein said definition of said sequence of said fields to be displayed includes groups of lists of said field records, and a list of said groups; and wherein said field definitions each includes a display flag and said fields are selectively displayed in accordance with the state of their respective display flags, and said groups of lists also are associated with respective display flags, and said groups are selectively displayed in accordance with the state of their respective display flags.
- a central processing unit; and
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15. A method of operating a data processing system including a data display terminal, said data display terminal including means for displaying alphanumeric characters at specified screen coordinates;
- a central processing unit; and
memory storing a program executed by said central processing unit, and a data base including definitions of fields of alphanumeric characters to be displayed by said display terminal, and a definition of a sequence of said fields to be displayed by said display terminal simultaneously as a single display screen;
said method comprising the steps of;(a) reading said data base to obtain said definitions of the sequence of said fields to be displayed by said display terminal; (b) reading the data base to obtain the definition of the fields of alphanumeric characters to obtain information about said fields; (c) computing respective screen coordinates for said fields in response to said sequence of said fields and said information about said fields; and (d) transmitting said respective screen coordinates of said fields along with said information about said fields to said means for displaying to thereby simultaneously display said fields of alphanumeric characters; wherein said definition of said sequence of said fields to be displayed includes groups of lists of said field records, and a list of groups; and wherein the definitions of said fields are stored in respective field records of said data base, said lists include sequences of records storing respective record pointers, said records in said lists are read by sequential access of said data base to obtain the record pointers, and the data base is also read by random access using the record pointers as data base keys. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18)
- a central processing unit; and
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19. A method of operating a data processing system including a data display terminal, said data display terminal including means for displaying alphanumeric characters at specified screen coordinates;
- a central processing unit; and
memory storing a program executed by said central processing unit, and a data base including definitions of fields of alphanumeric characters to be displayed by said display terminal, and a definition of a sequence of said fields to be displayed by said display terminal simultaneously as a single display screen;
said method comprising the steps of;(a) reading said data base to obtain said definitions of the sequence of said fields to be displayed by said display terminal; (b) reading the data base to obtain the definition of the fields of alphanumeric characters to obtain information about said fields; (c) computing respective screen coordinates for said fields in response to said sequence of said fields and said information about said fields; and (d) transmitting said respective screen coordinates of said fields along with said information about said fields to said means for displaying to thereby simultaneously display said fields of alphanumeric characters; wherein said data terminal includes means for said user to enter data into selected fields displayed by said display terminal, and each of said field definitions include a flag indication whether the user is required to enter data into the respective field and a flag indicating whether the user is permitted to enter data into the respective field. - View Dependent Claims (20)
- a central processing unit; and
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21. A method of operating a data processing system including a data display terminal, said data display terminal including means for displaying alphanumeric characters at specified screen coordinates;
- a central processing unit; and
memory storing a program executed by said central processing unit, and a data base including definitions of fields of alphanumeric characters to be displayed by said display terminal, and a definition of a sequence of said fields to be displayed by said display terminal simultaneously as a single display screen;
said method comprising the steps of;(a) reading said data base to obtain said definitions of the sequence of said fields to be displayed by said display terminal; (b) reading the data base to obtain the definition of the fields of alphanumeric characters to obtain information about said fields; (c) computing respective screen coordinates for said fields in response to said sequence of said fields and said information about said fields; and (d) transmitting said respective screen coordinates of said fields along with said information about said fields to said means for displaying to thereby simultaneously display said fields of alphanumeric characters; wherein said information defining each field includes a number indicating the number of alphanumeric characters to be includes in the field, and a link to a storage location in memory storing codes for said alphanumeric characters.
- a central processing unit; and
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22. A method of operating a data processing system including a central processing unit and a memory;
- said memory storing a program executed by said central processing unit, and a hierarchical data base;
said hierarchical data base including definitions of fields of alphanumeric characters to be displayed, and a definition of a sequence of fields to be displayed simultaneously on the screen of a display device by displaying said characters at specified screen coordinates, said definition of said sequence including a list of groups of said fields;
said method comprising the steps of;(a) reading said hierarchical data base to obtain said definition of said sequence of fields to be displayed including said list of groups of said fields; (b) reading said hierarchical data base to obtain the definitions of said fields included in said groups of list to obtain information about said fields; and (c) computing respective screen coordinates for said fields in response to said sequence of said fields and said information about said fields; wherein said field definitions each includes a display flag and said coordinates of said fields are selectively computed in accordance with the state of their respective display flags.
- said memory storing a program executed by said central processing unit, and a hierarchical data base;
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23. A method of operating a data processing system including a central processing unit and a memory;
- said memory storing a program executed by said central processing unit, and a hierarchical data base;
said hierarchical data base including definitions of fields of alphanumeric characters to be displayed, and a definition of a sequence of fields to be displayed simultaneously on the screen of a display device by displaying said characters at specified screen coordinates, said definition of said sequence including a list of groups of said fields;
said method comprising the steps of;(a) reading said hierarchical data base to obtain said definition of said sequence of fields to be displayed including said list of groups of said fields; (b) reading said hierarchical data base to obtain the definitions of said fields included in said groups of said list to obtain information about said fields; and (c) computing respective screen coordinates for said fields in response to said sequence of said fields and said information about said fields; wherein the definitions of said fields are stored in respective field records of said hierarchical data base, said lists include sequences of records storing respective record pointers, said records in said lists are read by sequential access of said hierarchical data base to obtain the record pointers, and the hierarchical data base is also read by random access using the record pointers as data base keys. - View Dependent Claims (24)
- said memory storing a program executed by said central processing unit, and a hierarchical data base;
Specification