Method and apparatus for display screens and coupons
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A method of displaying a screen display in a system including an interconnected host processor and remote processor, the method comprising the steps of:
- storing in a memory of the remote processor a plurality of sets of data, including a plurality of sets of display data, a plurality of sets of commands, and a plurality of sets of transaction data, each set of display data describing a display screen, each set of commands specifying a set of display data and including a series of commands for controlling display of a display screen, and each set of transaction data corresponding to a transaction to be performed and specifying a set of commands and a scheduled time period to display a display screen, the scheduled time period indicating one or more times of day when a display screen will be displayed;
sending, by the host processor to the remote processor, a set of data that is one of a set of display data, a set of commands, and a set of transaction data;
receiving, by the remote processor, the set of data;
adding, by the remote processor, the received set of data to the plurality of sets of display data, the plurality of sets of commands, or the plurality of sets of transaction data already stored in the memory;
determining whether the received set of data is a set of transaction data;
retrieving from the memory of the remote processor a set of commands from the plurality of sets of commands as specified by the received set of transaction data, when the received set of data is a set of transaction data;
retrieving from the memory of the remote processor a set of display data from the plurality of sets of display data as specified by the retrieved set of commands, when the received set of data is a set of transaction data; and
displaying, by the remote processor when the set of data is a set of transaction data, a display screen described by the retrieved set of display data, only at the one or more times of day indicated by the scheduled time period as specified in the received set of transaction data.
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Abstract
A method and apparatus for displaying advertisements and printing coupons on remote systems of a distributed data processing system. A host system downloads display files, command file and transaction files describing the advertisements to be displayed and coupons to be printed to a remote system. The remote system keeps statistics on the number of times each advertisement is displayed and the number of times each coupon is printed, and periodically relays these statistics to the host system.
386 Citations
15 Claims
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1. A method of displaying a screen display in a system including an interconnected host processor and remote processor, the method comprising the steps of:
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storing in a memory of the remote processor a plurality of sets of data, including a plurality of sets of display data, a plurality of sets of commands, and a plurality of sets of transaction data, each set of display data describing a display screen, each set of commands specifying a set of display data and including a series of commands for controlling display of a display screen, and each set of transaction data corresponding to a transaction to be performed and specifying a set of commands and a scheduled time period to display a display screen, the scheduled time period indicating one or more times of day when a display screen will be displayed; sending, by the host processor to the remote processor, a set of data that is one of a set of display data, a set of commands, and a set of transaction data; receiving, by the remote processor, the set of data; adding, by the remote processor, the received set of data to the plurality of sets of display data, the plurality of sets of commands, or the plurality of sets of transaction data already stored in the memory; determining whether the received set of data is a set of transaction data; retrieving from the memory of the remote processor a set of commands from the plurality of sets of commands as specified by the received set of transaction data, when the received set of data is a set of transaction data; retrieving from the memory of the remote processor a set of display data from the plurality of sets of display data as specified by the retrieved set of commands, when the received set of data is a set of transaction data; and displaying, by the remote processor when the set of data is a set of transaction data, a display screen described by the retrieved set of display data, only at the one or more times of day indicated by the scheduled time period as specified in the received set of transaction data. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
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7. A method of displaying a screen display in a system including an interconnected host processor and remote processor, the method comprising the steps of:
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storing in a memory of the remote processor a plurality of sets of data, including a plurality of sets of display data and a plurality of sets of commands, each set of display data describing a display screen and each set of commands specifying a set of display data and including a series of commands for controlling display of a display screen; receiving, by the remote processor from the host processor, a set of transaction data corresponding to a transaction to be performed, said set of transaction data specifying one of the plurality of sets of commands and a scheduled time period to display a display screen, the scheduled time period indicating one or more times of day when a display screen will be displayed; retrieving from the memory of the remote processor the set of commands specified by the received set of transaction data; retrieving from the memory of the remote processor a set of display data specified by the retrieved set of commands; and displaying, by the remote processor, a display screen described by the retrieved set of display data, only at the one or more times of day indicated by the scheduled time period as specified in the received set of transaction data.
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8. A method of displaying a screen display in a system including an interconnected host processor and remote processor, the method comprising the steps of:
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sending, by the host processor, a set of display data, a set of commands, and a set of transaction data to the remote processor, the set of display data describing a display screen, the set of commands specifying a set of display data and including a series of commands for controlling display of a display screen, and the set of transaction data specifying a set of commands and a scheduled time period to display a display screen, the scheduled time period indicating one or more times of day when a display screen will be displayed; receiving, by the remote processor, the set of display data, the set of commands, and the set of transaction data; storing the received set of display data in a memory of the remote processor; storing the received set of commands in the memory of the remote processor; storing the received set of transaction data in the memory of the remote processor; retrieving from the memory of the remote processor the set of commands specified by the set of transaction data sent by the host processor; retrieving from the memory of the remote processor the set of display data specified by the retrieved set of commands; and displaying, by the remote processor, a display screen described by the retrieved set of display data, only at the one or more times of day indicated by the scheduled time period as specified in the received set of transaction data.
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9. A method of printing a coupon in a system including an interconnected host processor and remote processor, the method comprising the steps of:
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storing in a memory of the remote processor a plurality of sets of data, including a plurality of sets of commands and a plurality of sets of transaction data, each set of transaction data corresponding to a transaction to be performed and specifying a set of commands and a scheduled time period during which printing of a coupon is authorized, and each set of commands describing the coupon to be printed and including instructions for printing the coupon, the scheduled time period indicating one or more times of day when the coupon can be printed at the remote processor; sending, by the host processor to the remote processor, a set of data that is one of a set of commands and a set of transaction data; receiving, by the remote processor, the set of data; adding, by the remote processor, the received set of data to the plurality of sets of commands or the plurality of sets of transaction data already stored in the memory; determining whether the set of data is a set of transaction data; retrieving from the memory of the remote processor a set of commands from the plurality of sets of commands as specified by the received set of transaction data, when the received set of data is a set of transaction data; and printing, by the remote processor when the received set of data is a set of transaction data, a coupon described by the retrieved set of commands, only during the one or more times of day indicated by the scheduled time period as specified in the received set of transaction data. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11)
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12. A method of printing a coupon in a system including an interconnected host processor and remote processor, the method comprising the steps of:
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storing in a memory of the remote processor a plurality of sets of commands, each set of commands describing a coupon to be printed and including instructions for printing the coupon; receiving, by the remote processor, a set of transaction data corresponding to a transaction to be performed, the set of transaction data specifying one of the plurality of sets of commands and a scheduled time period during which a coupon may be printed, the scheduled time period indicating one or more times of day when the coupon can be printed at the remote processor; retrieving from the memory of the remote processor the set of commands specified by the received set of transaction data; printing, by the remote processor, a coupon described by the retrieved set of commands, only during the one or more times of day indicated by the scheduled time period as specified in the received set of transaction data.
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13. A method of printing a coupon in a system including an interconnected host processor and remote processor, the method comprising the steps of:
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storing in a memory of the remote processor a plurality of sets of commands, each set of commands describing a coupon to be printed and including instructions for printing the coupon; sending, by the host processor, a set of commands, and a set of transaction data to the remote processor, the set of transaction data specifying one of the plurality of sets of commands and a scheduled time period during which a coupon may be printed, the scheduled time period indicating one or more times of day when the coupon can be printed at the remote processor; receiving, by the remote processor, the set of commands and the set of transaction data; storing the received set of commands in the memory of the remote processor; storing the received set of transaction data in the memory of the remote processor; retrieving from the memory of the remote processor the set of commands specified by the set of transaction data sent by the host processor; printing, by the remote processor, a coupon described by the retrieved set of commands, only at the times of day indicated by the scheduled time period as specified by the received set of transaction data.
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14. An apparatus for displaying a screen display in a system including an interconnected host processor and remote processor, the apparatus comprising:
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means for storing in a memory of the remote processor a plurality of sets of data, including a plurality of sets of display data, a plurality of sets of commands, and a plurality of sets of transaction data, each set of display data describing a display screen, each set of commands specifying a set of display data and including a series of commands for controlling display of a display screen, and each set of transaction data corresponding to a transaction to be performed and specifying a set of commands and a scheduled time period to display a display screen, the scheduled time period indicating one or more times of day when the display screen will be displayed; means for sending, by the host processor to the remote processor, a set of data that is one of a set of display data, a set of commands, and a set of transaction data; means for receiving, by the remote processor, the set of data; means for adding, by the remote processor, the received set of data to the plurality of sets of display data, the plurality of sets of commands, or the plurality of sets of transaction data already stored in the memory; means for determining whether the received set of data is a set of transaction data; means for retrieving from the memory of the remote processor a set of commands from the plurality of sets of commands as specified by the received set of transaction data, when the received set of data is a set of transaction data; means for retrieving from the memory of the remote processor a set of display data from the plurality of sets of display data as specified by the retrieved set of commands, when the received set of data is a set of transaction data; and means for displaying, by the remote processor when the received set of data is a set of transaction data, a display screen described by the retrieved set of display data, only at the one or more times of day indicated by the scheduled time period as specified by the received set of transaction data.
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15. An apparatus for printing a coupon in a system including an interconnected host processor and remote processor, comprising:
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means for storing in a memory of the remote processor a plurality of sets of data, including a plurality of sets of commands and a plurality of sets of transaction data, each set of transaction data corresponding to a transaction to be performed and specifying a set of commands and a scheduled time period during which a coupon may be printed, and each set of commands describing the coupon to be printed and including instructions for printing the coupon, the scheduled time period indicating one or more times of day when the coupon can be printed at the remote processor; means for sending, by the host processor to the remote processor, a set of data that is one of a set of commands and a set of transaction data; means for receiving, by the remote processor, the set of data; means for adding, by the remote processor, the received set of data to the plurality of sets of commands or the plurality of sets of transaction data already stored in the memory; means for determining whether the set of data is a set of transaction data; means for retrieving from the memory of the remote processor a set of commands from the plurality of sets of commands as specified by the received set of transaction data, when the received set of data is a set of transaction data; and means for printing, by the remote processor when the received set of data is a set of transaction data, a coupon described by the retrieved set of commands, only during the times of day indicated by the scheduled time period as specified by the received set of transaction data.
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Specification