Method and apparatus for displaying hardware dependent graphics in an object-oriented operating system
First Claim
1. A computer system for controlling a display device having predefined hardware characteristics, the display device for displaying a plurality of window areas on a desktop background, each of the plurality of window areas having displayed therein screen information generated by one of a plurality of application programs, the computer system comprising:
- a processor for executing each of the plurality of application programs;
an operating system cooperating with the processor for controlling the display device;
a hardware configuration system coupled to the display device, the hardware configuration system operating during computer system initialization for identifying the predefined characteristics of the display device; and
a hardware access system cooperating with the hardware configuration system, the hardware access system for instantiating a display device driver object having a plurality of commands and attributes specific to the predefined characteristics of the display device.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Screen objects used by the application programs to draw or paint on the display screen are created in accordance with a predefined class structure which represents a generic display system. Developers of specialized hardware develop specialized classes based on the predefined structure to handle specific command sets and protocols. When the system is initially powered up or reconfigured, the screen objects are created from the generic and specialized classes as necessary by examining the actual display hardware present in the system. When the specialized classes are used to create the screen objects, the screen objects receive the specialized command sets and protocols necessary to interact with display hardware which have been provided by the hardware developers.
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Citations
53 Claims
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1. A computer system for controlling a display device having predefined hardware characteristics, the display device for displaying a plurality of window areas on a desktop background, each of the plurality of window areas having displayed therein screen information generated by one of a plurality of application programs, the computer system comprising:
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a processor for executing each of the plurality of application programs; an operating system cooperating with the processor for controlling the display device; a hardware configuration system coupled to the display device, the hardware configuration system operating during computer system initialization for identifying the predefined characteristics of the display device; and a hardware access system cooperating with the hardware configuration system, the hardware access system for instantiating a display device driver object having a plurality of commands and attributes specific to the predefined characteristics of the display device. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. A computer system for controlling a display device having predefined characteristics and for displaying on the display device, a plurality of window areas on a desktop background each of the plurality of window areas having displayed therein screen information generated by one of a plurality of application programs, the computer system comprising:
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a processor for executing the one application program such that the one application program generates screen information to be displayed on the display device; an operating system cooperating with the processor for controlling the display device; a device memory located in the display device, the device memory having predefined characteristics of the display device stored therein; a hardware access system having apparatus for reading the device memory during initialization of the computer system and having a plurality of predefined display device driver object classes incorporating commands and defining a plurality of data structures for controlling the operation of a plurality of different display devices, the hardware access system being responsive to predefined characteristics read from the device memory for instantiating a display device driver object from one of the plurality of predefined display device driver object classes, the display device driver object including commands and data structures specific to the predefined characteristics; apparatus, responsive to commands generated by one of the plurality of application programs, the apparatus for creating a system window object which generates a specific window area on the display device wherein the system window object comprises commands for drawing in a screen buffer; and a window server system, responsive to the system window object and to the device driver object, for creating a screen buffer. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. A computer system for controlling a display device having predefined characteristics, the computer system for generating on the display device a plurality of window areas displayed on a desktop background, each of the plurality of window areas displaying screen information generated by one of a plurality of application programs, the computer system comprising:
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a processor for executing each of the plurality of application programs to display screen information on the display device; a memory, coupled to the processor, the memory having a common memory portion and a plurality of exclusive memory portions, one of the plurality of exclusive memory portions being accessible by the one application program; an operating system cooperating with the processor for controlling the display device; a device memory located in the display device, the device memory having stored therein predefined characteristics of the display device; a hardware access system having predefined display device driver classes, each of the display device driver classes including commands and defining data attributes for controlling the operation of a plurality of different display devices, the hardware access system operable during computer system initialization for instantiating a display device driver object in the common memory portion from one of the predefined display device driver classes based on the predefined characteristics of the display device being read from the device memory; and apparatus responsive to parameters generated by one of the plurality of application programs, the apparatus for creating a system window object in the one exclusive memory portion, which system window object creates a specific window area on the display device and which system window object comprises commands for drawing in a screen buffer corresponding to the specific window area. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19)
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20. A method for controlling a display device in a computer system, the display device having predefined characteristics, the computer system for generating on the display device a plurality of window areas displayed on a desktop background, each of the plurality of window areas having displayed therein screen information generated by one of a plurality of application programs, the method comprising the steps of:
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A. examining the display device during computer system initialization to identify the predefined characteristics of the display device; and B. using the predefined characteristics identified in the examining step to create a display device driver object having specific commands and data attributes for controlling the display device. - View Dependent Claims (21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28)
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29. A method for controlling a display device in a computer system, the display device having predefined characteristics for displaying a plurality of window areas on a desktop background, each of the plurality of window areas having displayed therein screen information generated by one of a plurality of application programs, the computer system having a memory with a common memory portion and a plurality of exclusive memory portions, one of the plurality of exclusive memory portions being accessible by the one application program, the method comprising the steps of:
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A. storing the predefined characteristics of the display device in a device memory located in the display device; B. storing, in the common memory portion, a set of predefined display device driver classes incorporating commands and defining data structures for controlling the operation of a plurality of different display devices; C. reading the predefined characteristics of the display device from the device memory during computer system initialization; D. creating, from one of the predefined display device driver classes, a display device driver object in the common memory portion using the predefined characteristics of the display device read from the device memory; E. receiving window parameters from one of the plurality of application programs; and F. creating a system window object in the one exclusive memory portion, which system window object creates a specific window area on the display device and which system window object comprises commands for drawing in a screen buffer corresponding to the specific window area.
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30. In a computer system which includes a display system having a display device and a plurality of different video display hardware circuits, each of the plurality of video display hardware circuits including a configuration memory and operating in accordance with a specific protocol and in response to a particular set of commands, apparatus to create a specialized video device driver object, the apparatus comprising:
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a display device IO access manager for identifying each of the plurality of video display hardware circuits physically installed on the computer system and for identifying hardware capabilities of each of the plurality of video display hardware circuits physically installed on the computer system; means for providing a specialized video device driver class; and means for dynamically constructing a specialized video device driver object from the specialized video device driver class by obtaining video display hardware circuit parameters from the configuration memory of the video display hardware circuit, wherein the video display hardware circuit parameters are used to construct the specialized video device driver object with predetermined hardware capabilities. - View Dependent Claims (31, 32)
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33. A computer system for executing an application program, the computer system having a display system coupled thereto, the display system including a display device and a plurality of different video display hardware circuits, each of the video display hardware circuits including a configuration memory and operating in accordance with a specific protocol and in response to a particular set of commands, the computer system comprising:
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(a) a view system for managing a plurality of window areas associated with the application program, the view system comprising; (a1) means for interfacing with the application program; (a2) means for creating window areas associated with the application program, each of the window areas having a particular boundary; and (a3) means for maintaining a plurality of screen buffer objects controlled by the application program, each of the plurality of screen buffer objects for displaying data on the display device; (b) a graphic system for facilitating the display of graphical images on the display device, the graphic system in communication with said view system and comprising means for interfacing with the application program; (c) a hardware configuration system for communicating with the video display hardware circuits, the hardware configuration system comprising; (c1) first configuration program means for querying display driver information; and (c2) second configuration program means for modifying display driver information to allow a user to change hardware specific information; (d) a hardware access system for communicating with the video display hardware circuits and for obtaining specific hardware device characteristics and parameters by querying the configuration memory of each of the plurality of video display hardware circuits; (e) a window server, in communication with said view system, the window server for determining the visible area of each of the plurality of window areas managed by the view system and for communicating the visible area of each window to the application program executing on the computer system; and (f) means for passing information obtained from the configuration memories of the plurality of video display hardware circuits by the hardware access system to the window server. - View Dependent Claims (34, 35, 36, 37, 38)
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39. A method of creating a window area on a display device, the method comprising the steps of:
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(a) querying a configuration memory of a video display hardware circuit to obtain specific hardware device characteristics and parameters of the video display hardware circuit; (b) passing information obtained from the configuration memory of the video display hardware circuit to a window server; (c) passing window parameters from an application program to a view system; (d) creating a system window object via the view system using the window parameters passed thereto from the application program; (e) storing the system window object in an allocated storage area of the view system; (f) sending the window parameters used in creating each window object from the view system to the window server; (g) sending the specific hardware device characteristics and parameters of the video display hardware circuit to a view system; (h) in response to the incoming window parameters, creating the window area on the display device via the window server; (i) returning the visible area of the window area to the view system by means of a data stream; (j) communicating the visible area of each window to the application program; and (k) in response to the specific hardware device characteristics and parameters, drawing in the window area on the display device. - View Dependent Claims (40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53)
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Specification