Operating system based remote communication system

• US 6,438,619 B1
• Filed: 06/03/1997
• Issued: 08/20/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 02/13/1995
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: GAGE Brook LLC
• Original Assignee: GAGE Brook LLC
• Inventors: Coman, James S.
• Primary Examiner(s): Courtnay, III, St. John
• Assistant Examiner(s): BULLOCK JR, LEWIS ALEXANDER
• Application Number:
  US08/868,109
• Time in Patent Office: 1,904 Days
• Field of Search: 345/68, 345/683, 345/684, 345/672, 709/319, 709/313, 709/203, 717/147
• US Class Current: 719/319
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 13/107 Terminal emulation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/451 Execution arrangements for user interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 Network security protocols

Abstract

A remote communication system provides a fast, efficient and user-friendly interface which does not suffer from the inefficiencies of the data transfer bottlenecks inherent in the prior art devices and methods. An operating system based remote communication system is achieved by providing a remote computer with a small, relatively simple terminal program which receives and interprets both data and command instructions from the host system. The present invention employs commands which are based on fundamental tasks that the operating system of the remote system may understand and implement, such as creating windows, buttons, edit fields, listboxes and other operating system objects.

Claims

1. A remote communication system on a terminal for communicating with a physically remote host system of the type which runs a host program and which provides services to one or more users of the remote communication system on the terminal and wherein the operating systems of the host and remote terminal are not necessarily the same, the remote communication system comprising:

a central processing unit;

a graphical interface operating system;

means for receiving commands and data sent by the physically remote host system, the received commands comprising operating system independent instructions for manipulating graphic interface operating system objects;

a terminal program running on said remote communication system, said terminal program including means for interpreting the received operating system-independent instructions and executing graphic interface operating system instructions corresponding to the interpreted operating system-independent instructions; and

a display operatively connected to said central processing unit for displaying the results of the commands executed by the graphical interface operating system.

2. The remote communication system of claim 1 wherein the received commands are sent by the physically remote host system in the form of resource files maintained by the physically remote host system.

3. The remote communication system of claim 2 further comprising a hard disk device suitable for storing said resource files.

4. The remote communication system of claim 3 wherein the graphical interface operating system objects include dialog boxes, windows, listboxes and edit fields.

5. The remote communication system of claim 3 wherein the graphical interface operating system objects comprise a button and the terminal program reports the triggering of the button to the physically remote host system.

6. The remote communication system of claim 3 wherein said resource files are stored on the hard disk drive of the remote communication system after being received for later retrieval and said resource files are only transmitted by the physically remote host system if the resource files are not available on said hard disk drive.

7. The remote communication system of claim 1 wherein the remote communication system further comprises a random access memory suitable for storing the terminal program, the graphical interface operating system and said commands received from the physically remote host system.

8. The remote communication system of claim 1 wherein the terminal program reports the successful completion of a command to the Physically remote host system.

9. The remote communication system of claim 1 wherein the host program is written using a script language.

10. The remote communication system of claim 1 wherein the terminal program is transmitted to the remote communication system if the physically remote host system determines that the terminal program is unavailable.

11. The remote communication system of claim 1 wherein the receiving means comprises a modem.