Systems, methods, and computer program products for redirecting the display of information from a computer program to a remote display terminal

• US 6,978,315 B1
• Filed: 10/10/2000
• Issued: 12/20/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 07/07/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: American Megatrends Incorporated
• Original Assignee: American Megatrends Incorporated
• Inventors: Burrell, Brandon Mitchell
• Primary Examiner(s): Jaroenchonwanit, Bunjob
• Application Number:
  US09/685,131
• Time in Patent Office: 1,897 Days
• Field of Search: 709/205, 709/246, 709/220, 709/221, 707/513
• US Class Current: 709/246
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1423 controlling a plurality of local displays, e.g. CRT and flat panel display
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 5/40 characterised by the way in which both a pattern determined by character code and another pattern are displayed simultaneously, or either pattern is displayed selectively, e.g. with character code memory and APA, i.e. all-points-addressable, memory
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/08 specially adapted for terminal emulation, e.g. Telnet
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/563 Data redirection of data network streams
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/63 Routing a service request depending on the request content or context
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/75 Indicating network or usage conditions on the user display

Abstract

The present invention provides systems, methods, and computer program products for redirecting the output of the computer program to a remote display terminal. The systems, methods, and computer program products of the present invention provide a method by which all text on a host system may be redirected and displayed at a remote location and representations of graphical images on a host system may be redirected and displayed at a remote location. The system of the present invention includes a display management module stored on a computer-readable medium in communication with an output of the computer program and the remote display terminal. Associated with the display management module are data modules containing text and graphical representation data used by the computer program to display information. The system of the present invention also includes an output redirection handler connected between the display management module and a data communication link to the remote display terminal. Connected to the opposed end of the communication link is a remote display handler for controlling the display of information on the remote display terminal. To redirect the display of information to the remote display terminal, the display management module receives commands to display text and graphical images from the computer program. Based on these commands, the display management module provides commands, text from the data modules, and data indicating size and position of the graphical images to the output redirection handler for displaying information on the remote display terminal. The output redirection handler formats the command and data for transmission across the data communication link, and the remote display handler receives the display data and controls the remote display terminal to display the information.

Claims

1. A system for redirecting to a remote display terminal information output by a computer program directed to a first display terminal such that the information can also be displayed at the remote display terminal comprising:

a computer program that contains at least one token stored therein representing one of text data and graphical data to be displayed during operation of said computer program;

a display management module stored on a computer-readable medium in communication with an output of the computer program and the remote display terminal for displaying data output from the computer program directed to the first display terminal to the remote display terminal;

data modules stored on a computer-readable medium containing text data and graphical data representations used by the computer program to display information on a display terminal, wherein at least one of said text data and graphical data representations corresponds to the token stored in said computer program;

an output redirection handler stored on a computer-readable medium in communication with said display management module;

a data communication link connected between said output redirection handler and the remote display terminal; and

a remote display handler stored on a computer-readable medium in communication with the data communication link and the remote display terminal,

wherein said display management module receives commands to display data from the computer program, and wherein said display management module, based on the commands from the computer program, provides commands and data from said data modules to said output redirection handler,

wherein said output redirection handler receives the information from said display management module and provides the information to the remote display terminal for display,

wherein to display text or graphical data, said computer program outputs a token representing the text or graphical data to be displayed, and said display management module uses the token to retrieve the text or graphical data from said data modules for display on the remote display terminal, and

wherein said remote display handler stores a current attribute value representing a color attribute of the characters being displayed on the remote display terminal such that subsequent commands to display data on the remote display terminal that do not alter the attribute do not require transmittal of the attribute variable.

2. A system according to claim 1, wherein said display management module provides data and commands based on a predetermined set of commands, and wherein said output redirection handler communicates with said display management module using the predetermined set of commands and provides the commands and data to the remote display handler for display on the remote display terminal.

3. A system according to claim 1, wherein said data communication link is a data communication link selected from the group consisting of parallel, serial, and network, and wherein said output redirection handler receives commands and data from said display management module and formats the commands and data for transmission across said data communication link.

4. A system according to claim 1, wherein said remote display handler receives commands and data from said output redirection handler and controls the remote display terminal to display the data.

5. A system according to claim 1, wherein at least one data module is a language data module including data strings representing language data, wherein each data string is stored in said data modules and designated by a token, and wherein to display a data string, said display management module receives a token associated with the data string from the computer program and a command to display the data string and based on the token accesses said language data module, retrieves the data string associated with the token, and outputs the data string and a command to display the data string to said output redirection handler.

6. A system according to claim 1 further comprising:

a plurality of language data modules associated with said display management module, wherein each language data module includes data strings representing language data in a selected language; and

a main language module header stored on a computer-readable medium and associated with said display management module comprising individual pointers indicating the location in a computer-readable storage medium in which each language data module is located, wherein to display a data string in a selected language, said display management module receives a token associated with the data string and a command to display the data string, wherein said display management module accesses said main language module header and retrieves the pointer associated with the language data module corresponding to a preselected desired language for displaying the data string, and wherein said display management module using the pointer, accesses the language data module, retrieves the data string associated with the token, and outputs the data string in the desired language and a command to display the data string to said output redirection handler.

7. A system according to claim 5 further comprising a font module stored on a computer-readable medium containing font data for displaying 256 standard and extended ASCII characters.

8. A system according to claim 7, wherein at least one data module is a language data module comprising:

a string data area stored on a computer-readable medium that includes data strings representing language data, wherein each character of each data string is a character selected from the group consisting of standard ASCII, extended ASCII, and double byte characters;

an extended ASCII font data area stored on a computer-readable medium for storing font data related to extended ASCII characters that are not displayable using the extended ASCII character font data stored in said font module; and

a double byte character font data area stored on a computer-readable medium for storing font data related to at least one double byte character.

9. A system according to claim 8, wherein characters in a data string that are standard ASCII and extended ASCII characters having ASCII codes less than a selected escape code are stored by their ASCII representations in said string data area, while extended ASCII characters and standard ASCII characters, if any, having ASCII codes at least as great as the selected escape code and ASCII characters that identify double byte characters are encoded and the encoded values are stored in said string data area.

10. A system according to claim 8, wherein standard ASCII characters and extended ASCII characters having ASCII codes less than the selected escape code are stored by their ASCII code representations in the string data area, and wherein extended ASCII characters having ASCII codes at least as great as the selected escape code and ASCII characters that identify the start of 16 bit double byte characters are encoded into 16 bit values and the encoded values are stored in the string data area.

11. A system according to claim 10, wherein double byte characters are sequentially encoded and the 16 bit encoded values representing the double byte characters are stored in said string data area, wherein font data associated with the double byte characters is stored in the double byte character font data area, and wherein at least one extended ASCII character is encoded in said string data area with an escape code preceding the ASCII representation of the extended ASCII character, and wherein if the extended ASCII character is not displayable with extended ASCII character font data stored in said font module, data for the extended ASCII character is stored in said extended ASCII font data area.

12. A system according to claim 11, wherein double byte characters are sequentially encoded such that the first double byte character is represented by a two-byte code having a first byte that is one value greater than the escape code and a second byte equal to zero, and wherein remaining unique double byte characters are encoded with sequential 16 bit code values.

13. A system according to claim 12, wherein to display a data string, said display management module receives a token associated with the data string and a command to display the data string from the computer program and accesses the location in the string data area where the data string is located and sequentially outputs the characters of the data string along with a command to display the data string to said output redirection handler.

14. A system according to claim 7, wherein when said display management module receives a command to display an ASCII character, said display management module locates the font data associated with the ASCII character in said font module and using the font data outputs the ASCII character to a local display and a command and the character code to said output redirection handler.

15. A system according to claim 1 further comprising a logo module stored in a computer-readable medium and associated with said display management module, wherein said logo module contains graphical data for display of at least one logo, and wherein when said display management module receives a command to display the logo, said display management module locates the graphical data associated with the logo in said logo module and outputs the logo image to a local display and a command and data necessary to display a representation of the logo to the output redirection handler.

16. A system according to claim 1 wherein said display management module outputs data for displaying a progress bar and a command to display a representation of the progress bar to said output redirection handler.

17. A system according to claim 1, wherein said display management module outputs data for displaying a box defining an area on a display terminal and a command to display the box to said output redirection handler.

18. A system according to claim 17, wherein said display management module outputs data for displaying a box defining an area on a display terminal, wherein said display management module further outputs data to be displayed within the defined area of the box, and wherein said display management module outputs commands to scroll the data displayed within the defined area, while any data displayed on other portions of the remote display terminal remain at the same position.

19. A method for redirecting to a remote display terminal information output by a computer program directed to a first display terminal such that the information can also be displayed at the remote display terminal comprising the steps of:

providing a computer program that contains at least one token stored therein representing one of text data and graphical data to be displayed during operation of said computer program;

providing on a computer-readable medium data modules containing text and graphical representation data used by the computer program to display information, wherein at least one of said text data and graphical data representations corresponds to the token stored in said computer program;

receiving a command to display data from the computer program;

retrieving data associated with the command from the data modules;

providing a command and data from the data modules for display;

redirecting the command and data to be displayed to the remote display terminal an using an output redirection handler stored on a computer-readable medium;

displaying the data on the remote display terminal; and

storing a current attribute value representing a color attribute of the characters being displayed on the remote display terminal such that subsequent commands to display data on the remote display terminal from said providing a command and data step that do not alter the attribute do not require output of the attribute variable,

wherein to display text or graphical data, said computer program outputs a token representing the text or graphical data to be displayed, and said retrieving step uses the token to retrieve the text or graphical data from said data modules for display on the remote display terminal.

20. A method according to claim 19, wherein said providing a command and data step provides data based on a predetermined set of commands, and wherein said redirecting step, using the predetermined set of commands, redirects the data to the remote display terminal.

21. A method according to claim 20 further comprising the step of transmitting the command and data from said redirecting step on a data communication link to the remote display terminal.

22. A method according to claim 21, wherein the data communication link is a data communication link selected from the group consisting of parallel, serial, and network, and wherein said transmitting step further comprises the step of formatting the commands and data from said providing commands and data step for transmission across the data communication link.

23. A method according to claim 19 further comprising the step of storing a value representing the current position of a cursor on the remote display terminal such that subsequent commands to display data on the remote display terminal from said providing a command and data step do not require data concerning cursor position.

24. A method according to claim 19, wherein said providing data modules step provides at least one data module that is a language data module including data strings representing language data, wherein each data string is stored in the language data modules and designated by a token, and wherein to display a data string on the remote terminal display, said receiving step receives a token associated with the data string and a command to display the data string from the computer program and based on the token said retrieving step accesses the data modules and retrieves the data string associated with the token, and wherein said providing a command and data step provides the data string and a command to display the data string.

25. A method according to claim 19, wherein said providing data modules step provides a plurality of language data modules on a computer-readable medium, wherein each language data module includes data strings representing language data in a selected language, and wherein said providing data modules step further provides a main language module header on a computer-readable medium comprising individual pointers indicating the location in a computer-readable storage medium in which each language data module is located, wherein to display a data string in a selected language, said receiving step receives a token associated with the data string and a command to display the data string from the computer program, wherein said retrieving step accesses the main language module header and retrieves the pointer associated with the language data module corresponding to a preselected desired language for displaying the data string, wherein said retrieving step using the pointer, accesses the language data module and retrieves the data string associated with the token, and wherein said providing a command and data step provides the data string for display on the remote display terminal.

26. A method according to claim 24, wherein said providing step further provides a font module stored on a computer-readable medium containing font data for displaying 256 standard and extended ASCII characters.

27. A method according to claim 26, wherein said providing data modules step provides at least one data module that is a language data module, wherein said providing data modules step provides:

a string data area stored on a computer-readable medium that includes data strings representing language data, wherein each character of each data string is a character selected from the group consisting of standard ASCII, extended ASCII, and double byte characters;

an extended ASCII font data area stored on a computer-readable medium for storing font data related to extended ASCII characters that are not displayable using the extended ASCII character font data stored in the font module; and

a double byte character font data area stored on a computer-readable medium for storing font data related to characters that are double byte characters.

28. A method according to claim 27, wherein said providing step provides a string data area wherein characters in a data string that are extended ASCII characters and standard ASCII characters, if any, having ASCII codes less than a selected escape code are stored by their ASCII representations in the string data area, while extended ASCII characters and standard ASCII, if any, having ASCII codes at least as great as the selected escape code and ASCII characters that identify the start of 16 bit double byte characters are encoded into 16 bit values and the encoded values are stored in the string data area.

29. A method according to claim 27, wherein said providing step provides a string data area wherein characters in a data string that are standard ASCII characters and extended ASCII characters having ASCII codes less than a selected escape code are stored by their ASCII representations in the string data area, while extended ASCII characters having ASCII codes at least as great as the selected escape code and ASCII characters that identify the start of 16 bit double byte characters are encoded into 16 bit values and the encoded values are stored in the string data area.

30. A method according to claim 29, wherein said providing step provides a string data area including double byte characters that are sequentially encoded and the encoded values representing the double byte characters are stored in the string data area, wherein font data associated with the double byte characters is stored in the double byte character font data area, and wherein at least one extended ASCII character is encoded as a 16 bit value in the string data area with an escape code preceding the ASCII representation of the extended ASCII character, and wherein if the extended ASCII character is not displayable with the extended ASCII character font data stored in the font module, data for the extended ASCII character is stored in the extended ASCII font data area.

31. A method according to claim 30, wherein said providing step provides a string data area including double byte characters that are sequentially encoded such that the first double byte character is represented by a two-byte code having a first byte that is one value greater than the escape code and a second byte equal to zero, and wherein remaining unique double byte characters are encoded with sequential 16 bit code values.

32. A method according to claim 30, wherein to display a data string on a remote display terminal, said receiving step receives the token associated with the data string and a command to display the data string from the computer program and said retrieving step accesses the location in the string data area where the data string is located, and wherein said providing a command and data step sequentially outputs the characters of the data string along with a command to display the data string to the output redirection handler.

33. A method according to claim 26, wherein to display an ASCII character, said retrieving step locates the font data associated with the ASCII character in the font module, and wherein said providing a command and data step, using the font data, outputs the ASCII character to a local display and a command and the character code to display the character to the output redirection handler.

34. A method according to claim 19, wherein said providing data modules step further provides a logo module stored on a computer-readable medium, wherein the logo module contains graphical data for display of at least one logo, wherein when said receiving step receives a command to display the logo, said retrieving step locates the graphical data associated with the logo in the logo module, and wherein said providing a command and data step, using the logo data, provides the logo image to the local display and a command to display a representation of the logo to the output redirection handler.

35. A method according to claim 19, wherein said providing a command and data step provides data for displaying a progress bar and a command to display the progress bar representation to the output redirection handler.

36. A method according to claim 19, wherein said providing a command and data step provides data for displaying a box defining an area on a display terminal and a command to display the box to the output redirection handler.

37. A method according to claim 36, wherein said providing a command and data step provides data for displaying a box defining an area on a display terminal and data to be displayed within the defined area of the box, and wherein said providing a command and data step provides a command to scroll the data displayed within the defined area, while any data displayed on other portions of the remote display terminal remain at the same position.

38. A computer program product for redirecting to a remote display terminal information output by a computer program directed to a first display terminal such that the information can also be displayed at the remote display terminal, wherein the computer program product comprises:

a computer-readable storage medium having computer readable program code means embodied in said medium, said computer-readable program code means comprising;

computer program that contains at least one token stored therein representing one of text data and graphical data to be displayed during operation of said computer program;

first computer instruction means for providing on a computer-readable medium data modules containing text and graphical data used by the computer program to display text information and a representation of graphical images on the remote display terminal, wherein at least one of said text data and graphical data representations corresponds to the token stored in said computer program;

second computer instruction means for receiving a command to display data from the computer program;

third computer instruction means for retrieving data associated with the command from the data modules;

fourth computer instruction means for providing a command and data from the data modules for display;

fifth computer instruction means for redirecting the command and data to be displayed to the remote display terminal using an output redirection handler stored on a computer-readable medium;

sixth computer instruction means for displaying the data on the remote display terminal; and

seventh computer instruction means for storing a value representing the current position of a cursor on the remote display terminal such that subsequent commands to display data on the remote display terminal do not require data concerning cursor position,

wherein to display text or graphical data, said computer program outputs a token representing the text or graphical data to be displayed, and said third computer instruction means uses the token to retrieve the text or graphical data from said data modules for display on the remote display terminal.

39. A computer program product according to claim 38, wherein said fourth computer instruction means provides data based on a predetermined set of commands, and wherein said fifth computer instruction means, using the predetermined set of commands, redirects the data for display on the remote display terminal.

40. A computer program product according to claim 38 further comprising seventh computer instruction means for transmitting the command and data from said fifth computer instruction means on a data communication link to the remote display terminal.

41. A computer program product according to claim 40, wherein the data communication link is a data communication link selected from the group consisting of parallel, serial, and network, and wherein said seventh computer instruction means formats the commands and data from said fifth computer instruction means for transmission across the data communication link.

42. A computer program product according to claim 40, wherein said sixth computer instruction means receives commands and data from said seventh computer instruction means and controls the remote display terminal to display the data from the computer program.

43. A computer program product according to claim 38, wherein said first computer instruction means provides at least one data module that is a language data module including data strings representing language data, wherein each data string is stored in the language data modules and designated by a token, and wherein to display a data string on the remote terminal display, said second computer instruction means receives a token associated with the data string along with a command to display the data string from the computer program and based on the token said third computer instruction means accesses the data modules and retrieves the data string associated with the token, and wherein said fourth computer instruction means provides the data string and a command to display the data string.

44. A computer program product according to claim 38, wherein said first computer instruction means provides a plurality of language data modules on a computer-readable medium, wherein each language data module includes data strings representing language data in a selected language, and wherein said first computer instruction means further provides a main language module header on a computer-readable medium comprising individual pointers indicating the location in a computer-readable storage medium in which each language data module is located, wherein to display a data string in a selected language, said second computer instruction means receives a token associated with the data string along with a command to display the data string from the computer program, wherein said third computer instruction means accesses the main language module header and retrieves the pointer associated with the language data module corresponding to a preselected desired language for displaying the data string, wherein said third computer instruction means, using the pointer, accesses the language data module and retrieves the data string associated with the token, and wherein said fourth computer instruction means provides the data string for display on the remote display terminal.

45. A computer program product according to claim 38, wherein said first computer instruction means provides a font module stored on a computer-readable medium containing font data for displaying 256 standard and extended ASCII characters.

46. A computer program product according to claim 45, wherein said first computer instruction means provides at least one data module that is a language data module, wherein said first computer instruction means provides:

a string data area stored on a computer-readable medium that includes data strings representing language data, wherein each character of each data string is a character selected from the group consisting of standard ASCII, extended ASCII, and double byte characters;

an extended ASCII font data area stored on a computer-readable medium for storing font data related to extended ASCII characters that are not displayable using the extended ASCII character font data stored in the font module; and

a double byte character font data area stored on a computer-readable medium for storing font data related to characters that are double byte characters.

47. A computer program product according to claim 46, wherein said first computer instruction means provides a string data area wherein characters in a data string that are extended ASCII characters and standard ASCII characters, if any, having ASCII codes less than a selected escape code are stored by their ASCII representations in the string data area, while extended ASCII characters and standard ASCII, if any, having ASCII codes at least as great as the selected escape code and ASCII characters that identify the start of 16 bit double byte characters are encoded into 16 bit values and the encoded values are stored in the string data area.

48. A computer program product according to claim 46, wherein said first computer instruction means provides a string data area wherein characters in a data string that are standard ASCII characters and extended ASCII characters having ASCII codes less than a selected escape code are stored by their ASCII representations in the string data area, while extended ASCII characters having ASCII codes at least as great as the selected escape code and ASCII characters that identify the start of 16 bit double byte characters are encoded into 16 bit values and the encoded values are stored in the string data area.

49. A computer program product according to claim 45, wherein said first computer instruction means provides a string data area including double byte characters that are sequentially encoded and the encoded values representing the double byte characters are stored in the string data area, wherein font data associated with the double byte characters is stored in the double byte character font data area, and wherein at least one extended ASCII character is encoded as a 16 bit value in the string data area with an escape code preceding the ASCII representation of the extended ASCII character, and wherein if the extended ASCII character is not displayable with the extended ASCII character font data stored in the font module, data for the extended ASCII character is stored in the extended ASCII font data area.

50. A computer program product according to claim 49, wherein said first computer instruction means provides a string data area including double byte characters that are sequentially encoded such that the first double byte character is represented by a two-byte code having a first byte that is one value greater than the escape code and a second byte equal to zero, and wherein remaining unique double byte characters are encoded with sequential 16 bit code values.

51. A computer program product according to claim 49, wherein to display a data string on a remote display terminal, said second computer instruction means receives the token associated with the data string and a command to display the data string from the computer program and said third computer instruction means accesses the location in the string data area where the data string is located, and wherein said fourth computer instruction means sequentially outputs the characters of the data string along with a command to display the data string.

52. A computer program product according to claim 45, wherein to display an ASCII character, said third computer instruction means locates the font data associated with the ASCII character in the font module, and wherein said fourth computer instruction means, using the font data, outputs the ASCII character to a local display and a command and the character code to the output redirection handler.

53. A computer program product according to claim 38, wherein said first computer instruction means further provides a logo module stored on a computer-readable medium, wherein the logo module contains graphical data for display of at least one logo, wherein when said second computer instruction means receives a command to display the logo, said third computer instruction means locates the graphical data associated with the logo in the logo module, and wherein said fourth computer instruction means, using the logo data, outputs the logo image to the local display and a command and data necessary to display a representation of the logo to the output redirection handler.

54. A computer program product according to claim 38, wherein said fourth computer instruction means provides data for displaying a progress bar and a command to display the progress bar representation.

55. A computer program product according to claim 38, wherein said fourth computer instruction means provides data for displaying a box defining an area on a display terminal and a command to display the box.

56. A computer program product according to claim 55, wherein said fourth computer instruction means provides data for displaying a box defining an area on a display terminal and data to be displayed within the defined area of the box, and wherein said fourth computer instruction means provides a command to scroll the data displayed within the defined area, while any data displayed on other portions of the remote display terminal remain at the same position.

57. A system for redirecting to a remote display terminal information output by a BIOS POST computer program directed to a first display terminal such that the information can also be displayed at the remote display terminal comprising:

a BIOS POST computer program that contains at least one token stored therein representing one of text data and graphical data to be displayed during operation of said computer program;

a display management module stored on a computer-readable medium in communication with an output of the BIOS POST computer program and the remote display terminal for displaying data from the computer program on a display terminal;

data modules stored on a computer-readable medium containing text data and graphical data representations used by the computer program to display information on a display terminal, wherein at least one of said text data and graphical data representations corresponds to the token stored in said BIOS POST computer program;

an output redirection handler stored on a computer-readable medium in communication with said display management module;

a data communication link connected between said output redirection handler and the remote display terminal; and

a remote display handler stored on a computer-readable medium in communication with the data communication link and the remote display terminal,

wherein said display management module receives commands to display data from the computer program, and wherein said display management module, based on the commands from the computer program, provides commands and data from said data modules to said output redirection handler for displaying information on the remote display terminal, wherein to display text or graphical data, said BIOS POST computer program outputs a token representing the text or graphical data to be displayed, and said display management module uses the token to retrieve the text or graphical data from said data modules for display on the remote display terminal, and

wherein said remote display handler stores a current attribute value representing a color attribute of the characters being displayed on the remote display terminal such that subsequent commands to display data on the remote display terminal that do not alter the attribute do not require transmittal of the attribute variable.

58. A system according to claim 57, wherein said display management module provides data and commands based on a predetermined set of commands, and wherein said output redirection handler communicates with said display management module using the predetermined set of commands and provides the commands and data to the remote display handler for display on the remote display terminal.

59. A system for redirecting to a remote display terminal information output by a BIOS POST computer program directed to a first display terminal such that the information can also be displayed at the remote display terminal comprising:

a BIOS POST computer program that contains at least one token stored therein representing one of text data and graphical data to be displayed during operation of said computer program;

a display management module stored on a computer-readable medium in communication with an output of the BIOS POST computer program and the remote display terminal for displaying data from the computer program on a display terminal;

data modules stored on a computer-readable medium containing text data and graphical data representations used by the computer program to display information on a display terminal, wherein at least one of said text data and graphical data representations corresponds to the token stored in said BIOS POST computer program;

an output redirection handler stored on a computer-readable medium in communication with said display management module;

a data communication link connected between said output redirection handler and the remote display terminal; and

a remote display handler stored on a computer-readable medium in communication with the data communication link and the remote display terminal,

wherein said display management module receives commands to display data from the computer program, and wherein said display management module, based on the commands from the computer program, provides commands and data from said data modules to said output redirection handler for displaying information on the remote display terminal, wherein to display text or graphical data, said BIOS POST computer program outputs a token representing the text or graphical data to be displayed, and said display management module uses the token to retrieve the text or graphical data from said data modules for display on the remote display terminal, and

wherein said remote display handler stores a value representing the current position of a cursor on the remote display terminal such that subsequent commands to display data on the remote display terminal do not require data concerning cursor position.

60. A system according to claim 59, wherein at least one data module is a language data module including data strings representing language data, wherein each data string is stored in said data modules and designated by a token, and wherein to display a data string, said display management module receives a token associated with the data string from the computer program and a command to display the data string and based on the token accesses said language data module, retrieves the data string associated with the token, and outputs the data string and a command to display the data string to said output redirection handler.

61. A system according to claim 59 further comprising:

a plurality of language data modules associated with said display management module, wherein each language data module includes data strings representing language data in a selected language; and

a main language module header stored on a computer-readable medium and associated with said display management module comprising individual pointers indicating the location in a computer-readable storage medium in which each language data module is located, wherein to display a data string in a selected language, said display management module receives a token associated with the data string and a command to display the data string, wherein said display management module accesses said main language module header and retrieves the pointer associated with the language data module corresponding to a preselected desired language for displaying the data string, and wherein said display management module using the pointer, accesses the language data module, retrieves the data string associated with the token, and outputs the data string in the desired language and a command to display the data string to said output redirection handler.

62. A system according to claim 60 further comprising a font module stored on a computer-readable medium containing font data for displaying 256 standard and extended ASCII characters.

63. A system according to claim 59 further comprising a logo module stored in a computer-readable medium and associated with said display management module, wherein said logo module contains graphical data for display of at least one logo, and wherein when said display management module receives a command to display the logo, said display management module locates the graphical data associated with the logo in said logo module and outputs the logo image to a local display and a command and data necessary to display a representation of the logo to the output redirection handler.

64. A system according to claim 59 wherein said display management module outputs data for displaying a progress bar and a command to display a representation of the progress bar to said output redirection handler.

65. A system according to claim 59, wherein said display management module outputs data for displaying a box defining an area on a display terminal and a command to display the box to said output redirection handler.

66. A system according to claim 65, wherein said display management module outputs data for displaying a box defining an area on a display terminal, wherein said display management module further outputs data to be displayed within the defined area of the box, and wherein said display management module outputs commands to scroll the data displayed within the defined area, while any data displayed on other portions of the remote display terminal remain at the same position.

67. A system for redirecting to a remote display terminal information output by a computer program directed to a first display terminal such that the information can also be displayed at the remote display terminal comprising:

a computer program that contains at least one token stored therein representing one of text data and graphical data to be displayed during operation of said computer program;

a display management module stored on a computer-readable medium in communication with an output of the computer program and the remote display terminal for displaying data output from the computer program directed to the first display terminal to the remote display terminal;

data modules stored on a computer-readable medium containing text data and graphical data representations used by the computer program to display information on a display terminal, wherein at least one of said text data and graphical data representations corresponds to the token stored in said computer program;

an output redirection handler stored on a computer-readable medium in communication with said display management module;

a data communication link connected between said output redirection handler and the remote display terminal; and

a remote display handler stored on a computer-readable medium in communication with the data communication link and the remote display terminal,

wherein said display management module receives commands to display data from the computer program, and wherein said display management module, based on the commands from the computer program, provides commands and data from said data modules to said output redirection handler,

wherein said output redirection handler receives the information from said display management module and provides the information to the remote display terminal for display,

wherein to display text or graphical data, said computer program outputs a token representing the text or graphical data to be displayed, and said display management module uses the token to retrieve the text or graphical data from said data modules for display on the remote display terminal, and

wherein said remote display handler stores a value representing the current position of a cursor on the remote display terminal such that subsequent commands to display data on the remote display terminal do not require data concerning cursor position.

68. A method for redirecting to a remote display terminal information output by a computer program directed to a first display terminal such that the information can also be displayed at the remote display terminal comprising the steps of:

providing a computer program that contains at least one token stored therein representing one of text data and graphical data to be displayed during operation of said computer program;

providing on a computer-readable medium data modules containing text and graphical representation data used by the computer program to display information, wherein at least one of said text data and graphical data representations corresponds to the token stored in said computer program;

receiving a command to display data from the computer program;

retrieving data associated with the command from the data modules;

providing a command and data from the data modules for display;

redirecting the command and data to be displayed to the remote display terminal an using an output redirection handler stored on a computer-readable medium;

transmitting the command and data from said redirecting step on a data communication link to the remote display terminal; and

displaying the data on the remote display terminal,

wherein to display text or graphical data, said computer program outputs a token representing the text or graphical data to be displayed, and said retrieving step uses the token to retrieve the text or graphical data from said data modules for display on the remote display terminal,

wherein said providing a command and data step provides data based on a predetermined set of commands, and wherein said redirecting step, using the predetermined set of commands, redirects the data to the remote display terminal, and

wherein said displaying step receives commands and data from said transmitting step and controls the remote display terminal to display the data from the computer program.

69. A computer program product for redirecting to a remote display terminal information output by a computer program directed to a first display terminal such that the information can also be displayed at the remote display terminal, wherein the computer program product comprises:

a computer-readable storage medium having computer readable program code means embodied in said medium, said computer-readable program code means comprising;

computer program that contains at least one token stored therein representing one of text data and graphical data to be displayed during operation of said computer program;

first computer instruction means for providing on a computer-readable medium data modules containing text and graphical data used by the computer program to display text information and a representation of graphical images on the remote display terminal, wherein at least one of said text data and graphical data representations corresponds to the token stored in said computer program;

second computer instruction means for receiving a command to display data from the computer program;

third computer instruction means for retrieving data associated with the command from the data modules;

fourth computer instruction means for providing a command and data from the data modules for display;

fifth computer instruction means for redirecting the command and data to be displayed to the remote display terminal using an output redirection handler stored on a computer-readable medium;

sixth computer instruction means for displaying the data on the remote display terminal; and

seventh computer instruction means for storing a current attribute value representing a color attribute of the characters being displayed on the remote display terminal such that subsequent commands to display data on the remote display terminal from said fourth computer instruction means that do not alter the attribute do not require output of the attribute variable,

wherein to display text or graphical data, said computer program outputs a token representing the text or graphical data to be displayed, and said third computer instruction means uses the token to retrieve the text or graphical data from said data modules for display on the remote display terminal.