Display terminal equipment with concurrently operable plural input devices

• US 4,897,801 A
• Filed: 08/17/1987
• Issued: 01/30/1990
• Est. Priority Date: 08/25/1986
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
• Inventors: Nagafuji, Motonobu, Kazama, Yoshiharu
• Primary Examiner(s): Clark, David L.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Zimmerman, Mark K.
• Application Number:
  US07/085,768
• Time in Patent Office: 897 Days
• Field of Search: 364/521, 340/717, 340/721
• US Class Current: 345/520
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0489 using dedicated keyboard keys or combinations thereof
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 5/14 Display of multiple viewports

Abstract

In a display terminal equipment, a display device and a plurality of input devices are connected to a controller. Each input device is operated by an operator for inputting information. The controller controls the information entered from a different input device to be displayed on a different display area of the display device. It becomes possible for a plurality of operators to share a single display device and a single display terminal equipment while handling his or her own input device at the same time.

Claims

1. A display terminal equipment comprising:

a plurality of input means each operated by an operator for inputting information;

display means for displaying information;

control means connected to said display means for controlling different display information to be displayed at different positions on said display means; and

adapter means for interconnecting said plurality of input means and said control means, said adapter means includes means for adding identification information for identifying each of said input means to the display information inputted by the corresponding input means and for transferring said identification information and said display information to said control means;

wherein said control means comprises

a system bus,

a display controller connected to said system bus and having display range registers for storing display ranges of a split screen and windows and a plurality of cursor registers corresponding in number to display areas, said display controller controlling in such a manner that the renewal of the contents of said cursor registers is conducted within said display ranges and that the data received from said system bus are displayed at a position, on said display means, addressed by a cursor register corresponding to a display area number which is received together with said data and

a system control means including a memory and a system controller having at least one microprocessor, said memory has stored therein a control program for controlling said microprocessor, both of said system controller and said memory being connected to said system bus, said microprocessor controls said system bus, manages a correspondence between said input device and said display area, receives the data from said adapter means, adds said display area number to said data to be displayed on the area indicated by said number, and delivers said data together with said number to said display controller.

2. A display terminal equipment according to claim 1, wherein said adapter means comprises

a plurality of data buffers corresponding in number to a plurality of keyboards,

a selector connected between said data buffers and said system bus and

a controller for time divisionally scanning said data buffers, said controller including means for interrupting said system controller when there are data in a data buffer, and in response to a command from said system controller controlling said selector so as to output the data from a scanned and detected data buffer to said system bus and means for outputting a keyboard number obtained from a scan signal.

3. A display terminal equipment according to claim 1, wherein said display means is a CRT display device, and said display controller further comprises

a screen memory

a character generator for converting output data from said screen memory into image dots for display,

a parallel/serial converter for converting a parallel data from said character generator into serial data and outputting said serial data to said CRT display device, and

a CRT controller including a refresh/write controller, display range registers for storing display ranges of split screens and windows and a plurality of cursor registers corresponding in number to display areas, said display controller controlling in such a manner that the renewal of the contents of said cursor registers is conducted within said display range and that the data received from said system bus are displayed at a position, on said display means, addressed by a cursor register corresponding to a display area number which is received together with said data.

4. A display terminal equipment comprising:

a plurality of input means each operated by an operator for inputting information;

display means for displaying display information;

control means connected to said display means for controlling different display information to be displayed at different positions on said display means; and

adapter means for interconnecting said plurality of input means and said control means, said adapter means includes means for adding identification information for identifying each of said input means to the display information inputted by the corresponding input means and for transferring said identification information and said display information to said control means;

wherein said control means comprises

a system bus,

a display controller connected to said system bus and having a plurality of cursor registers for controlling the display of data received from said system bus at a position, on said display means, addressed by a cursor register corresponding to a cursor register number which is received together with said data and

a system control means including a memory and system controller having at least one microprocessor, said memory has stored therein a control program for said microprocessor, both of said system controller and said memory having connected to said system bus, said microprocessor controls said system bus, receives data from said adapter means, adds to said data said cursor register number corresponding to any one of said input means, and sends both the data and cursor register number to said display controller, and

wherein said adapter means further includes

a plurality of data buffers corresponding in number to a plurality of keyboards,

a selector connected between said data buffers and said system bus, and

a controller for time divisionally scanning said data buffers, said controller including means for interrupting said system controller when there is data in a data buffer, and in response to a command from said system controller controlling said selector so as to output the data from a scanned and detected data buffer to said system bus and means for outputting a keyboard number obtained from a scan signal.

5. A display terminal equipment comprising:

a plurality of input means each operated by an operator for inputting information;

display means for displaying display information;

control means connected to said display means for controlling different display information through at least one adapter means, to be displayed at different positions on said display means; and

said at least one adapter means for interconnecting said plurality of input means and said control means, each of said adapter means controlling each of said input means;

wherein said control means comprises

a system bus,

a display controller connected to said system bus and having display range registers for storing display ranges of split screens and window and a plurality of cursor registers corresponding in number to display areas, said display controller controlling in such a manner that the renewal of the contents of said cursor registers is conducted within said display range and that the data received from said system bus are displayed at a position, on said display means, addressed by a cursor register corresponding to a display area number which is received together with said data, and

a system control means including a memory and a system controller having at least one microprocessor, said memory has stored therein a control program for controlling said microprocessor, both of said system controller and said memory being connected to said system bus, said microprocessor controls said system bus, manages a correspondence between said input device and said display area, receives the data from said adapter means, adds said display area number to said data to be displayed on the area indicated by said number, and delivers said data together with said number to said display controller.

6. A display terminal equipment according to claim 5, wherein said display means is a CRT display device, and said display controller further comprises:

a screen memory;

a character generator for converting an output data from said screen memory into image dots for display;

parallel/serial converter for converting a parallel data from said character generator into a serial data and outputting said serial data to said CRT display device; and

a CRT controller including a refresh/write controller, display range registers for storing display ranges of split screens and windows and a plurality of cursor registers corresponding in number to display areas, said display controller controlling in such a manner that the renewal of the contents of said cursor registers is conducted within said display range and that the data received from said system bus are displayed at a position, on said display means, addressed by a cursor register corresponding to a display area number which is received together with said data.