EP0212016A1
Expired / Lapsed
EP
⏱️ 0.0 years remaining
A system of graphical manipulation in a potentially windowed data display
Assignee: EMC Corp
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Filing: 1985-08-12
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Granted: —
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Expires: 2005-08-12
Abstract
Abstract A method is disclosed which enhances the ability of a digital computer system to manage displays, especially in an environment where a single physical display supports a plurality of logical displays (windows). Machine-language instructions are provided to a CPU (201) from user software and data (208. 217). These instructions act in conjunction with user-supplied form descriptors (209) describing each of the windows to enable management and generation of display image data to be performed directly by the processing hardware of the digital computer system, eliminating any need for intervening interpretive software. The display image data is placed in a screen bitmap memory (215) or a reserve memory (214) for occluded image data. Data computed from form descriptors may be held in a cache (206) in order to enhance the speed of consecutive operations on windows. Graceful creation is enhanced by permitting processing control to escape to software fault handlers (211).
Inventors
- 👤 John Pilat
- 👤 David Keating
- 👤 Wayne Colella
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
EP
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-10-30 14:05
CPC Classifications
G; G09; G09G; G09G5/00; G09G5/14; G09G2360/00; G09G2360/12; G09G2360/121
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 12
Claim 1
Independent Claim
205 words
A digital computer system comprising main memory means (202) for storing instructions and data; processing means (201) for performing operations on data in response to the instructions; and display means (203, 204) for displaying representations of data; characterised in that the system is arranged to control the display by the method comprising the steps of: (a) storing in the main memory means (202) form descriptors (209) for describing organisation of data to be displayed: (b) storing in the main memory means instructions for specifying first data and for specifying representations of first data which are to be displayed, and for describing the position within the organisation described by the form descriptors at which the representations of the first data are to be displayed; (c) selecting an instruction and a form descriptor to obtain a selected instruction and a selected form descriptor; (d) calculating, in the processing means, second certain data which is a function of the selected instruction, the selected form descriptor, and certain first data specified by the selected instruction, the second certain data being a representation of what is to be displayed; and (e) forwarding the second certain data to the display means for representations of the second certain datas to be displayed.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
205 words
A digital computer system comprising main memory means (202) for storing instructions and data; processing means (201) for performing operations on data in response to the instructions; and display means (203, 204) for displaying representations of data; characterised in that the system is arranged to control the display by the method comprising the steps of: (a) storing in the main memory means (202) form descriptors (209) for describing organisation of data to be displayed: (b) storing in the main memory means instructions for specifying first data and for specifying representations of first data which are to be displayed, and for describing the position within the organisation described by the form descriptors at which the representations of the first data are to be displayed; (c) selecting an instruction and a form descriptor to obtain a selected instruction and a selected form descriptor; (d) calculating, in the processing means, second certain data which is a function of the selected instruction, the selected form descriptor, and certain first data specified by the selected instruction, the second certain data being a representation of what is to be displayed; and (e) forwarding the second certain data to the display means for representations of the second certain datas to be displayed.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
48 words
A system according to claim 1, characterised in that the second certain data in step (d) is further a function of previous second certain data, in addition to being a function of the selected instruction, the selected form descriptor, and certain first data specified by the selected instruction.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
121 words
A system according to claim 1 or 2, characterised in that the processing means (201) includes a scratchpad memory means (206), in which data can be stored significantly more rapidly than in the main memory means (202) and from which data can be retrieved significantly more rapidly than from the main memory means; and in that step (d) is immediately preceded by: (c1) determining whether the selected form descriptor is encached in the scratchpad memory means; (c2) if the selected form descriptor is encached in the scratchpad memory means, retrieving it therefrom; (c3) if the selected form descriptor is not encached in the scratchpad memory means, retrieving it from the main memory means and encaching it in the scratchpad memory means.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
51 words
A system according to claim 1, 2 or 3, characterised in that the processing means (201) includes a control store; and in that in step (d) the processing means performs the calculating under control of a sequence of microinstructions from a plurality of sequences of microinstructions provided in the control store.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
54 words
A system according to claim 4, characterised in that a sequence of microinstructions currently controlling the processing means may relinquish control of the processing means and direct that the processing means be placed under control of a sequence of instructions from a plurality of sequences of instructions provided in the main memory means (202).
Claim 7
Independent Claim
138 words
A system according to any of claims 1 to 5, characterised in that if it is determined in step (d) that the selected instruction has specified that certain portions of the data representations displayed on the display means are to become obscured or occluded by other data representations, the portions of the second certain data corresponding to the certain portions of the data representations are removed to a retention area (214) within the main memory means; and in that, if it is determined in step (d) that the selected instruction has specified that certain portions of the data representations that previously became obscured or occluded are again to become visible, the corresponding portions of the second certain data are restored from the retention area, whereby there is no need to recompute those portions of the second certain data.
Claim 8
Independent Claim
145 words
A system according to any of claims 1 to 6, characterised in that if it is determined in step (d) that a first certain selected form descriptor delimits a portion of the second certain data already delimited by a second certain selected form descriptor, and if in step (d) it is further determined that the second certain selected form descriptor also delimits a portion of the second certain data not delimited by the first certain selected form descriptor, the second certain specified form descriptor are resolved into subform descriptors, namely a first subform descriptor delimiting the portion of the second certain data delimited by both the first certain and second certain selected form descriptors; and one or more next subform descriptors delimiting the portion of second certain data delimited by the second certain selected form descriptor but not by the first certain selected form descriptor.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
68 words
A system according to claim 7, characterised in that if it is determined in step (d) that a selected form descriptor has previously been resolved into subform descriptors, the function of the selected instruction, the selected form descriptor, and certain first data specified by the selected instruction is resolved into a function of the selected instruction, the subform descriptors, and certain first data specified by the selected instruction.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
55 words
A system according to claim 7 or 8, characterised in that if it is determined in step (d) that a portion of the second certain data that was previously delimited by two or more form descriptors becomes delimited by only one form descriptor, subform descriptors delimiting that portion of the second certain data are discarded.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
156 words
A digital computer system with improved display control capabilities, comprising memory means (202) for storing instructions and data; display means (203, 204) for producing displays in response to first certain data (215) stored in the main memory means; and processing means (201) for performing operations on data in response to the instructions; characterised in that the processing means (201) has the ability to generate the first certain data (215) in response to certain of the instructions which each specify a form descriptor from a plurality of form descriptors (209) stored in the memory means (202) for specifying organisation of data to be displayed; and second certain data (217) in the main memory means, representations of which are to be displayed; and in that the processing means (201) produces the first certain data (215) as a function of each certain instruction, the form descriptor specified by that instruction, and the second certain data specified by that instruction.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
156 words
A digital computer system with improved display control capabilities, comprising memory means (202) for storing instructions and data; display means (203, 204) for producing displays in response to first certain data (215) stored in the main memory means; and processing means (201) for performing operations on data in response to the instructions; characterised in that the processing means (201) has the ability to generate the first certain data (215) in response to certain of the instructions which each specify a form descriptor from a plurality of form descriptors (209) stored in the memory means (202) for specifying organisation of data to be displayed; and second certain data (217) in the main memory means, representations of which are to be displayed; and in that the processing means (201) produces the first certain data (215) as a function of each certain instruction, the form descriptor specified by that instruction, and the second certain data specified by that instruction.
References Cited (Backward Citations)
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