EP0398646A2
Expired / Lapsed
EP
⏱️ 0.0 years remaining
User interface tool
Assignee: International Business Machines Corp
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Filing: 1990-05-15
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Granted: —
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Expires: 2010-05-15
Abstract
Abstract A user interface tool provides means for presenting items for selection by a user of a data processing system and means for executing the selected items. Each item of the menus and dialogues is an individual and independent object in an object database, referred to as an interface object. These objects can be added or deleted independent of each other, allowing greater extendability and customisation of the interface. The data within each of the interface objects and the selections from a user determine which of the interface objects will make up any one of several logical frame presentations at any one time to be presented to a user. The interface tool of this invention is adaptable for use with any one of a plurality of graphic libraries for presenting the actual screen image of the logical frame presentation to the user. In addition, the interface tool utilises the message facilities of the system to present the elements of the interface in multiple languages. More specifically, the interface tool of this invention is used for managing the system resources of a data processing system by a user.
Inventors
- 👤 Robert Anthony Fabbio
- 👤 Anne Gregory Leonard
- 👤 Conrad William Schneiker
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
EP
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-11-03 08:29
CPC Classifications
G; G06; G06F; G06F3/00; G06F3/14; G06F8/00; G06F8/20; G06F8/24; G06F3/01; G06F3/048; G06F3/0481; G06F3/0482; G06F8/30; G06F8/38; G06F9/00; G06F9/06; G06F9/44; G06F9/451; G06F9/454; Y; Y10; Y10S; Y10S707/00; Y10S707/99931
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 29
Claim 1
Independent Claim
73 words
A user interface tool having means for presenting items for selection by a user of a data processing system for execution of the selected items, the interface tool comprising: means for representing a plurality of interface objects in an object database; and means for dynamically associating different ones of the interface objects into a plurality of logical frame presentations based upon the data within each of the different ones of the interface objects.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
73 words
A user interface tool having means for presenting items for selection by a user of a data processing system for execution of the selected items, the interface tool comprising: means for representing a plurality of interface objects in an object database; and means for dynamically associating different ones of the interface objects into a plurality of logical frame presentations based upon the data within each of the different ones of the interface objects.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
41 words
A user interface tool as claimed in claim 1 further comprising means for managing a screen presentation of the objects and a user interaction with the objects based upon the data within at least one of the plurality of interface objects.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
33 words
A user interface tool as claimed in claim 1 or claim 2 wherein at least one of the plurality of interface objects represents at least one attribute of at least one system resource.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
35 words
A user interface tool as claimed in claim 3 further comprising means for utilising a current value of the at least one attribute of the at least one system resource for presentation to the user.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
48 words
A user interface tool as claimed in claim 3 or claim 4 further comprising means for utilising at least one instance of at least one of the system resources for presentation to the user for informing the user of an availability of the instance of the system resource.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
28 words
A user interface tool as claimed in claim 5 further comprising means for allowing the user to select the instance of the system resource presented to the user.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
37 words
A user interface tool as claimed in claim 3 further comprising means for utilising a current value of the at least one attribute of the at least one system resource for a validation of a user response.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
44 words
A user interface tool as claimed in any preceding claim wherein at least two of the plurality of interface objects represent a hierarchical relationship between components of the data processing system based upon the data within each of the at least two interface objects.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
31 words
A user interface tool as claimed in claim 8 wherein the interface objects are dynamically associated according to the hierarchical relationship represented within each of the at least two interface objects.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
35 words
A user interface tool as claimed in claim 8 or claim 9 further comprising means for directly entering the hierarchy of interface objects at at least one of a plurality of locations within the hierarchy.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
37 words
A user interface tool as claimed in any preceding claim further comprising means for constructing a command by associating at least one user input value with an option within the at least one of the interface objects.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
17 words
A user interface tool as claimed in claim 11 further comprising means for executing the constructed command.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim
23 words
A user interface tool as claimed in claim 11 or claim 12 further comprising means for logging the executed command for later re-execution.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim
44 words
A user interface tool as claimed in any preceding claim wherein the means for constructing and executing does so for a command based on a current state of the data processing system, a plurality of user selections, and the data within the interface objects.
Claim 16
Dependent Claim
28 words
A user interface tool as claimed in any preceding claim further comprising means for retrieving the objects from the object database in response to the user selected item.
Claim 17
Dependent Claim
36 words
A user interface tool as claimed in any preceding claim further comprising means for iteratively presenting the interface objects to the user dependent upon a plurality of user selections and the data within the interface objects.
Claim 18
Dependent Claim
26 words
A user interface tool as claimed in any preceding claim further comprising means for accessing at least one interface object from a plurality of screen presentations.
Claim 19
Dependent Claim
26 words
A user interface tool as claimed in any preceding claim further comprising means for accessing at least one screen presentation from a plurality of interface objects.
Claim 20
Dependent Claim
47 words
A user interface tool as claimed in any preceding claim further comprising means for altering the interface object database from within the interface during a session of execution of the interface, and means for reflecting the altered interface during the same session of execution of the interface.
Claim 21
Dependent Claim
27 words
A user interface tool as claimed in any preceding claim further comprising means for altering the interface object database by creating at least one new interface object.
Claim 22
Dependent Claim
25 words
A user interface tool as claimed in any preceding claim further comprising means for displaying the logical frame presentations by a plurality of graphical libraries.
Claim 23
Dependent Claim
41 words
A user interface tool as claimed in any preceding claim further comprising means, within the interface data objects, for representing the items in the logical frame presentation in at least one of a plurality of ways dependent upon a graphical context.
Claim 24
Dependent Claim
41 words
A user interface tool as claimed in any preceding claim further comprising means, within the interface data objects, for representing the items in the logical frame presentation in at least one of a plurality of ways dependent upon a linguistic context.
Claim 25
Dependent Claim
45 words
A user interface tool as claimed in any preceding claim further comprising means for accessing a screen library having means for indicating to the user a number of the items in the logical frame presentation currently outside of a visual screen presentation to the user.
Claim 26
Dependent Claim
36 words
A user interface tool as claimed in any preceding claim further comprising means for providing at least one logical frame presentation dependent upon at least one access control policy applied to the plurality of interface objects.
Claim 27
Dependent Claim
15 words
A data processing system comprising a user interface tool as claimed in any preceding claim.
Claim 28
Dependent Claim
58 words
A procedure for presenting items for selection by a user of a data processing system, the procedure comprising: representing a plurality of interface objects in an object database; and dynamically associating different ones of the interface objects into a plurality of logical frame presentations based upon the data within each of the different ones of the interface objects.
Claim 29
Dependent Claim
58 words
A procedure for presenting items for selection by a user of a data processing system, the procedure comprising: representing a plurality of interface objects in an object database; and dynamically associating different ones of the interface objects into a plurality of logical frame presentations based upon the data within each of the different ones of the interface objects.
References Cited (Backward Citations)
No citation records indexed.
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