Multilingual standard resources

Claim 2

The method recited in claim 1 wherein the program is an operating system and the step of running the program on the processing means that uses one of the first and second standard resources to display the window element in the window on the video display further comprises the step of running the operating system on the processing means that uses one of the first and second standard resources to display the window element in the window on the video display.

Claim 3

The method recited in claim 1 wherein the program is an application program and the step of running the program on the processing means that uses one of the first and second standard resources to display the window element in the window on the video display further comprises the step of running the application program on the processing means that uses one of the first and second standard resources to display the window element in the window on the video display.

Claim 4

The method recited in claim 1 wherein the method further comprises the step of scoring a third standard resource in the memory means, said third standard resource specifying appearance of an additional window element and specifying that text in the additional window element is in the first natural language and wherein the step of running the program on the processing means further comprises the step of running the program on the processing means that use the first and third standard resources to display the window element and the additional window element, said window element having the appearance specified by the first standard resource and including text in the first natural language and said additional window element having the appearance specified by the third standard resource and including text in the first natural language.

Claim 5

The method recited in claim 1, further comprising the step of switching the standard resource used by the program run on the processing means so that the program uses the previously unused standard resource to display the window element on the video display, said window element having the appearance specified by the previously unused standard resource and including text in the natural language specified by the previously unused standard resource.

Claim 6

The method recited in claim 1 wherein the program decides what standard resource to use to display the window element based on a user choice of one of the standard resources.

Claim 7

The method recited in claim 6, further comprising the step of displaying a user interface on the video display to prompt the user to choose one of the standard resources to be used by the program.

Claim 8

The method recited in claim 1 wherein the window element is a menu.

Claim 9

The method recited in claim 1 wherein the window element is a dialog box.

Claim 10

In a data processing system having processing means, and a video display and a memory means holding an operating system and an application program, a method comprising the steps of: running the operating system on the processing means to display a first window on the video display, said window including window elements with text in a first natural language; and running the application program on the processing means to display a second window on the video display, said second window including window elements with text in a second natural language.

Claim 11

The method recited in claim 10, further comprising the step of: switching the natural language of the text in the window elements of the second window to a third natural language.

Claim 12

The method recited in claim 11 wherein the step of switching the natural language of the text in the window elements of the second window to the third natural language does not affect the first window.

Claim 13

In a data processing system having processing means, memory means and a video display, a method comprising the steps of: storing a set of standard resources in memory means, each standard resource in the set specifying appearance of an associated window element that includes text and a language of the text included in the associated window element; in a program run on the processing means, selecting a language for text to be included in the window elements of a window produced by the program; and using the standard resources, that specify the language of the text included in the window elements as the selected language to display the window elements in the window on the video display.

Claim 14

The method recited in claim 13 wherein the program run on the processing means is an operating system.

Claim 15

The method recited in claim 13 wherein the program run on the processing means is an application program.

Claim 16

The method recited in claim 13 wherein the step of storing the set of standard resources in the memory means further comprises the step of storing a standard resource in the memory means that specifies appearance of an associated means that includes text and specifies the language of the text included in the menu.

Claim 17

The method recited in claim 13 wherein the step of storing the set of standard resources in the memory means further comprises the step of storing a standard resource in the memory means that specifies appearance of an associated dialog box that includes text and specifies the language of the text included in the dialog box.

Claim 18

The method recited in claim 13 wherein the step of storing the set of standard resources in the memory means further comprises the step of storing a standard resource in the memory means that specifies appearance of an associated string that includes text and specifies the language of the text included in the dialog box.

Claim 19

The method recited in claim 13 wherein the step of selecting the language for the text to be included in the window elements of the window produced by the program further comprises the steps of: displaying a user interface that prompts a user for a choice of language for the text to be included in the window elements of the window produced by the program; and selecting the language chosen by the user as the language of the text to be included in the window elements of the window produced by the program.

Claim 20

The method recited in claim 13 wherein the step of selecting the language for the text to be included in the window elements of the window produced by the program further comprises the step of selecting a system provided default language for the text to be included in the window elements of the window produced by the program.

Claim 21

In a data processing system having memory means, a video display and processing means running an operating system, a method comprising the steps of: storing a first set of standard resources in the memory means that specify appearance of window elements and that specify a natural language for text in the window elements as a first natural language; storing a second set of standard resources in the memory means that specify appearance or window elements and that specify the natural language for text in the window elements as a second natural language; and in response to a user request, selecting one of the sets of standard resources for use by the operating system to display the window elements in a window on the video display, wherein the appearance and the natural language of the text in the window elements are specified by the selected set of standard resources.

Claim 22

The method recited in claim 21, further comprising the step of displaying a user interface on the video display that provides the user with an option of requesting the first natural language or the second natural language for the text in the window elements.

Claim 23

In a data processing system having processing means, a video display and a memory means having a program for displaying a window, a method comprising the steps of: storing sets of standard resources describing window elements in the memory means wherein each set of standard resources includes standard resources for a plurality of window elements, some of which include text, and each set of standard resources has an associated natural language for all text included in the window elements; choosing an initial one of the sets of standard resources having a first associated natural language for use by the program run on the processing means; displaying a window on the video display as directed by the program using the initial one of the sets of standard resources such that some of the window elements include text in the first associated natural language; choosing an alternative one of the sets of standard resources having a second associated natural language for use by the program run on the processing means without rebooting the data processing system; and displaying the window on the video display as directed by the program using the alternative one of the sets of standard resources such that some of the window elements include text in the second associated natural language.

Claim 24

The method recited in claim 23 wherein the program is an operating system.

Claim 25

The method recited in claim 23 wherein the program is an application program.

Claim 26

The method recited in claim 23, further comprising the step of displaying a user interface on the video display that provides a user with choices of natural languages for the sets of standard resources to be used by the program run on the processing means and wherein the step of choosing the initial one of the sets of standard resources having the first natural language for use by the program run on the processing means further comprises the step of choosing the initial one of sets of standard resources chosen by the user via the user interface and having the first natural language for use by the program run on the processing means.

Claim 27

The method recited in claim 23, further comprising the step of displaying a user interface on the video display that provides a user with choices of natural languages for the sets of standard resources to be used by the program run on the processing means and wherein the step of choosing the alternative one of the sets of standard resources having the second natural language for use by the program run on the processing means further comprises the step of choosing the alternative one of sets of standard resources chosen by the user via the user interface and having the second natural language for use by the program run on the processing means.

Claim 28

The method recited in claim 23 wherein the step of choosing the initial one of the sets of standard resources further comprises the step of choosing a system-provided default set of standard resources having the first natural language for use by the program run on the processing means.

Claim 29

In a data processing system having memory, a video display and a processor running a program, a method comprising the steps of: storing a first set of standard resources in the memory that specify appearance of window elements and that specify a first natural language for text in the window elements; storing a second set of standard resources in the memory that specify appearance of window elements and that specify a second natural language for text in the window elements; using at least one standard resource from the first set of standard resources and at least one standard resource from the second set of standard resources to display windows elements of a window for the program on the video display.

Claim 32

The method recited in claim 29 wherein the step of using at least one standard resource from the first set of standard resources and using at least one standard resource from the second set of standard resources is performed in response to a user selection of desired standard resources.