Integrated environment computer system control structure with natural language interface

Claim 1

A computer system including a memory and comprising: (a) means for the input of textual information; (b) means for the display of textual information; (c) a display manager associated with said text input means for receiving text therefrom, and further associated with said text display means for the perceptual representation of the text received from said text input means on a given one of one or more display levels, said levels being perceptually plane parallel successively posteriorly positioned with respect to a first given level; (d) an input text buffer associated with said text input means for receiving text therefrom; (e) a parser associated with said input buffer for periodically receiving text accumulated by said input text buffer and preparing an input text segment therefrom; (f) a list buffer including a plurality of synonymic text segments; and (g) a plurality of operative task elements stored in the memory, each associated with at least one of said synonymic text segments of said list buffer, said parser including a list processor for comparing said input text segment with said synonymic text segments and for causing performance of the task element associated with the synonymic text segment that corresponds to said input text segment, each of said task elements being further associated with said display manager whereby text provided by performed task elements is directed to and perceptually represented on said posterior display levels.

Claim 6

A method of allowing natural language terms to be used to control selection and performance of a plurality of operative tasks stored in the memory of a computer which also includes an input means, the method comprising the steps of: (a) storing in the computer memory a control list containing a plurality of control strings, each of which is associated with a respective one of said tasks for causing performance of the task associated with a selected control string; (b) storing in the computer memory a synonymic list containing a plurality of synonymic character strings, each of which is a natural language term associated with one of said control strings for causing selection of the control string associated with a selected synonymic character string; (c) receiving an input string of one or more characters from said input means, said input string being a natural language term; and (d) comparing said input string to the strings in said synonymic list to cause selection of the synonymic character string that matches the input string, which in turn causes selection of the associated control string and performance of the associated task.

Claim 7

A method of allowing natural language terms to be used to control selection and performance of a plurality of operative tasks stored in the memory of a computer which also includes an input means, the method comprising the steps of: (a) storing in the computer memory a control list containing a plurality of control strings, each of which is associated with a respective one of said tasks for causing performance of the task associated with a selected control string; (b) storing in the computer memory a synonymic list containing a plurality of synonymic character strings, each of which is a natural language term associated with one of said control strings for causing selection of the control string associated with a selected synonymic character string; (c) receiving an input string of one or more characters from said input means, said input string being a natural language term; and (d) comparing said input string to the strings in said synonymic list to cause selection of the synonymic character string that matches the input string, which in turn causes selection of the associated control string and performance of the associated task.