Data processor that customizes program behavior by using a resource retrieval capability

Claim 3

A general purpose data processing system for performing a plurality of functions under control of a corresponding plurality of programs and providing customization of non-executing functions of the data processing system, comprising: (A) a plurality of resources, including standard versions of resources, (B) a plurality of programs, each having non-executing behavior that depends upon the content of at least one resource, wherein the non-executing behavior of a program includes operations of the program which (a) do not affect execution of the program, and (b) do not affect operations of the data processing system in performing the operations under control of the program, and the content of a resource is data which (a) is used by the program, and (b) does not affect the execution of the program, (c) is not modified by the program using the resource, and (d) does not affect the operations of the data processing system in performing operations under control of the program, (C) resource customization means for creating customized versions of resources, (D) user profile means for storing customized versions of resources with indications of users with which the customized resources are associated, each user profile being associated with a user and containing information pertaining to the user in the data processing system, (E) retrieval means for receiving requests from the programs for the resources and in response thereto automatically providing resources to the programs, without intervention by the users of the programs, the version of any particular resource being provided to a requesting program depending upon determination by the retrieval means from a user profile, and without intervention by the users, of whether a customized version exists for a user of that requesting program, whereby a program, with the program itself distinguishing between users and without intervention by the users, will automatically behave in a customized way for a user for which an appropriate customized resource exists and will behave in a standard way for a user for which there is no appropriate customized resource and wherein each version of a resource will control the non-executable behavior of a program independently of other versions of the resource.

Claim 4

A general purpose data processing system for performing a plurality of functions under control of a corresponding plurality of programs and providing customization of non-executing functions of the data processing system, comprising: (A) a plurality of resources, including standard versions of resources, (B) a plurality of programs, each having non-executing behavior that depends upon the content of at least one resource, wherein the non-executing behavior of a program includes operations of the program which (a) do not affect execution of the program, and (b) do not affect operations of the data processing system in performing the operations under control of the program, and the content of a resource is data which (a) is used by the program, and (b) does not affect the execution of the program, (c) is not modified by the program using the resource, and (d) does not affect the operations of the data processing system in performing operations under control of the program, (C) resource customization means for creating customized versions of resources, (D) user profile means for storing customized versions of resources with indications of users with which the customized resources are associated, each user profile being associated with a user and containing information pertaining to the user in the data processing system, (E) retrieval means for receiving requests from the programs for the resources and in response thereto automatically providing resources to the programs, without intervention by the users of the programs, the version of any particular resource being provided to a requesting program depending upon determination by the retrieval means from a user profile, and without intervention by the users, of whether a customized version exists for a user of that requesting program, whereby a program, with the program itself distinguishing between users and without intervention by the users, will automatically behave in a customized way for a user for which an appropriate customized resource exists and will behave in a standard way for a user for which there is no appropriate customized resource and wherein each version of a resource will control the non-executable behavior of a program independently of other versions of the resource.

Claim 5

The system of claim 2 wherein resources customized for a particular user are stored in that user's user profile.

Claim 6

A general purpose data processing system for performing a plurality of functions under control of a corresponding plurality of programs and providing customization of non-executing functions of the data processing system, comprising: (A) retrieval means for storing and retrieving resources having a data portion and a header portion, each resource having in the header portion a resource identifier having a value by which a resource to be retrieved can be identified to the means for storing and retrieving, and optionally including a resource literal, wherein the non-executing behavior of a program includes operations of the program which (a) do not affect execution of the program, (b) do not affect operations of the data processing system in performing the operations under control of the program, and the content of a resource is data which (a) is used by the program, and (b) does not affect the execution of the program, (c) is not modified by the program using the resource, and (d) does not affect the operations of the data processing system in performing operations under control of the program, (B) header generation means for using the retrieval means for storing and retrieving resources to access information in the header portion of the resources, when the resource includes a resource literal, and for producing program source code defining each resource literal to have the value of a corresponding resource identifier so that the source code for a program that includes the produced source code will refer to resources using the resource literals while an executable counterpart to the program that includes the produced source code will make resource requests using the resource identifiers, and wherein certain of the resources are customized for and associated with corresponding users of the programs and the resources associated with a user being stored in and associated with the user by means of a user profile associated with the user and wherein each version of a resource will control the non-executable behavior of a program independently of other versions of the resource.

Claim 7

A general purpose data processing system for performing a plurality of functions under control of a corresponding plurality of programs and providing customization of non-executing functions of the data processing system, comprising: (A) retrieval means for storing and retrieving resources having a data portion and a header portion, each resource having in the header portion a resource identifier having a value by which a resource to be retrieved can be identified to the means for storing and retrieving, and optionally including a resource literal, wherein the non-executing behavior of a program includes operations of the program which (a) do not affect execution of the program, (b) do not affect operations of the data processing system in performing the operations under control of the program, and the content of a resource is data which (a) is used by the program, and (b) does not affect the execution of the program, (c) is not modified by the program using the resource, and (d) does not affect the operations of the data processing system in performing operations under control of the program, (B) header generation means for using the retrieval means for storing and retrieving resources to access information in the header portion of the resources, when the resource includes a resource literal, and for producing program source code defining each resource literal to have the value of a corresponding resource identifier so that the source code for a program that includes the produced source code will refer to resources using the resource literals while an executable counterpart to the program that includes the produced source code will make resource requests using the resource identifiers, and wherein certain of the resources are customized for and associated with corresponding users of the programs and the resources associated with a user being stored in and associated with the user by means of a user profile associated with the user and wherein each version of a resource will control the non-executable behavior of a program independently of other versions of the resource.

Claim 8

The data processing system of claim 4 wherein resources are stored in resource files, and further comprising stripping means for producing a modified resource file by removing any resource literals in a pre-existing resource file.