Object-oriented viewing framework having view grouping

Claim 1

A system for displaying a plurality of views in which one view may partially obscure another view leaving a non-obscured, visible area of the another view, each of the plurality of views having an identifier, the system comprising: (a) a display; (b) a screen buffer for storing screen information; (c) display adapter means for directly obtaining the screen information from the screen buffer and for displaying the screen information on the display; (d) a processor and an attached memory, holding application programs; (e) hierarchy object means having a data hierarchy structure for defining a frontmost display level to a rearmost display level of views and means responsive to a user request to reorder the display hierarchy for reordering data in the data hierarchy structure to change display levels of the views; (f) grouping means for storing identifiers for a set of the views in the memory to form a group and for inserting the group into the data hierarchy structure so that each of the set of views in the group has the same display level; (g) view system means, cooperating with the hierarchy object means and responsive to user requests to change a view, for maintaining a visible area definition for each of the views, each visible area definition designating a portion of the screen buffer for holding screen information for a visible area of a corresponding view; and (h) wherein the application programs each comprise means for obtaining a visible area definition from the view system means, and means for directly storing screen information in the screen buffer under the control of the obtained visible area definition.

Claim 2

A system for displaying a plurality of views in which one view may partially obscure another view leaving a non-obscured, visible area of the another view, each of the plurality of views having an identifier, the system comprising: (a) a display; (b) a screen buffer for storing screen information; (c) display adapter means for directly obtaining the screen information from the screen buffer and for displaying the screen information on the display; (d) a processor and an attached memory, holding application programs; (e) hierarchy object means having a data hierarchy structure for defining a frontmost display level to a rearmost display level of views and means responsive to a user request to reorder the display hierarchy for reordering data in the data hierarchy structure to change display levels of the views; (f) grouping means for storing identifiers for a set of the views in the memory to form a group and for inserting the group into the data hierarchy structure so that each of the set of views in the group has the same display level; (g) view system means, cooperating with the hierarchy object means and responsive to user requests to change a view, for maintaining a visible area definition for each of the views, each visible area definition designating a portion of the screen buffer for holding screen information for a visible area of a corresponding view; and (h) wherein the application programs each comprise means for obtaining a visible area definition from the view system means, and means for directly storing screen information in the screen buffer under the control of the obtained visible area definition.

Claim 5

A method of displaying a plurality of views in which a set of the plurality of views may be positioned on a display as a group and in which one view may partially obscure another view leaving a non-obscured, visible area of the another view, the method using a processor attached to a memory, a screen buffer for storing screen information, and a display adapter for directly obtaining the screen information from the screen buffer and for displaying the screen information on the display, the method comprising the steps of: (a) creating a data hierarchy structure in the memory for defining a frontmost display level to a rearmost display level of views and placing a reference to each of the plurality of views in the data hierarchy structure; (b) storing identifiers for a set of the views in the memory to form a group and for inserting a reference to the group into the data hierarchy structure so that each of the set of views in the group has the same display level; (c) in response to user requests to change the display appearance of a view and the group, creating and maintaining a visible area definition for each of the views, each visible area definition designating a portion of the screen buffer for holding screen information for a visible area of a corresponding view; (d) each application program obtaining a visible area definition maintained in step (c); and (e) each application program directly storing screen information in the screen buffer under the control of the visible area definition obtained in step (d).

Claim 6

A method of displaying a plurality of views in which a set of the plurality of views may be positioned on a display as a group and in which one view may partially obscure another view leaving a non-obscured, visible area of the another view, the method using a processor attached to a memory, a screen buffer for storing screen information, and a display adapter for directly obtaining the screen information from the screen buffer and for displaying the screen information on the display, the method comprising the steps of: (a) creating a data hierarchy structure in the memory for defining a frontmost display level to a rearmost display level of views and placing a reference to each of the plurality of views in the data hierarchy structure; (b) storing identifiers for a set of the views in the memory to form a group and for inserting a reference to the group into the data hierarchy structure so that each of the set of views in the group has the same display level; (c) in response to user requests to change the display appearance of a view and the group, creating and maintaining a visible area definition for each of the views, each visible area definition designating a portion of the screen buffer for holding screen information for a visible area of a corresponding view; (d) each application program obtaining a visible area definition maintained in step (c); and (e) each application program directly storing screen information in the screen buffer under the control of the visible area definition obtained in step (d).