Reexamination Certificate
1995-11-14
2001-05-22
Toplu, Lucien U. (Department: 2755)
Reexamination Certificate
active
06234689
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a user interface and more particularly, to an apparatus and method for providing a user with a custom routine through a standard interface.
2. Related Art
Software users have a variety of needs. For a moderate to complex application, one program typically cannot meet all the needs of all users. Some of the user's needs can be met if the user is able to customize the program. It is desirable for the program to be customized in a manner such that few of its characteristics are disturbed and so that users are not negatively impacted. It is also desirable to allow the user to access and control resources outside of the program when customizing the program, since the usual motivation for customizing is that the resources within the program are not sufficient to meet a specific need.
Program source code can be customized by each individual user. However, in this scenario, the source code often diverges and updates become difficult. For some programs, it is possible to “kludge” existing features to allow user routines to be run from the interfaces. “Kludge” is defined as a quick fix to a problem. However, the program can become cumbersome and unintuitive when existing features of a program are used in ways that they were not intended.
Typically, programs can allow their user interface to be customized so that any feature of the program can be accessed. However, this only allows features which already exist in the program to be used. If a feature not supported by the program is required, the user is not able to both define the new feature and integrate this feature into the new program. If the interface is customized by the user, some of the consistency of the interface can be lost. Furthermore, if a single installation of a program has multiple users, consistency of the program is of primary importance. As such, individual customization of a program is not feasible.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention is a method for accessing a user defined custom routine through a graphical interface of an application program. The method comprises the steps of: (a) linking the user defined custom routine to an application program; (b) displaying the graphical interface; (c) displaying a button for accessing the user defined custom routine on the graphical interface; and (d) transferring control to the user defined custom routine when a user activates the button.
The user is allowed to define new routines. These new routines may use features supported by the application program, or the routines may define new capabilities not inherent in the application program. Routines which define new capabilities may use a high level programming language, operating system commands, or I/O device commands. The program application program is able to support new routines by linking user defined code to a predefined access point in the application program.
If the user defines a new routine referred to as run_user_procedure, this new routine is first linked to the standard application program and then mapped to an interface point on the user interface. The interface point is in the form of a graphical button that appears on the user interface if the user routine is defined. If the button is pressed, a user_func test suite is executed. The user_func test suite provides a pointer to the run_user procedure routine, which in turn allows execution of the user defined run_user _procedure routine.
The present invention avoids individual customization of source code and “kludges” while allowing a quick and easy way for users to access the custom routines that they require. The present invention also allows the user to add capabilities to the application program and access them without changing the user interface.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1
shows a block diagram of the invention in the environment in which it operates;
FIG. 2
is a high level flowchart of the method of the invention;
FIGS. 3A
,
3
B,
3
C and
3
D show screen displays of a flag interface module
118
of
FIG. 1
;
FIG. 4
shows a block diagram of the flag interface module
118
of
FIG. 1
;
FIGS. 5A and 5B
show a flowchart of a step
416
of
FIG. 4
of updating the flag interface menus;
FIGS. 6A and 6B
show a flowchart for the method of a step
420
of
FIG. 4
of processing an X event;
FIG. 7
shows a flowchart of the method of a step
638
of
FIG. 6B
of changing the user mode;
FIG. 8
shows a menu displayed by a top level interface
114
of
FIG. 1
;
FIG. 9
shows a high level flowchart of the method of the top level interface in of
FIG. 1
;
FIGS. 10A and 10B
show a flowchart of the method of a step
914
of
FIG. 9
of processing an X event;
FIG. 11
shows a flowchart for the method for a step
1020
of
FIG. 10A
of selecting data on the top level menu of
FIG. 8
;
FIG. 12
shows a flowchart of the method for a step
1110
of
FIG. 11
of validating a lot number;
FIG. 13
shows a flowchart for the method of a step
1112
of
FIG. 11
of validating a device type;
FIG. 14
shows flowchart for the method of a step
1114
of
FIG. 11
of validating a device suffix;
FIG. 15
shows a flowchart of the method of performing a prodtest of
FIG. 1
;
FIG. 16
shows a block diagram of a prober controller
146
of
FIG. 1
;
FIG. 17A
shows a block diagram of a handler controller
150
of
FIG. 1
;
FIG. 17B
shows a block diagram of a package controller
154
of
FIG. 1
;
FIGS. 18A and 18B
show a flowchart of the method of operation of the prober controller
146
of
FIG. 16
;
FIG. 19
shows a flowchart of the method of operation of a pause module
1722
of
FIG. 16
;
FIGS. 20A and 20B
show a flowchart of the method of operation of the wafer map display
164
of
FIG. 1
;
FIGS. 21A and 21B
show a flowchart of the method of operation of the handler Controller
150
of
FIG. 17A
;
FIG. 22
shows a flowchart of the method of operation of the package controller
154
of
FIG. 17B
;
FIGS. 23A
,
23
B, and
23
C show a flowchart of the method of operation of a wafer entry interface
1716
of the prober controller of
FIG. 16
;
FIG. 24
shows a wafer entry menu displayed by the wafer entry interface
1716
of
FIG. 16
;
FIG. 25
show a testflow list a testflow module
158
of
FIG. 1
;
FIGS. 26A
,
26
B and
26
C show a flowchart which illustrates the method of operation of the testflow module
158
of
FIG. 1
;
FIGS. 27A and 27B
show a flowchart of the method of operation of a binning module
160
of
FIG. 1
;
FIG. 28
shows a wafer map displayed by the wafer map display
164
of
FIG. 1
;
FIG. 29
shows a block diagram of the structure of the wafer map display
164
of
FIG. 1
;
FIG. 30
shows a method of a prodconf
144
of
FIG. 1
;
FIG. 31
shows a block diagram of the binning module
160
of FIG.
1
.
FIG. 32
illustrates the creation of prodtest by prodshell; and
FIG. 33
illustrates the user of a userfunc button and user code by prodtest.
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patent: 5136709 (1992-08-01), Shirakabe et al.
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Norton, Inside the IBM PC, 1986, pp. 309-312.
Baker Thomas H.
Bennett Michael J.
Gil Mercedes E.
Proulx Robert W.
Rohrbaugh John G.
Hewlett-Packard Co.
Toplu Lucien U.
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