Computer graphics processing and selective visual display system – Display driving control circuitry – Controlling the condition of display elements
Reexamination Certificate
1999-05-24
2003-07-15
Bella, Matthew C. (Department: 2676)
Computer graphics processing and selective visual display system
Display driving control circuitry
Controlling the condition of display elements
C345S215000, C345S520000, C345S538000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06593946
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of controlling a terminal device, a terminal device operating based on such control, and a memory medium having a program recorded therein for controlling a terminal device. The present invention particularly relates to controlling of a terminal device whereby the terminal device displays results of processing that is performed by a host device.
A display terminal used in a host-terminal system has a screen of 24 rows and 80 columns, for example, and the host system is designed and operated according to such a specification of the screen. Because of development of multi-window environment, however, window sizes on the terminal side are not fixed but vary. In such a system, a system-display screen, a command-input screen, applications, etc., of a host device need to be changed in order to display results of processing on the terminal side when the processing is performed by the host device because the terminal-device screen does not always have a 24-by-80 configuration. A change in a screen size cannot be made only on the terminal side.
2. Description of the Related Art
FIG. 1
is a block diagram showing a configuration of a related-art system.
In a system
1
, a host computer
2
is connected to a terminal
3
via a communication line
4
.
The host computer
2
includes a program
5
, an OS
6
, and a communication card
7
. The program
5
is designed according to such specifications as a screen is comprised of 24 rows and 80 columns, and operates to supply information to the terminal
3
in response to a request therefrom.
The OS
6
controls execution of programs. The communication card
7
is connected to the communication line
4
, and attends to communication with the terminal
3
.
The terminal
3
includes a terminal device
8
, a display device
9
, and a input device
10
. The terminal device
8
is connected to the communication line
4
, and communicates with the host computer
2
through terminal-emulator processing.
The terminal device
8
includes a communication card
11
, an OS
12
, and a terminal-emulator program
13
.
The communication card
11
attends to communication control of the communication line
4
. The OS
12
controls execution of programs installed in the terminal device
8
. The terminal-emulator program
13
is used for accessing the host computer
2
to obtain information from the host computer
2
and for displaying the information on the display device
9
in such a size as the host computer
2
determines. For example, the information may be displayed in 24 rows and 80 columns.
The display device
9
is comprised of a CRT, for example, and is connected to the terminal device
8
to display information supplied from the terminal device
8
.
The input device
10
is connected to the terminal device
8
, and is used for operating the terminal device
8
.
In what follows, the terminal-emulator program
13
installed in the terminal device
8
will be described.
FIG. 2
is a block diagram showing functional blocks of a related-art terminal-emulator program.
The terminal-emulator program
13
includes a data-analysis unit
14
, a data-display unit
15
, a screen buffer
16
, a data-input unit
17
, and a data-transmission unit
18
.
Data supplied from the host computer
2
via the communication line
4
is received and demodulated by the communication card
11
. The data demodulated by the communication card
11
is supplied to the terminal-emulator program
13
via a communication driver
19
and a communication-control service
20
under the control of the OS
12
.
The data supplied to the terminal-emulator program
13
first goes to the data-analysis unit
14
. The data-analysis unit
14
analyzes the data supplied from the communication-control service
20
.
The data analysis by the data-analysis unit
14
discriminates commands from display information. The display information is supplied to the screen buffer
16
, where the display information is stored in the form of 24 rows and 80 columns as is so designed by the host computer
2
. The data-analysis unit
14
further determines whether a command supplied from the host computer
2
is a write command, an erase command, or a read command.
When the write command or the erase command is identified by the data-analysis unit
14
, the write command or the erase command is supplied to the data-display unit
15
.
In accordance with the command supplied from the data-analysis unit
14
, the data-display unit
15
controls the display device
9
via a system-control unit
21
, and displays on the display device
9
the 24-by-80 information stored in the screen buffer
16
.
The data-input unit
17
receives information about a display area or information about changes in displayed contents via the system-control unit
21
when such information is sent from the input device
10
comprised of a keyboard and a mouse, for example. The received information is supplied either to the data-display unit
15
or to the screen buffer
16
. The information about a display area is sent to the data-display unit
15
. The data-display unit
15
controls which area portion of the 24-by-80 information is displayed on the display device
9
according to the supplied information about a display area.
The information about changes in displayed contents is supplied to the screen buffer
16
. The contents of the screen buffer
16
are changed accordingly.
When a read command is supplied from the host computer
2
to the data-analysis unit
14
, the data-analysis unit
14
forwards the read command to the data-transmission unit
18
.
Upon receiving the read command, the data-transmission unit
18
sends the information stored in the screen buffer
16
to the host computer
2
via the communication-control service
20
, the communication driver
19
, the communication card
11
, and the communication line
4
.
FIG. 3
is an illustrative drawing for explaining operations of the related-art terminal-emulator program.
When receiving the display information from the host computer
2
, the terminal-emulator program
13
stores the display information in the screen buffer
16
via the data-analysis unit
14
. The display information stored in the screen buffer
16
is mapped to a display screen by the data-display unit
15
according to the information about a display area when the information about a display area is sent from the input device
10
via the data-input unit
17
. The mapped display information is supplied to the display device
9
via the system-control unit
21
.
For example, as shown in the screen buffer
16
of
FIG. 3
, the display information may be comprised of “ABC” starting from column
3
at line
1
, “DEF” starting from column
40
at line
12
, and “GHI” starting from column
78
at line
24
.
Where an instruction to display the whole display area is given from the input device
10
, the 24-by-80 information stored in the screen buffer
16
is mapped in its entirety as shown in a logical screen
15
a
of the data-display unit
15
. In this case, therefore, all the character strings “ABC”, “DEF”, and “GHI” stored in the screen buffer
16
are displayed on the display device
9
as shown in
FIG. 3
as a window W
1
.
Where an instruction given from the input device
10
indicates a display area as columns
35
-
45
of row
12
, a portion from column
35
to
45
at line
12
, i.e., “DEF”, is mapped from the display information stored in the screen buffer
16
as shown in a logical screen
15
b
of the data-display unit
15
. On the display device
9
, therefore, only the center portion “DEF” of the display information stored in the data-display unit
15
is displayed as shown in
FIG. 3
as a window W
2
.
FIGS. 4A through 4C
are illustrative drawings for explaining a display screen of the related-art terminal.
FIG. 4A
shows a screen for displaying the whole, and
FIG. 4B
shows a screen for displaying a part.
FIG. 4C
shows the contents of the screen buffer
16
.
As shown in
FIGS. 4A and 4B
, a display sc
Bella Matthew C.
Fujutsu Limited
Monestime Mackly
Staas & Halsey , LLP
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