Electrical computers and digital processing systems: multicomput – Network computer configuring
Reexamination Certificate
2001-03-23
2002-08-06
Lim, Krisna (Department: 2153)
Electrical computers and digital processing systems: multicomput
Network computer configuring
C709S221000, C709S223000, C717S121000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06430609
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF INVENTION
1. Field of Invention
This invention relates to a method for accessing software applications, and more specifically to a method of generating a client user interface for executing complex, pre-configured software applications.
2. Background of the Invention
For the great majority of consumer software applications, considerable resources are attributed to the design of the user interface (herein “UI”). Not only are well developed UIs aesthetically pleasing to the end user, they also serve to reduce the perceived complexity of a software application. Major players in the operating system market such as Microsoft® and Apple® strongly market the ease of use and attractiveness of their UIs. Nearly every major release of the Windows® operating system has included a substantial revision of the UI. Even the latest version of the Windows line of operating system, XP, touts its UI: “the familiar Windows interface has been enhanced to make it even easier to use. New visual cues help you find important information, and the redesigned Start menu makes it easier to access the programs you use most frequently.” Microsoft's major competitor in the operating system market, Apple, bills its new Aqua™ interface with the following copy: “Your operating system can contribute to screen clutter by spawning multiple windows. Navigating deep structured file systems, for instance, involves opening more and more windows, obscuring your view of the desktop. Mac OS X eliminates the problem of multiplying windows by focusing many of its applications in a single window. Key system components like the new Finder, Mail and the System Preferences panel are presented in a single window. The result? A clean uncluttered look.” UI enhancements lower the learning curve for operating a software application. Careful thought and consideration in the UI design leads to systems that place information in clearly understood format and in anticipated locations.
Even for traditionally command-line (herein “CL”) operating systems, UI applications such as GNOME, KDE, and X Window are notoriously well known. GNOME (GNU Network Object Model Environment) is a graphical user interface (herein “GUI”) and set of computer desktop application for users of the Linux computer operating system. It's intended to make a Linux operating system easy to use for non-programmers and generally corresponds to the Windows desktop interface and its most common set of applications. Matthias Ettrich launched the KDE project in October 1996 with the goal of making the UNIX platform more attractive and easy to use for computer users who are familiar with a graphical interface instead of typed commands. Today, KDE is used with Linux, Solaris, FreeBSD, OpenBSD, and LinuxPPC. X Window is primarily used in networks of interconnected mainframes, minicomputers, and workstations. It is also used on the X terminal, which is essentially a workstation with display management capabilities but without its own applications.
Despite the interest and investment in GUIs for virtually every computer platform, CL interfaces continue to thrive, albeit in less consumer-oriented products, and more-particularly, in batch-file driven applications. A batch file is a text file that contains a sequence of commands for a computer operating system. It's called a batch file because it batches (bundles or packages) into a single file a set of commands that would otherwise have to be presented to the system interactively from a keyboard one at a time. A batch file is usually created for command sequences for which a user has a repeated need. Commonly needed batch files are often delivered as part of an operating system. One initiates the sequence of commands in the batch file by simply entering the name of the batch file on a command line. In the Disk Operating System (DOS), a batch file has the file name extension “.BAT”. (The best known DOS batch file is the AUTOEXEC.BAT file that initializes DOS when one starts the system.) In UNIX-based operating systems, a batch file is called a shell script. In IBM's mainframe VM operating systems, it's called an EXEC.
For current software applications, batch file processes are often used in complex engineering and financial tools. An example of an application which may be batch-driven is the CFX® family of engineering software products developed by AEA Technology plc based in Oxfordshire, United Kingdom (herein “AEA”). However, even with major improvement in making new versions of CFX® easier to use, the learning curve for users takes weeks to months to overcome. An application such as CFX® must be general enough to handle computational fluid dynamic problems ranging from supersonic flow to heat transfer to vascular flow. Therefore, the general purpose, and therefore complex, interface associated with such applications cannot be supplanted without a substantial loss of functionality. The general-purpose user interfaces available in such tools provides a wide range of modeling capability, but unfortunately results in steep learning curves. As a result, only a small number of users are capable of creating a ground-up simulation in CFX, although a large number of users may want access to the application. For example, a ground up simulation created for a fluid flow on a five-centimeter pipe may offer an expensive one-time solution for an on-site engineer. However, if the engineer wanted to know what would happen if the five-centimeter pipe was replaced by a three-centimeter pipe, the engineer would have to contact the highly trained CFX® user to modify the previously written simulation to modify the pipe dimensions. This results in a loss of productivity for both parties: the on-site engineer waiting for the new results and the CFX® user distracted from authoring new simulations.
It should be noted that GUIs are often provided for complex, batch-driven applications, yet even best efforts to make a GUI easy to operate still result in a high learning curve if the configuration and execution of the application is still complex. For example, GUIs currently used in drafting and engineering application may have literally hundreds of nested buttons accessible in a single screen interface. This information overload substantially raises the learning curve for operating the software application, particular when only the modification of a handful of variables is necessary for the objectives of the end user.
Another problem with complex, batch driven software is the inefficient utilization of the licensing fees. Engineering software such as CFX® is more costly to license by magnitudes when compared to even the most expensive software commonly known to laypersons. Accordingly, licensees of the software wish to utilize the application as much as possible to obtain a return on their investment. However, because the learning curve is so high for complex software applications, usually only a limited number of users are capable of utilizing the software, even though a large number of company employees wish to frequently access the application. Similar to licensing concerns is that of CPU utilization. Complex and expensive software often requires complex and expensive computers to run them. An idle CPU represents poor utilization of a company's investment in its computational infrastructure.
Still another problem in the art is that of remote access. Going back to the example of the onsite engineer, the CFX® system would only be available if it was installed on a remote computer with sufficient computational power to operate, or alternatively for a remote access application such as CITRIX® or Windows Terminal Services (herein “TS”). However, even CITRIX® and TS solutions only provide a bitmap emulation of the local user interface. The onsite engineer is still faced with the complexities of the software application even though the simulation has largely been authored but for some modifications in a small array of variables. Furthermore, even the most efficient terminal screen emulations generally require a
Dewhurst Sebastian
Gerring Matthew
Hawkins Ian Robert
AEA Technology plc
Hopen Anton J.
Lim Krisna
Smith & Hopen , P.A.
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