Burroughs, Inc.

Unisys Corporation

Howard H Green

Christopher J Tomlinson

Hanan Potash

Norman P Kern

James D Rogan

Joseph M Capo

Brian K Forbes

Morten Wiken

John G Hemmann

An image-based document processing system comprised of a plurality of hardware components arranged as a platform for processing documents using document images. The system employs a layered software architecture comprised of application programs, system services and a plurality of native operating systems provided for particular ones of the hardware components. The system services are callable by the application programs to provide an interface between the application programs and the native operating systems during operation of the system.

Image-based document processing system having a platform architecture

A method of operating a data processing system includes the steps of: executing one high level language software program until an instruction is encountered which calls an activity; sensing whether said encountered instruction is linked to the activity which it calls by a first type or a second type depictor; executing another high level language software program for performing the called activity if the sensing step detects the first type depictor; and activating a low level language microcode program or hardware logic circuit for performing the called activity if the sensing step detects the second type depictor.

Method of executing called activities via depictor-linked low level

A method of synchronizing the sequence by which a variety of unrelated activities are executed in a digital processor when the activities are randomly called by multiple callers includes the steps of: providing a single processor queue for holding respective pointers to each different kind of activity that the processor performs; entering the pointer of an activity in the processor queue the first time that the activity is called; providing respective activity queues for each different kind of activity that the processor performs; entering a pointer to the caller of an activity in the respective queue for the called activity each time the activity is called subsequent to its first call; repeatedly executing a single activity pointed to by one pointer in the processor queue until that activity is executed once for each of its callers, provided that if the single activity calls another activity then, executing the single activity only up to the point where the call occurs; and proceeding in the same fashion with the execution of another activity pointed to by the processor queue.

Method of synchronizing the sequence by which a variety of randomly

A method of performing a sequence of related activities in multiple digital processors includes the steps of: executing a portion of a first activity of the sequence in a first processor and then executing an INTERPROCESSOR CALL instruction to a second activity in a second processor; suspending execution of the first activity in response to the CALL and signaling the second processor that the second activity has been called by the first activity; completely executing the second activity in the second processor and then executing an INTERPROCESSOR NEXT instruction to a third activity in a third processor; signaling the third processor in response to the NEXT instruction that the third activity has been called not by the second activity but by the caller of the second activity; and completely executing the third activity in the third processor and, upon completion thereof, signaling the third activity's caller to resume execution of the suspended activity.

Method of performing a sequence of related activities via multiple

A digital computer executes a first instruction set in an interleaved fashion with second and third instruction sets, the latter two of which are executed at the same time. The first, second, and third instruction sets together represent an assignment statement of a high level programming language, such as ALGOL and COBOL, and by executing the first, second, and third instruction sets as recited above, a substantial improvement in the execution time of the corresponding assignment statement is attained. A second embodiment executes the first instruction set in an interleaved fashion with only the second instruction set to also achieve an improvement in execution time of the corresponding assignment statement.

Digital computer for executing multiple instruction sets in a

Disclosed is a method of transforming an assignment statement of a high level programming language, such as ALGOL and COBOL, into first, second, and third sets of lower level object language instructions wherein instructions of the first set are executable in an interleaved fashion with instructions of the second and third sets, the latter two of which are executable at the same time. When the instructions of the first, second, and third sets are executed in the above-recited fashion, a substantial improvement in the execution time of the corresponding assignment statement is attained.

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San Diego, CA, United States of America

Howard H Green