The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Sep. 24, 1991
Filed:
Jun. 13, 1988
John H Wright, Scotts Valley, CA (US);
Stephen P Tomas, Sunnyvale, CA (US);
EDA Systems, Inc., Santa Clara, CA (US);
Abstract
A method and related system for use with an interactive computer for invocation of a computer tool. A tool template and a tool encapsulator are provided for the tool. A tool template is a predetermined representation of processes and data employed to convey program status information to the user and to allow the user to control the program as it executes. In a specific embodiment, a tool template has a plurality of graphical constituents allowing a user to specify data and parameters, to invoke a program, to control execution of the program and to observe execution of the computer program. A tool template is to be used in connection with an encapsulator to allow a user graphical access to data through a display screen. Data is stored in an elementary unit called an object, each object being assigned a 'data kind' to indicate the type of data that is contained within the object. Each object is graphically represented on a display by an icon which is determined by the object's data kind. Objects can be inserted by graphical interaction into a constituent of a tool template called a 'slot'. A slot represents a logical input or output of an underlying tool represented by its tool template.