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:
Nov. 23, 1993
Filed:
Mar. 25, 1993
Harish C Agarawal, Austin, TX (US);
Richard L Verburg, Austin, TX (US);
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY (US);
Abstract
A method is provided for shifting focus between multiple program applications in a virtual terminal environment such that next successive application will always become visible and capable of interaction with a user upon a single hot key operation. In the system of the present invention multiple applications are provided, at lease one of which is capable of writing directly onto multiple hardware display devices. Also, a plurality of virtual terminals are opened, each being associated with a particular program application and corresponding to a hardware display device. All but one of the virtual terminals associated with a single application are designated as 'non participating' in any hot keying operation. Therefore, upon implementation of a hot key operation these non participating virtual terminals are ignored and the next participating virtual terminal will be activated. In this manner, since there is only one participating virtual terminal per application, each hot key operation guarantees that the next successive program application will become capable of user interaction and visible on the hardware display devices.