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:
Dec. 14, 1999
Filed:
May. 28, 1996
Steve R Wiley, Boise, ID (US);
Hewlett-Packard Company, Palo Alto, CA (US);
Abstract
When a first application program raises an error condition, a context switch, in one embodiment, transfers control to one of several Help programs, as selected automatically without user or system operator intervention. Such a first application program operates on a computer system that includes a file system, a data structure in memory, and a processor that executes in sequence an operating system, the first application program, a constructor, and a second application program, for example, a Help program. For each candidate Help program, the constructor looks for prerequisite files in the file system. If a candidate Help program's prerequisites are met, the constructor sets a link value in the data structure that directs a subsequent call from the first application program to the Help program selected by the constructor. In a second embodiment, a general method of developing the first application program for context switching incorporates the step of including, in the first application program, a transfer of control to a destination program identified by a constructor, wherein the constructor, precluding manual direction by an operator, identifies the destination program from several candidates by testing an operational prerequisite.