US 5,291,595 AGranted

Batch/application program processing

OwnerAugusto B. Martinsinventor

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Abstract

A process for executing batch files and application programs by storing the batch files and information about the application programs together as modules inside a parent file, such that each module may be extracted from the parent and executed independently of any other module according to its type. Access to the module is through a menu which provides for each module the name of the module and optionally a phrase descriptive of the module. Batch modules may be relocated to RAM disks for faster execution. When running a batch module, the process of this invention cedes all its memory to the batch module. Program information modules are checked to determine if they provide a program specification or a path specification: if program specification, the program is executed; if path specification, executable files from the specified directory are retrieved and displayed for execution as desired.

Claims16

Dependent claims

A method of operating a computer, said computer comprising main memory, a disk storage system and optionally a ram disk, to enable an user of said computer to execute batch files and application programs through a menu driver loaded into said main memory, wherein information about said application programs is specified in one or more types of program information files or in batch files, said program information files and batch files further setup as modules inside one or more parent files on said disk storage system, whereby a plurality of different types of modules may be stored together, to conserve disk space, and each module uniquely identified by a name or code, the user selecting a module for processing through said menu driver which displays a menu comprising, for each module, said name or code and optionally any other information descriptive of the module, the selected module then processed independently of any other according to its type, said method comprising the steps of:

(a) processing batch modules by
(i) relocating the selected module elsewhere on said disk storage system or ram disk;
(ii) executing the relocated module as an independent batch file from its new storage location, to achieve faster execution;
(b) processing path modules by
(i) displaying the application programs from the path specified in the selected module;
(ii) prompting the user to select any of the displayed application programs;
(iii) executing the selected program;
(iv) repeating steps (i) to (iii) as often as desired by the user;
(c) processing application modules by executing the application program specified in the selected module.

6 more elements

A method of operating a computer, said computer comprising main memory, a disk storage system, a batch file processor and optionally a ram disk, to enable an user of said computer to execute batch files and application programs through a menu driver loaded into said memory, wherein information about said application programs is specified in one or more types of program information files or in batch files, said program information files and batch files further set up as modules inside one or more parent files on said disk storage system, whereby a plurality of one or more types of modules may be stored together in one parent file to conserve disk space, and each module identified by a name or code, and processed through said driver, said method comprising the steps of:

(a) displaying a menu comprising, for each module in said disk storage system, the name or code of the module and optionally any other information descriptive of said module;
(b) prompting the user to select a module for processing;
(c) retrieving the selected module from its parent file into main memory;
(d) determining the type of said retrieved module;
(e) executing the batch module or the application programs specified by said retrieved module, independently of any other module in the parent file.

2 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.