Interactive computer system and data analysis method

A data device, comprising:

• a housing;
• display mean s included on said housing for displaying a plurality of display screens to a user of said data device;
• input means included on said housing for inputting at least one of user response data and user commands to said data device;
• a processor contained within said housing which is adapted to control the operation of said data device;
• and
• memory means coupled to said processor for storing operating software for operating said data device and for storing an application-specific input text file to be interpreted by said operating software which by itself defines said display screens for said data device, whereby said data device can be programmed and reprogrammed to be used for a plurality of different applications solely by modifying the input text file, wherein the input text file comprises a plurality of screen fields into which a plurality of screen definitions are stored, and at least one link field into which a link event is stored, the occurrence of which causes the display screen displayed by the data device to change.

An interactive computer system, comprising:

• a data device, said data device comprising:
• a housing;
• display means included on said housing for displaying a plurality of display screens to a user of said data device;
• input means included on said housing for inputting at least one of user response data and user commands to said data device;
• a processor contained within said housing which is adapted to control the operation of said data device;
• memory means coupled to said processor for storing operating software for operating said data device and for storing an application specific input text file to be interpreted by said operating software which by itself defines said display screens for said data device;
• and
• data device communications means provided on said housing for allowing communication to and from said data device;
• and
• a computer having computer communications means for connecting said computer to said data device communications means of said data device, said computer comprising means for creating said input text file, whereby said data device can be easily programmed and reprogrammed to be used for a plurality of different applications solely by modifying the input text file, wherein the input text file comprises a plurality of screen fields into which a plurality of screen definitions are stored, and at least one link field into which a link event is stored, the occurrence of which causes the display screen displayed by the data device to change.

A method of providing data to a user, said method comprising the steps of:

• providing a user with a data device, said data device comprising a housing, display means included on said housing for displaying a plurality of display screens to a user of said data device, input means included on said housing for inputting at least one of user response data and user commands to said data device, a processor contained within said housing which is adapted to control the operation of said data device, memory means coupled to said processor which is adapted to store operating software of operating said data device and an application-specific input text file to be interpreted by said operating software;
• said input program by itself defining said display screens for said data device, whereby said data device can be programmed to be used for the plurality of different applications solely by modifying the input text file, and data device communications means included on said housing for allowing communications between said data device and computer;
• creating said input text file via said computer;
• connecting said device to said computer via said data device communications means and said computer communications means;
• and
• transferring said input text file from said computer to said memory means of said data device, wherein the input text file comprises a plurality of screen fields having a screen identifier, a link event, a screen style and a screen change event, and wherein the steps of creating said input text file comprises storing a plurality of screen definitions in said plurality of screen fields.