Process and apparatus for displaying data on a specific area of the surface of the display in a computer or an interactive terminal
AssigneeHewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.
InventorEric Owhadi
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Data or a message is displayed in a specific area of a display of a computer or an interactive terminal by using a local access network (LAN) card having processing resources and connected to a network, and a video card having a frame buffer. The LAN card takes control of the video card frame buffer independently of an operating system running into the computer or interactive terminal. Preferably, the LAN card and video card are connected to the computer by a PCI bus and the frame buffer of the video card is controlled by a PCI bus master mode.
Claims8
Process of displaying a window or a panel in a specific area of a display of a computer or an interactive terminal having (a) a main processor, (b) local access network (LAN) accessor with processing resources, the accessor being connected to a network, and (c) a graphic system with a frame buffer including an activated overlay frame buffer, said process comprising controlling the main processor to cause the frame buffer of the graphic system to produce graphic signals for the display in accordance with bitmaps or graphical commands derived by the main processor, and controlling said overlay frame buffer by using the processing resources of said LAN accessor to cause the display to display a specific window or panel independently of operation of a main operating system being executed on said computer or said interactive terminal, said graphic system and said LAN accessor being respectively based on a video card and a LAN card, said LAN card taking control of said overlay fame buffer by use of a bus master mode, and said overlay frame buffer having a WRITE access which is restricted to control by said LAN card.
A personal computer or interactive terminal adapted to be responsive to a network and for controlling a display of the personal computer or terminal, the computer or terminal including
- a main processor for deriving bitmaps or graphical commands, the main processor being adapted to be operated by an operating system,
- local access network (LAN) accessor for receiving data and commands from said network and including a processor arrangement for processing said data and commands,
- a graphic system connected to be responsive to the data and commands received by the LAN accessor and the bitmaps and graphical commands, the graphic system being arranged for providing graphic signals for the display in accordance with the bitmaps or graphical commands and the data and commands received by the LAN accessor, the graphic system having a frame buffer including an overlay frame buffer for storing the data received by the LAN accessor to be displayed on the display of said computer or said interactive terminal,
- said LAN accessor being arranged for talking control of the contents of said overlay frame buffer independently of the operating system,
- said LAN accessor and said graphic system being respectively based on a LAN card and a video card, said LAN card being arranged for taking control of said video card by use of a bus master mode, said overlay frame buffer having a WRITE access which is restricted to control of said LAN card.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.