Multilingual processing for screen image build and command decode in a word processor, with full command, message and help support

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BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Technical Field

The invention disclosed broadly relates to information processing and more particularly relates to improvements in multilingual word processing.

2. BACKGROUND ART

Prior art information processing systems which employ a workstation interface, typically provide only a single language, such as English, for outputting screen image descriptions such as messages and help support. To the extent that commands input by the user to the keyboard have a mnemonic quality, they are also in the same language. The inconvenience presented to a user who is not fluent in the human interface language used by the prior art information processing system, becomes even more acute in word processing or text processing applications where the working text being produced by the user is displayed in a different language from the messages, help support and commands. Typical prior art approaches to providing a different human interface language for an information processing system require a complete reprogramming of the display manager and the keyboard manager. The problem becomes critically acute in distributed word processing systems where users of separate ones of the terminals connected to the mutually shared host computer, require diverse human interface languages to communicate with the information processing system.

OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION

It is therefor an object of the invention to provide an improved multilingual capability for information processing systems.

It is another object of the invention to provide an improved multilingual capability for word processing systems.

It is still another object of the invention to provide an improved multilingual capability for distributed word processing systems.

It is yet a further object of the invention to provide an improved multilingual capability for screen image build and command decode in distributed word processing systems.

It is still another object of the invention to provide an improved multilingual capability for distributed word processing systems, with full command, message and help support.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

These and other objects, features and advantages of the invention are achieved by the multilingual processor disclosed herein, for building screen images on the display screen and for decoding multilingual commands, in an information processing system. The information processing system includes an execution unit having a memory, a bulk storage and a workstation connected thereto, the workstation including a keyboard connected to a display screen for inputting command and working text information to the display screen for display thereof.

In accordance with the invention, the multilingual processor includes a document library stored in the bulk storage device including a plurality of language documents and at least one user document. The language documents each characterize a selected language and include an initialization records portion, a displayable components portion and an executable components portion.

The multilingual processor further includes a language document selector means, for accessing a selected one of the plurality of language documents in response to a user language selection input from the keyboard specifying that commands are to be input to the keyboard and messages are to be displayed on the display screen in one of the selected languages.

The multilingual processor further includes an initialization processor means, for accessing the initialization records portion from a first one of the language documents for storage in the memory, to provide a set of constant words to be displayed on the display screen in a first language.

The multilingual processor further includes a message processor means, for accessing the displayable components portion from the first one of the language documents, for the real-time display of messages on the display screen in the first language.

The multilingual processor further includes a command processor means for accessing the executable components portion from the first one of the language documents in response to a user command input in the first selected language to the keyboard, for decoding and executing the user command input in the first language.

Further in accordance with the invention, the language document selector means can access a second selected one of the plurality of language documents in response to a second user language selection input from the keyboard specifying that commands are to be input to the keyboard and messages are to be displayed on the display screen in a second one of the selected languages. In this manner, multilingual processing is achieved for screen image build and command decode.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

These and other objects, features and advantages of the invention will be more fully appreciated with reference to the accompanying figures.

FIG. 1 is a diagram of the host data processing system.

FIG. 2 is a conceptual block diagram of the document library 12 which resides in the bulk storage 13 shown in the system diagram of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of one of the language documents, characterizing a U.S. English language, German language or French language document, for example.

FIG. 4 is a layout diagram of the screen image at one of the workstations 16 in the system diagram of FIG. 1.

FIG. 5 is a table showing the language document-to-screen image build and decode relationship.

FIG. 6 is a more detailed system block diagram of the invention.

FIG. 7 is a logical block diagram showing the apparatus of the memory 30 including several designated data areas and functional programs controlling the operation of the system.

FIG. 8 is a flow diagram showing the sequence of operational steps in a word processing session using two consecutive human interface languages, in accordance with the invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

The multilingual processor invention is described in FIGS. 1 through 8. FIG. 1 is a system diagram of the host data processing system within which the multilingual processing invention finds its preferred application. The host data processor 10 is connected through a terminal controller 14 to a plurality of workstations 16, 16A and 16B. The host data processor 10 is also connected to a bulk storage unit 13. The system configuration of FIG. 1 can be embodied with an IBM System/370-type Host Data Processor 10, such as an IBM 3081 Processor connected through an IBM 3274 terminal controller 14 to an IBM 3270 workstation 16. Details of such a configuration can be found, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,271,479 to Cheselka, et al, entitled "Display Terminal With Modularly Attachable Features", which is assigned to the IBM Corporation. A more detailed description of the host data processor 10 can be found in IBM System/370 Principles of Operations, Order No. GA22-7000, published by the IBM Corporation, 1981. The host data processor 10 can employ an operating system such as the Virtual Machine/Conversational Monitor System (VM/CMS) which is described in IBM Virtual Machine Facility/370 Introduction, IBM Systems Library, Order No. GC20-1800, published by the IBM Corporation, 1981.

The system shown in FIG. 1 is described in greater detail in FIG. 6 where it is seen that the host data processor 10 has a primary bus 28 which interconnects the channel 26, the memory 30, the execution unit 32 and the storage controller 34. The bulk storage 13, which can be a large capacity disk drive such as an IBM 3380, is connected to the storage controller 34. The channel 26 is connected to a plurality of input/output terminals 14A. The channel 26 is also connected to the terminal controller 14. The terminal controller 14 includes a screen buffer 20 which is connected to the display screen 17, a processor 22 which is connected to the screen buffer 20 and also to the keyboard 15, and the communications adapter 24 which is connected to the processor 22. The communications adaptor 24 provides the communications interface with the channel 26 of the host data processor 10. The workstation 16, which includes the display screen 17 and the keyboard 15, is also shown in FIG. 6, as it is related to the terminal controller 14. In addition, the channel 26 includes an output to the printer 36.

A user at the workstation 16 will access the system by inputting commands and working text at the keyboard 15. This information is processed by the processor 22 which writes into the local screen buffer 20 for immediate display on the display screen 17. Whenever a command key or a function key is depressed on the keyboard 15, the processor 22 alerts the communications adapter 24 to transfer those portions of the working text which have been changed in the screen buffer 20, to the channel 26 of the host data processor 10. The information received by the channel 26 is transferred to the bus 28. Conversely, when information is provided by the bulk storage 13 through the information controller 34 to the bus 28, or by the execution unit 32 to the bus 28, or by the memory 30 to the bus 28, that information is transferred by the channel 26 to the communications adaptor 24 at the terminal controller 14 for display on the display screen 17.

The random access memory 30 in the host data processor 10 includes a number of data areas and functional programs for operating with the data input into it through the bus 40 which is connected to the bus 28. FIG. 7 is a logical block diagram showing the apparatus of the memory 30 including several designated data areas and functional programs controlling the operation of the system. The instructions in each of the functional programs are executed by the execution unit 32. The memory 30 is divided into a plurality of substantially identical partitions 200, 200A and 200B which respectively perform the multilingual processor functions for workstations 16, 16A and 16B of FIG. 1. The VM/CMS operating system program 50 in the memory 30 provides the overall control for the operation of the host data processor 10 and provides the coordination of the memory partitions 200, 200A and 200B so that the users of the respective workstations 16, 16A and 16B appear to have seemingly separate and independent IBM System/370 computing systems. See the above cited VM/CMS reference for further details. The file access method 52 coordinates transfers of data between the bulk store buffer 54 in the memory 30 and the storage controller 34 which interfaces with the bulk storage 13. The printer executive 55 controls printer 36 operations through the channel 26.

In accordance with the invention, the multilingual processor invention includes a document library 12 shown in FIG. 2, which is stored in the bulk storage device 13. The document library 12 includes a plurality of system application documents SD1, SD2, etc., which serve to provide application program information for the word processing function to be performed by the system. More particularly, in accordance with the invention, the document library 12 includes a plurality of language documents LD1, LD2, LD3, etc. The language documents each characterize a selected language, such as U.S. English, German, French, etc., which serve as the human interface language between the user and the commands input to the system and the messages displayed by the system at the workstation 16. Also included in the document library 12 is one or more user documents UD1, UD2, etc., which are the working text being prepared by the user during the word processing session. When a particular user document, UD1 for example, is to be edited during a word processing session, the file access method 52 of FIG. 7 loads the working text of UD1 from the document library 12 of FIG. 2, into the working text buffer 68 of FIG. 7. At the conclusion of editing UD1, the file access method 52 writes the user document UD1 back into the document library 12 of the bulk storage 13.

FIG. 3 shows an example of one of the language documents, for example the German language document LD2. Each language document characterizes a selected language such as the German language, which will be employed by the user as the human interface language for inputting commands to the keyboard 15 and for receiving messages and help from the display screen 17. The three portions of the language document of FIG. 3 are the initialization records portion L1, the displayable components portion L2, and the executable components portion L3.

In accordance with the invention, the multilingual processor further includes the language document selector 70 in the memory 30 of FIG. 7. The language document selector 70 accesses a selected one of the plurality of language documents LD1, LD2, LD3, etc., from the document library 12, in response to the user providing a language selection input from the keyboard 15 specifying that the human interface language for the commands, messages, etc. is to be a selected language, such as German. The language document selector 70 will receive the language selection input over the bus 40 and will cause the file access method 52 to access the bulk storage 13 through the storage controller 34, the bus 28, and the bulk storage buffer 54 to obtain the data from the language document corresponding to the selected language. The identity of the current selected language is stored by the selector 70 in the current language file 72 in memory 30.

Further in accordance with the invention, the multilingual processor includes an initialization processor 56 shown in the memory 30 of FIG. 7. The initialization processor 56 operates when a new human interface language has been newly selected by the language document selector 70. The initialization processor 56 accesses the initialization records portion L1 from the newly selected language document in the document library 12, to provide a set of constant words which are loaded into the initial constant portion 58 of the memory 30. The set of constant words in the initial constant portion 58 will be continually displayed on the display screen 17 during the interval when t