CA2102866C - Automatic call distribution system with display data storage compression system and method - Google Patents
Automatic call distribution system with display data storage compression system and methodInfo
- Publication number
- CA2102866C CA2102866C CA002102866A CA2102866A CA2102866C CA 2102866 C CA2102866 C CA 2102866C CA 002102866 A CA002102866 A CA 002102866A CA 2102866 A CA2102866 A CA 2102866A CA 2102866 C CA2102866 C CA 2102866C
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- Prior art keywords
- data
- display
- formatting
- distribution system
- automatic call
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- Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
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- 238000000034 method Methods 0.000 title claims description 17
- 238000013500 data storage Methods 0.000 title claims description 13
- 230000006835 compression Effects 0.000 title claims description 11
- 238000007906 compression Methods 0.000 title claims description 11
- 230000000007 visual effect Effects 0.000 claims 1
- 238000004590 computer program Methods 0.000 description 4
- 239000003795 chemical substances by application Substances 0.000 description 3
- 238000010586 diagram Methods 0.000 description 3
- 230000005540 biological transmission Effects 0.000 description 2
- 241000601288 Panthera leo atrox Species 0.000 description 1
- 230000006870 function Effects 0.000 description 1
- 239000002674 ointment Substances 0.000 description 1
Classifications
-
- H—ELECTRICITY
- H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
- H04M—TELEPHONIC COMMUNICATION
- H04M3/00—Automatic or semi-automatic exchanges
- H04M3/42—Systems providing special services or facilities to subscribers
- H04M3/50—Centralised arrangements for answering calls; Centralised arrangements for recording messages for absent or busy subscribers ; Centralised arrangements for recording messages
- H04M3/51—Centralised call answering arrangements requiring operator intervention, e.g. call or contact centers for telemarketing
- H04M3/523—Centralised call answering arrangements requiring operator intervention, e.g. call or contact centers for telemarketing with call distribution or queueing
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- G—PHYSICS
- G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
- G06F—ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING
- G06F3/00—Input arrangements for transferring data to be processed into a form capable of being handled by the computer; Output arrangements for transferring data from processing unit to output unit, e.g. interface arrangements
- G06F3/14—Digital output to display device ; Cooperation and interconnection of the display device with other functional units
- G06F3/1423—Digital output to display device ; Cooperation and interconnection of the display device with other functional units controlling a plurality of local displays, e.g. CRT and flat panel display
-
- H—ELECTRICITY
- H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
- H04M—TELEPHONIC COMMUNICATION
- H04M3/00—Automatic or semi-automatic exchanges
- H04M3/42—Systems providing special services or facilities to subscribers
- H04M3/50—Centralised arrangements for answering calls; Centralised arrangements for recording messages for absent or busy subscribers ; Centralised arrangements for recording messages
- H04M3/51—Centralised call answering arrangements requiring operator intervention, e.g. call or contact centers for telemarketing
Abstract
An automatic call distribution system (10) with a plurality of different types of display terminals (18, 20) which require display data to be presented to them in different formats employs a formatter (26) which selectively uses formatting information (24) to construct formatted data from unformatted display data in a memory (22) into a formatted display data buffer (28) in accordance with the appropriate formatting information for the particular type of display terminal at which the data is to be displayed and then conveys the buffered data to the display terminal (18, 20) in the appropriate format.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Field of the Invention This invention relates to automatic call distributors and, more particularly, to such distributors with different types of display terminals requiring different formats for display of data at the terminal.
Description of the related art Automatic call distributors, such as the ones shown in U.S. Patent No. 5,140,611 of Jones et al entitled "Pulse Modulated Self-Clocking and Self-Synchronizing Data Transmission and Method for a Telephonic Communication Switching System", issued August 18, 1992 and U.S. Patent No.
5,127,004 of Lenihan et al entitled "Tone and Announcement Message Code Generator for a Telephonic Switching System and Method", issued June 30, 1992, are well known.
In such distributors, it is known to provide different types of display terminals, such as a CRT display terminal for a supervisor with scrolling capability and a line printer without scrolling characteristics. In such distributors, display of the same textual information or other data at different types of display terminals is required to be provided to the different display terminals in different formats. In known distributors, this is achieved through duplication of storage of the same data in different formats needed for the different display devices. This disadvantageously results in excessive inefficient use of storage capacity.
BUH~I~RY OF T~ .V~A.lION
It is therefore the principal object of the principal object of the present invention to overcome the disadvantage of duplicate storage of data in known automatic call distributors by providing an automatic call distributor with a display data storage compression system and method of storing display data which avoids multiple storage of the same data merely in order to provide the data in different formats to different display termina 18.
This ob~ective is achieved through provision of an automatic call distributor having a plurality of different types of display terminals for display of data relating to operation of the distributor, a display data storage compression system having means for storing data in unformatted form for display at different types of display terminals, means for storing formatting information relating to different types of formats associated with the different types of display terminals and means for selectively using the formatting information to provide the stored data to the different types of terminals in the d~fferent formats respectively associated with the different types of display terminals.
Preferably, the formatted stored data means includes a formatter for constructing formatted data corresponding to the unformatted data independently of the actual display terminal at which the formatted data is to be displayed in a format associated with the display terminal type of the actual data terminal.
The ob~ect of the present invention is also achieved by providing a display data storage compression method, comprising the steps of (1) ~toring data in unformatted form for display at different types of display terminals, (2) storing formatting information relating to different types of formats associated with the different types of display terminals, and (3) selectively using the formatting information to provide the stored data to the different types of terminals in the different , formats respectively associated with the different types of dlsplay terminals.
~RIE~ ~E8CRIPTION OF T~{E DRAWIN~8 The foregoing ob~ects and advantageous features of the invention will be explained in greater detail and others will be made apparent from the detailed description of the preferred embodiment of the present lnvent~on which is given with reference to the several figures of the drawing, in which:
Fig. 1 is a functional block diagram of the automatic call distribution system of the present invention in which the data storage compression system is employed;
~ g. 2 is a 6implified functional block diagram of the display data storage communication system;
Fig. 3 is a functional block diagram of the automatic call distributor block of Fig. 2;
Fig. 4 is a flow chart of the preferred computer program for implementing the lnvention in connection with the automatic call distribution system of ~ig. 2 for storage in the program memory for control of the microprocessor of Fig. 3 and as listed in the computer program l~sting at~ached hereto as Appendix A.
~E~CRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
~ eferring now to Fig. 1, the display data storage compression system and method of the present invention is preferably employed and incorporated into an automatic call distribution system 10 which functions to selectively and automatically interconnect a plurality of external telephonic units 12 of an external telephonic network 14 to a plurality of operator agents termlnals 16. For a more detailed dlscussion of àutomatic call distrlbutors of the type llke automatic call dlstribution system 10, reference should be made to 8 ~ ~ ~
U.S. Patent No. 5,140,611 of Jones et al entitled "Pulse Modulated Self-Clocking and Self-Synchronizing Data Transmission and Method for a Telephonic Communication Switching System", issued August 18, 1992 and U.S. Patent No.
5,127,004 of Lenihan et al entitled "Tone and Announcement Message Code Generator for a Telephonic Switching System and Method", issued June 30, 1992.
In addition to the operator agent terminal 16, the automatic call distributor also interfaces with different types of display terminals, such as a supervisor terminal with a CRT type of display 18 and a line printer 20. These display terminals 18 and 20 are used to display information concerning the operation of the call distribution system 10.
Referring now to Fig. 2, the display data storage compression system, which is preferably implemented within the automatic call distribution system 10 of Fig. 1, is seen to include an unformatted display data memory 22 in which unformatted display data, or raw data, is stored, preferably in memory blocks l-N, wherein N is a preselected plural number. In addition, there is a formatting information memory 24 which is employed to store different sets of formatting information respectively relating to different types of formats associated with different types of display terminals 18 and 20. In the special case where there are only two different types of display terminals, such as in the automatic call distributor of Fig. 1, then there are only two sets of formatting information which are stored. The unformatted display data memory is passed through a formatter 26 which outputs the display data stored within memory 22 to a formatted display data buffer 28 in different formats in accordance with the formatting information associated with the particular type of display terminal 18 and 21 to which the formatted display data is to be displayed. The formatter selects the appropriate formatting information in accordance with the particular display terminal type to which the formatted data is to be sent.
Referring now to Fig. 3, the automatic call distributor ,~
. CA 02102866 1998-10-20 block 11 is seen to include a microprocessor 30 with a program memory 32, preferably an EPROM, which controls a multiport switch 34 that interfaces with the line printer 20, the supervisor terminal with CRT 18 and the plurality of operator agent ter~inals 16 shown in ~ig. 1. In addition, the microprocessor hàs ~ data storage memory 36 which preferably is employed as the unformatted data memory 22, the formatting information memory 24 and the formattinq display data buffer 28 of Fig. 2.
Programs stored in the microprocessor 30 provides the means for selectively using the formatting information to provide the stored data to the different types of terminals in different formats ~espectively associated with the different types of displ~y terminals.
The 80ftware formatter 26 constructs formatted data corresponding to the unformatted data from the unformatted display data memory 22 independently of the actual display terminal 18 and 2~ at which the formatted data is to be displayed in a format associated with the selected display terminal type of the actual data terminal. The formatted stored data providing means, or formatter 26, has means for determining the type of display termlnal ~equesting the display of data and means for selecting the formatting information associated with the display terminal type of the requesting display terminal. In addition, the fo~matted display data buffer 28, or memory area within memory 36, ~ig. 3, has the data stored therein in a format constructed in accordance with the selected formatting information associated with the display terminal type of the requesting terminal. After the display data has been stored in the formatted display data buffer 28, it is transmitted to the requesting display terminal for display in the selected and appropriate format.
The formatting information preferably includes all of the categories of information of: (a) dimensions of the data to format, (b) location of the formattinq buffer memory 28 for temporary storage of the formatted data, (c) display attributes for each of the preselected parts of the data, and (d) the location in the unformatted display data memory 22 of the . . CA 02102866 1998-10-20 . .
unformatted data which is to be displayed. Preferably, the fo~matting information includes display attributes for each cha~acter of the textual data which is to be displayed.
The unformatted data is stored in blocks of memory and the fo~matter 26 includes means for formatting the data one block at a time. The formatting information thereby includes the identification of blocks of memory requested for display. The fo~matting information preferably also includes information specifying an offset into a block of memory of the beginning of thé unformatted display data memory 22.
Likewise, the formatting buffer memory, or formatted display data buffer, 28 is arranged in blocks of buffer memory and the location of the buffer memory information includes the identification of the blocks of the buffer memory.
As previously noted, the appropriate formatting information used to format each of a plurality of blocks of the unformatted data in the unformatted display data memory 22. Within the microprocessor 30, and program memory 32, means are provided for storing a linked list of the formatting information with each set having all relative information for formatting the data of the associated block of unformatted data. The blocks of unformatted data are a~ranged to compose a file and the linked lists of sets of formatting information is updated based on determination of at least one of whether the unformatted data is (a) a new file, (b) a new block of data to format for a file already being formatted, and (c) being reformatted. While the display data storage compression system is preferably implemented in con~unction with the automatic call distribution system 10 of ~ig. 1, it should be appreciated that the method is otherwise useful with other types of call distributors which have multiple types of display termlnals which require different formats.
Regardless of the exact details of the automatic call distributor, in accordance with the present invention, a display data storage compression method is provided comprising the steps of: (a) ~toring data ln unformatted form for display at different types of display terminals; (b) storing formatting information relating to different types of formats associated with said different types of display terminals; and (c) selectively using the formatting information to provide the store data to the different types of te~minals in the different types of terminals in the different formats respectively associated with the different types of display terminals. Preferably, the step of constructinq formatted data corresponding to the unformatted data is done independently of the actual display terminal at which the formatted data is to be provided for display.
In addition, the step of selectively using the formatting information includes the steps of (1) determining the type of display terminal requesting the display of data, (2) selecting the formatting information associated with the display terminal type of the requesting display terminal, (3) temporarily storing the unformatted data in a formatting buffer memory in a format constructed in accordance with the selected formatting information associated with the display terminal type of the requesting display terminal and (4) transmitting the data in the formatting buffer in the appropriate format to the requesting display terminal for display. The formatting information preferably includes (a) dimensions of the data to format, (b) location of formatting buffer memory for temporary storage of the formatted data, (c) display attributes for each of the preselected parts of the data, and (d) the location of the storing means of the unformatted data which is to be displayed.
As noted above, the unformatted data is preferably stored in blocks of memory, and the step of formatting includes the step of formatting one block at a time.
The present invention is preferably implemented in con~nction with the automatic call distribution system 10 shown in Fig. 1 through employment of a preferred computer program which the li~ting of which is attached hereto as Appendix A and abstracted as a flow chart in ~ig. 4. In this computer program, a formatting language referred to as HIRO~F is employed for the purpose of trànslating the raw data output to the formatted displayable text specific to the destined output device type.
As ~een there, the output formatter is passed a pointer to the open raw text file which is to be formatted and the device type at which the text i~ to be displayed. It is also passed a pointer to a structure whlch contains information relevant to the building of the formatted text. As noted above, this structure includes the dimensions of the text to format, pointers to the block8 of memory which have been allocated for storing the text, the display attributes associated with each character of the text, and the number of the block of raw text to format. This allows the routine which is responsible for displaying the text to control ~hich part of the text to display. This is necessary in the case of scrolling within text on a CRT display. Using a block number request keeps the entire raw text file from having to be formatted all at once. The calling routine is then responsible for controlling what block of text to format. It is the use of specific blocks of format which causes the need to keep ~pecific information related to the block being formatted, such as the offset into the raw text file where that block's raw téxt begin8. This is preferably accomplished by building a llnked list of structures where each link of the list corresponds to a block of raw text. The structure in the linked list holds all relevant information for formatting that block of text.
Entrie~ in the linked list are updated according to whether the ~aw text file to format is a new file, whether it is a new block of ràw text to format, a raw text for which is already in the process of formatting, or whether the block of raw text has already been formatted and is being requested to be formatted agàin. Eàch entry'~ block information contains starting and exiting conditions for that block. The exiting conditions of a block are the starting conditions of the block following it.
Thi8 information is hecessary for the formatter 26 to determine how to ~ta~t formatting a block of raw text. The block ihformation al~o includes an offset into the raw text file where the block's ~aw text begins, and a count of raw text characters used to format a block of formatted text with the dimensions set up by the calling routine. When adding a link to the list for a block that ha~ not been formatted before, the starting offset for the new block's raw text is determined by adding the raw text character count and the raw text offset of the previous block's fo~mat information.
- ~ormatting of the raw text also depends on the type of devlce at which the output of the device will be displayed. In some cases, certain attribute~ have no meaning to certain device~, and these attributes are ignored for those device types.
While ~ detailed description of the preférred embodiment of the invention has been given, it should be appreciated that many variations can be made thereto without departing form the scope of the invention as set forth in the appended claims.
Field of the Invention This invention relates to automatic call distributors and, more particularly, to such distributors with different types of display terminals requiring different formats for display of data at the terminal.
Description of the related art Automatic call distributors, such as the ones shown in U.S. Patent No. 5,140,611 of Jones et al entitled "Pulse Modulated Self-Clocking and Self-Synchronizing Data Transmission and Method for a Telephonic Communication Switching System", issued August 18, 1992 and U.S. Patent No.
5,127,004 of Lenihan et al entitled "Tone and Announcement Message Code Generator for a Telephonic Switching System and Method", issued June 30, 1992, are well known.
In such distributors, it is known to provide different types of display terminals, such as a CRT display terminal for a supervisor with scrolling capability and a line printer without scrolling characteristics. In such distributors, display of the same textual information or other data at different types of display terminals is required to be provided to the different display terminals in different formats. In known distributors, this is achieved through duplication of storage of the same data in different formats needed for the different display devices. This disadvantageously results in excessive inefficient use of storage capacity.
BUH~I~RY OF T~ .V~A.lION
It is therefore the principal object of the principal object of the present invention to overcome the disadvantage of duplicate storage of data in known automatic call distributors by providing an automatic call distributor with a display data storage compression system and method of storing display data which avoids multiple storage of the same data merely in order to provide the data in different formats to different display termina 18.
This ob~ective is achieved through provision of an automatic call distributor having a plurality of different types of display terminals for display of data relating to operation of the distributor, a display data storage compression system having means for storing data in unformatted form for display at different types of display terminals, means for storing formatting information relating to different types of formats associated with the different types of display terminals and means for selectively using the formatting information to provide the stored data to the different types of terminals in the d~fferent formats respectively associated with the different types of display terminals.
Preferably, the formatted stored data means includes a formatter for constructing formatted data corresponding to the unformatted data independently of the actual display terminal at which the formatted data is to be displayed in a format associated with the display terminal type of the actual data terminal.
The ob~ect of the present invention is also achieved by providing a display data storage compression method, comprising the steps of (1) ~toring data in unformatted form for display at different types of display terminals, (2) storing formatting information relating to different types of formats associated with the different types of display terminals, and (3) selectively using the formatting information to provide the stored data to the different types of terminals in the different , formats respectively associated with the different types of dlsplay terminals.
~RIE~ ~E8CRIPTION OF T~{E DRAWIN~8 The foregoing ob~ects and advantageous features of the invention will be explained in greater detail and others will be made apparent from the detailed description of the preferred embodiment of the present lnvent~on which is given with reference to the several figures of the drawing, in which:
Fig. 1 is a functional block diagram of the automatic call distribution system of the present invention in which the data storage compression system is employed;
~ g. 2 is a 6implified functional block diagram of the display data storage communication system;
Fig. 3 is a functional block diagram of the automatic call distributor block of Fig. 2;
Fig. 4 is a flow chart of the preferred computer program for implementing the lnvention in connection with the automatic call distribution system of ~ig. 2 for storage in the program memory for control of the microprocessor of Fig. 3 and as listed in the computer program l~sting at~ached hereto as Appendix A.
~E~CRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
~ eferring now to Fig. 1, the display data storage compression system and method of the present invention is preferably employed and incorporated into an automatic call distribution system 10 which functions to selectively and automatically interconnect a plurality of external telephonic units 12 of an external telephonic network 14 to a plurality of operator agents termlnals 16. For a more detailed dlscussion of àutomatic call distrlbutors of the type llke automatic call dlstribution system 10, reference should be made to 8 ~ ~ ~
U.S. Patent No. 5,140,611 of Jones et al entitled "Pulse Modulated Self-Clocking and Self-Synchronizing Data Transmission and Method for a Telephonic Communication Switching System", issued August 18, 1992 and U.S. Patent No.
5,127,004 of Lenihan et al entitled "Tone and Announcement Message Code Generator for a Telephonic Switching System and Method", issued June 30, 1992.
In addition to the operator agent terminal 16, the automatic call distributor also interfaces with different types of display terminals, such as a supervisor terminal with a CRT type of display 18 and a line printer 20. These display terminals 18 and 20 are used to display information concerning the operation of the call distribution system 10.
Referring now to Fig. 2, the display data storage compression system, which is preferably implemented within the automatic call distribution system 10 of Fig. 1, is seen to include an unformatted display data memory 22 in which unformatted display data, or raw data, is stored, preferably in memory blocks l-N, wherein N is a preselected plural number. In addition, there is a formatting information memory 24 which is employed to store different sets of formatting information respectively relating to different types of formats associated with different types of display terminals 18 and 20. In the special case where there are only two different types of display terminals, such as in the automatic call distributor of Fig. 1, then there are only two sets of formatting information which are stored. The unformatted display data memory is passed through a formatter 26 which outputs the display data stored within memory 22 to a formatted display data buffer 28 in different formats in accordance with the formatting information associated with the particular type of display terminal 18 and 21 to which the formatted display data is to be displayed. The formatter selects the appropriate formatting information in accordance with the particular display terminal type to which the formatted data is to be sent.
Referring now to Fig. 3, the automatic call distributor ,~
. CA 02102866 1998-10-20 block 11 is seen to include a microprocessor 30 with a program memory 32, preferably an EPROM, which controls a multiport switch 34 that interfaces with the line printer 20, the supervisor terminal with CRT 18 and the plurality of operator agent ter~inals 16 shown in ~ig. 1. In addition, the microprocessor hàs ~ data storage memory 36 which preferably is employed as the unformatted data memory 22, the formatting information memory 24 and the formattinq display data buffer 28 of Fig. 2.
Programs stored in the microprocessor 30 provides the means for selectively using the formatting information to provide the stored data to the different types of terminals in different formats ~espectively associated with the different types of displ~y terminals.
The 80ftware formatter 26 constructs formatted data corresponding to the unformatted data from the unformatted display data memory 22 independently of the actual display terminal 18 and 2~ at which the formatted data is to be displayed in a format associated with the selected display terminal type of the actual data terminal. The formatted stored data providing means, or formatter 26, has means for determining the type of display termlnal ~equesting the display of data and means for selecting the formatting information associated with the display terminal type of the requesting display terminal. In addition, the fo~matted display data buffer 28, or memory area within memory 36, ~ig. 3, has the data stored therein in a format constructed in accordance with the selected formatting information associated with the display terminal type of the requesting terminal. After the display data has been stored in the formatted display data buffer 28, it is transmitted to the requesting display terminal for display in the selected and appropriate format.
The formatting information preferably includes all of the categories of information of: (a) dimensions of the data to format, (b) location of the formattinq buffer memory 28 for temporary storage of the formatted data, (c) display attributes for each of the preselected parts of the data, and (d) the location in the unformatted display data memory 22 of the . . CA 02102866 1998-10-20 . .
unformatted data which is to be displayed. Preferably, the fo~matting information includes display attributes for each cha~acter of the textual data which is to be displayed.
The unformatted data is stored in blocks of memory and the fo~matter 26 includes means for formatting the data one block at a time. The formatting information thereby includes the identification of blocks of memory requested for display. The fo~matting information preferably also includes information specifying an offset into a block of memory of the beginning of thé unformatted display data memory 22.
Likewise, the formatting buffer memory, or formatted display data buffer, 28 is arranged in blocks of buffer memory and the location of the buffer memory information includes the identification of the blocks of the buffer memory.
As previously noted, the appropriate formatting information used to format each of a plurality of blocks of the unformatted data in the unformatted display data memory 22. Within the microprocessor 30, and program memory 32, means are provided for storing a linked list of the formatting information with each set having all relative information for formatting the data of the associated block of unformatted data. The blocks of unformatted data are a~ranged to compose a file and the linked lists of sets of formatting information is updated based on determination of at least one of whether the unformatted data is (a) a new file, (b) a new block of data to format for a file already being formatted, and (c) being reformatted. While the display data storage compression system is preferably implemented in con~unction with the automatic call distribution system 10 of ~ig. 1, it should be appreciated that the method is otherwise useful with other types of call distributors which have multiple types of display termlnals which require different formats.
Regardless of the exact details of the automatic call distributor, in accordance with the present invention, a display data storage compression method is provided comprising the steps of: (a) ~toring data ln unformatted form for display at different types of display terminals; (b) storing formatting information relating to different types of formats associated with said different types of display terminals; and (c) selectively using the formatting information to provide the store data to the different types of te~minals in the different types of terminals in the different formats respectively associated with the different types of display terminals. Preferably, the step of constructinq formatted data corresponding to the unformatted data is done independently of the actual display terminal at which the formatted data is to be provided for display.
In addition, the step of selectively using the formatting information includes the steps of (1) determining the type of display terminal requesting the display of data, (2) selecting the formatting information associated with the display terminal type of the requesting display terminal, (3) temporarily storing the unformatted data in a formatting buffer memory in a format constructed in accordance with the selected formatting information associated with the display terminal type of the requesting display terminal and (4) transmitting the data in the formatting buffer in the appropriate format to the requesting display terminal for display. The formatting information preferably includes (a) dimensions of the data to format, (b) location of formatting buffer memory for temporary storage of the formatted data, (c) display attributes for each of the preselected parts of the data, and (d) the location of the storing means of the unformatted data which is to be displayed.
As noted above, the unformatted data is preferably stored in blocks of memory, and the step of formatting includes the step of formatting one block at a time.
The present invention is preferably implemented in con~nction with the automatic call distribution system 10 shown in Fig. 1 through employment of a preferred computer program which the li~ting of which is attached hereto as Appendix A and abstracted as a flow chart in ~ig. 4. In this computer program, a formatting language referred to as HIRO~F is employed for the purpose of trànslating the raw data output to the formatted displayable text specific to the destined output device type.
As ~een there, the output formatter is passed a pointer to the open raw text file which is to be formatted and the device type at which the text i~ to be displayed. It is also passed a pointer to a structure whlch contains information relevant to the building of the formatted text. As noted above, this structure includes the dimensions of the text to format, pointers to the block8 of memory which have been allocated for storing the text, the display attributes associated with each character of the text, and the number of the block of raw text to format. This allows the routine which is responsible for displaying the text to control ~hich part of the text to display. This is necessary in the case of scrolling within text on a CRT display. Using a block number request keeps the entire raw text file from having to be formatted all at once. The calling routine is then responsible for controlling what block of text to format. It is the use of specific blocks of format which causes the need to keep ~pecific information related to the block being formatted, such as the offset into the raw text file where that block's raw téxt begin8. This is preferably accomplished by building a llnked list of structures where each link of the list corresponds to a block of raw text. The structure in the linked list holds all relevant information for formatting that block of text.
Entrie~ in the linked list are updated according to whether the ~aw text file to format is a new file, whether it is a new block of ràw text to format, a raw text for which is already in the process of formatting, or whether the block of raw text has already been formatted and is being requested to be formatted agàin. Eàch entry'~ block information contains starting and exiting conditions for that block. The exiting conditions of a block are the starting conditions of the block following it.
Thi8 information is hecessary for the formatter 26 to determine how to ~ta~t formatting a block of raw text. The block ihformation al~o includes an offset into the raw text file where the block's ~aw text begins, and a count of raw text characters used to format a block of formatted text with the dimensions set up by the calling routine. When adding a link to the list for a block that ha~ not been formatted before, the starting offset for the new block's raw text is determined by adding the raw text character count and the raw text offset of the previous block's fo~mat information.
- ~ormatting of the raw text also depends on the type of devlce at which the output of the device will be displayed. In some cases, certain attribute~ have no meaning to certain device~, and these attributes are ignored for those device types.
While ~ detailed description of the preférred embodiment of the invention has been given, it should be appreciated that many variations can be made thereto without departing form the scope of the invention as set forth in the appended claims.
Claims (20)
1. In an automatic call distribution system having a plurality of different types of display terminals for display of data relating to operation of the distributor, a display data storage compression system, comprising:
means for storing data in unformatted form for display at different types of display terminals associated with the automatic call distribution system;
means for storing formatting information relating to different types of formats associated with said different types of display terminals associated with the call distribution system; and means for selectively using the formatting information to provide the stored data to the different types of terminals in the different formats respectively associated with the different types of display terminals.
means for storing data in unformatted form for display at different types of display terminals associated with the automatic call distribution system;
means for storing formatting information relating to different types of formats associated with said different types of display terminals associated with the call distribution system; and means for selectively using the formatting information to provide the stored data to the different types of terminals in the different formats respectively associated with the different types of display terminals.
2. The automatic call distribution system of claim 1 in which the selectively using means includes a formatter for constructing formatted data corresponding to the unformatted data independently of the actual display terminal at which the formatted data is to be displayed in a format associated with the terminal type of the actual data terminal.
3. The automatic call distribution system of claim 2 in which said formatting information includes at least one of the categories of information of (a) dimensions of the data to format, (b) location of formatting buffer memory for temporary storage of the formatted data, (c) display attributes for each of preselected parts of the data, and (d) the location in the storing means of the unformatted data which is to be displayed.
4. The automatic call distribution system of claim 3 in which formatting information includes all of the categories of information (a), (b), (c) and (d).
5. The automatic call distribution system of claim 3 in which the formatting information includes display attributes for each part of the data to be displayed.
6. The automatic call distribution system of claim 3 in which the unformatted data is stored in blocks of memory and the formatting means includes means for formatting the stored data one block at a time and the formatting information includes the identification of the blocks of memory requested for display.
7. The automatic call distribution system of claim 2 in which said selectively using means includes a formatter having:
means for determining the type of display terminal requesting a display of data, means for selecting the formatting information associated with the display terminal type of the requesting display terminal, means apart from the requesting display terminal for temporarily storing the unformatted data in a formatting buffer memory in a format constructed in accordance with the selected formatting information associated with the display terminal type of the requesting display terminal, and means for transmitting the formatted data in the formatting buffer to the requesting display terminal for display in the selected format.
means for determining the type of display terminal requesting a display of data, means for selecting the formatting information associated with the display terminal type of the requesting display terminal, means apart from the requesting display terminal for temporarily storing the unformatted data in a formatting buffer memory in a format constructed in accordance with the selected formatting information associated with the display terminal type of the requesting display terminal, and means for transmitting the formatted data in the formatting buffer to the requesting display terminal for display in the selected format.
8. The automatic call distribution system of claim 7 in which said formatting information includes information specifying an offset into a block of memory of the unformatted data storing means.
9. The automatic call distribution system of claim 7 in which the formatting buffer memory is arranged in blocks of buffer memory, and the location of the buffer memory information includes the identification of blocks of buffer memory.
10. The automatic call distribution system of claim 9 in which said formatting information is arranged in a plurality of formatting information sets respectively associated with and used to format a plurality of blocks of unformatted data in said data storing means.
11. The automatic call distribution system of claim 10 including means for storing a linked list of said formatting information sets with each set having all relevant information for formatting the data of its associated block of unformatted data.
12. The automatic call distribution system of claim 11 in which:
the blocks of unformatted data are arranged to compose a file, and including means for updating the linked list of sets of formatting information based on determination of at least one of whether the unformatted data is (a) a new file, (b) a new block of data to format for a file being formatted, and (c) is being reformatted.
the blocks of unformatted data are arranged to compose a file, and including means for updating the linked list of sets of formatting information based on determination of at least one of whether the unformatted data is (a) a new file, (b) a new block of data to format for a file being formatted, and (c) is being reformatted.
13. The automatic call distribution system of claim 1 in which said data is textual information.
14. The automatic call distribution system of claim 1 in which the different types of terminals includes a line printer and a scrolling visual display.
15. In an automatic call distribution system having a plurality of different types of display terminals for display of data relating to the distributor, a display data storage compression method, comprising the steps of:
storing data in unformatted form for display at different types of display terminals;
storing formatting information relating to different types of formats associated with said different types of display terminals; and selectively using the formatting information to provide the stored data to the different types of terminals in the different formats respectively associated with the different types of display terminals of the automatic call distribution system.
storing data in unformatted form for display at different types of display terminals;
storing formatting information relating to different types of formats associated with said different types of display terminals; and selectively using the formatting information to provide the stored data to the different types of terminals in the different formats respectively associated with the different types of display terminals of the automatic call distribution system.
16. The method of claim 15 which includes the step of constructing formatted data corresponding to the unformatted data independently of the actual display terminal at which the formatted data is to be displayed in a format associated with the display terminal type of the actual data terminal.
17. The method of claim 16 in which said formatting information includes (a) dimensions of the data to format, (b) location of formatting buffer memory for temporary storage of the formatted data, (c) display attributes for each of preselected parts of the data, and (d) the location in the storing means of the unformatted data which is to be displayed.
18. The method of claim 17 in which said formatting information includes all of the categories of information (a), (b), (c) and (d).
19. The method of claim 15 in which said step of selectively using includes the steps of:
determining the type of display terminal requesting a display of data, selecting the formatting information associated with the display terminal type of the requesting display terminal, temporarily storing the unformatted data in a formatting buffer memory apart from the requesting display terminal in a format constructed in accordance with the selected formatting information associated with the display terminal type of the requesting display terminal, and transmitting the formatted data in the formatting buffer to the requesting display terminal for display in the selected format.
determining the type of display terminal requesting a display of data, selecting the formatting information associated with the display terminal type of the requesting display terminal, temporarily storing the unformatted data in a formatting buffer memory apart from the requesting display terminal in a format constructed in accordance with the selected formatting information associated with the display terminal type of the requesting display terminal, and transmitting the formatted data in the formatting buffer to the requesting display terminal for display in the selected format.
20. The method of claim 19 in which the unformatted data is stored in blocks of memory and the step of formatting includes the steps of formatting one block at a time.
Applications Claiming Priority (2)
| Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| US975,022 | 1992-11-11 | ||
| US07/975,022 US5633923A (en) | 1992-11-12 | 1992-11-12 | Automatic call distribution system with display data storage compression system and method |
Publications (2)
| Publication Number | Publication Date |
|---|---|
| CA2102866A1 CA2102866A1 (en) | 1994-05-12 |
| CA2102866C true CA2102866C (en) | 1999-01-26 |
Family
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Family Applications (1)
| Application Number | Title | Priority Date | Filing Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| CA002102866A Expired - Fee Related CA2102866C (en) | 1992-11-11 | 1993-11-10 | Automatic call distribution system with display data storage compression system and method |
Country Status (4)
| Country | Link |
|---|---|
| US (1) | US5633923A (en) |
| JP (2) | JPH077758A (en) |
| CA (1) | CA2102866C (en) |
| GB (1) | GB2273020B (en) |
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| JPS62118575U (en) * | 1986-01-19 | 1987-07-28 | ||
| JPH0280780U (en) * | 1988-12-09 | 1990-06-21 | ||
| US6057809A (en) * | 1996-08-21 | 2000-05-02 | Neomagic Corp. | Modulation of line-select times of individual rows of a flat-panel display for gray-scaling |
| TW347498B (en) * | 1996-09-30 | 1998-12-11 | Casio Computer Co Ltd | Information supply system |
| US5898760A (en) * | 1997-03-05 | 1999-04-27 | Bellsouth Corporation | Method and apparatus for automating the management of a database |
| KR100248048B1 (en) * | 1997-06-30 | 2000-03-15 | 윤종용 | Computer having auxiliary display apparatus |
| US6516356B1 (en) | 1997-09-30 | 2003-02-04 | International Business Machines Corporation | Application interface to a media server and a method of implementing the same |
| US7092509B1 (en) | 1999-09-21 | 2006-08-15 | Microlog Corporation | Contact center system capable of handling multiple media types of contacts and method for using the same |
| US6661465B2 (en) * | 2000-04-20 | 2003-12-09 | Texas Instruments Incorporated | Television interface for handheld calculator for use with multiple calculator display formats |
| US8126841B2 (en) * | 2008-02-20 | 2012-02-28 | International Business Machines Corporation | Storage and retrieval of variable data |
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| Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
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| JPS60222928A (en) * | 1984-04-20 | 1985-11-07 | Fujitsu Ltd | Document creating device |
| US4833596A (en) * | 1985-02-28 | 1989-05-23 | International Business Machines Corporation | Logical arrangement for controlling use of different system displays by main processor and co-processor |
| US5159683A (en) * | 1986-07-29 | 1992-10-27 | Western Digital Corporation | Graphics controller adapted to automatically sense the type of connected video monitor and configure the control and display signals supplied to the monitor accordingly |
| JPH01108675A (en) * | 1987-10-21 | 1989-04-25 | Hitachi Ltd | Electronic slip processing system |
| JPH02140859A (en) * | 1988-11-22 | 1990-05-30 | Mitsubishi Electric Corp | Screen control system for computer system |
| US5247614A (en) * | 1990-08-30 | 1993-09-21 | International Business Machines Corporation | Method and apparatus for distributed processing of display panel information |
| JPH04242287A (en) * | 1991-01-17 | 1992-08-28 | Mitsubishi Electric Corp | Image processor |
| US5374940A (en) * | 1991-06-04 | 1994-12-20 | The University Of Rochester | System for operating a plurality of graphics displays from a single computer |
| JP3142308B2 (en) * | 1991-06-21 | 2001-03-07 | 株式会社東芝 | Telephone system |
| DE69324182T2 (en) * | 1992-02-03 | 1999-07-15 | Hewlett Packard Co | Device-independent interface for graphic display devices |
-
1992
- 1992-11-12 US US07/975,022 patent/US5633923A/en not_active Expired - Lifetime
-
1993
- 1993-11-10 CA CA002102866A patent/CA2102866C/en not_active Expired - Fee Related
- 1993-11-11 GB GB9323235A patent/GB2273020B/en not_active Expired - Fee Related
- 1993-11-11 JP JP5317259A patent/JPH077758A/en active Pending
-
1998
- 1998-11-09 JP JP008815U patent/JPH11145U/en active Pending
Also Published As
| Publication number | Publication date |
|---|---|
| US5633923A (en) | 1997-05-27 |
| GB2273020B (en) | 1996-05-08 |
| GB2273020A (en) | 1994-06-01 |
| JPH11145U (en) | 1999-11-16 |
| GB9323235D0 (en) | 1994-01-05 |
| CA2102866A1 (en) | 1994-05-12 |
| JPH077758A (en) | 1995-01-10 |
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Legal Events
| Date | Code | Title | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| EEER | Examination request | ||
| MKLA | Lapsed |