System for segmenting graphic data installed in respective terminal into areas corresponding to terminals and each area is to be manipulated by its respective terminal

Claim 2

An interactive graphic processing method in which a plurality of terminal equipment connected over a network are used to process data interactively, graphic data to be manipulated being installed in a respective terminal equipment of the plurality of terminal equipment, the method comprising: segmenting the graphic data installed in the respective terminal equipment into a plurality of areas; associating the plurality of areas with the plurality of terminal equipment so that the plurality of areas respectively correspond to the plurality of terminal equipment; allocating the plurality of areas so that each area of the plurality of areas is allocated to the corresponding terminal equipment of the plurality of terminal equipment; producing manipulation data for each area of the graphic data installed in the respective terminal equipment by the corresponding terminal equipment, the manipulation data indicating manipulations to be made to the respective area; sending the manipulation data produced by the plurality of terminal equipment to the respective terminal equipment having the graphic data installed therein; and manipulating the graphic data by the respective terminal equipment having the graphic data stored therein, in accordance with the manipulation data produced by the plurality of terminal equipment.

Claim 3

An interactive graphic processing method according to claim 1, further comprising the step of: selectively displaying different arbitrary areas of the plurality of areas on the plurality of terminal equipment.

Claim 4

An interactive graphic processing method according to claim 1, wherein the manipulation data includes commands and events.

Claim 5

An interactive graphic processing method according to claim 1, further comprising the step of, when a time-consuming command to be executed is issued by the respective terminal equipment of the plurality of terminal equipment: reporting the issuance of the time-consuming command to the other terminal equipment of the plurality of terminal equipment.

Claim 6

An interactive graphic processing method according to claim 4, further comprising the step of, when a time-consuming command is to be executed by the respective terminal equipment: receiving acknowledgments from the other terminal equipment of the plurality of terminal equipment.

Claim 7

An interactive graphic processing method according to claim 1, wherein commands are divided into shared commands that can be selected simultaneously by the plurality of terminal equipment and exclusive commands that, when selected by the respective terminal equipment of the plurality of terminal equipment, cannot be selected by any other terminal equipment of the plurality of terminal equipment, the method further comprising the step of, when a command is received from a respective terminal equipment of the plurality of terminal equipment: processing the command in accordance with whether the command is a shared command or an exclusive command.

Claim 8

An interactive graphic processing method according to claim 1, further comprising the step of: sequentially displaying graphic data manipulated in accordance with manipulation data produced by the respective terminal equipment of the plurality of terminal equipment in the other terminal equipment of the plurality of terminal equipment.

Claim 9

An interactive graphic processing method according to claim 1, further comprising the step of: displaying all of the graphic data to be manipulated on each terminal equipment of the plurality of terminal equipment.

Claim 10

An interactive graphic processing method according to claim 1, wherein each terminal equipment of the plurality of terminal equipment includes a window system.

Claim 11

An interactive graphic processing method according to claim 9, wherein the window system of each terminal equipment implements a distributed input environment so that an application program running on the terminal equipment does not need to be aware of the distributed input environment.

Claim 12

An interactive graphic processing method according to claim 10, further comprising the step of: copying an editing window opened in one terminal equipment of the plurality of terminal equipment into an open window of a different terminal equipment of the plurality of terminal equipment.

Claim 13

An interactive graphic processing method according to claim 11, further comprising the step of: copying a menu window of one terminal equipment of the plurality of terminal equipment to open windows in the other terminal equipment of the plurality of terminal equipment.

Claim 14

An interactive graphic processing method according to claim 1, further comprising the steps of: managing events which occur in the plurality of terminal equipment, and when an event becomes significant, posting the event to an application program.

Claim 15

An interactive graphic processing method according to claim 1, further comprising the step of, when the result of processing performed by an application program is to be reported to a respective terminal equipment of the plurality of terminal equipment: identifying the respective terminal equipment to which the result is to be reported, and reporting the result to the identified terminal equipment.

Claim 16

An interactive graphic processing method according to claim 1, wherein a portion of the graphic data are allocated to a plurality of terminal equipment in an overlapping manner.

Claim 17

An interactive graphic processing apparatus in which a plurality of terminal equipment connected over a network are used to process data interactively, graphic data to be manipulated being installed in a respective terminal equipment of the plurality of terminal equipment, the apparatus comprising: means for segmenting the graphic data installed in the respective terminal equipment into a plurality of areas; means for associating the plurality of areas with the plurality of terminal equipment so that the plurality of areas respectively correspond to the plurality of terminal equipment; means for allocating each area of the plurality of areas to the corresponding terminal equipment of the plurality of terminal equipment; means for producing manipulation data for each area of the graphic data installed in the respective terminal equipment by the corresponding terminal equipment, the manipulation data indicating manipulations to be made to the respective area; means for sending the manipulation data produced by the plurality of terminal equipment to the respective terminal equipment having the graphic data installed therein; and means for manipulating the graphic data in accordance with the manipulation data produced by the terminal equipment, by the respective terminal equipment having the graphic data stored therein.

Claim 18

An interactive graphic processing apparatus in which a plurality of terminal equipment connected over a network are used to process data interactively, graphic data to be manipulated being installed in a respective terminal equipment of the plurality of terminal equipment, the apparatus comprising: means for segmenting the graphic data installed in the respective terminal equipment into a plurality of areas; means for associating the plurality of areas with the plurality of terminal equipment so that the plurality of areas respectively correspond to the plurality of terminal equipment; means for allocating each area of the plurality of areas to the corresponding terminal equipment of the plurality of terminal equipment; means for producing manipulation data for each area of the graphic data installed in the respective terminal equipment by the corresponding terminal equipment, the manipulation data indicating manipulations to be made to the respective area; means for sending the manipulation data produced by the plurality of terminal equipment to the respective terminal equipment having the graphic data installed therein; and means for manipulating the graphic data in accordance with the manipulation data produced by the terminal equipment, by the respective terminal equipment having the graphic data stored therein.

Claim 19

An interactive graphic processing apparatus according to claim 16, further comprising: means for selectively displaying different arbitrary areas of the plurality of areas on the plurality of terminal equipment.

Claim 20

An interactive graphic processing apparatus according to claim 16, wherein the manipulation data includes commands and events.

Claim 21

An interactive graphic processing apparatus according to claim 16, further comprising: means for, when a time-consuming command to be executed is issued by a respective terminal equipment of the plurality of terminal equipment, reporting the issuance of the time-consuming command to the other terminal equipment of the plurality of terminal equipment.

Claim 22

An interactive graphic processing apparatus according to claim 19, further comprising: means for, when a time-consuming command is to be executed by a respective terminal equipment, receiving acknowledgments from the other terminal equipment of the plurality of terminal equipment.

Claim 23

An interactive graphic processing apparatus according to claim 16, wherein commands are divided into shared commands that can be selected simultaneously by the plurality of terminal equipment and exclusive commands that, when selected by a respective terminal equipment of the plurality of terminal equipment, cannot be selected by any other terminal equipment of the plurality of terminal equipment, the apparatus further comprising: means for, when a command is received from a respective terminal equipment of the plurality of terminal equipment, processing the command in accordance with whether the command is a shared command or an exclusive command.

Claim 24

An interactive graphic processing apparatus according to claim 16, further comprising: means for sequentially displaying graphic data manipulated in accordance with manipulation data produced by a respective terminal equipment of the plurality of terminal equipment in the other terminal equipment of the plurality of terminal equipment.

Claim 25

An interactive graphic processing apparatus according to claim 16, further comprising: means for displaying all of the graphic data to be manipulated on each terminal equipment of the plurality of terminal equipment.

Claim 26

An interactive graphic processing apparatus according to claim 16, wherein each terminal equipment of the plurality of terminal equipment includes a window system.

Claim 27

An interactive graphic processing apparatus according to claim 24, wherein the window system of each terminal equipment implements a distributed input environment so that an application program running on the terminal equipment does not need to be aware of the distributed input environment.

Claim 28

An interactive graphic processing apparatus according to claim 25, further comprising: means for copying an editing window opened in one terminal equipment of the plurality of terminal equipment into an open window of a different terminal equipment of the plurality of terminal equipment.

Claim 29

An interactive graphic processing apparatus according to claim 26, further comprising: means for copying a menu window of one terminal equipment of the plurality of terminal equipment to open windows in the other terminal equipment of the plurality of terminal equipment.

Claim 30

An interactive graphic processing apparatus according to claim 16, further comprising: means for managing events which occur in the plurality of terminal equipment, and means for, when an event becomes significant, posting the event to an application program.

Claim 31

An interactive graphic processing apparatus according to claim 16, further comprising: means, when the result of processing performed by an application program is to be reported to a respective terminal equipment of the plurality of terminal equipment, for identifying the respective terminal equipment to which the result is to be reported, and for reporting the result to the identified terminal equipment.

Claim 32

An interactive graphic processing apparatus according to claim 16, wherein the allocation means allocates a portion of the graphic data to a plurality of terminal equipment in an overlapping manner.