Multimedia control center for controlling peripheral devices of a personal computer

Claim 1

A data processing system comprising: (1) a processor for performing multi-tasking applications; (2) a display connected to the processor; (3) an application program executed in the processor which displays video outputs on the display; (4) input device means connected to the processor for receiving user inputs for the application program; (5) peripheral device means connected to the processor for performing a peripheral function; (6) device driver means installed in the processor for controlling the peripheral device means according to peripheral control signals; (7) multimedia control means for receiving the peripheral control signals generated by a user and passing the signals to the device driver means to control the peripheral device means without using the display of the processor; (8) a multimedia interface circuit connected to the processor with a multimedia control panel having a plurality of keys for generating the peripheral control signals according to user inputs; and (9) an interface driver means installed in the processor for controlling the multimedia interface circuit and transmitting the peripheral control signals to the multimedia control means; wherein the peripheral device means is controlled by the device driver means according to the peripheral control signals transmitted from the multimedia control means without suspending or terminating the application program executed in the processor; and wherein the multimedia control means further transmits message signals generated by the device driver means to the interface driver means and the multimedia interface circuit further comprises a display means for displaying the message signals wherein the interface driver means displays the message signals received from the multimedia control means over the display means of the multimedia interface circuit.