Computer method and apparatus for unfreezing an apparently frozen application program being executed under control of an operating system
US5911060A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventor
Key dates
| Filing date | Sep 26, 1997 |
| Grant date | Jun 8, 1999 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Sep 26, 2017 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG06F11/1438
- WIPO fieldComputer technology
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
The invention provides an apparatus and computer method, generally referred to as ANTI-FREEZE.TM., for controlling the operation of a computer running under an operating system such as WINDOWS.RTM. 95 and WINDOW.RTM. NT operating system, or their like, for making responsive a program when that program becomes unresponsive to inputs from the keyboard and/or mouse. ANTI-FREEZE.TM. provides a user interface for the selection of an unresponsive program and then causes the operating system to send a message to the selected unresponsive program. If the selected unresponsive program responds to the message from the operating system, ANTI-FREEZE.TM. determines if the selected unresponsive program has any disabled windows and if so enabling a disabled window resulting in the selected unresponsive program to again become responsive. If the selected unresponsive program does not respond to the message from the operating system, ANTI-FREEZE.TM. modifies the selected unresponsive program to become responsive to messages sent from the operating system to the selected unresponsive program resulting in the selected unresponsive program to again become responsive.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.