Data processing system receptive for presentation of data comprising an application program and a multiplatform interpreter, and a platform subsystem arranged for interaction with the multiplatform interpreter and a memory for use with such system for subsystem

Abstract

A system comprises an application program that also comprises a multiplatform interpreter. The application program contains both the application described in a scripting language and data. A platform subsystem interacts with the application program and accesses the application program and interpreter. The application program is based on an instruction set that is interpreted by the processing means, using the multiplatform interpreter. The platform is an instance of a prespecified abstract machine with a predefined instruction set, data type set, and resource facilities according to quantitative minimum requirements.

What is claimed is:  
     
         1 . A method for enabling execution of a first application program on a first data processing platform and on a second data processing platform, different from the first data processing platform, using a multiplatform interpreter wherein: 
 the first and second data processing platforms each comprise processing means and resource facilities satisfying predetermined quantitative minimum requirements of a pre-specified abstract machine having a predetermined instruction set and a predetermined data set;    the first and second data processing platforms are respective instances of the pre-specified abstract machine; and    the application program is based on the predetermined instruction and data sets;    the method comprising:    receiving at the first and the second data processing platforms, via telecommunications channels, at least one of the application program and the multiplatform interpreter; and    enabling the first and second data processing platforms to use the multiplatform interpreter to interpret the application program for execution thereon;    wherein the multiplatform interpreter is indirectly threaded.    
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising: 
 accessing, at the first data processing platform, an indirection table that provides pointers to directly threaded code.    
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the multiplatform interpreter comprises a kernel, an extension kernel, and a plurality of platform dependent functions.  
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 3 , further comprising: 
 adding, during loading, a component to the interpreter, wherein the component contains offsets for the plurality of platform dependent functions; and wherein the platform dependent functions are disposed in a dictionary.    
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 4 , further comprising: 
 replacing referrals from the kernel and the extension kernel to the platform dependent functions in the dictionary, with referrals taken from the component.    
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 5 , further comprising: 
 translating, at the first data processing platform, the application program into a plurality of platform-independent interface calls.    
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 6 , wherein the interpreter is operable in both in real-time mode and in a non-real-time mode.  
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 7 , wherein the first and second data processing platforms have different hardware configurations.  
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein the first and the second data processing platforms have different operating systems, and further comprising: 
 linking, by means of the multiplatform interpreter at the first data processing platform, a first library with the application program at the first data processing platform; and    linking, by means of the multiplatform interpreter at the second data processing platform, a second library with the application program at the second data processing platform.    
     
     
         10 . A method for enabling execution of a same application program on a first data processing platform and on a second data processing platform different from the first data processing platform using a multiplatform interpreter wherein: 
 the first and second data processing platforms each comprise processing means and resource facilities satisfying predetermined quantitative minimum requirements of a pre-specified abstract machine having a predetermined instruction set and a predetermined data set;    the first and second data processing platforms are respective instances of the pre-specified abstract machine; and    the application program is based on the predetermined instruction and data sets;    the method comprising:    supplying to the first and to the second data processing platform, via telecommunications channels, at least one of the application program and the multiplatform interpreter;    enabling the supplied data processing platforms to use the multiplatform interpreter to interpret the application program for execution on the supplied data processing platform; and    performing, on at least the first data processing platform, a real-time conversion of at least of portion of the application program to a format specific to the first data processing platform.    
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein the first and the second data processing platforms have different hardware configurations.  
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein the first and the second data processing platforms have different operating systems, and the multiplatform interpreter is used by the supplied data processing platform to link a library at the supplied data processing platform with the application program.  
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 10 , further comprising: 
 translating, at each of the first and the second data processing platforms, by means of the multiplatform interpreter supplied thereto, the application program so as to produce a plurality of platform-independent interface calls.    
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein the operation of supplying at least one of the application program and the multiplatform interpreter is performed autonomously.  
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein the operation of supplying at least one of the application program and the multiplatform interpreter is performed on demand.  
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein the multiplatform interpreter is indirectly threaded.  
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 10 , further comprising interpreting, at the first data processing platform, the application program.  
     
     
         18 . A method of executing a first application program on a first data processing platform and on a second data processing platform, wherein the first and second data processing platforms each comprise processing means and resource facilities satisfying predetermined quantitative minimum requirements of a pre-specified abstract machine having a predetermined instruction set and a predetermined data set; the first and second data processing platforms are respective instances of the pre-specified abstract machine; and the first application program is based on the predetermined instruction and data sets; 
 the method comprising:    receiving at the first and the second data processing platforms, via telecommunications channels, at least one of the application program and the multiplatform interpreter; and    enabling the first and second data processing platforms to use the multiplatform interpreter to interpret the application program for execution thereon;    wherein the first and second data processing platforms have different hardware configurations, and the multiplatform interpreter is indirectly threaded.    
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 18 , wherein the first and second data processing platforms have different hardware configurations, the first and second data processing platforms have different operating systems.  
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 19 , wherein the multiplatform interpreter is operable in a real-time mode and in a non-real-time mode.