Patent ID: 7096430

Claim:
Process of displaying a window or a panel in a specific area of a display of a computer or an interactive terminal having (a) a main processor, (b) local access network (LAN) accessor with processing resources, the accessor being connected to a network, and (c) a graphic system with a frame buffer including an activated overlay frame buffer, said process comprising controlling the main processor to cause the frame buffer of the graphic system to produce graphic signals for the display in accordance with bitmaps or graphical commands derived by the main processor, and controlling said overlay frame buffer by using the processing resources of said LAN accessor to cause the display to display a specific window or panel independently of operation of a main operating system being executed on said computer or said interactive terminal, said graphic system and said LAN accessor being respectively based on a video card and a LAN card, said LAN card taking control of said overlay fame buffer by use of a bus master mode, and said overlay frame buffer having a WRITE access which is restricted to control by said LAN card.