Method and apparatus for processing data received at a remote workstation

[54] METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR

PROCESSING DATA RECEIVED AT A
REMOTE WORKSTATION

[75] Inventors: Richard S. Yien; William N. Stratigos,

both of New York, N.Y

[73] Assignees: Empire Blue Cross/Blue Shield, New York; Remote Systems Company, L.L.C, Scarsdate, both of N.Y.

[ * ] Notice: The term of this patent shall not extend beyond the expiration date of Pat. No. 5,446,740.

[21] Appl. No.: 424,152

[22] Filed: Apr. 17, 1995

Related U.S. Application Data

[63] Continuation of Ser. No. 169,327, Dec. 17, 1993, Pat. No. 5,446,740.

[51] Int. CI.6 G06F 15/00; H04J 3/12

[52] U.S. CI 370/110.1; 370/94.1; 370/85.13;

379/89; 379/93; 395/200.01; 395/600; 364/DIG. 2;

364/919; 364/940; 364/935

[58] Field of Search 395/600, 200.01;

370/110.1, 94.1, 85.13; 364/DIG. 2; 379/89,

93

[56] References Cited

U.S. PATENT DOCUMENTS

4,930,123 5/1990 Shimizu 370/94.1

4,973,952 11/1990 Malec et al 340/825.35

5,002,491 3/1991 Abrahamson et al 434/322

5,179,651 1/1993 Taaffe et al 395/154

5,200,993 4/1993 Wheeler et al 379/96

5,282,208 1/1994 Takayama et al 370/110.1

5,287,497 2/1994 Behera 395/600

5,321,520 6/1994 Inga et al 358/403

5,325,297 6/1994 Bird et al 364/419.07

5,325,310 6/1994 Johnson et al 364/514

5,327,554 7/1994 Palazzi, III et al 395/600

5,442,457 8/1995 Najafi 358/400

5,446,740 8/1995 Yien et al 370/110.1

5,450,130 9/1995 Foley 348/391

5,454,079 9/1995 Roper et al 395/200

FOREIGN PATENT DOCUMENTS

0433077 6/1991 European Pat. Off. .

0446149 9/1991 European Pat. Off. .

0512174 11/1992 European Pat. Off. .

WO90/04837 5/1990 WJPO .

WO91/02313 2/1991 WJPO .

OTHER PUBLICATIONS

Data Compression and database Performance Graefe et al.
Kansas City, Mo., Apr. 3-5, 1991.

Primary Examiner—Thomas G. Black
Assistant Examiner—Jean R. Homere
Attorney, Agent, or Firm—Darby & Darby, P.C.

[57] ABSTRACT

A method and apparatus for processing at a remote workstation, data files that are compressed and collected into groups on a local area network at a central location. The files of a group are transferred to the workstation over an ISDN switched telephone network in response to an automatic requests from the workstations. The workstation requests depend on the inventory of unprocessed files at the workstation as well as the time and date, in order to reduce the connection time. When files are received at the workstation the first is immediately decompressed and presented to the operator. In the meantime the next file which the operated is expected to need is decompressed in the background and is ready for processing as soon as the operator finishes with the first. When the operator switches to the next file the processing results are automatically saved and a further file is decompressed an held in a que for the operator.

5 Claims, 6 Drawing Sheets