Method and apparatus for indicating the status of one or more computer processes

DETAILED DESCRIPTION In view of the above, the present invention provides a method and apparatus for indicating the status of one or more batch processes on a computer system.
According to the system of the invention, a mainframe computer is provided having a central processor for executing batch processes initiated from a user.
Means coupled to the mainframe computer are provided for tracking the status of a batch process and generating a signal indicative of that status.
A display coupled to the mainframe computer is configured to receive the signal indicative of the process status and graphically display such status to the user.
In a preferred embodiment of the system, the mainframe computer can be a central computer or a distributed computer system with multiple processing elements.
The graphical display is preferably presented in the form of a flowchart or milestone chart.
According to the method of the invention, a mainframe or central computer is provided having a central processor for executing batch processes initiated from the user.
The method tracks the status of the batch process and generates a signal indicative of such status.
The signal is then received and used to graphically display the status of the batch process to the user.
In another aspect of the invention, a graphic user interface is provided for visually communicating the status of batch processes for execution on a computer.
The graphic user interface includes a main screen for visually displaying the status of at least one process.
A dialog box is also provided that allows a user to create a chart visually identifying the at least one process on the computer.
A graphical representation of the process is provided in the user interface including links identifying where one process is related to another process on the computer.
According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, the chart can be a flowchart or a milestone chart showing the status of processes that execute on the computer.
From the present invention, a user can readily visualize the current status of any process executing on a large computer system