THE PROMPT TERMINAL

THE TEXAS HIGHWAY DEPARTMENT IS DIVIDED INTO 25 DISTRICTS, EACH OF WHICH COMPRISES 10 COUNTIES. THE DISTRICTS ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR HIGHWAY DESIGN, CONSTRUCTION, AND MAINTENANCE IN THEIR COUNTIES. THERE IS GENERALLY A MAINTENANCE AND ENGINEERING OFFICE IN EACH COUNTY, BUT IN MANY DISTRICTS THE MAJORITY OF DESIGN AND PLAN PREPARATION IS CARRIED OUT AT DISTRICT LEVEL. AUTOMATION SUPPORT FOR THESE DISTRICT ENGINEERING ACTIVITIES COMES FROM THE DIVISION OF AUTOMATION, WHICH IS COMMITTED TO LARGE, INTEGRATED ENGINEERING SYSTEMS IN DISTINCTION TO TIME-SHARING APPLICATIONS. THIS REQUIRES THAT THE DEPARTMENT'S REMOTE COMPUTER TERMINALS HAVE A BATCH CAPABILITY. THE DEPARTMENT HAS BEEN EXPERIMENTING WITH A SYSTEM, GOING UNDER THE ACRONYM PROMPT---PROGRAMMABLE MODULAR PROCESSING TERMINAL---THAT CAN HANDLE SOME OF THE PROCESSING LOAD BOTH BEFORE SENDING AND AFTER RECEIVING DATA FROM THE CENTRAL COMPUTER CENTER. HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE CONFIGURATIONS WERE DEVELOPED FOR THREE MAJOR FUNCTIONS: (1) MANAGEMENT FUNCTIONS (REMOTE INQUIRY OF DATA BANKS, REMOTE UPDATING, REPORTING, MESSAGE SWITCHING); (2) ENGINEERING FUNCTIONS (BATCH DATA PREPARATION, REMOTE BATCH ENTRY, EXTENSIVE DATA OUTPUT, PLOTTING, LOCAL COMPUTER OR CALCULATOR CAPABILITY, INTERACTIVE COMPUTING, CRT GRAPHICS); AND (3) FISCAL FUNCTIONS (EXTENSIVE DATA PREPARATION, DATA TRANSMISSION, LIMITED OUTPUT).

• Authors:
  • Walker, L G
• Publication Date: 1970-11

Media Info

• Features: Figures;
• Pagination: p. 40-59
• Serial:
  • Am Assoc State Highway Officials Proc

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Accessibility; Communication systems; Computers; Data communications; Highway departments; Highway engineering; Information processing; Systems; Terminals (Communications)
• Old TRIS Terms: Remote location
• Subject Areas: Design; Highways;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00203686
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Jul 31 1974 12:00AM