Adding method for ordered sorting of a group of windows on a display

1. Field of the Invention In modern display systems, such as cable boxes, there is often a requirement to create displays with several windows containing independent content. The content may come from different programs running within the system and may also come from real time video inputs such as satellite TV signals, DVD players, cable companies, and the like. In such applications the on screen display can be created on a line by line basis. Often the display lines can be created as they are being used. To create these display lines it is necessary to sequence the data to the display in the order which it will be displayed. To sequence the data to the display in the order which it will be displayed the windows must be sorted by their position on the screen. To sort the windows by their position on the screen such methods as doing a bubble sort of the window's starting coordinates is often used. The present invention presents a method and apparatus that compares the position of the window to the others on the same line and then numerically adds the results. The numerical value of the results then directly gives the order in which the window will be displayed.