yep, http://java.sun.com/docs/books/tutorial/essential/concurrency/
http://www.javaworld.com/javaworld/jw-04-1996/jw-04-threads.html etc.
try searching for java thread tutorial on google, for what you want to do
it's fairly straightforward stuff.

Threading is difficult.

For this example, assuming you just want to read lines of input and poll
for results:

    final BlockingQueue<String> input =
       new java.util.concurrent.ArrayBlockingQueue<String>(10);
    Thread thread = new Thread(new Runnable() {
            public void run() {
                try {
                    BufferedReader in = new BufferedReader(
                        new InputStreamReader(System.in)
                    );
                    for (;;) {
                        String line = in.readLine();
                        if (line == null) {
                            break;
                        }
                        put(line);
                    }
                } catch (java.io.IOException exc) {
                    // Oops... (perhaps should quit)
                    throw new Error(exc);
                } finally {
                    put(null);
                }
            }
            private void put(String line) {
                for (;;) {
                    try {
                        input.put(line);
                        return;
                    } catch (java.lang.InterruptedException exc) {
                        // Ignore - we should keep going.
                        // IO may throw, however.
                    }
                }
            }
    });
    thread.setDaemon(true);
    thread.setPriority(6);
    thread.start();

    outerLp: for (;;) {
        while (!input.isEmpty()) {
            String line = input.remove();
            if (line == null) {
                // End of input.
                break outerLp; // say
            }
            ... do stuff with line ...
        }
        ... do a little stuff while waiting ...
    }

(Disclaimer: Not tested or even compiled.)

Tom hawtin