JP3158526B2 - Function instruction method and information processing device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a computer system for performing different functions by selecting one option from a menu displaying a plurality of optional functions on a terminal or a display so that a user can select the function. The present invention relates to a menu selection method for selecting and executing a function.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a computer system, in particular, a personal computer device, a plurality of menus are provided on a terminal or a display in a menu format so that a user can easily select and execute an arbitrary function when performing different functions. An optional function is displayed as an item, and this function is executed by selecting any one item from this menu.

In this type of menu system, selectable functions are displayed as items on a part of the display screen, and a cursor on the display screen is controlled to move by coordinate input means, generally a mouse or the like. By designating and selecting a desired item from a menu with a cursor, a program constituting the function can be executed. This menu selection method has a great feature in that it is intuitive and easy to understand for the user.

[0004]

In the above-mentioned conventional device, each item constituting the menu has a smaller display area than the entire display screen.
It is necessary to make fine adjustments to the mouse by carefully looking at the display screen, and there has been a problem in that a long-time operation causes a feeling of fatigue.

It is possible to display menu selection items in a large size. In this case, however, the balance with the whole on the display screen and the visible portion are hidden by the menu.
Since the amount of display information is reduced, these menus and selection items cannot be displayed too large.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and it is an object of the present invention to select a menu item without requiring precise operation of coordinate input means, and to improve operability of item selection. Menu selection methods that can be improved,
And to obtain a device.

[0007]

In order to achieve the above object, a feature of the present invention is that each item of a menu displayed on a display screen is virtually enlarged and allocated on the display screen. In selecting any one of the items, the virtual allocation unit corresponding to the menu is designated by the cursor and selected.

According to the present invention, a menu corresponding to a menu displayed on a display screen is selected, and a selection area of each item of the menu and a selection area of each item are virtually displayed on the display screen. An area table for storing the enlarged and selected area allocated and expanded, coordinate information input means for inputting coordinate information specified by a cursor moving on the display screen in accordance with the coordinate input means, and Coordinate conversion means for converting the input coordinate information into coordinate information in the selection area corresponding to the enlarged selection area and outputting the coordinate information by input coordinates being located in the arbitrary enlarged selection area; A menu selection device is provided.

[0009]

According to the above arrangement, the menu displayed on a part of the display screen can be virtually enlarged and displayed on the display screen, and each item can be selected in the enlarged area when selecting each item. It becomes possible. This eliminates the need for a fine operation of the cursor for designating items when selecting a menu, thereby improving the operability of menu selection.

[0010]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention shown in the drawings will be described below.

FIG. 1 shows an example of a menu display screen according to this embodiment. Generally, on the menu screen, for example, the title of the program is displayed above the display screen SC, and functions are displayed below the title. In this case, the function related to file operation is displayed as “file”, and the function related to editing is displayed as “edit”. Further, FIG. 1 shows a state in which the cursor CS is moved by a mouse or the like, the function "edit" is selected, and the menu items A, B, and C relating to this edit are displayed in a pull-down format. .

Conventionally, here, the cursor CS is further moved into a desired one of the menu items A, B, and C by a mouse or the like, and is selected.

However, according to this embodiment, one of the three items is selected in this case, so that the entire display screen SC is virtually divided into three as shown by the broken lines, and this is divided into the enlarged selection area 25. , 26, 27. Then, the item A is assigned to the enlargement selection area 25, the item B is assigned to the enlargement selection area 26, the item C is assigned to the enlargement selection area 27, and each of the items A, B, C and each of the enlargement selection areas 25, 26, 27 And are linked.

According to this, since the cursor CS only needs to be moved to a rough position on the display screen SC, the selection operation becomes very simple. That is, if the relatively upper part of the display screen SC is selected, the item A is selected, if the center part is selected, the item B is selected, and the relatively lower part is the item C.

In this embodiment, the enlarged area 25,
Since no display is made at the boundaries 26 and 27, it is difficult to determine which is selected near the boundary. However, the advantage is that the selection can be made roughly, so the boundary is particularly displayed. No case is shown. However, if it is desired to make this clearer, a boundary line may be displayed.

FIG. 2 shows an example in a window system. In a window system, a plurality of independent windows are usually displayed on the display screen SC. However, there are cases where it is necessary to control another window as indicated by 28 in addition to the window 24 as shown in FIG. 2 even during the menu display. In such a case, if the area is expanded, all operations on the entire display screen SC are performed only on the window 24. In such a case, it is effective to provide a function of turning off the area enlargement function, which will be described later.

FIG. 3 shows a display example of a menu called a dialog box in the window system. In this case, since the number of the selection items 31, 32, to 38 is eight, the display screen SC is divided into eight and the selection areas 41, 4
2, to 48 are assigned and set.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart of a process constituting a main part of the embodiment. In this embodiment, a case where the present invention is applied to a window system is shown. Generally, in the window system, as shown in FIG. 3, when an item is selected, a menu is displayed on the display screen SC in a small window called a dialog box, and an item name to be selected and a button for selecting the item are displayed. , That is, a selection area is displayed. When the pointer is moved to the desired selection area by a coordinate input means such as a mouse and a button attached to the mouse is pressed, the coordinate value information from the mouse and the ON / OFF state information of the button become message information. Is transferred from the window system to the application program. The application program determines which item has been selected based on the current state of itself and the content of the message information input and transferred, that is, in this case, the coordinate information of the mouse and the state information of the button, and responds to this. Execute the process. However, the window system usually has a processing routine for a standard menu or dialog box, executes the processing routine until the coordinates are determined, and returns item information of the selected result to the application program. .

In this embodiment, a case is shown in which the standard processing routine prepared in the window system is used to convert the coordinates from the mouse to enlarge the selected area. The window system has a function called message hook. This means that, for example, in the case of mouse message information, the application program can add processing for processing the message information output from the window system before the message information is transferred to the standard processing routine. . Therefore, the present embodiment is realized in the application program as a hook routine for the mouse message.

FIG. 5 is a memory configuration diagram showing a configuration of an area table TBL required for executing the processing shown in FIG. 4. This area table TBL is stored in a computer device in advance in executing the processing shown in FIG. Is set to At the beginning of the area table TBL, an identification data storage unit 10 for identifying which menu or dialog box the table corresponds to.
It has. The data stored in the storage unit 10 is used when searching the menu displayed on the display screen SC or the area table TBL corresponding to the dialog box. Reference numeral 11 denotes an area number storage unit that stores information indicating how many enlarged areas the display screen SC on which the menu or the dialog box is displayed is divided. In the following, area information storage sections E1, E2,...
Set as many as the number stored in. Each area information storage unit E1,
E2,..., En have the same configuration, each having an X, Y coordinate information storage unit 12 indicating the upper left coordinates of the enlarged virtual area on the display screen SC, and X, Y indicating the lower right coordinates. The coordinate information storage unit 13 and the X, Y coordinate information storage unit 14 indicating the upper left coordinates on the display screen SC of the actual selection area correspond to the X, Y coordinate information storage unit 15 indicating the lower right coordinates. Equipped. Area table TBL
Has a storage unit having the above configuration for each menu or each dialog box.

In the case of the dialog box shown in FIG. 3, the actual selection area may not always be rectangular as shown in the selection areas 31, 32, and 33. Is approximated by a rectangle.
Of course, this may be in accordance with the actual form.

FIG. 6 is a memory configuration diagram showing the configuration of a temporary storage unit required for executing the processing shown in FIG. 4. This temporary storage unit TM is also used to execute the processing shown in FIG. Is set to In this figure, EOF indicates whether or not the area enlargement function is operating, that is, an area enlargement function operation storage unit that stores ON or OFF.
ET is a selected area table storage unit that stores a selected area table, CPS is a cursor coordinate storage unit that stores the coordinates of the cursor CS at a specified time, and ENO
Is an area number storage unit for storing the number of areas set for the designated menu, and SPT is an area information storage unit E1, E2,... Of the area table TBL for searching for an enlarged area designated by the cursor CS. , En sequentially.

Referring now to FIG. 5 and FIG. 6, a description will be given of an overall flowchart which is a main part of the embodiment shown in FIG. First, move the pointer with the mouse and press the button attached to this mouse, that is, click,
The message information is output from the window system body, and is passed to this routine registered in advance by the hook function in step 4a. In the following step 4b, it is determined whether a menu or a dialog box as shown in FIG. 1 or FIG. 3 is being displayed on the display screen SC. Unless this is being displayed, the processing of the message information is not executed. If a menu or a dialog box is being displayed, the area enlargement function is turned on in step 4c.
A determination is made as to whether it is N or OFF, and if this is OFF, the message information is not processed. In some cases, the area enlargement function is not required depending on the situation. Therefore, in consideration of such a case, the function can be turned off. Here, in step 4c, if the area enlargement function is ON, the process proceeds to step 4d.

In step 4b, if a menu or the like is being displayed, the information is held in the application program. In step 4d, the identification data of the menu or the like being displayed is obtained from this plurality of area tables based on this information. Area table TB that matches (ID)
L is searched, and information that can specify the searched area table TBL is stored in the selected area table storage unit SET.

Next, in step 4e, the coordinate information of the cursor moved by the mouse is extracted from the message information, and this is stored in the cursor coordinate storage unit CSP. Then, in step 4f, a search is made to find which area E1, E2,..., En in the area table TBL searched in step 4d. Thus, if the corresponding area is found, the coordinate value of the actual selected area corresponding to the area is extracted in step 4g, and the coordinate value in the message information is replaced with the coordinate value of the actual selected area. Details of the processing of steps 4f and 4g will be described later. And step 4h
The message information in which the coordinate values have been replaced is returned to a standard processing routine such as a menu to execute the actual processing of item selection.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing details of the coordinate conversion processing means shown in steps 4f and 4g in FIG. In step 7a, the means first sets the search pointer SPT in the last area information storage unit En of the area table TBL selected in step 4d, and reads the area pointer from the area number storage unit 11 of the area table TBL. The number is read and stored in the area number storage unit ENO. In step 7b, the coordinates of the current pointer fetched in step 4e, that is, the contents of the cursor coordinate storage unit CSP are stored in the storage unit 1 of the area information storage unit E1.
It is determined whether or not the user is in the actual selection area shown in FIGS. If this is in the original actual selection area, nothing is performed and the following processing is not executed. If the cursor has entered the original selection area, it is next determined in step 7c whether or not the cursor has entered the enlargement selection area indicated by the storage units 12 and 13 of the area information storage unit E1. If not, the content is decremented by 1 so that the search pointer SPT points to the next immediately preceding area, and all area information storage units E1, E2,
.., The number of areas storage unit ENO
If it is not the end, that is, if the content of the number-of-areas storage unit ENO is not zero, the process proceeds to step 7b, and then to steps 7b, 7c, 7d, 7
The process of e is repeatedly executed.

If the conditions of steps 7b and 7c are both satisfied, the process moves from step 7c to step 7f.
Here, the coordinate values of the actual selected area are read from the storage units 14 and 15 of the area storage unit indicated by the search pointer SPT, and the center coordinate is calculated in the following step 7g, and the coordinates of the cursor are replaced with the coordinates.

As described above, according to the embodiment, when the menu item is selected, the displayed menu is displayed on the display screen SC.
Since it is possible to virtually enlarge the entire menu, it is not necessary to precisely move the cursor with a mouse or the like when selecting an item in the menu, and this operation becomes extremely easy, and the operability of menu selection can be improved.

Further, according to the embodiment, the enlarged area can be set to be convenient for the application program by describing the area table. Further, if the usability deteriorates when the selected area is enlarged, the enlargement function can be temporarily removed by turning off the area enlargement flag.

Furthermore, when the actual selection area, that is, the area before enlargement is directly selected, the actual selection area can be validated by comparing these coordinates first, so that the user's intuition can be adjusted. Can be.

[0031]

As is apparent from the above description, according to the present invention, the menu selection area can be virtually expanded,
In selecting menu items, precise operation of the coordinate input means is not required, and operability of item selection can be improved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of a menu display screen according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing another example of a menu display screen according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing still another example of a menu display screen according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing an entire process of one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a configuration of an area table used in the embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a temporary storage unit used in the embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating a coordinate conversion process.

[Explanation of symbols]

SC: display screen, CS: cursor, 21, 22, 23,
... Selection items, 25, 26, 27 ... Virtual allocation section

Continuation of the front page (58) Field surveyed (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) G06F 3/14 340 G06F 3/00 654 G06F 3/033 G09G 5/00

Claims (8)

(57) [Claims] 1. A function designating method for designating a function to be executed by a processing device from an input device, wherein a first region on a display screen of the display device is associated with a second region for selecting a predetermined function. Acquiring the coordinate information of the pointer displayed in the first area from the input device; and assigning the pointer to the second area corresponding to the first area including the acquired coordinate information. Executing a function. (Similar to the embodiment, the coordinates of the first area are replaced with the coordinates of the second area) 2. The function instruction method according to claim 1, further comprising the step of displaying said first area and said second area on a display screen of said display device. Instruction method. 3. The function instruction method according to claim 1, wherein an area wider than said second area is associated with said first area. A step wherein the processing unit displays a first area on the display screen of the display device functions to be executed, the function assigned to the first region a second to be displayed on said display device A function instruction having a step of associating with a region, a step of inputting coordinates in the second region with an input device, and a step of causing a processing device to execute a function associated with the second region. Method. (Covers how to assign the same functions as the first area to the second area) 5. The functional instruction method according to claim 4, function instruction method characterized by having a manifest step on the display screen of the display device the second region. 6. The functional instruction method according to claim 4, function command wherein said wider region than the first region is characterized in that it is associated as the second region. 7. An information processing apparatus comprising: a processing device that executes a plurality of functions; a display device that displays a first area to which the functions are assigned; and an input device that specifies a function to be executed by the processing device. The processing device associates a second region included in a display screen of the display device with the first region, and corresponds to the second region including coordinates input from the input device. An information processing apparatus for executing a function assigned to a first area. 8. A processing device for executing a plurality of functions, a display device for displaying a first area for designating a function to be executed by the processing device, and an input device for inputting coordinates on a display screen. An information processing device, wherein the processing device includes a process of associating a function assigned to the first region with a second region included in a display screen of the display device, and a coordinate acquired from the input device. An information processing apparatus for executing a function associated with the second area.