JPH11194865A - Information processor, information processing method, and computer-readable program product - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To make easily and also quickly executable a desired application by retrieving applications that include an inputted keyword among applications on which the keyword is preliminarily registered, selecting a desired application among them and executing the selected application. SOLUTION: When a character for application retrieval is inputted (S13), it is judged whether the inputted character corresponds to a keyword that is preliminarily registered for application retrieval. When it corresponds in the judgment (S14), corresponding applications are shown on a displaying part (S15). It is judged which application is selected from among the applications that are shown on the displaying part. When any of applications is selected (S16), the selected application is carried out (S17).

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus, an information processing method, and a computer readable program product.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in an information processing apparatus such as a personal computer or a word processor, in order to know each function of an application operated in the apparatus, a file of an execution format of each application (hereinafter, an execution file) is executed. For example, a search for a desired function is performed using a help function. At this time, if the application executed once does not have the function desired by the user, the same operation must be repeated until another application is executed and an application having the desired function is found, which is troublesome.

[0003] In order to solve such a complication, when a user performs an operation of superimposing an icon representing a pointing device such as a mouse on an icon for executing an application on a display, the application is displayed. A so-called balloon help function or the like, which simply displays a function that the user has, is used. However, such a balloon help function is effective only for balloon help compatible applications.

[0004]

As the number of applications installed in the information processing apparatus increases, it becomes more difficult for the user to understand which application has which function. In particular, for beginners unfamiliar with the handling of information processing devices, it is necessary to grasp the functions of various applications installed in the devices in advance, or to quickly select applications having desired functions. It's pretty hard to get started.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide an information processing apparatus, an information processing method, and a computer-readable program product that can easily and quickly execute a desired application.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above object, an information processing apparatus according to the present invention has the following configuration.

That is, a search means for searching for an application including the input keyword from applications in which keywords have been registered in advance, and a desired application is selected from the applications searched by the search means. Interface means capable of executing the selected application.

[0008] Further, for an application in which a keyword is not registered, by editing a file of a format different from the file of the predetermined format possessed by the application, the editing unit to be searched by the searching unit can be edited. It is characterized by having.

Alternatively, in order to achieve the above object, an information processing method according to the present invention has the following configuration.

That is, an application including the input keyword is searched for from applications in which keywords are registered in advance, a desired application is selected from the searched applications, and the selected application is executed. It is characterized by.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a computer-readable program product capable of operating a computer as the information processing apparatus having the above configuration.

[0012]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. In the following description,
The application refers to a program that is executed when a user uses the information processing device. The browser in the present embodiment refers to a program for executing an application. In addition, as an information processing device,
For example, a personal computer or a word processor is assumed.

[First Embodiment] FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of an information processing apparatus to which the present invention can be applied. As shown in FIG. 1, an information processing apparatus for operating a browser according to the present embodiment includes at least a display unit 2 such as a CRT or an LCD, an operation input unit 3 such as a mouse or a keyboard, a memory,
The information processing apparatus includes a storage device 4 such as a DD and an HDD, and an arithmetic processing unit 1 having a CPU and the like for controlling the entire information processing device according to a program stored in the storage device 4 in advance.

Next, the browser according to the present embodiment will be described in detail.

<Installation of Browser> FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing a browser installation process of the information processing apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention. This process is started when the user performs a predetermined operation on the information processing device.

In the figure, the browser is read from the storage device 4 to the arithmetic processing unit 1 in step S2.

At step S3, a variable i for sequentially processing a plurality of applications installed in the storage device 4 in advance in a loop from step S4 to step S9 is set to 1, and whether or not the application is compatible with the browser is determined. First, determine the application to be examined.

In step S5, it is determined whether or not the browser is compatible with the preinstalled application. Here, the application corresponding to the browser is an application having a file in which a keyword that enables the browser to search for the application is described.
In the present embodiment, the extension *. The application having the file having the extension * .kwd is regarded as an application corresponding to the keyword search. It is determined whether or not there is a file having kwd. This extension *. An example of kwd is shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 shows a keyword file screen for a screen saver according to the first embodiment of the present invention.
n. It is a figure showing an example of kwd. As shown in FIG. The keyword of the function of the application is written in the file “kwd”. This search target file is stored in the storage device 4 in advance.

If YES in step S5, that is, if the target application is compatible with the browser of the present embodiment, in step S6 the *. kwd file path and its *. The path of the executable file corresponding to the keyword written in the .kwd file is set in the setting file keyw
d. ini, and the process proceeds to step S7. On the other hand, if NO in step S5, that is, if the target application does not support the browser of the present embodiment, the process directly proceeds to step S7.

Here, the setting file keywd. ini
Is a file under the directory where the browser of this embodiment is installed. This keywd. i
FIG. 4 shows an example of ni.

FIG. 4 shows a setting file keywd.exe according to the first embodiment of the present invention. It is a figure showing the example of ini.
The keywd. * .ini file. kw
An executable file search path corresponding to the same file as the d file path is described for each line.

In step S7, if the application to be checked for browser compatibility is the last (n-th) application, the process ends in step S8.
Otherwise, i is counted up in step S9 and the process returns to step S4.

The loop from step S4 to step S9 is performed until i = n, that is, for each application previously installed in the storage device 4.

<Installation of New Application> Next, a case where a new application is installed in the information processing apparatus in which the browser according to the present embodiment is installed will be described.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a process of installing a new application in the information processing apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention. This process is started when the user performs a predetermined operation on the information processing device.

When a new application is read from the storage device 4 (step S10), it is determined whether the new application is compatible with the browser of this embodiment (step S11). In the present embodiment, whether or not the application supports the browser is determined by the application. The determination is made based on whether or not the file has a kwd file. In step S11, a new application is set to *. When it is determined that the file has the * .wd file, the *. The execution file corresponding to the path of the file. The data is written to an ini file (step S12). On the other hand, in the determination in step S11, *. If it is determined that there is no kwd file, the process ends.

<Operation of Browser> Next, the operation of the browser according to the present embodiment will be described.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the operation of the browser operating on the information processing apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention. The operation of the browser is started by loading a program from the storage device 4 by a user performing a predetermined operation on the information processing apparatus.

In the figure, when a character for an application search is input (step S13), it is determined whether or not the input character corresponds to a keyword registered in advance for the application search (step S14). When the determination is YES (applicable), step S
At 15, the corresponding application is displayed on the display unit 2.

In step S16, the user determines which application is to be selected from the applications displayed on the display unit 2. If any application is selected in step S16, step S17
Execute the selected application. On the other hand, in step S17, it is determined whether or not any application is selected, that is, whether or not the user cancels the selection of terminating the browser operation.
If so, the process returns to step S15, and if NO, the operation of the browser ends.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a display example of a screen showing a search result of an application according to the first embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, a menu window 6 on a display screen 5 displays a search keyword input by the user and an application name searched by the keyword. On such a screen, the user can select a desired application from the search results with the pointer 7 or the like that moves on the display screen 5 in accordance with the operation of the operation input unit 3 and execute the selected application. it can. In the example shown in FIG. 8, the application item of the application selected by the user is highlighted.

On the other hand, if the input character does not match the keyword in step S14, a message indicating that the input character does not match is displayed (step S19), and it is determined in step S20 whether the user wants to continue the search. If you want to step S1
Return to 3. On the other hand, if the search is not to be continued, it is determined in step S21 whether or not the user cancels the selection. If the selection is canceled, the process returns to step S13. If not, the operation of the browser is ended.

Here, the details of the processing in step S14 will be described with reference to FIG.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing details of the processing in step S14 according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

In the figure, in step S141, the browser according to the present embodiment opens the setting file keywd. in
i is read, and the first line of the file is referred to (step S142, step S143).

Next, a description will be given with reference to the example of FIG. 5. In the first line, C: \ screen \ keyword. k
wd to read the contents of the file (step S14).
4) It is determined whether or not the file includes a file that matches the keyword input by the user in step S13 (step S145). If there is a matching file in this determination, in step S146, the execution file is written to the display file used in step S15. Here, display. dsp is a file used in step S15.

Steps S143 to S148
Are sequentially executed up to the last line of the setting file.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, in the information processing apparatus in a state where the browser is executed, a keyword registered for each application is searched by inputting a keyword, and an application related to the keyword is searched. Can be selected easily and quickly.

[Second Embodiment] The browser according to the first embodiment is an application corresponding to the browser, that is, an extension *. Only valid for applications with kwd files. Therefore, in the present embodiment, the extension *. kwd file instead of the configuration file keywd. This is handled by converting the ini format.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing an example of a setting file keywd, ini according to the second embodiment of the present invention.

First, of the pre-installed applications, as shown in the first to third lines in FIG. For applications with kwd,
As in the first embodiment, the setting file keywd. i
The search target file path and the corresponding executable file search path are written in ni.

On the other hand, when the application is not compatible with the browser according to the present embodiment, the readme. txt file or *. hl
Set the p-file as a keyword search target. For applications that do not support the browser according to the present embodiment, the format and path of the executable file corresponding to the keyword search target file are not determined in the default state. Thus, in the present embodiment, the format of the executable file (executable file format) and its path (executable file search path) are specified as shown in FIG. Thus, ke
ywd. By editing the ini setting file, it is possible to correspond even when an application to be newly installed does not support the browser of the present embodiment, and the application can be treated as a search target of the browser.

In order to make the software of the first embodiment correspond to the second embodiment, steps S6 and S6 are executed.
In step S12, keywd. What is necessary is just to make the writing format to the ini file correspond to the configuration described above with reference to FIG. 9. Also, in step S14, FIG.
The item for designating the search file format and the execution file format in the keywd. An ini setting file can be read.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, not only the effect of the first embodiment but also the application which does not support the browser can be searched by editing the setting file of the browser. Can be added to

[Third Embodiment] The first and second embodiments described above
Can be executed in a single task operation system (OS). However, when the application is active and the execution state continues for a long time, the browser cannot be operated without terminating the active application. Therefore, in the present embodiment, by operating on the multitask OS, it is not necessary to stop the running application, and the operability can be improved.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing processing at the time of starting operation of a browser according to the third embodiment of the present invention.

In the figure, in a step S22, it is determined whether or not a certain application is in an active state. Here, the active state refers to a state in which the application is being executed or is waiting for input and is not stopped. When an application is not activated in step S22, the browser operation from step S13 is started.

On the other hand, when an application is active in step S22, it is determined in step S23 whether the application has a character input function like a word processor and accepts character input. In this determination, when a character input is received, the process returns to step S22 to give priority to the function of the application. On the other hand, if the application does not accept character input, the process proceeds to step S13 in order to give priority to the operation of the browser.

[Fourth Embodiment] According to the third embodiment, the browser can be activated even while an application is running on the multitask OS as described above. However, the browser is not always required, but only when searching for an application having the desired function. Thus, in the present embodiment, the browser is not always executed using the entire screen of the display unit 2 but the browser is executed using only a predetermined area, thereby improving operability.

FIG. 12 is a flowchart showing a display area designation process according to the third embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating an example of a display screen according to the third embodiment of the present invention.

In step S24 of FIG. 12, when the pointer is in the designated area such as the multi-window, the input is accepted. For example, the designated area is designated on the display screen 5 with a pointing device such as a mouse or a pen. When the pointer 7 is outside the designated area, the browser does not accept the input and suspends the operation until the pointer 7 enters the designated area 8.

[Fifth Embodiment] The browser according to each of the above-described embodiments is a so-called Internet via a local area network (LAN) connecting a plurality of information processing apparatuses or a server if a communication protocol is established. The same operation can be performed on the above. For that, the second
Keywd. It is necessary to change the ini setting file. This example is shown in FIG.

FIG. 13 shows a setting file keywd.exe according to a fifth embodiment of the present invention. It is a figure which shows ini. In the i-th row of FIG. 7, the g drive of the search target file path virtually allocates a file, directory, or disk of another information device on the LAN. And n
In the line, *. hlm file as a search target, and an executable file corresponding to the search target as *. The directory is where the hlm file is located.

[Other Embodiments] The present invention relates to a plurality of devices (for example, a host computer, an interface device,
(A reader, a printer, etc.).

An object of the present invention is to provide a storage medium storing a program code of software for realizing the functions of the above-described embodiments to a system or an apparatus, and to provide a computer (or a CPU or MPU) of the system or the apparatus.
Needless to say, this can also be achieved by the PU) reading and executing the program code stored in the storage medium.

In this case, the program code itself read from the storage medium implements the functions of the above-described embodiment, and the storage medium storing the program code constitutes the present invention.

As a storage medium for supplying the program code, for example, a floppy disk, hard disk, optical disk, magneto-optical disk, CD-ROM, CD
-R, magnetic tape, non-volatile memory card, ROM, etc. can be used.

When the computer executes the readout program code, not only the functions of the above-described embodiment are realized, but also the OS (Operating System) running on the computer based on the instruction of the program code. ) And the like perform part or all of the actual processing, and the processing realizes the functions of the above-described embodiments.

Further, after the program code read from the storage medium is written into a memory provided in a function expansion board inserted into the computer or a function expansion unit connected to the computer, based on the instruction of the program code, It goes without saying that a CPU or the like provided in the function expansion board or the function expansion unit performs a part or all of the actual processing, and the processing realizes the functions of the above-described embodiments.

[0061]

As described above, according to the present invention,
It is possible to provide an information processing apparatus, an information processing method, and a computer-readable program product that can easily and quickly execute a desired application.

[0062]

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of an information processing apparatus to which the present invention can be applied.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing a browser installation process of the information processing apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a screen saver keyword file screen. It is a figure showing an example of kwd.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a setting file keywd. It is a figure showing the example of ini.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating a process of installing a new application in the information processing apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of a browser operating in the information processing apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is step S1 as the first embodiment of the present invention;
13 is a flowchart illustrating details of the process No. 4;

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a display example of a screen showing a search result of an application according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating an example of a setting file keywd, ini according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing processing at the time of starting operation of a browser according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating an example of a display screen according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 12 is a flowchart illustrating a process of specifying a display area according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 13 shows a setting file keywd. It is a figure which shows ini.

Claims (11)

[Claims] 1. A search means for searching for an application including an input keyword from applications in which keywords are registered in advance, and a desired application is selected from the applications searched by the search means. An information processing apparatus, comprising: an interface unit capable of executing a selected application. 2. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said search means sets an application having a file of a predetermined format as a search target. 3. An editing unit which is a search target of the search unit by editing a file of a format different from the file of the predetermined format possessed by the application for which no keyword is registered. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: 4. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the search unit prohibits the input of a keyword when the application is active. 5. The search means according to claim 1, wherein said active application receives a character input.
2. The input of a keyword is prohibited.
An information processing apparatus according to claim 1. 6. The information processing apparatus includes display means for displaying information. The display means displays the information when the input operation to the search means and the interface means and the status display are performed. 2. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the information is displayed in a predetermined area of the displayable area, and an operation input to an area outside the predetermined area is invalidated. 7. Searching for an application including an input keyword from applications in which keywords are registered in advance, selecting a desired application from the searched applications, and executing the selected application. An information processing method characterized by the following. 8. The information processing method according to claim 7, wherein, when searching, an application having a file of a predetermined format is set as a search target. 9. An application for which a keyword is not registered is edited as a search target by editing a file of a format different from the file of the predetermined format possessed by the application. 7. The information processing method according to item 7. 10. A computer-readable program product, wherein the program product causes a computer to search for an application including an input keyword from applications in which keywords are registered in advance, and A program product wherein a desired application is selected from the applications searched by the means, and the selected application is operated as an interface means capable of executing the selected application. 11. The computer according to claim 11, wherein the program product allows a computer to edit a file of a format different from the file of the predetermined format included in the application for which a keyword is not registered, thereby enabling the search unit to execute the search. 11. The program product according to claim 10, wherein the program product is operated as an editing unit to be searched.