JP2630196B2 - Animation icon display device and animation icon display method - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an icon display device for displaying icons on a display screen of an information processing apparatus .
The present invention relates to an icon display method , and more particularly to an animation icon display device and an animation icon for displaying an animation icon composed of a plurality of symbols displayed in chronological order.
It relates to an icon display method .

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art At present, in a graphical user interface of a computer or the like, icons for displaying contents of a process performed by a user and a target to be processed using graphics are widely used.

[0003] With the recent increase in the graphics display capability of computers, there have been some attempts to display these icons not only as a single stationary pattern but also as an animation. The animation is to sequentially display a plurality of symbols in chronological order. An icon using animation may be called a dynamic icon, a dynamic icon, an animated icon, or the like, but hereinafter, including these, is referred to as an animation icon. For example, Ronald Becker, Ian Small, Richard Mander (Ronald Baecker,
Ian Small, Richard Mander)
1-6 of Proceedings of CHI'91
Blinking Icons to Life (BR
(INGING ICONS TO LIFE) (1) describes the icons using animation, and reports that the meaning of the icons in the animated icons is easier for the user to understand than in the stationary icons. Takashi Uematsu, Kazunari Morimoto and Takeshi Nishimura have been working on the 7th Symposium on Human Interface (1991), pp.31-
36) "Examination of dynamic icons from the viewpoint of affordance" (Reference 2) also states that animation icons are easier for users to understand and approach than conventional still icons.

[0004] In the display of the animation icons as described above, there are the following attempts regarding the timing of animation display, which condition is satisfied when an animation is displayed. 1) The animation is constantly displayed. 2) Normally, a stationary icon is displayed, and an animation is displayed when the user enters a cursor in a specific area.

In the method 1), an animation is displayed irrespective of a user's input. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 4, the display device includes an input detecting means 101, a function executing means 103 connected thereto, and an animation. Control means 105
And animation data storage means 1 connected thereto
06 and a display unit 107 connected to the animation control unit 105. In the method 2), an animation is displayed based on whether or not the cursor is within a specific area. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 5, the display device includes an input detection unit 101 and a state determination unit connected thereto. Means 102 and function executing means 10 connected thereto
3, an animation control means 105 connected to the state determination means 102, an animation data storage means 106 connected thereto, and an animation control means 105
And a display means 107 connected to the

[0006] The above-mentioned Document 1 reports that an experiment was first performed by the method 1), and that the user felt troublesome. This indicates that human beings are intrigued by moving objects, and that when a specific part of the screen is constantly moving, it is distracting and annoying. Next, they conduct experiments in the method of 2). This is a method in which a fixed area surrounding an icon is provided, and an animation is displayed only while the cursor is within the area. As a result, the user no longer feels troublesome and reports that the user interface has been improved. The above-mentioned document 2 also performs an experiment by the method of 2). Here, the icon is usually in a stationary state, but the animation starts when the cursor is placed in an area of about 1 cm up and down around the icon, and the operation ends when the animation goes around.

[0007]

As described above, it is already known that animated icons are easier for a user to understand than stationary icons. In general, the animation is started when the cursor enters a certain area around the animation icon. However, this method has a disadvantage in that the animation cannot be displayed when the user is performing some other work. Because, for example, while drawing a figure in the drawing area of the screen, you may want to know what the drawing function is, but in the case of the above method, once move the cursor out of the drawing area and If you do not move up, you will not be able to see the animation for that icon. Also, it is not possible to select and animate a plurality of icons for which the user finds it difficult to understand the function of a stationary icon.

For example, in an image editor as shown in FIG. 3, an image editing area is located on the left half of the screen.
It is assumed that the icon is displayed on the right side of the screen. In this case, the user, while drawing in the image editing area,
Sometimes you want to see what editing features are available, but if you just look at the static icons and don't know what those features are, move the cursor from the left area to the right area to start the animation, then You have to make sure. Such a task is very troublesome and does not make full use of the function of the animation icon. However, as described above, it is troublesome for the user to constantly execute the animation of all the icons.

[0009]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an animation icon display device for displaying an animation icon composed of a plurality of symbols displayed in chronological order, comprising: input detection means for detecting an input from a user; State determination means for determining a state of the animation icon, function execution means for receiving a output of the state determination means and executing a function corresponding to the animation icon, state storage means for storing a state of the animation icon, An animation control means for controlling the display of the animation icons, an animation data storage means for storing data necessary for displaying the animation icons, and a display means for displaying the animation icons. is there.

[0010]

Next, the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of one embodiment of the present invention, and FIG.
3 is a flowchart showing the operation of the embodiment of FIG. This animation icon display device includes an input detection unit 101,
State determination means 102, function execution means 103, state storage means 104, animation control means 105, animation data storage means 106, display means 107
It is composed of A microprocessor or the like can be used for the input detection unit 101, the state determination unit 102, the function execution unit 103, and the animation control unit 105. As the state storage means 104, a semiconductor memory, a magnetic disk, or the like can be used. As the animation data storage means 106, a semiconductor memory, a magnetic disk, a CD-ROM, a magnetic tape, or the like can be used. The input detecting means 101 is connected to an input device such as a mouse and a keyboard through a control device. As the display means 107, a display device such as a CRT display, a liquid crystal display, and a plasma display can be used.

An operation example when displaying an animation icon using the animation icon display device shown in FIG. 1 will be described with reference to a flowchart of FIG. In the animation icon display device of FIG. 1, there are three states of the animation icon: an inactive state, an active state, and a function executing state. The state of the animation icon is stored in the state storage unit 104. The inactive state is a state where the icon is displayed in a state where the animation is stopped and stopped, the active state is a state where the animation is displayed, and the function executing state is a state where the function corresponding to the animation icon is executed. The state of the animation in the state is not particularly limited. First, the state determination means 102 is the input detection means 10
1 to monitor the input from the user (step 201), and when the user instructs to change the icon state by clicking the icon or the like, the state determination means 10
2 refers to the state storage means 104 to check the state of the animation icon at that time (step 202). Assuming that the state of the animation is inactive and the user has instructed the start of the animation in step 202, the state determination unit 102
Then, the state of the animation icon stored in No. 4 is changed to the active state (step 203), and the animation icon control means 105 referring to the animation icon refers to the data in the animation data storage means 106 to display the animation (step 204). ). The display of the animation is performed by sequentially displaying a plurality of symbols stored in the animation data storage means 106 in chronological order. If it is determined in step 202 that the user instructs the execution of the function when the animation state is the active state, the state determination unit 102
(Step 205), and the function executing means 103 referring to the state changes to the state corresponding to the animation icon (step 206). The function corresponding to the animation icon is a function executed by selecting the animation icon, such as deletion or copying in the document editing system. If the state of the animation icon is being executed in step 202, no processing is performed.

In step 201, the state determining means 102 also monitors the function execution end event sent from the function executing means 103. When the end of the function execution is detected, the state of the animation icon stored in the state storage unit 104 is changed to the inactive state (step 20).
7). Then, the animation icon control means 105 referring to it stops displaying the animation (step 208).

In the above-described embodiment, a case has been described in which the inactive state, the active state, and the running state are sequentially switched when the user clicks the icon. For example, a mouse having three buttons is used as an input device. If the user presses the left button, the state changes to inactive, the middle button changes to the active state, and the right button changes to the running state, so that the user can select any state. May be.

[0015]

According to the present invention, the user can select an icon which is normally displayed in a still state and make it an animation state. In the conventional animation icons, when the animation was constantly displayed, the moving part on the screen was too much for the user, which was cumbersome for the user, but according to the present invention, the animation can be stopped. There is no such fuss. In addition, if the animation is performed only when the user moves the cursor to a certain area in the conventional animation icon, the animation is displayed while performing other work, or the animation display is performed by selecting a plurality of icons. It could not be done, but according to the invention such is possible. This achieves both the purpose of displaying icons that are easy to understand by animation for the user, and the purpose of preventing unnecessary screens by performing animation more than necessary, and greatly improves the user interface.

[0016]

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing an operation of the animation icon display device of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of a screen display of an image editor using an animation icon.

FIG. 4 is a configuration diagram of a first conventional example.

FIG. 5 is a configuration diagram of a second conventional example.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 101 Input detection means 102 State detection means 103 Function execution means 104 State storage means 105 Animation control means 106 Animation data storage means 107 Display means

Claims (3)

(57) [Claims] In animated icon display apparatus for displaying an animated icon consisting of a plurality of symbols to be chronologically displayed 1. A, an input detecting means for detecting an input from the user, the inactive state of the animated icon, active ,
A state memory that stores which of the function execution states
And the state change from the user via the input detection means.
When instructed, the state stored in the state storage means
By referring to the state of the animation icon,
The animation icon according to the user input.
Change the state of the application, and store the change in the state storage means.
State determination means for performing an output to be performed, function execution means for executing a function corresponding to the animation icon by an output of the state determination means, animation data storage means for storing data necessary for displaying the animation icon, By the output of the state determination means, the animation data
And animation control means for controlling the display of the animated icon with reference to the over data storage means, the animation icon display apparatus characterized by consisting of a display means for displaying said animated icon. 2. The animation icon according to claim 1,
In the display device, the state determination means may determine whether the function execution has been completed by the function execution means.
Event is also input, and the status
To change the status of the animation icon to inactive
Animation icon characterized by the output of
Display device. 3. A plurality of symbols displayed in time series.
Animated eye displaying animated icons
In the display method, the inactive state, the active state of the animation icon,
The state memory function determines which of the function execution states
Stage, monitors input from a user, and receives the animation from the user.
When an instruction to change the state of the
Referring to the state storage means, the animation
Check the status of the icon and make sure that the status of the animation icon is inactive.
The user is instructed to start the animation
And the animation eye stored in the state storage means.
Change the state of the console to the active state and
Animation that stores data necessary for displaying icons
Displaying an animation with reference to the data storage means, wherein the state of the animation icon is an active state,
When the user instructs execution of the function, the state
The state of the animation icon stored in the storage means
Change the state during execution and change the animation icon
Execute the corresponding function, monitor also the end event of the executed function,
When the event of the end of the function is detected,
Deactivate the state of the stored animation icon
To stop displaying the animation
An animation icon display method characterized by the following .