JPH0311410A - Information processing unit - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To obtain a unit provided with a help function easily understandable for a user by illustrating an operating method by example in the display of help information by reading out corresponding example data from a memory. CONSTITUTION:A character string in an indication range 530 of a help message displayed on the screen of a display device 7 is indicated by a cursor or a mouse by a help key. Thus, a part where a help window is to be displayed is saved in the non-displayed part 3b of a video memory 3 based on an example illustration processing program, and a sampling data file is read out on a main memory 2 from a hard disk device 13, and data for editing is displayed on the window. Besides, when speech synthesis output is directed, a voice data file is read out, and the speech synthesis output is outputted from a speaker 16 through a speech synthesis device 15. Accordingly, the device provided with the help function easily understandable for the user can be obtained.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to an information processing device having a help function, and particularly to an information processing device having a help function suitable for illustrating how to use the device to a user. It relates to an information processing device.

[Conventional technology]

In recent years, it has become common for information processing devices to have a help function that displays useful guidance to the user regarding their functions and operations based on the user's instructions while using the information processing device. It's coming.

Help information is usually provided in the form of text or images such as diagrams, but the most effective guidance method for users is to explain how to operate while showing examples of actual operations when necessary. In this case, audio is an effective means of presenting guidance.
Techniques for providing warnings and guidance in the event of an abnormality have been disclosed.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

The purpose of the above-mentioned conventional technology is only to provide audible warnings and guidance in the event of an abnormality.

A means for illustrating the operation and a means for associating the illustrating means with the audio guidance means were not provided.

An object of the present invention is to solve such conventional problems and provide a means for illustrating operations and a means for associating the illustrating means with an audio guidance means, thereby providing help that is easier for the user to understand. The objective is to realize an information processing device with functions.

[Means to solve the problem]

The above object provides, in an information processing apparatus, a storage means for storing example data for illustrating an operation based on part or all of the help information, an execution means for exemplifying the operation according to the example data, and a storage means for storing example data for illustrating an operation based on part or all of the help information, an execution means for exemplifying the operation according to the example data, and a storage means for storing example data for illustrating an operation based on part or all of the help information, This is achieved by providing a starting means for starting the execution means when the execution means is executed.

The above object also provides a first storage means for storing example data for illustrating operations based on part or all of the help information in the information processing apparatus.

[a second storage means for storing voice data of guidance to be output when illustrating the operation according to the example data; a voice synthesis means for synthesizing and outputting the voice data; execution means for exemplifying operations according to example data stored in the means and for causing the voice synthesis means to perform a voice synthesis process according to the voice data stored in the second storage means; This can also be achieved by providing a starting means for starting the above-mentioned execution means when the execution means is executed.

[Effect]

In the present invention, the storage means (first storage means) associates and stores part or all of the help information and example data for illustrating operations based on the help information.

When the user activates the execution means using the activation means while the help information is being displayed, the execution means reads example data corresponding to the help information from the first storage means and exemplifies the operation method according to the read example data. do.

Further, in the present invention, when the second storage means is provided,
This second storage means associates and stores the example data and the audio data of guidance to be output when illustrating the operation according to these example data.

The voice synthesis means performs voice synthesis processing on the voice data.

When the execution means has the second storage means, when the above-mentioned help information is instructed, the execution means obtains example data corresponding to this help information by the above-mentioned first corresponding means, and exemplifies the operation according to the obtained example data. , and the audio data corresponding to the example data is determined by the second corresponding means, and the determined audio take is synthesized and outputted by the audio synthesizing means.

In this way, the user can listen to the audio guidance while looking at the operation examples, so that the user can understand the operation method very easily.

〔Example〕

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. Note that this embodiment is an example in which the present invention is applied to an information processing apparatus having a document editing function.

First, FIG. 4 shows the hardware configuration of the information processing apparatus of this embodiment.

A central processing unit 1 executes a program related to document editing and controls peripheral devices when editing one document.

A main memory 2 stores processing programs related to document editing and data related thereto.

A video memory 3 includes a display section 5a whose contents are displayed on the display device 7, and a non-display section 3b used for temporarily saving data displayed on the display device 7.

Instructions to edit or print a document, instructions to start or terminate a help function, and document input operations are performed via the keyboard 4 or mouse 5.

A display controller 6 controls a display device 7 that displays a screen for editing a document.The display device 7 displays the contents of the display section 3a of the video memory 6.

A printer controller 8 controls the printer device 9 that outputs documents and the like.

Reference numeral 10 denotes a floppy disk controller, which controls the 5-floppy disk drive device 11 by reading and saving document data from the floppy disk.

A hard disk controller 12 controls a hard disk device 13 that reads and stores programs related to document editing, document data, and help message data.

Reference numeral 15 denotes a speech synthesizer, which synthesizes the speech data transferred by the central processing unit 1 via the path 14 and outputs it to the speaker 16.

14 is a path for transferring data between these peripheral devices (2 to 15) and the central processing unit 1.

FIG. 3 is an example of a data structure for realizing the help function in this embodiment.

The help data search table 310 has message number 3.
11 to find the storage location 312 on the hard disk device 13 of the help message data 320 corresponding to the message number. The help data search table 310 is stored in advance at a specific location on the hard disk drive 13.

340 represents a part of the storage area of the hard disk device 13. Various information stored in the storage area 340 includes:
It is managed as a file using already well-known technology. 341 is a directory, directory 3
41, a sample data file 342 used for illustrating the operation method and an audio data file 343 for outputting guidance are prepared. Storage area 34
0 file is.

It cannot be directly accessed by general users and is designed to prevent data from being destroyed.

300 is a message number storage table, which holds the message number of the help information currently being displayed.

The help message data 320α consists of display data 322 displayed as help information, control data 150, and a data type 321a that is an identifier representing the type of data (text data). The control data 330 is
Instruction range 53 in the help window 510 shown in FIG.
0 inside, mouse cursor 570 or thousand-cursor 56
0 to display another new help message data 320.
It consists of coordinate values 531 and 332 of the 00 diagonal point, and a message number 333 that defines the target help message data 320.

With this control data 330, the user can refer to the help message 520 displayed in the help window 510 and use the instruction range 53 defined by the control data 330.
By specifying a character string within 0, new corresponding help message data 320a can be displayed.

Help message data 320h is data stock 321
b and file name 3 of sample data file 342
23, mouse cursor coordinates 324 indicating the initial position of the mouse cursor 570, and a code string 325 consisting of the same code as the input code from the mouse 5 and keyboard 4, an identification code instructing audio output, and an end code. .

The identification code instructing audio output is followed by the file name 525' of the fixed length audio data file 343.

The hierarchical information stack 350 is a table with a stack structure that temporarily stores message number strings, and the number of the message displayed immediately before the currently displayed message is always stored 1m1K ahead of the table. There is.

326 is a pointer pointing to a code string.

FIG. 5 shows the configuration of a help window displayed on the screen 500 of the display device 7 when the help key is pressed.

A help window 510 displays a help message 520 to be given to the user, and specifically, display data 622 of the help message data 320 is displayed. 530 is an instruction range defined by the control data 330 of the help message data 320. 570 is a mouse cursor operated by the mouse 5. 560
is a key cursor operated by the keyboard 4.

Reference numeral 540 denotes an end click box for instructing the user to use the mouse 5 to end the display of the help message. Also, 5
Reference numeral 50 denotes an instruction box used to instruct switching of the display of help information.

Next, an example of a processing method in this embodiment having the configuration described above will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2.

First, FIG. 2 shows a processing example of a general document editing program 200 having a help function.

When the document editing program 200 is started, in step 201 it performs initial processing such as initializing necessary tables and calling data to be edited, and in step 202 it performs initial processing such as initializing necessary tables and calling data to be edited. In step 203, an input from the user is taken in. In step 204, the input result is determined. If the input is a help key requesting a help function, a help processing program is executed in step 100. do. If the input is an end key that instructs to end editing, step 2
In step 05, post-processing such as storing the editing results is executed, and the process ends. In the case of other inputs, the editing process corresponding to the input is performed in step 158, and the result is sent to step 20.
2 and waits for input again.

Next, the flow of processing of the help processing program 100 will be explained using FIG.

In FIG. 1(,), the help processing program 100 first displays the following on the screen 500 of the display device 7 in order to display the help window 510 shown in FIG.
The portion where the help window 510 is displayed is saved to the non-display portion 3b of the video memory 3 (step 101).

Next, read the bell data search table 310 shown in FIG. 5 from the hard disk drive 13 onto the main memory 2 (step 102), display the help window 510 (step 1o3), and display the help message that will be the initial display screen. A predetermined message number to identify (
For example, after obtaining the storage location 312 of the corresponding help message data 320 on the hard disk drive 13 from the bell data search table 510 read out in step 102 using the search key (for example, number 0) (step 104),
The help message data 320 is read from the storage location 312 of the hard disk device 15 (step 105).
.

Then, the read help message data 320 is displayed in the help window 510) (step 106),
Register the message number of the displayed help message data 320 in the message number storage table 300 (
Step 107).

In step 108, processing is performed in response to an instruction input from the user. Any position in the help window 510 shown in FIG. 5 is the mouse cursor 570 or key cursor 560.
When an instruction is given using , the control data 330 of the help message being displayed is referred to and whether the indicated position is within the instruction range 530 as shown in FIG. 5 defined by the control data 330. is examined (step 109
).

If the instruction range 530 is specified, the message number 335 of the next help message to be displayed corresponding to the specified instruction range 550 is obtained from the control data 330, and the help message corresponding to the obtained message number 335 is obtained. Message data 520, as in the initial display,
Search using the help data search table 310 (step 110), and read from the hard disk device 13 (step 110).
Step 111).

In step 112, the data type 321'' of the help message data 520 is determined, and if it is example data, the operation is illustrated in the example process of step 150, and after the example process is finished, the process returns to step 108 for input processing.

If it is text data, in step 113 the message number 335 of the currently displayed help message stored in the message number storage table 300 is stored at the top of the hierarchical information stack 350, the process returns to step 106, and in step 111 The read help message data 320 is displayed.

Next, the process when the instruction box 550 for instructing display of the original screen is instructed in step 105 will be described.

When the instruction box 550 displayed in the help window 510 shown in FIG. Obtain the message number 333 of the displayed help message (step 115), from the message number 353,
As with the initial display, help data search table 3
10 to search for the corresponding help message data 520 (step 116), read it from the hard disk device 13 (step 117), help window 51
0 (step 106), and step 1
07, message number 3 of the displayed help message
35 is stored in the message number storage table 300.

In the help window 510 shown in FIG. 5, when the end click box 540 is designated by the mouse cursor 570, the screen display data saved in the non-display area 3b of the video memory 3 is restored (step 118).
), the process returns to the document editing program 200 that called the help processing program 100.

Next, an example of the exemplary process of step 150 is shown in FIG.
).

In the exemplary process, first, in step 151, the screen 500 of the display device 7 is saved to the non-display portion 5b of the video memory 5. In step 152, initial processing such as data initialization is performed. At this time, the pointer 326 is set to the beginning of the code string 325.

File name 523 of help message data 320h
According to the file name stored in the sample data file s<2wot! used for illustrating the operation! At step 153), an editing screen and data for editing based on the sample data file 342 are displayed (step 154).

In step 155, the mouse coordinates are read from the mouse cursor coordinates 524, and the mouse 5 is set at a predetermined position.

Step 156) of extracting the code pointed to by the pointer 626 from the code string 525), and determining the code (
Step 157).

In the case of a key code or a mouse code, the process is exactly the same as step 158 shown in FIG. Update the pointer to point to (step 162), and
The process of step 156 is performed again.

Further, if the code extracted in step 156 is an identification code that instructs audio output, in step 160 the audio is The content of the data file 343, that is, the audio data is read out.The audio data is read out from the audio synthesizer 15 in step 161.
The signals are transferred one after another, synthesized into audio, and output from the speaker 16. When the transfer of all audio data is completed, the pointer 326 is updated to point to the code placed next to the name 325' of the audio data file 343 (step 162), and the input retrieval process of step 156 is performed again.

If the code retrieved in step 156 is an end code, in step 163 the non-display part 3 of the video memory 3
The screen image saved to h is restored and the process returns to the process shown in FIG. 1(,).

According to this embodiment, an example of how to operate is shown by instructing a part of the displayed help information using the keyboard 4 or mouse 5, and audio guidance is provided in synchronization with the instruction, so that the user can Comprehension is significantly improved compared to just audio.

Further, since the program showing the example of the operation method can be developed by reusing most of the usual document editing programs, the number of development steps can be reduced.

In the above embodiment, an example of a help function during document editing processing in an information processing apparatus having a document editing function is shown, but the present invention can also be applied to a help function when executing other functions. The present invention can also be applied to specialized devices such as single-document editing devices.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to show the user an example of the operation method and at the same time provide audio guidance, so the help function is very easy to understand for the user, especially for beginners. The effect is that it can be provided.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is a flowchart showing the processing procedure of the help processing program, Fig. 2 is a flowchart showing the processing procedure of the document editing program, and Fig. 3 is a diagram showing an example of the data structure for realizing the help function in this embodiment. , FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing the hardware configuration of the information processing apparatus of this embodiment, and FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of a display screen display. 1・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・Central processing unit 2
・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・Main memory 3・・・・・・
・・・−・・・・・・Video memory 4・・・・・・・・・
...
Mouse 0 1 2 3 4 6 00 50 00 00 10 20 42 43 50 10 Display controller Display device Printer controller Printer device Floppy disk controller Floppy disk drive device /'-)'f disk controller Hard disk device bus 15... ...Speaker Help Processing Program Example Processing Program Document Editing Program Message Number Storage Table Help Data Search Table Help Message Data Sample Data File Audio Data File Hierarchy Information Stack Help Window

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. storage means for storing example data for illustrating operations based on part or all of the help information; execution means for exemplifying operations according to the example data; and activating the execution means when the help information is instructed. an information processing apparatus, wherein the execution means reads example data corresponding to the instructed help information from the storage means and exemplifies an operation according to the read example data. 2. a first storage means that stores example data for illustrating operations based on part or all of the help information; and a second storage means that stores voice data of guidance to be output when illustrating operations according to the example data. a storage means; a speech synthesis means for synthesizing and outputting the speech data;
Execution means for exemplifying an operation according to example data stored in the first storage means and performing a voice synthesis process by the voice synthesis means according to the voice data stored in the second storage means, and the help information activating means for activating the execution means when instructed to do so, and the execution means reads example data corresponding to the instructed help information from the first storage means, and executes the execution according to the read example data. exemplifying the operation and reading audio data corresponding to the example data from the second storage means;
An information processing device characterized in that the voice synthesis means performs voice synthesis processing according to the read voice data. 3. 3. The information processing according to claim 1, further comprising means for saving display data before the help information is instructed when exemplifying the operation according to the example data, and restoring the display data after the execution of the help function is completed. Device. 4. 4. The information processing apparatus according to claim 3, further comprising means for editing and displaying the example data according to the operation when the example data is operated according to the operation.