JPH06230919A - Multiwindow display method - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a multiwindow display method capable of arranging plural windows without overlapping them on a display screen especially concerning a method for changing the sizes and positions of the windows to be displayed on the display screen. CONSTITUTION:A step 10 for deciding the sizes and arranging positions capable of arranging respective view ports which are the display areas of the respective window without overlapping them, the step 13 for generating the respective view ports in the decided sizes and at the decided arranging positions and the step 16 for scaling the respective windows to the sizes same as the corresponding generated view ports and displaying them to the respective view ports are executed. The multiwindow display method capable of arranging the plural. windows without overlapping them and obviating labor and time for moving the windows or the like so bring a window part hidden by the overlapping of the windows out to the front can be realized.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a multi-window display method, and more particularly to a method for changing the size and position of a window displayed on the screen of a display device in a window manager of a window system.

[0002]

[Prior art]

The closest known example to the invention (1) Hitachi, Ltd., "Hitachi Creative Workstation 2050 Hitachi Motif Programmer's Guide Window Manager Edition", pp.16,46-48. (2) JP-A-2-140822, multi-window display system (3) JP-A-3-135621, Display Image Forming Method In the conventional window system, the size of the window to be displayed on the screen of the display device by controlling general operation of the window system like a typical X window system. Or as a program to change the position,
It has a window manager. One of them, M
of Windows Window Manager (hereinafter MW
M), "Hitachi, Ltd., Hitachi Creative Workstation 2050 Hitachi Motif Programmer's Guide, Window Manager Edition, pp.16,46-48."
In the standard state, a plurality of windows are displayed in an overlapping state as shown in FIG.

Further, in "Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2-140822, multi-window display system", the display position of each window is optimized in order to effectively use the entire screen as much as possible to reduce useless non-window areas on the display screen. It has the function of rearranging. In addition, "Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 3-13562"
1, a display image forming method ”, a plurality of pieces of image information can be displayed on one screen in arbitrary sizes, and a display image memory is used for the purpose of easily and smoothly forming the display image. Is divided by designating its size and position, and image information is sequentially displayed in the range of this division for selection.

[0004]

However, the conventional method has the following two problems. (1) "MWM" displays a plurality of windows in a standard state in an overlapping state. Also in the "multi-window display system", when the window size is large relative to the display screen size, the windows may be displayed in an overlapping state. Therefore, a part or all of the windows under the overlap are hidden, and there is a problem that it is necessary to move the windows to expose the hidden window parts. For example, when using a screen editor, if the editing tool windows overlap the area that requires editing in the editing window, the necessary editing cannot be done unless you move the overlapping editing tool windows. , The trouble of moving frequently occurs.

(2) By the "display image forming method", it is possible to display a plurality of images on one screen without superimposing them. However, the vertical and horizontal division ratios and positions of the display image memory, and further images are displayed. There is a problem that manpower is required to specify the division range to be used.

An object of the present invention is to solve the problems of the conventional method, to enable a plurality of windows to be automatically arranged without overlapping, and to expose a window portion hidden by overlapping windows. Another object of the present invention is to provide a multi-window display method that can eliminate the trouble of moving windows and the like.

[0007]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The above-mentioned object is to, when displaying a plurality of windows on a display screen, determine the size and arrangement position of each viewport, which is the display area of each window, without overlapping the viewports. This is achieved by determining that each viewport can be arranged, generating each viewport at the determined position with the determined size, scaling each window to the same size as the corresponding generated viewport, and copying to each viewport. It

[0008]

[Function] A size at which each viewport that is a display area of each window can be arranged without overlapping, a deciding step of arranging position, a deciding size, a generating step of each viewport at the arranging position, a corresponding viewport of each window By scaling to the same size as the above and performing the display step in each viewport, it is possible to arrange multiple windows without overlapping, and the windows are displayed to expose the window part hidden by overlapping windows. A multi-window display method that can eliminate the trouble of moving and the like can be realized.

[0009]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail below.
As a first embodiment, a multi-window display method according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 is a flow chart showing a window display method according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram of a computer system according to the present invention, and FIG. 3 is an image diagram showing a multi-window display method according to the present invention. . 4 is a flowchart showing in detail one step of the processing flow shown in FIG. 1, and FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram of the processing flow shown in FIG.

First, the features of the first embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. In FIG. 3, 38 is a screen of the display device, 43 and 52 are windows, 61 and 64 are windows obtained by scaling the windows 43 and 52, and 55 and 58 are viewports. In the first embodiment, when a plurality of windows (for example, the windows 43 and 52) are displayed on the screen 38, the viewports, which are the display areas of the windows, are arranged by scaling so as not to overlap ( For example, the viewports 55 and 58) are characterized in that the window to be displayed is scaled to the same size as the corresponding viewport (for example, the windows 61 and 64) and copied to each viewport.

Next, a computer system according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. In FIG. 2, reference numeral 25 is a memory which stores programs and data of a system using the multi-window display method according to the present invention.
A CPU 28 controls the system. Reference numeral 31 is a keyboard, and 34 is a mouse, which the user uses to respond to the system and input data. A display device 37 displays data to the user according to the processing of the system.

Next, the processing flow showing the multi-window display method of FIG. 1 will be described in detail with reference to the multi-window display image diagram of FIG. In FIG. 3, 38
Is the screen of the display device 37 on which the viewports 46, 47, 55, 58 are arranged.
40 and 49 are real screens (virtual areas on the memory),
The windows 43 and 52 of 1 × size are set thereon. Further, 61 and 64 are windows 43 and 5 respectively.
2 is a scaled window of 2.

In FIG. 1, when an event of window display / deletion occurs (step 1), it is determined whether the window is displayed or deleted (step 2). Is stored (step 4), and the size of the newly displayed window 52 is stored (step 7). Next, the window 43,
The size and position of each viewport are determined so that the two viewports, which are the display areas 52, can be placed on the screen 38 without overlapping (step 1).
0). Then, after deleting the window being displayed, the window 43,
The viewports 55 and 58 which are the display areas of 52 are generated (step 13). Further, the 1 × size windows 43 and 52 are scaled to the same size as the viewports 55 and 58 (windows 61 and 64) and copied to the viewports 55 and 58 (step 1).
6) and the process is terminated (step 22). If it is determined in step 2 that the window has been deleted, the size of the window 43 left on the screen 38 is stored (step 19), and the viewport 47 having the same size as the window 43 is arranged (step 10, 13) The window 43 is copied to the viewport 47 (step 16), and the process ends (step 22). In the above example of window deletion, there is only one window left on the screen. However, when there are a plurality of windows to be left, the processing from step 10 onward is performed in the same manner as the display examples of the windows 43 and 52. .

Next, step 10 for determining the size and position of the viewport displayed on the screen in the processing flow of FIG. 1 will be described in detail with reference to the processing flow of FIG. 4 and the explanatory view of FIG. In FIG. 5, 100 to 109
Is an example of a schematic layout of a plurality of viewports on a screen. The layout outline has the same number of rectangular blocks as the number of viewports to be arranged, and each block is numbered with the viewport to be arranged. 100 and 103
Indicates the case where there are two viewports, and 106 and 109 indicate the case where there are three viewports. 112 to 121 are
This is an example of arranging the viewports to be displayed on the screen in accordance with the viewport number given to each block in the layout outline.

In FIG. 4, when the process of determining the size and position of the viewport which is the upper display area on the screen of the windows 43 and 52 is started (step 67), the viewport 1 is displayed in the window 43 and the viewport is displayed in the window 52. The viewport number of 2 is added (step 68), and the layout outline 100 having two blocks is read (step 70). Next, a 1 × size viewport (same size as a 1 × size window) is placed in each block of the layout outline according to the viewport number. At this time, the rectangle including the arranged viewport is arranged so as to have the smallest area (step 73). The vertical size and horizontal size of the example 112 in which the viewports are arranged are calculated (step 76), and the vertical (horizontal) direction ratio = screen vertical (horizontal) direction size / viewport arrangement vertical (horizontal) direction size is calculated. (Step 79), the vertical direction ratio and the horizontal direction ratio are compared, and the smaller ratio is stored as the ratio of the layout approximate 100 (step 82). Next, it is judged whether or not all the layout outlines having two blocks have been read. If there are still other layout outlines, the process returns to step 70, and if they do not exist, the process proceeds to the next step (step 85). In this embodiment, the arrangement outline 103 is read in step 70, and the ratio of the arrangement outline 103 is obtained and stored in steps 73 to 82. Then, the ratios of the arrangement outlines 100 and 103 are compared, and the arrangement outline of the larger ratio (for example, 103)
Is selected, the ratio is set to n (step 88), an arrangement size is calculated by multiplying the size of the viewports 1 and 2 by n times (step 91), and the viewport is calculated based on the selected arrangement outline and arrangement size. The arrangement positions of 1 and 2 are determined (step 94), and the process ends (step 97).
Further, in step 88, when the maximum ratio is larger than 1, the maximum arrangement size can be set to 1 × size by adding the process of setting n = 1. If only one viewport is to be placed, step 7
In 9, the arrangement size can be determined by calculating the vertical / horizontal ratio using the vertical size and horizontal size of the viewport. Further, even when three or more viewports are arranged, the size and position can be determined by the same processing as the flow shown in FIG.

According to the first embodiment, it is possible to arrange a plurality of windows so as not to overlap each other. Therefore, it is possible to eliminate the trouble of moving the windows to expose the windows hidden by the overlapping windows or a part of the windows. Further, by using the method of determining the size and position of the viewports shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, the viewport having the maximum size can be arranged within the range where the viewports do not overlap.

Next, as a second embodiment, an example in which the multi-window display method according to the present invention is applied to a screen editor will be described using the processing flow shown in FIG.
The features of the second embodiment are, for example, in a screen editor for editing an application screen such as a user interface of a computer system, an editing window which is an area for creating an application screen, and characters, figures, buttons in the editing window, That is, the editing tool window provided with a tool for editing icons and the like is arranged so as not to overlap with each other.

In FIG. 6, editing is started (step 1
24) When the user sets the initial size (1x size) of the edit viewport (step 127), the system sets a window of the same size as the edit viewport on the real screen (step). 130). Next, the user specifies the editing tool to be used (step 13).
3), the system stores the size of the designated editing tool window (step 136). Then, the system determines the size and position of each viewport so that the viewport for editing and the viewport for editing tool can be placed without overlapping (step 13).
9) After deleting the window being displayed, an edit viewport and an edit tool viewport are generated at the determined position and with the determined size (step 142), and the 1x size editing window is generated. And the editing tool window are scaled to the same size as the respective viewports and copied to the viewports (step 145). The user interactively edits by using the editing tool via the keys and mouse operation (step 148). When the user finishes using the designated editing tool (step 151), the system scales the editing window to the initial size and copies it to the initial editing viewport (step 154). Then, it is judged whether or not the editing is further continued (step 157), the control is returned to the step 133 when the editing is continued, and the processing is ended when the editing is not continued (step 160). Further, step 139 of the processing flow shown above is processed by the flow shown in FIG.

Conventionally, when an editing tool window overlaps a location on the editing window where editing is required, it is necessary to move the overlapping editing tool window and then edit. However, according to the second embodiment, it is possible to arrange the editing window and the editing tool window so as not to overlap each other. Therefore, it is possible to improve work efficiency because it is not difficult to see the windows due to the overlapping of windows and the trouble of moving the windows is eliminated.

Next, as a third embodiment, a multi-window display method including a method of designating non-overlapping windows according to the present invention will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. The feature of the third embodiment is that the windows to be arranged can be designated so as not to overlap with each other, and only the designated windows are arranged without overlapping, and the windows not designated are displayed in a preset size and position as usual. Where it is.

In FIG. 7, when a window display / deletion event occurs (step 163), it is determined whether or not the windows designated to be arranged so as not to overlap are displayed / deleted (step 166) so that they do not overlap. In the case of the window designated as "1", it is next determined whether the window is displayed or deleted (step 169). In the case of the window displayed, the window which is designated to not overlap among the windows being displayed is 1 time. The size is stored (step 172) and the size of the newly displayed window is stored (step 175). Next, the size and position of each viewport are determined so that the viewports that display the windows specified to be arranged so as not to overlap can be arranged on the screen without overlapping (step 181). . Then, among the windows being displayed, only the window designated not to overlap is deleted (step 184), and the viewport of the window designated not to overlap is generated at the determined position with the determined size. (Step 187). Further, the 1 × size windows are scaled to the same size as the corresponding viewports and copied to the respective viewports (step 190), and the process is terminated (step 196). If it is determined in step 169 that the window is to be deleted, the size of the window that is designated not to overlap among the windows to be left on the screen is stored (step 17).
8) After that, the processes of step 181 and thereafter are performed. If it is determined in step 166 that the windows other than the windows designated not to overlap with each other are displayed / deleted, the windows are deleted according to the contents of the processing, or the window is deleted in a predetermined size and position. It is displayed (step 193) and the process is terminated (step 196). In addition, step 1 of the processing flow shown above
81 is processed according to the flow shown in FIG.

According to the third embodiment, since the specified windows are arranged so as not to overlap each other, in the first embodiment, the problem that the viewport becomes too small when the number of windows to be displayed becomes large occurs. It can be avoided. Further, before the step 166 of the processing flow shown in FIG. 7, by providing a step that the user specifies as a window to be arranged so as not to overlap a newly displayed window, the window on the screen It is possible for the user to select a more convenient window display method according to the display situation.

[0023]

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to arrange a plurality of windows without overlapping them. Therefore, in order to expose a window or a part of a window that is hidden by overlapping windows,
The trouble of moving the window can be eliminated. In particular, in the screen editor, since the editing window and the editing tool window are arranged so as not to overlap each other, it is possible to improve the work efficiency by eliminating the difficulty of seeing and moving the windows due to the overlapping of the windows.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a flowchart showing a multi-window display method according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram of a computer system according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an image diagram showing a multi-window display method according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a method of determining the size and position of a viewport according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a method of determining the size and position of a viewport according to the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing an example in which the method according to the present invention is applied to a screen editor.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart of a multi-window display method including a method of designating non-overlapping windows according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

25 ... Memory, 28 ... CPU, 31 ... Keyboard, 34
... mouse, 37 ... display device.

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. A method of displaying a plurality of windows on a display screen, wherein the size and arrangement position of a plurality of viewports which are display areas of the plurality of windows can be arranged without overlapping the plurality of viewports. And a second step of generating the plurality of viewports with the determined size at the determined arrangement position, and the same as the plurality of generated viewports corresponding to the plurality of windows. A multi-window display method comprising a third step of scaling to size and displaying each on the generated viewport. 2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising a step of previously designating the windows to be arranged so as not to overlap, and displaying the window only by the designated window by the method of claim 1. Characteristic multi-window display method. 3. The method according to claim 1, wherein in the first step, the plurality of viewports are arranged at arbitrary positions so as not to overlap with each other, and a rectangle having a minimum area including the plurality of viewports is set. Then, the size and the arrangement position are determined by scaling the viewport so that the rectangle fits in the display screen without changing the aspect ratio of the rectangle. 4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the first step is to repeat the method according to claim 3 by arranging the viewports any number of times and performing scaling of the viewports in the repeated executions. A multi-window display method characterized by selecting an arrangement that maximizes the magnification. 5. The method according to claim 3, wherein when arranging the plurality of viewports at arbitrary positions, an arrangement outline in which a display screen is divided into an arbitrary number of rectangular blocks is prepared in advance, and the rectangular blocks are arranged in the rectangular blocks. A multi-window display method comprising arranging the plurality of viewports such that a rectangle including the viewports has a minimum area. 6. The method of claim 3, wherein the step of scaling the viewport includes the step of scaling so that a preset scaling factor limit is not exceeded. 7. The method according to claim 1, wherein at least one of the plurality of windows is a window to be edited of a screen editor, and at least another one is an editing tool window. Multi-window display method.