JPH0675731A - Hierarchical menu selecting method - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To simply change the selection branches with a small number of input operations by changing only the selection branches of an optical hierarchical menu and treating other selection branches as the fixed values among those hierarchical menus which can be expressed in a multidimensional matrix. CONSTITUTION:A hierarchical menu of a two-dimensional matrix consists of a 1st hierarchical menu 5 including the selecting branches A, B, C... and a 2nd hierarchical menus 6, 7 and 8 which include the selection branches Aa, Ab, Ac..., the selection branches Ba, Bb, Bc..., and the selection branches Ca, Cb, Cc... respectively in response to the selection branches A, B, C... respectively. Tn such a constitution, the selection branch Bb can be immediately selected after the choice Ab without tracing back to the menu 5 and just with shift to a vertical-horizontal cross menu 10.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method for selecting a hierarchical menu in a personal computer or the like, which allows a control object such as a command, an application, a command in the application, and data to be easily selected with the hierarchical menu. It is about.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in a system using a computer, for example, a personal computer (hereinafter referred to as a personal computer), a personal computer is used for COPY and FORMAT.
When executing applications such as MS-DOS commands, word processing software, database software, etc.,
You can enter the corresponding commands directly from the keyboard,
It is common to select and enter a hierarchical menu with the arrow keys of the keyboard or the mouse. Also, in the activated application, when selecting various commands or data such as copy and jump as control targets, a hierarchical menu (hierarchical menu) is selected by the arrow keys of the keyboard or the mouse and input. Is common.

The method using the hierarchical menu described above is widely used because the input operation is relatively simple and more hierarchical selections can accommodate more than the number of options that can be displayed at one time on the display screen. ing.
For example, 98 NOTE NV menu (NEC Corporation), which is one of the hierarchical menus disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 1-206424 and a startup menu that starts up when a personal computer is started up.
Guidebook; see PC-9801NV-GB)
It has a hierarchical menu structure conceptually shown in (a) to (c), and in the hierarchical structure menu, selection branches are selected as follows.

Here, 98 is a two-layer hierarchical menu.
Taking the case of NOTE NV menu as an example, the description will be made with reference to the flowchart of FIG. 7. First, the menu of the highest hierarchy, A, B, C, D, E, ... A one-layer menu (main menu) is displayed on the display. Next, when an arbitrary selection branch (for example, A; mode setting) is selected on the main menu by, for example, a predetermined key operation, the second hierarchical menu of FIG. 8B is displayed along with the selection. Next, select an arbitrary branch (eg, Aa; RA) from the second-level menu.
Select (Use M drive) and perform the specified input operation.
Run Aa.

After executing this Aa, for example, when it is desired to select the selection branch Bb of the second hierarchy menu, first, the second branch shown in FIG.
Select "Return" in the hierarchical menu to return from the second hierarchical menu to the first hierarchical menu, then select the selection branch B (operating environment setting) in the first hierarchical menu to select the second hierarchical menu in FIG. 8 (c).
Display a hierarchical menu. Then, the selection branch Bb (setting of the DIP switch) is selected in the second hierarchical menu and it is executed.

[0006]

In the above-mentioned conventional hierarchical menu selection method, when the next selection branch is selected after the control for the selected selection branch is completed, the uppermost hierarchy is first traced back. If you do not perform the operation to go down to the lowest layer later, you cannot select the next choice to be controlled, so
The input operation required for selection and the display on the display screen become complicated. This problem becomes more remarkable as the number of layers in the hierarchical menu increases.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a hierarchical menu selection method capable of selecting the next selection branch with a simple and few input operation.

[0008]

To this end, the hierarchical menu selection method of the present invention has an arbitrary one of a plurality of selection branches in each hierarchy of the hierarchical menu that can be represented by a multidimensional matrix. In the selection method of the hierarchical menu, in which one is selected and the selection branches selected by the combination of the selection branches are controlled by the computer, when the next selection branch is selected after the control for the selected selection branch is completed. ,
By displaying only the hierarchical menu of an arbitrary hierarchy and changing the selection branch of the hierarchy menu, the next selection branch is selected while holding the hierarchy menu other than the hierarchy to the default value. is there. This makes it possible to select the next selection branch with simple and few input operations.
Operability is greatly improved and computer processing time is shortened.

[0009]

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a flow chart showing a control program used for carrying out the first embodiment of the method of the present invention.
(A)-(c) is a figure which illustrates the hierarchical menu which runs the control program. A computer system used for executing the control program is, for example, a display (monitor) as shown in FIG.
A general-purpose personal computer system including a computer main body (for example, a personal computer) 2, a keyboard 3 and a mouse 4 is used.

The hierarchical menu of the first embodiment is constructed as a hierarchical menu of a two-dimensional matrix as conceptually shown in FIG. 2, and is the highest hierarchical menu.
The hierarchical menu (horizontal axis menu) 5 has selection branches A, B, C, ..., Each selection branch A, B, C, ... Has a selection branch Aa, Ab, Ac ,. A second layer menu (vertical axis menu) 6, which has the selection branches Ba, Bb, Bc, ..., A second layer menu (vertical axis menu) 7, which has selection branches Ca, Cb, Cc ,.
The corresponding second-level menu (vertical axis menu) 8 having.

Next, the method of selecting the hierarchical menu of the first embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 1, 2 and 4 (a) to 4 (d). First, the top-level menu, A, B, C,
The first hierarchical menu (horizontal axis menu) 5 of FIG. 4 (a) having D, E, ... Choices is displayed on the display 1. Next, in the horizontal axis menu 5, an arbitrary selection branch (for example, A) is operated by operating the keyboard 3 or the mouse 4.
Select by operating. Along with the selection, the selection branches Aa, A
The second hierarchical menu (vertical axis menu) 6 of FIG. 4B having b, Ac, ... Is displayed. Next, an arbitrary selection branch (for example, Ab) is selected from the vertical axis menu 6 and Ab is executed by a predetermined input operation.

After executing the selection branch Ab, for example, when it is desired to select the selection branch Bb, first, in the vertical axis menu 6 shown in FIG. 4 (b), in addition to those shown in FIG. 2, "horizontal axis" and "return" are displayed. Since the selection branch is prepared, select the "horizontal axis" and select the selection branch Aa,
Vertical axis crossing menu shown in Fig. 4 (c) with Ba, Ca, ...
Display 10 Then, the selection branch Bb is selected in the vertical axis crossing menu 10 and executed. In addition, in the vertical axis crossing menu 10 of FIG. 4 (c), in addition to that shown in FIG.
And "Return" options are available. If "Vertical axis" is selected, move to the vertical axis menu 7 in Fig. 4 (d).
When "Return" is selected, it is possible to move to the first hierarchical menu (horizontal axis menu) 5 in FIG. 4 (a). Therefore, if it is desired to further select the selection branch Bc after selecting and executing the selection branch Bb described above, it is possible to move to the vertical axis menu 7 in which the selection branch Bc exists by selecting “vertical axis”.

In changing the selection branch from Ab to Bb, the selection in the second hierarchy menu 6; b is treated as a default value, so that the first hierarchy menu is returned to and the selection branch B is selected in the first hierarchy menu. The selection operation is significantly simplified as compared with the complicated selection method of the conventional example of FIG. 7 in which the selection branch Bb is selected by the second hierarchical menu similar to the vertical axis menu of FIG. 4D after selecting.

The first embodiment is used for a hierarchical menu for selecting a command or application as a control (execution) target in a personal computer, or for a hierarchical menu for selecting a command, data, etc. as a control target in an application being executed. be able to. Also, the first
In the embodiment, the case of a two-dimensional hierarchical menu has been described, but the present invention can be applied to a hierarchical menu expressed by a multidimensional matrix of three or more dimensions.

FIG. 5 is a diagram exemplifying a hierarchical menu for executing a control program used for implementing the second embodiment of the method of the present invention, and FIG.
It is a figure which illustrates the structure of a dimension selection branch. The control program itself is the same as the control program of FIG. 1 except that the third-level menu display and selection portions are added to make it three-dimensional, and the description thereof is omitted. The configuration of the computer system used is also the same. So I will omit it.

This second embodiment shows a case where it is applied to an application constructed as a medical three-dimensional structural image database, and each axis of the three-dimensional selection branch conceptually shown in FIG. Name data, item data, and date data correspond. In addition, this medical three-dimensional image database is
Since the X-ray image data and the color image data are provided, the item data include X-ray, color,
・ ・ Is used.

Next, a method of selecting a hierarchical menu according to the second embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 5 (a) to 5 (c) and FIG. First, the name menu 12 of FIG. 5 (a), which is a first-level menu and has selection branches of Taro, Hanako, ... Is displayed on the display 1. Next, in the name menu 12, an arbitrary selection branch (for example, "Taro") is selected by operating the keyboard 3 or the mouse 4. With that choice, X
The item menu 13 shown in FIG. 5 (b) having a selection branch of line, color, ... Is displayed. Next, when you select an arbitrary branch (for example, "X-ray") from the item menu 13, '91 .5.2
The date menu 14 shown in FIG. 5 (c) having the options of 0, '92 .5.14, ... Is displayed. Then, when you select an optional branch (eg "'91 .5.20") from the date menu 14,
Finally, the X-ray image data of Taro's '91 .5.20 date will be selected and displayed.

There are the following three methods for selecting and displaying other data after performing desired processing on the X-ray image data. First, image data equivalent to the above image data for Hanako (same item, same date)
If you want to select and display, in the date menu 14 shown in Fig. 5 (c), in addition to the above selection branch that actually corresponds to the data,
There are selection branches of "Name menu", "Item menu" and "Back" which are the selection branches for moving between the menus (The name menu and the item menu are also moved to the other two menus in the same manner. Since there is a selection branch for this), select "Name menu" to display the name menu 12 shown in Fig. 5 (a), and select "Hanako" from it. With this simple operation, the selection branches of the item menu 13 and date menu 14 that have already been selected are treated as default values, so the X-ray image data of Hanako's '91 .5.20 date is immediately selected and displayed. Will be done.

Secondly, if the user wants to select and display the equivalent image data (same name, same item) in which only the date is changed to '92 .5.14 after selecting the image data concerning Hanako mentioned above, FIG. Select the "Date menu" option from the name menu 12 shown in (a) to display the date menu shown in Fig. 5 (c).
Display 14 and select "'92 .5.14" from among them. Name menu already selected by this simple operation 1
2. Since the selection branch of the item menu 13 is treated as a default value, the X-ray image data of Hanako's '92 .5.14 date is immediately selected and displayed. Third, if you want to select and display the same image data (same name, same date) with only the items changed to color after selecting the image data for Hanako above, the name shown in Fig. 5 (a) is displayed. Select the "Item Menu" option from Menu 12 and select Fig. 5 (b).
Display the item menu 13 shown in, and select "Color" from among them.
Select. With this simple operation, the selected branches of the name menu 12 and date menu 14 that have already been selected are treated as default values, so the color image data of Hanako's '91 .5.20 date is immediately selected and displayed. Will be.

In the above-described three ways of changing the selection branch, the selections in the two menus except the menu having the selection branch to be changed are treated as default values, and therefore the menu in which the selection branch is to be changed in the three-dimensional matrix structure is used. The selection operation is significantly simplified as compared with the conventional complicated selection method in which the selection order is predetermined.

[0021]

As described above, according to the present invention, when the next selection branch is selected after the control for the selected selection branch of the hierarchical menu that can be expressed by the multidimensional matrix is completed, an arbitrary hierarchy is selected. Only the selection branch of the hierarchy menu of is changed and the hierarchy menus other than the relevant hierarchy are retained to the default values, so that the next selection branch can be selected easily and with few input operations, greatly improving the operability. , The processing time of the computer is shortened.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a flowchart showing a control program used for carrying out a first embodiment of a method of the present invention.

FIGS. 2A to 2C are diagrams illustrating a hierarchical menu for executing the control program.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating the configuration of a computer system used for implementing the method of the present invention.

FIG. 4A to FIG. 4D are diagrams illustrating the hierarchical menu of the first embodiment.

5 (a) to 5 (c) are views showing examples of hierarchical menus for executing a control program used for implementing the second embodiment of the method of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a structure of a three-dimensional selection branch selected by the hierarchical menu.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing a control program used for implementing the hierarchical menu selection method of the conventional example.

FIG. 8A to FIG. 8C are diagrams illustrating a conventional hierarchical menu.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 display (monitor) 2 computer body 3 keyboard 4 mouse 5 first level menu (horizontal axis menu) 6 second level menu (vertical axis menu) 7 second level menu (vertical axis menu) 8 second level menu (vertical axis menu) 9) Vertical cross menu 10 Vertical cross menu 11 Vertical cross menu 12 Name menu 13 Item menu 14 Date menu

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A control target of a computer for selecting an arbitrary one of a plurality of selection branches in each hierarchy of a hierarchical menu that can be expressed by a multidimensional matrix and selecting the selected branch by the combination of the selection branches. In the selection method of the hierarchical menu, when the next selection branch is selected after the control for the selected selection branch is completed, only the hierarchy menu of an arbitrary hierarchy is displayed and the selection branch of the hierarchy menu is changed. By
A method for selecting a hierarchical menu, characterized in that the next selection branch is selected while holding a hierarchical menu other than the relevant hierarchy at a default value.