JP2000112607A - Method for controlling multi-window interface - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To operate a window hidden in the most front surface window by changing-over the setting of an input mode without permitting the most front surface window to be normally translucent. SOLUTION: This control method is provided with a windows transmission mode setting means 14 for changing-over the display mode of the window into a transmission mode and a non-transmission mode and an input transmission mode setting means 12 for changing-over a coordinate input mode by a coordinate input means 11 into the transmission mode and the non-transmission mode. When a coordinate input indication is given to the window where the display mode is set to be the transmission mode, the coordinate input indication is transmitted to the window when the input transmission mode is set to be the non-transmission mode and the coordinate input indication is transmitted to the other window in the coordinate position of the coordinate input which is hidden under the window when the input transmission mode is set to be the transmission mode.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a user interface extended display method for an information device having a multi-window function.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In the personal computer market in recent years, many applications having a user interface which is easy to use for a user who makes full use of a multi-window function have been developed.

In such a multi-window function,
A plurality of applications are displayed on the screen at the same time, and the application window for working is moved to the foreground as needed, thereby performing the work without being disturbed by other screens.

However, a window for displaying the mode setting and state of kana-kanji conversion, a launcher for activating frequently used applications, a window for character input for online character recognition, and the like always change the state independently of the application. It is more convenient to be able to display or operate, and when working with an application such as a word processor, it is set to always be displayed on the top so that it does not hide under the application window is the current situation.

[0005]

However, there is a problem that a part of the application window to be used by the user is hidden by the presence of the window always displayed on the foreground. For this reason, the user moves the window displayed in the foreground each time to view the hidden part of the application window or selects a button in the hidden part, or from the screen. An operation such as temporary deletion must be performed. When the work in the hidden part of the application window is completed, the window displayed on the foreground is returned to the original position, or the window deleted from the screen is displayed again. A cumbersome operation was required. In particular, since the window of the input pad for character recognition has a large window size, the hidden portion of the application window is large, which is a problem in view of visibility and usability.

To solve such a problem, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 9-18 / 1990
Japanese Patent No. 5356 discloses a technique in which the foreground window is made translucent so that a window hidden below can be activated. However, according to this method, to work on the window hidden by the top window, set the top window to be translucent, activate the window hidden below, then activate This method is not necessarily a simple method because it requires three operations of performing work on the set window. Also, by making the foreground window semi-transparent from the beginning, it is possible to work on the window hidden by the foreground window with two operations, but the foreground window is always translucent. Therefore, there is a problem that visibility is poor and the contents of the foreground window itself are difficult to see.

According to the present invention, to solve the above-mentioned problems, the frontmost window is not always made translucent, and only when it is necessary to work on a hidden window, the frontmost window can be easily operated. It is intended to be able to work on a window hidden in the.

[0008]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, a multi-window interface control method according to the present invention comprises: a window management means for managing a window status on a screen; and a coordinate input means for detecting a coordinate input by a user. A window transmission mode setting means for switching a window display mode between a transmission mode and a non-transmission mode, and an input transmission mode setting for switching a coordinate input mode by a coordinate input means between a transmission mode and a non-transmission mode. Means for inputting a coordinate input instruction to the window whose display mode is set to the transparent mode, transmitting the coordinate input instruction to the window if the input transparent mode is set to the non-transparent mode, and If the transmission mode is set to the transmission mode, And transmitting the coordinate input instruction to the other windows in the coordinate position of the coordinate input which is hidden under the window.

With this configuration, by switching between the two modes, it is possible to control a window to which a coordinate input instruction is issued, and to issue a coordinate input instruction to a window hidden under the window. Become.

The method for controlling a multi-window interface according to the present invention displays a translucent window only when the display mode of the window is set to the transparent mode and the window is activated, and hides the window under the window. Are preferably displayed in a superimposed manner. This is because there is no need to enter an inactive window, so there is no need to confirm the contents even if the window is made translucent.

Further, in the multi-window interface control method according to the present invention, only when the input transmission mode is set to the transmission mode, the window set in the transmission mode by the window transmission mode setting means is displayed translucently. It is preferable that the contents of other windows hidden under the window are displayed in a superimposed manner. This is for clearly recognizing a screen that can be actually input. This is because the contents of the window hidden in the window can be confirmed.

Further, the multi-window interface control method according to the present invention is characterized in that the input transparent mode setting means sets the input transparent mode to the transparent mode and only when the activated window is set to the transparent mode. Preferably, the window is displayed translucently, and the contents of other windows hidden below the window are displayed in a superimposed manner. This is for clearly recognizing a screen that can be actually input.

In the multi-window interface control method according to the present invention, the window is not displayed translucently, but is temporarily erased from the screen, and the contents of another window hidden under the window are displayed. Is preferred.
This is because the contents of the lower window may be difficult to visually recognize even if it is translucent.

Next, a computer readable recording medium having recorded thereon a program to be executed by a computer according to the present invention has a step of managing a window status on a screen and a step of detecting a coordinate input by a user. A computer-readable recording medium recording a program to be displayed, a step of switching the display mode of the window between a transparent mode and a non-transparent mode, and a step of switching the coordinate input mode of the detected coordinate input between the transparent mode and the non-transparent mode. When a coordinate input instruction is issued to a window in which the display mode is set to the transparent mode, the coordinate input instruction is transmitted to the window if the input transparent mode is set to the non-transparent mode, and the input transparent mode is set. Is set to transparent mode, And transmitting the coordinate input instruction to the other windows in the coordinate position of the coordinate input which is hidden under the window.

With this configuration, by loading and executing the program on the computer, it is possible to control the window for issuing the coordinate input instruction by switching between the two modes, and the window hidden under the window can be controlled. , A multi-window display device using a multi-window interface control method capable of issuing a coordinate input instruction can be realized.

[0016]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, a multi-window interface control method according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described.
This will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 1 is a principle configuration diagram of a multi-window interface control method according to the present invention. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 11 denotes a window management unit for managing the status of each window, 12 denotes a window transmission mode setting unit, 13 denotes a coordinate input unit, 14 denotes an input transmission mode setting unit, and 15 denotes a multi-window. Each window of the application program is shown below.

In a normal multi-window function,
Each window 15 of the application program corresponding to the multi-window is controlled by the window management means 13. The window management means 13 manages which of the windows 15 is activated, which window is in the foreground, and the like.

Input to the application is performed using the coordinate input means 11 through each window 15. In this case, the input can be made only through the activated window located at the forefront by the window management means 13.

However, depending on the application, it may be more convenient for the user to make the window having the foreground function resident. For example, a kana-kanji conversion mode setting or a character input window for online character recognition in a word processor is meaningless unless the user can use it immediately when he / she wants to use it.

On the other hand, the presence of such a resident window hides a part of the window of the application being used, and if the user wants to use the function of the hidden part of the application window, the resident window is moved. Or it is necessary to temporarily delete the resident window from the display screen.

Therefore, in the present embodiment, by providing two modes, such troublesome processing is solved. The two modes are an input transmission mode indicating a mode at the time of coordinate input and a window transmission mode which is a mode of the application window itself.

The input transmission mode is set by the input transmission mode setting means 12, and there are two modes, a transmission mode and a non-transmission mode. The transparent mode is a mode in which a window on the foreground can be transmitted and input can be made to a window hidden in the window on the foreground, and the non-transparent mode is a mode in which input can be made only to the window on the foreground. The input transmission mode setting means 12 includes a button operation of an electronic pen with a button, a button operation of a tablet,
A mouse click operation may be used, but the present invention is not limited to this. Any means may be used as long as the mode setting operation can be performed with one touch.

The window transmission mode is set by the window transmission mode setting means 14, and there are two modes, a transmission mode and a non-transmission mode. The transparent mode is a mode in which even if the window is activated, it is possible not to set as a coordinate input target. If the window is activated, only the window is set as a coordinate input target. Mode. The window transmission mode setting means 14 may be input by a user or programmed by an application, but is not limited thereto.

In an actual application, when the resident window is set to the transparent mode and a part of the window of the application program is hidden by the resident window, the input transparent mode setting means 12 attached to the coordinate input means 11 sets the resident window. When the input transparent mode is set to "Transparent mode", the resident window becomes translucent,
Alternatively, the window of the application program which has been temporarily erased from the screen and hidden in the resident window can be visually recognized, and the coordinates can be input. Further, it is also effective to limit the case where the resident window is activated. This is because if it is not activated, that is, if it is not in use, there is no problem even if the resident window is deleted from the display screen.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, it is possible to make the foreground window semi-transparent by switching the input transparency mode with one touch, provided that the foreground window is set in the transparency mode. , It is possible to visually recognize the contents of the screen hidden below, and it is possible to perform an operation on a window hidden in the foreground window by one operation of switching the input transmission mode. .

Next, a multi-window display device using a multi-window interface control method according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram of a multi-window display device using a multi-window interface control method according to an embodiment of the present invention.

In the present embodiment, a flat display 23 is used in the computer to realize multi-window display, and is connected via a display device interface 22. In addition, the electronic pen 26 with a button and the transparent tablet 2
5 is also connected via the electronic pen interface 24.

3 to 6, the display state of the screen in this embodiment will be described. First, FIG. 3 shows an input screen of a general word processor. here,
"Multi-user" is entered in the "Title of Invention" field, and the next word is to be entered through a character input window for online character recognition. The handwriting input of "function" using an electronic pen, the recognition result is displayed, and if the recognition is correct, the input can be performed by pressing the "adopt" button.

FIG. 4 shows a case where an attempt is made to save a file before pressing the "Adopt" button during the input of FIG. In this case, as shown in FIG. 4, the "No" button on the save confirmation screen is hidden below the character input window for online character recognition, and the "No" button cannot be pressed as it is. .

In the conventional screen interface, a character input window for online character recognition is moved once as shown in FIG.
In order to continue the input operation by pressing the button, it is necessary to move the character input window for online character recognition again to a place where the input is not disturbed.

In this embodiment, the window display mode of the character input window for online character recognition is set to the transparent mode in advance, and when the save confirmation screen is displayed, the button of the electronic pen is pressed. Thus, the input transmission mode is set to the transmission mode. When the input transparent mode is set to the transparent mode, the window whose window display mode is the transparent mode, in this case, the window for character input for online character recognition becomes translucent, and the save confirmation screen hidden below You will be able to see the "No" button. Therefore, by pressing the “No” button on the save confirmation screen with the electronic pen,
The process of the save confirmation screen hidden below can be executed without moving the character input window for online character recognition. The input transmission mode may be switched between the transmission mode and the non-transmission mode by pressing a button, or may be set to the transmission mode only while the button is being pressed.

When the input transmission mode is set to the transmission mode by pressing the button of the electronic pen when the save confirmation screen is displayed as shown in FIG. 7, a window in which the window display mode is the transmission mode is displayed. In this case, the same effect can be expected even if the character input window for online character recognition is deleted from the screen. That is, the window for character input for online character recognition can be deleted from the display screen, and the processing of the save confirmation screen hidden below can be executed.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, the foreground window can be controlled by one operation of the electronic pen, and the foreground window is translucent or temporarily erased, thereby Operation on the lower window hidden in the front window becomes possible.

Next, the flow of processing of a program for realizing a multi-window display device using the multi-window interface control method according to the embodiment of the present invention will be described. FIG. 8 is a flowchart of a process of a program for realizing a multi-window display device using the multi-window interface control method according to the embodiment of the present invention.

In FIG. 8, first, an input transmission mode is set (step S81). It is determined whether the input transmission mode is set to the transmission mode or the non-transmission mode (step S82). If the mode is set to the transmission mode, the window is the foreground window and is activated. Confirm the window display mode (step S8)
3). Generally, the foreground window that is activated is often a resident window.

Here, when the display mode of the window which is the foreground window and is activated is set to the transparent mode by a program or the like, the window which is the foreground window and is activated is set. The window is displayed translucently (step S84), and the operation on the window to be worked which is hidden by the frontmost window becomes possible.

On the other hand, if the display mode of the foreground window and the activated window is the non-transparent mode, or the input transparent mode is set to the non-transparent mode, the foreground window is set. Thus, the activated window is displayed in a non-transparent manner as usual (step S85), and the user cannot operate the window which is hidden by the frontmost window and is to be a work target.

The display mode of the window which is the foreground window and which is activated can be set by the user, but is usually set in advance by a program or the like. .

The same processing can be performed even when the foreground window is not activated. If the input transparent mode is set to transparent mode and the display mode of the foreground window is set to transparent mode, the foreground window is displayed translucent and hidden by the foreground window It is only necessary to be able to operate the window to be the work target.

Furthermore, the same effect can be obtained by temporarily erasing the foreground window from the display screen instead of displaying the foreground window translucently. It is possible to operate the window that is to be the work target that has been set.

The recording medium storing the program for realizing the multi-window display device using the multi-window interface control method according to the embodiment of the present invention is a CD-RO as shown in the example of the recording medium shown in FIG.
Not only a portable recording medium such as an M or a floppy disk, but also any other storage device provided at the end of a communication line, or a recording medium such as a hard disk or a RAM of a computer may be used. , Executed on the main memory.

Also, a recording medium which records a transparent mode, a non-transparent mode, etc. of a window display designated by a multi-window display device using the multi-window interface control method according to the embodiment of the present invention is also shown in FIG.
As shown in the example of the recording medium shown in FIG. 1, not only a portable recording medium such as a CD-ROM and a floppy disk, but also another storage device provided at the end of a communication line, and a recording medium such as a hard disk or a RAM of a computer. Any of
For example, it is read by a computer when using a multi-window display device using the multi-window interface control method according to the present invention.

[0043]

As described above, according to the multi-window interface control method according to the present invention, the foreground window can be translucent or temporarily erased by switching the input transmission mode, and the window is hidden below. This makes it possible to visually recognize the contents of the screen.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a principle configuration diagram of a multi-window interface control method according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram of a multi-window display device using a multi-window interface control method according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a screen configuration of a multi-window display device using a multi-window interface control method according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a screen configuration of a multi-window display device using a multi-window interface control method according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a screen configuration of a multi-window display device using a multi-window interface control method according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a screen configuration of a multi-window display device using a multi-window interface control method according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating a screen configuration of a multi-window display device using a multi-window interface control method according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart of a process in the multi-window display device using the multi-window interface control method according to the embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 9 is an exemplary diagram of a recording medium.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 11 Coordinate input means 12 Input transmission mode setting means 13 Window management means 14 Window transmission mode setting means 15 Application program 21 CPU 22 Display device interface 23 Flat display 24 Electronic pen interface 25 Transparent tablet 26 Electronic pen with button 27 Memory 91 Storage device 92 Portable recording medium such as CD-ROM or floppy disk 92-1 CD-ROM 92-2 Floppy disk 93 Computer 94 Recording medium such as RAM / hard disk on computer

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A multi-window interface control method having a window management means for managing a window status on a screen and a coordinate input means for detecting a coordinate input by a user, wherein a window display mode is set to a transparent mode or a non-transparent mode. Window transmission mode setting means for switching, and input transmission mode setting means for switching the coordinate input mode by the coordinate input means between a transparent mode and a non-transparent mode, wherein a coordinate input instruction is issued to a window whose display mode is set to the transparent mode. If the input transparent mode is set to the non-transparent mode, a coordinate input instruction is transmitted to the window, and if the input transparent mode is set to the transparent mode, the coordinate input instruction is hidden below the window. A coordinate input instruction is sent to another window at the coordinate position of the coordinate input. A multi-window interface control method. 2. The window is displayed in a translucent mode only when the display mode of the window is set to a transparent mode and the window is activated, and the contents of windows hidden under the window are displayed in a superimposed manner. Claim 1
The control method of the multi-window interface described in the above. 3. A window which is set in the transparent mode by the window transparent mode setting means only when the input transparent mode is set to the transparent mode, and another window hidden under the window is displayed. 2. The multi-window interface control method according to claim 1, wherein the contents of the multi-window interface are displayed in a superimposed manner. 4. The input transmission mode setting means,
Set the input transparent mode to transparent mode, and display the window translucent only when the activated window is set to transparent mode, and superimpose the contents of other windows hidden under the window. The multi-window interface control method according to claim 1, wherein the multi-window interface control method is displayed. 5. The method without displaying the window translucently,
The multi-window interface control method according to claim 4 or 5, wherein the contents are temporarily erased from the screen and the contents of another window hidden under the window are displayed. 6. A computer-readable recording medium storing a program for causing a computer to execute a window status on a screen and a step of detecting a user's coordinate input, wherein a window display mode is set to a transparent mode. And a step of switching the coordinate input mode of the detected coordinate input between a transparent mode and a non-transparent mode, wherein a coordinate input instruction is issued to a window in which the display mode is set to the transparent mode. If the input transparent mode is set to the non-transparent mode, a coordinate input instruction is transmitted to the window, and if the input transparent mode is set to the transparent mode, the coordinates hidden under the window are transmitted. To send a coordinate input instruction to another window at the input coordinate position A computer-readable recording medium on which a program to be executed by a computer is recorded.