JP2001056741A - Device and method for processing information and program storage medium - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To more improve operability until selecting and determining a desired menu item. SOLUTION: Corresponding to the designation of the position of a stick type pointing device 5 on a display picture, a menu depending on the position is displayed, afterwards, any one of plural menu items is emphasized and displayed corresponding to the rotating operation of a jog dial 30 and processing is executed corresponding to the emphasized and displayed menu item corresponding to the pressing operation of the jog dial 30 so that a user selects the desired menu item through rotating operation and pressing operation using only the jog dial 30 after the menu is displayed corresponding to the designating operation of the stick type pointing device 5, and can execute processing corresponding to the menu item.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus, an information processing method, and a program storage medium, and more particularly to an information processing apparatus capable of selecting a desired menu item by a simple operation and executing processing corresponding to the menu item. And an information processing method and a program storage medium.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, Microsoft Windo
A personal computer such as ws98 (trademark)
In an operating system used for such a computer, an icon corresponding to each application software having an active window is displayed on the desktop so that the icon of the task bar can be visually resembled as a button. It is provided to the user as a clue.

[0003] Here, the active window is a window that is currently operated while a plurality of windows are displayed.

[0004] A technique relating to the use of such a task bar is disclosed in detail in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 8-255066, and will be described below with reference to the publication. The taskbar gives the user information about the active window as a visual clue by icons,
It can be used to toggle the active window.

[0005] The task bar is provided with a start menu button for allowing a user to access a menu for controlling a program launcher (opening), opening a document, and setting the system.

For example, a peripheral device such as a mouse, a keyboard, and a video display, and a central processing unit (CPU (Centr
al Processing Unit)), a description will be given of an example of operating a start menu button on a task bar in a computer device including the above.

The start menu button operates as a central place for a user to access programs, documents, files, system settings, help information, and the like, and is a means for opening a start menu in which many menu items are arranged for access. Functioning as

In the start menu, a plurality of menu items such as "program", "search", "setting", and "help" are arranged. Among them, the menu item “program” allows access to a hierarchically displayed program menu from the start menu, and the program menu includes a plurality of menu items for a plurality of user-selectable application programs and program groups. ing.

[0009]

However, in the computer having the above configuration, it is necessary to repeat a complicated operation until a user selects a desired application program from a start menu button on a task bar and starts the application program.

That is, when a user first designates a start menu button on the task bar with a mouse cursor and performs a click operation of a left mouse button, the CPU displays a start menu. Next, when the user specifies the menu item “Program” from the start menu with the mouse cursor and performs a click operation of the left mouse button,
The CPU displays a program menu which is a submenu of the start menu.

Subsequently, when the user designates a menu item of a desired application program in the program menu with the mouse cursor and performs a click operation of the left mouse button, the CPU starts the application program corresponding to the designated menu item. I do.

At this time, when the user designates an application program group, the submenu corresponding to the application program group is displayed in the CP.
Since it is displayed by U, further specification by the mouse cursor and click operation of the left mouse button are required.

Similarly, when the user activates the "help" function, it is necessary to specify the "help" menu item from the start menu program with the mouse cursor and click the left mouse button.

Since the menu has a hierarchical structure as described above, it is necessary to frequently repeat the designation with the mouse cursor and the clicking operation of the left mouse button until the user starts a desired application program.

In particular, a notebook having a configuration in which a stick-type pointing device provided substantially at the center of a keyboard is pressed up, down, left and right, and a left click button and a right click button arranged on the near side of the keyboard are pressed down. In a book-type personal computer (hereinafter, referred to as a notebook-type personal computer), the stick-type pointing device is separated from the left-click button and the right-click button, so that the stick-type pointing device can be operated with the left hand. After the mouse cursor is moved, it is necessary to perform a click operation of the left click button or the right click button, so that the operation is further complicated.

That is, this type of notebook computer is
The user presses the stick-type pointing device up, down, left and right to position the mouse cursor on the position of the start menu button, and performs a click operation of the left click button or right click button to start the start menu, drop down menu, shortcut menu, etc. Various menus are displayed, and one of the menu items in the various menus is highlighted.

Here, the drop-down menu is a menu in which, when a certain item on the window screen is selected with a right-click button, further detailed options are displayed as a window below the item by a right-click button. Is a menu in which menu items that can be selected are appropriately changed according to the position on the window screen selected by the right-click button and the target, and are displayed in a pop-up manner.

The user selects a desired menu item by moving the highlighted portion of the menu items in the various menus up and down by pressing the stick-type pointing device.

Further, when the user operates the stick pointing device to select a menu item, and a submenu corresponding to the menu item is displayed, the user selects a submenu item from the submenu. It is necessary to perform the same operation as described above.

Thus, in a notebook computer,
From the movement of the mouse cursor to the vertical movement of the highlighted part of the menu item, all operations are performed only by pressing operation with the stick pointing device, so that the operation becomes even more complicated,
There is a problem that the operation becomes more complicated when the sub-menu items are selected.

The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and proposes an information processing apparatus, an information processing method, and a program storage medium capable of further improving operability until a desired menu item is selected and determined. What you want to do.

[0022]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, an information processing apparatus according to the present invention has a coordinate designating means for designating an arbitrary position on a display screen, and a function which depends on the position designated by the coordinate designating means. Menu display means for displaying a menu to be operated, menu selection means for selecting any of a plurality of menu items among the menus displayed by the menu display means by a rotation operation and a pressing operation, and a rotation operation of the menu selection means Highlighting means for highlighting some of the plurality of menu items displayed by the menu display means in accordance with the operation, and processing corresponding to the menu item highlighted by the highlighting means in response to a pressing operation of the menu selection means And execution means for executing

Therefore, the information processing apparatus displays a menu depending on an arbitrary position on the display screen by means of the coordinate designating means by means of the menu displaying means, and thereafter, a plurality of menus depending on the rotation operation by means of the menu selecting means. Of the menu item is highlighted, and the process corresponding to the highlighted menu item is executed in response to the pressing operation by the menu selecting unit, so that the user can respond to the specifying operation by the coordinate specifying unit. After the menu is displayed, a desired menu item can be selected by a rotation operation and a pressing operation using only the menu selection means, and a process corresponding to the menu item can be executed.

In the information processing method according to the present invention, a menu display step of displaying a menu depending on a position designated by a coordinate designation means for designating an arbitrary position on a display screen, and a menu selection means for selecting a menu A highlighting processing step of highlighting some of a plurality of menu items among the menus displayed in the menu displaying step in response to the rotation operation of the menu, and a highlighting processing step in response to a pressing operation of the menu selection means. And an execution step for executing a process corresponding to the menu item.

Therefore, the information processing method displays a menu depending on the position designated by the coordinate designating means for designating an arbitrary position on the display screen, and provides a plurality of menus according to the rotation operation of the menu selecting means for selecting the menu. By highlighting something in the menu item and executing a process corresponding to the highlighted menu item in response to a pressing operation of the menu selection means, the user can select a menu corresponding to the designation operation by the coordinate designation means. Is displayed, a desired menu item is selected by a rotation operation and a pressing operation using only the menu selection means, and a process corresponding to the menu item can be executed.

Further, in the present invention, the program storage medium includes a menu display step of displaying a menu depending on a position designated by a coordinate designation means for designating an arbitrary position on a display screen, and a menu selection means for selecting a menu. A highlight processing step for highlighting some of a plurality of menu items among the menus displayed in the menu display step in response to the rotation operation, and a highlight processing step in response to a pressing operation of the menu selection means. And causing the information processing apparatus to execute a program characterized by including an execution process step of executing a process corresponding to the menu item.

Therefore, the program storage medium displays a menu depending on the position designated by the coordinate designating means for designating an arbitrary position on the display screen, and displays a plurality of menus according to the rotation operation of the menu selecting means for selecting the menu. By causing the information processing device to execute a process corresponding to the highlighted menu item in response to a pressing operation of the menu selection unit, the user can perform a designation operation by the coordinate designation unit. After a menu corresponding to the menu item is displayed, a desired menu item can be selected by a rotation operation and a pressing operation using only the menu selection means, and a process corresponding to the menu item can be executed.

[0028]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings.

(1) Configuration of notebook personal computer with jog dial In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes a notebook personal computer with a jog dial (hereinafter referred to as a notebook personal computer with a jog dial) which constitutes the information processing apparatus of the present invention as a whole. ), And is composed of a main body 2 and a display section 3 attached to the main body 2 so as to be openable and closable.

The main body 2 has a plurality of operation keys 4 for inputting various characters, symbols, numbers, and the like on a top surface thereof, and a stick type pointing device used for moving a mouse cursor (hereinafter, simply referred to as a stick). 5, a left click button 5A and a right click button 5B corresponding to a left button and a right button of a normal mouse, a center button 5C for operating a scroll bar without moving a mouse cursor to a scroll button, a built-in speaker 6, and a display unit CCD (Charge Couple)
d Device) A shutter button 7 for the camera 23 is provided.

The display unit 3 has an LCD (Liquid Cryc
A liquid crystal display 21 of a tal display is provided, and an imaging unit 22 having a CCD camera 23 is rotatably attached to the display unit 3 at the upper center of the front.

That is, the imaging unit 22 is rotated within a 180-degree angle range between the front direction and the back direction of the display unit 3, and can be positioned at any position within the angle range. . The imaging unit 22 includes a CCD camera 2
An adjustment ring 25 for performing the focus adjustment 3 is provided, and the focus adjustment when the desired imaging target is imaged by the CCD camera 23 can be easily performed by rotating the adjustment ring 25.

The display unit 3 is provided with a microphone 24 in the vicinity of the left side of the image pickup unit 22 so that sound can be collected from the back side of the display unit 3 via the microphone 24.

The display section 3 further includes a microphone 24
A claw 13 is provided near the left side of the
A hole 8 is provided at a predetermined position of the main body 2 corresponding to 3, and the claw 13 is fitted and locked in the hole 8 in a state where the display unit 3 is closed by the main body 2.

The main body 2 is provided with a slide lever 9 on the front side surface. By sliding the slide lever 9, the lock of the claw 13 fitted in the hole 8 is released and the display section 3 is moved to the main body. 2 can be developed. A plurality of intake holes 11 are provided on the front side surface of the main body 2.

Further, an exhaust hole 12,
PCMCIA (Personal Computer Memory Card Interna
National Association) Standard PC (Personal Computer)
A PC card slot 14 corresponding to a card and a modem terminal 15 for a modular jack are provided.

On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 2, a slide type power switch 40 and an IE
EE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engin
eers) 1394 terminal 41, USB (Universal Serial Bu
s) Terminal 42, external display connector 46, microphone input terminal 43, headphone terminal 44 and I
An infrared port 45 conforming to rDA (Infrared Data Association) is provided.

Further, as shown in FIG. 3, an external power supply connector 16 is provided on the rear side surface of the main body 2, and a slide type removal lever 18 for removing a battery pack (not shown) is provided on the bottom surface. A reset switch 19 is provided for interrupting the operation and reconfiguring the power-on environment. The battery pack is connected to the battery connector 1
7 is detachably connected.

In addition to the above structure, the upper surface of the main body 2 (FIG. 1)
Has a jog dial 30 incorporated at the right end between an operation key 4A corresponding to a backspace key and an operation key 4B corresponding to an enter key so as to be at the same height as the operation keys 4A and 4B. .

Here, the jog dial 30 is a user interface with excellent operability capable of easily realizing various functions in system setting and various application software by rotating and pressing the dial.

As shown in FIG. 4, the jog dial 30 is attached with a flat disk-shaped operation knob 218 slightly protruding from the outer case 32 of the main body 2, and the arrow formed by the disk-shaped operation knob 218. A predetermined process is executed in response to a rotation operation in the a direction or the b direction, and a predetermined process is executed in response to a pressing operation in the direction of the arrow c.

(1-1) Configuration of Jog Dial Next, the configuration of the jog dial 30 will be described with reference to FIGS.
This will be described in detail with reference to FIG. As shown in FIG. 5, the jog dial 30 is provided with a rotary encoder 202 as a rotary operation unit that can be moved in the direction of arrow c by a pressing operation of the user.
And a push switch section 203 as a pressing operation means fixed at that position are arranged on the contact mounting board 201.

As shown in FIG. 6, the contact mounting substrate 201 is made of a flat molded resin body,
Movement recesses 205 provided on both sides for movement guide rail portions 204 for moving (FIG. 5) in the direction of arrow c.
And a pressing recess 207 provided with a pressing wall 206 into which the push switch 203 is fitted and fixed, and further connected to a terminal 208 for transmitting an electric signal of the rotary encoder 202 to the outside. The formed conductive contact plate 209 is formed on the bottom surface of the moving recess 205.

The jog dial 30 shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 7 showing the X ′ line in cross section and FIG. 8 showing the YY ′ line in cross section, the rotary encoder 20
Reference numeral 2 denotes a box shape made of a molded resin held by the contact mounting substrate 201 so as to be able to move through a guide rail 204 in a certain range in the direction of arrow c while being fitted into the movement recess 205 of the contact mounting substrate 201. A case 210, elastic contact legs 212 and 213 projecting upward and downward from an elastic contact body 211 attached to the bottom surface of the box-shaped case 210 by insert molding, respectively, and a cylinder integrated at the center of the box-shaped case 210. A rotating body 21 made of a molded resin having a radial contact plate 215 which is rotatably held by a shaft 214 and is in a disk shape and elastically contacts the elastic contact legs 212.
6, a rotating body 216 and a screw 217 for a user's rotating operation.
Peripheral operation type disk-shaped operation knob 2 attached with
18.

The rotary encoder 20 having such a configuration
Reference numeral 2 denotes an inner peripheral side of the disk-shaped operation knob 218 by a torsion coil spring 220 (FIGS. 8 to 11) positioned by a pin-shaped projection 219 provided at a predetermined position on the contact mounting board 201 (FIG. 6). Box type case 21 attached
0 is urged in a direction opposite to the direction of arrow c (ie, in a direction away from the push switch unit 203), and the elastic contact legs 213 project downward from the bottom surface of the box-shaped case 210.
Is elastically contacted with the contact plate 209 of the contact mounting board 201.

The push switch unit 203 (FIG. 8)
The operation button 221 is provided at a position facing the rotary encoder unit 202, and is fixed by being fitted into the depression 207 of the contact mounting board 201 so that the rear end surface 203 </ b> A comes into contact with the depression wall 206. ing. At this time, the rotary encoder unit 202 is configured such that the driving protrusion 222 integrally formed with the box-shaped case 210 is
Is in contact with the tip of the operation button 221.

When such a jog dial 30 is actually mounted on an electronic device, the terminals 201A and 201 provided on the lower surface side of the contact mounting substrate 201 as shown in FIG.
B, The connection terminals 208 of the rotary encoder unit 202 and the connection terminals 223 of the push switch unit 203 are attached to the mounting holes 225A and 225 of the printed wiring board 224 of the electronic device.
5B, 226 and 227 are connected by being soldered.

At this time, the user operates the jog dial 30 by mounting the disc-shaped operation knob 218 of the rotary encoder 202 so as to slightly protrude from the outer case 32 of the main body 2. The peripheral side surface 218A of the 218 can be easily operated while crawling a finger on the outer case 32 (FIG. 4). The thickness of the disk-shaped operation knob 218 can be reduced as long as the rigidity is maintained, so that the thickness of the main body 2 can be sufficiently reduced.

Next, the operation of the jog dial 30 will be described with reference to FIGS. Jog dial 3
0, when a force in the tangential direction (direction of arrow a or b) is applied to the peripheral side surface 218A of the disk-shaped operation knob 218 in the rotary encoder unit 202 as shown in FIG. When the elastic contact leg 212 is elastically contacted with the plurality of radial contact members 215 and slides around the cylindrical shaft 214 at the center of the center 210 and slides, a pulse signal is generated in conjunction with the rotation operation of the disk-shaped operation knob 218. It has been made to be.

The jog dial 30 transmits the generated pulse signal from the elastic contact leg 212 (FIGS. 7 and 8) to the elastic contact leg 213 via the elastic contact body 211, and the elastic contact leg 213 is elastically contacted. After transmitting to the contact plate 209 of the contact mounting board 201, the signal is transmitted to the circuit of the printed wiring board 224 in the notebook personal computer 1 via the external connection terminal 208 (FIG. 9).

As shown in FIG. 11, the jog dial 30 has a disk-shaped operating knob 21 against the urging force of the torsion coil spring 220 attached to the contact mounting board 201.
A driving projection integrally formed with the box-shaped case 210 by applying a pressing force in the direction of arrow c to the peripheral side surface 218 </ b> A of the contact case 8 and moving the entire rotary encoder unit 202 along the guide rail 204 of the contact mounting board 201. The operation button 221 is pressed by the unit 222 and the push switch unit 203 is pressed.
Is turned on.

Thus, the jog dial 30 applies a pressing operation signal generated by turning on the push switch 203 to the printed circuit board 2 of the notebook personal computer 1 through the connection terminal 223 (FIGS. 8 and 9).
24 circuits.

When the jog dial 30 releases the pressing force applied to the peripheral side surface 218A of the disc-shaped operation knob 218, the rotary encoder 202 is turned on by the elastic restoring force of the torsion coil spring 220 mounted on the contact mounting board 201. It is pushed back in the direction opposite to the direction of arrow c to return to the original state.

(1-2) Circuit Configuration of Notebook-Type Personal Computer with Jog Dial As shown in FIG. 12, in the main body 2 of the notebook-type personal computer 1, a CPU (Central Processing) for controlling various functions of the main body 2 in an integrated manner. Unit) 50 is the host bus 5
2 and a RAM (R)
and a variety of functions can be realized by executing processing corresponding to various programs and application software loaded in the andom access memory (53) at a predetermined operation speed based on a system clock provided from the clock generator 60. I have.

A cache memory 51 is connected to the host bus 52 so as to cache data used by the CPU 50 and realize high-speed access.

The host bus 52 is connected to a PCI (Periphera
l Component Interconnect) Bus 55 and Host-PCI
A video controller 56 and an IEEE (Institute) are connected to the PCI bus 55 via a bridge 54.
of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) 1394
Interface 57, video capture processing chip 8
3 and a PC (Personal Computer) card interface 58 are connected.

Here, the host-PCI bridge 54
PU50, video controller 56, video capture processing chip 83, IEEE1394 interface 5
7 and the PC card interface 58, control of transmission and reception of various data with the memory bus 59.
Is performed to control the memory of the RAM 53 connected thereto.

The host-PCI bridge 54 is connected to a video controller 56 and an AGP (Accelerated Graphics Pos.).
rt) via a signal line, whereby image data can be transferred between the host-PCI bridge 54 and the video controller 56 at high speed.

The video capture processing chip 83 includes an I ² C bus 82 (generally an SM (System
Management) bus, and a CCD (Charge Coupler) via the I ² C bus 82.
d Device) When image data captured by the camera 23 is supplied, the image data is temporarily stored in a built-in frame memory (not shown), and is stored in a JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group).
p) By performing image compression processing according to the standard, JPEG
After generating the image data, the JPEG image data is stored in the frame memory again.

Then, the video capture processing chip 83
After directly transferring the JPEG image data stored in the frame memory to the RAM 53 using a bus master function in response to a request from the CPU 50, the hard disk drive (JPEG image (still image) data or Motion JPEG image (moving image) data is used. HDD) 67.

The video controller 56 has a CCD (Charg
e Coupled Device) Image data captured by the camera 23 and JPEG of the video capture processing chip 83
After performing predetermined graphics processing on the image data, the image data is stored in a built-in VRAM (Video Random Access Memory), read out as appropriate, and output to the liquid crystal display 21 for display.

The video controller 56 outputs image data based on various kinds of application software supplied to the liquid crystal display 21 in a timely manner.
A plurality of window screens can be displayed.

The PC card interface 58 is appropriately mounted via a PC card when adding an optional function, and is connected to an external device such as a CD-ROM drive or a DVD drive via the PC card. It is made to be able to do.

IEEE 1394 interface 57
Is directly connected to an IEEE 1394 terminal 41, and can be connected to another computer device or an external device such as a digital video camera via the IEEE 1394 terminal 41.

The PCI bus 55 is connected to an ISA (Industrial St
Andard Architecture) bus 65 is connected via a PCI-ISA bridge 66. The PCI-ISA bridge 66 has an HDD 67 and a USB (Universal Serial
l Bus) terminal 42 is connected.

Here, the PCI-ISA bridge 66
DE (Integrated Drive Electronics) interface, configuration register, RTC (Real-Ti
me Clock) circuit, a USB interface, and the like, and controls the HDD 67 via the IDE interface based on a system clock supplied from the clock generator 60.

The hard disk of the HDD 67 has Window
OS (Operating System) such as s98 (trademark), e-mail program, auto pilot program, jog dial utility program, jog dial driver, capture software, digital map software, and other various application software are stored. Timely RA in the process
Transferred to M53.

Further, the PCI-ISA bridge 66 is
External devices such as a floppy (registered trademark) disk drive, a printer, and a USB mouse (not shown) connected via the B terminal 42 are controlled via a USB interface, and a modem 69 and a sound controller connected to the ISA bus 65. 70 is performed.

The modem 69 is connected to an Internet service provider (hereinafter referred to as a provider) from a modem terminal 15 via a public telephone line (not shown) and the Internet, and accesses the Internet service provider. . The sound controller 70 takes in an audio signal from the microphone 24 and supplies the audio signal to the built-in speaker 6.

The ISA bus 65 has an I / O (In / Out)
The controller 73 is connected, receives power from an external power connector 84 via a power supply charging control circuit 85, and supplies power to each circuit when the power switch 40 is turned on. Here, the I / O controller 73 operates based on the system clock supplied from the clock generator 60 also.

The power supply charging control circuit 85 is provided with an I / O
The controller 73 controls the charging of the battery pack 86 connected to the battery connector 17 (FIG. 3).

The I / O controller 73 includes a microcontroller, an I / O interface, a CPU, a ROM
And a BIOS (Basic Input / Output) stored in the flash memory 79.
System), the input / output of data between the OS and application software and various peripheral devices such as the liquid crystal display 21 and the HDD 67 is controlled.

The I / O controller 73 is connected to the infrared port 45, and can execute infrared communication with, for example, another computer. Further, the I / O controller 73 includes the inversion switch 7
When the imaging unit 22 of the CCD camera 23 is rotated by 180 degrees toward the back side of the liquid crystal display 21, the reversing switch 77 is turned on.
The CPU 50 is notified via the ISA bridge 66 and the host-PCI bridge 54.

Further, the I / O controller 73 is connected to a full-press / half-press switch 78. When the shutter button 7 provided on the upper surface of the main body 2 is half-pressed, the full-press / half-press switch 78 is provided. Is turned on, and C
In addition to notifying the PU 50, when the shutter button 7 is fully pressed, the full-press / half-press switch 78 is turned on, and the CPU 50 is notified of this.

That is, the CPU 50 transfers the capture software from the hard disk of the HDD 67 to the RAM 53.
When the shutter button 7 is half-pressed by the user in a state in which the shutter button is raised, the still image mode is entered, and
The D camera 23 is controlled to freeze the still image,
When it is fully pressed, the frozen still image data is taken in and sent to the video controller 56.

On the other hand, when the shutter button 7 is fully pressed by the user without starting the capture software, the CPU 50 enters the moving image mode, captures the moving image for up to about 60 seconds, and captures the moving image. 56.

The ROM of the I / O controller 73
Stores a wake-up program, a key input monitoring program, an LED control program, a jog dial state monitoring program, and other various control programs.

Here, the jog dial state monitoring program is a program related to the jog dial utility program stored in the hard disk of the HDD 67, and monitors whether the rotary encoder 202 of the jog dial 30 is rotated or pressed. It is for.

The wake-up program is PCI-I
When the current time supplied from the RTC circuit in the SA bridge 66 reaches a preset start time, the CPU 50 is a program that is controlled to execute a predetermined process. Is a program for monitoring inputs from various key switches.

The LED control program includes a power lamp P
LED such as L, battery lamp BL, message lamp ML
(Light Emitting Diode) is a program that controls the lighting of various lamps.

In the RAM of the I / O controller 73, a set time register for a wakeup program,
Key input monitoring register for key input monitoring program, L
An LED control register for an ED control program, an I / O register for a jog dial state monitoring program, and registers for various other programs are provided.

The set time register stores the time information of the start time arbitrarily set by the user in advance for use in the wake-up program. Therefore, the I / O controller 73 determines whether or not the current time supplied from the RTC circuit has reached an arbitrarily set start time based on the wake-up program, and notifies the CPU 50 when the start time has come. I do. Thus, when the start time comes, the CPU 50 launches predetermined application software set in advance, and executes a predetermined process according to the application software.

The key input monitoring register stores an operation key flag based on inputs from the operation key 4, the stick 5, the left click button 5A, the right click button 5B, and the center button 5C.

Accordingly, the I / O controller 73 operates based on the key input monitoring program to determine whether the pointing operation with the stick 5 or the clicking operation of the left click button 5A, right click button 5B and center button 5C has been performed. The determination is made based on the state of the key flag, and when a pointing operation or a click operation is performed, the fact is notified to the CPU 50.

Here, the pointing operation is an operation of moving the mouse cursor to a desired position by pressing the stick 5 up, down, left and right with a finger, and the clicking operation is a left click button 5A or a right click button. This is an operation of quickly pressing and releasing 5B with a finger.

Thus, the CPU 50 executes a predetermined process corresponding to the movement of the mouse cursor by the pointing operation or the clicking operation.

The LED control register includes a power lamp PL,
A lighting flag indicating a lighting state of various lamps including LEDs such as a battery lamp BL and a message lamp ML is stored.

Therefore, the I / O controller 73 operates the CPU 50 by pressing the jog dial 30, for example.
The e-mail program is read out from the hard disk of D67 and started on the RAM 53. When an e-mail is received in accordance with the e-mail program, a lighting flag is stored.
1 is turned on to turn on the message lamp ML.

I for the jog dial status monitoring program
The / O register stores a rotation operation flag and a pressing operation flag in accordance with the rotation operation and the pressing operation performed on the jog dial 30, respectively.

Therefore, when a user-desired menu item is selected from a plurality of menu items by rotating and pressing the jog dial 30 connected via the rotation detecting unit 88, the I / O controller 73 outputs the I / O controller 73. The rotation operation flag and the pressing operation flag are stored in the O register, and the fact is notified to the CPU 50.

Thus, the CPU 50 starts application software corresponding to a menu item determined by rotating and pressing the jog dial 30 according to the jog dial utility program running on the RAM 53 and running on the RAM 53, and performs predetermined processing. Execute.

Here, the I / O controller 73 always operates based on the jog dial state monitoring program under the control of the power supply / charge control circuit 85 even when the power switch 40 is off and the OS is not running. Even when the power saving state or the power is turned off without providing a dedicated key, the user can start application software or a script file desired by the user by pressing the jog dial 30.

By the way, the I / O controller 73 has the I ²
It is connected to the C bus 82 and supplies various setting parameters for the CCD camera 23 set by the operation keys 4 and the jog dial 30 via the I ² C bus 82, thereby turning on / off the camera power of the CCD camera 23. The control and the brightness and contrast of the CCD camera 23 are adjusted.

Next, the operation of the I / O controller 73 based on the jog dial state monitoring program will be described with reference to FIG.
This will be described with reference to FIGS.

As shown in FIG. 13, the jog dial 30
When the jog dial 30 is rotated in either the arrow a or b direction (FIG. 4), the jog dial 30 is rotated in accordance with the right rotation (arrow a direction) or the left rotation (arrow b direction) as shown in FIG. The signal S30a or S30b is output to the rotation detection unit 8
8, and outputs a pressing operation signal S <b> 30 c to the rotation detecting unit 88 when pressed in the direction of arrow c.

The rotation detecting section 88 outputs a rotation operation signal S30a.
And the rotation direction of the jog dial 30 is rotated right (in the direction of arrow a) based on the deviation of the rising timing of S30b.
Alternatively, whether or not the jog dial 30 has been pressed is detected based on the pressing operation signal S30c.

When the rotation detecting section 88 detects that the rotation direction of the jog dial 30 is clockwise, it supplies a clockwise rotation pulse RP1 to the first counter 89 of the I / O controller 73 to determine that the rotation is counterclockwise. Upon detection, the left rotation pulse LP1 is supplied to the second counter 90 of the I / O controller 73.

The rotation detecting section 88 receives the pressing operation signal S3
When it is detected that the jog dial 30 has been pressed based on 0c, the pressing operation flag JF1 is stored in the I / O register 91.

The CPU of the I / O controller 73 has the RO
By polling every 5 [ms] performed according to the jog dial state monitoring program 92 stored in M, the count value of the right rotation pulse RP1 by the first counter 89,
The amount of rotation change of the jog dial 30 is detected based on the difference between the counter value of the left rotation pulse LP1 and the count value of the second counter 90, and the rotary encoder unit 20 is determined based on the pressing operation flag JF1 stored in the I / O register 91.
It is detected whether or not 2 has been pressed in the direction of arrow c.

That is, as shown in FIG. 15, the CPU of the I / O controller 73 enters from the start step of the routine RT1 and moves to step SP1. In step SP1, the CPU determines that the jog dial status monitoring program 92
, The first counter 89 and the second counter 9 every 5 [ms]
Polling of 0 and the I / O register 91 is performed, and the routine goes to the next step SP2.

In step SP2, the CPU subtracts the count result of the first counter 89 at the time (T-1) from the count result of the first counter 89 at the current time (T), thereby obtaining the count value of the first counter 89. Is calculated, and the routine goes to the next step SP3.

At step SP3, the CPU subtracts the count result of the second counter 90 at the time (T-1) from the count result of the second counter 90 at the current time (T), thereby obtaining the count value of the second counter 90. Is calculated, and the routine goes to the next step SP4.

In step SP4, the CPU calculates the difference between the count value of the first counter 89 and the count value of the second counter 90 to obtain the amount of rotation change of the jog dial 30, and proceeds to the next step SP5.

At step SP5, the CPU determines whether or not a rotation change amount has occurred on the jog dial 30. If a negative result is obtained here, this means that there is no change in rotation of the jog dial 30. At this time, the CPU proceeds to step SP7.

On the other hand, if an affirmative result is obtained in step SP5, this means that a rotation change has been given to the jog dial 30.
Moves to the next step SP6.

In step SP6, the CPU determines whether or not the jog dial 30 has been pressed in the direction of arrow c.
The determination is made based on the pressing operation flag JF1 stored in the / O register 91. If a negative result is obtained here, this means that the pressing operation has not been performed on the jog dial 30, and at this time, the CPU proceeds to step S
Returning to P1, the above processing is repeated.

On the other hand, if an affirmative result is obtained in step SP6, this means that a pressing operation has been performed on the jog dial 30.
The PU proceeds to the next step SP7.

In step SP7, the CPU generates a rotation change signal S73R and a pressure change signal S73P corresponding to the rotation change amount of the jog dial 30 because the rotation change is given to the jog dial 30 and the pressing operation is performed. Via the jog dial driver started on the RAM 53 via the I / O register 91.
Then, the processing is notified to the next step SP8 and the processing of the I / O controller 73 is terminated.

Next, a processing procedure performed by the CPU 50 in accordance with the jog dial utility program started on the RAM 53 from the HDD 67 will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

The CPU 50 enters from the start step of the routine RT2, and moves to step SP11. In step SP11, when the CPU 50 notifies the user that the power switch 40 has been turned on via the I / O controller 73, the CPU 50 proceeds to the next step SP12.

In step SP12, the CPU 50
By receiving a notification that the jog dial 30 has been operated by the user from the I / O controller 73 by the jog dial driver, the operation state of the jog dial 30 is recognized, and the routine proceeds to the next step SP13.

In step SP13, the CPU 50
It monitors that various application software that can be controlled by the jog dial 30 is activated on the RAM 53, and proceeds to the next step SP14.

At step SP14, the CPU 50
Upon receiving a notification of the operation state of the jog dial 30 from the jog dial driver started on the RAM 53, the process proceeds to the next step SP15.

At step SP15, the CPU 50
It is determined whether or not various application software launched on the RAM 53 exists. If a negative result is obtained here, this means that there is no running application software, and the CPU 50 proceeds to the next step SP16.

At step SP16, the CPU 50
The launcher operation of various application software that has not been started is entered, and the process proceeds to the next step SP18 and ends.

Here, the launcher operation is performed on condition that there is no currently running application software. The CPU 50 executes the launcher operation based on the pressing operation of the jog dial 30. Then, a jog dial menu corresponding to a plurality of application software registered in the launcher list in advance is displayed on the liquid crystal display 21.

For example, if there is no running application software and the jog dial 30 is pressed in the direction of arrow c, the I / O controller 73 outputs a rotation change signal S73R and a press change signal S73P indicating the operation state of the jog dial 30. Is notified to the CPU 50 via the jog dial driver.

Thus, the CPU 50 starts up an application selection program for adjusting the volume of the built-in speaker 6 registered in advance in the launcher list, adjusting the brightness and contrast of the liquid crystal display 21 and selecting the application software.
1 shows a jog dial menu 250 as shown in FIG.
Is displayed.

The jog dial menu 250 includes:
Menu items (“volume”, “brightness”, “contrast”, and “selection of application”) corresponding to respective processes of volume adjustment, brightness adjustment, contrast adjustment, and selection of application software are displayed.

At this time, the highlighted portion (hatched portion) highlighted by the reverse display is the currently selected selector SL1, and is displayed with the selector SL1 positioned above the menu item "volume" by default. .

Next, when the user rotates the jog dial 30 in the direction of arrow a or b to move the selector SL1, the I / O controller 73 causes the rotation change signal S73R of the jog dial 30 detected according to the jog dial state monitoring program 92. To the CPU 50 via the jog dial driver running on the RAM 53.

As a result, the CPU 50 sets the rotation change signal S
The selector SL1 is moved to a menu item desired by the user based on 73R. For example, jog dial menu 2
At 50, when the user turns the jog dial 30 by a desired angle in the direction of arrow b from a state where the selector SL1 is positioned on the default menu item "volume", the selector SL1 is turned on by the menu item " Move up on "Brightness".

When the user further rotates the jog dial 30 in the direction of arrow b by a desired angle, the selector SL1 moves to the menu item "select application" as shown in FIG.

In this way, the CPU 50 moves the selector SL1 to a menu item “brightness” desired by the user, for example, in response to the rotation operation of the jog dial 30 by the user, and then presses the jog dial 30 in the direction of arrow c by the user. When the operation is performed, a submenu 251 corresponding to the menu item “brightness” as shown in FIG. 20 is displayed.

The submenu 251 has six levels from a submenu item "5" selected when setting the brightness to the brightest to a submenu item "0" selected when setting the brightness to the darkest. A submenu item is displayed, and the default is selector SL2.
Is displayed in a state where it is positioned on the submenu item “5”.

When the user rotates the jog dial 30 in the direction of arrow b for the purpose of moving the selector SL2, the I / O controller 73 sends a rotation change signal S73R indicating the operation state of the jog dial 30 to the RAM 53 according to the jog dial state monitoring program 92. To notify the CPU 50 via the running jog dial driver.

Thus, the CPU 50 sets the rotation change signal S
The selector SL2 is moved to any one of the menu items "5" to "0" desired by the user based on 73R. Incidentally, the CPU 50 is currently displaying the sub menu 251, and does not move the selector SL 1 of the jog dial menu 250 by rotating the jog dial 30.

By the way, when the user presses the jog dial 30 in a state where the selector SL1 of the jog dial menu 250 is moved to the menu item “select application” in accordance with the rotation operation of the jog dial 30 by the user, A submenu 252 corresponding to the menu item “select application” as shown in FIG. 21 is displayed.

The submenu 252 in this case includes, for example, a submenu item “word processor” selected when starting a word processor application, a submenu item “email” selected when starting an e-mail program, and a table. The submenu item "spreadsheet" selected when starting the calculation program, the submenu item "Internet" selected when starting the Internet program, and the submenu item selected when starting the electronic desk calculator program The menu item "Calculator" is displayed. However, the submenu 252 corresponding to the menu item “select application”
Various menu items may be set in addition to the above menu items.

Actually, in the submenu 251 corresponding to the menu item “brightness” shown in FIG. 20, when the submenu item “3” is selected according to the rotation operation and the pressing operation of the jog dial 30, the CPU 50 The liquid crystal display 21 is set to a luminance level corresponding to the submenu item “3”.

A submenu 252 corresponding to the menu item “select application” shown in FIG.
When the sub-menu item “word processor” is selected in response to the rotation operation and the pressing operation of the jog dial 30, the CPU 50 starts a word processor application corresponding to the sub-menu item “word processor”. I do.

On the other hand, step SP15 (FIG. 16)
If a positive result is obtained in this step, this means that the running application software exists, and the CPU 50 proceeds to the next step SP17.

At step SP17, the CPU 50
A predetermined event operation is executed in accordance with the running application software, and the process moves to the next step SP18 and ends.

Here, a case where a predetermined event operation is executed in accordance with various kinds of application software being activated will be described. Here, the activated application software must be compatible with the jog dial 30, and specifically has an image display function.

For example, when a map screen 254 of a Japanese map as shown in FIG. 22 is displayed on the liquid crystal display 21 by predetermined map display application software, the mouse cursor is moved to a desired position by the pointing operation of the stick 5 by the user. When the jog dial 30 is rotated in the direction of arrow a in a state where it is adjusted to the position (near Tokyo), the CPU 50 enlarges the map screen 254 in accordance with the rotation operation, as shown in FIG. An enlarged map screen 255 is generated and displayed on the liquid crystal display 21.

When a rotation operation in the direction of arrow b is performed on the jog dial 30, the CPU 50 generates a reduced map screen (not shown) by reducing the map screen 254 according to the rotation operation. 21.

As described above, when the map display application software having the image display function corresponding to the jog dial 30 is activated, the jog dial 30 is activated.
Is rotated, the CPU 50 enlarges or reduces the map screen 254 displayed on the liquid crystal display 21 in accordance with the rotation operation of the jog dial 30.

Next, a case where a predetermined event operation is executed according to moving image editing application software having a moving image editing function corresponding to the jog dial 30 will be described.

In this case, the editing screen 256 as shown in FIG.
Is displayed on the liquid crystal display 21. This edit screen 256 is composed of four temporally continuous frame images S257 among a plurality of still images constituting a moving image, so-called frame images.
A frame image display section 259 displaying A to S257D, and frame images S257A to S2 selected by frame advance or frame return in accordance with the rotation operation of the jog dial 30.
57D.

If the jog dial 30 is rotated in the directions of arrows a and b while the editing screen 256 is displayed on the liquid crystal display 21, the CPU
Reference numeral 50 denotes each frame image S257A- of the frame image display unit 259.
For example, the frame image S257A selected by the rotation operation in S257D is displayed on the selected image display unit 258.
This allows the user to perform a desired image editing process on the frame image S257A displayed on the selected image display unit 258.

Incidentally, the jog dial 3 as described above is used.
For application software corresponding to 0,
It is necessary for the CPU 50 to allocate predetermined processing according to the rotation operation and the pressing operation of the jog dial 30. The procedure for allocating processing according to the operation of the jog dial 30 will be described with reference to the flowchart in FIG.

In this case, the CPU 50 enters from the start step of the routine RT3 and moves to step SP21. In step SP21, the CPU 50 notifies the jog dial utility program launched on the RAM 53 that the application software read from the hard disk of the HDD 67 and started on the RAM 53 supports the jog dial 30, and the next step Move to SP22.

At the step SP22, the CPU 50
The application software corresponding to the running jog dial 30 is registered in the jog dial correspondence list of the jog dial utility program on the RAM 53, and the process proceeds to the next step SP23.

At the step SP23, the CPU 50
The processing contents corresponding to the rotation operation and the pressing operation of the jog dial 30 for the application software registered in the jog dial correspondence list are written in the jog dial utility program on the RAM 53, and the process proceeds to the next step SP24.

At step SP24, the CPU 50
As shown in FIG. 26, a jog dial window 260 showing the processing content according to the rotation operation and the pressing operation of the jog dial 30 is generated, displayed on the liquid crystal display 21, and the process proceeds to the next step SP25.

In this case, the jog dial window 260
Is for guiding what processing is performed when the jog dial 30 is operated, and indicates that the selector SL is to be moved above the menu item when the jog dial 30 is rotated in the direction of arrow a. "Indicates that the selector SL is to be moved below the menu item when rotated in the direction of arrow b, and that the menu item indicated by the selector SL is determined when pressed in the direction of arrow c. "OK" is displayed.

At step SP25, the CPU 50
When the active application software is changed by the user, the processing contents for the rotation operation and the pressing operation are changed according to the window screen of the changed application software, and the jog dial correspondence list is rewritten. Is generated and displayed, and the next step SP2
Then, the process proceeds to 6 and the process ends.

In the notebook computer 1 with a jog dial, as described above, the jog dial 30 is used to move the mouse cursor and determine a menu item in the normal mode, and the left, right, up and down keys are set in the cursor key emulation mode. Use to move the mouse cursor and enter key (operation key) 4
A key process for determining a menu item by pressing or clicking B is provided, and can be selectively used by the user.

That is, as shown in the mode switching processing procedure of FIG.
50 is entered from the start step of the routine RT4 and moves to step SP31. In step SP31, the CPU
50 determines whether or not the cursor key emulation mode is set by the user on a property screen (not shown) displayed in response to a click operation of the setup button 261 in the jog dial window 260 (FIG. 26).

If a positive result is obtained here, this indicates that the cursor key emulation mode has been set by the user. At this time, the CPU 50 proceeds to the next step SP32.

At the step SP32, the CPU 50
Since the cursor key emulation mode has been set, the jog dial guide processing in the normal mode set as the default is disabled (function stopped state), and the jog dial guide processing is disabled on the task bar. Then, the process proceeds to the next step SP33 to perform key processing in the cursor key emulation mode.

In this case, the CPU 50 disables the jog dial guide processing as shown in FIG. 28A, and displays an X-marked icon 262 indicating that on the task bar and uses the left, right, up and down keys. The selector 269 is moved between the menu 263 and the sub-menus 264 and 265 by pressing the enter key (operation key) 4B.
A key process for determining a menu item is performed by pressing or clicking an icon.

On the other hand, if a negative result is obtained in step SP31, this indicates that the normal mode has been set by the user, and the CPU 50 proceeds to the next step SP34.

At step SP34, the CPU 50
Since the normal mode has been set, the jog dial guide process is enabled as shown in FIG. 28B, the icon 267 indicating this is displayed on the task bar instead of the x-marked icon 262, and the jog dial window 260 is displayed. Is displayed, and a jog dial guide process using the jog dial 30 is executed.

(2) Menu selection by cooperative operation of stick type pointing device and jog dial Next, in the notebook computer 1 with a jog dial, a desired menu item is selected from various menus by cooperative operation of the stick 5 and the jog dial 30. A selection procedure up to execution of a predetermined process corresponding to a menu item will be described with reference to a flowchart of FIG.

(2-1) Context Menu Selection Procedure As shown in FIG.
First, the CPU 50 enters from the start step of the routine RT5 and moves to step SP41. In step SP41, the CPU 50 determines whether or not a pointing operation has been performed by the stick 5.

If a positive result is obtained here, this indicates that the user has performed a pointing operation with the stick 5, and at this time, the CPU 50 moves to the next step SP42, and the mouse cursor is moved according to the pointing operation. Is moved to step SP41 again.
And the above processing is repeated.

On the other hand, if a negative result is obtained in step SP41, this means that the pointing operation with the stick 5 is not performed, and
At this time, the CPU 50 moves to the next step SP43.

At step SP43, the CPU 50 determines
It is determined whether the user has performed a click operation with the left click button 5A or the right click button 5B while the mouse cursor is stationary. Here, if a negative result is obtained, this indicates that the user has no intention to display the menu, and that no click operation has been performed, and at this time, the CPU 50 returns to step SP41 and repeats the above-described processing.

On the other hand, if an affirmative result is obtained in step SP43, this indicates that the user has an intention to display the menu and a click operation has been performed. At this time, the CPU 50 proceeds to the next step SP44. Move on to

[0161] In step SP44, the CPU 50
It is determined in which area (area) on the screen of the liquid crystal display 21 the stationary position of the mouse cursor when the click operation is performed, and the routine goes to the next step SP45.

In step SP45, the CPU 50 determines
A context-sensitive menu corresponding to the area on the screen where the mouse cursor is stationary is displayed on the screen, and the next step SP46
Move on to The context-dependent menu is a menu whose menu changes depending on the position where the mouse cursor is stopped or the situation at that time, and includes, for example, a context menu.

By the way, the context menu is defined as Window
A menu that is displayed by performing a right-click operation with the mouse cursor positioned on the desktop displayed based on the OS such as s98 (trademark). Menu content changes.

For example, as shown in FIG. 30, a window screen of a word processor program called “smart light (trademark)” is opened on the liquid crystal display 21, and the window screen of the word processor program is removed from the desktop except for the window screen. When a right-click button 5B is clicked in a state where the mouse cursor is stopped by a pointing operation of the stick 5, a context menu 27 is displayed by the CPU 50.
0 is displayed.

In step SP46, the CPU 50 determines
It is determined whether or not the jog dial 30 has been operated by the user while the context menu 270 is displayed. If a negative result is obtained here, this means that the jog dial 30 is not operated at all even though the context menu 270 is displayed, so that when selecting a menu item in the context menu 270, the cursor key emulation is performed. This indicates that the mode has been selected. At this time, the CPU 50 moves to the next step SP47.

At step SP47, the CPU 50 determines
After executing the processing corresponding to the menu item selected from the context menu 270 based on the existing pointing operation by the stick 5, step SP 4
Return to 1.

On the other hand, if a positive result is obtained in step SP46, this indicates that some operation has been performed on the jog dial 30 in the normal mode using the jog dial 30, and at this time, the CPU 50 The process moves to the next step SP48.

At step SP48, the CPU 50 determines
It is determined whether a rotation operation has been performed on the jog dial 30. If a positive result is obtained here, this indicates that the user has operated the jog dial 30 to rotate in either the arrow a or b direction, and the CPU 50 proceeds to the next step SP49.

At step SP49, the CPU 50 determines
After performing a process of moving the selector SL5 (highlighted display portion) indicated by diagonal lines in the context menu 270 (FIG. 30) in accordance with the rotation operation of the jog dial 30, the menu SL is stopped on the menu item "alignment of icons (I)". Returning to step SP48, the above processing is repeated.

[0170] On the other hand, if a negative result is obtained in step SP48, this means that the user has not operated the jog dial 30 in any of the directions of the arrows a and b. Move to step SP50.

In step SP50, the CPU 50 determines
It is determined whether or not a pressing operation has been performed on the jog dial 30 with the selector SL5 stationary. If a negative result is obtained here, this indicates that the pressing operation has not been performed on the jog dial 30, and at this time, the CPU 50 returns to step SP48 and repeats the above-described processing.

On the other hand, if a positive result is obtained in step SP50, this means that the user presses the jog dial 30 in the direction of arrow c (push operation).
At this time, the CPU 50 moves to the next step SP51.

In step SP51, the CPU 50 determines
A submenu 271 (FIG. 30) corresponding to the menu item "icon arrangement (I)" selected by the pressing operation of the jog dial 30 is displayed.

Then, the CPU 50 controls the jog dial 30.
When the selector SL6 is moved to the submenu item "date order (D)" of the submenu 271 by the rotation operation of the submenu 271, and the pressing operation is performed, the icon on the desktop is displayed according to the submenu item "date order (D)" After executing the process of rearranging in order, the process moves to the next step SP52 and ends.

(2-2) Start Menu Selection Procedure In this case as well, the CPU 50 executes a menu item selection process in the start menu according to the above-described flowchart of FIG. For example, as shown in FIG. 31, when the left click button 5A is clicked on the desktop start button 280 displayed on the liquid crystal display 21 with the mouse cursor positioned by the pointing operation of the stick 5, the CPU 50 starts. A start menu 272 is displayed in response to a click operation on button 280.

The start menu 272 displays a plurality of menu items. When the user rotates the jog dial 30, the CPU 50 causes the start menu 272 to rotate according to the rotation of the jog dial 30.
Is performed to move the selector SL7 (highlighted display portion) indicated by diagonal lines to position the selector SL7 on the menu item "VAIO".

When the jog dial 30 is pressed in this state, the menu item “VAI” is displayed.
A submenu 273 related to “O” is displayed, and the selector SL8 indicated by oblique lines is positioned on the submenu item “stationary” in accordance with the rotation operation of the jog dial 30 by the user.

Subsequently, when the jog dial 30 is pressed in this state, the CPU 50 further displays a submenu 274 related to the submenu item "stationary", and displays a diagonal line in response to the rotation operation of the jog dial 30 by the user. The selected selector SL9 is positioned on the sub-menu item “Smart Write”.

Finally, when the jog dial 30 is pressed in this state, the CPU 50 displays a word processor program window 281 called a submenu item "Smart Write" as shown in FIG.

(2-3) Procedure for Selecting Shortcut Menu Displayed in Window In this case as well, CPU 50 executes a process for selecting a menu item in the shortcut menu according to the flowchart in FIG. 29 described above. For example, as shown in FIG.
Clicking the right-click button 5B in a state where the mouse cursor is positioned by a pointing operation of the stick 5 in a blank portion in a character input area on a window 281 of a word processor program called “Smart Write (trademark)” displayed on the liquid crystal display 21 When the operation is performed, the CPU 50 displays a shortcut menu 275 depending on a blank portion of the window 281.

Subsequently, when the user rotates the jog dial 30 by the user, the CPU 50 issues a shortcut menu 27 according to the rotation operation of the jog dial 30.
The processing of moving the selector SL10 (highlighted display portion) indicated by oblique lines in 5 is performed, and the selector SL10 is positioned on the menu item "select all (A)".

When the user presses the jog dial 30 in this state, the CPU 50 executes a process corresponding to the menu item "select all (A)" on the window 281.

(2-4) Procedure for Selecting Shortcut Menu Displayed After Selecting Desired Character String in Window Also in this case, CPU 50 executes menu item selection processing in the shortcut menu in accordance with the flowchart of FIG. 29 described above. . For example, as shown in FIG.
In a window 281 of a word processor program called “Smart Write (trademark)” displayed on the liquid crystal display 21, the user positions the mouse cursor on a character in the character input area and performs a pointing operation with the stick 5 while pressing the left click button 5A. Is performed, the CPU 50 determines the character string of the hatched portion desired by the user, and displays the shortcut menu 276 when the right-click button 5B is clicked.

Subsequently, when the user rotates the jog dial 30, the CPU 50 starts the shortcut menu 27 according to the rotation operation of the jog dial 30.
6, the selector SL11 (highlighted portion) indicated by diagonal lines is moved and the menu item "Copy" is displayed.
(C) ".

When the user presses the jog dial 30 in this state, the CPU 50 executes a copying process of a character string (shaded portion) determined by the pointing operation with the stick 5.

(2-5) Procedure for Selecting Drop-Down Menu Displayed by Clicking Icon on Menu Bar In this case as well, the CPU 50 performs the process of selecting a menu item in the drop-down menu according to the flowchart in FIG. 29 described above. Execute. For example, as shown in FIG.
In the window 281 of the word processor program called “Smart Write (trademark)” displayed on the liquid crystal display 21, left-click with the mouse cursor positioned at “File (F)” 282 on the menu bar by pointing operation with the stick 5. Button 5
When A is clicked, the CPU 50 displays a drop-down menu 277 depending on “File (F)” 282 on the menu bar.

Subsequently, when the user rotates the jog dial 30 by the user, the CPU 50 sets the drop-down menu 27 according to the rotation operation of the jog dial 30.
The selector SL12 (highlighted portion) indicated by the slanted line in Step 7 is moved to be positioned on the menu item "Send to Internet (I)".

When the user presses the jog dial 30 in this state, the CPU 50 displays a submenu 278 corresponding to the menu item "Send to Internet (I)".

Subsequently, when the user rotates the jog dial 30 by the user, the CPU 50 performs a process of moving the selector SL13 (highlight display portion) indicated by oblique lines in the submenu 278 according to the rotation operation of the jog dial 30. Position it on the menu item "Profile setting (S)".

In this state, when the jog dial 30 is pressed by the user, the CPU 50 transmits the working document to the Web page of the homepage by FTP (File Transfer Protocol).
b Send to server.

(3) Operation and Effect in Embodiment In the above configuration, the notebook personal computer 1 with the jog dial moves the mouse cursor to a desired position on the screen of the liquid crystal display 21 by the pointing operation of the stick 5 by the user. By performing a click operation of the left click button 5A or the right click button 5B, a context-dependent menu (a context menu 271, a start menu 272, a shortcut menu 275, and a drop-down menu 277) depending on the position of the mouse cursor and the status is displayed. I do.

Then, the notebook computer 1 with a jog dial
After the context-sensitive menu is displayed, the menu item of the context-sensitive menu is selected by the selector SL according to the rotation operation of the jog dial 30 and corresponds to the menu item determined according to the pressing operation of the jog dial 30. Execute the process.

At this time, the notebook personal computer 1 with the jog dial selects the menu item of the context-sensitive menu by rotating the jog dial 30 and, when the menu item is determined by the pressing operation of the jog dial 30, there is a submenu in the determined menu item. If so, the submenu is displayed.

In this case, similarly, the notebook personal computer 1 with the jog dial selects and determines a desired sub-menu item from the sub-menus by rotating and pressing the jog dial 30, and corresponds to the determined sub-menu item. Execute the process.

Therefore, the user first moves the mouse cursor to a desired position by operating the stick 5 only with the index finger or the middle finger of the left hand, and clicks the left click button 5A or the right click button 5B at that position. To display the context-sensitive menu, and thereafter, the selector SL is moved up and down by rotating the jog dial 30 with the index finger or the middle finger of the right hand,
By pressing the jog dial 30, a menu item can be determined in the same manner as a click operation.

That is, the user can concentrate on the operation until the index finger or the middle finger of the left hand is displayed on the menu, and can dedicate the index finger or the middle finger of the right hand on the rotation operation and the pressing operation of the jog dial 30. Is displayed, the rotation of the selector SL and the determination of the menu item can be easily performed no matter how many times the submenu is displayed, by simply repeating the rotation operation and the pressing operation of only the right hand.

According to the above configuration, the notebook personal computer 1 with the jog dial displays the context-sensitive menu by the pointing operation of the stick 5 and the selector S in the highlight display portion by the rotation operation on the jog dial 30.
By moving L to select a desired menu item and executing a process corresponding to the menu item determined by a pressing operation on the jog dial 30, a situation-dependent operation is performed by the user's cooperative operation of the stick 5 and the jog dial 30. From the display of the menu to the selection and determination of the menu item can be performed promptly, and thus a user interface with more excellent operability can be provided to the user.

(4) Other Embodiments In the above embodiment, the mouse cursor is moved using the stick 5 and the left click button 5A
Alternatively, a case has been described in which various menus are displayed by clicking the right-click button 5B, but the present invention is not limited to this, and the mouse cursor can be moved or clicked using a touch pad or a mouse. May be. In this case, effects similar to those of the above-described embodiment can be obtained.

In the above-described embodiment, a case has been described where the mouse cursor is moved by the stick 5 and various menus are displayed by clicking the left click button 5A or the right click button 5B. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and various menus may be displayed by using the pressing operation of the jog dial 30 instead of the clicking operation.

Further, in the above-described embodiment, the case where the jog dial 30 is provided at the right end of the upper surface of the main body 2 has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and various other positions such as the left end may be provided. May be provided. For example, a left click button 5A or a right click button 5B
Is provided, the pointing operation of the stick 5, the clicking operation of the left click button 5A or the right clicking button 5B, the rotating operation of the jog dial 30 and the pressing operation of the jog dial 30 can be executed with only one hand operation. .

Further, in the above-described embodiment, the CP
U50 is based on a jog dial utility program stored in the hard disk of the HDD 67 in advance.
Although a case has been described in which menu items are selected and determined by cooperative operation of the stick 5 and the jog dial 30, the present invention is not limited to this. By installing a program storage medium on which a jog dial utility program is recorded, Selection and determination of menu items may be performed by cooperative operation of the stick 5 and the jog dial 30.

[0202] The program storage medium used to install the program for executing the above-described series of processing in the notebook personal computer 1 with a jog dial and to make it executable by the notebook personal computer 1 with a jog dial is, for example, a floppy disk. Disc, CD
-ROM (Compact Disc-Read Only Memory), DVD (D
It may be realized not only by a package medium such as digital video disc) but also by a semiconductor memory or a magnetic disk in which the program is temporarily or permanently stored. Also,
As means for storing the program in these program storage media, a wired or wireless communication medium such as a local area network, the Internet, or digital satellite broadcasting may be used, and the program is stored via various communication interfaces such as a router or a modem. You may do it.

Further, in the above-described embodiment, the stick 5 as a coordinate designating means for designating an arbitrary position on the display screen and the liquid crystal display 21 as a menu display means for displaying a menu depending on the designated position.
And a jog dial 30 as a menu selection means for selecting one of a plurality of menu items from the displayed menu by a rotation operation and a pressing operation, and a plurality of menu items according to the rotation operation of the jog dial 30. CPU 50 as highlighting means for highlighting, and C as execution means for executing processing corresponding to the menu item highlighted in response to the pressing operation of the jog dial 30.
Although the case has been described where the notebook personal computer 1 as the information processing apparatus of the present invention is configured by the PU 50, the present invention is not limited to this.
The information processing apparatus may be configured by various other coordinate designation means, menu display means, menu selection means, highlighting means, and execution means. For example, it is a matter of course that a pressure-sensitive or capacitance-type touch pad arranged in front of the operation key 4 can be used as the coordinate designating unit instead of the stick 5.

[0204]

As described above, according to the present invention, after a menu depending on a designated position is displayed according to a designation operation by a coordinate designation unit, a rotation operation and a pressing operation using only the menu selection unit are performed. A menu item can be selected from a menu and a process corresponding to the menu item can be executed. Thus, operability until a desired menu item is selected and determined can be improved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing an overall configuration of a notebook personal computer with a jog dial according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a side view showing a configuration of a left side surface of the main body.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram illustrating a configuration of a rear side surface and a bottom surface of a main body.

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram illustrating an appearance of a jog dial attached to a main body.

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram illustrating an entire configuration of a jog dial.

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram illustrating a configuration of a contact mounting board.

FIG. 7 is a schematic sectional view showing an internal structure (1) of the jog dial.

FIG. 8 is a schematic sectional view showing an internal structure (2) of the jog dial.

FIG. 9 is a schematic sectional view showing a mounted state of a jog dial.

FIG. 10 is a schematic diagram for explaining the operation of the rotary encoder unit.

FIG. 11 is a schematic diagram for explaining the operation of the push switch unit.

FIG. 12 is a block diagram showing a circuit configuration of a notebook personal computer with a jog dial.

FIG. 13 is a block diagram for explaining detection of the rotation direction of the jog dial.

FIG. 14 is a pulse waveform chart for describing detection of a rotation direction by a rotation detection unit.

FIG. 15 is a flowchart illustrating a processing procedure of an I / O controller performed according to a jog dial state monitoring program.

FIG. 16 is a flowchart illustrating a processing procedure according to an operation of a jog dial when application software is activated and not activated.

FIG. 17 is a schematic diagram illustrating a jog dial menu.

FIG. 18 is a schematic diagram used to explain selector movement (1).

FIG. 19 is a schematic diagram used to explain selector movement (2).

FIG. 20 shows “brightness” according to a pressing operation of the jog dial.
FIG. 14 is a schematic diagram illustrating a submenu corresponding to.

FIG. 21 is a schematic diagram illustrating a submenu for “selection of application” according to a pressing operation of a jog dial.

FIG. 22 is a schematic diagram illustrating a map screen.

FIG. 23 is a schematic diagram illustrating an enlarged display according to a rotation operation of a jog dial.

FIG. 24 is a schematic diagram illustrating an editing screen.

FIG. 25 is a flowchart showing a procedure for allocating processing according to the operation of the jog dial.

FIG. 26 is a schematic diagram illustrating a jog dial window.

FIG. 27 is a flowchart illustrating a mode switching processing procedure.

FIG. 28 is a schematic diagram used to explain a process in each mode.

FIG. 29 is a flowchart showing a menu selection procedure by a cooperative operation of a stick pointing device and a jog dial.

FIG. 30 is a schematic diagram illustrating a context menu displayed on the desktop.

FIG. 31 is a schematic diagram illustrating a start menu displayed on the desktop.

FIG. 32 is a schematic diagram illustrating a window of a smart light.

FIG. 33 is a schematic diagram illustrating a shortcut menu displayed on a window.

FIG. 34 is a schematic diagram illustrating a shortcut menu displayed after a desired character string is selected in the window.

FIG. 35 is a schematic diagram illustrating a drop-down menu displayed by clicking an icon on a menu bar.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ... notebook computer, 2 ... body, 3 ... display unit,
5 ... Stick pointing device, 21 ...
Liquid crystal display, 30 ... Jog dial, 50 ...
CPU, 53 ... RAM, 67 ... HDD, 73 ... I
/ O controller, 88: rotation detector, 218: disk-shaped operation knob.

 ────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued on the front page (72) Inventor Yoshihiro Yamaguchi 6-7-35 Kita-Shinagawa, Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo Sony Corporation (72) Inventor Hiroyuki Hanaya 6-7-35 Kita-Shinagawa, Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo Sony Incorporated F term (reference) 5B076 AB17 5B087 AA09 AB02 AE09 BC01 BC02 BC13 DE01 DE03 5E501 AA03 BA05 CB04 CB07 EA02 EA05 EB01 EB05 FA05 FA22

Claims (24)

[Claims] 1. A coordinate designation means for designating an arbitrary position on a display screen, a menu display means for displaying a menu dependent on a position designated by the coordinate designation means, and the menu displayed by the menu display means. A menu selection means for selecting one of a plurality of menu items from a menu by a rotation operation and a pressing operation; and a plurality of menu items displayed by the menu display means in response to the rotation operation of the menu selection means Information comprising: highlighting means for highlighting, and execution means for executing a process corresponding to the menu item highlighted by the highlighting means in response to a pressing operation of the menu selection means. Processing equipment. 2. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said coordinate designating means is a stick-type pointing device. 3. The menu selection means comprises: a rotation operation means for outputting a rotation operation signal according to the rotation operation; and a pressing operation means for outputting a pressing operation signal corresponding to the pressing operation in one direction. 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein
An information processing apparatus according to claim 1. 4. The apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the rotation operation means and the pressing operation means output the rotation operation signal and the pressing operation signal corresponding to the rotation operation and the pressing operation of the same jog dial. Information processing device. 5. The menu display means displays a menu depending on the position designated by the coordinate designation means, and displays a submenu when any of a plurality of menu items is selected by the menu selection means. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein: 6. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the menu display means displays a shortcut menu depending on the specific position in response to a specific position being specified by the coordinate specifying means. Information processing device. 7. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said menu display means displays a start menu corresponding to said specific start button in response to a specific start button being specified by said coordinate specifying means. An information processing apparatus according to claim 1. 8. The menu display means displays a drop-down menu corresponding to the specific menu bar item when the specific menu bar item is specified by the coordinate specifying means. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1. 9. A menu display step of displaying a menu depending on a position designated by a coordinate designation means for designating an arbitrary position on a display screen, and a rotation operation of the menu selection means for selecting the menu, A highlighting processing step of highlighting some of a plurality of menu items among the menus displayed in the menu displaying step; and a highlighting processing performed in the highlighting processing step in response to a pressing operation of the menu selection means. An execution processing step of executing processing corresponding to a menu item. 10. The apparatus according to claim 9, wherein said coordinate designating means is a stick-type pointing device.
An information processing method according to claim 1. 11. The menu selection means comprises: rotation operation means for outputting a rotation operation signal according to the rotation operation; and pressing operation means for outputting a pressing operation signal corresponding to the pressing operation in one direction. 10. The method according to claim 9, wherein
An information processing method according to claim 1. 12. The apparatus according to claim 11, wherein said rotation operation means and said pressing operation means output said rotation operation signal and said pressing operation signal corresponding to the rotation operation and the pressing operation of the same jog dial. Information processing method. 13. The menu display step includes displaying a menu dependent on the position designated by the coordinate designating means by the menu display means, and the highlighting processing step comprises the steps of: 10. The information processing method according to claim 9, wherein a submenu is displayed when something is selected. 14. The menu display step according to claim 9, wherein a shortcut menu dependent on the specific position is displayed in response to a specific position being specified by the coordinate specifying means. Information processing method. 15. The menu display step according to claim 9, wherein a start menu corresponding to the specific start button is displayed in response to a specific start button being specified by the coordinate specifying means. An information processing method according to claim 1. 16. The menu display step displays a drop-down menu corresponding to a specific menu bar item in response to a specific menu bar item being specified by the coordinate specifying means. The information processing method according to claim 9, wherein 17. A menu display step for displaying a menu depending on a position designated by a coordinate designation means for designating an arbitrary position on a display screen, and in response to a rotation operation of the menu selection means for selecting the menu, A highlighting processing step of highlighting some of a plurality of menu items among the menus displayed in the menu displaying step; and a highlighting processing performed in the highlighting processing step in response to a pressing operation of the menu selection means. A program storage medium for causing an information processing apparatus to execute a program, comprising: an execution process step of executing a process corresponding to a menu item. 18. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said coordinate designating means is a stick type pointing device.
A program storage medium according to claim 7. 19. The menu selection means comprises: a rotation operation means for outputting a rotation operation signal according to the rotation operation; and a pressing operation means for outputting a pressing operation signal corresponding to the pressing operation in one direction. 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein
A program storage medium according to claim 7. 20. The apparatus according to claim 19, wherein said rotation operation means and said pressing operation means output said rotation operation signal and said pressing operation signal corresponding to the rotation operation and the pressing operation of the same jog dial. Program storage medium. 21. The menu display step, wherein a menu depending on the position designated by the coordinate designating means is displayed by the menu display means, and the highlighting processing step comprises a plurality of menu items by the menu selecting means. 18. The program storage medium according to claim 17, wherein a submenu is displayed when something is selected. 22. The method according to claim 17, wherein the menu display step displays a shortcut menu depending on the specific position in response to a specific position being specified by the coordinate specifying means. Program storage medium. 23. The method according to claim 17, wherein the menu display step displays a start menu corresponding to the specific start button in response to a specific start button being specified by the coordinate specifying means. A program storage medium according to claim 1. 24. The menu display step displays a drop-down menu corresponding to the specific menu bar item in response to the specific menu bar item being specified by the coordinate specifying means. The program storage medium according to claim 17, wherein: