JP2002032168A - Window controlling method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To make the window of low priority to be transparent and to improve the identification property of the window of high priority based on a time lapse in the display of a plurality of windows. SOLUTION: Transparency based on final use time is set for the respective windows. The transparency of the window of the highest priority is not set. The window is displayed in the forefront and a part hidden by the other windows does not exist. In the other windows, an overlap with the window in the forefront is hidden. In the respective windows, the overlap parts are multiplexed/displayed by transparency based on priority.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a multi-window display method, and more particularly to a window display method in a superimposed portion of each display window.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a superposition type multi-window system, when many windows are opened, they are superimposed on a screen. Other windows differ from the most recently used window in the display image differentiation by differentiating or reducing the title display bar part that is a part of the window, or by reducing the brightness, or in the window state management display mechanism It was shown that it was in focus. In the case of superimposition, the most recently used window is in the foreground, and the priorities of the other windows are difficult to determine from the screen.

Therefore, a method of displaying a window on a screen has been adopted as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 7-253868.

[0004]

However, since the window display as described above is superimposed, the user does not need to display the non-superimposed portion with respect to windows other than the most recently used window. Determine the window or use the window switching function. The ranking based on the priority or the necessity is difficult to identify directly on the screen, and the user follows the necessary window, which hinders the user's work efficiency.

In the present invention, an unnecessary window is arranged by a plurality of superimposed window display screens, and an operator can select a necessary window at a glance by improving visibility of a frequently used screen. I do.

[0006]

In the multi-window display method according to the present invention, the transparency based on the last use time is set for each window. The window with the highest priority has no transparency set, is displayed in the foreground, and has no part obscured by other windows. For other windows, the overlapping part of the foreground window is covered,
In each window, the superimposed portion is displayed in a multiplexed manner based on the transparency based on the priority.

[0007]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention is a method of controlling window drawing based on the last use time of each window. An input unit (1) in a computer as shown in FIG.
6), a control unit (11) for performing actual control, and a method of realizing multi-window display on a display unit (15) such as a display device will be described. To perform the multi-window display, the control unit responds to a request for an input (16) or a request from a plurality of programs (14).
3) processes overlapping of a plurality of windows and displays the state of the multi-window on the display unit (15) through the display control unit (12). The displayed result is as shown in FIG. 2, and the windows (6,
7, 8) are displayed in the screen display frame (5).

In the present invention, a plurality of windows draw a plurality of windows, and the window control unit (13) has a window management information storage area (50). The window management information storage area has an area for storing the last use time (52) for each window. The last use time is updated when the foreground display of the window is requested by the user operation or when the foreground display is automatically performed by the program (14). At the time of this update, the display of the window on the screen is updated, and the display on the screen is updated. In this update drawing, the program draws each window by the following method.

A description will be given of a screen drawing update process according to the flowchart of FIG. 3 which is operated by the window control unit (13) every time a predetermined time elapses or in response to a user operation or an update process from a program. For each window, the last update time (52) is read from the management information storage area (50), and the elapsed time is obtained (S1). The transparency of the window display is calculated from the obtained elapsed time (S2). The calculation of the transparency is based on the following calculation. The transparency change ratio C0 is set at a value from 0 to 1 such as between 0% and 100%, and the user is allowed to change the set value. Time interval N
Is set as a value such as seconds or minutes, and the user is allowed to change the set value. Assuming that the transparency increases by C0 at every time interval N from the last update time T0, the transparency C of the display window at the current time TN is set to a value between 0 and 1 for a certain time based on N and C0.

[0010]

C = (TN−T0) ÷ N × C0, where 0 is set when C is less than 0, and 1 when C is 1 or more.

With all display minimum units on the screen 1 of FIG. 1 as drawing points, each drawing point has a certain drawing color as a combination of RGB and CYNC colors and luminance. If the display window does not overlap another window, the drawing color in the window can be derived by the following equation (S
3).

[0012]

## EQU2 ## Window drawing color W = (drawing color × transparency C)
+ Background color × (1−transparency C)) Further, for a plurality of overlapping windows, drawing based on the following method is performed with respect to drawing of the overlapping portion.

The superimposition of the windows is based on the position information (51) for each window, and the drawing color of the minimum display unit point is determined by the in-window point drawing color for a certain window in the drawing of the superimposed portion.

[0014]

## EQU3 ## Window drawing color W = (drawing color × transparency C)
+ Background color x (1-transparency C)) This can be determined as a new background color by repeating the method of deriving the point drawing color in the window to be superimposed.

Further, the window control unit performs a screen updating process at the time of such a certain window update or at regular time intervals on the display units of all windows on the screen.

By displaying the determined drawing color on the display unit (15) in the drawing process (S4), the screen 1 after the user has used it to some extent as shown in FIG. The display effect according to the present invention that (2, 3, 4) is displayed with different transparency is obtained.

In the above embodiment, the area (5) for storing the drawing priority in the window management information storage area (50)
Have 3). The drawing priority (53) is set to the highest priority at the same time as the last use time (52) is updated when the foreground display of the window is requested by the user operation or when the foreground display is automatically performed by the program (14). Then, the drawing priority of all other windows is reduced one by one. In the screen drawing update process, in the transparency calculation (S2), the drawing priority (53) is referred to, and the window having the highest priority is determined as having no transparency.

As a result, in FIG. 1, the window (2) having the highest priority is drawn with the drawing color itself, regardless of the presence or absence of the superimposed portion. The window (3, 4) not having the highest priority has no overlap with the window having the highest priority and is not drawn, and the transparency is only applied to the window (3, 4) not having the highest priority. Get the window display effect you have.

Transparency calculation (S
In 2), if the calculated transparency is equal to or more than a certain value, the window control unit (13) executes the program (14).
By passing control to the control unit (11) to perform the end processing of the processing being performed, a window display effect accompanied by a program end processing based on the transparency is obtained.

Transparency calculation (S
In 2), if the calculated transparency is equal to or more than a certain value, the window control unit (13) executes the program (14).
By passing control to perform a minimum display process to the display control unit (12) during the process in question, a window minimum display effect based on transparency is obtained.

[0021]

According to the present invention, the infrequently used windows are gradually made transparent, so that the discriminating power of the frequently used windows on the screen is increased and the work efficiency is improved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram showing a display example in a superimposition type multi-window system after a lapse of a predetermined time according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing a display example in a conventional superimposition type multi-window system.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing a procedure of a method of drawing each window according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a configuration diagram showing a hardware configuration and a software configuration of each embodiment.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing a window management information storage area.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ... screen display frame, 2 ... window with the highest priority, 3
... A window having a second priority, 4 a window having a third priority, 11 an input / output (display) control unit, 12
... display control unit for output processing, 13 ... particularly window control in display control, 14 ... programs operating on the control unit, 15 ... display unit such as display device, 16 ...
An input unit by a pointing device such as a keyboard and a mouse, 50: window management information storage area, 51: window position information, 52: window last use time information, 53: window drawing priority information, 54: other window information.

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification symbol FI Theme coat ゛ (Reference) G09G 5/36 G09G 5/36 520B F-term (Reference) 5B069 AA01 BA01 BA04 BB16 CA16 HA18 5C082 AA01 BA02 BA12 CA63 CA76 CB01 DA51 DA87 MM09 MM10 5E501 AA02 BA03 CA02 FA06 FB04 FB28 FB44

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A multi-window display method for simultaneously displaying a plurality of windows on a screen, comprising a method of determining the transparency of the display based on an elapsed time from a last use time of the window. . 2. The method for determining transparency of a display window, wherein one or more windows having high priority are always displayed without transparency regardless of an elapsed time from a last use time. Item 1. The multi-window display method according to Item 1. 3. The multi-window display method according to claim 1, further comprising a method of terminating a program for a window having a transparency equal to or higher than a predetermined value in the method for determining the transparency of the display window. 4. The multi-window display method according to claim 1, further comprising a method of minimizing an icon state or the like of a program of a window having a transparency equal to or more than a predetermined value in the method of determining the transparency of the display window.