JP2002373044A - Icon preparing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an icon preparing device, with which a synthetic icon related to an expanding function can be easily prepared. SOLUTION: When preparing an icon for calling the expanding function of application, an overlay image provided by plotting a character string inputted to a basic icon image selected by a user is overlapped and synthesized by a control part 11 and a synthetic icon image is prepared and set as an icon for calling the expanding function. The application displays the relevant prepared and set icon on a tool bar or the like.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an apparatus for creating and displaying icons used in a graphical user interface.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, application programs executed on computers have become more and more versatile, and application development itself has become difficult. Against this background, applications have emerged that provide only basic functions and allow users to add required functions as plug-ins. In this case, since each function can be developed as an independent software module, there is an advantage that application development can be facilitated.

By the way, in order to allow a user to call an extended function added by such a plug-in, the call command is added to a pull-down menu included in a user interface, or a call icon is added to a so-called toolbar. Or may be added.

[0004] A specific document management application provides a document management function on a computer on which it is installed. When a communication plug-in module for communicating with a server is introduced here, an extended function for uploading a document to an external server via a network and downloading a document from the external server is added.

FIG. 9 shows an example of a user interface of such an application. In such an application, a toolbar (A) on which icons for calling basic functions are arranged and a toolbar (B) on which icons for calling extended functions provided by installed plug-ins are arranged. Is displayed. Here, when the user operates an input device such as a mouse and clicks an icon, a function associated with the icon is executed.

[0006] Here, the icon for calling the extended function is different from the initially planned basic function. Therefore, there is no icon image prepared in advance, and the user creates the icon image from the beginning.

[0007]

As described above, in the above-mentioned conventional application, the user must create an icon image corresponding to the extended function. However, as is widely known, the creation of an icon is a task of sequentially setting the color of each pixel for a pixel group arranged in a matrix, and it is necessary to create an icon that appropriately represents the function content. Requires high creativity.

In order to easily set an icon, a plurality of general-purpose icon images are prepared in advance, and an appropriate icon can be designated from among them. In this case, the function contents that the user perceives from the image of the general-purpose icon are generally unclear, and it is not always possible to set an appropriate icon.

[0009] There are also the following problems when using general-purpose icons. That is, depending on the extension,
Some implement only main functions and allow the user to input setting information such as processing parameters. For example, in the extension function of document upload, the plug-in implements a communication function with the server as a main part, and separately holds information such as which server to communicate with and where to store it as setting information. . In this case, it is desirable that the icon can be registered for each setting information. That is, the operability can be improved by using different icons for the upload function to the first server and the icons for the upload function to the second server. In this case, for example, an image of an upward arrow is prepared as a general-purpose icon image, and when the upload function can be associated with the arrow, the user sets the icon of the upward arrow as an icon related to the two upload functions. Become. However, this makes it difficult to determine which icon corresponds to the upload to the first server (FIG. 1).
0). Therefore, for example, by using a “fly-by-help” function widely used in Windows (registered trademark), when a cursor is placed on an icon, a character string representing the function of the icon is displayed near the cursor. Can be considered. However, in this case, the function content of each icon cannot be identified unless the cursor is overlaid on each icon for confirmation, and the convenience is low.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and has as its object to provide an icon creating apparatus capable of easily creating a composite icon relating to an extended function.

An interface technology for converting an image captured by a surveillance camera into an icon, synthesizing a predetermined image with the icon, and facilitating access to each image is disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. Hei 8-
No. 123658. In this case, the icon serving as the basis of the composition is the photographed video itself, and since different information is composed in the first place, it does not solve the above problem.

[0012]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to solve the above-mentioned problems of the prior art, a first aspect of the present invention is an apparatus for creating an icon associated with an extended function of an application program executed on a computer. And a means for accumulating a basic icon image, a means for receiving an input of an overlay image, and a generating means for generating a composite icon by superimposing and synthesizing the input overlay image with the basic icon as a background. It is characterized by:

The means for accepting designation of the overlay image receives an input of a character string and generates an image representing the character string to form an overlay image. The generating means sets the selected basic icon as a background image. It is preferable to generate a composite icon by superimposing and overlaying an overlay image representing the character string.

The present invention for solving the above-mentioned problems of the prior art is an apparatus for creating an icon associated with an extended function of an application program executed on a computer, comprising: means for storing a basic icon image; ,
And generating means for generating a composite icon by superimposing and synthesizing an image specified in relation to the content of the extended function with the basic icon as a background.

The present invention for solving the above-mentioned problems of the prior art is an extended function of an application program executed on a computer, in which a common part providing a main function and an operation content of the common part are set. An apparatus for creating an icon according to each individual setting for an extended function including an individual setting unit, comprising: means for storing a basic icon image; and an individual setting unit for the extended function with the basic icon as a background. And a generating means for generating a composite icon by superimposing and synthesizing an image specified in relation to the contents of the above.

Here, the generating means adjusts the color tone of a pixel located at a position where the overlay image is superimposed on the basic icon and a pixel located in the vicinity of the basic icon at the time of synthesizing, and generates a synthesized icon emphasizing the overlay image. Is preferred.

The present invention for solving the problem of the above-mentioned conventional example is an extended function of an application program executed on a computer and relates to another computer connected to the computer via a network. An extended function that provides a function to perform, an icon display device that displays an icon associated with, a means for storing a basic icon image,
Means for generating a composite icon by superimposing and synthesizing the image specified in relation to the function related to the other computer, and means for displaying the generated composite icon as an icon associated with the extended function, It is characterized by including.

Further, the present invention for solving the above-mentioned problem of the conventional example is a method for creating an icon associated with an extended function of an application program executed on a computer, and accepts input of an overlay image. And a step of generating a combined icon by superimposing and combining the input overlay images with a predetermined basic icon as a background.

Further, the present invention for solving the problem of the above-mentioned conventional example is a program for causing a computer to create an icon associated with an extended function of an application program executed on the computer. And a step of generating a combined icon by superimposing and combining the input overlay images with a predetermined basic icon as a background.

[0020]

[First Embodiment] A first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. As shown in FIG. 1, the icon creation device 10 according to the embodiment of the present invention includes a document management server 20 via a network.
It is connected to the. Also, the icon creation device 10
Are a control unit 11, a storage unit 12, and a hard disk 13
, An operation unit 14, a display unit 15, and a network interface (network I / F) 16.

That is, the icon creating apparatus 10 according to the present embodiment is a general personal computer,
Various applications are executed under the management of an operating system such as Windows (registered trademark).

The control unit 11 executes the processing of the operating system and the processing of the application. The control unit 11 executes an icon creation process in response to an input of an instruction to create an icon during the processing of the application. The processing of the control unit 11 will be described later in detail. The storage unit 12 operates as a work memory of the control unit 11. The hard disk 13 stores an operating system and applications executed by the control unit 11. Also, this hard disk 13 has
An icon creation program describing the icon creation process is stored in an executable format. Further, the hard disk 13 stores a plurality of general icon images as basic icon images.

The operation unit 14 is a mouse, a keyboard, or the like, and receives an operation input from a user and transmits the contents of the operation to the control unit 11. The display unit 15 is a display or the like, and according to an instruction input from the control unit 11,
Display data. The network I / F 16 transmits data via the network, receives data arriving via the network, and outputs the data to the control unit 11 according to an instruction input from the control unit 11.

Here, the icon creation processing of the control unit 11 will be described. The control unit 11 receives the instruction to create an icon for the extended function in the course of processing of the application program, and starts the icon creation process. Therefore, this icon creation program may be implemented as a dynamically linked library (shared library).

The control unit 11 that has started the icon creation processing
Displays a window as shown in FIG. This window includes an interface (P) for selecting a basic icon image, and an interface (Q) for receiving designation of a character string to be superimposed and synthesized on the basic icon image. When the user clicks the “Browse” button and specifies a file containing the icon image (icon image file), the control unit 11 selects the file as the basic icon image and stores the file name in the storage unit 12. , The corresponding basic icon image is displayed in the upper left column of the window. Here, as an example, FIG.
It is assumed that a basic icon image as shown in FIG.

When the character string is input to the interface (Q) by the user's operation and the "draw" button is clicked, the control unit 11 adds
An image (overlay image) obtained by drawing the input character string is superimposed and synthesized to generate a synthesized icon image. Here, for example, when a character string “report” is input, the composite icon image is as shown in FIG. 3B.

When the user clicks the "OK" button (X), the control unit 11 saves the generated composite icon image on the hard disk 13 so that it can be used from the application side as an icon for the extended function, and its file name Is transmitted to the application, and the process ends.

It is also preferable that the interface (Q) for inputting a character string includes an interface for specifying a font. As a result, a font face, a style (separate from plain, underline, italic, and the like), a size, a character decoration (a character frame, a blinking frame, and the like), a character color, and the like at the time of drawing a character string to be synthesized can be set.

Further, a "standard" button is displayed on the interface (P) for designating the basic icon image, and when the "standard" button is clicked, the control unit 11 operates the icon set in advance. Select an image file (default icon) as the basic icon image. Here, the default icon may be set for each extended function for which an icon is to be created. In this case, the specification of the default icon is included in the plug-in, and the control unit 11 reads out and uses this specification information.

The icons include a standard state (a state in which a function is called upon clicking; an enabled state), a state indicating that clicking is not possible (a disabled state), and a state in which a click is being performed (a clicking state). If the basic icon image includes an image corresponding to each of these states, a composite icon image is generated by superimposing an overlay image on each image.

The control unit 11 further generates a composite icon image in the vicinity of a position where an overlay image is superimposed (near a pixel constituting a character, such as the periphery of a character "" in FIG. 3 (Y)). The pixel value of the basic icon image corresponding to is adjusted. This process is performed as follows. First, for each pixel of the basic icon image, it is checked whether or not the pixel is near the position where the overlay image is superimposed, and if so, color information (c1) of the pixel is acquired. The color information can be represented by an RGB value c1 = (r, g, b), and the control unit 11 adds a predetermined value α to each of the components r, g, b, and c2 = (r + α, g + α, b +
α) is calculated, and the value c2 is set as the color of the pixel by replacing it with c1. By doing so, the color is adjusted to have the same color as c1 and a slightly whitish color, the contrast between the overlay image and the surrounding background portion is increased, and the visibility of the overlay image is improved.

Here, the operation of the icon creation device according to the present embodiment will be described. Specifically, here, an example will be described in which, when a plug-in that provides an extended function for uploading to the server is installed in the document management application, an icon for calling the extended function provided by the plug-in is created.

The control section 11 receives an instruction to set an installed plug-in from the user during the processing of the document management application, and displays an interface for inputting setting information as shown in FIG. 15 is displayed. Here, as setting information, the host name of the upload destination document management server 20 and the document management server 20
Enter the login information (user name and password) for logging in to and the identification information of the upload destination directory. Here, for example, "Host
It is assumed that "1", "user1" and "pass1" are set as login information, and "10" is set as a directory identifier. Then, an icon for calling up the input setting information as a parameter is created by clicking the “change icon” button for the extended function of the plug-in.

When the "icon change" button is clicked, the control unit 11 starts an icon creation process, and receives a designation of a basic icon image and an input of a character string (for example, "report"). A composite icon is generated by superimposing and overlaying an overlay image obtained by drawing a character string with the icon image as a background, and is stored.

On the document management application side, the synthesized icon is displayed on a toolbar or the like as an icon when the designated plug-in is operated with the input setting information. By doing so, icons corresponding to the respective settings can be created by an easy operation, and the creation of icons for the extended functions becomes easy.

Here, a case has been described in which a character string is input when an icon is created, and an overlay image obtained by drawing the character string is synthesized with a basic icon image. Is not limited to a character string drawn, but may be any bitmap image.

[Second Embodiment] In the above description, the user has specified an overlay image. However, the control unit 11 may select an overlay image in accordance with an extended function or its setting information and synthesize it. I do not care. Therefore, hereinafter, an icon creation device according to the second embodiment of the present invention that performs such an operation will be described. The icon creation device according to the present embodiment has the same configuration as that according to the first embodiment shown in FIG. 1, but the content of the icon creation process executed by the control unit 11 is slightly different. .
That is, in the present embodiment, when the user selects a basic icon image in the icon creation processing for the control unit 11 to call a specific extended function (and setting information for the extended function), next, as shown in FIG. A window is displayed to ask the user which character string to use as the overlay image among the character strings related to the extension function to be called and the setting information.

In this processing, a character string representing the processing contents and an identifier of information included as setting information (such as “host name”, “user name”, and “password”) are stored in the plug-in.
The control unit 11 may read out the data and dynamically create the window shown in FIG.

In the window shown in FIG. 5, the user clicks at least one of the check boxes (R) to check a character string to be drawn as an overlay image.
Click the "OK" button.

Then, the control unit 11 obtains the character string corresponding to the identifier of the information specified by the check box from the extension function (and setting information) to be called, and draws the obtained character string. Then, an overlay image is generated, and the overlay image is superimposed on the designated basic icon image and synthesized to create a synthesized icon image.

In this case as well, an icon image corresponding to each state such as enable or disable may be generated, or the pixel value of the basic icon image corresponding to the vicinity of the overlay image combining position may be adjusted so that the overlay image is displayed. The visibility of the image may be improved.

Further, in the present embodiment, for example, it is preferable that the information related to the setting information is information obtained through a network. Specifically, for the extended function related to uploading to the document management server, if the storage destination directory is specified by an identifier, a process (information acquisition process) for acquiring a character string that is a source of an overlay image is performed. . That is, the control unit 11 transmits a user name and a password to the document management server 20 according to the setting information, performs a login process, and requests the document management server 20 to transmit property information including the directory name specified by the identifier. In response to this, the property information returned from the document management server 20 is acquired, and by referring to the contents, the directory name is extracted and the overlay image obtained by drawing the character string of the directory name is displayed as the basic icon. Combine with the image.

[Third Embodiment] In the above description, the control unit 11 has been described as generating and holding a composite icon image corresponding to an extended function. May be generated dynamically.
In this case, the control unit 11 holds the file name of the basic icon image and the character string that is the source of the overlay image as a combined icon file as the icon creation process. As shown in FIG. 6, for example, this composite icon file uses an icon identifier as a key,
The display position on the toolbar, the character string, the file name of the basic icon image, and the contents of the extended function are associated with the setting information. Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 7, it is also preferable to associate font information for drawing a character string as an overlay image in accordance with the content of the setting information (for example, host name).

When displaying an icon during the execution of the application, the control unit 11 may read this composite icon file and dynamically generate and display a composite icon image. This processing program
It can be implemented as a part of the dynamic link library that is executed by replacing the icon display processing provided as standard in the operating system.

According to the icon display processing of the present embodiment, specifically, for the extended function related to uploading to the document management server, when the directory of the storage destination is specified by the identifier, when displaying the icon, The obtained information acquisition process is performed, and the directory name of the document management server 20 at the time of this process is reflected. That is, according to this embodiment, it is convenient to change the directory name on the document management server 20 according to the work progress status, for example.

Also in the present embodiment, it is preferable to improve the visibility of the overlay image by adjusting the pixel value of the basic icon image corresponding to the vicinity of the position where the overlay image is synthesized. In consideration of a pixel value corresponding to a background portion (so-called desktop or the like) at a position where a composite icon is displayed, for example, based on an average value of a pixel value of a background portion and a pixel value of a basic icon image at a corresponding position. The color adjustment may be performed to express transparency and make the overlay image more prominent.

The display process may be performed not only when there is a request to be displayed (for example, an update request in Windows (registered trademark)) but also periodically, for example. According to this, even when the directory name is changed during the execution of the application, the change result is reflected on the character on the icon.

Further, in the first to third embodiments described above, when an overlay image obtained by drawing a character string on the basic icon image is synthesized, the overlay image exceeds the size of the basic icon image. The layout may be controlled by inserting a line feed at a predetermined position or performing an adjustment process such as a font interval such as kerning or rigging to prevent occurrence of such a problem. In this case, if the operating system is compatible or the icon display process is replaced as in the third embodiment, the overlay image may be displayed with an animation effect such as scroll display.

As described above, according to the first to third embodiments, the icons corresponding to the extended functions are arranged on the application in the form (Z) as shown in FIG. Tall icons can be created and displayed with simple operations.

[0050]

According to the present invention, an apparatus for creating an icon associated with an extended function of an application program executed on a computer stores a basic icon image, receives an input of an overlay image, and With the background as a background, a composite icon is generated by superimposing and synthesizing the input overlay image, so that an icon related to the extended function can be created by a simple operation.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration block diagram of an icon creation device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a screen display example in an icon creation process.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example of an icon creation state.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example of a screen display when setting for an extended function.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram illustrating another screen display example in the icon creation processing.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing a setting status of an icon.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of associating the contents of setting information with the conditions for generating an overlay image.

FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a display example on an application of an icon created by the icon creating apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example of a toolbar for calling an extended function in a general application.

FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a toolbar for calling an extended function in a conventional general application.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF REFERENCE NUMERALS 10 icon creation device, 11 control unit, 12 storage unit, 13 hard disk, 14 operation unit, 15 display unit, 16 network I / F, 20 document management server.

 ────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Hiroshi Manjo 3-2-1, Sakado, Takatsu-ku, Kawasaki-shi, Kanagawa KSP R & D Business Park Building Fuji Xerox Co., Ltd. F-term (reference) 5B050 BA06 BA07 BA10 BA18 BA20 DA04 EA09 EA19 FA05 5C076 AA12 AA16 AA19 AA26 BA06 5E501 BA05 CA02 CB02 CB09 DA02 EA05 EA10 EA16 EB05 FA04 FA06 FA07 FA09 FB28 FB32

Claims (8)

[Claims] 1. An apparatus for creating an icon associated with an extended function of an application program executed on a computer, comprising: means for storing a basic icon image; means for receiving an input of an overlay image; Generating means for generating a composite icon obtained by superimposing and synthesizing an input overlay image with a background as a background image. 2. The icon creation device according to claim 1, wherein the means for receiving designation of the overlay image receives an input of a character string, generates an image representing the character string, and sets the image as an overlay image. Means for generating a composite icon by superimposing and synthesizing an overlay image representing the character string with the selected basic icon as a background. 3. An apparatus for creating an icon associated with an extended function of an application program executed on a computer, comprising: means for storing a basic icon image; and contents of the extended function with the basic icon as a background. Generating means for generating a composite icon by superimposing and synthesizing an image specified in relation to the icon generation device. 4. An extended function of an application program executed on a computer, the extended function including a common unit that provides a main function and an individual setting unit that sets the operation content of the common unit. An apparatus for creating an icon according to an individual setting, comprising: means for storing a basic icon image; and superimposing an image specified in relation to the contents of an individual setting unit of the extended function with the basic icon as a background. An icon creating apparatus, comprising: generating means for generating a synthesized icon by synthesizing. 5. The icon creation device according to claim 1, wherein the generation unit changes a color tone of a pixel near a position where an overlay image is superimposed on the basic icon at the time of synthesis. An icon creation device that adjusts and generates a composite icon in which an overlay image is emphasized. 6. Displaying an icon associated with an extended function of an application program executed on a computer, the extended function providing a function associated with another computer connected to the computer via a network. Means for storing a basic icon image; and superimposing and synthesizing an image specified in relation to the function related to the other computer on the basic icon image to generate a synthetic icon Means for displaying the generated composite icon as an icon associated with the extended function. 7. A method for creating an icon associated with an extended function of an application program executed on a computer, comprising: receiving an input of an overlay image; and inputting the overlay with a predetermined basic icon as a background. Generating a combined icon by superimposing and combining the images. 8. A program for causing a computer to create an icon associated with an extended function of an application program executed on the computer, comprising: a procedure for accepting an input of an overlay image; A program for generating a composite icon by superimposing and synthesizing the input overlay images;