JP2003330761A - Computer operation screen recording apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a computer operation screen recording apparatus for making the recording data size per unit time smaller than before, reproducing a computer operation screen with a small size of recording data and with high reproducibility, and attaining more quick operation of application software operated during recording. <P>SOLUTION: Operation screen information displayed on an operation screen according to the operation from an operation input part is repeatedly obtained in a main storage part by a central processing unit, the presence/absence of a temporal change is detected at every acquisition, and the operation screen information of a part whose temporal change is detected and update time data are recorded in an auxiliary storage part. After that, the operation screen information and the update time data are read from an auxiliary storage part, and the operation screen is updated and displayed on the operation screen output part to be reproduced. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a computer operation screen recording device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, when an operation screen displayed on an operation screen output unit of a computer is recorded as a moving image, the operation screen information of the operation screen output unit is regularly (or irregularly) used by a CPU of a computer. The operation screen information and its acquisition time data are recorded as recording data in an auxiliary storage unit such as a hard disk, and then the operation screen information recorded in the auxiliary storage unit is requested by the computer user. In general, the acquisition time data is read out, and the operation screen is displayed and reproduced on the operation screen output unit at the timing specified by the acquisition time data based on the operation screen information.

In recent years, the format of recorded data is AVI (Audio Visual Inter).
The leave format is often used.

[0004]

However, the conventional techniques have the following problems. The recorded data size per unit time required to record a computer operation screen as a moving image was large. For this reason, there is a problem that long-time recording cannot be performed, and that if a long-time recording is performed, the auxiliary storage unit of the computer such as a hard disk is pressed. In addition, there is a problem in that it is time-consuming and inconvenient to transfer recorded data via a network. Furthermore, since the size of the recorded data per unit time is large, the load on the auxiliary storage unit (which is a shared resource of the computer) increases with the recording processing of the recorded data,
The movement of the application software that the computer user is operating during recording is affected by this and becomes slow,
There was also the problem of being difficult to use. Furthermore, if the number of recorded frames per second is increased in order to improve the reproducibility of the operation screen reproduction, the size of the recorded data per unit time will increase in proportion to the number of recorded frames. There was also the problem of swelling.

The present invention has been made to solve such a problem, and an object thereof is a computer in which the size of recorded data per unit time is smaller than that of a conventional one, and recorded data of a smaller size has high reproducibility. It is an object of the present invention to provide a computer operation screen recording device capable of reproducing an operation screen and making movement of application software being operated during recording more agile than ever.

[0006]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a computer operation screen recording apparatus including an operation input section, a central processing section for performing information processing operation according to an operation command input from the operation input section, and An operation screen output unit that displays an operation screen based on an operation command input from the operation input unit, a main storage unit that is connected to the central processing unit and temporarily records programs and digital information, and an auxiliary storage unit, A computer operation screen recording device comprising an operation screen recording unit, wherein operation screen information displayed on the operation screen output unit according to an operation command input from the operation input unit is stored in a main memory by using the central processing unit. Section for acquiring operation screen information, operation screen information update detecting means for detecting whether or not there is a time change in the operation screen information, and the operation screen for which the time change has been detected And having the operation screen information recording means for recording in the auxiliary storage unit the broadcast and update time data as recording data, to the operation screen recording unit.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a computer operation screen reproducing apparatus including an operation input section 2, a central processing section 2 for performing information processing operation according to an operation command input from the operation input section 2, and the operation input section. 2, an operation screen output unit 2 that displays an operation screen based on an operation command input from 2, a main storage unit 2 that is connected to the central processing unit 2 and temporarily records programs and digital information, and an operation screen reproduction unit. And a computer operation screen reproducing device comprising:
Operation screen information reading means for reading the recording data composed of the operation screen information and the update time data from the auxiliary storage unit of the computer operation screen recording apparatus to the main storage unit 2 via a network, and the operation screen information. And an operation screen information display unit for displaying the operation screen on the operation screen output unit 2 using the update time data, in the operation screen reproduction unit.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a computer operation screen recording / reproducing system in which the computer operation screen recording device according to claim 1 is connected to the computer operation screen recording device via a network. And an operation screen reproducing device.

A computer operation screen recording apparatus according to a fourth aspect of the present invention is the computer operation screen recording apparatus according to the first aspect, wherein the recording data including the operation screen information and the update time data is stored in the auxiliary storage unit. An operation screen information reading unit for reading the operation screen information from the storage unit to the main storage unit, and an operation screen information display unit for displaying the operation screen on the operation screen output unit using the operation screen information and the update time data. It is characterized by further comprising a section.

The operation screen information referred to in the present invention means a set (collection) of digital data necessary for drawing the display screen displayed on the operation screen output unit. For example, the image data of the display screen displayed on the operation screen output unit is a typical example of the operation screen information.
However, as an alternative, a set of desktop window image data and mouse pointer data (mouse pointer coordinates, mouse pointer shape, etc.) can be used as the operation screen information. The desktop window is the largest window including the part hidden by the mouse pointer (windows in the background of the mouse pointer, icons, menus, images such as wallpapers). The display screen (entire) that is actually displayed on the operation screen output unit is obtained by superimposing the mouse pointer image on the upper layer of the desktop window. See Fig. 3 for the relationship between the display screen actually displayed on the operation screen and the desktop window.

[0011]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

(First Embodiment) As shown in FIG. 1, a computer operation screen recording apparatus according to the present invention includes an operation input section,
The operation screen output unit, the central processing unit, the main storage unit, the auxiliary storage unit, the operation screen recording unit, and the operation screen reproduction unit.

For example, a computer user inputs an operation command from an operation input unit such as a keyboard or a mouse, and a central processing unit such as a CPU performs information processing calculation based on the operation command, and an operation screen output unit such as a CRT or a liquid crystal display device. An operation screen based on the operation instruction is displayed on the screen.

In the operation screen recording section, the operation screen displayed on the operation screen output section is recorded as a moving image in the steps described below.

(Step 1) Operation screen information such as image data of a display screen displayed on the operation screen output unit is regularly (or irregularly) used in the main storage unit such as a random access memory by the central processing unit. To get to.

(Step 2) Next, every time the image data of the display screen is acquired, it is detected whether or not there is a time change (update) of the image data. For example, at the first time of update detection (since there is no object to compare the change over time), update detection is performed assuming that all pixel data forming the image data of the display screen has been updated. In the second and subsequent update detections, the presence or absence of a time change (update) of the pixel data is detected by comparing each pixel data forming the image data of the display screen with the pixel data when the previous time change was detected.

(Step 3) When the time change is detected in the pixel data, the pixel data and the update time data of the portion where the time change occurs are recorded as recording data in an auxiliary storage unit such as a hard disk.

Then, steps 1 to 3 are repeatedly executed until the recording is completed. In this way, the operation screen displayed on the operation screen output unit is recorded as a moving image.

In the operation screen reproducing section, the operation screen displayed on the operation screen outputting section is reproduced as a moving image in the steps described below.

(Step 4) The recording data consisting of pixel data and update time data is read from the auxiliary storage unit to a main storage unit such as a random access memory.

(Step 5) Based on the read pixel data, the pixels of the portion of the image data on the display screen that needs to be updated are set to new pixel values at the timing of the update time data and updated and displayed. However, in the first update display, all the image data on the display screen is updated and displayed. Then, steps 4 to 5 are repeatedly executed until the reproduction is completed.

In this way, the operation screen displayed on the operation screen output unit is recorded as a moving image, and is reproduced again as a moving image on the operation screen output unit when desired by the computer user. Since the operation screen is recorded as described above,
At the time of recording, the updated portion of the operation screen information may be recorded in the auxiliary storage unit, and the size of the recording data per unit time required for recording the computer operation screen becomes smaller than that of the conventional one. It should be noted that the computer operation screen has a relatively large portion of the entire screen that is not updated as compared with a moving image such as a television or a movie in which the image changes greatly. Therefore, as long as normal computer operation is performed, the size of recorded data per unit time will be significantly reduced.
Please fully understand that point.

(Second Embodiment) As shown in FIG. 2, a computer operation screen recording / reproducing system of the present invention comprises a computer operation screen recording device and a computer operation screen reproducing device connected through a network. It The computer operation screen recording device includes an operation input unit, an operation screen output unit, a central processing unit, a main storage unit, an auxiliary storage unit, and an operation screen recording unit. The playback device includes an operation input unit 2 and
An operation screen output unit 2, a central processing unit 2, a main storage unit 2,
And an operation screen reproducing unit.

For example, a computer user issues an operation command from an operation input unit such as a keyboard or a mouse, and a central processing unit such as a CPU performs information processing calculation based on the operation command.
An operation screen based on the operation command is displayed on an operation screen output unit such as a CRT or a liquid crystal display device.

In the operation screen recording section, the operation screen displayed on the operation screen output section is recorded as a moving image in the steps described below.

(Step 1) Operation screen information such as image data of a display screen displayed on the operation screen output unit is acquired in a main storage unit such as a random access memory using the central processing unit.

(Step 2) Next, every time the image data of the display screen is acquired, the presence or absence of a time change (update) is detected. For example, in the first update detection, the update detection is performed assuming that all pixel data forming the image data on the display screen has been updated. In the second and subsequent update detections, each pixel data forming the image data of the display screen is compared with the pixel data when the previous time change was detected, and the presence or absence of the time change (update) of the pixel value is detected.

(Step 3) If a time change is detected in the pixel data, the pixel data and the update time data of the time-changed portion are recorded as recording data in an auxiliary storage unit such as a hard disk.

Then, steps 1 to 3 are repeatedly executed until the recording is completed.

In the operation screen reproducing section, the operation screen of the operation screen outputting section is reproduced as a moving image on the operation screen outputting section 2 in the steps described below.

(Step 4) The recording data consisting of pixel data and update time data recorded in the auxiliary storage section of the computer operation screen recording device is transferred to the LAN (Local).
(1) Area Network) and the main memory unit 2 of the computer operation screen reproducing device via a network such as the Internet.

(Step 5) Based on the read pixel data, the pixels of the portion of the image data of the display screen that needs to be updated are set to new pixel values at the timing of the update time data, and the operation screen is output. Update display in part 2. However, in the first update display, all the image data on the display screen is updated and displayed. Then, steps 4 to 5 are repeatedly executed until the reproduction is completed.

In this way, the operation screen displayed on the operation screen output unit of the computer operation screen recording device is recorded as a moving image, and the recorded data is transferred from the computer operation screen recording device to the computer operation screen reproducing device via the network. By doing so, the operation screen can be reproduced as a moving image on the operation screen output unit 2 when desired by the computer user. Since the operation screen is recorded as described above, at the time of recording, the updated part of the operation screen information may be recorded in the auxiliary storage unit, and the recording data per unit time required for recording the computer operation screen can be recorded. The size is smaller than the conventional one.

In the above-described embodiments (Embodiment 1 and Embodiment 2), the image data of the display screen actually displayed on the operation screen output unit is used as the operation screen information. It's not limited. As the operation screen information, a partial area of the display screen or image data of a specific window may be used.

In other embodiments, the operation screen information may be a set of desktop window image data and mouse pointer data (mouse pointer coordinates, mouse pointer shape data, etc.). In this case, in step 2 of the operation screen recording unit, not only the time change of each pixel data forming the desktop window image data is detected, but also the time change of the mouse pointer data is detected. Further, in step 3 of the operation screen recording section, not only is the updated portion of pixel data constituting the desktop window image data and the updated time data recorded in the auxiliary storage portion, but also the updated portion of the mouse pointer data and the updated time data are recorded. Is also recorded in the auxiliary storage unit. Further, step 5 of the operation screen reproducing section described above.
In the above, not only is the desktop window updated and displayed on the operation screen output unit (or the operation screen output unit 2) at the timing of the update time data based on the read desktop window pixel data, but the read operation is also performed. The mouse pointer is updated and displayed on the operation screen output unit (or the operation screen output unit 2) at the timing of the update time data based on the mouse pointer data.

Since the recording / reproducing is performed by such a method, the recorded data required for the parallel movement of the mouse pointer need only be the updated coordinate values thereof. In the case of the first or second embodiment (operation screen The size of the recorded data per unit time is further smaller than that of the case where the image data of the display screen actually displayed on the operation screen output unit is used as the information).

Further, in the processing capacity of the present computer,
The time interval for detecting the update of the image data of the display screen (or the desktop window image data) is naturally limited, and in the first or second embodiment, the rapidly moving mouse pointer may not be able to record accurately. However, since the size of the mouse pointer data is much smaller than the desktop window image data, even in such a case, it is possible to sufficiently shorten only the time interval for detecting the update of the mouse pointer data. As described above, by sufficiently shortening only the time interval for detecting the update of the mouse pointer data, it becomes possible to accurately record the rapidly moving mouse pointer, and it is possible to further record the mouse pointer as compared with the case of the first embodiment or the second embodiment. Also, please understand that the reproducibility of recording increases.

[0038]

Since the present invention is constructed as described above, it has the following effects.

In the present invention, since the updated portion of the operation screen information may be recorded when recording the computer operation screen, the size of the recording data per unit time required for recording the computer operation screen is the same as that of the conventional one. Could be smaller than.

Further, as a result, it becomes possible to record for a long time without pressing the auxiliary storage section of the computer. In addition, it became possible to transfer the recorded data via the network in a shorter time, and it became practical. In addition, even if the number of times operation screen information is acquired (and updated detected) per unit time (corresponding to the number of recorded frames in the conventional technology) is increased when recording the operation screen, the size of the recorded data is proportional to that as in the past. Since it does not increase, it has become possible to record (play) computer operation screens with high reproducibility with less data. In addition, since the size of the recorded data per unit time is small, the load on the auxiliary storage unit of the computer is reduced, and the movement of the application software operating during recording becomes more agile and easier to use than before.

Further, by checking the size of the recorded data per unit time (even if the computer user does not actually reproduce the recorded data and visually confirms the moving image of the operating screen), the frequency of changing the computer operating screen It became possible to analyze quantitatively, and it became convenient to check the usage status of the computer.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing a relationship between a display screen and a desktop window.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Operation input section 1b Operation input unit 2 2 Operation screen output section 2b Operation screen output unit 2 3 Central processing unit 3b Central processing unit 2 4 main memory 4b main memory 2 5 auxiliary storage 6 Operation screen recorder 6b Operation screen playback device 7 Operation screen information acquisition means 8 Operation screen information update detection means 9 Operation screen information recording means 10 Operation screen recorder 11 Operation screen information reading means 12 Operation screen information display means 13 Operation screen playback unit 14 network 100 Display screen image 101 General window screen in display screen 102 General image on display screen 103 Image of mouse pointer Image of 200 desktop window

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. An operation input section, and a central processing section for performing information processing operation by an operation command input from the operation input section,
An operation screen output unit that displays an operation screen based on an operation command input from the operation input unit, a main storage unit that is connected to the central processing unit and temporarily records programs and digital information, and an auxiliary storage unit. A computer operation screen recording device comprising: an operation screen recording unit, wherein operation screen information displayed on the operation screen output unit in response to an operation command input from the operation input unit is transmitted by using the central processing unit. Operation screen information acquisition means to be acquired in the storage unit, operation screen information update detection means to detect whether or not there is a time change in the operation screen information, and the operation screen information and the update time data in which the time change is detected are recorded data. A computer operation screen recording device, comprising: an operation screen information recording unit for recording in the auxiliary storage unit as the above. 2. An operation input unit 2, a central processing unit 2 for performing information processing operation by an operation command input from the operation input unit 2, and an operation screen based on the operation command input from the operation input unit 2. Is a computer operation screen reproducing apparatus including an operation screen output unit 2 for displaying the following, a main storage unit 2 connected to the central processing unit 2 for temporarily recording programs and digital information, and an operation screen reproducing unit. 2. The main storage unit 2 from the auxiliary storage unit of the computer operation screen recording apparatus according to claim 1, the recording data including the operation screen information and the update time data being transmitted via a network.
The operation screen information reading means for reading the operation screen information, and the operation screen information display means for displaying the operation screen on the operation screen output section 2 by using the operation screen information and the update time data. A computer operation screen reproducing device characterized by. 3. A computer operation screen recording / reproducing device comprising: the computer operation screen recording device according to claim 1; and the computer operation screen reproducing device according to claim 2, which is connected to the computer operation screen recording device via a network. system. 4. The computer operation screen recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the operation screen information reading means reads out the recording data composed of the operation screen information and the update time data from the auxiliary storage unit to the main storage unit. And an operation screen information display unit for displaying the operation screen on the operation screen output unit using the operation screen information and the update time data, further comprising an operation screen reproduction unit. Recording device. 5. A computer operation screen recording device according to claim 1, a computer operation screen reproducing device according to claim 2,
Alternatively, a recording medium recording a program for producing the computer operation screen recording device according to claim 4. 6. A computer operation screen recording apparatus according to claim 1, or a recording medium recording the recording data having a structure created by the computer operation screen recording apparatus according to claim 4.