JP2008027228A - Man-machine system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To enable to select menu items rapidly by reducing amount of operation of an input device performing menu selection. <P>SOLUTION: This man-machine system is a man-machine system which displays a plurality of menu items 9 respectively along at least two side parts of rectangular display area 8 of a display 1, specifies as a selection menu item a menu item corresponding to cursor position in a plurality of menu items of side parts prescribed beforehand corresponding to instructions based on position information and instructions of a cursor 10 output from an input device 7, and displays on the display a display screen corresponding to specified selection menu item. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a man-machine apparatus, for example, a technique suitable for a man-machine apparatus having many menu items such as a monitoring apparatus.

  A computer system that selects and executes various function programs such as application programs through interaction with a user is known as a so-called man-machine apparatus. For example, in a man-machine apparatus, a number of menu items related to information processing functions are displayed on a display, a menu item selected by a user using an input device is determined, and a program corresponding to the selected menu item is started. It is configured to execute information processing.

  For example, when a monitoring device is configured by such a man-machine device, in order to display the status of the equipment or device to be monitored on the display, a menu item of the monitoring target and monitoring content is assigned to a key such as a keyboard and displayed. A shortcut key method is employed in which the monitoring target and the monitoring content to be selected are selected using keys. However, in the shortcut key method, since the user has to memorize the correspondence between the menu item of the monitoring target and the monitoring content and the key, it is difficult to memorize when the number of menu items increases.

  In order to solve this problem of the shortcut key method, for example, in the information processing apparatus described in Patent Document 1, a plurality of menu items are grouped into a hierarchical structure, and the menu items at the top of the group are displayed on the display. When the upper menu item is selected, the lower menu items belonging to the group are displayed on the display. According to this, since it is not necessary to store the association between keys and menu items, the menu can be selected relatively easily even if the number of menu items increases.

  Further, in the menu display device and display method described in Patent Document 2, when a large number of hierarchical menu items are displayed in a pull-down format on the display, even a menu item in a lower hierarchy can be selected at high speed. A scheme has been proposed.

JP-A-6-301503 JP-A-7-271725

  However, when the techniques described in Patent Documents 1 and 2 are applied to a man-machine device having a large number of menu items such as a monitoring device, the number of types of monitoring screens and the number of monitoring screens increase, and the menu item hierarchy becomes deep. There is a problem that it takes time to select the menu item.

  Also, due to the increase in functionality and ease of viewing, etc., there is a tendency to increase the definition and scale of the display screen, etc. When menu items are displayed on a wide area of the display, the cursor can be moved and selected with a mouse etc. In the case of an input device that is clicked at the position of the desired menu item, a moving operation amount of the mouse or the like becomes large, and there is a problem that it takes time to select a desired menu item.

  In addition to monitoring devices, man-machine devices such as PCs (Personal Computers) equipped with web browsers are easy to handle and display a variety of different screens. There is a similar problem when displaying menu items.

  An object of the present invention is to realize a man-machine apparatus that can quickly select a menu item by reducing an operation amount of an input device that performs menu selection without impairing operability.

  In order to solve the above-described problems, the present invention provides a display having a rectangular display area, a menu display control unit that displays a plurality of menu items on the display, a movement operation of a cursor displayed on the display, and at least An input device for inputting one command, position information of the cursor output from the input device, a menu selection control unit for specifying a selection menu item based on the command, and a display corresponding to the specified selection menu item A man-machine apparatus comprising a display screen control unit for displaying a screen on the display, wherein the menu display control unit displays a plurality of menu items respectively along at least two sides of the display area of the display. And the menu selection control unit is output from the input device. And identifies the menu item corresponding to the position of the cursor among the plurality of menu items of the side portion which is predetermined based on the command as the selected menu item.

  That is, according to the present invention, a menu item corresponding to any one of the coordinates of the cursor position information (X, Y coordinates) among a plurality of menu items respectively displayed on a plurality of sides can be selected. It is characterized by that. According to this, the cursor is moved along the side (for example, the X axis) where the menu item to be selected is displayed, moved to the position where the menu item to be selected is displayed, and then commanded from the input device. The menu item to be selected can be specified by inputting. That is, no matter where the cursor is displayed in the display area, it is only necessary to move the cursor in one direction along the side where the menu item to be selected is displayed, so that the amount of movement of the cursor can be greatly reduced.

  Also, which menu item of the X coordinate or Y coordinate of the cursor is selected can be specified by a command from the input device. For example, in the case of a mouse having left and right click buttons, the left and right click buttons may be associated with X or Y coordinates in advance. Alternatively, it may be associated with the X or Y coordinates in advance by clicking the click button once or twice. Further, when a plurality of menu items are displayed on the four sides of the rectangular display area, the upper and lower sides and the left and right sides can be identified by combining them.

  Further, according to the present invention, a plurality of menu items can be displayed on a plurality of sides of the rectangular display area, so that a large number of menu items can be displayed at a time on one menu screen. As a result, it is possible to quickly select a menu item without reducing the amount of operation of the input device for menu selection without impairing operability. In particular, when there are many items to be monitored and there are a wide variety of items to be monitored, the menu items on the monitoring screen increase. However, according to the present invention, for example, a plurality of menu items can be displayed on a plurality of sides. Therefore, it is possible to deal with, for example, many monitoring targets and monitoring contents on one menu screen.

  Furthermore, when there are a large number of monitoring targets and monitoring contents, it can be dealt with by adopting a hierarchical menu structure. In this case, since the contents of the menu items are generally displayed in horizontal writing, many menu items can be assigned to the vertical sides of the rectangular area, but many menu items can be assigned to the horizontal sides of the rectangular area. Menu items cannot be assigned. Therefore, according to the hierarchical structure of the menu structure, for example, menu items at the upper level of the hierarchy can be assigned to the side portions in the horizontal direction, and menu items at the lower level of the hierarchy can be assigned to the side portions in the vertical direction. Alternatively, the assignment can be reversed. In any case, the input device is operated in the same manner as described above, and after selecting a menu item higher in the hierarchy, a menu item lower in the hierarchy displayed on the other side is selected according to the selected menu item. As a result, it is possible to quickly select a menu item without reducing the amount of operation of the input device that performs menu selection without impairing operability.

  In the above case, the control unit preferably changes the display mode (for example, display color) of the menu item corresponding to the cursor position. According to this, it is possible to select a menu item to be selected without error.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to quickly select a menu item by reducing the amount of operation of an input device for performing menu selection without impairing operability.

  Hereinafter, the present invention will be described based on embodiments with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 shows an overall configuration in which a man-machine apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention is applied to a monitoring apparatus. As shown in the figure, the monitoring apparatus of the present embodiment includes a display 1, a display screen control unit 2 that displays a monitoring screen on the display 1, and a menu construction file 3 configured by building menu items for monitoring targets and monitoring contents. And a menu display control unit 4 that reads out menu items from the menu construction file 3 and displays them on the display 1, a menu selection control unit 5, a menu screen control unit 6, and an input device 7 such as a mouse. Yes. The display screen control unit 2, the menu display control unit 4, the menu selection control unit 5, and the menu screen control unit 6 are configured by computer computing means, a memory, and a program.

  A plurality of menu items 9 are displayed on the sides of the rectangular display area 8 of the display 1 (in the illustrated example, the lower side and the left side) by the menu display control unit 4 according to a predetermined menu pattern (display format). It has come to be. In the display area 8 other than the area where the menu item 9 is displayed, a monitor screen is displayed by the display screen control unit 2.

  FIG. 2 shows a part of the menu construction file 3. In the menu construction file 3, as shown in FIG. 2, a menu pattern that defines on which side of the right side, left side, upper side, and lower side of the display area 8 menu items are displayed, The menu item to be displayed and the program name of the monitoring screen corresponding to the selected menu are stored.

  FIG. 3 shows a processing procedure in which the menu display control unit 4 reads the file contents from the menu construction file 3 and displays menu items on the sides of the display area 8. As shown in the figure, the construction file is read to obtain the menu pattern value (S1). Next, in Steps S2 to S5 and Steps S6 to S9, the read menu item is displayed on each side of the display area 8 in accordance with the acquired menu pattern value. The relationship between the value of the menu pattern and the side on which the menu item is displayed is as follows.

Side of the menu pattern value menu item
1 Left side and bottom side
2 Right side and top side
3 Right side and bottom side
4 Left side and upper side As shown in FIGS. 4A to 4D, display patterns are set according to the menu patterns 1 to 4. Note that the menu pattern is not limited to the illustrated example, and the left and right sides, the upper and lower sides, a combination of all four sides, and each side may be configured in multiple rows. Is possible.

  Next, processing in the menu selection control unit 5 and the menu screen control unit 6 will be described taking the case of the menu pattern shown in FIG. 5 as an example. FIG. 6 shows the first half of processing procedures in the menu selection control unit 5 and the menu screen control unit 6. First, the menu selection control unit 5 captures position information (X, Y coordinates) of the cursor 10 on the display area 8 operated by the input device 7 (S10). Next, as shown in FIG. 5, the area information of the menu items 21 and 22 on the left side and the lower side to which the X and Y coordinates of the cursor 10 belong is acquired based on the acquired position information (S11). Then, the menu screen control unit 6 changes the display color of the display area of the menu items 21 and 22 acquired in step S11 (S12). As a result, the user can immediately determine whether or not the menu items 21 and 22 whose display colors have changed are the desired menu items. In this way, while the cursor 10 is moved by the input device 7, the process of FIG. 6 is repeatedly executed.

  FIG. 7 shows the latter half of the processing procedure in the menu selection control unit 5 and the menu screen control unit 6. When the user wants to select one of the menu items 21 and 22 whose display color has changed, when the user clicks the input device 7 at that position and inputs a command, the menu selection control unit 5 acquires the command. In step S13, the menu screen control unit 6 determines the type of command according to left click or right click in this embodiment (S14, S15). When left-clicking, the menu item 21 on the left side is selected and a command is sent to the display screen control unit 2 to display a monitoring screen corresponding to the menu item 21 in the display area 8 (S16). On the other hand, when right-clicking, the menu item 22 on the lower side is selected, and similarly, a command is sent to the display screen control unit 2 to display a monitoring screen corresponding to the menu item 22 in the display area 8 (S17). .

  In this way, according to the present embodiment, of the plurality of menu items 9 respectively displayed on the side portion of the display area 8, the side portion (for example, the X axis) on which the menu item 9 to be selected is displayed. The menu item 9 to be selected can be designated by inputting a command by clicking from the input device 7 after moving the cursor 10 along the position of the menu item 10 to the position where the menu item to be selected is displayed. That is, no matter where the cursor 10 is displayed in the display area 8, it is only necessary to move the cursor in one direction along the side where the menu item to be selected is displayed. .

  Further, which menu item of the X coordinate or the Y coordinate of the cursor is selected can be specified by a command (for example, right click or left click) from the input device 7. Instead of this, it is possible to associate with the X or Y coordinates in advance by clicking the click button once or twice. Further, when a plurality of menu items 9 are displayed on the four sides of the rectangular display area 8, the upper and lower sides and the left and right sides can be identified by combining them.

  In addition, according to the present embodiment, since a plurality of menu items 9 can be displayed on a plurality of sides of the rectangular display area 8, a large number of menu items can be displayed at one time on one menu screen. Therefore, it is possible to quickly select a menu item without reducing the amount of operation of an input device that performs menu selection without impairing operability.

  In particular, when there are many items to be monitored and there are a wide variety of monitoring contents, the number of menu items on the monitoring screen increases. Therefore, it is possible to cope with an increase in monitoring targets and monitoring contents.

  Furthermore, when there are a large number of monitoring targets and monitoring contents, it can be dealt with by making the menu structure a hierarchical structure. In this case, since the contents of the menu items are generally displayed in horizontal writing, many menu items 9 can be assigned to the left side and the right side in the vertical direction of the rectangular area. On the other hand, many menu items cannot be assigned to the upper and lower sides of the rectangular area in the horizontal direction. Therefore, according to the hierarchical structure of the menu structure, for example, a menu item higher in the hierarchy can be assigned to the upper side or the lower side, and a menu item lower in the hierarchy can be assigned to the left side or the right side. Alternatively, the assignment can be reversed. In any case, the input device 7 is operated in the same manner as described above to select a menu item higher in the hierarchy, and then select a menu item lower in the hierarchy displayed on the other side according to the selected menu item. By doing so, it is possible to quickly select a menu item without reducing the amount of operation of the input device for menu selection without impairing operability.

  Although the present invention has been described as being applied to a monitoring device, the present invention is not limited to the monitoring device, and can be applied to a menu selection screen of a general man-machine device.

It is a figure which shows the whole structure of one Embodiment of the man machine apparatus of this invention. It is a figure explaining the content of a part of menu construction file. 4 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure of a menu display control unit 3. It is a figure which shows the example of the menu pattern displayed on a menu selection screen. It is a figure for demonstrating the procedure of menu selection by a menu selection screen. It is a flowchart which shows the first half part of the processing procedure of a menu selection control part and a menu screen control part. It is a flowchart which shows the latter half part of the process sequence of a menu selection control part and a menu screen control part.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Display 2 Display screen control part 3 Menu construction file 4 Menu display control part 5 Menu selection control part 6 Menu screen control part 7 Input device 8 Display area 9 Menu item 10 Cursor

Claims (4)

A display having a rectangular display area; a menu display control unit for displaying a plurality of menu items on the display; an input device for moving a cursor displayed on the display and inputting at least one command; A menu selection control unit for specifying a selection menu item based on the position information of the cursor output from the device and the command; a display screen control unit for displaying a display screen corresponding to the specified selection menu item on the display; In a man-machine device comprising:
The menu display control unit displays a plurality of menu items along at least two sides of the display area of the display;
The menu selection control unit identifies, as the selection menu item, a menu item corresponding to the position of the cursor among a plurality of menu items on a side determined in advance based on the command output from the input device. Man-machine device characterized by. In claim 1,
The man-machine apparatus, wherein the menu selection control unit changes a display mode of menu items corresponding to the position of the cursor. In claim 1,
The man-machine apparatus, wherein the input device includes at least one click button for inputting the command, and the side portion is assigned in accordance with an operation mode of the click button. In claim 1,
A menu item displayed along the side portion includes a menu item composed of a plurality of hierarchies.

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