JP2008046730A - Graphical user interface display device and graphical user interface display program - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a general-purpose graphical user interface to be applied to electronic equipment to be integrated with various performances. <P>SOLUTION: This graphical user interface display device is provided with: a graphical user interface display program including a plug-in program; a storage means 103 for storing plug-in setting presence/absence information; a plotting processing decision means 101a for deciding whether or not processing corresponding to an input signal is accompanied with plotting processing; a plug-in decision means 101b for deciding whether or not the plotting processing should be performed by using the plug-in program based on the plug-in setting presence/absence information read from the storage means; an image generation means 101c for generating image data according to the plug-in program when it is decided that the plotting processing has been performed by using the plug-in in the plug-in decision means; and an output control means 101d for transmitting an image output signal for making a display part display an image based on the image data generated by the plotting means. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a general-purpose graphical user interface display device and a graphical user interface display program applied to an embedded device.

  2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, built-in devices that incorporate and use software typified by audio-visual (AV) devices and the like are mainly equipped with a graphics display screen mainly composed of an LCD. In an embedded device having such a graphics screen, a graphical user interface (hereinafter referred to as GUI) for performing input / output with a user on the graphics screen is generally well known.

  Usually, the GUI is assigned to a graphic part desired by the user by displaying a graphic of some parts according to the situation at an appropriate position on the screen and receiving a selection signal from a pointing device or the like. Each function is operated by an embedded device.

  This GUI is generally realized by software, and it is necessary to use software developed for each embedded device. However, it has been inefficient to develop GUI software individually for all the embedded devices, and there is a problem that it takes time and effort of the developer. Therefore, it is generally known how to use software that implements virtual machines and develop the middleware and applications that can be installed on this virtual machine as hardware-independent software, thereby increasing the versatility of these software. It has been.

  In addition, a graphical user interface control software development system has been proposed in which both the graphical user interface screen construction means and the graphical user interface control software construction means are constructed as object-oriented means. (For example, refer to Patent Document 1).

Furthermore, a user interface for menu screen editing / setting is provided, and the contents of editing / setting performed using this user interface are managed as menu data. Based on this menu data, menu screen data and transition control are managed. A menu creation system that automatically creates a program has been proposed (see, for example, Patent Document 2).
JP-A-5-282139 JP 2004-240644 A

  However, in the graphical user interface control software development system described in Patent Document 1, both the graphical user interface screen construction means and the graphical user interface control software construction means are both based on object orientation. Therefore, when the control software constructed by the graphical user interface control software construction means is changed, it is necessary to change the graphical user interface screen so as to correspond to this.

  Furthermore, embedded devices currently in general use often have a plurality of lineups from low-end models to high-end models in terms of performance, even for embedded devices of the same application, depending on the usage environment. For example, when low power consumption is required, a low-end model having only a minimum function that satisfies the application is adopted, and when a high-level graphics function is required, a high-end model is adopted.

  On the other hand, if the developer tries to use the graphical user interface display program generically from the low-end model to the high-end model embedded device in order to reduce the development man-hours, the advanced graphics function according to the requirements in the high-end model It was necessary to install a graphical user interface display program to realize all of the models in a unified manner.

  However, this increases the cost of software and hardware of the low-end model, and the significance of the low-end model is lost.

  For this reason, it is necessary for the developer to construct a graphical user interface screen and graphical user interface control software for each embedded device from the low-end model to the high-end model, which is troublesome for the developer.

  In addition, the menu creation system described in Patent Document 2 automatically creates the menu screen data and the transition control program. Similarly, in order to use the graphical user interface display program for general purposes, it is unified to a high-end model. It is necessary for the developer to construct a graphical user interface display program that realizes advanced graphics functions according to the requirements in the above, or to automatically create menu screen data and transition control programs for each model. It was.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and provides a general-purpose graphical user interface display device and a graphical user interface display program applied to electronic devices to be incorporated having various performances. For the purpose.

  In order to achieve the above object, a graphical user interface display device according to the present invention is characterized by a graphical user interface display for executing a graphical user interface display program applied to a software embedded electronic device. One or two or more plug-in programs for GUI component drawing processing that can be incorporated in a graphical user interface display program, and a GUI that indicates whether drawing processing is performed using the plug-in program Storage means for storing plug-in setting presence / absence information for each component and plug-in program name data associated with plug-in setting presence / absence information as needed, input means for generating an input signal by external input, and input means Input signal generated by When the corresponding process is a process involving a drawing process for a GUI component, and when the drawing process determining unit determines that the process is accompanied by a drawing process, the plug-in A plug-in that reads setting presence / absence information and name data of an associated plug-in program as necessary, and determines whether to perform drawing processing using the plug-in program based on the read plug-in setting presence / absence information When it is determined by the determining means and the plug-in determining means that the drawing process of the GUI part is performed using the plug-in program, the corresponding plug-in program is searched from the storage means based on the loaded plug-in program name data. Load and generate image data of GUI parts according to the loaded plug-in program An image generation unit that, in that an output control means for transmitting an image output signal for displaying an image on the display unit based on the image data generated by the drawing generation unit.

  According to the graphical user interface display device and the graphical user interface display program according to the present invention, it is possible to provide a general-purpose graphical user interface that is applied to electronic devices to be embedded with various performances. .

  A graphical user interface display device according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

  In the present embodiment, by executing a graphical user interface display program including a middleware program, a plug-in program, and a virtual machine program, a general-purpose graphical user application applied to electronic devices to be embedded with various performances. An interface display device will be described as an example.

  FIG. 1 shows a block diagram of a graphical user interface display device according to the present embodiment.

  In FIG. 1, a CPU 100 and a memory 103 in the graphical user interface display device 10 are connected to each other via a memory bus 105. An I / O bus 107 is connected to the memory bus 105, and a storage unit 115 is connected to the I / O bus 107 via an input / output controller 109, and an input unit 117 and a display unit 119 are connected via the input / output controller 111. The communication interface 121 is connected to each other via the input / output controller 113.

  The CPU 100 includes, as functions, a virtual machine 102 realized by software for using software independent of hardware, and middleware 101 implemented by the virtual machine 102 in a hardware independent manner within the CPU 100.

  The memory 103 includes a graphical user interface display program, one or more plug-in programs for GUI component drawing processing that can be incorporated in the display program, and components that constitute a graphical user interface screen. Data indicating the type of data, size data, display position data, plug-in setting presence / absence information data for each GUI component indicating whether or not to perform drawing processing using a plug-in program, and whether or not each plug-in is set In addition to the plug-in program name data associated with the information data as necessary, data necessary for the CPU 100 to execute various processes is also stored as appropriate.

  The storage unit 115 is, for example, a semiconductor storage device or a magnetic disk device, and stores a graphical user interface display program and the like.

  The input unit 117 includes operation buttons and the like to which various operation signals are input by the user. For example, the input unit 117 generates an input signal for executing a graphical user interface display program by a user's push button operation, and this input The signal is transmitted to the CPU 100 via the input / output controller 111, the I / O bus 107 and the memory bus 105.

  The display unit 119 is a liquid crystal display or the like, and is a device that receives an output signal from the CPU 100 via the memory bus 105, the I / O bus 107, and the input / output controller 111 and displays a graphical user interface screen.

  The middleware 101 includes a drawing processing determination unit 101a, a plug-in determination unit 101b, an image generation unit 101c, and a plug-in I / F 101e, and various types of programs according to programs such as a graphical user interface display program loaded in the memory 103. Execute the process.

  The drawing process determination unit 101a determines whether or not a process corresponding to an input signal issued from the input unit 117 involves a drawing process.

  The plug-in determination unit 101b reads plug-in setting presence / absence information from the memory 103 when the drawing processing determination unit 101a determines to perform drawing processing, and uses a plug-in program based on the read plug-in setting presence / absence information. It is determined whether or not to perform drawing processing.

  When the plug-in determination unit 101b determines that the drawing process is performed using the plug-in program, the image generation unit 101c reads the plug-in program from the memory 103 and generates image data according to the read plug-in program.

  The plug-in I / F 101 e is an interface when the image generation unit 101 c reads a plug-in program from the memory 103.

  The virtual machine 102 of the CPU 100 is a virtual computer realized by software for using software independent of hardware, and an image for causing the display unit 119 to display an image based on the image data generated by the image generation unit 101c. A function of transmitting an output signal;

  Next, the processing procedure of the graphical user interface display device according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

  First, when receiving an input signal generated by the input unit 117 due to a user's external operation or the like, the drawing process determination unit 101a of the middleware 101 executes the processes after step S103 (step S101).

  Then, the drawing process determination unit 101a determines whether or not the process corresponding to the input signal generated by the input unit 117 involves a drawing process (step S103).

  More specifically, the drawing process determination unit 101a generates an input signal generated by the input unit 117 in accordance with a graphical user interface display program in which a condition determination process for determining whether to perform a drawing process for each input signal is described in advance. From this, it is determined whether or not the process corresponding to this input signal involves a drawing process.

  Next, if the plug-in determination unit 101b of the middleware 101 determines that the drawing process determination unit 101a performs the drawing process, the plug-in setting presence / absence information and the name data of the plug-in program associated therewith are stored from the memory 103. Is determined based on the read plug-in setting presence / absence information using the plug-in program (step S105).

  Specifically, if the value of the plug-in setting presence / absence information that has been read is set to a value indicating “present”, the plug-in determination unit 101b performs a drawing process using the plug-in program with the associated name. On the other hand, if the value of the read plug-in setting presence / absence information is set to a value indicating “none”, it is determined that the drawing process is performed without using the plug-in program.

  When the plug-in determination unit 101b determines that the drawing process is performed using the plug-in, the image generation unit 101c of the middleware 101 reads the target data from the memory 103 based on the name data of the associated plug-in program. When the plug-in program is searched and it is determined that the target plug-in program exists (step S107), the image generation unit 101c searches the target from the memory 103 via the plug-in I / F 101e. The plug-in program is read and image data is generated according to the read plug-in program (step S111).

  In step S105, when the plug-in determination unit 101b determines that the drawing process is performed without using the plug-in, the image generation unit 101c of the middleware 101 generates image data according to the middleware program without reading the plug-in program. (Step S109).

  FIG. 3 shows an example of a screen displayed on the display unit 119 when a 2D GUI component drawing plug-in and a 3D GUI component drawing plug-in are added in the graphical user interface display device according to the present embodiment. FIG.

  3 are components for which plug-in setting presence / absence information stored in the memory 103 is not set, and GUI components 304 to 306 have plug-in setting presence / absence information stored in the memory 103. Suppose that it is a set part.

  For example, when the drawing processing determination unit 101a of the middleware 101 receives an input signal for drawing the GUI component 301, the plug-in determination unit 101b of the middleware 101 indicates that the value of the read plug-in setting presence / absence information indicates “none”. Since the value is set, it is determined that the drawing process is performed without using the plug-in program. Then, the image generation unit 101c of the middleware 101 generates image data according to the middleware program without reading the plug-in program.

  On the other hand, when the drawing processing determination unit 101a of the middleware 101 receives an input signal for drawing the GUI component 306, the plug-in determination unit 101b of the middleware 101 indicates that the value of the read plug-in setting presence / absence information is “present”. Since it is set to a value, it is determined that drawing processing is performed using a plug-in program. Then, the image generation unit 101c reads the 3D component drawing plug-in program stored in the memory 103 from the memory 103 via the plug-in I / F 101e, and the image data of the 3D component is read according to the read 3D component drawing plug-in program. Is generated.

  Next, the image generation unit 101c of the middleware 101 delivers the generated image data to the virtual machine 102 that is the output control unit (step S113), and the virtual machine 102 is based on the image data delivered by the image generation unit 101c. An image output signal for displaying an image on the display unit is transmitted (step S115).

  As described above, according to the graphical user interface display device according to the present embodiment, the plug-in program is read via the plug-in I / F 101e when the advanced graphic processing is required, and the read plug-in program is read. Thus, it becomes possible to perform the drawing process. As a result, even when it is necessary to perform graphic processing that cannot be rendered only by the middleware 101, advanced graphic processing can be performed by adding or changing a plug-in program corresponding to the target graphic processing. Therefore, middleware can be used in common for electronic devices with various performances ranging from low-end models to high-end models, and the development man-hours of graphical user interface display programs by developers are greatly reduced. be able to.

1 is a block diagram of a graphical user interface display device according to an embodiment. FIG. It is the flowchart which showed the process sequence of the graphical user interface display apparatus which concerns on this embodiment. FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of a screen displayed on a display unit when a 2D GUI component drawing plug-in and a 3D GUI component drawing plug-in are added in the graphical user interface display device according to the embodiment. .

Explanation of symbols

10 ... Graphical user interface display device 100 ... CPU
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 101 ... Middleware 101a ... Drawing process determination means 101b ... Plug-in determination means 101c ... Image generation means 101d ... Plug-in I / F
102 ... Virtual machine (display control means)
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 103 ... Memory 105 ... Memory bus 107 ... Bus 115 ... Memory | storage part 117 ... Input part 119 ... Display part

Claims (2)

A graphical user interface display device for executing a graphical user interface display program applied to a software embedded electronic device,
One or more plug-in programs for GUI component drawing processing that can be incorporated into the graphical user interface display program, and each GUI component indicating whether or not drawing processing is performed using the plug-in program Storage means for storing plug-in setting presence / absence information and name data of the plug-in program associated with the plug-in setting presence / absence information as necessary;
Input means for generating an input signal by external input;
A drawing process determination unit that determines whether the process corresponding to the input signal generated by the input unit is a process involving a drawing process of a GUI component;
When the drawing process determining unit determines that the process is accompanied by a drawing process, the plug-in setting presence / absence information and the name data of the associated plug-in program are read from the storage unit as necessary. Plug-in determination means for determining whether to perform drawing processing using a plug-in program based on plug-in setting presence / absence information;
When it is determined by the plug-in determination means that the drawing process of the GUI part is performed using the plug-in program, the corresponding plug-in program is retrieved from the storage means based on the name data of the read plug-in program and read Image generating means for generating image data of a GUI component according to the read plug-in program;
A graphical user interface display device, comprising: output control means for transmitting an image output signal for displaying an image on a display unit based on the image data generated by the drawing generation means. A graphical user interface display program applied to a software embedded electronic device,
The software embedded electronic device,
One or more plug-in programs for GUI component drawing processing that can be incorporated into the graphical user interface display program, and each GUI component indicating whether or not drawing processing is performed using the plug-in program Storage means for storing plug-in setting presence / absence information and name data of the plug-in program associated with the plug-in setting presence / absence information as necessary;
Input means for generating an input signal by external input;
A drawing process determination unit that determines whether the process corresponding to the input signal generated by the input unit is a process involving a drawing process of a GUI component;
When the drawing process determining unit determines that the process is accompanied by a drawing process, the plug-in setting presence / absence information and the name data of the associated plug-in program are read from the storage unit as necessary. Plug-in determination means for determining whether to perform drawing processing using a plug-in program based on plug-in setting presence / absence information;
When it is determined by the plug-in determination means that the drawing process of the GUI part is performed using the plug-in program, the corresponding plug-in program is retrieved and read from the storage means based on the name data of the read plug-in program. An image generation means for generating image data of a GUI component in accordance with the read plug-in program;
A graphical user interface display program for functioning as output control means for transmitting an image output signal for displaying an image on a display unit based on image data generated by the drawing generation means.

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