JP2009025905A - Information processor and icon display method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To display icons having chances to be selected more frequently so as to be found more easily, since, larger the number of icons becomes, finding of the desired icon becomes more difficult. <P>SOLUTION: A plurality of the icons are displayed so as to be selected, and when one of the displayed icons is selected, stored data are updated so that the selection frequency of the icon becomes high, and the display of each icon is updated according to the selection frequency of the icon shown by the data. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus capable of selecting an application to be activated on a screen, and more particularly to a method of displaying an icon related to selection of an application to be activated.

  When selecting and starting a desired application on an information device represented by a PC (Personal Computer), a menu list is displayed, a menu tree is displayed, or an application button in which a predetermined application is registered in advance is provided. This method has been realized.

  For example, there is a method of expressing processing contents and objects called icons on a PC operation screen with small pictures and symbols and intuitively selecting a desired application based on the pictures and symbols. However, as the number of iconized applications increases, the number of icons that must be displayed increases. As a result, there is a problem that it is difficult to search for an icon of a desired application.

For this reason, a method of enlarging the screen more than other icons in accordance with the frequency of icon selection has been proposed (see Patent Document 1).
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2-114318

  Although it is an effective method to select a desired application to be activated based on the displayed icon, there is a problem that it is difficult to find a desired icon when the number of icons increases.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to make it easier to find an icon with more opportunities for selection.

With the information processing apparatus according to the present invention,
The display unit displays a plurality of icons in a selectable manner, a pointing device for selecting and designating one of the displayed icons, and a selection frequency selected by the pointing device. A memory for storing each icon so as to increase in accordance with a selection ratio, and the display unit displays each icon by changing the display according to the selection frequency of the icon. An information processing apparatus characterized by this is provided.

The icon display method according to the present invention includes:
A plurality of icons are displayed so that each can be selected, and when one of the displayed icons is selected, the frequency of data stored for each icon is increased so that the selection frequency for selecting the icon increases. Of these, the selection frequency for the selected icon is updated, and the display of each icon is updated according to the selection frequency of the icon.

  It is possible to facilitate selection of a desired function by displaying icons that are frequently selected more easily.

(This embodiment)
FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of an information processing apparatus according to the present embodiment. In FIG. 1, a PC 100, a display 101, a keyboard 102, and a mouse 103 are shown.

  The PC 100 is a portable personal computer such as a node personal computer.

  The display 101 is a display device mounted on the PC 100. For example, an LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) is used, and the PC 100 displays information to the user.

  The keyboard 102 is an input device incorporated in the PC 100. The user of the PC 100 can give any instruction by pressing the keyboard 102.

  The mouse 103 is an input device for moving a mouse cursor displayed on the screen of the PC 100 as intended by the user. Such an input device is also referred to as a pointing device because it is used to point to a predetermined location on the screen. Furthermore, some buttons used for instructing the PC 100 to start a predetermined operation are also provided.

  FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of a block configuration diagram of the PC 100 according to the present embodiment. FIG. 2 shows a CPU 200, a main memory 201, a bus controller 202, an HDD 203, an input / output controller 204, and a USB controller 205.

  The CPU 200 is a central processing unit and controls the entire information device 100. It also has a function of executing a program and executing a predetermined process corresponding to the program.

  The main memory 201 is composed of a semiconductor memory, and is used as an area for storing programs and data when the CPU 200 processes the programs.

  The bus controller 202 has a function of controlling a bus for transmitting information between the components of the information device 100. The instruction from the CPU 200 reads / writes data in the main memory 201 via the bus or gives an instruction to other devices.

  The HDD 203 is a large-capacity storage device configured by, for example, a magnetic disk device (Hard Disk Drive). An application executed by the CPU 200 and data necessary for execution are stored and transferred to the CPU 200 via the bus controller 202 as necessary.

  The input / output controller 204 has a function of providing an interface between the CPU 200 and the HDD 203, the display device 101, and various input / output devices such as the keyboard 102.

  The USB controller 205 is a control device for connecting a device having a USB (Universal Serial Bus) standard interface. Various devices compliant with the USB standard have appeared, and connection and disconnection can be freely performed even when the information device 100 is in operation by PnP (Plug and Play) technology. In the present embodiment, it is used to connect the mouse 103.

  FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of icon display according to the present embodiment. FIG. 3 shows a display screen 300, an icon 301, and a mouse cursor 302.

  A display screen 300 shows the state of the screen displayed on the display 101.

  The icon 301 expresses the contents and target of processing with small pictures and symbols, and the user intuitively selects and activates a desired application based on the pictures and symbols. Each icon is assigned desired operation information that the PC 100 wants to perform when the icon is selected, such as information on an application to be activated when the icon is selected and predetermined input data.

A plurality of icons can be displayed as long as the size of the display screen 300 allows. However, when the number of similar icons increases, it may be difficult to find a desired icon, which may lead to an operation error in some cases.

Even if a plurality of icons are displayed on the display screen 300, it is considered that the selection frequency varies considerably. There is a need for a device that makes it easy to find an icon to which a frequently used action is assigned and makes the other icons inconspicuous.

  The mouse cursor 302 is configured such that when the mouse 103 is slid forward, backward, left and right on the desk, the display screen 300 is moved and displayed accordingly. In the present embodiment, it is used to indicate the icon 103 to be selected displayed on the display screen 300. For example, when the mouse cursor 302 is on the desired icon 301, the user can instruct the PC 100 to perform the operation indicated by the operation information assigned to the icon 301 by pressing a button provided on the mouse 103. it can.

  FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of a display screen after icon selection according to the present embodiment. In FIG. 4, when each of a plurality of icons is displayed without distinction as shown in FIG. 3, the state after selecting a desired selection icon 400 will be described using (a) and (b), respectively. Yes.

In the case of (a), after the selection icon 400 is selected, the brightness or contrast of the selection icon 400 is increased and displayed more conspicuously than the other icons.

In the case of (b), the brightness or contrast of the selected icon 400 is kept as it is, and conversely, the brightness or contrast of other icons is lowered and displayed.

In either case, the selection icon 400 is displayed more conspicuously than other icons when selected. With this configuration, the selected icon with a track record can be displayed on the screen more easily than the icon that has not been selected.

  FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of an icon display flow according to the present embodiment.

First, it is determined whether or not any of the icons displayed on the display screen 300 has been selected (step S01).

If any icon is selected (Yes), the counter assigned to the selected icon is incremented (step S02). The counter here is prepared for each displayed icon, and by comparing the value of this counter with the value of the counter of another icon, the relative selection ratio of a predetermined icon can be checked. it can. It is stored as data in a temporary area on the main memory 201 or in the HDD 203.

  Next, a function desired by the user who has selected this icon associated with this icon is executed (step S03).

  Then, each icon is rewritten based on the counter value described above (step S04). At this time, even if rewriting is performed so as to increase the brightness or contrast of an icon having a high selection ratio as shown in FIG. 4A, rewriting is performed so as to decrease the brightness or contrast of other icons as shown in FIG. 4B. May be.

With this configuration, the selected icon with a track record can be displayed on the screen more easily than the icon that has not been selected.

  Note that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment as it is, and can be embodied by modifying the constituent elements without departing from the scope of the invention in the implementation stage. In addition, various inventions can be formed by appropriately combining a plurality of components disclosed in the embodiment. For example, some components may be deleted from all the components shown in the embodiment. Furthermore, constituent elements over different embodiments may be appropriately combined.

It is a figure which shows an example of the information processing apparatus concerning this embodiment. It is a figure which shows an example of the block block diagram of the information processing apparatus concerning this embodiment. It is a figure which shows an example of the icon display screen concerning this embodiment. It is a figure which shows an example of the display screen after the icon selection concerning this embodiment. It is a figure which shows an example of the icon display flow concerning this embodiment.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 100 ... PC, 101 ... Display, 102 ... Keyboard, 103 ... Mouse, 200 ... CPU, 201 ... Main memory, 202 ... Bus controller, 203 ... HDD, 204 ... Input / output controller, 205 ... USB controller, 300 ... Display screen, 301 ... Icon, 302 ... Mouse cursor, 400 ... Selection icon

Claims (4)

Display means for displaying a plurality of icons, each of which can be selected;
A pointing device for selecting and designating one of the displayed icons;
A memory for storing each icon so that a selection frequency selected by the pointing device is increased according to a ratio of the icon being selected;
The information processing apparatus is characterized in that the display means changes the display of each icon according to the selection frequency of the icon.   The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the display unit displays each icon by changing brightness or contrast. Display multiple icons, each selectable,
If you select one of the displayed icons,
Update the selection frequency for the selected icon out of the data stored for each icon so that the selection frequency for selecting this icon increases.
An icon display method, wherein the display of each icon is updated according to the selection frequency of the icon.   The icon display method according to claim 3, wherein when updating the display, the brightness or contrast of each icon is updated and displayed so as to be different for each icon.

Images