JP2009223806A - Window display, control method therefor, and computer program - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To solve a problem wherein a display position of a default in a window and a window overlapping order get not always optimum for a user. <P>SOLUTION: This window display stores a flag attribute as to the propriety of overlapped display with a caller side window in each window kind. A new window is displayed in a display position not overlapped with the caller side window, when the overlapped display is prohibited. The new window is displayed in a display position of the caller side window, when the overlapped display is not prohibited. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a window display technique, and more particularly to a technique for determining a display position of a new window.

  In a multi-window display device, when display requests regarding a message window are simultaneously generated from a plurality of application software, it is necessary to determine the overlapping order of the message windows.

  As a technique for this, there is a technique that uses message priority. The technique described in Patent Document 1 determines the overlapping order of message windows in accordance with preset message priorities. As a result, the message window that seems to be most important for the user is displayed in the foreground. This first and surely confirms the content of the message to be confirmed by the user first, and minimizes the user's effort to change the overlapping order of the windows.

  In addition, there is a technique for notifying that a message display request has occurred in the window displayed in the foreground in a situation where windows of a plurality of application software are displayed in an overlapping manner. The technique described in Patent Document 2 provides a reserved area for each window of application software. For example, it is provided at the rightmost end portion at the top of the window. When a message display request is generated, the fact that the message display request has occurred is displayed in the reserved area portion of the frontmost window due to the overlapping relationship of the windows. The user can confirm the content of the message by pressing a button on the reserved area in the window. As a result, the user can recognize that a message display request has occurred without interrupting the user operation in the frontmost window.

In addition, there is a technique for determining a window operation priority when a user performs a window operation in a situation where windows of a plurality of application software are displayed overlapping each other. In the technique described in Patent Document 3, when a menu item is selected from a menu window in which menu items are arranged, other windows that are already overlapped with the menu window are preferentially displayed. Therefore, the menu window is changed to the backmost because of the overlapping of windows. This places a window that will not be used for the time being on the back side, thereby relatively increasing the use of other windows.
JP 2000-305687 A Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 5-189182 JP-A-5-61627

  However, in the technique described in Patent Document 1, the display priority between message windows is solved, but the priority with windows other than the message window is not defined. For example, when a new message window is displayed, the window (parent window) of the application that called the message window may be obscured. Such a window display method may stop the flow of user operations and cause confusion. Even if priorities are defined for windows other than the message window, the method of Patent Document 1 is not preferable because the message window is displayed on the back of the window.

  In the technique described in Patent Document 2, the user operation of the window being operated is not interrupted even when a message display request is generated. However, the contents of the message can be confirmed only after the button on the reserved area in the window is pressed. Therefore, there is a possibility that the fact that the message has occurred is missed or cannot be discovered in real time. In addition, the case where a plurality of message display requests occur simultaneously is not taken into consideration. Therefore, when message display requests can occur frequently, it is difficult to trace the message generation status later.

  In the technique described in Patent Document 3, the display priority of the menu window is lowered. However, since the relationship with the display priority of the window displayed in the foreground is not taken into account by the lowering, the window overlapping order that is truly desirable for the user is not always realized.

The window display device according to the present invention is
Display means for displaying an application window;
Storage means for storing a displayed window information table that holds information about a display area including a display position and a display size of a window being displayed by the display means;
A window display request acquisition unit that acquires from the application a display size of a new window that is a window that the application newly displays on the display unit;
Determining means for determining whether or not to prohibit the overlap of the display area of the parent window, which is the calling source window of the new window, and the display area of the new window, based on a setting value set for each window; ,
When the determination means determines that the duplication is prohibited, the display position where the display area of the new window and the display area of the parent window do not overlap when the new window is displayed with the acquired display size is displayed. A search means for searching from the middle window information table,
The display means includes
When the search means searches for the non-overlapping display position, the new window is displayed with the acquired display size at the searched display position;
The new window is displayed with the acquired display size at the display position of the parent window when the search means does not search for the non-overlapping display position.

  A new window can be displayed on the multi-window display device so that the user can continue working in an optimum state.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the following embodiments, the present invention is applied when monitoring and controlling a semiconductor exposure apparatus. Since terms relating to the apparatus are generally not familiar and different terms may be used depending on the manufacturer of the semiconductor exposure apparatus, the terms used in the following description are defined for the purpose of avoiding confusion.

  The semiconductor exposure apparatus is an apparatus for developing a semiconductor integrated circuit by irradiating illumination light onto a reticle and transferring a pattern onto a wafer, and may be described as a “stepper”. A wafer is a thin plate of single crystal silicon or the like and serves as a semiconductor element substrate.

  A reticle is an original plate on which a circuit pattern to be transferred to a wafer is drawn. The reticle stage is a pedestal for holding the reticle. The reticle alignment is a reticle alignment operation for transferring a circuit pattern on the reticle to a correct position on the wafer. The reticle mark is a mark for confirming the reticle position when performing reticle alignment, and is marked on the reticle. The reticle reference mark is a mark for confirming the position of the reticle stage when performing reticle alignment, and is marked on the reticle stage.

  The CCD camera is a camera having a solid-state image sensor. In a semiconductor exposure apparatus, it is used when photographing the result of reticle alignment. Photographing is performed by irradiating LED light from the opposite side.

  FIG. 1 shows an example of the configuration when two semiconductor exposure apparatuses are controlled using a standard network such as Ethernet (registered trademark) as a communication means. Stepper No. 1 machine 100 and Stepper No. 2 machine 101 operate in mutually independent operating conditions. The information device 102 is an information device provided for the purpose of controlling and monitoring the stepper. Each device is connected by a standard network 103 such as Ethernet (registered trademark). In each of the following embodiments, an example in which two semiconductor exposure apparatuses are controlled and monitored by one information device 102 is handled, but the number of semiconductor exposure apparatuses and information devices 102 is not limited to this example. .

<First Embodiment>
An outline of the operation of this embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining an example of transition of windows displayed on a display attached to the information device 102 (display 310 in FIG. 3 described later).

  FIG. 2a shows a window displayed in a normal state in which no error has occurred. Window 200 is a window for displaying the exposure operation status of Stepper No. 1 machine 100. A window 210 is a window for displaying the exposure operation status of the stepper No. 2 machine 101. The window 200 and the window 210 are windows for basic operations for controlling and monitoring the stepper No. 1 machine 100 and the stepper No. 2 machine 101, respectively. By continuously monitoring the display 310 of the information device 102, the user confirms the operation status of the stepper No. 1 machine 100 and the stepper No. 2 machine 101, finds a fault, and gives a fault countermeasure instruction.

  Here, it is assumed that both the stepper No. 1 machine 100 and the stepper No. 2 machine 101 are independently operating an exposure job which is a unit for performing an exposure operation based on the exposure operation definition content. If any error occurs during the execution of the exposure job, the error status is displayed on the display 310 of the information device 102.

  FIG. 2B is a diagram showing an example of the state of the window immediately after the stepper No. 2 machine 101 continues normal operation but an error occurs in the Stepper No. 1 machine 100 and the situation is displayed on the display 310 of the information device 102. It is. A window 220 displays a CCD camera photographed image 221 in which the reticle is carried onto the reticle stage and subsequently the reticle alignment is photographed by the CCD camera. Window 230 is a window for indicating that a reticle alignment error has occurred. The confirmation command panel 231 presents a method for pursuing the cause of the error by the user operation after the error has occurred. In this example, the user can select a response from three types of options, and the only radio button for exclusive selection is displayed on the GUI. The first option 232 is for confirming whether or not the operation until the reticle is transferred onto the reticle stage is correctly performed. The second option 233 is for confirming whether or not the amount of LED light emitted from the opposite side is sufficient when photographing with the CCD camera. The third option 234 is for confirming whether or not the variation in the measurement result due to reticle alignment is within a stable range. The user needs to browse the CCD camera captured image 221 in order to determine which option is effective.

  For example, when the reticle reference mark is shown but the reticle mark is not shown, there is a possibility that the reticle transport operation is defective, so the first option 232 is a strong candidate for the user. On the other hand, when neither the reticle reference mark nor the reticle mark is shown, there is a possibility that the LED light quantity is insufficient, so the second option 233 is a strong candidate for the user. Also, if these are shown, but the reticle reference mark or reticle mark color density is close to the background color and the contrast is weak, making it difficult to recognize, the second option 233 is also a strong candidate. On the other hand, if both the reticle reference mark and the reticle mark are photographed and photographed with a clear contrast, there is a possibility of alignment measurement failure. In this case, the third option 234 is a strong candidate for the user.

  As described above, when the window 220 and the window 230 are in a state in which one of the windows is hidden behind the other window and cannot be seen, it is difficult for the user to confirm and consider. Therefore, in this example, it is desirable to display a new window so that both windows can be seen simultaneously as an initial state.

  FIG. 2c is a diagram illustrating an example of a window displayed when the third option 234 is selected from the state of FIG. 2b and the OK button 235 is pressed. In this case, the window 230 is automatically closed and the window 240 is displayed. The window 240 is a window for inputting the reticle alignment trial count 241 in order to determine variations in measurement result values by trying a plurality of alignment measurements. When inputting the number of trials, there is no need to view the CCD camera image 221 and other information in the window 220 at the same time. Therefore, in this case, the window 220 may be obscured by the newly displayed window 240. Further, by displaying the window 240 so as to overlap the window 220, the window 210 is displayed again, and the monitoring work of the stepper No. 2 machine 101 can be resumed. Therefore, in this example, it is desirable that a new window is displayed so that both windows overlap as an initial state, and other unrelated windows are visible.

  In the first embodiment according to the present invention, a new window is displayed at an appropriate position based on the characteristics of the window as described above.

  An example of the configuration of the information device 102 according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of the information device 102. FIG. 3 shows a minimum configuration for realizing the configuration of FIG. 1 corresponding to the embodiment of the present invention, and other mechanisms related to the information device 102 are omitted for the sake of simplicity. ing.

  A CPU 301 that is a microprocessor controls the information device 102 based on programs and data stored in a storage medium set in the ROM 303, the hard disk (HD) 312, and the external memory drive 311.

  The RAM 302 functions as a work area for the CPU 301 and holds programs stored in the ROM 303, the HD 312 and the like. In addition, various tables shown in FIG. 4 are also held.

  The storage medium set in the ROM 303 and the external memory drive 311 or the HD 312 stores a program executed by the CPU 301 as shown in a flowchart described later.

  A keyboard controller (KBC) 305 controls input from a keyboard (KB) 309 or a pointing device such as a mouse (not shown). A display controller (DPC) 306 controls display on the display 310. A disk controller (DKC) 307 controls access to the HD 312 and the external memory drive 311 and reads / writes various programs and various data such as font data, user files, and edit files to / from these storage media. A printer controller (PRTC) 308 is connected to the printer 322 via a predetermined bidirectional interface 321 and executes communication control with the printer 322.

  The CPU 301 executes outline font rasterization processing on a display information area allocated on the RAM 302 or a dedicated video memory (VRAM), and enables display on the display 310. Further, the CPU 301 opens various registered windows based on commands instructed by a mouse cursor or the like on the display 310, and executes various data processing.

  The function of the information device 102 according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a functional block diagram for realizing this embodiment. The window display unit 400 displays a window with the requested display content and position on the display 310 of the information device 102. The window layout determining unit 401 determines the display position of the window requested to be displayed. Further, the contents of the displayed window information table 403 are updated. The window display request acquisition unit 402 acquires a window display request from application software. The displayed window information table 403 holds information regarding the window display position and display size for all windows being displayed on the display 310 of the information device 102. The parent window duplication prohibition attribute table 404 holds flag information as to whether or not to allow overlapping display on the parent window for each type of window. Here, the parent window is the window that called the window. When there is no window corresponding to the parent window as in the case of newly starting an application, the desktop window is set as a dummy parent window.

  Hereinafter, the details of the operation of the information device 102 in the present embodiment will be described.

  FIG. 5 is an example of a flowchart for realizing the present embodiment. This flowchart is processed by the CPU 301 of the information device 102 executing a program stored in the ROM 303 or the HD 312.

  In step S500, the window display request acquisition unit 402 acquires window display request information 600 from the application software that has requested display of the window. Hereinafter, the window requested to be displayed is referred to as the window.

  FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of the window display request information 600. In FIG. 6, a window ID 601 is an identification number uniquely assigned to each window type. The display content 602 is content displayed inside the window when it is displayed. The window size 603 is the number of pixels in the horizontal and vertical directions of the window to be displayed. These items are set for each type of window when creating application software.

  The parent window instance ID 604 is the instance ID of the parent window of the window. Here, the instance ID is an identification number added by the window layout determining unit 401 so as to uniquely identify a window with respect to all windows being displayed. The window ID 601 set in advance for each window type is different from the instance ID assigned at the time of display. For example, the window 200 and the window 210 illustrated in FIG. 2 have the same window ID 601 because they are the same type of window. However, since the displayed windows are different, they have different instance IDs. On the other hand, the window 220 has a common instance ID because the window 200 is changed. However, since the types of windows are different, they have different window IDs 601.

  Next, the parent window will be described. The parent window is the window that called the window. For example, the parent window of the window 230 shown in FIG. On the other hand, the window from which the window 240 is called is the window 230. However, since the window 230 is closed simultaneously with the display of the window 240, the window 200 that is the parent window of the window 230 becomes the parent window of the window 240. As described above, when the parent window is closed, the parent window becomes the parent window of the window.

  In the following description, it is assumed that the window 230 shown in FIG. 2 is a window requested to be displayed. Therefore, the parent window becomes the window 200.

Returning to FIG. 5, in step S <b> 501, the window layout determination unit 401 receives the window display request information 600 from the window display request acquisition unit 402 and refers to the window ID 601. Using this window ID 601, the flag information indicating whether or not it is prohibited to display the window superimposed on the parent window is acquired from the parent window duplication prohibition attribute table 404.
FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of the parent window duplication prohibition attribute table 404. The window ID 700 is an identification number uniquely assigned to each window type, and corresponds to the window ID 601 of the window display request information 600.

  The parent window duplication prohibition attribute 701 is flag information indicating whether or not to prohibit the display of the window over the parent window. “1” represents prohibition, and “0” represents permission. The parent window duplication prohibition attribute 701 is a value determined by the characteristics of the window. Therefore, the setting value of the parent window duplication prohibition attribute 701 is set for each type of window when creating application software.

  In this embodiment, since the window ID 601 of the window display request information 600 shown in FIG. 6 is “1000”, an entry line in which the window ID 700 of the parent window duplication prohibition attribute table 404 shown in FIG. 7 matches “1000” is searched. To do. “1” is set in the parent window duplication prohibition attribute 701 of the entry row 702 as a search result. That is, the window is prohibited from being displayed on the parent window.

  In step S <b> 502, the window layout determination unit 401 acquires information regarding the display position and display size of the parent window of the window from the displayed window information table 403.

  FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating an example of the displayed window information table 403. The displayed window information table 403 holds layout information of all windows being displayed. The instance ID 800 is an identification number for uniquely identifying the window. Window position coordinates 801 indicate where the upper left corner of the window is located on the display coordinate system as viewed from the user. The display coordinate system is arbitrary, but here, the upper left corner of the display 310 as viewed from the user is (0, 0), the right and lower directions are the coordinate axes, and the pixel width is 1 unit. And Window size 802 indicates the number of pixels in the horizontal and vertical directions of the window. The window layout determination unit adds an entry line together with the display of the new window, and deletes the corresponding entry line as the window is closed. When the window size or display position is changed by the user, the entry line is updated accordingly.

  In the present embodiment, it is assumed that entry rows 803 and 804 correspond to the windows 200 and 210 shown in FIG. As described above, since the instance ID 800 of the window 220 is the same as that of the window 200, the window 220 also corresponds to the entry line 803.

  From the window display request information 600 shown in FIG. 6, the window layout determining unit 401 knows that the parent window instance ID of the window is “4728”. By using this, an entry row having an instance ID 800 of “4728” is searched from the displayed window information table 403 shown in FIG. “(0, 0)” that is the window position coordinate 801 of the entry row 803 that is the search result and “1024 × 768” that is the window size 802 are temporarily stored.

  In step S503, the window layout determination unit 401 determines whether or not the parent window duplication prohibition attribute 701 acquired in step S501 is “1”. If it is “1” (“YES” in step S503), the process proceeds to step S504. If it is “0” (“NO” in step S503), the process proceeds to step S507. Here, since the parent window duplication prohibition attribute 701 is “1”, the process proceeds to step S504. An example in which the parent window duplication prohibition attribute 701 is “0” will be described later.

  In step S504, the window layout determining unit 401 searches for a candidate area for displaying the window other than the area where the parent window is displayed. Here, the displayed window information table 403 in FIG. 8 is used again.

  First, in FIG. 8, the entry window having a window position coordinate 801 different from the window position coordinate 801 of the parent window acquired in step S502 is searched from the displayed window information table 403. Next, when the window is displayed at the window position coordinates 801 of the entry line as the search result, it is determined whether or not the window and the parent window have an overlapping area. If it is determined that there is no overlapping area, the window position coordinate 801 is a candidate for the window position coordinate 801 of the window.

  Here, the window position coordinate 801 of the acquired parent window is “(0, 0)”. Therefore, an entry line whose window position coordinate 801 is not “(0, 0)” is searched from the displayed window information table 403. As a result, the entry row 804 is detected.

  Subsequently, when the window is displayed at “(1024, 0)” which is the window position coordinate 801 of the entry row 804, it is determined whether or not there is an area overlapping with the parent window. Since the window size 603 is “1024 × 768”, the horizontal range occupied by the window is from 1024 to 2047. This range does not overlap with 0 to 1023, which is the horizontal range occupied by the parent window. Therefore, if the window position coordinate 801 is displayed as “(1024, 0)”, the window is not overlapped with the parent window. Thus, if at least one of the horizontal direction or the vertical direction does not overlap, the windows do not have overlapping regions.

  If there is a candidate area in step S505 ("YES" in step S505), the process proceeds to step S506 in order to set the display position of the window in the window position coordinates 801 of the candidate area. If there is no candidate area (“NO” in step S505), the process proceeds to step S507 in order to perform setting for displaying the window over the parent window.

  In the present embodiment, since there is a candidate area for displaying the window other than the display area of the parent window (“YES” in step S505), the process proceeds to step S506.

  It is desirable to search for window position coordinates 801 such that all areas of the window are displayed in the display 310. Thereby, all the contents can be confirmed without the user moving the window.

  In step S506, the window layout determining unit 401 sets the window position coordinate 801 searched in step S504 as the window position coordinate 801 of the window. In the present embodiment, “(1024, 0)” is set in the window position coordinate 801.

  In step S508, the window display unit 400 displays the window at the window position coordinates 801 set in step S506. Accordingly, the window layout determining unit 401 adds an entry line corresponding to the window to the displayed window information table 403.

  As a result of step S508, the layout shown in FIG. 2B is realized.

  Next, the operation when the user observes the window 230, selects the measurement stability confirmation option 234, and presses the OK button 235 will be described. Even in this case, the operation according to the flowchart shown in FIG. 5 is performed.

  In step S500, the window display request acquisition unit 402 acquires window display request information 900 from the application software that has requested display of the window.

  FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating an example of the window display request information 900. The contents of each item are the same as the window display request information 600 shown in FIG. Here, it is assumed that the window 240 shown in FIG. 2C is the window requested to be displayed. The window from which the window 240 is called is the window 230, but is closed with the display of the window 240, so the window 220 that is the parent window becomes the parent window of the window. Therefore, “4728” that is the instance ID 800 of the window 220 is specified as the parent window instance ID 904 of the window display request information 900.

  In step S501 shown in FIG. 5, an entry line in which the window ID 700 of the parent window duplication prohibition attribute table 404 shown in FIG. 7 matches “1005” is searched. “0” is set in the parent window duplication prohibition attribute 701 of the entry row 703 that is the search result. That is, the window may be displayed so as to overlap the parent window.

  In step S502, the window layout determining unit 401 acquires information regarding the display position and display size of the parent window of the window from the displayed window information table 403 illustrated in FIG.

  Similarly to the previous example, “(0, 0)” that is the window position coordinate 801 of the entry row 803 that is the search result and “1024 × 768” that is the window size 802 are temporarily stored.

  In step S503, the window layout determination unit 401 determines whether or not the parent window duplication prohibition attribute 701 acquired in step S501 is “1”. In this embodiment, since it is “0” (“NO” in step S503), the process proceeds to step S507.

  In step S507, the window position coordinate 801 acquired in step S502 is set as the window position coordinate 801 of the window. In the present embodiment, “(0, 0)” is set in the window position coordinate 801.

  In step S508, the window display unit 400 displays the window at the window position coordinates 801 set in step S507. Accordingly, the window layout determining unit 401 adds an entry line corresponding to the window to the displayed window information table 403 and deletes the entry line corresponding to the window 230 to be closed.

  It is desirable that the window size 802 of the window is set so that neither the horizontal direction nor the vertical direction is larger than the window size 802 of the parent window. As a result, the window can be prevented from overlapping with a window that uses an area other than the parent window.

  As a result of step S508, the layout shown in FIG. 2C is realized.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, overlapping of windows can be adjusted by displaying a new window at an appropriate position according to the type of window to be displayed.

<Second Embodiment>
In the present embodiment, a case where it is determined whether or not to display a new window in an overlapping manner according to the importance of the window is handled.

  An outline of the operation of the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.

  FIG. 10 is a diagram for explaining an example of transition of windows displayed on the display 310 attached to the information device 102. FIG. 10A shows a window displayed in a normal state in which no error or the like has occurred, as in FIG. 2A in the first embodiment.

  FIG. 10 b shows the state of the window immediately after the window 1030 relating to the error has been displayed on the display 310 of the information device 102 in the Stepper No. 2 machine 101 in which a masking blade power supply abnormality error has occurred.

  FIG. 10c shows the state of a window immediately after a reticle alignment error has occurred in Stepper No. 1 and a window 1040 related to the error is displayed.

  The types of errors that have occurred in Stepper No. 1 are the same as in the first embodiment. However, in FIG. 10c, the window 1040 is displayed so as to overlap the window 1000 displaying the image captured by the CCD camera of Stepper No. 1. This is because the window 1030 for displaying the status of the stepper No. 2 has a higher importance than the window 1040 for displaying the status of the No. 1 stepper. Therefore, in this example, it is desirable that a new window is displayed as an initial state so as not to hide a highly important window.

  Since the device configuration of the present embodiment is the same as that of FIG. 3 described in the first embodiment, a description thereof will be omitted.

  FIG. 11 is an example of a functional block diagram for realizing this embodiment. Portions that overlap those in FIG. 4 described in the first embodiment are assigned the same reference numerals, and descriptions thereof are omitted. The window importance level table 1100 holds a table in which importance levels of windows determined from the viewpoint of stable operation of the stepper are assigned for each state that can occur as a stepper.

  FIG. 12 is an example of a flowchart for realizing the present embodiment. The same steps as those in the flowchart shown in FIG. 5 in the first embodiment are denoted by the same reference numerals, and detailed description thereof is omitted. This flowchart is processed by the CPU 301 of the information device 102 executing a program stored in the ROM 303 or the HD 312.

  In step S500, the window display request acquisition unit 402 acquires window display request information 600 from the application software that has requested display of the window. Hereinafter, the window requested to be displayed is referred to as the window. In the present embodiment, as in the first embodiment, an example in which the window display request information 600 shown in FIG. Therefore, the window 1040 shown in FIG. 10 is the window, and the window 1000 is the parent window.

  In step 501, the parent window duplication prohibition attribute 701 is acquired using the parent window duplication prohibition attribute table 404 shown in FIG. 7 as in the first embodiment. The result is “1”, and the window is prohibited from being displayed over the parent window.

  In step S502, information regarding the display position and display size of the parent window of the window is acquired.

  FIG. 13 shows an example of the displayed window information table 403, which is used in the second embodiment. Entry rows 1304, 1305, and 1306 correspond to windows 1000, 1010, and 1030 shown in FIG. The window ID 1303 is an identification number uniquely assigned to each window type. It can be seen from the window display request information 600 shown in FIG. 6 that the parent window instance ID 604 of the window is “4728”. Therefore, “4728” is searched from the instance ID 1300 of the displayed window information table 403 shown in FIG. “(0,0)” that is the window position coordinate 1301 of the entry row 1304 that is the search result and “1024 × 768” that is the window size 1302 are temporarily stored.

  In step S503, since it is determined that the acquired parent window duplication prohibition attribute 701 is “1” (“yes” in step S503), the process proceeds to step S504.

  In step S504, the window layout determining unit 401 searches for a candidate area for displaying the window other than the area where the parent window is displayed. As in the first embodiment, “(1024, 0)” that is the window position coordinate 1301 of the entry line 1305 is a candidate for the display position of the window. Therefore, “YES” is determined in the step S505, and the process shifts to a step S1200.

  In step S1200, when the window is displayed at the candidate window position coordinates 1301, the window importance of another window in which a part or all of the display area overlaps is compared with the window importance of the window.

  Here, the window importance will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 14 is a diagram showing an example of a window importance level table 1100 for managing window importance levels. Window ID 1400 is an identification number uniquely assigned to each type of window. The window importance 1401 indicates the importance of the window taking into consideration the critical degree or danger degree in the operation of the stepper. The higher the numerical value, the higher the importance. The device state annotation 1402 is a sentence that briefly describes the state of the device. Even if the apparatus state annotation 1402 is omitted, the effect of the present invention is not affected. These items are set for each window when the application software is created.

  In the present embodiment, the window ID 601 of the window display request information 600 shown in FIG. 6 is “1000”. Accordingly, an entry row 1403 having a window ID 1400 of “1000” in the window importance degree table 1100 shown in FIG. 14 is detected, and the window importance degree 1401 is “3000”. On the other hand, the window position coordinate 1301 searched in step S504 is “(1024, 0)”. When the window is displayed at the position, a window in which part or all of the display area overlaps is a window corresponding to the entry line 1305 and the entry line 1306 of the displayed window information table 403 shown in FIG. Whether or not these windows overlap can be determined in the same manner as described above in the determination of overlap with the parent window. In this embodiment, the case where all overlap is handled, but only a part may overlap.

  These window IDs 1303 are “0001” and “1050”. The window importance degree 1401 of these window IDs is found to be “0020” and “5000” from the window importance degree table 1100 shown in FIG. Therefore, when the window is displayed at the position of the retrieved candidate, a window whose window importance 1401 is higher than that of the window is included in a window in which a part or all of the display area overlaps.

  If the window importance 1401 of the window is higher in step S1201 (“YES” in step S1201), the process proceeds to step S506. If the window is not higher in window importance 1401 (“NO” in step S1201), the process returns to step S504 to search for a new display position candidate.

  In this embodiment, “NO” is determined in the step S1201, and the process returns to the step S504. Therefore, the entry line 1305 and the entry line 1306 detected previously are removed from the search target from the displayed window information table 403 shown in FIG. 13, and the search is performed again. This time, since a candidate area for displaying the window is not detected, “NO” is determined in the step S505. As a result, in order to set the window position coordinates 1301 of the parent window to the window position coordinates 1301 of the window, the process proceeds to step S507.

  As a result of step S508, the layout shown in FIG. 10C is realized.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, overlapping of windows can be adjusted by displaying a new window at an appropriate position according to the importance of the window to be displayed.

<Third Embodiment>
In the present embodiment, a case where it is determined whether or not to display a new window in an overlapping manner depending on whether or not the window is being operated is handled.

  An outline of the operation of the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 15 is a diagram for explaining an example of transition of windows displayed on the display 310 attached to the information device 102.

  FIG. 15A shows the state of a window displayed in a normal state in which no error or the like has occurred, as in FIG. 10A in the second embodiment.

  FIG. 15 b shows a state where a warning about the usage time of the halogen lamp has occurred in Stepper No. 2 101. The user who has confirmed the message content in the window 1520 presses an OK button 1521. As a result, a window 1530 regarding the precautions when replacing the halogen lamp is displayed. FIG. 15c shows a state immediately after a reticle alignment error occurs in Stepper No. 1 and a window 1540 related to the error is displayed.

  As in the first embodiment, the window 1540 displayed due to an error that has occurred in the Stepper No. 1 machine is prohibited from being displayed over the parent window. Further, the window importance of the window 1540 is higher than the window importance of the window 1530. However, in FIG. 15c, the window 1540 is displayed so as to overlap the window 1500 of the image taken by the CCD camera of Stepper No. 1. This is because the user is in the middle of performing a series of error recovery processes regarding the warning of Stepper No. 2. If the window 1540 is displayed over the window 1530, the user has to interrupt the error recovery process. Therefore, in the case of this example, it is desirable to display a new window so as not to hide the window being operated as an initial state.

  Since the device configuration of the present embodiment is the same as that of FIG. 3 described in the first embodiment, a description thereof will be omitted.

  A functional block diagram for realizing this embodiment is the same as FIG. 11 described in the second embodiment, and a description thereof will be omitted.

  FIG. 16 is an example of a flowchart for realizing the present embodiment. The same steps as those in the flowchart shown in FIG. 12 in the second embodiment are denoted by the same reference numerals, and detailed description thereof is omitted. This flowchart is processed by the CPU 301 of the information device 102 executing a program stored in the ROM 303 or the HD 312.

  In step S500, the window display request acquisition unit 402 acquires window display request information 600 from the application software that has requested display of the window. Hereinafter, the window requested to be displayed is referred to as the window. In the present embodiment, as in the first embodiment, an example in which the window display request information 600 shown in FIG. Therefore, the window 1040 shown in FIG. 10 is the window, and the window 1000 is the parent window.

  In step 501, the parent window duplication prohibition attribute 701 is acquired using the parent window duplication prohibition attribute table 404 shown in FIG. 7 as in the first embodiment. The result is “1”, and the window is prohibited from being displayed over the parent window.

  In step S502, information regarding the display position and display size of the parent window of the window is acquired.

  FIG. 17 shows an example of the displayed window information table 403, which is used in the third embodiment. The user operating attribute 1704 will be described later. Assume that entry lines 1705, 1706, 1707, and 1708 respectively correspond to windows 1500, 1510, 1520, and 1530 shown in FIG. It can be seen from the window display request information 600 shown in FIG. 6 that the parent window instance ID 604 of the window is “4728”. Therefore, “4728” is searched from the instance ID 1700 of the displayed window information table 403 shown in FIG. “(0,0)” that is the window position coordinate 1701 of the entry line 1705 that is the search result and “1024 × 768” that is the window size 1302 are temporarily stored.

  In step S503, since it is determined that the acquired parent window duplication prohibition attribute 701 is “1” (“yes” in step S503), the process proceeds to step S504.

  In step S504, the window layout determining unit 401 searches for a candidate area for displaying the window other than the area where the parent window is displayed. Similarly to the first embodiment, “(1024, 0)” that is the window position coordinate 1701 of the entry line 1706 is a candidate for the display position of the window. Therefore, “YES” is determined in the step S505, and the process shifts to a step S1200.

  In step S1200, when the window is displayed at the candidate window position coordinate 1701, the window importance 1401 of the window in which a part or all of the display area overlaps is compared with the window importance 1401 of the window.

  Similar to the second embodiment, the window importance 1401 of a window in which part or all of the display area overlaps is obtained using the window display request information 600 shown in FIG. As a result, it is found that they are “0020”, “1022”, and “1022”, respectively. The window importance 1401 of the window is “3000”. Accordingly, there is no window in which part or all of the display area overlaps has a higher window importance 1401 than the window. Therefore, “YES” is determined in the step S1201, and the process shifts to a step S1600.

  In step S1600, when the window is displayed at the position coordinates of the retrieved candidate, it is determined whether a window in which a part or all of the display area overlaps is being operated by the user. Whether or not these windows overlap can be determined in the same manner as described above in the determination of overlap with the parent window.

  The user operating attribute 1704 of the displayed window information table 403 shown in FIG. 17 holds flag information indicating whether or not the user is in the middle of a series of window operations such as an error recovery wizard. When “1” is set, the user is operating. When “0” is set, the user is not operating.

  When the window layout determining unit adds an entry line to the displayed window information table 403, a user operating attribute 1704 is also added at the same time. The user operating attribute 1704 can be determined by, for example, a new window calling method. As in the window 1530 shown in FIG. 15, the user operating attribute 1704 of the window displayed when the user presses the OK button 1521 is set to “1”. Like the window 1520, the user operating attribute 1704 of the window that is automatically displayed when an error occurs is set to “0”. Note that the window layout determination unit may dynamically change the user operating attribute 1704 by detecting a pointer operation by a pointing device or the like or an input by the keyboard 309.

  If there is a window being operated (“YES” in step S1600), the process proceeds to step S506 in order to set the window position coordinate 1701 of the window as the candidate window position coordinate 1701. If there is no window being operated (“NO” in step S1600), the process returns to step S504 to search for a new display position candidate.

  In the present embodiment, when the window is displayed, the values of the user operation-in-progress attributes 1704 in the entry lines 1705, 1707, and 1708 corresponding to windows in which a part or all of the display area overlaps are “0”, “ 0 ”and“ 1 ”. Therefore, “NO” is determined in the step S1600, and the process returns to the step S504. Therefore, the entry lines 1706, 1707, and 1708 detected previously are excluded from the search targets from the displayed window information table 403 shown in FIG. 17, and the search is performed again. This time, since a candidate area for displaying the window is not detected, “NO” is determined in the step S505. As a result, in order to set the window position coordinate 1701 of the parent window to the window position coordinate 1701 of the window, the process proceeds to step S507.

  As a result of step S508, the layout shown in FIG. 15C is realized.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, it is possible to adjust overlapping of windows by displaying a new window at an appropriate position according to whether or not the user is operating the window.

<Other embodiments>
Note that the present invention can be applied to a system including a plurality of devices (for example, a host computer, an interface device, a reader, and a printer), and a device (for example, a copying machine and a facsimile device) including a single device. You may apply to.

  The object of the present invention can also be achieved by supplying, to a system, a storage medium that records the code of a computer program that realizes the functions described above, and the system reads and executes the code of the computer program. In this case, the computer program code itself read from the storage medium realizes the functions of the above-described embodiments, and the storage medium storing the computer program code constitutes the present invention. In addition, the operating system (OS) running on the computer performs part or all of the actual processing based on the code instruction of the program, and the above-described functions are realized by the processing. .

  Furthermore, you may implement | achieve with the following forms. That is, the computer program code read from the storage medium is written into a memory provided in a function expansion card inserted into the computer or a function expansion unit connected to the computer. Then, based on the instruction of the code of the computer program, the above-described functions are realized by the CPU or the like provided in the function expansion card or function expansion unit performing part or all of the actual processing.

  When the present invention is applied to the above storage medium, the computer program code corresponding to the flowchart described above is stored in the storage medium.

It is an example of a configuration when two semiconductor exposure apparatuses are controlled using a standard network such as Ethernet (registered trademark) as a communication means. It is a figure explaining an example of the transition of the window in the 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure explaining another example of the transition of the window in the 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure explaining another example of the transition of the window in the 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the structural example of the information equipment 102 in embodiment of this invention. It is an example of the functional block diagram in the 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is an example of the flowchart which implement | achieves the 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows an example of the window display request information 600 in embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows an example of the parent window duplication prohibition attribute table 404 in embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows an example of the window information table being displayed 403 in the 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows an example of the window display request information 600 in embodiment of this invention. It is a part of figure explaining an example of the transition of the window in the 2nd Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure explaining another example of the transition of the window in the 2nd Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure explaining another example of the transition of the window in the 2nd Embodiment of this invention. It is an example of the functional block diagram in the 2nd, 3rd embodiment of this invention. It is an example of the flowchart which implement | achieves the 2nd Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows an example of the displayed window information table 403 in the 2nd Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows an example of the window importance degree table 1100 in the 2nd, 3rd embodiment of this invention. It is a figure explaining an example of the transition of the window in the 3rd Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure explaining another example of the transition of the window in the 3rd Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure explaining another example of the transition of the window in the 3rd Embodiment of this invention. It is an example of the flowchart which implement | achieves the 3rd Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows an example of the window information table being displayed 403 in the 3rd Embodiment of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

100 Stepper No. 1 machine 101 Stepper No. 2 machine 102 Information equipment 103 Standard network

Claims (10)

Display means for displaying an application window;
Storage means for storing a displayed window information table that holds information about a display area including a display size and a display position of a window being displayed by the display means;
A window display request acquisition unit that acquires from the application a display size of a new window that is a window that the application newly displays on the display unit;
Determining means for determining whether or not to prohibit the overlap of the display area of the parent window, which is the calling source window of the new window, and the display area of the new window, based on a setting value set for each window; ,
When the determination means determines that the duplication is prohibited, the display position where the display area of the new window and the display area of the parent window do not overlap when the new window is displayed with the acquired display size is displayed. A search means for searching from the middle window information table,
The display means includes
When the search means searches for the non-overlapping display position, the new window is displayed with the acquired display size at the searched display position;
The window display device, wherein the new window is displayed in the acquired display size at the display position of the parent window when the search means does not search the non-overlapping display position.   2. The window according to claim 1, wherein when the determination unit determines not to prohibit the duplication, the display unit displays the new window at the display position of the parent window with the acquired display size. Display device.   3. The window display device according to claim 1, wherein, when the display unit displays the new window, information on the display area of the new window is added to the displayed window information table.   4. The window display device according to claim 1, wherein when the display unit closes the window, information relating to a display area of the window is deleted from the displayed window information table. 5. . The storage means further stores a window importance table in which the importance of the window is set for each type of the window,
The search means, when the display means displays the new window with the acquired display size, the importance of the window having a display area overlapping the display area of the new window is higher than the importance of the new window. 5. The window display device according to claim 1, wherein the display position of the new window that is lowered is searched as the non-overlapping display position. 6. The displayed window information table further holds a flag used for determining whether or not the window is being operated,
When the display means displays the new window with the acquired display size, the search means is configured so that the display area of the new window does not overlap the display area of another window being operated. The window display device according to claim 1, wherein the display position is searched based on the flag as the non-overlapping display position.   The window display device according to claim 6, wherein the flag is set according to a window type.   The window display device according to claim 6, wherein the flag is set based on whether or not the window is selected by a user. Display means for displaying an application window;
A control method for a window display device, comprising: storage means for storing a displayed window information table for holding information relating to a display area including a display size and a display position of a window being displayed by the display means,
A window display request acquisition unit that acquires from the application a display size of a new window that is a window that the application newly displays on the display unit;
Based on a setting value set for each window, the determination unit determines whether to prohibit duplication of the display area of the parent window that is the window from which the new window is called and the display area of the new window. A determination step to
When it is determined in the determination step that the duplication is prohibited, a display position where the display area of the new window and the display area of the parent window do not overlap when the new window is displayed with the acquired display size A search step in which a search means searches from the displayed window information table,
The display means displaying the new window with the acquired display size at the searched display position when the non-overlapping display position is searched in the search step;
And a display means for displaying the new window at the display position of the parent window at the acquired display size when the non-overlapping display position is not searched in the search step.
  A computer program for causing a computer to function as the window display device according to any one of claims 1 to 8.