JP2535804B2 - Window start control device - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a data processing device such as a document structure device having a tree-structured file system and a multi-window function, and more particularly to an activation control device for the window.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art There are various types of document creating apparatus,
One of them has a tree structure file system. In this tree-structured file system, each file has a hierarchical structure, and files are sequentially opened from an upper file to a lower file.

In a document creating apparatus having such a tree-structured file system, when processing a lower file, the type of the file is schematically displayed on a desktop displayed on a display device such as a VDT (video display terminal device). A graphic called an icon is displayed in advance.
Then, first select the icon of the higher-level file on the desktop to open the window with instructions from the keyboard or mouse, select the file from the opened windows, and open the window again. Open the file. Then, processing such as document creation is performed with the target file opened.

Further, in such a document creating apparatus, a file existing on the desktop can be simultaneously opened to form a multi-window so that a plurality of files can be processed in parallel.

[0005]

In such a document creating apparatus, the window opened is only the last one opened. That is, a file opened in the middle becomes invisible because it is overlapped by windows of lower files in the file system opened thereafter. Therefore, it is necessary to close the window to get back to the opened window.

The files that can be multi-windowed are only files that exist independently of each other on the desktop. Therefore, if you want to process in parallel with windows in different layers in the middle, you need to copy the necessary files to the desktop in advance. Therefore, the operability was low.

The present invention provides a data processing device such as a document creation device which has the tree-structured file system and sequentially opens windows toward lower layers for processing.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a window start-up control device capable of processing a previously opened window without changing the currently opened window.

[0008]

A window activation control device according to the present invention comprises a display device capable of simultaneously displaying a plurality of windows, a first storage means in which a plurality of files are stored as a tree structure, and A file designating means for an operator to designate any one of the plurality of files stored in the first storage means, and one of the plurality of files stored in the first storage means. File display means for sequentially and sequentially displaying files on the display device as a first window from the higher order to the lower order based on an instruction from an operator, and the files are displayed on the first window by the file display means. The second storage means for sequentially storing the process name and the file name corresponding to the displayed file, and the currently displayed file. Also, a code display means for displaying a code indicating a higher-order file, a code designating means for the operator to designate a file to be displayed simultaneously with the file currently displayed based on the code, and a file designated by the code designating means. The process name and the file name stored in the second storage means corresponding to, and the specified file based on the extracted process name and file name from the first storage means. As a second window, a display means for displaying on the display device at the same time as the first window is provided.

[0009]

That is, according to the present invention, in a display device capable of simultaneously displaying a plurality of windows, the process names and file names corresponding to the windows are stored in the second storage means as the windows are sequentially opened. It Then, when the operator designates an identifier indicating a file higher than the file currently displayed as the first window, the second storage means is searched,
The corresponding process name and file name are retrieved from the second storage means in accordance with the inputted identifier. Then, the file newly designated by this operator is read from the first storage means and is simultaneously displayed as a second window different from the window of the file currently displayed.

[0010]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an example of an apparatus to which the present invention is applied.

In the figure, 1 indicates a CPU, and the CPU
1 controls each program, keyboard 2 and mouse 3
It accepts, interprets, and executes an operator's instruction input from the device, and outputs a display signal to the display device 4 according to the result. The CPU 1 also receives image data from the scanner 5, executes document creation processing, transfers files to the printer 6, and the like.

The main memory 7 is used as an area for program execution, a table of process names, etc., and a work area for document creation. On the other hand, the external storage device 8
Is a large-capacity rewritable medium such as a magnetic disk, and is used as an auxiliary storage device during the processing of the file system and each program, and when the main storage device 7 runs out of capacity.

Keyboard 2, mouse 3 or scanner 5
The document file input by is put in somewhere in the tree-structured file system by the instruction of the keyboard 2 or the mouse 3 and is organized. Then, the file system is stored in the external storage device 8. A program for processing is also stored in the external storage device 8, loaded into the main storage device 7 as needed, and the processing is executed under the control of the CPU 1. The program includes an application process that manages windows and creates documents, and a control process that manages this application process.

On the screen of the display device 4, a desktop 9 as shown in FIG. 3 is displayed. This desktop 9 exists on the operator side, and the icon 10 and the icon 10
The application window 11 opened by and the application window 12 started as another window are displayed.

FIG. 4A is a diagram showing an example of the application window 11. That is, the application window 11 is divided into a title part 11a, a scroll part 11b, and an application area 11c for actually creating a document.

In the title portion 11a, there is a window menu 13 for window creation which is displayed as "window creation" as an application menu for the operator to create another window. 4 and by pressing the switch of the mouse 3
The submenu 14 is displayed as shown in (b). In the sub-menu 14, application processes that are higher than the application processes corresponding to the currently displayed application window 11 are numerically displayed in order from the highest order. For example, when the hierarchy of the application process corresponding to the application window 11 currently displayed is the third highest layer,
“1” and “2” are displayed on the submenu 14.

Next, along the flow of the operation of the operator,
The operation of this device will be described with reference to FIGS.

When any one of the icons 10 on the desktop 9 is selected and opened with the mouse 3, the control process 15 activates the first application process 16 and opens the application window 11. Further, when the item therein is selected and opened with the mouse 3, the second application process 17 is created as a child process of the first application process 16 (steps 101 to 1).
02), the corresponding window is displayed overlaid on the application window 11. At this time, the number of parent processes is increased by one (step 103), and
The application process name and file name are registered in the table 19 corresponding to the depth of the hierarchy of each process (step 104). In addition, similarly, the third application process 18 is activated as a child process of the second application process 17. In this state,
Only one application window 11 corresponding to the third application process 18 exists on the desktop 9. At this time, the first application process 16 and the second application process 17 are in a dormant state and are stored in the main storage device 7 or the external storage device 8.

Here, in order to perform file processing in the second application process 17 existing above the third application process 18, the window menu 13 of the application window 11 corresponding to the third application process 18 is moved to the mouse 3 The submenu 14 is opened by selecting with. At this time, if the number of parent processes is 0, the process proceeds to the next process without doing anything (steps 105 to 107). In the submenu 14, the second application process 17
By selecting "2" corresponding to "", hierarchy selection is performed (step 108), and the third application process 18 refers to the table 19 (step 109).
The corresponding process name and file name are fetched from this table 19, and a request, that is, a command for activating it as an independent process, not as a child process from the first application process 16 and generating it, is issued to the control process 15 (step 110). ).

The control process 15 receives this command and
The fourth application process 20 corresponding to the second application process 17 is activated and generated as an independent process, and the application window 12 is opened. Therefore, the application window 11 corresponding to the third application process 18 and the application window 12 corresponding to the fourth application process 20 are displayed on the desktop 9. If the generation of the application process fails, an error is displayed and then the process proceeds to the next process (steps 111 to 112).

As described above, since the application window 11 corresponding to the third application process 18 and the application window 12 corresponding to the fourth application process 20 are displayed in a multi-window state, processing of application processes of different hierarchies can be performed. Can be done in parallel.

In the embodiment described above, the window menu 13 and the submenu 14 for creating another application window 12 are present in the application window 11. However, without being bound by this, it is also possible to allocate these menus to the desktop 9 on the screen, reserve a part of the desktop 9 and put it there as a menu of the system. At this time, the windows to be instructed can be distinguished by assigning a number to each window and displaying the number when the menu is selected.

[0024]

As described above, in the window activation control device of the present invention, the application processes of different layers are activated independently in each application process. As a result, the currently opened window can be left as it is, and the previously opened windows can be separately opened to be in the multi-window state. Therefore, a desired file can be processed without performing an operation such as temporarily closing the lower window or copying the file, and the operability of the operator can be improved.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram showing a flow of operations of a window activation control device of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic block diagram of an example of an apparatus to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 3 is a display example of a screen of the apparatus.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing a method of displaying and selecting a menu in a window.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing an operation in each application process.

[Explanation of symbols]

9: desktop, 10: icon, 11, 12: application window, 13: window menu,
14: Submenu, 19: Table

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A display device capable of simultaneously displaying a plurality of windows, a first storage unit in which a plurality of files are stored as a tree structure, and a plurality of files stored in the first storage unit. A file designating means for an operator to designate any one of the files, and any one of the plurality of files stored in the first storage means from the upper order to the lower order based on the instruction from the operator. File display means for sequentially and selectively displaying on the display device as a first window, and a process name and a file name corresponding to the file displayed each time the file is displayed on the first window by the file display means. And a code display for displaying a code indicating a file higher than the file currently being displayed. And a code designating means for the operator to designate a file to be displayed simultaneously with the file currently displayed based on the code, and stored in the second storage means corresponding to the file designated by the code designating means. The process name and the file name that are present are extracted, and the specified file is stored in the first file based on the extracted process name and file name.
Wherein the second window is taken out from the memory means
A start-up control device for a window, comprising: a display means for displaying on the display device simultaneously with the first window .