JP2559975B2 - Method and apparatus for changing display characteristics of display attributes for display screen - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention generally relates to improvements in color display technology, and more particularly to an interactive apparatus and method for selecting control attributes for user display.

[0002]

Color displays usually include a default selection of colors displayed by a computer system when the system is initialized. However, users often want to adjust these colors to suit their particular requirements.

A related conventional approach for mapping attributes to emulate a particular host terminal is disclosed in US Pat. No. 4,837,710.
This patent discusses a host computer that stores data and attribute bytes for a display device on a terminal or personal computer with a display device attached.
These attributes include low intensity, underline, inversion, blink, and hide. These attributes are predefined in the host processor to drive the connected personal computer according to user preferences. No function is provided for interactively modifying attribute information from a personal computer.

An early attempt to solve this problem was IB
M Technical Disclosure Bulletin (TDB), Vol.30, No.
8, p30-2 (January 1988 issue). This T
DB discloses a field and color status menu driver that allows a color selection program for the IBM PC3270 emulation program to display color specifications for the 3274 field type and their current color specifications. Also disclosed herein is a method that allows a user to change the color designation for any 3274 field and also define the active function key. This method cycles through the available color palettes available for display until the user identifies the desired section. It does not explain how to map the user's selections to the actual areas on the display screen.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, the primary object of the present invention is to identify the attributes associated with a particular area on the display screen to aid in the dynamic remapping of display control attributes to areas on the display screen. It is to provide a system and method for displaying.

[0006]

These and other objects of the invention are accomplished by the operation of processes and display devices within the memory of a processor. The user selects a particular area on the display screen. The processor then determines which attribute type is associated with the text in the selected area. The correct attribute type is highlighted on the display screen to clearly inform the user of the current attributes associated with the area on that display screen. The user can then change the attributes of the area and immediately see the results to determine if additional changes are needed.

[0007]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT FIG. 1 shows a typical hardware configuration of a central processing unit 10, eg, a workstation having a conventional microprocessor and a plurality of other units interconnected via a system bus 12. The workstation shown in Figure 1 is a random access memory (RA
M) 14, read-only memory (ROM) 16, peripheral devices such as disk unit 20 I / O adapter 18, keyboard 24, mouse 26, loudspeaker 2 for connecting to the bus
8, a microphone 32 as well as a user interface adapter 22 for connecting other user interface devices to the bus, a communication adapter for connecting a workstation to a data processing network or other communication device
34 and a display adapter 36 for connecting the bus to a display 38.

Display device 38 has attributes associated with each pixel on the display screen. These attributes contain information that unambiguously determines the color of a pixel regardless of whether the pixel is in a protected field, is blinking, has underlines, or has other characteristics. Including. These attributes are stored in the data structure associated with each pixel on the display screen. The operating system, OS / 2 in this case, has a utility that allows the user to specify the attributes of an area on the display screen. However, without the present invention, this designation is a success / failure (trial and error) procedure, which is frustrating and unproductive to the user.

The present invention is directed to a method and apparatus for indicating to a user which attribute is being used to display text under the cursor. This technique improves interaction and eases the user's ability to remap attributes on the display screen. An attribute is a characteristic of one or more pixels on the display screen. Using the present invention, the user no longer needs to know what type of attribute he is manipulating. All that is needed is to specify the area on the display screen that you want to remap. Then, the attribute information related to the designated area is displayed as characters and graphics.

In conventional systems, the user has no way of knowing which field or extended attribute corresponds to any given area on the display screen. For example, if a field on the user's display screen is blue and the user wants to remap this field to a different color, then that field is standard.
It was ambiguous as to whether it was (normal), unprotected, protected, or had some other hidden attribute associated with the field.

The present invention is designed to be cursor driven. Therefore, when the utility is invoked, the attribute information associated with the area under the cursor is displayed. The process gets the attribute information associated with this area from the display memory. A table search is then performed to determine the type of attribute. The correct attribute type is presented to the user using a character and graphic display format. Thus, the user can point to any area on the display screen, easily identify the current attribute information, and select new attribute information via the dialog box or other display device. This extension allows the user to unambiguously determine the appropriate attributes and properly display a given character on the display screen.

Display Color Table In the present invention, attributes are communicated as foreground / background color combinations. The list given below is the attributes that can be changed by the user via the present invention. Default values are also shown here.

[0013] The attribute mapping shown above clearly shows that ambiguity results when color is used as the only criterion to distinguish the attribute type of a particular area on the display screen. For example, a standard unprotected field on a display screen appears to have the same attributes as a green field on the display screen. The present invention removes this ambiguity and sends the attribute information unambiguously to the user in a way that is easily distinguishable.

The preferred implementation of the present invention is an emulator package running in the memory of a computer under the control of the IBM OS / 2 Presentation Manager. When the Color Remap utility is called as a subset of the emulator package, a dialog box appears at the top of the emulator window. Thus
The user can continue to use the emulator while the remapping process is performed.

When the user calls the color remap utility from the emulator, the emulator determines which attribute is being used to display the character where the cursor is currently located. The emulator passes the index corresponding to that attribute to the color remapping utility. The color remapping utility is then 200 in Figure 2.
And 210 highlight the attributes on that dialog box. A combination of colors is provided on the highlighted area and a textual description is also provided to the user at 220.

Logic (Flowchart) FIGS. 3 and 4 are detailed flow diagrams illustrating the logic of the present invention.
The process begins at function block 300 when the user invokes the color remap utility by pressing a key or mouse button. Next, as shown in function block 310, the emulator determines which attribute is used to display the character under the cursor. The emulator then translates this attribute into an index that the color remap utility can understand as shown in function block 320, and the emulator passes this index to the color remap utility as shown in function block 330. And the color remapping utility is functional block 340.
Displays a dialog box that highlights the attribute corresponding to the index passed as the input parameter, as shown in. At this point, you can see the attributes used to display the character under the cursor, as shown in function block 350, and the main loop sets other attributes as shown in function block 360. Enter the process to handle.

The main processing loop for the utility is shown in FIG. In function block 400, a wait state occurs for user action. If it is detected at decision block 410 that the user changes the color of the current attribute, control passes to function block 412 to update the emulator with the new attribute information, which is indicated in function block 414. This new color is stored, and control is passed to function block 400 to await the next user action.

If at decision block 420 it is detected that the user has selected a different attribute for remapping, then at function block 422 the color remapping utility selects this new attribute to reflect the user's selection. Highlight and then control is passed to function block 400 to wait for the user's next action.

The user uses the mouse button to open the window
Once clicked, the first click designates the window as the current area and the second click causes the cursor to be bound as detected in decision block 430. The emulator then moves its cursor to the character under the mouse pointer, as shown in function block 432, and the attributes in the area under the cursor show the function block.
As determined at 434, the emulator updates the color remap utility with the new attributes as shown in function block 436, and the color remap utility sets the new attributes high as shown in function block 438. Write and then control is returned to function block 400 to wait for the user's next action.

When the user presses the exit key, as detected in decision block 440, the dialog box closes and disappears from the display screen, as shown in function block 450.

While many conventional systems have color remapping capabilities, none of these systems explicitly indicate which attribute is used to display any character on the display screen. The color of a particular area can be easily identified. However, the underlying attributes associated with this area are provided unambiguously for the first time by the present invention. This enhanced user interface removes guesswork from color remapping operations. Furthermore, if the user modifies certain attributes via the color remap utility, the modification is immediately accomplished and this is communicated to the user.

[0022]

[Table 1]

[0023]

[Table 2]

[0024]

[Table 3]

[0025]

[Table 4]

[0026]

[Table 5]

[0027]

[Table 6]

[0028]

[Table 7]

[0029]

As described above, according to the present invention, when the user designates a specific area on the display screen with the cursor, the control attribute of what is displayed in this area is displayed on the display screen and interactively displayed. It is possible to change and add the control attribute of the area through such a screen.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a personal computer system according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a dialog box according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a detailed flow chart illustrating the logic of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a detailed flow chart illustrating the logic of the present invention.

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Charles, Robert, Ericsson, Texas, USA, Cedar, Park, Spider Lily, View, 1509 (56) Reference JP-A-4-302324 (JP, A) JP-A 5-135050 (JP, A)

Claims (4)

(57) [Claims] 1. A method for changing display characteristics of display attributes for a display screen in a display system having a cursor, the method comprising: detecting the position of the cursor on the display screen; Accessing a display attribute associated with the detected position with reference to a table of position-to-display attributes on a display screen; and a set of display characteristics controlling display attribute screen presentation for the accessed display attribute. A step of displaying on the display screen; a step of accepting a change in a display characteristic selected by a user from the set of display characteristics; and a step of updating the display characteristic of the display attribute according to the change. How to change the display characteristics of an attribute. 2. The method of changing display characteristics of display attributes according to claim 1, wherein the display characteristics include a color for a display screen position. 3. An apparatus for changing display characteristics of display attributes for a display screen in a display system having a cursor, comprising means for detecting a position of the cursor on the display screen, which is created and stored in advance. A means for accessing a display attribute associated with the detected position by referring to a table of position-to-display attributes on a display screen; and a set of display characteristics for controlling display attribute screen presentation for the accessed display attribute. A means for displaying on the display screen, a means for accepting a change in the display characteristic selected by the user from the set of display characteristics, and a means for updating the display characteristic of the display attribute according to the change. A device that changes the display characteristics of display attributes. 4. The apparatus for changing the display characteristic of the display attribute according to claim 3, wherein the display characteristic includes a color with respect to a display screen position.