JP3008864B2 - Screen saver control method - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method for controlling a display screen, and more particularly to a method for controlling a screen saver of an information device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In an information processing apparatus such as a personal computer, if an input operation is not performed for a certain period of time in order to protect a display screen and reduce power consumption, the same screen is not displayed continuously and is prepared in advance. Is switched to a screen (moving image, still image, non-display) (hereinafter, this screen is referred to as a screen saver).

At present, this switching process is performed instantaneously as described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 2-7090, if no input operation is performed for the predetermined time, or as described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 5-317.
As described in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 522, this is performed after the brightness of the entire screen is gradually reduced.

[0004]

The first problem is that a change in the entire screen has a considerable effect on the continuation of the thinking of the operator.

[0005] The reason is that the whole screen changes even when the screen brightness is gradually reduced in the prior art.

[0006] The second problem is that not knowing when the currently viewed screen changes will still have a considerable effect on the continuation of the operator's thinking.

[0007] The reason is that the remaining time until the screen saver is switched cannot be known at a glance.

The present invention solves the above-mentioned operational problems by realizing a screen display method in which the entire screen is not changed, albeit stepwise, and the remaining time until switching to the screen saver can be understood at a glance. To relax.

[0009]

According to a screen saver control method of the present invention, when an input operation is not performed for a predetermined time or more, a pattern indicating a lapse of time is displayed on the display screen so as to be superimposed on the current screen, and after a predetermined time, After the display indicating the completion of all the specified times is performed, the screen is switched to the screen saver display.

More specifically, a time monitoring means for detecting a time-out due to no input operation for a predetermined time in two stages, and a first-stage time-out for displaying a partial pattern which indicates the elapse of time. A time lapse display output means for superimposing the display on the screen, and requesting the display output of the screen saver at the second stage time-out.

[0011]

Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a screen saver control system according to the present invention. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes an input unit such as a keyboard and a mouse, and inputs input information to the control unit 2. The control unit 2 includes a microprocessor, and performs data processing described later according to a control program written in a memory (not shown). The screen saver storage unit 4 stores one or a plurality of selectable screen savers. Time lapse display storage unit 5
Stores one or a plurality of selectable display patterns from which time can be recognized.

Next, the operation of FIG. 1 will be described. Input information from the input unit 1 is input to the input control unit 21. The main information of the input control means 21 is input to the input processing means 22, data processing is performed according to the control program written in the memory, and the result is displayed on the display unit 3 via the display control means 23. .

From the input control means 21, interrupt information indicating that any input operation has been performed is input to the time monitoring means 25. The time monitoring means 25 incorporates a first timer (hereinafter abbreviated as a timer T1) and a second timer (hereinafter abbreviated as a timer T2). When the timer T1 times out, a time elapse display means is provided. 26
When the timer T2 times out, it is input to the screen saver output means 24 to that effect. The control of the timer T1 and the operation of the time lapse display output means 26 relate to the present invention.

The input processing means 22 inputs the processing result of the control program written in the memory (not shown) to the display control means 23. The time lapse display output means 26
When a time lapse display output request described later due to the timeout of the timer T1 is received from the time monitoring means 25, a time lapse display pattern selected in advance is read from the time lapse display accumulation unit 5 and input to the display control means 23. When receiving a screen saver output request to be described later due to the timeout of the timer T2 from the time monitoring unit 25, the screen saver output unit 24 reads a screen saver selected in advance from the screen saver storage unit 4 and inputs the screen saver to the display control unit 23.

The display control means 23 includes an input processing means 22
And the information input from the screen saver output means 24 and the time lapse display output means 26 are input to the display unit 3,
The display unit 3 such as an RT displays them. In this case, the information input from the time lapse display output means 26 is displayed so as to be superimposed on the input information of the input processing means 22 which is the current screen.

The operation of the time monitoring means 25 is as follows.
This will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

First, in step S201 of FIG.
The time monitoring unit 25 indicates that the input operation has been performed.
The input interrupt information from the input means 21 is monitored. If there is an input, the process proceeds to step S202; otherwise, the process proceeds to step S204.

In step S202, the timers T1 and T2 are reset, and the time lapse display output means 2
If an output request to the screen saver output means has been issued, the request is canceled. In step S203, the timer T1 is set to the time T1.
To start the countdown of the timer T1 and return to the input interrupt information waiting state step S201.

In step S204, it is determined whether the timer T1 has timed out. If not, the process returns to step S201, and if it has timed out, the process proceeds to step S205.

In step S205, it is determined whether or not the timer T2 has timed out. If not, the process proceeds to step S206.

In step S206, it is determined whether or not the time lapse display output has already been performed. If the output has already been performed, the process returns to step S201, and if not, the process proceeds to step S207. Step S
In 207, a request for outputting a time lapse display is made to the time lapse display output means 26. In step S208, the timer T
The value of 2 is set at time T2, the countdown of the timer T2 is started, and the process returns to step S201.

If the timer T2 has timed out in step S205, the process proceeds to step S209. In step S209, if the screen saver output has already been performed, the process proceeds to step S209.
Returning to 201, if not yet performed, step S2
Move to 10. In step S210, a screen saver output request is made to the screen saver output means 24, and the process returns to step S201.

The operation of the time lapse display output means 26 will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

First, in step S301, the time lapse display output means 26 monitors the input of the time lapse display output request from the time monitoring means 25, and if there is an output request, the process proceeds to step S302. If not, the process proceeds to step S304. Transition. In step S304, the input of output release is monitored, and if output is released, the process proceeds to step S305. If not, the process returns to step S301 to continue the waiting state.

In step S302, a time lapse display pattern, which will be described later, is read from the time lapse display storage unit 5 in response to the output request. In step S303, the display control unit 23
The output of the display pattern is started, and the process returns to step S301.

In step S305, the output of the display pattern is released by releasing the output, and the process returns to step S301.

Next, an example of a display pattern output stored in the time lapse display storage section 5 will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 4A shows a first example. D indicates a display screen, L1 indicates a frame of a display pattern, and E11 indicates
An area which is painted in the first unit time upon receiving the output request from the time lapse display output means 26, E12 is an area which is painted in the next unit time, E1n is an area which is painted in n unit time later, and E1p is immediately before the time-out of the timer T2. Shows the last area of the pattern frame L1 which is filled in the pattern frame L1. The parameters a1, b1, c1, d1, and e1 for specifying the positions of the pattern frame L1 and the area E1n can be arbitrarily specified. Further, the pattern frame L1 and the region E
1n may be black and white, but it is clear that the color and density can also be arbitrarily specified. Therefore, for example, the value of the timer T2 is set to t2 seconds, b1 = e1 = 0, c1 = N1 / t.
Assuming that 2, the time lapse display is filled in a bar graph shape with the width of a1 in c1 for one second from the top of the screen,
After t2 seconds, a single bar is formed from the top to the bottom of the screen. In this case, the filling in c1 may be performed instantaneously or continuously.

FIG. 4B shows a second example. In the figure, L2, E2n, a2, b2, c2, d2, e2, etc. are respectively the display patterns of FIG.

[0031]

The first effect is that it is possible to recognize that the continuation of thinking while looking at the screen after interrupting the input operation has exceeded the specified time without hindering the continuation of thinking.

The reason for this is that a pattern indicating that the specified time has been exceeded can be superimposed and displayed on a part of the current screen with an arbitrary size, an arbitrary color and an arbitrary density.

The second effect is that the influence on the operator can be further reduced by knowing the remaining time before switching to the screen saver.

The reason is that the display pattern changes with time, and the final state of the change can be easily recognized.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing one embodiment of a screen saver control method according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the time monitoring means 25.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart for explaining an operation of a time lapse display output means 26;

FIG. 4 is an example of a display pattern stored in a time lapse display storage unit.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Input part 2 Control part 3 Display part 4 Screen saver accumulation part 5 Time lapse display accumulation part 21 Input control means 22 Input processing means 23 Display control means 24 Screen saver output means 25 Time monitoring means 26 Time lapse display output means

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (58) Field surveyed (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) G09G 5/00 550 G09G 1/00

Claims (3)

(57) [Claims] 1. A method according to claim 1, wherein the first operation is performed from a first time point when an input operation is performed.
Input operation until a predetermined time elapses and reaches the second time point
Is not performed, the second predetermined time from the second time point
Input operation is performed before the third point in time
Until there is a part of the display screen,
The turn is superimposed and displayed, and the third
If no input operation is performed continuously until
Screensaver control method characterized by switching the display screen to the screen saver display. 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the second predetermined time is n unit times.
The pattern is an image in which the elapse of time can be visually recognized.
Pattern, and the pattern changes every unit time.
The screen saver according to claim 1, wherein
Control method . 3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the second predetermined time is n unit times.
The pattern is an image area divided into n, and is divided by one unit.
For each interval, one image area of the n divided image areas
The color of each of the colors changes sequentially.
2. The screen saver control method according to 1 .