JP3239292B2 - Figure specification control method for figure editing system - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] The present invention relates to a CAD (Computer).
(Aided Design: computer-aided design) and related to a figure editing system that creates and modifies figures on the display screen by computer processing, especially for operability of the operator when editing figures displayed in color. The present invention relates to a graphic specification control method for a graphic editing processing system suitable for improving the image quality.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A graphic editing system using a computer represented by CAD generates a graphic (hereinafter, referred to as an "object") geometrically defined by a user (operator), and generates a CRT (Cathode Ray Tube). : Displayed on a display screen such as a cathode ray tube, a cathode ray tube or an LCD (Liquid Crystal Display), and the object can be modified or deleted on the display screen based on an operator's instruction. .
When modifying or deleting an object in this manner, the operator first moves the cursor on the screen of a CRT or the like to a target object with a mouse or the like, and selects the object by operating buttons on the mouse or keyboard. To specify. Then, the object is edited by operating a keyboard, a mouse, or the like to instruct the computer to perform processing.

In such an object editing operation, when an object is selected by a cursor, the operator needs to trace all the objects on the CRT with the cursor, and also makes the cursor completely coincide with the coordinates of a part of the object. No need. In other words, the computer searches for and selects an object whose coordinates are partially included within a radius arbitrarily set by the operator centering on the coordinates of the cursor. However, when an object having a part of the coordinates within the allowable radius centered on the coordinates of the cursor is selected, a plurality of objects may be included within the allowable radius if the figure is complicated.

In this case, in a conventional graphic editing system such as CAD, all objects within an allowable radius are selected as selection candidates. Then, the operator goes around each selection candidate object and selects one (or a plurality) of the objects by operating the mouse or the keyboard. This operation has a problem that when a large number of objects are candidates, the operator requires a lot of time and labor. As a conventional technique for reducing the operation load of such an operator, for example, there is a technique for enlarging a graphic to a required size, thereby facilitating selection of an object to be corrected from a complicated graphic. . However, processing for enlarging the graphic to a required size takes time as described above. In particular, the more complicated the figure, the longer the enlargement process takes.

Also, for example, as described in JP-A-6-44021, the coordinates of an object on a CRT,
An object is defined as an aggregate of various types of attribute information such as the color of the object, the thickness of a line (line) forming the object, the filter pattern of the object, and the generation time of the object. For example, each object is grouped by color. There is a technology to divide (classify).
However, even if this technique is used, the operator must move the cursor and check the object specified by the destination cursor every time the object to be edited is selected and specified.

[0006] For this confirmation, it is necessary to always select and specify an object which is considered to be specified by the cursor, and determine whether or not this object is an object to be specified as an object to be edited. CAD
In general, when the operator performs a selection designation operation, the display mode of the object specified by the cursor is changed (specific color, highlight, blink), and the operator is specified by the cursor based on the change. Identify the object in question and see if it is the one you want. If it is not desired, the selection and designation operation for moving the cursor and confirming is repeated.

[0007] When the color of the selected object changes, the original color cannot be determined, and the operator may not know which group of objects has been edited. In general, when editing a figure, it is often the case that a plurality of objects in the same group are edited consecutively or collectively, so if the color of the selected object is lost, omission of selection and omission of editing occur. Operator,
Care must be taken to confirm the selection operation.

As a conventional technique for reducing the load on the operator required to check the object to which the cursor is moved, there is a technique for automatically giving priorities to selection candidates in a system. For example, a technique of drawing a figure for each layer (layer), a technique of giving a higher priority to an upper layer, a technique of giving a priority to a drawing time, a technique of combining them, and the like. There is.
However, in these techniques, the criteria of the priority are not clearly displayed to the operator, and further, the operator cannot change the criteria.

[0009]

The problem to be solved is that, in the prior art, the priority given by the system to each candidate of the object selected by the operator as an editing target is clearly displayed to the operator. And that the operator cannot change the priority. An object of the present invention is to solve the problems of the prior art, display an object to be preferentially selected by an operator as an object to be edited, so that the object can be easily distinguished from other objects, and is required for the operator to select an object. An object of the present invention is to provide a graphic identification control method for a graphic editing processing system that can reduce time.

[0010]

In order to achieve the above object, a graphic specifying control method of a graphic editing processing system according to the present invention is provided, for example, when a plurality of objects are within a predetermined radius centered on the coordinates of a cursor. , An object having the same color as the cursor is preferentially specified, highlighted as a candidate for editing, etc., and displayed separately from objects of other colors. Thus, the operator can easily specify the desired objects without losing them by setting the color of the cursor according to the colors of the objects of the same group that the user wants to edit collectively.

The setting and changing of the color of the cursor are as follows.
This is performed based on an operation of designating an object by an operator or selection from a color palette. Furthermore, at the time of the initial operation, the color of the cursor is changed in accordance with the color of each object of the specific target, which is successively switched with the movement of the cursor, until specified by the operator. In this case, the color of the cursor is automatically changed to the color of the object to be specified. Therefore, the operator can check whether the object specified by the cursor is the desired one without performing the selection and specifying operation required in the related art. You can confirm whether or not. If only the display mode of the cursor is automatically changed in accordance with the area to which the cursor is moved, for example, a cursor used in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 63-109534 or an Internet browser is used. Display control technology.

[0012]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a flowchart showing one embodiment of a processing procedure according to the present invention of a graphic specifying control method of the graphic editing processing system of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of a CAD apparatus performing the operation. It is. The CAD apparatus according to the present embodiment shown in FIG. 2 includes a CRT 1 that displays characters, graphics, a cursor, and the like on a screen, and a CRT 1.
A CRT driver 2 for controlling the display on the keyboard 1; a keyboard 3 for inputting commands, character strings and numerical values;
A mouse 4 which is a pointing device device for inputting an instruction from the operator for a figure displayed on the RT 1, and a keyboard / mouse driver 5 for inputting various data based on the operation of the keyboard 3 and the mouse 4 by the operator A disk device 6 storing various data; a disk device driver 7 for controlling data input / output to / from the disk device 6; a memory device 8 for storing an operation program of the CAD device; and a CPU (central processing unit). ) 9
It is composed of

The memory device 8 includes an operating program for managing the basic operation of the CAD device of the present embodiment,
Various application programs such as a CAD program, and data such as characters and numerical values input from the keyboard 3 and the mouse 4 are stored. Further, information necessary for creating a figure (attribute of an object on the figure, cursor Attributes) are stored in a predetermined area. CPU 9
Controls the entire CAD apparatus based on each program of the memory device 8, performs arithmetic processing on predetermined data based on various instructions described in the CAD program, and issues instructions from the keyboard 3 and the mouse 4. , A new object is created or the attributes (position, size, color, etc.) of the object on the figure are changed.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a functional configuration example of the CAD apparatus shown in FIG. 2 according to the present invention. In this figure, 30 is a display screen, 31 is a cursor management unit that manages and controls the coordinates and colors of the cursor 30a on the display screen 30, and 32 is the management and controls the coordinates and colors and the like of the objects 30b and 30c on the display screen 30. The object management unit 33 is a priority control unit that performs the specific control of the graphic according to the present invention.

The priority control unit 33 includes a cursor management unit 31
, The coordinates of the cursor 30 a on the display screen 30, and the object management unit 32
The coordinate information of 0b and 30c on the display screen 30 is acquired, and it is determined whether or not a part of the objects 30b and 30c is within a predetermined radius centered on the coordinates of the cursor 30a. When it is detected that the object 30b is within a predetermined radius, the display color of the object 30b is acquired from the object management unit 32, the display color of the object 30b is notified to the cursor management unit 31, and the cursor 30a is displayed.
Is changed to the same color as the display color of the object 30b. The operator changes the color of the cursor 30
a can identify that the object 30b specifies the object 30b as a candidate for editing.

If the operator designates the object 30b as an object to be edited, the priority control unit 33 stops the subsequent changing operation of the display color of the cursor 30a and fixes the same to the same display color as the object 30b. I do. Then, in this state, the priority control unit 33 stores the coordinates of the cursor 30 a moved on the display screen 30 in the cursor management unit 3.
It is determined whether or not the object 30c, which has been sequentially acquired from 1 and has acquired the coordinate information from the object management unit 32, is within a predetermined radius of the coordinates of the cursor 30a. If the object 30c falls within the predetermined radius, the priority control unit 33
Compares the display color of the object 30c with the display color of the cursor 30a.

If the display colors are the same, the priority control unit 33 specifies the object 30c as a candidate to be specified next as an object to be edited by the operator. Then, it instructs the graphic management unit 32 to distinguish and display the specified object 30c by blinking or highlighting. This distinction display informs the operator that the object 30c is to be designated. If the display colors are not the same, the state is maintained as long as there is no instruction operation from the operator, and if there is an operation to specify the object to be edited by the operator, the priority control unit 33 executes the cursor management. The unit 31 changes the display color of the cursor 30a to the display color of the object 30c.

As described above, since the specification of the object is controlled according to the color of the cursor and the display color of the cursor is controlled according to the color of the object to be edited, the operator can select the object to be edited. Can be easily performed. Hereinafter, with reference to FIG. 4, such a graphic identification control operation according to the present invention will be described in further detail. FIG.
FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a display screen according to the present invention in the CRT of FIG. 1.

In this example, the display screen of the CRT 1 has a command area 41 in which a command (command) group to be given to the CPU 9 by the pick operation of the operator using the mouse 4 in FIG. And a drawing area 42 to be created. The operator sees FIG.
The user moves the cursor 43 on the CRT 1 by operating the mouse 4 and designates one command shown in the command area 41 or inputs a command from the keyboard 3 in FIG. And, conversely, objects 44 to 47 in the drawing area 42.
Is selected by the cursor 43, and then the command area 41 is selected.
By instructing the above command or inputting the command from the keyboard 3 in FIG.
Is corrected or deleted, the graphic in the drawing area 42 is edited.

When a current color CRT is used for drawing using a mainstream CAD device, an object is drawn for each component constituting a device to be drawn (a system or a building, etc.). The color of the object is unified for each. During editing work such as correction, the operator preferentially selects objects of the same color to improve work efficiency. In consideration of the operation load in such a graphic creation operation, in the CAD apparatus of the present example, in order to further increase the efficiency, objects having the same color attribute as the cursor 43 are selected from the group of objects that have been selected and designated. Automatically,
This is the first priority among the selection designation candidates.

In the example shown in FIG.
5 has the same color attribute as the color of the cursor 43.
As a result, the object 44 is selected by the cursor 43 with priority, and
Also when moving to the position 3 ', the object 45 located far from the cursor 43, not the object 46 close to the cursor 43, is automatically specified, and the operator can easily select an object of the same color. However, if the object to be selected with the cursor 43 ′ is the object 46, the operator changes the object specified by the cursor 43 ′ from the object 45 to the object 46. In this case, the CAD device determines the color attribute of the object 46 selected and determined by the operator in this way, and changes the color of the cursor 43 'to the same color as the object 46.

Hereinafter, the processing operation of the CAD apparatus having the configuration shown in FIG. 2 according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. Note that the processing here is performed based on a program stored in the memory device 8 in FIG. 2 unless otherwise specified, and each symbol is as shown in FIG. When the operator presses the button of the mouse 4 after moving the cursor 43 of FIG. 4 to one point of the drawing area 42, processing according to the present invention is started (step 101). Then, the CPU 9 reads the position of the cursor on the CRT 1 when the button of the mouse 4 is pressed from the mouse driver 5 (step 1).
02).

CRT 1 managed by CRT driver 2
The coordinates of the object arranged on the upper side are represented by a circle 4 whose radius is a set allowable range centered on the position of the cursor 43 in FIG.
Compared with the coordinates of 3a, the attribute information of all the objects (objects 44 and 47 in FIG. 4) having a part of the coordinates is stored in the array of the predetermined position of the memory device 8 in the circle 43a. (Step 103). If the color of the cursor 43 in FIG.
4) The object 44 closest to the center coordinates of the cursor 43 is specified as a graphic candidate to be selected and designated by the operator, and the color of the cursor 43 is changed according to the same color as the specified object 44. (Step 105). This allows the operator at this point to:
It is also possible to confirm whether or not the object 44 specified by the cursor 43 in FIG. 4 is a desired one without performing a selection operation.

Thereafter, or if the color of the cursor 43 in FIG. 4 is not the initial setting in step 104, the objects 44 and 47 in FIG.
Compare the color attribute of the cursor 43 with the color attribute of the cursor 47,
The information of the object (here, the object 44) having the same color attribute is moved to the head of the array, and the information of the other objects (here, only the object 47 is the object) is moved backward one by one ( (Step 106). Then, in order to inform the operator of the object which is the first candidate to be edited at the present time, the object 44 at the head (first candidate) of the array is set.
Is displayed via the CRT driver 2 so that it can be distinguished from other objects (47) (highlight, blink, etc.) (step 107).

If the object (44) thus distinguished and displayed is not the object to be edited (step 108), the operator operates the mouse 4 or the keyboard 3 to edit the next object. Is instructed to the CPU 9 (step 10).
9). Based on this instruction, the CPU 9 moves the information of the object at the head of the array to the end of the array, and moves up the information of the other objects one by one (step 110). As a result, the first candidate object is changed, so that a new first candidate object is distinguished and displayed in step 107.

When the desired object to be edited is distinguished and displayed, the operator determines the object to be selected by operating the mouse 4 or the keyboard 3 (step 108) and notifies the CPU 9 of the object. CP
U9 reads the determined color attribute of the object to be edited from the memory device 8 (step 111). If the color attribute of the object is different from the color attribute of the current cursor (step 112), the CRT driver 2 is instructed to make the color attribute of the cursor the same as the color attribute of the object (step 113). ).

In this example, the processing according to the present invention ends here, but thereafter, the object is edited (step 114). As a result of the processing in steps 105 and 113, in FIG.
When the cursor moves to the position of, the color of the cursor 43, 43 ′ is the same as the color of the object 44, and therefore, the center coordinate of the cursor 43 ′ indicates that the object 46 of the same color as the object 47 is Close but
An object 45 having the same color as the object 44 is preferentially selected and specified. Steps 105 and 11
The color of the cursor set in the process 3 can be selected by the operator by using the release / initialization menu, selecting a part where objects are not combined in a complicated manner with the cursor, or displaying a color palette to specify a color. It is also possible to change / initialize intentionally by operation.

As described above with reference to FIGS. 1 to 4, in the drawing specifying control method of the graphic editing processing system according to the present embodiment, each object is displayed in different colors,
The color of the cursor can be changed according to each color-coded object, and the object having the same color as the cursor is automatically specified with priority. This allows the operator to:
It is possible to easily determine the priority of an object to be selected and designated as an editing target, change the priority by the operator himself, and determine whether or not the object specified by the cursor is a desired one. Can be confirmed without selecting and specifying. As a result, the number of operations performed by the operator during editing work can be reduced.

The present invention is not limited to the embodiment described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 4, and can be variously modified without departing from the gist thereof. For example, in the above embodiment, the selection priorities are based only on the cursor color of the present invention. However, as described above, the priority of the currently used layer method or the drawing time reference is used. By combining this with the order changing method, it is possible to further improve the operation efficiency of the operator. Further, in the present example, objects within a predetermined circle centered on the coordinates of the cursor are to be controlled, but objects within a predetermined range such as an ellipse or a square may be controlled.

In the configuration example of the CAD apparatus of this embodiment, a CRT is used as a display device, and a mouse is used as a pointing device. The display device is described in a liquid crystal display or JP-A-6-44021. The rear projection screen described above may be used, and the pointing device may be a tablet or a pen as described in JP-A-6-44021 as long as it can indicate one point on the display screen.

Further, in this embodiment, a CAD device is used as a graphic creation processing device to which the present invention is applied. However, the present invention uses software with a drawing function such as word processing software or spreadsheet (table) creation software. Applicable to all systems. Also, by coloring each window of the multi-window,
For example, the present invention is also applicable to a multi-window switching technology described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 3-214361.

[0032]

According to the present invention, the priority order is clearly displayed to the operator in the operation of selecting and specifying an object to be edited in a graphic editing processing system such as CAD.
Since the operator can change the priority order, the operator can specify the object to be specified as an object to be edited by using the cursor in preference to other objects, and can easily confirm the specified object. Can be easily and reliably selected, the time required for the operator to specify the object can be reduced, and the operability of the graphic editing system can be improved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a flowchart showing one embodiment of a processing procedure according to the present invention of a graphic specifying control method of a graphic editing processing system of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of a CAD apparatus for performing an operation of a graphic specification control method of the graphic editing processing system according to the present invention in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing an example of a functional configuration according to the present invention of the CAD apparatus in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a display screen according to the present invention on the CRT of FIG. 1;

[Explanation of symbols]

1: CRT, 2: CRT driver, 3: keyboard,
4: mouse, 5: keyboard / mouse driver, 6: disk device, 7: disk device driver, 8: memory device, 9: CPU, 30: display screen, 30a: cursor, 30b, 30c: object, 31: cursor management Unit, 32: object management unit, 33: priority control unit, 41: command area, 42: work area, 43, 4
3 ': cursor, 43a, 43'a: circle, 44 to 47:
object.

Claims (7)

(57) [Claims] 1. A figure specifying control method for a figure editing processing system for displaying a figure on a display screen and editing a figure specified by an operator using a cursor based on an instruction operation of the operator. A figure specifying control method for a figure editing processing system, wherein a figure having the same display form as that of a cursor is preferentially specified as a candidate for a figure specified by the operator. 2. A graphic specifying control method for a graphic editing processing system according to claim 1, wherein a graphic having the same display mode as said cursor is selected from a plurality of graphics extending within a predetermined range centered on the coordinates of said cursor. A graphic specification control method for a graphic editing processing system, wherein the graphic specification is specified as a graphic candidate specified by the operator. 3. The graphic specification control method for a graphic editing processing system according to claim 1, wherein the cursor has the same display form as the cursor specified as a graphic candidate specified by the operator. A figure specifying control method for a figure editing processing system, wherein a figure is displayed while being distinguished from other figures. 4. A figure specifying control method for a figure editing processing system according to claim 1, wherein
When the operator specifies a graphic other than the graphic specified as the candidate as the object of the editing, the display mode of the cursor is changed to the same display mode as the graphic specified by the operator. A figure specifying control method for an editing processing system. 5. A figure specifying control method for a figure editing processing system according to claim 1, wherein
After the system is started, the display mode of the cursor is changed in accordance with a change in the display mode of each specific target graphic that is switched with the movement of the cursor until the first operation of designating the graphic by the operator. A figure specifying control method for a figure editing processing system. 6. A figure specifying control method for a figure editing processing system according to claim 1, wherein:
The display mode of the cursor to be changed is set to the color of the cursor, and at least a process of preferentially specifying a graphic having the same display mode as the display mode of the cursor as a candidate for a graphic specified by the operator is performed. A figure specifying control method of a figure editing processing system. 7. A graphic editing processing system according to claim 6, wherein the cursor color is changed to a color selected by the operator on a color palette. Figure specific control method.