JP3355896B2 - Menu display management device and method - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an apparatus and method for managing a menu display, and more particularly to an apparatus for managing a menu structure displayed on a display in accordance with the frequency of use of each menu item.
And methods .

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Devices such as a computer and a word processor generally have a so-called menu display function for displaying a list of selection items such as functions and information related to the operation at each time on a display. When a user selects a specific item in the menu using a pointing device such as a mouse, a function symbolized by the item is executed, or information represented by the item is specified as a processing target.

In a conventional general menu display management system, the display order of menu items and the number of items in one menu are fixedly set. However, some of the menu items are frequently used, and some of the menu items are rarely used, depending on the work content of the user. If such various menu items are mixedly displayed in the entire menu, it is difficult to quickly find the menu item to be used, and the amount of mouse movement operation and key input operation increases. There is a problem that the burden on the user increases.

Therefore, a menu display management method for rearranging and displaying menu items based on the number of selections (frequency of use) for each menu item has been proposed (for example, JP-A-4-52730, JP-A-4-52730). JP-A-181457, JP-A-4-252325, JP-A-4-31
0123). That is, the menu items are arranged in order from the most frequently used ones to the least frequently used ones. In other words, the menu items with the most frequently used ones are preferentially positioned at the top and the menus are displayed, thereby facilitating selection of the menu items. Things.

[0005]

However, in such a conventional system, frequently used menu items are preferentially displayed at easily accessible positions, but all menu items are simply arranged in the order of the number of selections. Since the menu items are merely changed, menu items that are not used or are used only rarely are displayed together, and there is a problem that the menu display becomes complicated as a whole and the operability is reduced.

Incidentally, there has been proposed a method of dividing the entire menu by an appropriate number of items and switching and displaying the divided pages (for example, see Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 4-114230). However, in this method, since the frequency of use is not taken into consideration and the number of items cannot be set adaptively, menu items that do not need to be displayed are included in the first menu (primary menu). As a result, the same problem as described above may occur.

[0007] When a hierarchical menu structure from an upper menu to a lower menu is adopted, a method has been proposed in which frequently used menu items are designated and always displayed as a special menu. However, there is a problem that the number of menu items cannot be adaptively and automatically set in addition to the complexity of manual specification of menu items, for example (see Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 4-273322). In addition, there is a problem that this method cannot cope with a so-called pop-up menu that is temporarily displayed.

References other than the above which disclose related prior art include JP-A-63-15323, JP-A-64-7122, and JP-A-6-149518.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned conventional problems, and has as its object to adaptively and automatically set a menu configuration adapted to the contents of work performed by a user, thereby improving operability in menu item selection. It is in.

It is another object of the present invention to appropriately distinguish frequently used menu items and rarely used menu items from the entire menu.

It is another object of the present invention to enable the upper limit of the number of menu items to be set as appropriate, and to automatically set the item order and the number of items within the range.

It is another object of the present invention to automatically update a menu.

[0013]

To achieve the above object, the present invention provides a counting means for counting the number of selections for each menu item in a series of menu items, and a size of the number of selections for each menu item. and ranking means for ranking the set of menu items in the order, from the upper series of <br/> menu item is the ranking order with reference to the difference between the selection frequency between adjacent each other, the selection frequency difference is the menu <br/> New delimited in a predetermined and frequency gap search means for performing a frequency gap determining if it exceeds the frequency gap determination value, the series of menu items to the frequency gap determination is made position, the sequence and menu confirmation unit used <br/> for frequency among the menu items to determine the primary menu consisting of high menu item, before when there is a menu display command Characterized by comprising display means for displaying the primary menu, the.

According to the above arrangement, the number of selections as the frequency of use is counted for each menu item, and the menu items are temporarily ordered according to the magnitude of the number of selections. Then, in the ordered series of menu items, a difference in the number of selections between two adjacent menu items is sequentially calculated, and the difference is compared with a frequency gap determination value. For example, the difference is sequentially referred to from the top to the bottom, and when the difference exceeds the frequency gap determination value, the position is set as a menu break, that is, the menu items up to the position are determined as elements of the primary menu. Desirably, the remaining menu items are used as elements of a secondary menu, or are subsequently divided into a plurality of menus by applying a similar frequency gap determination method. In any case, the menu of each rank can be determined in consideration of the frequency of use of each menu item, so that the menu items constituting the menu of each rank and the number of items can be determined adaptively and automatically, and the use of the menu is relatively easy. Only menu items with high frequency can be displayed first in the menu with priority, and operability in menu selection can be improved.

The determined primary menu is displayed first. For example, when a menu switching instruction (a secondary menu display instruction or the like) is subsequently issued, subsequent menus are displayed.

Empirically, each menu item in the entire menu can be roughly divided into a menu item that is used relatively frequently and a menu item that is used at all or rarely. According to the present invention, such a menu item is used. These two types of menu items can be automatically distinguished into a primary menu and a secondary menu.

In a preferred aspect of the present invention, there is provided means for calculating the predetermined frequency gap determination value based on at least the maximum number of selections, the minimum number of selections, and the number of menu items in all menu items. Features. That is, according to the parameter that indicates the distribution of such variations in the number of selections in the entire menu, to optimize the frequency gap determining value, Ru can perform appropriate frequency gap determination.

In a preferred aspect of the present invention, there is provided means for setting an upper limit of the number of items of the primary menu, and a search for a frequency gap is performed until the upper limit of the number of items is exceeded. That is, if the number of items in the primary menu is too large, it is difficult to display all the primary menu items in the menu window, and if the number of items in the primary menu is too large, the operability is rather increased. May be reduced, so to avoid such a problem, 1
The upper limit is set for the number of items in the next menu.

[0019] In a preferred aspect of the present invention, there is provided update command means for commanding the update of the primary menu when a predetermined update condition is satisfied. That is, the menu may be updated every time a menu item is selected. However, if the order is frequently changed for each menu display, operability may be adversely affected. The menu is updated. Preferably, there is provided an update command means for commanding the update of the primary menu based on the fact that the total value of the number of selections for the series of menu items has reached a set number. Further preferably, based on a lapse of the predetermined time since the last update of the primary menu, that have a updating command means for commanding the updating of the primary menu. The method according to the present invention may further include counting the number of selections for each menu item in the series of menu items, and ranking the series of menu items in the order of the number of selections of each menu item, and A series of menu items are sequentially referred to the difference in the number of selections between adjacent items from the top, and when the difference in the number of selections exceeds a predetermined frequency gap determination value, a frequency gap determination is performed. The performed position is defined as a menu break in the series of menu items, a primary menu including frequently used menu items in the series of menu items is determined, and the primary menu is displayed. The method according to the present invention may further include counting the number of selections for each menu item in the series of menu items, and ranking the series of menu items in the order of the number of selections of each menu item, and For a series of menu items, sequentially refer to the difference in the number of selections between adjacent items from the top, and perform a frequency gap determination when the difference in the number of selections exceeds a predetermined frequency gap determination value,
The position at which the frequency gap is determined is defined as a menu break in the series of menu items, and a primary menu consisting of frequently used menu items and a secondary menu consisting of infrequently used menu items in the series of menu items. The menu is fixed.

[0020]

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

FIG. 1 shows the concept of a menu display management method in a menu display management device according to the present invention. Prior to the description of a specific device configuration, FIG. The basic principle of display management will be described.

The menu table 10 shown in FIG.
Is a list of menu items constituting a menu displayed on the display, and each menu item is associated with the number of selections. here,
The number of selections indicates how many times the menu item has been selected in the past, and each time a menu item is selected, the number of selections of the menu item is incremented by one. The number of selections indicates the frequency of use of the menu item. In FIG. 1, a menu table 10 includes eight menu items (A to Z) as a reference example. i indicates the index of each menu item.

In the menu display management system according to the present invention,
First, in the menu table 10 shown in (A), each menu item is sorted (ordered) according to the magnitude of the number of selections. The menu table 10 after the ordering is shown in FIG. In (B), the menu item C with the largest number of selections is positioned at the top, and thereafter, the menu item B, the menu item A... ing.

Although such menu restructuring based on the number of selections is performed in the above-described prior art, the menu display management method according to the present invention employs a primary menu and a secondary menu.
In order to separate the next menu or the like, the frequency gap is determined for the number of selections.

That is, in the sorted state shown in (B), the difference Δ between the number of selections of two adjacent menu items is sequentially calculated from the top to the bottom, and each time the difference Δ is set to a predetermined value. Is compared with the frequency gap determination value dd. At this time, the difference Δ is the frequency gap determination value dd
Is exceeded, the frequency gap G is determined, the menu items up to that are determined as elements of the “primary menu”, and the remaining menu items are determined as “secondary menu”. When a menu display command is input by mouse input or the like, only a primary menu composed of menu items that are used relatively frequently is displayed first (see FIG. 5A described later). , A secondary menu including menu items that are rarely used is further displayed (see FIG. 5B described later). Note that the distribution of the number of selections shown in (B) gradually changes with the progress of the work, but every time a predetermined condition is satisfied, the same sort and sorting of the menu by the gap determination as described above are repeatedly performed. . Here, if the primary menu is continuously displayed from the beginning, the software activation command corresponds to the menu display command. When displaying the secondary menu, the displayed primary menu may be left or temporarily deleted.

Therefore, according to the menu display management as described above, only the menu items of relatively high frequency are displayed first, and the menus which are rarely used are displayed only after special operations are performed. The operating user can easily and quickly find the target menu item, and the amount of operation of the mouse or keyboard in selecting the menu item is reduced.
That is, in particular, the items and the number of items of the primary menu can be adaptively and automatically set, and the man-machine interface can be improved.

Next, a specific embodiment of the menu display management apparatus to which the above-described basic principle is applied will be described in detail with reference to FIGS.

FIG. 2 shows a hardware configuration when the menu display management device according to the present invention is constructed on a general computer. This device is a main CPU
12, a main memory 14, a keyboard 16 as a key input device, a mouse 18 as a position designation device (pointing device), an external storage device 20 including a hard disk, and a display 22 for displaying a menu. The components are connected via a bus 11. Here, in the main memory 14, O
In addition to a basic program such as S (operating system), a menu display management program for performing menu display management according to the present invention is stored.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing each function of the menu display management device shown in FIG. 2 to facilitate understanding of the present invention.

The menu table 10 shown in FIG.
A list in which the number of selections is associated with each menu item is stored (see FIG. 1), and is formed, for example, on the main memory 14 in FIG. Incidentally, the other main components shown in FIG. 3 are basically executed by the CPU 12 under the control of the menu display management program.

The selection number incrementing section 24 includes a menu item selection instruction 100 caused by a mouse click or the like.
If there is, in parallel with the activation of the menu item,
The number of times the menu item is selected in the menu table 10 is incremented by one. The selection count increment unit 24 keeps the total number of selections for each menu item in the menu table 10 until the selection count is reset.

The primary / secondary menu creating section 26 sorts (or ranks) each menu item in the menu table 10 according to the number of times of selection.
And a frequency gap search unit 30 for determining a frequency gap by referring to the difference Δ in the number of selections for the menu after sorting
And The frequency gap search unit 30 receives, as a numerical value, the upper limit of the number of items from the storage unit 32 that stores the upper limit Pmax of the number of items of the primary menu, and also receives the coefficient α for determining the frequency gap determination value dd. ing. The specific operation of these structures 28 and 30 will be described later in detail with reference to FIG. Note that the upper limit of the number of items Pma
x and the coefficient α can be set by the user using the keyboard 16 in FIG.

The update command section 34 gives a start trigger 107 to the primary / secondary menu creation section 26. The menu can be updated every time a menu item is selected. However, since the necessity is low and operability may be reduced due to frequent changes in menu contents, in this embodiment, the update command unit 34 The update command is issued in a constant cycle based on a predetermined condition. As the conditions, it is possible to selectively employ that the total value of the number of menu item selections has reached the set number of times, that a certain time has elapsed since the previous update, that the CPU is in an idling state, and the like. That is, the counter 36 counts the number of times the menu item selection command 100 has been issued, while the update command unit 34 has a user-set number of times set value (for example, 10
0) 103 is input, and the update command unit 34
When the count value output from 6 reaches the number-of-times setting value 103, an update command is output. When an update command is issued, the counter is reset by the update command unit 34.
The timer 38 measures a time (for example, 30 hours) set by the user based on the timer setting value 104, and the update command unit 34 outputs an update command when the set time has elapsed. Further, the CPU idle state determination unit 40
Determines the idling state of the CPU based on the CPU state signal 105 in order to effectively use the idle time of the CPU to perform menu display management, and if such determination is made, the update is performed. An update command is issued from the command unit 34. Of course, any one of the update conditions is selectively used, but a plurality of update conditions may be combined.

The read control unit 42 responds to a menu display command 102 generated by clicking a menu button on the display with a mouse or the like.
The menu item data stored in the menu table 10 is sent to the display. In this case, only the primary menu is sent to the display for the first menu display command 102. Then, when the secondary menu display command 102 is input thereafter, the read control unit 42 sends the secondary menu from the menu table to the display.

Next, the specific operation of the primary / secondary menu creating section 26 will be described with reference to FIG. When an update command from the update command unit 34 in FIG.
This processing routine starts.

In S101 of FIG. 4, the menu items constituting the menu table 10 are rearranged in the order of the number of selections by the sort execution unit 28 (see FIG. 1B). S102 to S109 described below
Is performed by the frequency gap search unit 30.

In S102, 0 is substituted for i indicating the index of the menu item, and the setting is initialized. S103
Then, i is (n-1), where n is the number of menu items.
Is determined, and if it is determined that i does not exceed (n−1), it is determined in S104 whether i is less than Pmax, which is the upper limit of the number of items in the primary menu. .
If i is less than Pmax, S105 is executed. P
max is said to be easy to see empirically
It is desirable to set about 9, but other numerical values can be set according to conditions such as the window size. In the present embodiment, Pmax is configured so that the user can freely set Pmax as described above. The values of the necessary coefficients such as n and i are stored in the main memory of FIG.
In the functional block diagram shown in FIG. 2, the frequency gap search unit 30 owns them.

In S105, a difference Δ between the number of times of selection of the i-th menu item and the number of times of selection of the (i + 1) th menu item is calculated. That is, a difference Δ in the number of selections between two adjacent menu items in the ordered menu items is calculated. Then, in S106, the difference Δ is compared with a predetermined frequency gap determination value dd, which will be described in detail later.
Adds the i-th menu item to the primary menu, increments i in S108, and repeats
Each step from 103 is repeatedly executed. On the other hand, S1
In step 06, if Δ> dd, it is determined that the frequency gap has occurred. In step S109, the menu items before the i-th menu item, that is, the 0th to i-th menu items, are determined as primary menus. The menu item after the second is determined as the secondary menu.

That is, if the difference Δ is considerably large, it can be regarded as a boundary for discriminating between a group of menu items that are relatively frequently used and a group of menu items that are rarely used. The next menu and the secondary menu are separated. According to such processing, there is an advantage that the items constituting the primary menu and the number of items can be adaptively and automatically set.

On the other hand, in step S104, if i reaches the upper limit Pmax of the number of items in the primary menu, S
At 109, a primary menu and a secondary menu are determined. That is, the primary menu is determined by the menu items up to the i-th menu item, and the subsequent menu items are determined by the secondary menu. By such a process, the frequency gap determination proceeds to a considerably lower level, and the number of items in the primary menu is excessively increased, or the difference Δ is uniformed, and it cannot be found that the frequency gap can be regarded as a frequency gap. Can handle cases.

Note that the above processing is repeatedly executed until the processing shifts to S109 and each menu is determined. If it is determined in S103 that i exceeds (n-1), this processing is executed. The process ends. In S109, the pointer indicating the determined frequency gap is stored in the main memory 1 of FIG.
2, the pointer is stored in the frequency gap search unit 30 or the read control unit 42 in FIG.

Next, a method of determining the frequency gap determination value dd in the present embodiment will be described. In the menu table, the maximum number of selections is fmax, the minimum number of selections is fmin, the total number of items is n, and the coefficient is α.
In this case, the frequency gap determination value dd is calculated as follows: dd = α (fmax−fmin) / n (1) That is, the frequency gap determination value dd is
Take the menu item index i after sorting on the horizontal axis,
Assuming a bar graph with the number of selections on the vertical axis, the gradient of the straight line connecting the maximum point and the minimum point [(fmax−fm
in) / n] multiplied by a constant coefficient α (for example, α = 1.5). In other words, it corresponds to a value obtained by multiplying the average difference between the indexes by a constant coefficient α. According to such a calculation method of the frequency gap determination value dd, the determination value can be set in consideration of the variation in the number of selections in the entire menu table, as compared with the case where the frequency gap determination value is fixedly provided. The frequency gap can be appropriately determined according to the characteristics of the menu.
Of course, in the present embodiment, the coefficient α is configured to be set by the user, and the standard for automatically setting the primary menu can be changed according to the work environment or the like. In the present embodiment, the gap determination value dd is calculated based on a linear expression. However, the gap determination value dd may be calculated based on, for example, a normal distribution.

In FIG. 5A, after the primary menu and the secondary menu are created, a menu display command (primary menu display command) is input, and the read control unit 42 displays the menu on the display 22. The state when performing is shown. (B) shows the display state when the item "secondary menu" displayed at the bottom of the primary menu is clicked, that is, when a menu switching command is input. As shown in FIG. 5A, only the primary menu composed of menu items that are used relatively frequently is displayed first, and the menu items that are rarely used are the secondary menus. And will not appear in the first menu display. As shown in (B), if the "secondary menu" item in the primary menu is selected as needed, the secondary menu item also becomes one.
A menu is displayed along with the next menu, on which a necessary menu item can be selected. In this case, the primary menu can be deleted from the display.

In the above embodiment, the primary menu and 2
In both of the following menus, each menu item was displayed in the order of the number of selection times, but after the menu was determined by the frequency gap determination, within the menu frame, for example, the same type of menu items were aligned. The menu display may be performed after the rearrangement.

In the above embodiment, the primary menu and the secondary menu are described. However, the same frequency gap determination is repeatedly applied to create a tertiary menu or a quaternary menu grouped by use frequency. Alternatively, the lower menu may be displayed in order from the upper menu.

The rearrangement (sorting) of the menu items in the menu table can be performed without actually rearranging the data on the memory, without changing the index assigned to each menu item or the menu item on the memory. May be used to manage the order in the menu and the type of the menu to which it belongs. Similarly, after sorting, each menu may be managed by applying another method for specifying the frequency gap position (menu break) with a pointer. Various methods can be applied to management of each menu item on the memory.

Further, a mode for resetting and clearing the number of each selection in the menu table may be provided in order to quickly respond to a change in the use environment such as, for example, replacement of workers. In addition, a menu configuration fixed mode is provided to prevent a decrease in workability due to frequent updating of the menu configuration, and when the mode is canceled, the menu configuration is updated in a regular cycle as usual. It may be.

The present invention can be applied to various devices as long as a menu, such as a computer, a word processor, a copying machine, and a facsimile, is displayed. Further, the present invention can be applied to various menu display forms such as a pull-down menu and a pop-up menu without being limited to the menu in the window.

[0049]

As described above, according to the present invention,
It is possible to adaptively and automatically set a menu configuration suitable for the content of the work performed by the user, thereby improving operability in selecting menu items. Further, according to the present invention, a menu can be displayed while appropriately distinguishing frequently used menu items and rarely used menu items from the entire menu.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a basic principle of menu display management according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram when a menu display management device according to the present invention is realized on a computer.

FIG. 3 is a functional block diagram of a menu display management device according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the operation of a primary / secondary menu creation unit.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a display example of a primary menu and a secondary menu.

[Explanation of symbols]

10 menu table, 24 selection number increment section, 26 primary / secondary menu creation section, 28 sort execution section, 30 frequency gap search section, 34 update command section.

Continuation of the front page (56) References JP-A-7-225662 (JP, A) JP-A-4-24819 (JP, A) JP-A-6-242885 (JP, A) JP-A-63-15323 (JP) , A) JP-A-6-175813 (JP, A) JP-A-1-7122 (JP, A) (58) Fields investigated (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) G06F 3/00 601-658 G06F 3 / 14-3/153 G09G 5/00-5/42

Claims (9)

(57) [Claims] 1. A counting means for counting the number of selections for each menu item in a series of menu items; an ordering means for ordering the series of menu items in the order of the number of selections of each menu item; For the series of ordered menu items, sequentially refer to the difference in the number of selections between adjacent items from the top,
A frequency gap search unit that performs a frequency gap determination when the difference in the number of selections exceeds a predetermined frequency gap determination value, and a position where the frequency gap determination is performed is defined as a menu break in the series of menu items, and the series of A menu deciding unit for deciding a primary menu composed of menu items that are frequently used among the menu items; and a display unit for displaying the primary menu when a menu display command is issued. Menu display management device. 2. The menu display according to claim 1, wherein, when a menu switching command is issued after the display of the primary menu, a subsequent menu is displayed on the display means. Management device. 3. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the predetermined number is selected using a maximum number of selections, a minimum number of selections, and an average difference between the adjacent items based on the number of menu items in the series of menu items. A menu display management device, comprising: means for calculating a frequency gap determination value. 4. The apparatus according to claim 3, further comprising means for setting a coefficient by a user, wherein the means for calculating the predetermined frequency gap determination value multiplies the average difference by the coefficient. A menu display management device, wherein the predetermined frequency gap determination value is calculated by the following. 5. The apparatus according to claim 2 , further comprising: means for setting an upper limit of the number of items of the primary menu, wherein the search for the frequency gap is performed until the upper limit of the number of items is exceeded. Display management device. 6. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: an update instruction unit that issues an instruction to update the primary menu based on the fact that the total value of the number of selections for the series of menu items has reached a set number. A menu display management device, comprising: 7. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising update command means for commanding an update of the primary menu based on a lapse of a predetermined time from a previous update of the primary menu. Menu display management device. 8. A method for counting the number of selections for each menu item in a series of menu items, arranging the series of menu items in descending order of the number of selections of each menu item, and arranging the series of menus For items, refer to the difference in the number of selections between adjacent items in order from the top,
When the difference in the number of selections exceeds a predetermined frequency gap determination value, a frequency gap determination is performed, and a position where the frequency gap determination is performed is defined as a menu break in the series of menu items, and among the series of menu items, A menu display management method comprising: determining a primary menu including frequently used menu items; and displaying the primary menu. 9. A method of counting the number of selections for each menu item in a series of menu items, arranging the series of menu items in the order of the number of times of selection of each menu item, and arranging the series of menus. For items, refer to the difference in the number of selections between adjacent items in order from the top,
When the difference in the number of selections exceeds a predetermined frequency gap determination value, a frequency gap determination is performed, and a position where the frequency gap determination is performed is defined as a menu break in the series of menu items, and among the series of menu items, A menu display management method comprising: determining a primary menu including menu items that are frequently used and a secondary menu including menu items that are not frequently used.