JP3508156B2 - Menu output device - Google Patents

Description

Description: BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an apparatus which has a menu of a plurality of layers and selects a menu by selecting a selection item in a menu image of each layer. The present invention relates to a menu output device that is applied and outputs menu images of a plurality of layers in an overlapping manner. 2. Description of the Related Art When developing application software for an office computer or the like, it is common practice to create an operation manual for the application software and sell or distribute the two together. [0003] If the developed application software has a menu of a plurality of layers and adopts an operation system in which a menu item is selected by selecting a selection item in a menu image of each layer, an operation manual for the operation is required. It is preferable that a series of selection items is displayed as a single figure so that the user can visually and immediately understand the selection procedure. In such a figure, a menu image of a plurality of layers is arranged in an overlapping manner, but it is necessary to arrange a menu image of a plurality of layers so that it is possible to know which selection item has been selected. . [0005] Conventionally, such a diagram has been manually prepared. That is, the developed application software is analyzed, and each menu image screen is collected or printed out in the order of operation,
These printed menu images were appropriately arranged in an overlapping manner and stuck together. Therefore, in order to create such a diagram,
Human power was very spent. Further, there is a problem that it is difficult to create a unified drawing because the degree of dependence on the analysis / creator is very high. An object of the present invention is to make it possible to automatically create a diagram showing an operation procedure of application software based on already created menu information. According to the present invention, there is provided an apparatus having a menu of a plurality of layers, and selecting a menu item by selecting a selection item in a menu image of each layer. A menu storage unit that stores menu contents in which selection items are arranged at a plurality of positions in the direction for each menu, a selection information storage unit that stores menu selection information for each hierarchy, and a menu for each hierarchy, Area determination means for determining which of the divided areas obtained by dividing the menu image area into a plurality of areas in the vertical and horizontal directions, the selection position of the selection item according to the selection information on the menu image of the menu; In the lower right direction or the lower left direction except for the divided area determined by the area determining means, the next hierarchical menu is selected. -An arrangement direction selecting means for selecting an arrangement direction which does not exceed the output paper area when the images are overlapped and an output means for overlappingly outputting the next hierarchical menu image in the arrangement direction selected by the selection means; And characterized in that: An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. 1 to 9. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a menu output device according to an embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, reference numeral 10 denotes a CPU for performing overall control. Reference numeral 12 denotes an input unit such as a keyboard, and 14 denotes a mouse as a pointing device. Reference numeral 16 denotes a display unit such as a CRT, and reference numeral 18 denotes a screen buffer for temporarily storing data to be displayed on the display unit. Reference numeral 20 denotes a printing unit such as a printer.
Is a print buffer for temporarily storing data to be printed by the printing unit. Reference numeral 24 denotes a screen size memory for storing the screen size of the display unit, and reference numeral 26 denotes a paper size memory for storing the size of the paper printed by the printing unit 20. Reference numeral 28 denotes a hierarchical menu data memory for storing image data of the hierarchical menu, etc., and reference numeral 30 supplies the menu image data stored in the hierarchical menu data memory to the screen buffer 18 or the print buffer 22 while inputting. A menu selection execution processing unit that reads out the menu image data of the next hierarchy from the hierarchy menu data memory 28 according to the item selected by the unit 12 or the mouse 14 and supplies the read menu image data to the buffers 18 and 22. 32 is the input unit 12 or the mouse 1
4 is a menu selection information memory for storing the position of the item selected by the item No. 4; When displaying or printing out a menu image of a plurality of layers in an overlapping manner,
A menu arrangement processing unit that performs processing for arranging the positions of the selected items on the menu image so that the positions are not hidden;
Reference numeral 6 denotes a work memory used for temporary storage or the like during the processing operation of the menu arrangement processing unit 34. As shown in FIG. 2, the menu selection memory 32 stores a position of a selected item, that is, a selection number indicating which selection item has been selected, for each menu hierarchy. This selection number indicates a position where the menu image for one layer is divided into four areas A to D as shown in FIG. 3 and each area is further divided into four. Next, the operation in such a configuration will be described. Here, it is assumed that the menu selection information memory 32 has already stored a selection number indicating a position of a selection item in each hierarchy by a selection operation in a series of hierarchy menus. A predetermined key operation for printing out the series of selected states as one figure is performed by the input unit 12.
Then, the menu arrangement processing unit 34 automatically creates such a figure as shown in the operation flowchart of FIG. First, an initial menu image is arranged at a predetermined position on a bit map memory constructed on the work memory 26 based on the paper size stored in the paper size memory 26 (step S10). Next, the selection number in the next hierarchy is read from the menu selection information memory 32 (step S1).
1) It is determined which of the areas A to D it corresponds to (step S12). Then, an arrangement process corresponding to the determined area is executed, and the menu images of a plurality of layers are overlap-arranged in the bitmap memory on the work memory 26 (steps S13 to S16). Thereafter, if there is a selection number of the next menu layer in the menu selection information memory 32 (step S17), the process returns to step S11 and repeats the above processing. When the arrangement of all the selected menu images is completed, the menu images of the plurality of layers arranged in an overlapped manner are combined into one image on the bitmap memory, and the centering process in the horizontal direction and the centering process in the vertical direction are performed. Is performed and the image is arranged at the center (step S18), and is transferred to the print buffer 22, and printed out by the printing unit 20 (step S19). As a result, the print output is as shown in FIG. In the figure, the hatched items (for example, “31 business auxiliary menu”) are the selected items, and the selected items are not hidden, and the menu images of a plurality of levels are overlapped and arranged. Can be. Here, in the case where the selection number in the next hierarchy is in the area A, the area A in the step S13 is processed.
The arrangement processing will be described with reference to the flowchart in FIG. First, when the menu image of the next layer is arranged from the area D of the menu image of the next layer,
It is determined whether the sheet runs out of the sheet, that is, the bit map memory in the horizontal direction (step S20), and if it does not run out, it is further determined whether the sheet does not run out in the vertical direction (step S21). If it does not protrude in the vertical direction, the menu image of the next layer is arranged from the area D of the menu image of the next layer as shown in FIG. 7A (step S22). Further, if it runs off in the vertical direction, as shown in FIG. 7B, it is shifted upward from the position of the area D until it fits on the sheet (step S23). On the other hand, if the menu image of the next layer protrudes in the horizontal direction if it is disposed from the area D, if the menu image of the next layer is disposed from the area C of the menu image of the next layer, does it protrude in the horizontal direction of the paper? Is determined (step S24). If the sheet does not protrude, it is further determined whether the sheet does not protrude in the vertical direction (step S25).
If it does not protrude in the vertical direction, the menu image of the next layer is arranged from the area C of the menu image of the next layer as shown in FIG. 7C (step S2).
6). In addition, when it protrudes in the vertical direction, FIG.
(D), the area is shifted upward from the position of the area C to the position below the selection item (step S2).
7). On the other hand, in the case where it is protruded in the horizontal direction even if it is arranged from the area C, as shown in FIG. 7E, it is arranged shifted rightward from the position of the area C until it fits on the sheet. (Step S28). Thereafter, it is determined whether the sheet does not protrude in the vertical direction (step S2).
9) If it protrudes, it is shifted upward from the current position to a position below the selected item as shown in FIG. 7F (step S30). The selection number in the next layer is area B
Since the area B arranging process in step S14, which is the process in the case of, can be performed in substantially the same manner as the area A arranging process, the details are omitted, and only the portions different from the area A arranging are described. . That is, in the area B arranging process, the process of step S23 is a process of shifting the position from the position of the region D to a position below the selected item in an upward direction, and the process of step S27 is performed on the sheet from the position of the region C This is a process of shifting and arranging it upward until it fits. Next, the selection number in the next hierarchy is the area C
The area C arranging process in step S15, which is the process in the case of the above, will be described with reference to the flowchart in FIG. First, when the menu image of the next layer is arranged from the area D of the menu image of the layer,
It is determined whether the sheet runs out of the sheet, that is, the bit map memory in the horizontal direction (step S40). If the sheet does not run out, it is further determined whether the sheet does not run out in the vertical direction (step S41). If it does not protrude in the vertical direction, as shown in FIG. 9A, the menu image of the next layer is arranged from the area D of the menu image of the next layer (step S42). In the case where the image is protruded in the vertical direction, as shown in FIG. 9B, the image is shifted upward from the position of the area D until it fits on the sheet (step S43). On the other hand, in the case where the image is protruded from the area D in the horizontal direction, it is shifted leftward from the position of the area D to the position to the right of the selection item as shown in FIG. (Step S44). Thereafter, it is determined whether the sheet does not protrude in the vertical direction (step S4).
5) If it protrudes, as shown in FIG. 9D, it is shifted upward from the current position until it fits on the sheet (step S46). The selection number in the next hierarchy is the area D
The area D arranging process in step S16, which is the process in the case of (1), can be performed in substantially the same manner as the area C arranging process. That is, “area D” in the flowchart of FIG. 8 is simply replaced with “area C”. In the above description, the case of print output has been described as an example. However, the same applies to the case of menu image arrangement on the display screen of the display unit 16, ie, the case of display output. Further, in the above embodiment, the menu images of the lower hierarchy are arranged so as to overlap with each other, but the reverse may be adopted (the menu image of the upper hierarchy is at the top). Further, in the above embodiment, the upward shift arrangement in the case of protruding in the vertical direction of the sheet is performed for the next hierarchical menu image to be newly arranged in the overlapped manner. If there is room in the overlapped portion, if the overlapped portion is given priority, it is possible to prevent the arrangement between the menu images below the sheet from becoming jammed. According to the present invention, a diagram showing a menu operation procedure of a plurality of layers in application software and a corresponding menu image is automatically displayed on the basis of menu selection information of each layer stored in advance. In particular, in the figure, when the menu images of each layer are sequentially overlapped and arranged, the menu image of the lower layer is optimally arranged in the lower right direction or the lower left direction with respect to the upper layer. Hierarchy can be automatically arranged in the direction. [0035]

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a menu output device according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a storage format of a menu selection information memory. FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining area division in a menu image. FIG. 4 is a flowchart of a printing operation. FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a print output result. FIG. 6 is a flowchart of an area A arrangement process. FIGS. 7A to 7F are diagrams each showing a result of a region A arrangement process. FIG. 8 is a flowchart of a region C arrangement process. FIGS. 9A to 9D are diagrams each showing a result of a region C arrangement process. [Description of Signs] 10 CPU, 12 input unit, 14 mouse, 16 display unit, 18 screen buffer, 20 print unit, 22 print buffer, 24 screen size memory, 26 paper size memory, 28: hierarchical menu data memory, 30: menu selection execution processing unit, 32: menu selection information memory,
34: menu arrangement processing unit, 36: work memory.

────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (56) References JP-A-1-261777 (JP, A) JP-A-2-285392 (JP, A) JP-A-3-29022 (JP, A) JP-A-3-29022 233620 (JP, A) JP-A-3-246614 (JP, A) JP-A-4-18597 (JP, A) JP-A-4-274514 (JP, A) JP-A-5-46338 (JP, A) JP-A-5-204577 (JP, A) JP-A-60-207969 (JP, A) JP-A-62-209678 (JP, A) JP-A-63-36325 (JP, A) JP-A-63-208173 (JP, A) (58) Fields investigated (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) G06F 3/00 601-658 G06F 3/12 G06F 17/21 G06T 11/60 100 B41J 5/30

Claims (1)

(57) [Claim 1] In an apparatus having a menu of a plurality of layers and selecting a menu item by selecting a selection item in a menu image of each layer, a vertical and horizontal direction in a menu image area is provided. Menu storage means for storing the menu contents in which selection items are arranged at a plurality of positions for each of the menus; selection information storage means for storing menu selection information for each hierarchy; selected position of the selected item by the selection information on the menu image of an area determination means for determining whether they fall in a divided region of the divided regions divided into a plurality of regions of the menu image region in the horizontal and vertical directions, the region Lower right direction excluding the divided area determined by the determination means
Or, in any of the placement directions in the lower left direction,
When laying out new images in overlap, the output paper
Select the placement direction that does not exceed the area
Means and the next hierarchical menu image are selected by the selecting means.
And output means for outputting overlapped arrangement in the arranged arrangement direction .