JP3521212B2 - Multi-window computer system - Google Patents

Description

Description: BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a multi-device input system capable of simultaneously inputting position information using a plurality of position indicators, and displaying a plurality of windows on a display screen. The present invention relates to a computer system having a multi-window system. 2. Description of the Related Art CAD (Computer Aided) is an apparatus for designing electric circuits and machines using a computer.
Design) systems are known. In the CAD system, a drawing area is set on a display screen of a display device, and an electric circuit or the like to be designed is drawn in the drawing area. The drafter selects a symbol representing a component such as an electric circuit, inputs the selected symbol to a computer, displays the selected symbol on a required portion of the display screen, and takes into account the structure of the electric circuit to be designed. A large number of symbols are connected on a display screen to design an electric circuit. On the other hand, recently, basic software (OS) having a multi-window function capable of displaying a plurality of windows on a display screen and operating different application programs in each window has become mainstream. [0004] It is required that even the business software of the CAD system be operated in multi-windows, and a CAD system that satisfies this requirement has been proposed. In an environment of a multi-window system, a pointing device such as an electronic pen and an input means of a mouse are controlled by basic software. In general, the coordinate information generated by operating the position indicator is configured to be sent to application software corresponding to a window displayed at a position corresponding to the designated position. For this reason, in the case of operating an application program of a CAD system using one of the windows in a multi-window system,
When selecting and instructing a required symbol from a menu sheet placed on the coordinate detecting device and performing an input, when trying to designate a symbol existing in a range not corresponding to its own window, the coordinate information is set in the corresponding area. Is passed to another application program running in another window corresponding to the above. [0006] There are coordinate input control method proposed in JP equitable 4-58053 as prior art method for solving the above problems. This method is a very special method and has a disadvantage that the operation is difficult to understand. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide an application having a multi-window system and a multi-device input system, the application operating in the active window even if an input operation is performed in an area outside the area corresponding to the active window in the input operation area An object of the present invention is to provide a multi-window computer system in which coordinate information is passed to a program and operability is improved. [0008] A computer system according to the present invention includes a display device and a computer that displays a plurality of windows on a display screen of the display device and operates different processes in each window. And
A coordinate detecting device for simultaneously detecting coordinate information indicated by each of a plurality of position indicators operated on the coordinate detectable area and outputting the coordinate information to a computer; and at least one private position indicator included in the plurality of position indicators Device, position indicator identifying means for identifying the type of the position indicator, and when the position indicator identifying means identifies that the operated position indicator is a private position indicator, the position indicator is output from the coordinate detecting device. Is input to the process corresponding to the current active window, regardless of the position indicated by the position indicator, and when identifying the other position indicator, the coordinate information output from the coordinate detection device is And a switching means for switching and inputting to a process corresponding to the window including the designated position. According to the present invention, in a computer system having a coordinate input system having a multi-device function and a multi-window display and processing system, at least one of the plurality of position indicators has an active window. Even if the input is performed at the designated position included in the area other than the active window, the function that the input information is passed to the currently executed active window process without switching the active window is provided. Operability of the multi-window system and the multi-device input system can be improved. Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 is a computer system having a multi-window system and a coordinate input system having a multi-device function. Display screen 10a of display device 10
For example, three windows 12, 13, and 14 are displayed. In each window, another arbitrary application program is executed, and a CAD system is realized using one of the windows. For convenience of illustration, display in each window is omitted. Reference numeral 11 denotes a computer, which includes a memory for storing an application program for a CAD system and a program for implementing other processes, and a CPU for executing these programs. Reference numeral 16 denotes a plurality of symbols 1 which are necessary components for creating a graphic in the drawing area.
5 is a menu sheet drawn. The menu sheet 16 is placed on a coordinate detectable area of a coordinate detecting device (generally called a digitizer or tablet) 17 having a coordinate detectable area (sensor table) and functioning as position information input means. The coordinate detecting device according to the present embodiment has a multi-device function. Here, the coordinate detecting device 17 having a multi-device function means that the sensor section of the coordinate detecting device operates, for example, two pen-type position indicators on a sensor table, each of which has position information (coordinate data). ) Means that it has a hardware configuration and a data structure that can simultaneously detect and output the position information indicated by the two position indicators. Therefore, the operator can perform input operation of position information by holding at least two position indicators 18 and 19 with both hands on the sensor table of the coordinate detecting device 17. The coordinate data input by instructing with the two position indicators 18 and 19 is sent from the coordinate detecting device 17 to the computer 11. As a coordinate detecting device having a multi-device function, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 3-1 proposed by the present applicant has been proposed.
No. 47012, Japanese Patent Application No. 63-106033, Japanese Patent Application No. 6
There is an apparatus disclosed in, for example, JP-A-3-108424. The above-mentioned CAD system is a system for designing an electric circuit as an example.
Various symbols 1 indicating electric circuit elements necessary for drawing an electric circuit are displayed on the menu sheet 16 placed thereon.
5 is drawn on each of a number of sections in a grid pattern. Each of these symbols becomes a menu content to be selected based on a predetermined position indicator described later. The menu sheet 16 is made of, for example, paper. On the other hand, a drawing area is set in, for example, the window 13 among the three windows opened on the display screen 10a of the display device 10 such as a CRT. In the CAD system executed in the window 13, any one of the menu items (symbols) of the menu sheet 16 placed on the coordinate detecting device 17 is selected and input to the computer 11 and displayed on the display screen. A process for displaying (menu selection process) and various processes generally required to create an electric circuit or the like displayed in the drawing area are performed. Next, in the coordinate detecting device 17 having a multi-device function and the two position indicators 18 and 19 used on the input operation table, two position indicators 1 and 2 are used.
Out of 8, 19, the position indicator 18 is set to be a dedicated position indicator involved only in the above menu selection processing. The position indicator 19 is set so as to be a position indicator involved only in the normal processing. Here, the position indicator 18 is called a "private position indicator", and the position indicator 19 is called a "normal position indicator". The functions of the private position indicator 18 and the normal position indicator 19 will be described in detail in the description of the internal configuration of the computer and the data processing. In brief, information on the position pointed to by the private position indicator 18 is stored in the active window without switching the input process even if the pointed position exists in an area outside the active window at that time. It is characterized in that it is passed to the corresponding process. The normal position indicator 19 does not have such a feature, and has a function of switching the input process when outside the area of the active window and passing input information to the window corresponding to the indicated position. are doing. The coordinate detector 17 having a multi-device function can output coordinate information (including data for identification in the coordinate data) for the two position indicators 18 and 19 to identify them. for that reason,
On the computer 11 side, the private position indicator 18
Is the coordinate data input in response to the instruction operation of
It can be determined whether or not the coordinate data is input in response to the pointing operation of the normal position indicator 19. Then, necessary processing is performed according to the respective coordinate data. This configuration is described in detail below with reference to FIG. With respect to the system configuration shown in FIG. 1, the functional units provided in the computer 11 are shown in detail in FIG. 17a is a coordinate detecting device 17
, An effective area (coordinate detectable area), on which a menu sheet is arranged. Reference numerals 18 and 19 denote two position indicators operated simultaneously on the effective area 17a. As described above, reference numeral 18 denotes a private position indicator, and reference numeral 19 denotes a normal position indicator. Reference numeral 10a denotes a display screen of the display device 10. In FIG. 2, the configuration shown above the dashed-dotted line 21 indicates a configuration related to various functions realized by a program in the computer 11. Reference numeral 22 denotes an input control processing means, which fetches coordinate data output from the coordinate detecting device 17 as described later, and controls the input coordinate data in accordance with the data structure of the coordinate data. Reference numeral 23 denotes a pointer display processing means, which fetches coordinate values included in the coordinate data of each position indicator obtained by the input control processing means 22, and
In a, pointers 18A and 19A are displayed at the designated positions of the position indicators corresponding to the coordinate values. The coordinate data input to and stored in the input control processing means 22 is sent to, for example, one of processes A, B, and C via the changeover switch 24. Here, in the case of the present embodiment, three windows 12, 13, and 14 are opened on the display screen 10a in this embodiment, and the process A is executed in the window 12, and the process B is executed in the window 13. In the window 14, the process C is being executed. In each window, a different process is executed. In particular, process B is based on the CAD application program described above. The coordinate data output from the input control processing means 22 is the process A, B, C
To which process is passed is determined by the switching operation of the changeover switch 24. The changeover operation of the changeover switch 24 is controlled by the input process changeover processing means 25. Further, the input process switching processing means 25 performs the control operation based on information generated by the position indicator determination / information selection processing means 26, the window area determination means 27, and the window management information 28. The position indicator determination / information selection processing means 26 is a characteristic component of the present invention. Based on the coordinate data read from the input control processing means 22, the position indicator determination / information selection processing means 26
It has a function (position indicator identifying means) for identifying whether the coordinate data is designated by one of the position indicators 18 and 19. Then, the coordinate data is transferred to the normal position indicator 1 by the position indicator identifying means.
When it is determined that the input data is the input coordinate data, the window management information 28 is referred to the window area including the current designated position of the normal position indicator 19 based on the coordinate values included in the coordinate data. The changeover switch 24 determines that the coordinate data is passed to the process B corresponding to the determined window (the window 13 in this embodiment).
Change the connection status of. In the illustrated example, switching is not performed because the window 13 is in the active window state. However, when the position indicated by the normal position indicator 19 exists in a window area other than the active window, the window becomes the active window. Is switched to the input process, and the coordinate data is passed to the corresponding process. When the position indicator discriminating means determines that the coordinate data is the coordinate data input by the private position indicator 18, the window area including the designated position of the private position indicator 19 at that time is defined as Irrespective of this, the window area determining means 27 determines the current active window, and the coordinate data is passed to the process B corresponding to the determined window (the window 13 in this embodiment). Therefore, with respect to the private position indicator 18, even if the designated position exists in an area other than the active window, switching to the window corresponding to the area is not performed, and the switching switch 24
Does not perform the switching operation of the input process. As described above, from the viewpoint of the process, the input operation of the position indicator 18 is always input to the active window at that time regardless of which area the input coordinate data is located at. This is different from the case of a general ordinary position indicator, and is called a private position indicator in the sense that it performs a private operation. In the process B for realizing the CAD, generally, a normal process for a graphic displayed in the drawing area of the window 13 and a menu selection processing for putting a selected symbol in the drawing area are executed. You. More specifically, the normal process is a process for executing a general operation for a drawing process in a CAD system and performing a screen menu process using a screen menu area. When the menu content is selected by the position indicator, this is a process for reading data relating to the symbol corresponding to the position (coordinate data) designated by the position indicator and displaying the data in the drawing area. Data output from each of the processes A, B, and C is sent to the display screen 10a via the display control processing means 29.
Will be displayed. The structure of the coordinate data sent from the input control processing means 22, the position indicator determination / information selection processing means 26, the coordinate detection device 17 to the computer 11, and the data structure inside the computer 11 will be described. FIG. 3 shows an example of the data format of the coordinate data sent from the coordinate detecting device 17 to the computer 11. The data format of FIG. 3 is RS232C
This is a data format on the interface and set in the multi mode corresponding to the multi device function described above. Coordinate data is 7 for 1 byte
The bits have 14 bytes and are transferred from the coordinate detecting device 17 to the computer 11 as serial data one byte at a time. In the data structure shown in FIG.
7 bytes indicate data relating to the position indicator 18, 8 to 14 bytes indicate data relating to the position indicator 19, and whether the next bit of RDY is 1 or 0, the coordinate data relating to any position indicator (18 or 19). Is there a computer 1
One side can make the determination. In FIG. 3, RDY indicates 1 when the position pointer indicates the valid reading range, RES indicates a reserved bit, E indicates a switch common flag (1 when any switch is pressed), and F0.
F4 is binary data indicating the number of the switch being pressed, Xs and Ys are coordinate value sign bits, X0 to Y15 are binary data of X coordinates, Y0 to Y15 are binary data of Y coordinates, and As is pen pressure. Sign bits A0 to A5 of information are binary number data of pen pressure information. When the coordinate data is sent to the computer 11 byte by byte in the data format shown in FIG. 3, the input control processing means 22 keeps the received data as it is until a set of 14 bytes of data is prepared. Save in the format. When one set of data is completed, the data is converted into the format shown in FIG. 4 and stored in the memory. Now, for example, two position indicators 18 and 19 are used on the menu sheet 16 placed in the effective area of the coordinate detecting device 17, but the operations such as menu selection by these position indicators are performed. When the switch of each position indicator is pressed, the selected content is identified based on the coordinate data corresponding to the pressed position. For example, in the normal position indicator 19, when the position indicator moves without the switch being pressed, only the process of moving the pointer 19A in the display screen corresponding to the position is performed. The display processing of the pointer, that is, the display processing by the pointer display processing means 23 is realized as a function of a driver or an OS in a recent system such as a multi-window. On the other hand, application programs are generally waiting for input while the switch is not pressed,
No operation is performed unless the process according to the previous instruction is continued. The position indicator identifying means provided in the position indicator determination / information selection processing means 26 determines which position indicator (18) of the position indicator whose switch is pressed in the data shown in FIG. 19) is determined.
When it is determined that the position indicator whose switch is pressed is the normal position indicator 19, the position indicator determination / information selection processing unit 26 converts the coordinate information of the position indicator into an area where the indicated position exists. The information for inputting to the process corresponding to the window is output, and the connection state of the changeover switch 24 is controlled via the input process changeover processing means 25. As a result, the active window on the display screen is changed, and the coordinate information is passed to the process corresponding to the changed active window. In the case of the private position indicator 18, information for inputting the coordinate information to the process B corresponding to the active window 13 is output, and the connection state of the changeover switch 24 is changed via the input process changeover processing means 25. Control. Actually, the information is passed to the process B without performing the switching operation in the switching switch 24. As described above, in the position indicator determination / information selection processing means 26, the position information relating to each of the two position indicators 18 and 19 is input in a united form.
After that, it is configured to be separated into respective pieces of position information and sent to each process separately. However, the actual processing is performed on the premise that the switch of the position indicator is pressed as described above. FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the above-described operation based on the configuration shown in FIG. 2 as a series of flows. In this flowchart, the input control processing means 22 receives the coordinate data (information from the position indicator) sent from the coordinate detecting device 17 (step S11), and determines in step S12 whether or not the input is the private position indicator 18. Is determined. Judgment step S12
If the answer is YES, the information is passed to the process B corresponding to the current active window 13 without switching the changeover switch 24 (step S13). When in the determination step S 12 is NO, it is determined that the information from the normal position indicator 19, in the next decision step S14,
It is determined whether or not the designated position is within the active window. If the determination in step S14 is YES, the information is passed to the process B corresponding to the current active window without switching the changeover switch 24 (step S15). If NO, it is determined in the next determination step S16 whether or not the area is within the inactive window area. If NO, the process proceeds to the first step S11, and if YES, the determining step S17
It is determined whether or not a selection operation such as operation of an operation switch (or a keyboard (not shown)) of the normal position indicator 19 has been performed. If the determination in step S17 is NO, the process proceeds to step S11. If the determination is YES, a process of switching the connection state of the changeover switch 24 to change the active window is performed (step S18). The private position indicator 18 of the above embodiment.
Has been used for menu selection processing on the menu sheet 16, an embodiment of another use of the private position indicator 18 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 6A shows two windows 31 and 32 displayed on the display screen 10a. The window 31 is an active window, in which a CAD program is executed, and a window 32 in which a word processor program is executed. I have. In such a case, when drawing a large diameter circle 33 on the CAD window 31, an area outside the CAD window 31 (for example, a word processing window 32)
It is necessary to specify the center point 34 for drawing the circle 33 in the area (). If the center point 34 can be specified by the private position indicator 18, the active window can be changed without changing the active window. The center point of the circle 33 can be designated. FIG. 6B shows two windows 4 in the same manner.
In FIGS. 1 and 42, a window 41 is a graphic window in which a program capable of drawing a graphic is executed, and a window 42 is an active window in which a program capable of enlarging and displaying a part of the graphic displayed in the window 41 is executed. It is a window. in this case,
When a part of a graphic to be enlarged in the window 41 located outside the active window 42 is designated by the private position indicator 18, an enlarged view of the part can be displayed in the active window 41. In FIG. 6C, an active window 51 and three inactive windows 52 to 54 are shown on the display screen. In this embodiment, window 5
While keeping 1 active, the other windows 52-
The information displayed on the active window 51 (for example, the information of the graphic 55) can be transmitted by designating the window without switching the active state 54. That is, if the destination window is designated by the private position indicator, predetermined information can be sent from the current active window to the designated window without switching the destination window to the active window each time. When you want to continue an operation (arbitrary operation) in the same active window and perform a specific operation on another inactive window (where another application program is running), Exchange can be performed smoothly, and operations can be performed efficiently and quickly. As apparent from the above description, according to the present invention, in a computer system having a multi-window system and a multi-device input system,
The operability of the information input operation using the plurality of position indicators can be improved.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is an external configuration diagram of a computer system to which the present invention is applied. FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an internal configuration of a computer. FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of a data format of coordinate data output from a coordinate detection device. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a storage format of coordinate data stored by a computer. FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating a flow of a series of processing. FIG. 6 is a diagram for explaining another application example regarding usage. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Display device 11 Computers 12, 13, 14 Window 15 Symbol 16 Menu sheet 17 Coordinate detection device 18, 19 Position indicator 22 Input control processing means 23 Pointer display processing means 24 Changeover switch 25 Input process switching processing means 26 Position indicator determination / information selection processing means 27 Window area determination means

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (58) Field surveyed (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) G06F 3/033-3/037 G06F 3/03 G06F 3/00 G06F 3/14-3/153 G06F 17 / 50

Claims (1)

(57) [Claim 1] In a multi-window computer system having a display device and a computer displaying a plurality of windows on a display screen of the display device and operating different processes in each window, A coordinate detection device that simultaneously detects coordinate information indicated by each of the plurality of position indicators operated on the detectable area and outputs the coordinate information to the computer; and at least one coordinate information device included in the plurality of position indicators. A private position indicator; a position indicator identifying means for identifying a type of the position indicator; and the position indicator identifying means, when identifying that the operated position indicator is the private position indicator, The coordinate information output from the coordinate detection device corresponds to the current active window regardless of the position indicated by the position indicator. And a switching means for switching the coordinate information output from the coordinate detecting device to a process corresponding to a window including the designated position and inputting the coordinate information when the input is to be made to a process to be performed and the position indicator is identified as another position indicator. A multi-window computer system characterized by the following.