JP3586747B2 - Window display control device - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
[Industrial applications]
The present invention relates to a window display control device that displays a plurality of windows on a screen of a display unit of an information processing device, and more particularly to a window display control device that controls the conversion of windows into icons and icons.
[0002]
[Prior art]
2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, window systems have been adopted in information processing apparatuses such as workstations and personal computers in order to provide a user with an excellent operation environment. In this window system, it is possible to simultaneously display a plurality of windows on a screen of a display device which is a bitmap display, and to perform different operations on each window.
[0003]
Today's window systems also provide the ability to iconify windows in order to use the display screen efficiently. The iconization of the window is a function of switching the window displayed on the screen to the icon display. That is, for example, if many windows are displayed on the screen, the screen becomes difficult to see. For the time being, windows that are not used for the time being are iconified and arranged, and only the necessary windows are displayed on the screen. This is the function used.
[0004]
FIG. 11 is a diagram for explaining a conventional iconization process of a window that is generally performed.
As shown in FIG. 11A, it is assumed that six windows A, B, C, D, E, and F are simultaneously displayed. These windows have different display positions and sizes, and are partially hidden by other windows except for windows A and D.
[0005]
When the user wants to display only the window B in such a state, the other five windows A, C, D, E, and F are iconified using an input device such as a mouse. That is, by performing an operation such as double-clicking a button for iconification at a predetermined position of each of the windows A, C, D, E, and F with a mouse, the window is hidden, and the corresponding window is replaced. The five icons are displayed at the bottom of the screen. As a result, the window B becomes entirely visible, and the user can selectively obtain the information displayed in the window B, and can perform operations such as document creation and spreadsheets in a highly visible environment. become.
[0006]
Conversely, when the user wants to restore the iconized window on the screen, the user places the mouse cursor on the icon of the window to be displayed, for example, and double-clicks the mouse button. The window system stores information of a window that has been converted to an icon, and upon detecting the double-click operation, restores and displays the icon on which the double-click operation has been performed in the original window.
[0007]
In this way, in a window system in which many windows can be opened on one screen, the iconification of windows is effective when temporarily suspending work on a currently displayed window and starting the process again. Yes, it is an important function to improve user operability in a window system.
[0008]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
However, the above-described conventional method for iconifying a window has the following problems.
[0009]
That is, the icons obtained by the iconification are individually displayed on the screen. Therefore, when the number of windows to be iconified increases, the number of icons also increases, and accordingly, the area occupied by the icons on the screen. And the space efficiency gradually deteriorates.
[0010]
In addition, as the number of icons increases, it takes time to find the target icon corresponding to the window to be restored, and the operability is reduced.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to improve the space efficiency of a display screen when converting a window into an icon, and to speed up an icon operation when restoring a window.
[0011]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
Means of the present invention is a window display control device for displaying a window on a display screen,
Instructing means for instructing to iconify a window displayed on the display screen in accordance with a user's instruction operation;
When iconification is instructed by the instruction means, iconifying means for converting the designated window into an icon and displaying the icon,
Icon displayed by the iconifying meansCounting means for counting the number of
Counted by the counting meansNumber of iconsIf exceeds the predetermined number,Integration for integrating and displaying a plurality of icons displayed by the iconization unit into one shared iconMeans.
[0020]
【Example】
Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a hardware configuration diagram of an information processing apparatus including a window system according to an embodiment.
[0021]
The mouse 31 and the keyboard 33 are input devices of the window system, and the user operates the window system by using these, and gives instructions such as iconizing and restoring windows. Inputs from the mouse 31 and the keyboard 33 are transmitted to the central processing unit (CPU) 23 via the mouse control device 30 and the keyboard control device 32, respectively.
[0022]
The CPU 23 writes data for each dot into the window memory 34 in accordance with the input of data related to screen display from the mouse control device 30 or the keyboard control device 32. Further, the CPU 23 stores information of the iconized window in the icon hierarchy table 22, and stores information for icon control and the like in the resource file 21.
[0023]
In accordance with an instruction from the CPU 23, the icon control device 24 writes information relating to a window to be displayed on the screen into the display control memory 25 based on icon management data, which will be described later, stored in the icon hierarchy table 22.
[0024]
The bit mover 26 transfers the bitmap image of each window stored in the window memory 34 to the display memory 27, which is a bitmap frame memory, based on the window information stored in the display control memory 25. The image of the multi-window screen of one frame is written in the memory 27. At the time of this transfer, a logical operation such as AND, OR, EOR (Exclusive OR), that is, a so-called raster operation is performed on the transfer data and the contents in the display memory 27 in dot units (bit units).
[0025]
The display control device 28 displays a display screen stored in the display memory 27 on a screen of a CRT (Cathode-Ray Tube) 29. The user performs various operations such as document creation and spreadsheet calculation using the mouse 31 and the keyboard 33 in the window displayed on the screen.
[0026]
In the window system according to the present embodiment, a window management program for performing processing such as moving, enlarging, reducing, iconifying, and restoring windows is stored in a main storage device (not shown), and the CPU 23 executes the window management program to execute the window management program. Perform window processing. This window management program is generally called a window manager.
[0027]
Next, with reference to FIGS. 2 to 6, a description will be given of a method of controlling a screen display when an operation of converting a window into an icon and a window of an icon (restoring an iconized window) is performed in this embodiment.
[0028]
The user determines the maximum number of icons (hereinafter, referred to as individual icons) that can be displayed on the screen at one time in consideration of the screen size, the size of the window, and the like. Write to. The window manager reads the maximum number of the individual icons from the resource file 21 and manages the maximum number in the main memory by using a variable called TOP_ICON_MIN. When the number of iconified windows exceeds the value of TOP_ICON_MIN, the icons are replaced by one. The icon is converted to a top icon (shared icon) and displayed.
[0029]
In FIGS. 2 to 6, it is assumed that TOP_ICON_MIN is set to 3.
FIG. 2 shows a window W on the screen 40 of the CRT 29.₁~ W₆6 shows a state where six windows are displayed.
[0030]
In the display state of FIG. 2, the user₁~ W₃When the operation of iconizing is performed, the display on the screen 40 changes to the state shown in FIG. That is, the window W₁~ W₃Is in a non-display state, and these are individual icons ICON, respectively.₁~ ICON₃And is displayed on the lower left of the screen 40. At this time, the window manager sets the iconized window W₁, W₂, W₃The window management information such as the display position and size of is stored in the icon hierarchy table 22.
[0031]
Next, in the display state of FIG.₅Is performed, the number of windows to be iconified exceeds the preset upper limit of three. Therefore, the window manager sets the window W as shown in FIG.₁, W₂, W₃, W₅4 individual icons ICON corresponding to₁, ICON₂, ICON₃, ICON₅Is replaced with a single top icon 41, which is displayed in the lower left corner of the screen. At this time, the window manager further adds the window W to the icon hierarchy table 22.₅Stores window management information. Thus, when the number of individual icons to be iconified exceeds three, a plurality of individual icons that have been displayed up to that point are integrated with the top icon 41 and displayed.
[0032]
In this state, continue with window W₄, W₆Is iconized, only the top icon 41 is displayed, and the number does not increase. However, the window W is displayed in the icon hierarchy table 22.₄, W₆Is newly stored.
[0033]
In the display state of FIG. 4, when restoring the iconized window on the screen 40, the user places a mouse cursor (not shown) on the top icon 41 and then clicks the mouse button of the mouse 31. By this click operation, the window W is displayed as shown in FIG.₁, W₂, W₃, W₅Are displayed in tandem on the right side of the top icon 41 as subordinate icons of the top icon 41. The subordinate icons 42-1, 42-2, 42-3, and 42-4 shown in FIG. 5 correspond to the individual icons ICON shown in FIG.₁, ICON₂, ICON₃However, these individual icons may be used as the subordinate icons. The user sets the subordinate icon 42-i (i = 1, 2, 3, 5) corresponding to the window to be restored from the displayed subordinate icons 42-1, 42-2, 42-3, and 42-4. The mouse 31 is designated (overlaid with the mouse cursor), and the mouse button of the mouse 31 is double-clicked.
[0034]
FIG. 6 shows a state in which the user operates the window W in the display state of FIG.₁Shows the display state of the screen 40 after the icon 42-1 is designated and double-clicked. That is, by this double-click operation, the window W₁Returns from the non-display state to the display state again. Accordingly, the number of iconified windows is reduced from four to three, so that the window manager closes the top icon 41 as shown in FIG.₂, W₃, W₅Individual Icon ICON₂, ICON₃, ICON₅Is displayed at the lower left of the screen 40.
[0035]
In this embodiment, in addition to the individual icon, the subordinate icon which is another form of the individual icon subordinate to the top icon is managed by the window manager in the icon hierarchy table 22 in a hierarchical structure.
[0036]
FIG. 7 is a diagram showing the internal configuration of the icon hierarchy table 22, and the state shown in FIG. 7 corresponds to the screen of FIG.
“Window ID” is an identifier of a window that has been iconified, and “1”, “2”, and “3” in FIG.₁, Window W₂, Window W₃Is represented.
[0037]
The “window title” is the name of the application software running in the window, and is sorted in alphabetical order when written in the icon hierarchy table 22. This sorting is performed in units of icon management data described later.
[0038]
“Window coordinates” are dot coordinate values indicating the display position of the upper left corner of the window on the screen 40, and “window size” represents the size of the rectangular area of the window.
[0039]
The “pointer to the bitmap data of the window” is a pointer value indicating the storage position of the bitmap data of the window displayed on the screen 40 in the window memory 34, and the “pointer to the bitmap data of the icon” is This is a pointer value indicating the storage position in the window memory 34 of the bitmap data of the icon corresponding to the window.
[0040]
"Pointer to bitmap data of icon" has window W₁, W₂, W₃For each of the pointer values "a₀a₀a₀"," B₀b₀b₀"," C₀c₀c₀Is stored. These pointer values correspond to the individual icon ICON in FIG.₁, ICON₂, ICON₃Of the bit map data in the window memory 34.
[0041]
Management data including fields of “window ID”, “window title”, “window coordinates”, “window size”, “pointer to bitmap data of window”, and “pointer to bitmap data of icon” (Hereinafter referred to as icon management data) is created for each iconified window.
[0042]
FIG. 8 shows an icon hierarchy table 22 corresponding to the display state of FIG.
In FIG. 8, the window W whose “window ID” is 5₅Icon management data is added, and the “pointer to icon bitmap data”₁, W₂, W₃, W₅For each of the pointer values "a₁a₁a₁"," B₁b₁b₁"," C₁c₁c₁”,“ D₁d₁d₁Is stored. These pointer values are stored in the window W in FIG.₁, Window W₂, Window W₃, Window W₅Indicates the storage position in the window memory 34 of the bitmap data of the subordinate icon.
[0043]
As described above, when the number of icon management data stored in the icon hierarchy table 22 exceeds the set value of TOP_ICON_MIN, the “pointer to the icon bitmap data” of the icon management data changes from the individual icon to the bit of the subordinate icon. The setting is changed to the pointer value to the map data.
[0044]
In the above example, the value of TOP_ICON_MIN is set to 3, but this value can be freely set by the user. For example, when TOP_ICON_MIN is set to 5, the top icon is displayed when six windows are iconified. It is also possible to do so.
[0045]
Next, a description will be given of a window iconifying process and a restoring process performed under the control of the window manager with reference to FIGS.
FIG. 9 is a flowchart of the iconization process.
[0046]
When the user instructs iconification of an arbitrary window displayed on the screen 40 using the mouse 31 or the like, the window manager firstly, for example, displays the number of iconified windows stored at an arbitrary address on the main memory. (Hereinafter referred to as "the number of iconized windows") is incremented by one (S1). Thereby, the window W is displayed on the screen shown in FIG.₅Is indicated, the number of iconified windows is stored as 4.
[0047]
Next, the incremented “number of iconized windows” is compared with the value of TOP_ICON_MIN, and it is determined whether the value is greater than the value of TOP_ICON_MIN (S2). If the “number of iconized windows” exceeds the value of TOP_ICON_MIN (S2, YES), the process of creating the icon hierarchy table I is performed (S3), and if the value does not exceed the value of TOP_ICON_MIN (S2, NO), a process of creating an icon hierarchy table II is performed (S5).
[0048]
In the processing of the icon hierarchy table creation I, the icon management data of the newly iconified window is created and stored in the icon hierarchy table 22. At this time, when the “number of iconized windows” is “4”, that is, when TOP_ICON_MIN is exceeded for the first time, for all windows in which icon management data is stored in the icon hierarchy table 22, bits of subordinate icons of those windows are set. The map data is generated, and a pointer value indicating the storage position of the bit map data in the window memory 34 is set in the field of "pointer to icon bit map data" corresponding to each window. When the “number of iconized windows” is “5” or more, the above processing is performed only on the icon management data of the newly iconified window.
[0049]
In the process of creating the icon hierarchy table II, the icon management data of the newly iconized window is created and stored in the icon hierarchy table 22. In this case, the bitmap data of the subordinate icon is not generated, and a pointer value indicating the storage position of the bitmap data of the individual icon in the window memory 34 is stored in the “pointer to the bitmap data of the icon”. Note that in each of the two icon hierarchy table creation processes I and II, a sort process based on a “window title” is performed.
[0050]
When the window manager finishes the processing of icon hierarchy table creation I (S3), it generates a top icon 41 and displays the top icon 41 instead of the individual icon previously displayed on the screen 40 (S4). .
[0051]
As a result, for example, as shown in FIG.₁, ICON₂, ICON₃Is already displayed, and the window W₅Is designated, the window W is displayed as shown in FIG.₁, W₂, W₃, W₅Is displayed on the screen 40.
[0052]
When the window manager finishes the icon hierarchy table creation II process (S5), the window manager generates a normal individual icon and displays it at a predetermined position on the screen 40 (S6).
[0053]
FIG. 10 is a flowchart illustrating a process performed by the window manager to restore an icon to a window.
In this process, the window manager is normally in a state of waiting for an event from an input from the keyboard 33 or an event of various operations (move, click, double click, etc.) of the mouse 31 (S11).
[0054]
When the event information is received due to the occurrence of the various events, the event information is analyzed, and if the event is a click operation of the mouse 31, whether the click operation position is within the display area of the top icon 41 on the screen 40 or not. It is determined by comparing with the display position information of the top icon 41 stored in the main memory in advance (S12). Then, if it is outside the display area of the top icon 41 (S12, NO), the corresponding other processing is performed (S22).
[0055]
On the other hand, if it is determined that the click operation position is within the display area of the top icon 41 on the screen 40, based on all the icon management data in the icon hierarchy table 22, an icon subordinate to the top icon 41 (the subordinate icon) After all of the icons have been displayed (S13), the state again waits for an event to occur (S14).
[0056]
Thereby, for example, when the top icon 41 is clicked on the screen shown in FIG. 4, the window W is displayed to the right of the top icon 41 as shown in FIG.₁, W₂, W₃, And W₅The subordinate icons 42-1, 42-2, 42-3, and 42-4 are displayed in a vertically superposed manner.
[0057]
Further, in this case, since the subordinate icons are displayed in the alphabetical order of the window title, the user can quickly find the subordinate icons of the window to be restored.
[0058]
Here, when the event information is received again, the event information is analyzed, and it is determined whether any of the subordinate icons is double-clicked (S15). If the position of the mouse cursor at the time of double-clicking is not within the display area of any of the subordinate icons and if the number of clicks is another event such as one (S15, NO), the corresponding other icon is displayed. Processing is performed (S23).
[0059]
On the other hand, when it is determined that any of the subordinate icons has been double-clicked (S15, YES), the icon management data in the icon hierarchy table 22 is searched, and the icon management data of the double-clicked subordinate icon is read. The window corresponding to the double-clicked subordinate icon is restored and displayed on the screen 40 based on the above (S16). Subsequently, the "number of iconized windows" is decremented by one, and the icon management data corresponding to the restored window is deleted from the icon hierarchy table 22 (S17).
[0060]
Next, the “number of iconized windows” obtained by the decrement is compared with the value of TOP_ICON_MIN (S18). Then, when it is determined that the “number of iconized windows” has become equal to or less than the value of TOP_ICON_MIN (S18, YES), the top icon 41 is closed, and the top icon 41 and all the icons displayed to the right thereof are displayed from the screen 40. The subordinate icon is deleted (S19). Then, all individual icons are displayed on the screen 40 (S20), and the process returns to step S11 to wait for an event to occur.
[0061]
By the above operation, for example, on the screen shown in FIG.₁Double-clicking the subordinate icon 42-1 changes the display state of the screen 40 to the display state shown in FIG. That is, the top icon 41 and its subordinate icons 42-1, 42-2, 42-3, and 42-4 disappear, and the window W₂, W₃, W₅Individual Icon ICON₂, ICON₃, ICON₅Is displayed.
[0062]
On the other hand, if the "number of iconized windows" still exceeds the value of TOP_ICON_MIN in step S18 (S18, NO), the subordinate icons of the restored window are closed or unmapped, and other subordinate icons are also unmapped. Mapping is performed (S21). The unmapped subordinate icons can be redisplayed on the screen 40 by mapping. At this time, the top icon 41 is displayed as it is, and the process returns to step S11 to wait for an event to occur.
[0063]
In the above embodiment, the condition for replacing the individual icon with the top icon (shared icon) is that the “number of iconized windows” exceeds a predetermined maximum number of displayable individual icons. The invention is not limited to this, and the user can arbitrarily set this condition. For example, when the user specifies a specific window in the resource file 21 and converts the specified window into an icon, the window manager can replace the individual icon with the top icon.
[0064]
Although the individual icons of all the iconified windows are replaced with the top icons, the icons may be limited to some individual icons. For example, in the display state of FIG.₅When iconized, window W₁, W₂, W₃The window W in which only the individual icon of is replaced with the top icon, and the instruction to iconify is given last₅May be replaced with an individual icon and displayed next to the top icon.
[0065]
Furthermore, in the icon hierarchy table 22, the icon management data is stored in alphabetical order of the window titles, but this is not the case when the window titles are described by other methods. For example, the information may be stored and displayed in alphabetical order, number order, or the like.
[0066]
Furthermore, the hierarchical structure of the icons according to the present invention is not limited to two layers, and the subordinate icons may be managed in more layers as needed.
For example, in the case of using upper, middle, and lower three-layer icons, the upper layer is a single top icon, and the lower layer is a subordinate icon corresponding to each window. In this case, the middle-layer icon is a shared icon having one or a plurality of lower-layer icons as subordinate icons, and also has the character of a subordinate icon subordinate to the upper-layer top icon.
[0067]
In the case of such a hierarchical configuration, for example, icons of lower layers are grouped according to the type of an application started in each window, such as document creation, spreadsheet, graphic, database, etc., and document creation, spreadsheet, etc. If one middle-level icon is associated with each group, the icon corresponding to the target window can be efficiently selected even when the number of windows to be iconified increases. In this case, when the user issues a window restoration instruction on the top icon, a plurality of middle-level icons corresponding to the type of the iconified application are displayed. Then, when one of the middle-tier icons corresponding to the desired application field is selected and restoration is instructed, all the icons of the target application field subordinate to the middle-tier icon are displayed. . The user can quickly select the icon of the target application from the displayed lower-layer icons, restore the original window, and resume the execution of the target application in the window.
[0068]
A similar usage method can be considered when a multi-layer structure of four or more layers is used.
[0069]
【The invention's effect】
According to the present invention,When the user gives an instruction to convert the icon to an icon, the size of the window is reduced by iconifying the window, and furthermore, the iconIf the number exceeds a predetermined number,The number of icons is automatically reduced by integrating multiple icons.The space on the display screen can be used efficiently.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a system configuration according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of a multi-window display screen.
FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a state of a display screen when a window is iconified on the screen shown in FIG. 2;
FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a display example of a top icon.
FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a display example when a top icon is clicked.
FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a display example in a case where the number of icons is reduced to three by windowing the icons.
FIG. 7 is a diagram showing the contents of an icon hierarchy table when there is no top icon.
FIG. 8 is a diagram showing the contents of an icon hierarchy table when there is a top icon.
FIG. 9 is a flowchart illustrating a window iconifying process performed by a window manager.
FIG. 10 is a flowchart illustrating a process performed by the window manager to restore an icon to a window.
FIG. 11 is a diagram for explaining a conventional method for iconifying a window.
[Explanation of symbols]
21 Resource file
22 Icon hierarchy table
23 Central Processing Unit
24 Icon display device
25 Display control memory
26 bit mover
27 Display memory
28 Display control device
29 CRT
30 Mouse control device
31 mouse
32 Keyboard control unit
33 keyboard
34 window memory
40 screen
41 Top Icon (Shared Icon)
42-1, 42-2, 42-3, 42-4 Subordinate icons

Claims (2)

In a window display control device for displaying a window on a display screen,
Instructing means for instructing the window displayed on the display screen to be iconified according to a user's instruction operation;
When iconification is instructed by the instruction means, iconifying means for converting the designated window into an icon and displaying the icon,
Counting means for counting the number of icons displayed by the iconification means;
When the number of icons counted by the counting means exceeds a predetermined number, integrating means for integrating and displaying a plurality of icons displayed by the iconifying means into one shared icon ,
A window display control device, comprising: 5. The method according to claim 1, wherein the integrating unit divides the windows into groups according to the types of applications activated in the windows, and integrates and displays icons corresponding to each group into one shared icon. 2. The window display control device according to 1.

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