JPH01125612A - Cursor control system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To extremely improve the operability for movement of a cursor by setting a touch panel at the front of a display screen and controlling the cursor by the touch positions of the touch panel. CONSTITUTION:The image data on the document evolved within a VRAM 3 is displayed on a CRT 4 by a keyboard 7 via a document area 2b of a memory 2 and a character font ROM 5 and also an external memory 8 as necessary under the control of a CPU 1 which controls a device as a whole. In this case, a cursor must be moved to a prescribed position against the request for correction or insertion of the document. Thus the cursor can be moved quickly by pushing the cursor position by a finger on a pressure sensitive touch panel 6 set at the front of the CRT 4 and releasing the finger from the panel 6 after moving the cursor to the designated position without operating a cursor control key each time.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a cursor control method, and more particularly to a cursor control method in which a processing position in various information processing devices is used as a cursor position, and the cursor position is controlled to change.

[Prior Art] Normally, in a document processing device such as a word processor, a kanji character or the like that has been converted by, for example, kana-kanji conversion is placed at a cursor position displayed on a display screen. At this time, the cursor position is usually updated sequentially as characters are input.

Incidentally, after or during the creation of a document by repeating the above-described operations, requests to make corrections or insert documents often occur.

Therefore, it is necessary to move the cursor to a position where it is felt necessary. Conventional methods used to meet such requests include providing keys to control cursor movement (often keys that move the cursor up, down, left, and right);
This was accomplished by pressing that key.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, when moving the cursor to the target position using keys that control cursor movement,
You must use the cursor control keys to operate the
It was extremely troublesome.

The present invention has been made in view of the related art, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a cursor control method that makes it possible to easily move the cursor.

[Means for solving the problem] In order to solve this problem, the present invention has a configuration as described below.

That is, a display means for displaying at least a cursor pattern on a display screen, a transparent panel located in front of the display screen and having at least the size of the display screen, and a position detection means for detecting a contact position on the panel. and cursor display position changing means for changing the display position of the cursor pattern based on the detected position information.

[Function] In the configuration of the present invention, the position of the touch on the panel is detected by the position detection means, the display position of the cursor is changed by the display position changing means based on the detected position information, and the cursor is displayed by the display means. It is.

[Embodiments] Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Description of Schematic Structure of Document Processing Device (FIG. 1)> FIG. 1 shows a schematic structure of a document processing device in an embodiment.

In the figure, 1 is a CPU that controls the entire device, and operates according to a program stored in a program area 2a in a memory 2.

In addition to the document editing program, the program area 2a stores programs related to flowcharts shown in FIGS. 4 and 7, which will be described later. Further, document information being edited is developed in a document area 2b in the memory 2. 3 is V
The image data developed in the RAM is displayed on the CRT 4, which is one of the display devices. Reference numeral 5 denotes a character font ROM, which is used, for example, when a character pattern corresponding to a character code in the document area 2b is expanded into the VRAM 3. Reference numeral 6 denotes a transparent pressure-sensitive touch panel located in front of the display screen of the CRT 4, and information on the position touched by the operator's finger is taken into the CPUI. Additionally, 7 is a keyboard for inputting various information, and 8 is an external storage device capable of storing a plurality of document information. Further, 9 is a speaker, which is used to acoustically notify the outside when the touch panel 6 is pressed or released with a finger, and various states.

Description of operations during menu selection (FIGS. 2 to 4) Menu selection in the embodiment involves manually specifying icons indicating various processing contents displayed on the display screen. Specifically, the icon displayed on the CRT 4 is designated by pressing the surface of the touch panel 6 with a finger or the like that corresponds to the icon (see FIG. 2).

The CPUI processing is as follows.

That is, when the operator presses the top of the touch panel 6, C
The PUI reads the coordinate position, inverts the corresponding icon, and reports which icon (menu) has been selected. However, unless the finger is removed from the touch panel 6, the process of that menu will not be executed.

There are two reasons for this.

First, if you immediately execute the contents of the icon specified with your finger, for example, if there is another menu during the execution process, there is a risk that you will select one process without checking the menu contents. This is because there is. The second problem is what to do when an unintended icon is selected.

Therefore, in the embodiment, the icon designation is determined when the user releases his or her finger from the touch panel 6. For example, in Figure 2, even if the operator accidentally selects ``Menu B'' despite his intention to select ``Menu C,'' he remains in that state (with his finger still pressed on the touch panel). , select "Menu C". At this time, the icon of Menu B is normally displayed, and it goes without saying that "Menu C" is highlighted this time. Then, the operator selects "Menu C".
Make sure that is highlighted, then touch the touch panel 6 with your finger.
By releasing the button, the process of "Menu C" can be executed.

In short, as shown in FIG. 3, it becomes possible to select another icon from time point α when the touch panel 6 is pressed to time point β when the finger is released.

If the above-mentioned processing contents are explained as a processing procedure of the CPUI, it will be as shown in the flowchart shown in FIG.

First, in step S1, a group of menus (icons) indicating various processing contents are displayed on the CRT 4. Next, step S
2, wait until the touch panel 6 is pressed with a finger or the like. When it is detected that the surface of the touch panel 6 is pressed with a finger or the like,
In the next step s3, only the corresponding menu is highlighted, and in the next step S4, step S3 is executed until the finger is removed from the touch panel 6. That is, it is possible to change the menu selection during this time. When it is detected in step S4 that the finger has left the touch panel 6, the process of the corresponding menu (the highlighted icon) is executed.

Note that if you press your finger on an area where no icon is displayed, it is determined that no icon has been designated.

Description of cursor control (FIGS. 5 to 7) Next, cursor control during document editing in the embodiment will be described.

FIG. 5(a) shows an example of document display. 50 in the figure indicates a cursor.

In this embodiment, when editing a document, that is, when displaying a document on the CBr 4, when the touch panel 6 is pressed with a finger, the cursor 50 disappears and the position on the display screen corresponding to the position pressed with the finger is displayed. A mark 51 is displayed. This state is shown in FIG. 5(b). This mark 51 is displayed while pressing the surface of the touch panel 6 with a finger, and is linked to changes in its designated position. If the operator moves this mark 51 to a desired position and then removes his or her finger from the touch panel 6, the cursor 50 can be displayed at that position (see FIG. 5(C)). Thereafter, the operator performs normal editing operations such as insertion and deletion at this cursor position.

This makes it possible to easily and quickly move the cursor to a desired position without having to use the cursor keys each time as in the past.

Note that the touch area of the finger on the touch panel 6 is unstable, and if the mark 51 is displayed at the corresponding position on the display screen, the mark 51 will be displayed unsteadily. The display position of the mark 51 is not changed unless it deviates from the reading coordinates by 16 dots (not necessarily the size of the displayed characters).

Furthermore, when it is determined that the position of the mark 51 has finally been determined, the cursor 50 is displayed at the character position closest to the position. At this time, the updated cursor 50
is to be displayed at least on a character adjacent to the target character position, but in order to correct this, a cursor position correction window 61 is displayed as shown in FIG. 5(d).

In addition to the cursor position correction window 61, in this embodiment there are windows 61 and 62 as shown in FIGS.
Press and release the touch panel 6 corresponding to a, 62a) with your finger to execute. Now, when the position of the cursor 50 is to be corrected, it can be corrected by executing the above-described operation in the area Bob to 60e indicating the direction.

The window 61 is used to display the front, rear, left, and right screens of one display screen, and the window 62 is used to move the cursor to the beginning or end of the sentence, or to both ends of the display screen. All operations are performed when the finger is removed from the touch panel 6 described above.

The above principle and its contents can be implemented by the CPU processing the flowchart shown in FIG. 7. The flowchart will be explained below, assuming that a document is already displayed on the display screen.

In step S10, it is determined whether or not the touch panel 6 has been pressed with a finger. Based on this judgment, once it is detected that the touch panel 6 has been pressed with a finger or the like, the process moves to the next step Sll, the cursor 50 at that time is erased, and the cursor 50 is moved to the position on the display screen corresponding to the touch position. Display mark 51 (
Step 512).

Next, in step S13, it is determined whether or not the finger has been removed from the touch panel 6. At this time, if it is determined that the finger is still being touched, the touch position is 16 points relative to the currently displayed mark 51. Determine whether the position is more than a dot away. Here, if it is determined that the input touch position is within 16 dots from the position of the mark 51, the process returns to step S13 (the mark 51 does not move), but if not, the process moves to step S15 and the input touch position is within 16 dots. A mark 51 is displayed at a position on the display screen corresponding to the touched position. That is, in steps 313 to S15, the mark 51 can be moved to any desired position.

Now, when it is detected in step S13 that the finger has left the touch panel 6, the process moves to step 316 to erase the mark 51 and instead display the cursor 50 at a character position near the mark position (step 517). Next, in step 318, the cursor position correction window 60 is displayed at a position away from the displayed position of the cursor 5 degrees, and in step 319, the window 61.6'2 described above is switched to, and the cursor position is corrected. Execute processing.

In the explanation of the flowchart above, the cursor 5o disappears when the touch panel 6 is pressed with a finger, but when the finger is released, the original cursor is erased and the cursor is displayed at the updated position. In this case, this can be achieved by executing the process of step Sit before or after step S16.

Regarding the display position of the cursor position correction window 60, for example, if the display position of the cursor 50 is on the right side of the display screen, this can be easily achieved by displaying the window on the left side. That is, it is sufficient to set in advance four coordinate positions (top, bottom, left and right positions) for the display position of the cursor 50.

As described above, according to this embodiment, it is possible to change the cursor position during document editing by touching the touch panel, and it is possible to significantly improve operability.

Although the mark 51 moves relatively smoothly in the embodiment described above and is easy for the operator to see, it is also possible to move the mark 51 in units of the size of the displayed characters. 6, the cursor 50 will be displayed at the position of the mark 51 (or the cursor 50 itself).

Further, in the embodiment, the present invention is not limited to the application to a document processing device and the cursor movement when displaying the document contents. That is,
This is because it can be directly applied to conventional information processing devices that control a cursor and execute various processes.0 For example, when selecting a menu, when pressing a finger on the touch panel 6, the position corresponding to the pressed position can be applied as is. It is perfectly acceptable to display the mark 51 on the display screen, and when the mark 51 comes over an icon, to display that icon in reverse video.

[Effects of the Invention] As described above, according to the present invention, a touch panel is provided in front of the display screen, and the cursor is controlled by the touch position of the touch panel, thereby making the operability much more convenient.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a block diagram of the document processing device of the embodiment, Fig. 2 is a diagram showing the state of menu selection in the embodiment, and Fig. 3 shows the change in pressure from touching the touch panel to releasing it in the embodiment. Figure 4 is a flowchart related to menu selection in the embodiment, Figures 5 (a) to (d) are diagrams for explaining an overview of cursor movement in the embodiment, Figure 6 (a), ( b) is a diagram showing another window displayed after setting the cursor position in the embodiment, and FIG. 7 is a flowchart related to cursor control. In the figure, 1...CPU, 2...Memory, 2a...Program area, 2b...Document area, 3...VR
AM, 4...CFLT, 5...Character font ROM
, 6...Touch panel, 7...Keyboard, 8...
- External storage device, 9... Speaker, 50... Cursor, 51... Mark. Figure 2 Figure 3 Figure 4 Figure 5 (0) Figure 5 (b) Figure 5 (C) 0C Figure 5 (d)

Claims (4)

[Claims] (1) Display means for displaying at least a cursor pattern on a display screen; a transparent panel located in front of the display screen and having at least the size of the display screen; and position detection for detecting a contact position on the panel. A cursor control method, comprising: means for changing the display position of the cursor pattern based on detected position information. (2) The cursor control system according to claim 1, wherein the cursor display position changing means is activated after detecting non-contact with the panel. (3) The cursor control method according to claim 1, characterized in that while the panel is in contact, a mark is displayed at a position on the display screen corresponding to the touch position. (4) The cursor control system according to claim 3, wherein the mark is updated when the position detected by the position detection means deviates from the previous mark position by more than a predetermined value.