JPH01261757A - Conversational equipment for communication - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To easily grasp the flow of conversational processing and to reduce the load of operator's work by changing a display attribute in accordance with the input order of information to display input information on a display device. CONSTITUTION:A control device 4 is provided with a display attribute processing part 15 for determining a display attribute based upon the input order of information processed by a coordinate input information processing part 13 and a communication input information processing part 14 and a display part 17 for displaying respective information on the display device 3 in accordance with the display attribute. Since the input information displayed on a display screen is displayed by the display attribute corresponding to its input order, the order relation of information displayed on the display screen can be easily recognized from the display attributes. Since conversational processing can be efficiently executed while grasping the flow of input information, processing load to the operator can be reduced.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Object of the Invention] (Industrial Application Field) The present invention relates to a communication/dialogue device that can interactively process information while exchanging information with other devices.

(Prior art) With the development of information processing technology, information processing equipment such as personal computers and workstations has become widespread, and information processing equipment such as personal computers and workstations has become widely used, and these information processing equipment can communicate and interact with each other via various information communication networks. Advances in information processing have also become popular.

Conventionally, this type of communication/dialogue device generally forms a screen while sequentially displaying information input and processed by itself and information input via communication via the dialog light on both sides of the display, and the dialog processing proceeds. ing. For this reason, although the flow of dialogue processing can be determined by looking at the screen, there are problems in that past information cannot be corrected and dialogue processing using graphics cannot be performed.

Therefore, it is common to use a dialog process in which characters and shapes are input as if they were written on a sheet of paper, while at the same time information is exchanged with the other party via a network, and the other party's information is superimposed and displayed. It is becoming.

However, in the above two methods, input can be made anywhere on the display screen, and previously inputted information can also be modified, so the order in which individual pieces of information are input becomes unclear, and interaction processing cannot be performed from the display screen. It was impossible to check the flow. For this reason, the operator must always keep track of the flow of the dialogue process, which places a heavy processing burden on the operator and makes it impossible for the operator to participate in the dialogue process midway through.

(Problem to be solved by the invention) When processing information interactively while communicating information with other devices using an information processing device such as a personal computer or workstation, it is necessary to make corrections or additions to previous information. As the number increases, it becomes difficult to understand the flow of dialogue processing, creating problems such as a heavy burden on the operator.

The present invention was made in consideration of these circumstances, and by visually determining the input order of information input, the flow of information processing can be traced back to the past, and this makes it possible to improve dialogue processing. It is an object of the present invention to provide a communication dialogue device that can effectively proceed.

[Structure of the Invention] (Means for Solving the Problems) The present invention is characterized in that a display device and a coordinate input device are laminated together, and a display device and a coordinate input device are stacked together, and there is no connection between the coordinate input device for inputting position coordinate values and an external device. a communication device for exchanging information, a control device for controlling and processing information input via the coordinate input device and information input via the communication device, and a control device for controlling and processing information input via the coordinate input device; A communication dialog device comprising: a coordinate input information processing unit that recognizes an input coordinate value series inputted through the coordinate input device as character/graphic information; a communication input information processing unit that recognizes and processes information input through the device; and displaying information processed by the coordinate input information unit and information processed by the communication input information processing unit based on the input order. The present invention is characterized by comprising a display attribute processing section that determines attributes, and a display section that displays each of the information on the display device according to the display attributes determined by the display attribute processing section.

(Operation) According to the present invention, the input information displayed on the display screen is
Since the information is displayed with a display attribute that corresponds to the input order, the order relationship of the information displayed on the display screen can be easily recognized from the display attribute. As a result, it becomes possible to proceed with the dialog processing efficiently while grasping the flow of input information, and it becomes possible to reduce the processing burden on the operator.

(Example) An example of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram of an embodiment of the apparatus, and FIG. 2 is a diagram showing its exterior groove structure.

This communication dialogue device roughly consists of a coordinate input device 11 for inputting position coordinate data, a communication device 2 for exchanging information with other information processing devices, information input via the coordinate input device 1, and a communication device 1 for inputting position coordinate data. A display device 3 for displaying information etc. input via the coordinate input device 2, and a display device 3 for processing information input via the coordinate input device 1, as well as information processing with other information processing devices via the communication processing 2. It consists of four blocks: a control device 4 which controls the exchange and also controls the display of information by the display device 3;

Note that other information processing devices that exchange information via the communication device 2 are, for example, devices of the same type as the device of this embodiment. Mah
As shown in FIG. 2, for example, the seating surface input device 1 is made of a transparent multi-bullet, the front claw device 3 is composed of, for example, a liquid crystal display, and the seating surface input device 1 and the display device 3 are laminated and integrated, It is provided on the upper surface of the device main body that houses the control device 4, the communication device 2, and the like. The coordinate input device 1 and the display device 3, which are stacked and integrated, form the same coordinate plane with the same dimensions, and the input position coordinates and the display position coordinates are in one-to-one correspondence.

The control device 4 is configured with the following processing functions.

The coordinate input unit II inputs position coordinate data via the coordinate input device 1, and temporarily stores the input coordinate data in the coordinate data buffer 21.

The communication input unit 12 inputs communication information received via the communication device 2, and temporarily stores the received information in the reception data buffer 22.

The coordinate input information processing unit 13 uses the processing data buffer 25 as a work area to process the series of coordinate data stored in the coordinate data buffer 21 as characters, symbols, or figures written and input on the coordinate table input device 1. recognition processing. Then, this recognized information is output to the transmission data buffer 23. Furthermore, information for determining the input order, such as input time, is added and output to the output data buffer 24.

The communication input information processing unit 14 adds information for determining the input order, such as input time, to the received data stored in the received data buffer 22 after processing if necessary, and transfers the data to the output data buffer 24. Store in.

The display attribute processing unit 15 adds display attributes to the data stored in the output data buffer 24 according to the information in the display attribute data buffer 27, and stores the data in the display data buffer 72G.

The communication output unit 16 transmits and outputs the data stored in the transmission data buffer 23 via the communication device 2.

The display unit 17 performs display by outputting the data stored in the display data buffer 26 to the display device 3.

The coordinate input device l for the information displayed in this way.
, new information is input, and the dialog processing proceeds. Note that in the display attribute data buffer 27, for example, the first input information is displayed in red and the other information is displayed in black, or information that has not been input for a certain period of time is displayed in red and the other information is displayed in white. Information such as what is displayed is stored during initialization.

FIG. 3 shows the flow of the overall processing procedure of the communication dialogue apparatus configured as described above. First, the communication dialog device is activated after performing procedures for establishing a predetermined communication procedure with another information processing device that is proceeding with dialog processing, and setting a communication mode. Thereafter, the various data buffers 21 to 27 are immediately initialized and other initialization processes are performed (step a). After the initialization process, the information input from the coordinate input device 1 is checked and the process branches (step b).

When information is input from the table input device 1, the input coordinates are stored in the coordinate data buffer 21 (step C).

The coordinate input information processing unit I3 performs processing such as character recognition on the input coordinate data series, obtains input information, and temporarily stores this information in the processing data buffer 25 (
Step d). Thereafter, the coordinate input information processing unit 13 stores the input information in the transmission data buffer 23 for transmission (step e). The communication output unit 16 communicates and outputs the data in the transmission data buffer 23 to the communication destination device via the communication device 2 (step ``)''.

Next, the coordinate input information processing section 13 uses the processing data buffer 25
Information such as input time for indicating the input order is added to the information once stored in the output data buffer 24 (step g).

On the other hand, if there is no information input from the table input device 1, the process branches after checking the communication information input from the device with which the conversation is to be made via the communication device 2 (step h).

When there is input from the device with which the interaction is made via the communication device 2,
The received data buffer 2 under the control of the communication input section 12
2 (step ■). Thereafter, the communication input information processing unit 14 adds information such as input time to indicate the input order and stores it in the output data buffer 24 (step j).
d After the information input via the coordinate input device 1 or the information input via the communication device 2 is stored in the output data buffer 24, the display attribute processing unit 15 is activated and refers to the display attribute data buffer 27. The display attribute is added to the data in the output data buffer 24, and the display attribute is added to the data in the output data buffer 24.
6 (step h). The display unit 17 then displays the contents of the display data buffer 26 on the display device 3 (step 1). The processing procedures shown in steps b to step 1 above are repeatedly executed each time there is information input via the coordinate input device 1 or information received via the communication device 2.

According to the present device configured in this way, the display device 3
By adding and displaying the input order such as the input time of the information indicating the display attribute on the top, it becomes possible to display the display information while distinguishing the context at the time of input. As a result,
It becomes possible to easily identify the input order of the displayed information, and it becomes possible to easily recognize the flow of interaction processing from the display screen.

Furthermore, with this device that determines the display attributes based on the order of information input, there is no need to worry about losing track of the flow of dialog processing as in the past, and therefore, there is no need to worry about misplaced processing or dialog processing based on this. This makes it easier to prevent confusion. Further, great practical effects such as a great reduction in the operational burden on the operator can be achieved.

Note that the present invention is not limited to the embodiments described above. For example, in addition to distinguishing by color, display attributes may include line type, brightness, blinking, inversion, etc. In determining display attributes, the importance of information in the input order, information on the input device, input person, etc. May be used in combination.

Further, here, the dialogue processing is performed by recognizing the information input by hand, but inputting character codes from a keyboard or the like, inputting image data using a scanner, etc. may be freely combined and used. Furthermore, the types and forms of communication devices are not limited, and several may be used in combination.

In short, the present invention can be implemented with various modifications without departing from the gist thereof.

[Effects of the Invention] Since the present invention displays input information on a display device by changing its display attributes according to the input order of the information, the entire area of the display screen can be used effectively without partitioning the display screen. The information can be displayed while identifying the input order of the information. Therefore, it becomes easy to distinguish between new and old information and to understand the flow of dialogue processing, and it is easy to add or modify information without overlooking it. Moreover, there are advantages such as not imposing an extra work burden on the operator.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

The drawings show an embodiment of the present invention, in which FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a communication dialogue device according to the embodiment, FIG. 2 is a diagram schematically showing the external structure of the embodiment device, FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the flow of processing procedures in the embodiment apparatus. 1... Coordinate input device, 2... Communication device, 3.
...Display device, 4...Control device, 11...
・Coordinate input section, 12...Communication input section, 13.
...Coordinate input information processing unit, 14...Communication input information processing unit, 15...Display attribute processing unit, 16...Communication output unit, 17...Display unit, 21...Coordinate data buffer, 22... Reception data buffer, 23... Transmission data buffer, 24... Output data buffer, 25... Processing data buffer, 2B... Display data buffer, 27... Display attribute data buffer

Claims (2)

[Claims] (1) A coordinate input device for inputting position coordinate values, a communication device for exchanging information with an external device, information input via the coordinate input device, and information input via the communication device. and a display device that displays information processed by the control device, and the control device includes a coordinate input device that recognizes and processes information input via the coordinate input device. an information processing unit, a communication input information processing unit that processes information input through the communication device, and a time before and after the input time of the information processed by the coordinate input information processing unit and the communication input information processing unit; The present invention is characterized by comprising a display attribute processing unit that processes display attributes based on relationships, and a display unit that displays each of the above information on the display device according to the display attributes determined by the display attribute processing unit. Communication dialogue device. (2) The seating chart input device is composed of a transparent tablet or the like that is laminated and integrated with a display device.
Communication and interaction device as described in Section 1.