JPH02222020A - Pointing device controller - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To reduce the load on a central arithmetic circuit by sending the position information on a cursor and the input even information to the central arithmetic circuit only when the specific event information is received from a pointing device. CONSTITUTION:When a pointing device (mouse 4) is operated only for the movement of a cursor, a cursor display control circuit 14 controls the display of movements of the cursor on a display 2. When the specific event operations like the clicking of the button of the mouse 4, etc., are carried out, the corresponding event information are inputted to an interruption input part 7. When the part 7 receives the event information (interruption input), an interruption control circuit 8 transmits the position information on the cursor which is calculated in response to the shift value information given from the mouse 4 and stored in a coordinate position register 9 to a central arithmetic circuit 1 via a transmission buffer 11 together with the event information.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (A) Industrial Application Field The present invention is a method for transmitting information to a central processing unit and pointing cursor based on information sent from a pointing device such as a mouse. The present invention relates to a pointing device management device that performs control.

(b) Conventional technology In workstations that can perform data processing at relatively high speeds and are equipped with a large storage area, display devices such as CRTs are used to improve the man-machine interface.
The window table is all over. Normally, window display is a multi-window display in which multiple windows are displayed at the same time. (11987
(Refer to the article "Special Feature - Window System", pages 4 to 48, March 2015 v01゜19, No. 013).

A pointing device such as a mouse is indispensable for window display. A pointing cursor is displayed and moved on a display such as a CRT in accordance with the operation of a mouse (pointing device).

Traditionally, the response to pointing device operations is
The control circuit (central processing unit n) of the main body of the information processing apparatus directly performs the processing in accordance with interrupts generated from the pointing device at regular intervals. For example, the control circuit (
Each time there is an interrupt from the pointing device, the central processing unit (rIt) displays the display 1 . Latest 1+ in , Signal Near+
', point the pointing cursor back to the person.

(c) Taxation that the invention aims to solve However, as mentioned above, the control circuit (central processing unit)
When rewriting the pointing cursor on the display every time there is an interrupt from the pointing device, the load on the control circuit (central processing unit) is relatively heavy.

Then, operate the pointing device (Move!IJ)
In order to reflect this accurately, the interval between interrupts from the pointing device to the control circuit (central processing unit: γ) must be made shorter; Communication with lit increases, control circuit (central processing unit)
The 11 loads will be even larger.

In addition, when displaying a pointing cursor with a different shape for each window in a multi-window display, the position 1n information of each window on the display is managed, and the window corresponding to the coordinate position indicated by the pointing device is It is necessary to search for 2-t +1i; and read out the cursor pattern for the searched window.

In this case, the load on the control circuit 911 (central processing unit; This reduces the processing efficiency of other tasks.

The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and provides a pointing device management device that can improve the functionality of a pointing device without increasing the load on the control 911 circuit (central processing unit: γ). It provides:

(d) Means for Solving the Problems The present invention takes specific event information other than movement information and movement iIF information from a pointing device as an input, and uses a calculation device and a bit map format as an input. A pointing device management device connected to a display stage, which includes a cursor color storage means for storing a cursor pattern, and a movement 11 from the pointing device (on the large and small inner surface of the display means corresponding to the information). cursor l + 7 to write jar ;i'ζ information■
;7. , calculate the position information on the 9th stage of the cursor position storage means and the display/hide display means screen 2 corresponding to the movement information from the pointing device; store it in the cursor position storage means; cursor display control means for displaying the cursor pattern stored in the cursor shape storage means at a position corresponding to the stored position information; and cursor display control means for displaying the cursor pattern stored in the cursor shape storage means at a position corresponding to the stored position information, and storing it in the cursor position storage means when specific event information is input from the pointing device. and interrupt control means for sending specific event information inputted together with positional information to the arithmetic unit.

(E) Effect When the operation of the pointing device is only to move the cursor, the cursor display control means controls the movement and display of the cursor on the display screen of the display means, and the operation of outputting specific event information is performed by the pointing device. The interrupt control means only moves to the cursor position 7 when
1 memorized in memory; l? Since specific event information manually entered along with the information is sent to the performance device, I'
jf'': The load on the I-equipment near i is reduced.

(F) Embodiment FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an information processing apparatus such as a personal computer or a workstation to which a pointing device management apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention is applied.

(1) is a central processing circuit that controls the entire information processing device;
(2) is a display as a display means for displaying in a bitmap format, and the display is controlled by a display control circuit (3) equipped with a bitmap memory. A panel display such as liquid crystal or plasma, or CRT is used as the display (2).

(4) is a mouse as a pointing device, and movement f and f information indicating movement 111 generated by movement of the mouse (4) and specific operations such as clicking and dragging buttons provided on the mouse ( These events are collectively referred to as events).
1) Output.

(5) is a pointing device management device which receives movement 11F information and event information from the mouse (1) and controls the display of the pointing cursor and transmits information to the central processing circuit (1) in accordance with these inputs. This pointing device management device (5) is connected to a central processing circuit (1) and a display control circuit (3) that controls the display of a display (2).

As shown in FIG. ), when event information is input to the interrupt input unit (7), t+ is input from the moving end information manually input at that time. Interrupt control circuit (8) (interrupt control means) that sends the manually input event information along with the calculated R and numerical information to the central processing circuit (1), and the receiving circuit that receives information from the central processing circuit (1). Pan 7a (lO), center! i! i arithmetic circuit (1) ＼ Sending i that stores the sending product, τ
buffer (I+), cursor pattern memory (12) (cursor shape memory means) that stores pointing cursor pattern information sent from Chuo 1 Tora H Kawaji (1), and data sent from central processing circuit (1). Window information memory (+3) (window information storage means) that stores position information including information on the position and size of the incoming window
, calculates the position information on the display screen of the display (2) from the movement + i motion information input to the input vanofa (6), and displays the display (2) indicated by the calculated position information.
) L position, a cursor display control circuit (14) (curl display control means) for displaying the cursor pattern stored in the cursor pattern memory (12); Cursor f for storing position information; 1 coordinate position register (9) as storage means; 19i writing-sol display control circuit (1);
4) and a display information transmission buffer (+!'i) that stores display information sent from the display control circuit (:()).

As shown in Figure 2, the window is rectangular, and one piece of window position information is composed of the starting point of the window, the vertical width and horizontal stripes from that starting point, and the window information memory (13 ) stores window position information for each window according to the number of windows displayed on the display (2).

The window information memory (13) is also provided with a priority storage section (+3a) (priority storage means) that indicates window position information as well as window priority (see FIG. 3).

Now, in such an information processing apparatus, before using the mouse (4) as a pointing device, a window is opened on the display screen I of the display (2). At this time, the central processing circuit (1) provides the pointing device management device (5) with the position information of the opened window, the priority of the window, and the window'
71. : R Sends the corresponding cursor pattern.

In the pointing device management device (5), the central 11
;The information sent from the 1 arithmetic circuit (1) is sent to the reception buffer y
At (10), the cursor pattern information is sent to the cursor pattern memory (12), and the window position information and priority information and the number indicating the cursor pattern corresponding to that window are sent to the window information memory (13). Remember.

The central processing circuit (1) sends information about the opened window each time a window is opened, and the same information as described in -1- above is stored in each of the cursor pattern memory (12) and the window information memory (13). is remembered.

When the window is displayed on the screen [-, a predetermined value is set in the coordinate position register (9), and the position set in the register (9) is: 1? The cursor pattern stored in the cursor pattern memory (12) corresponding to the window whose area is read out, and the read cursor pattern is displayed on the screen of the display (2) indicated by the position information of the coordinate f device register (()). In order to display the display information on f◇;6, the display information is sent to the table 1 (control a++ circuit (:1)) via the display information transmission buffer (15).

Then, a cursor (pointing cursor) operated by the mouse is displayed in the pHr+i window of the display (2).

From the mouse (4), information about the amount of movement according to the operation of the mouse (4) is displayed. ! (travel amount information) is output regularly,
The movement amount information is input into the input buffer (6).

When the mouse (4) is operated to move the displayed cursor, information on the amount of movement according to the operation is input to the large bag (6), and the cursor display control circuit (1)
4) calculates new 4f position information according to the amount of movement from the position information shown in the coordinate position register (9), and calculates the calculated new position near i b? 1 minute mark position register (9)
Store in.

The cursor display control circuit (14) then reads out the cursor pattern stored in the cursor pattern memory (12) corresponding to the window whose area is at the location stored in the coordinate position register (9). Extend the cursor pattern to the coordinate position register (!); Display (2) that shows the cursor pattern p'1r+i L:
Display information transmission buffer (15) to display on li
The display information is sent to the display control circuit (3) via the display control circuit (3).

As a result, the cursor is moved on the display screen 1- of the display (2) by an amount corresponding to the operation of the mouse (4).

If the windows overlap, the information in the window information memory (I3) is sent along with the window digit 17C and size digit:n information sent from the central processing circuit (1) and stored in the window information memory (13). Priority storage unit (+
3 a) υC to the window priority stored in
Therefore, when placing a window whose area is stored in the coordinate position register (9), the cursor pattern stored in the cursor pattern memory (12) corresponding to the window with a high priority is read out. Then, the read cursor pattern is at the coordinate f position register (9):
The display information transmission buffer (15) is used to display the display information at a position of 1° on the screen of the display (2) shown in the li information.
Table 11 (information is sent to the display control circuit ($) via the table 11).

In addition to the cursor pattern, the cursor pattern memory (12) also contains display data of the part hidden by the cursor when the cursor is displayed on the screen of the display (2). The cursor erasure data storage unit (
12b), the time is stored.

Here, when a specific event operation is performed, such as clicking a button on the mouse (4), event information corresponding to the operation is manually input to the interrupt input section (7). When event information is manually input (interrupt manually) to the interrupt input section (7), the first interrupt control circuit (8) calculates the coordinate position along with the event information according to the movement amount information from the mouse (4) at that time. Position information indicating the indicated position of the cursor stored in the register (9) is transmitted to the central processing circuit (1) via the transmission buffer (11).

Then, the central processing circuit (+) performs different processing on the transmitted event information and 7C information.

(G) Effect of Fanming The present invention is clear from the following description.1111<, The central processing circuit is unique1'/: The pointing device management device responds to human power from the pointing device (mouse), That is, the movement of the pointing cursor on the display screen l- is sequentially controlled by fil+, and only when specific event information is input from the pointing device (mouse), the current cursor position information and input event information are displayed. Transmit to central processing circuit. Therefore, not only can the load on the central processing circuit be significantly reduced, but it is also possible to improve the functions of the pointing device without increasing the load on the central processing circuit.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of an information processing apparatus to which the pointing device management system 1 of the present invention is applied;
This figure is an explanatory diagram of a window, and FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of the structure of a window information memory and a cursor pattern memory. (1) - Center +i'+ Q circuit (Ii!i arithmetic unit) device (2) Display, (3)... - Display control circuit, (4
)・Mouse (pointing device), (5)・
- Pointing device management device, (6) - Human JJ buffer, (7)... Interrupt human power department, (8)... Interrupt 1c
II 9p circuit (interrupt control means), (9) coordinate position register (cursor position record t! means unit 'fl), (10)
...Reception buffer, (11) ...Transmission buffer, (1
2)...Cursor pattern memory (cursor shape memory means), (13) - Window information memory (window information storage means), (1:(a)...Priority order storage unit (priority list 4-stage), (14)...Cursor display control circuit (cursor display control means), (+5)...Display information transmission buffer.

Claims (3)

[Claims] (1) A pointing device management device connected to an arithmetic unit and a bitmap format display device receives movement amount information indicating the amount of movement from a pointing device and specific event information other than the movement amount information as input, and creates a cursor pattern. a cursor shape memory means for storing;
cursor position storage means for storing position information on the display screen of the display means corresponding to movement amount information from the pointing device; and cursor position storage means for storing position information on the display screen of the display means corresponding to movement amount information from the pointing device. cursor display control means for calculating and storing in the cursor position storage means and displaying the cursor pattern stored in the cursor shape storage means at a position corresponding to the position information stored in the cursor position storage means; and pointing. Pointing characterized by comprising: interrupt control means for sending the input specific event information to the arithmetic unit along with the position information stored in the cursor position storage means when specific event information is input from the device. Device management equipment. (2) Window information storage means for storing position information of a window displayed on the display screen of the display means, and the cursor shape storage means stores a cursor pattern for each window stored in the window information storage means. 2. The pointing device according to claim 1, wherein the cursor display control means causes a cursor pattern corresponding to a window containing the position information stored in the cursor position storage means to be displayed on the display screen of the display means. Management device. (3) comprising priority storage means for storing the priority of windows displayed on the display screen of the display means;
When windows are displayed in an overlapping manner on the display screen of the display means, the cursor display control means selects the priority indicated in the priority storage means among the windows containing position information stored in the cursor position storage means. Claim 2 characterized in that a cursor pattern corresponding to a window with a high rank is displayed on the display screen of the display means.
The pointing device management device described.