JPH03196212A - Mouse cursor display control method - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To easily identify a mouse cursor on a screen regardless of the display state by rotating a cursor when a fact that the cursor is kept still for a fixed time or longer is detected. CONSTITUTION:When a still state is kept for a fixed time that is designated by a timer, a still time detecting part 11 outputs a signal to a rotation control part 12 to inform the detected still state. The part 12 stores successively the rotary mouse pattern data which the cursor direction differs by 45 deg. into the areas corresponding to the coordinate positions designated on a frame memory at the proper time intervals. Then a display control means 2 controls the display so that a cursor is slowly rotated and displayed on the display device 4. Thus a mouse cursor is easily identified on a screen regardless of the display state.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Summary] This invention relates to a display control method for increasing the identifiability of a cursor (display arrow) controlled by a mouse input device in a graphics processing device. The cursor is equipped with a rotation control means consisting of a rest time detection section that detects the rest time of the cursor and a rotation control section that rotates the cursor, and using the rotation control means, It has a configuration that controls the cursor to rotate when it is detected that the cursor remains stationary for a predetermined period of time or longer.

[Industrial application field]

The present invention relates to a display control method for improving the identifiability of a cursor (display arrow) controlled by a mouse input device in a graphic processing device.

[Prior art]

Conventional mouse input devices use an arrow-shaped cursor to specify coordinate positions on the screen, but this mouse cursor always points in the same direction no matter where it is on the screen. there were.

FIG. 3 shows a cursor display method in conventional mouse input processing.

FIG. 3(a) shows a cursor on the screen in conventional mouse input processing.

As shown in the figure, a cursor 42 controlled by a mouse input device 41 is displayed on the screen of the display device, pointing toward the upper left. The display direction of this cursor is fixed regardless of the display position on the screen. In other words, the cursor pattern is single.

FIG. 3(b) is a flowchart of cursor display processing in conventional mouse input processing.

Conventional mouse screen display processing will be explained according to the numbers shown in the figure.

■ Select the mouse processing mode.

■ The initial coordinate position on the display screen is specified.

■ A mouse screen appears with a cursor pointing to the specified coordinate position.

■ If there is no movement of the mouse, continue displaying the mouse screen in ■. If the mouse is moved in (2), the mouse screen is displayed with the cursor placed at the coordinate position on the screen specified by the movement.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

In the case of a cursor used in conventional mouse input processing, the direction of the arrow always remains constant.

Therefore, if the cursor is stopped at the edge of the screen, it may be difficult to find the cursor because it is located far from the center of the worker's field of vision or because it is affected by the reflection of light from the outside. I tended to.

This makes it easy for workers to lose sight of the cursor, and
- Once the cursor is lost, the operator has to waste time searching for the lost cursor by randomly moving the mouse input device and moving the cursor on the screen.

An object of the present invention is to make it possible to easily identify a mouse cursor on a screen in any display state.

[Means to solve the problem]

In mouse input processing, if the cursor remains stationary without changing the specified coordinate position for a certain period of time or more, the cursor is rotated slowly after the certain period of time has elapsed, so that the cursor is visible to the operator. It is designed to be easy to enter.

The basic configuration of the present invention will be explained with reference to FIG.

In order to rotate and display the cursor, a plurality of cursor patterns corresponding to one rotation in different directions of the cursor are prepared, and the cursor patterns with different directions are sequentially displayed at specified coordinate positions on the screen.

In the figure, l is a mouse input device that specifies the coordinate position on the screen, 2 is a display control means, and 3 is a device that detects the resting time of the cursor. 4 is a display device that displays a cursor at a coordinate position designated by a mouse input device; 5 is a frame memory that stores screen data for one screen; and 6 is a mouse input device. a buffer memory for temporarily saving and storing the screen data on the memory in the area specified by 7;
is a basic cursor pattern of a single character area that displays a basic cursor indicating the coordinate position specified by the mouse input device,
8 is a rotating cursor pattern group consisting of 8 cursor patterns with different directions by 45 degrees to rotate the cursor, 9 is the cursor displayed on the screen, and 1o is the coordinate position on the screen specified by the mouse input device. 11 is a stationary time detection unit that uses a timer to detect whether the cursor remains stationary for a predetermined period of time; and 12 is a rotating cursor when the cursor remains stationary for a certain period of time. This is a rotation control unit that performs control to rotate and display a cursor using the pattern group 8.

[Effect]

The operation of the basic configuration of the present invention shown in FIG. 1 will be explained.

When the coordinate position specifying unit 1O identifies the coordinate position on the screen inputted from the mouse input device 1, the data of the basic cursor pattern 7 is stored in the address corresponding to the read coordinate position on the frame memory 5.

The display control means 2 reads data from the frame memory 5, and displays a screen with a cursor at the specified coordinate position on the display device 4.

At the same time, the rest time detection unit 11 having a timer starts monitoring the rest time of the cursor.

When the stationary state has elapsed for a predetermined fixed period of time specified by the timer, the stationary time detection section 11 outputs a signal to the rotation control section 12 to notify that. The rotation control unit 12 sequentially stores rotation mouse pattern data in which the cursor orientation differs by 45 degrees in an area corresponding to a designated coordinate position on the frame memory at appropriate time intervals.

Then, the display control means 2 causes the display device 4 to display the cursor in a slowly rotating manner.

In the above description, a case has been described in which the cursor is rotated and displayed using i number of cursor patterns having different cursor directions, but the basic cursor pattern 7 may be rotated and displayed by rotating the coordinates.

〔Example〕

The present invention will be explained in detail with reference to FIG.

Figure 2 shows a case where eight cursor patterns with different cursor orientations of 45 degrees are prepared, and the cursor is rotated slowly by displaying them one after another, and the rotation period and rotation direction are randomly specified using a random function. This is a flowchart of cursor display processing in the case of the following example.

By randomly changing the rotation period and rotation direction, it is easier for workers to see the rotation period and rotation direction than when the rotation period and rotation direction are constant.

The present invention will be described in detail according to the numbers shown in the figures.

■,■ A coordinate position is specified on the display screen, and a cursor pattern with a cursor is displayed.

■ Determine whether the mouse is moving, and if so, display the cursor pattern at the new coordinate position.

■ If the mouse stops moving, start a timer to count the time the mouse is stopped.

■ Monitor whether the mouse moves while the timer is counting, and if the mouse moves before time-up (■), repeat the process from ■. Without movement,
Continue counting on the timer.

■ Set the time (about a few seconds) to the timer in advance.
, when there is no mouse movement and the timer times up,
Specify data regarding the rotation period and direction of the cursor using a random function.

■ Sequentially display a rotating mouse pattern in which the cursor direction differs by 45 degrees depending on the rotation period and rotation direction determined by a random function.

■, [Phase] When all eight rotating cursor patterns are displayed and the cursor has rotated once, it is determined whether or not the mouse has moved, and if there is no movement, the cursor rotation display is repeated again. If there is, repeat the process from ■.

〔Effect of the invention〕

According to the present invention, since the cursor in mouse processing is easy to find, the wasteful work of randomly moving the mouse input device to search for the cursor is reduced, and the efficiency of mouse processing work can be improved.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a basic configuration diagram of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a flow diagram of mouse input processing according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 3(a) is a diagram of a conventional mouse screen. FIG. 3(b) is a flowchart of conventional mouse input processing. In the drawings, 1: mouse input device, 2: display control means, 3: rotation control means, 4: display device, 5: 6 near: 8: lO: ■ 1: 12: l3: - frame memory, buffer Memory, basic cursor pattern, rotating cursor pattern group, coordinate position specification section, rest time detection section, rotation control section,

Claims (1)

[Claims] In a graphic processing device having a function of displaying a cursor at a coordinate position on a display screen specified by a mouse input device, a rest time detection unit (11) that detects a rest time of a cursor.
and a rotation control unit (3) comprising a rotation control unit (12) for rotating the cursor, and when it is detected using the rotation control unit that the cursor is stationary for a predetermined period of time or more. A mouse cursor display control method characterized by controlling the cursor to rotate.