JPH0348922A - Pointing cursor predictive moving device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To improve the operability of a pointing device by predicting the moving direction and moving the pointing cursor with skips up to an object set in the predictive moving direction. CONSTITUTION:When the poinging device 1 is moved by an operator, the position coordinates of the device 1 are stored into a pointing coordinate memory 2. A moving direction detecting part 5 compares the present position coordinates of a pointing cursor 9 read out of the memory 2 with the coordinate information received via a delay part 4 and preceding by a sampling cycle in each sampling cycle. Thus the part 5 estimates the moving direction of the device 1 and obtains an object predictive area 12 having a certain angle width around the direction 11. An icon 10 is included in the area 12 and judged as a final object, and the cursor 9 is skipped to the icon 10.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (Field of Industrial Application) The present invention relates to a pointing cursor control device for a terminal device of a computer system, a personal computer device, etc.

(Prior art) Setting a pointing cursor to a target object (hereinafter referred to as an object) such as an icon displayed on a visual display (hereinafter referred to as a display means) of a terminal device of a computer system, a personal computer, etc. A mouse is a device for this purpose. The mouse is
It is designed to obtain coordinate values mechanically, optically, or electromagnetically while sliding on a desk. By operating this mouse, the pointing cursor on the display means can be moved to the object.

(Problem B to be solved by the invention) However, in the prior art, when the position of the pointing cursor is far from the object, it is difficult to move the mouse according to the distance to move the pointing cursor to the object. is necessary,
This resulted in a decrease in mouse operability.

The present invention has been made in order to solve the problems of the prior art described above, and is capable of predictive pointing cursor movement that reduces the time it takes for the pointing cursor to move to an object during pointing cursor operation and improves mouse operability. It provides equipment.

(Means for Solving the Problems) A feature of the present invention is that the pointing cursor is provided with means for predicting the movement direction of the pointing cursor from changes in coordinate information when the pointing cursor is operated, and skipping the pointing cursor to an object in the predicted movement direction. This device is characterized by:

(Example) The present invention will be described in detail below using the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an embodiment according to the invention. 1st
As shown in the figure, the apparatus of this embodiment includes a pointing device 1 such as a mouse, a pointing coordinate memory 2, a display means 3, a delay section 4, a movement direction detection section 5, a determination section 6, an object memory 7, and a prediction section 8. has.

A pointing device such as a mouse is used to input coordinate information (x, y) of a pointing cursor.
This pointing cursor coordinate information is read into the pointing coordinate memory 2 at regular sampling intervals and stored as the current position. Furthermore, the delay unit 4 delays the coordinate information of the pointing device 1 by one sampling period, and notifies the movement direction detection unit 5 of the delayed coordinate information.

The moving direction detection section 5 compares the coordinate information of the current position of the pointing cursor in the pointing coordinate memory 2 with the coordinate information delayed by one sampling period obtained from the delay section 4, and uses the result to compare the coordinate information for each sampling period.
Find the direction of movement of the pointing cursor.

The display position of each object displayed on the display means 3 is recorded in the object memory 7. A prediction area is determined by a determination unit 6 based on the movement direction determined by the movement direction detection unit 5, and it is checked whether each object in the object memory 7 exists in the prediction area. If there are multiple objects, the object closest to the current pointing cursor position is the final object.
By rewriting the contents of the pointing coordinate memory 2 to the coordinate information of the object, the pointing cursor on the display screen is skipped to the object.

Regarding the timing of the skip movement, a certain frequency value is set, and when a specific object is selected the number of times of the darkness value or more, the skip movement is performed. If the object does not exist, the contents of the pointing coordinate memory 2 are not rewritten.The above operation will be explained below using the movement of the screen on the display means as an example.

As shown in FIG. 2(a), it is assumed that the target icon 10 is displayed at the upper right on the display surface of the display means 3, and the pointing cursor 9, which is an arrow stick, is displayed at the lower left. As shown in FIG. 2(b), when the mouse is moved by an operator's operation, the position coordinates of the mouse are captured in the pointing coordinate memory 2. As shown in FIG. Movement direction detection unit 5
Now, the moving direction 11 is estimated by comparing and contrasting the coordinates of the current position of the pointing cursor from the pointing coordinate memory 2 and the coordinate information l sampling period ago via the delay unit 4 for each sampling period. A prediction region 12 having a certain angular width centered on the direction 11
seek. Since the icon 10 exists within this prediction area 12, the icon 10 is
is determined to be the final object, and the pointing cursor 9 is moved to the icon 10.

Note that the above-mentioned comparison target does not necessarily have to be every sampling period, but can be appropriately selected so as to be an integer multiple of the sampling period.

(Effects of the Invention) As described above, the present invention predicts the movement direction of the pointing cursor and the object based on the movement information of the pointing cursor when operating the pointing device,
By moving the pointing cursor to the predicted object all at once, the pointing cursor movement time can be reduced and the operability of the pointing device can be improved. As an improvement in operability, we were able to obtain examples of use in which firstly, the operating time was shortened by 30%, and secondly, the operating area of the pointing device was reduced to 1/4.

4... Delay unit, 5... Movement direction detection unit, 6... Judgment unit, 7... Object memory, 8... Prediction unit, 9... Pointing cursor, lO... Object, 11... Prediction of pointing cursor movement trajectory, 1
2...Object prediction area.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG.
Figures <a), (b), and (c) are schematic diagrams illustrating the operation on the display means in the device of the present invention. 1... Pointing device, 2... Coordinate memory, 3... Display means,

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] A device for moving a pointing cursor displayed on a display means based on coordinate information from a pointing device, comprising the steps of: moving a pointing cursor displayed on a display means based on coordinate information from a pointing device; means for predicting that the target object to which the pointing cursor is to be moved is in a predicted area within a predetermined angular range centered on the estimated movement direction from the movement information of the pointing cursor obtained from the relative comparison result; A pointing cursor predictive movement device comprising: means for skipping the pointing cursor to the target when it is predicted that the target is included in the prediction area.