JPH04100144A - Display device for information processor - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To improve the operability related to file selection by calculating the number of elapsed day of each file by generation date information of the file and the present date and displaying an icon while changing the form of the icon in accordance with this number of elapsed days so that the new or old state of the file can be understood. CONSTITUTION:Numbers of elapsed days of respective files read out from a storage means 1 like an auxiliary storage device are calculated by generation date information of files and the present date, and icons are displayed on a display means 7 while changing their forms in accordance with these numbers of elapsed days so that the new or old states of files can be understood. Or the time order of files is determined by generation date information, and icons are displayed in such forms in accordance with this order that the new/old states can be understood. Thus, new or old conditions of files are recognized at first sight by forms of icons on the display picture, and the file generated a long time before is found at first sight, and the operability related to file selection is improved.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a display device for an information processing device such as a personal computer or a word processor.

[Prior Art] In a conventional information processing device of this type, in order to inform the operator of the contents of file information stored in an auxiliary storage device, etc., a file name, document data name, etc. in the storage device and, for example, the As shown in Figure 3, it was displayed as text information, or as shown in Figure 4, it was displayed as a picture 1 (referred to as an icon).

When using such an information processing device, for example, when there is insufficient free space in the auxiliary storage device to store multiple files and it becomes necessary to delete one of the stored files. , or a similar name (
When several files have been created (file name) and it is necessary to find out which is the latest file, the creation date information in the 7 isles is the information that the operator most wants to know.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, in the conventional file content display using character information as described above, various information such as file name, attribute name, version number, owner's name, file creation date, size, etc. is displayed as text, so when displaying multiple file information, a large amount of text is displayed on the display screen at once, making it difficult for the operator to know the information he or she wants about the file he or she wants to focus on. . This difficulty was particularly evident when files had the same name but only different attribute names, or when files had the same attribute name but only different version numbers.

In addition, even when displaying file contents using the above-mentioned icons, all files with the same attribute name have the same icon shape, so it is difficult for the operator to determine which files have an older creation date. It was difficult.

In view of the above points, it is an object of the present invention to provide a display device for an information processing device that allows the user to grasp the old and new status of similar files at a glance and improves operability.

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to achieve the above object, a first form of the present invention provides instructions from a storage means for storing file information of a plurality of files and creation date information for each file, and an input means. a reading means for reading out the file information and the creation date information from the storage means according to the reading means; and a reading means for calculating the number of days elapsed of the file from the current date (1) and the creation date information read from the reading means; icon management means for changing the shape of an icon representing each file in accordance with the number of days that have elapsed so that old and new states can be recognized; and display means for displaying the icon given from the icon management means together with the file information. It is characterized by

Further, a second aspect of the present invention includes a storage means for storing file information of a plurality of files and creation date information for each file, and a storage means for storing file information and creation date information for each file in response to an instruction from an input means. A readout means for reading out information, and a plurality of corresponding files are ranked in order of newness and oldness from the creation date wart information read out from the readout means, and the shape of an icon representing each file is determined according to the order of the newness and oldness. The present invention is characterized by comprising an icon management means for changing the icon as shown in FIG.

[Function] In the present invention, the number of days that have passed for each file is calculated from the creation date information of each file read from a storage means such as an auxiliary storage device and the current date, and an icon is displayed corresponding to the number of days that have passed. The shape of the icon is changed to show the old and new status, or the new/old rank of each file is determined from the creation date information, and the shape of the icon is displayed according to that rank so that the new and old status can be seen. Therefore, the new and old status of files can be grasped at a glance from the shape of the icon on the display screen, and files that have been created for a long time can be found with just a glance, thereby improving the operability of file selection.

[Example] Hereinafter, an example of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows a functional block diagram of an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 shows an example of its specific circuit configuration.

First, explanation will be given starting from FIG. In this figure, ] is a storage means for storing multiple file information and creation date information for each file, and is a file information data area 11 having a format as shown in FIG.
Icon table 12 with contents as shown in the figure. and an icon display data area that stores in advance a plurality of font patterns of icons whose shapes change in accordance with the number of days that have passed. 2 is an input means for inputting information and giving various instructions. Reference numeral 3 denotes a reading means for reading out the above file information and creation date information from the storage means 1 in response to instructions from the input means 2.

5 calculates the number of days that have passed for the file from the creation date information read from the reading means 3 and the current date, and changes the shape of the icon representing the attribute of each file in accordance with the calculated number of days so that the new and old states can be recognized. It is an icon management means, and with reference to the above-mentioned icon table 12,
The display control means 6 is notified of the icon number corresponding to the number of days that have passed.

The display control means 6 extracts the font data of the corresponding icon from the icon display data area 13 according to the icon number given from the icon management means 5, and changes the shape according to the number of days that have passed as shown in FIG. The changed icon is displayed on the display means 7.

In the example in Figure 8, the edge of the paper of the icon representing a sheet document is shown as a nearly straight line when the number of days elapsed is small, but as the number of days elapsed increases, it becomes jagged, indicating the age of the paper. There are many parts. Therefore, the operator can grasp the old and new status of the file at a glance from the icon.

Next, referring to FIG. 2, reference numeral 21 denotes a CPU (central processing unit) such as a microcomputer that controls the entire apparatus, and the reading means 3. The functions of the icon management means 5 and the display control means 6 are executed. 22 is a ROM (read only memory) in which processing procedures (programs) as shown in FIGS. 9 to 11 described later are stored in advance, and 23 is a RAM (random access memory) used as a work area of the CPIJ 21. It is.

Reference numeral 24 denotes an auxiliary storage device corresponding to the storage means 1 described above, and uses, for example, a floppy disk. A keyboard 25 corresponds to the input means 2 described above, and a pointing device such as a mouse may also be used. 26 is a display device corresponding to the above-mentioned display means 7, and various display devices using CRT (cathode ray tube), liquid crystal, etc. are used.

Next, the processing operation of this embodiment will be explained in more detail with reference to the flowcharts shown in FIGS. 9 to 11.

FIG. 9 shows the processing procedure of the reading means 3 of FIG.

First, in step S1, the data area 11 in the self-responsive means 1 is
The information of one file is read from the file information data stored in the file information data. Figure 5 shows an example of the information for one file, where 51 is the file name, 52 is the extension name, and 5 is the file name.
3 is the version number, 54 is the name of the owner of the file, 55 is the size, 56 is the creation date, and 57 is the number of block numbers (pointers) containing the actual contents of the file. In the next step S2, it is checked whether all files have been read, and in step S3, the display control means 6 is notified of the file name. Further, the date information is notified to the icon management means 5 in step S4, and the date information is notified to the icon management means 5 in step S4.
Return to t.

FIG. 10 shows the processing means of the icon management means 5 of FIG. First, in step Sll, the date information notified from the reading means 3 is received, and in step S12, the current date is known. This current date can usually be found by making a system call to the operating system. It is also possible to input the current date in advance from the input means 2 and store it in the storage means 1. Then, in step S13, the number of days that have passed is calculated from the current date and the file creation date. Subsequently, step S14
In step S15, it is determined from the icon table 12 which icon number corresponds to the number of elapsed days, and the determined icon number is notified to the display control means 6 in step S15. FIG. 6 shows an example of the icon table. For example, if the number of days that have passed is three, icon number 2 will be notified.

FIG. 11 shows the processing procedure of the display control means 6 of FIG. First, in step S21, the file name notified from the reading means 3 is received, and in step S22, the icon number is received from the icon management means 5. Next, in step S23, the corresponding icon display data stored in the area 13 of the storage means 1 is read from the icon number, and in step S24, the icon and file name are displayed on the display screen of the display means 7. FIG. 8 shows an example of the display. As shown in FIG. 8, icons are displayed using icons that appear older as the number of days the file is created increases.

The contents of the icon tables in FIGS. 6 and 7 are not fixed in the storage means 1, but the number of elapsed days can be changed from the human power means 2 (this allows for more flexible display.

In the first embodiment of the present invention described above, the basic icons used for display are the same icon, but the extension 52 shown in FIG. 5 is used as icon display information, and the sixth By using the icon table shown in Figure 7 instead of the icon table shown in the figure, the operator can intuitively grasp the number of days that have passed for each file at a glance, with different basic icons for each extension. Become. FIG. 12 shows an example of a conventional character display including an extension, FIG. 13 shows an example of a conventional icon display, and FIG. 14 shows an example of a display according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Furthermore, in the first embodiment described above, the shape of the icon corresponding to the number of days that has passed is determined in advance, and the icon corresponding to the number of days that has passed is determined, but the file creation date is ranked from the newest to the oldest. The object of the present invention can also be achieved by changing the shape of the icons according to the order. In this case, current date information is not required.

The shape of the icon is now displayed so that you can see the old and new status of the file, so you can understand the new and old status of the file at a glance from the shape of the icon on the display screen, and you can find files that have been created for a long time at a glance. , it is possible to obtain the effect of improving the operability regarding file selection.

In addition, in the present invention, icons are displayed with the same effect as the characteristic of paper, which is that the paper white body shows changes over time, allowing for more natural interaction (man-machine interface) for the operator. can be improved.

[Effects of the Invention] As explained above, according to the present invention, the number of days elapsed for each file is calculated from the creation date information of each file read from a storage means such as an auxiliary storage device and the current date. , the shape of the icon changes depending on the number of days that have passed so that the old and new status can be seen, or the new/old rank of each file is determined from the creation date information and the file is displayed according to the rank.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Figure 1 is a functional block diagram showing the functional configuration of an embodiment of the present invention. Figure 2 is a block diagram showing the circuit configuration of an embodiment of the present invention. Figure 3 is a plane view of a display screen showing an example of conventional character display. 4 is a plan view of a display screen showing an example of conventional icon display; FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of the data format of one file of file information data read by the reading means of FIG. 1; 6 and 7 are explanatory diagrams showing an example of the icon display data in FIG. 1, respectively. FIG. 8 is a plan view of a display screen showing an example of icon display according to the embodiment of the present invention. 11 are flowcharts showing the processing procedure of the embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 12 is a plan view of a display screen showing another example of conventional character display, and FIG. 13 is another example of conventional icon display. FIG. 14 is a plan view of a display screen showing another example of icon display according to the embodiment of the present invention. 5... Icon management means, 6... Display control means, 7... Display means, 11... File information data, 12... Icon table, 13... Icon display data, 21... cpu. 22...ROM. 23...RAM. 24... Auxiliary storage device, 25... Keyboard, 26... Display device. 1...Storage means, 2...Input means, 3...Reading means, Figure 1, Figure 4, Figure 6, Figure 7, Figure 8, Figure 8. Figure 9

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1) Storage means for storing file information of a plurality of files and creation date information for each file, readout for reading out the file information and creation date information from the storage means in accordance with instructions from the input means. and calculating the number of days that have passed for the file from the creation date information read from the reading means and the current date, and changing the shape of the icon representing each file according to the calculated number of days so that the new and old states can be recognized. 1. A display device for an information processing apparatus, comprising: an icon management means for changing the icon into an icon; and a display means for displaying the icon provided from the icon management means together with the file information. 2) storage means for storing file information of a plurality of files and creation date information for each file; reading means for reading out the file information and creation date information from the storage means in accordance with instructions from the input means; icon management means for ranking a plurality of corresponding files in order of newest and oldest based on the creation date information read from the means, and changing the shape of an icon representing each file in accordance with the order of newest and oldest so that the newer and older state can be recognized; A display device for an information processing apparatus, comprising display means for displaying the icon given from the icon management means together with the file information.