JPH04186426A - Electronic equipment with position indicating means - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To always hold coordinate information by providing plural cursors and selecting and using a cursor to be controlled with a position indicating means out of the plural cursors. CONSTITUTION:An encoder signal catching the movement of a mouse and the states of two switches 15, 16 included in the mouse are sent from the mouse to a main body. Plural cursors are prepared so that each of them corresponds to each attribute in the display area of mouse movement and registers for controlling respective moving variables are prepared so as to correspond to respective cursors. The function of the mouse can be changed without changing the position of the mouse by switching the cursors controlled by the mouse by unusual operation such as the simultaneous ON of the two switches 15, 16. Thus an optional function can be selected while holding the position of the cursor indicating coordinate information.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a pointing device such as a mouse,
In particular, it relates to improving operability when performing multiple functions with one mouse.

[Conventional technology]

Previously, for example, Hitachi Japanese Word Processor Super 3
As seen in the Hitachi Document Word Processor Super 3000 Operating Instructions (December 20, 1988, published December 20, 1988, Hitachi Document Word Processor Super 3000 Operating Instructions Function Edition 3 Figures g, page 14), the display device is divided into two areas: a drawing area and a figure input specification field. separate,
By moving a cursor controlled by a mouse, which is a position pointing device, it was possible to designate an input figure and a figure input position using only the mouse.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

The biggest advantage of position pointing devices such as electronic devices is that they can quickly move the cursor to any point, but because the degree of freedom in moving the cursor is large, it is difficult to point out the coordinate information that has been selected again. . Therefore, when specifying coordinates and specifying the shape of a figure to be drawn at those coordinates using a single position pointing device, the cursor moves back and forth between the figure drawing area and the system area for shape selection. There was a problem that the coordinate information at that time was lost every time it was changed.

[Means to solve the problem]

The present invention focuses on the fact that the drawing area and the system area are provided separately, and by providing a separate cursor in each area and switching the cursor between the coordinate information indication operation and the shape selection operation, the coordinate The purpose is to maintain information at all times.

[Effect]

The mouse sends an encoder signal that captures the movement of the mouse and the status of two switches (designation/cancellation) provided on the mouse to the main body.

On the other hand, a cursor is prepared for each attribute of the display area to which the mouse moves, and a register for managing the amount of movement of each cursor is provided for each cursor. By switching the cursor managed by the mouse by an operation that is normally impossible, such as turning on two switches (designation/cancellation) at the same time, the function of the mouse can be changed without changing the position of the mouse.

〔Example〕

Embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings.

In this embodiment, the position pointing device of the present invention is applied to a Japanese document editing device, and FIG. 2 shows an external view thereof. A keyboard 2 which is an input device is connected to a CRT 4 which is a display device provided separately from the main body 3 which is a control device, and a mouse 1 which is a position pointing device is connected to the main body 3 via the keyboard 2.
are connected to the top surface SWO15, SWI, 16
There is.

FIG. 3 shows the external appearance of the mouse 1.

The mouse 1 is provided with a designation button and a release button, which correspond to SWO 15 and SWI 16 in the present invention.

FIG. 4 is an example of a screen display on the CRT 4 in the figure editing mode of the Japanese document editing device of this embodiment, which consists of an input figure selection area A and a drawing area B, each of which has a figure selection cursor CA and a drawing area. There is a position designation cursor CB. There are two cursors, but the available cursor (
The active cursor) is either one of them, and in this example, the two buttons of mouse 1, SWO15, 5W11
Each time 6 is pressed at the same time, the available cursors are swapped.

The drawing position designation cursor CB is fixed at the drawing position of the figure, the active cursor is switched to the figure selection cursor CA, and the input figure is selected. As a result, when a different type of figure is input at the same position, there is no need to again specify the drawing position after selecting the input figure.

FIG. 5 shows a block diagram of the mouse 1 in this embodiment. The trajectory of the mouse is determined by the rotation of the ball (not shown) using the X-direction encoder 11. Each signal is detected by the Y-direction encoder 12, counted by the control unit 13, and converted into movement. Specify button SWO15, Cancel button SWI1
The state No. 6 is processed by the control unit 13. The signals sent from the X-direction encoder 11 and the Y-direction encoder 12 are used as up-down counters XUD for counting bits in the X direction.
6. It is counted by an up/down counter YUD7 for counting in the Y direction. The PS conversion 5 converts the XUD 6 at the time it receives the request signal from the main unit 3.

Count value of YUD7 and each overflow and underflow bits Xo, XU, YO, YU and SWO, SW
Read the state of I and convert parallel data to serial data,
Send it to main unit 3 as mouse data. XUD6. YU
By resetting the count value of D7 to 0 by the CLR signal after reading, the amount of movement between the request signals can be detected.

FIG. 6 shows a timing chart of data transfer and data structure. When a request signal is issued from the main body 3 to the mouse 1, the PS conversion 5 outputs X and X indicating the amount of displacement in the X direction.
Three bytes of data are output, consisting of Y indicating the amount of displacement in the direction and S indicating the status data of the mouse at that time. The amount of displacement in the X and X directions has a sign bit of 1 bit,
It is possible to express the amount of displacement from -128 to 127. If the amount of displacement during the reading period T exceeds -128 to 127, the corresponding overflow or underflow bit in the status data becomes 1. SWO,S
The WI bit becomes 1 when the corresponding switch on the upper surface of the mouse is pressed.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of this embodiment. Mouse 1 is X,
An X-direction encoder 11, an X-direction encoder 12. Specify button 5WO15, Cancel button SW
I 16. It consists of a control section 13. In the main body 3, the mouse data received via the communication control 30 is sent to
Count register 31. Y count register 32. It is stored in the status register 33. Of the 3 bytes of data stored, X count register 31. The displacement amount stored in the Y count register 32 and the overflow and underflow bits in the status data are processed by address calculation 3.
Based on the active cursor information indicated in the active cursor register 35 at 5, the X address register A3
6. A new address is calculated by performing an operation with the old address shown in Y address register 37A, or X address register B38, Y address register B39, and X address register A36. YY address register A3'7, or X address register B38. Y address register B
39. FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing processing of mouse data.

■ The main body 3 issues a request signal to the mouse 1 after clearing the SW status register 40.

■ The main body 3 connects the communication control 30 to the mouse data X count register 31. Y count register 3
2. It is stored in the status register 33.

■ The address calculation unit 34 is the status register SWO.
15, Check the bit of SWI 16, SWO15,
If both SWIs 16 are in the ON state, the contents of the active cursor register 35 are rewritten.

■ If the cursor indicated by the active cursor register 40 is CA, the X address register A36 and the X address are Update the value of register A37. If the cursor indicated by the active cursor register 40 is CB, the X count register 31.
Value of Y count register 32 and status register 33
Based on the overflow and underflow information of X and Y in the X address register B38. Update the value of Y address register B39.

■If both SWO15 and SWI 16 are not ON, S-015 and SWI in the status register 33
16 states are transferred to the SW state register 40. In this embodiment, SWO 15° and SWI 16 are used for designation and cancellation, respectively, and when both are ON, the active cursor is switched, so they are not reflected in the SW status register 40.

According to this embodiment, while the drawing position designation cursor CB is fixed at the drawing position of the figure, 5W015, SWI
16 are turned on at the same time, the active cursor is switched to the figure selection cursor CA, and the input figure is selected. As a result, when a different type of figure is input at the same position, there is no need to again specify the drawing position after selecting the input figure.

In this embodiment, one area and one cursor are displayed simultaneously in each area, but other combinations of the number of areas and the number of cursors to which the present invention is applied are also possible.

Furthermore, in this embodiment, the active cursor is switched by simultaneously pressing the designation/cancel button on the mouse, but it is also possible to switch the active cursor by operating the keyboard. It is also possible to provide a switch for switching the active cursor on the mouse.

〔Effect of the invention〕

By providing a plurality of cursors controlled by a position pointing device and switching the cursors between coordinate information instruction and function selection instruction, it is possible to select a function while preserving the position of the cursor that specified coordinate information.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is a block diagram of an embodiment of the position pointing device of the present invention, Fig. 2 is an external view of the Japanese language processing device of the embodiment, Fig. 3 is an external view of the position pointing device of the embodiment, and Fig. 4 5 is a block diagram of the control unit of the position pointing device, FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing the timing and data structure of data exchange, and FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of the screen display in the embodiment. It is a flowchart. 1...mouse, 2...keyboard, 3...main unit,
4...Display, 5...PS conversion, 11X direction encoder, 12...Y direction encoder, 13...
Control unit, 15-3WO116・SW 1.30...
・Communication control, 31...X count register, 32...
・Y count register, 33...Status register, 34...Address calculation, 35...X address register A, 36...Y address register A, 38...X
Address register B, 39...Y address register B
,40...SW early? The third? /ri, ↑Kaisada/Ktan sw. /6 N Kui Hotan swr 4th figure @hfrf1m7jt-nnotycB 2nd figure chiy Shin (xY S X Y'
S' 疋7~彉O1XManyo change natachi 7~de, γδKi 11 theta X5:
X-direction displacement complete interflow γb; γka (
2) 夛11Oh8-fuD ENTγu', Y7J Concubine Care Shimata-70 Ichito swo: 5WOON at the time of /

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A position indicating device having a control section, a display section, and an input section, which is made up of the input section or a part of the input section, is moved, the amount of movement is detected, and the cursor on the display section is moved. An electronic device having a position indicating means for changing a position, characterized in that the electronic device has a plurality of cursors and selects and uses a cursor controlled by the position indicating means from among the cursors. . 2. An electronic device according to claim 1, having a position pointing means, wherein each of the plurality of cursors has a different function. 3. An electronic device according to claim 1, having a position indicating means, characterized in that a plurality of areas of a display section having different attributes are provided, and a cursor is provided for each area. 4. A control method for a position pointing device in the electronic device according to claim 1, characterized in that the selection of the cursor to be controlled by the position pointing means from a plurality of cursors is performed by a switch provided on the position pointing device. . 5. The position pointing device according to claim 4, characterized in that the cursor selection is not provided with a dedicated switch, but is performed by a combination of other switches.