JPH0483293A - Multiwindow display system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To make it possible to easily confirm a required window from the size, shape, etc., of a window by providing this multiwindow display system with a means for instructing the transmission display of a window, an window peripheral edge part display means and an window display order changing means for displaying a lower window selected by indicating one point in a peripheral edge part on the uppermost position. CONSTITUTION:The multiwindow display system is provided with the window transmission display control part 12, the window peripheral edge part display control part 13 for displaying the peripheral edge part of each window by a previously set shape or the like and the window display order changing part 14 for displaying a lower window selected by clicking one point in the peripheral edge part by a mouse or the like on the uppermost position. Even when many windows are overlapped and characters or graphics can not be easily observed due to superposition, the peripheral edge parts of respective windows are displayed. Consequently, a required window can easily be confirmed based upon the size or the like of the window and the processing operation of each window can quickly be started.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (Field of Industrial Application) The present invention relates to a multi-window display system for personal computers, workstations, etc.

(Prior Art) In recent years, multi-window display systems that display multiple windows simultaneously on the same screen have been introduced in computer systems such as personal computers and workstations. As shown in (A), since multiple windows are displayed in the limited display space of the display device, there may be overlap between the windows, causing part or all of the lower window to become hidden. be. If you wish to perform editing or other operations on the lower window in this state, first close or reduce the unnecessary upper window as shown in Figures 6 (B) to (D). , it is necessary to repeat the process of retracting the lower window until it can be confirmed, and then moving the desired lower window to a position where it can be operated.

For example, JP-A-64-65627, JP-A-6
1213023, JP 63-85987, JP 63-15285, JP 63-142
No. 28, etc., proposes a method in which the overlapping portions of windows are rendered translucent or transparent and displayed in a composite manner, thereby making it easier to confirm which window is located at the bottom.

(Problem to be Solved by the Invention) However, in the conventional technology for displaying the overlapping parts of windows in a composite manner, when a desired window is hidden in a blank area of the upper window between two windows, etc. Although effective, it becomes rather unclear when many windows overlap and there are many layers of text and graphics. Furthermore, even if you are lucky enough to see the desired window at the bottom, you will have to repeat the above-mentioned complicated operations to perform any processing on this window, making it very inconvenient to use. Ta.

The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned defects, and even when multiple windows overlap, it is possible to easily check a desired window hidden below, and to simplify processing for this window. This can be achieved by operating
The purpose is to provide a multi-window display method with good operability.

(Means for Solving Problems) The present invention provides the following features: - When an overlapping portion occurs between multiple windows displayed on the same screen, the contents and frame shape of the lower window are transferred to the upper window. Transparent display instructing means for instructing window transparent display so as to be transparent and displayed at the same time as the upper window; and at least in the state of transparent display, displaying the periphery of each window in an overlapping relationship in a preset shape, etc. The conventional multi-window display method is provided with a window periphery display means for displaying the window periphery, and a window display order changing means for displaying the lower window selected by clicking a point within the periphery with a mouse at the top. It is something.

(When multiple windows overlap, it is possible to make the windows transparent so that you can easily see the desired window hidden below, but if many windows overlap and the text and graphics are Even if it is hard to see due to overlapping layers, the periphery of each window is displayed, so you can easily check the desired window based on the window size etc. Also, if you want to perform some processing on this window, use this By clicking one point within the periphery of the window with the mouse, the desired lower window is displayed at the top, so processing operations can be started immediately.

(Embodiment) Hereinafter, an embodiment of the multi-window display method according to the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the basic configuration of a workstation to which a multi-window display method according to the present invention is applied.

This workstation has a CRT display 1 that displays text and graphics on the screen along with multiple windows.
, a CRT driver 2 for controlling the display on the CRT display 1, a keyboard 3 for manually inputting commands, characters, symbols, numbers, etc., and a pointing device for inputting menus etc. displayed on the CRT display 1. A mouse 4, a keyboard/mouse driver 5 that outputs various data by operating the keyboard 3 and mouse 4, a group of application programs such as O8 and a multi-window system program that manage the basic operations of the system, and a keyboard 3 and a mouse 4. The device memory device 6, which is composed of a memory device 6 that stores data such as characters and numbers input from the mouse 4, and a CPU (central processing unit) 7 that performs various calculations, stores data such as characters and figures in the window. A window display data storage unit 8 that stores image data of the window and peripheral data of the window (position, size, shape, color, etc.), and a menu that indicates whether the window display should be displayed transparently or non-transparently. A window display menu storage section 9 is provided.

In addition, the CPU 7 controls the entire system, and
It is a device that performs arithmetic processing on predetermined data based on various instructions, and includes a mouse cursor position detection section 10,
A window transparent display instruction determination unit 11 determines whether a transparent display instruction has been given to a plurality of windows displayed on the CRT display 1; a window transparent display control unit 12 instructs transparent display of windows; A window periphery display control unit 13 that displays the periphery of each window in a preset shape, etc. when display is being executed, and a lower side selected by clicking a point within the periphery with a mouse, etc. The window display order changing unit 14 is provided to display the window at the top.

Next, the basic operation of a workstation to which the multi-window display method according to the present invention is applied will be explained based on FIGS. 2 and 3.

FIG. 3(A) shows a state in which a plurality of windows are displayed on the screen of the CRT display 1. In FIG. In this case, the topmost window (Wl) and the top left window (W
2) can be confirmed, but the other windows are completely separated and I can't even grasp their existence (Step 101)
. The operator then uses the mouse to specify "window transparent display" from the pop-up menu displayed on the screen as shown in FIG. 3(B). As a result, the input information is determined by the mouse/cursor position detector 8 10 and the window transparent display instruction determining unit 11 in the CPU (step 102), and then by the window transparent display controller 12 and the window peripheral display controller 13. At the same time as transparent display of the windows is executed, the periphery of each window is clearly displayed in preset colors and shapes (step 103),
You can now discover the window (W3) that was completely hidden. When you want to perform editing or other processing on this window (W3), move the mouse cursor to any point on the periphery of the window (W3) as shown in Figure 3 (C) and press the mouse button. By pressing (clicking) (step 104), the mouse cursor position detection unit 10 and window display order changing unit 14 are activated as shown in FIG.
) The specified window (W3) is displayed at the top (step 105). Furthermore, after this, if you specify "non-transparent display of window" with the mouse from the pop-up menu as shown in FIG. 3(E) (step 106
), all windows can be returned to non-transparent display (step 107).

Note that the present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned embodiments, and many modifications can be made. For example, the transparent display instruction means may use a method of pressing a specific key. Further, the window periphery display means displays only a portion of the periphery of the window (4
It is also possible to set the window edge data etc. for each window in advance in the window management table as shown in Figure 4, and display the edge area data for each window as shown in Figure 5. You may change the color or shape of the line (by leaving the corners blank, changing the line thickness, etc.). Further, when the window display order is changed, it may be set so that all windows are automatically returned to non-transparent display.

(Effects of the Invention) As explained above, in the multi-window display method according to the present invention, the periphery of each window in an overlapping relationship is displayed while the windows are displayed transparently. Even when characters and figures overlap in many layers and are difficult to see, the desired window can be easily identified based on the size, shape, etc. of the window. Also, when editing or processing this window,
By specifying one point within the periphery of the window, the desired lower window is displayed at the top, so processing operations can be started immediately.

Therefore, the complicated operation of removing unnecessary windows on the upper side is eliminated, and processing for necessary windows can be realized with local operations.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a block diagram showing the basic configuration of a workstation to which the multi-window display method according to the present invention is applied, Fig. 2 is a flowchart showing the processing procedure, and Figs. 3 (A) to (E) are examples of the embodiment. FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a window management table, FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram of a display screen in a modified example, and FIGS. 6 (A) to (D) are display screens in a conventional example. FIG. 1... CRT display, 4... Mouse, 6...
・Memory device, 7...CPU (central processing unit), 10
... Mouse cursor position checking section, 11... Window transparent display instruction determining section, 12... Window transparent display control section, 13... Window periphery display control section, 14
...Window display order change section. Roganto Fuji Xerox Co., Ltd.

Claims (1)

[Claims] Display multiple windows simultaneously on the screen of a display device, and if an overlap occurs between the multiple windows, the contents of the lower window are transmitted into the upper window and displayed at the same time as the upper window. In the multi-window display method, a transparent display instructing means for instructing the transparent display of the window; a window peripheral part displaying means for displaying the peripheral part of each of the windows in an overlapping relationship during the transparent display by the transparent display instructing means; A multi-window display system comprising: window display order changing means for displaying a selected lower window at the top by indicating one point within the peripheral area.