JPH05204584A - Window display device and window display method - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide the window display device and the window display method, by which the number of windows displayed in a multi-window system can be limited. CONSTITUTION:The number of display hierarchies of the upper layer or the lower layer from an active window is saved in a display hierarchy number save area 6. Also, hierarchical information for showing a mutual relation of each window on a display screen is retained in a window list part 7. In such a state, a window display control part 8 reads out a necessary window from virtual screens 4-1-4-n, based on this number of display hierarchies and the hierarchical information, supplies them to a real screen memory 9, and a display device displays them on the display screen.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a window display device and window display method in a personal computer, word processor or the like in which a multi-window system is used.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a conventional multi-window system,
All the open windows are combined and displayed on the display screen. This is because by opening a plurality of windows, a plurality of tasks can be performed simultaneously while checking the screens. Also, recently
Since only the existence of windows is displayed, some windows that have been opened by the user are minimized and displayed with a small icon on the edge of the screen.

[0003]

However, in the conventional multi-window system, all open windows are displayed. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 6, when many windows are opened, when switching the display from the active window (the window in which the user can input) to another related window, whichever is It may be difficult to determine whether it is the target window. Also, if the target window is hidden under another window and cannot be seen, the existence of the window cannot be grasped and another window may be opened.

On the other hand, when the windows are minimized and displayed as icons, other unrelated windows must be minimized one by one, which complicates the operation. For example, if 10 windows are open and 3 of them are related to the active window and are the windows to be displayed on the display screen, the other 7
The minimization process must be performed on one window. Further, even when the active window is switched in order to change from one work to another work, the display of the window does not change and the unrelated window must be minimized each time, and the operation is troublesome. Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a window display device and a window display method that make it possible to easily check related windows.

[0005]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a window display device for storing display means for displaying a plurality of windows and hierarchical information indicating a hierarchical relationship between windows displayed on the display means. Hierarchical information storage means,
Among the hierarchical relationships among the windows stored in the hierarchical information storage means, the hierarchical number designating means for designating the hierarchical number of at least one of the upper layer and the lower layer with respect to the active window and the hierarchical number designating means are designated. The above-mentioned object is achieved by providing a window selection supply means for selecting a window to be displayed on the display means based on the number of layers and the hierarchical relationship between the windows stored in the hierarchy information storage means. The window display method according to claim 2,
The window display device according to claim 1, based on the number of layers designated by the layer number designating means, refers to the hierarchical relationship of the windows stored in the layer information storing means, and displays only necessary windows on the displaying means. The above object is achieved by establishing a method for displaying a window.

[0006]

In the window display device according to the first aspect, the number of layers is designated by the number-of-layers designating means, and the hierarchical relationship of the windows is stored by the hierarchy information storing means. Then, the window selection / supply means selects a required window from among the open windows based on the information, and supplies it to the display means. In the window display method according to claim 2, the window selection supply means should display on the display means with reference to the number of layers designated by the layer number designation means and the hierarchical relation stored in the hierarchical relation storage means. Select the required window.

[0007]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the window display device and the window display method of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to FIGS. FIG. 1 shows a block configuration of a personal computer to which a window display device is applied, which is an embodiment of the present invention. The personal computer includes an input device 1 including a keyboard and a mouse. Various data input from the input device 1 are supplied to the input control unit 2, and the input control unit 2 distributes these data to the program units 3.1 to 3n or the window task control unit 5. There is. Further, when the information specifying the number of upper or lower display layers for the active window is supplied, the input control unit 2 can supply this information to the display layer number save area 6.

The display layer number save area 6 stores the number of layers of at least one of upper and lower windows with respect to the active window. FIG. 4 shows the hierarchical relationship among the windows on the display screen. The hierarchical relationship shown in this figure is saved in the window list section 7 as hierarchical information. For example,
When the active window is window d, windows b and a are input to the upper layer window, and window f is input to the lower layer window as hierarchical information. The window task control unit 5 controls windows as follows. That is, when the active window is switched, if the number of layers of windows to be displayed is designated, the designated number of layers and the window list portion 7 are displayed.
Of the hierarchy information of the window, the window to be displayed on the display device 10 is selected, and the information is displayed.
Supply to. On the other hand, if the number of display layers is not specified, all windows are supplied to the window display control unit 8 as usual.

The window display control unit 8 receives the window information supplied from the window task control unit 5, reads out necessary data from the virtual screens 4.1 to 4.n, and supplies it to the real screen memory 9. The actual screen memory 9 receives the display data from the window display control unit 8 and supplies it to the display device 10 composed of a CRT or the like.

Next, the operation of the embodiment thus constructed will be described. FIG. 2 shows an operation for designating the number of display layers. In this embodiment, a case of designating the number of display layers with a command will be described. When data is input from the input device 1 (step 1), the input control unit 2 determines whether or not the command is a command for designating the number of display layers (step 2). If the command is a command to specify the number of display layers (step 2; Y), the input control unit 2 saves the number of display layers for each of the upper layer and the lower layer in the display layer number save area 6 (step 3), and the processing ends. To do. On the other hand, if the command does not specify the number of display layers, normal processing is performed (step 4). Here, the command for specifying the number of layers is SET
The name is DISP, and the number of upper and lower layers is specified in order by parameters. For example, in the case of designating the number of layers of 2 for the upper layer and 1 for the lower layer, the following is performed. SET DISP 21

FIG. 3 shows an operation of displaying a window. Now, suppose that the hierarchical structure of the window is as shown in FIG. It is determined whether or not the active window is switched (step 10), and when the active window is switched (step 10; Y), it is determined whether or not the number of display layers is designated (step 11). It is assumed that the window 4 in FIG. 4 has become the active window.

When the number of display layers has already been designated (step 11; Y), the window task control unit 5 displays the number of display layer number save areas 6 and the window list unit 7.
The window to be displayed is determined by referring to the hierarchical information of the window (step 12). Here, if the number of layers of two layers is specified in the upper layer and one layer is specified in the lower layer, the windows a and b are specified in the upper layer, and the window f is specified in the lower layer. Therefore, the window task control unit 5 activates the active window d and the window a;
A command is issued to the window display control unit 8 to display b; d; f. Upon receiving this command, the window display controller 8 receives the designated windows a, b, d,
The contents of the virtual screen 4 of f are read out, synthesized according to the command, supplied to the real screen memory 9, and displayed on the display device 10 (step 13). As a result, the window switching display ends. FIG. 5 shows the state of the window displayed on the display device 10 after the above processing is completed. As shown in this figure, there are few overlapping windows and other windows are easy to see. If the number of display layers is not specified (step 11; N), all windows are displayed as usual (step 14).

As another embodiment of the window display device or the window display method of the present invention, the window list section 7 corresponding to the hierarchical information storing means for storing the hierarchical information indicating the hierarchical relationship between the windows includes Although it has been described that the hierarchical relation stored in the above item is fixed, the user may arbitrarily change the hierarchical relation. In addition, the window display device or window display method of the present invention can be applied to a conventional DPS (Date Process).
singing system) and WP (Word Pr)
processing) and the like.

[0014]

As described above, according to the window display device and the window display method of the present invention, the related windows can be easily confirmed.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an embodiment of a window display device of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flow chart showing an operation of designating the number of display layers in the same as above.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing an operation of displaying a necessary window among the opened windows.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing a hierarchical relationship between windows in the same.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing a display screen of a display device when a necessary window among open windows is displayed.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing a display screen of a display device when all conventional open windows are displayed.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 input device 2 input control section 3.1-3.n program section 4.1-4.n virtual screen 5 window task control section 6 display hierarchy number save area 6 7 window list section 8 window display control section 9 actual screen memory 10 CRT

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. Display means for displaying a plurality of windows, hierarchical information storage means for storing hierarchical information indicating hierarchical relation between windows displayed on the display means, and hierarchical information storage means for storing hierarchical information. Among the hierarchical relationships among the windows, the layer number designating means for designating the layer number of at least one of the upper layer and the lower layer with respect to the active window, and the number of layers designated by the layer number designating means and the layer information storage. A window display device, comprising: a window selection supply means for selecting a window to be displayed on the display means from a hierarchical relationship of windows stored in the means. 2. A necessary window is referred to by referring to the hierarchical relationship of the windows stored in the hierarchical information storage means based on the number of layers specified by the layer number specifying means in the window display device according to claim 1. A window display method characterized in that only the display means is displayed.