JPH0592852U - Image display - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Abstract] [Purpose] To improve the operability of image roaming in an image display device in which images are displayed in a plurality of windows. [Arrangement] A mouse 15 is provided as a means for selecting a window in which an image to be roamed is displayed, and a trackball 14 is provided as a means for inputting a movement amount of an image during roaming. When these are operated, the mouse 15 is operated. The display device is controlled so that the area displayed in the window selected by the window is moved according to the rotation amount of the trackball 14. This allows the display screen 10
Above, it appears that the image displayed in the window selected with the mouse 15 has been roamed by the amount of movement specified by the trackball 14.

Description

[Detailed description of the device]

[0001]

[Industrial applications]

 The present invention is an image display device that uses a multi-window system that displays a plurality of windows on a display screen, for example, an image display device that is used in an image processing device that creates, edits, and modifies images using the multi-window system. Regarding the device.

[0002]

[Prior Art]

 2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, image processing apparatuses that perform image creation / editing / modifying operations on a computer memory have become widespread. In such an image processing apparatus, there is a case where it is desired to enlarge and display only a part of the image to be edited or the like on the entire display screen. In such a case, by moving the image according to the work situation, an operation to display an out-of-screen portion (a portion of the image of the work target that is not currently displayed) (hereinafter referred to as "roaming operation") In the past, such roaming operations were performed using a trackball or joystick.

On the other hand, in order to improve the user interface of information equipment, a multi-window system has been used in recent years, and some of the above image processing apparatuses also employ the multi-window system. In this multi-window system as well, similar to the above, an image roaming operation is required depending on the work situation. For example, as shown in FIG. 6, windows aw and bw are displayed on the display screen 70, the area a1 of the image A to be worked is displayed in the window aw, and the image B is displayed in the window bw. In the case where the portion of the area b1 is displayed, when it is desired to see the portion of the area a2 of the image A, the portion of the area a2 is displayed in the window aw by moving the image A. There is a need. In the multi-window system, in order to roam the image displayed in the window in this way, it is necessary to select the window in addition to inputting the moving amount (roaming amount) of the image. The roaming operation was performed using only the pointing device and the on-screen pointer that works with it. That is, by moving only the pointing device or by moving the pointing device while pressing a predetermined key on the keyboard, the window is selected and the amount of movement of the image is input to perform roaming. For example, as shown in FIG. 7 (a), after switching to the roaming mode by the pull-down menu 76, a pointer 74 interlocked with a mouse or the like to select the window 72 in which the image to be roamed is displayed among the windows 72 and 73. In the window 72. Then, by pressing a mouse button or the like, the movement of the image is made to coincide with the movement of the pointer 74, and thereby the image is dragged by the pointer 74 to roam (hereinafter, this operation is referred to as " "Drag"). As shown in Fig. 7 (b), there is also a method of roaming the desired image by operating the scroll bar 78 or 79 of the window in which the image to be roamed is displayed with a pointer linked with a mouse or the like. It was

[0004]

[Problems to be solved by the device]

 However, in the conventional method described above, the operation of specifying the window and the operation of specifying the amount of movement of the image are inseparable as a series of operations such as a mouse operation. There is a bad side. For example, in the method of dragging an image in the window with the pointer (method of FIG. 7A), the amount of roaming that can be performed by one operation is restricted by the size of the window specified by the pointer. Therefore, when the required amount of roaming is large, it is necessary to stop dragging once when the pointer reaches the edge of the window, and then drag again from the opposite edge. Also, in the method of roaming with a scroll bar (method of Fig. 7 (b)), it is necessary to position the pointer to a limited area of the scroll bar of a specific window, and it is necessary in one operation. It is also difficult to roam exactly what amount. Therefore, there were cases where the number of repeated operations was increased and roaming was performed more than necessary.

The present invention has been made to solve such a problem, and its purpose is to improve the operability of image roaming when images are displayed in a plurality of windows. An object is to provide an improved image display device.

[0006]

[Means for Solving the Problems]

 An image display device according to the present invention made to solve the above problem uses a multi-window system for displaying a plurality of windows including a window for displaying a part of an image stored in an image memory on a display screen. In the image display device described above, selection means for selecting one of the windows, movement amount input means for inputting the movement amount of the image, and the window in the image to be displayed by the window selected by the selection means And a display control means for moving the area displayed in accordance with the movement amount input by the movement amount input means.

[0007]

[Action]

 In the image display device of the present invention having the configuration shown in FIG. 2, when the operator selects the window in which the image to be roamed is displayed by the selection means 25 and inputs the movement amount of the image by the movement amount input means 24, display control is performed. By the means 26, the area displayed in the selected window (stored in the image memory 64) in the window to be displayed is moved by the movement amount. As a result, on the screen of the display device 68, the image appears to have moved within the selected window, and the image area outside the window is displayed within the window.

[0008]

【Example】

 Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an image roaming operation in an image display device according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1, two windows 11 and 12 are displayed on the display screen 10 of the image display apparatus of the present embodiment. Image B is displayed in the window 11 and image A is displayed in the window 12. It is displayed. The image display device also includes a trackball 14 and a mouse 15 as input devices. The mouse 15 is used as coordinate input means interlocking with the pointer 16 on the screen and is used for selecting a window and the like, and the trackball 14 is used as means for inputting the moving amount (roaming amount) of the image when roaming the image. For example, as shown in FIG. 1A, when the mouse 15 is operated to place the pointer 16 in the window 12 and the trackball 14 is operated in that state, an image B displayed in the window 12 is displayed on the trackball 14. It moves according to the rotation amount (this “rotation amount” is a concept that includes the rotation direction. The same applies below). Further, as shown in FIG. 1B, when the mouse 15 is operated to move the position of the pointer 16 from the window 12 to the window 11 and then the trackball 14 is operated, an image A displayed in the window 11 is displayed. It moves according to the amount of rotation of the track ball 14. Then, while the trackball 14 is being operated, the display of the pointer 16 does not move unless the mouse 15 is operated. As described above, in the image display device, when images are displayed in a plurality of windows, the window displaying the image to be roamed is selected by the mouse 15 and the amount of movement of the image is input by the trackball 14. Thus, it is possible to specify the window and the movement amount as separate and independent operations. Therefore, unlike in the past, there is no need to limit the input operation for the amount of movement of the image to the window size or to position the pointer to a limited area such as a scroll bar. Also, since the trackball 14 can be operated while watching the movement of the image, only the required amount can be roamed accurately.

In this embodiment, the image display device having the above-described functions is realized by the hardware having the configuration shown in FIG. 5 and the software executed by the control microprocessor 50 therein. .. FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a hardware configuration of the image display device and a data flow in the configuration. As shown in FIG. 5, in this embodiment, the image display device is provided with a control microprocessor 50, a ROM 56 for storing control programs such as a window management program, and a RAM 54 for storing work data and the like. A keyboard 52 for inputting commands and the like, a mouse 15 for inputting coordinate values, a trackball 14 for inputting the amount of movement of an image, an interface circuit 58 of these input devices, a hard disk for accumulating image data and the like. An external storage device 62 and its interface circuit 60, a display device 68 and its display control circuit 66, and an image memory 64 for storing image data to be displayed on the display device 68. In such a configuration, the window management program stored in the ROM 56 is executed by the control microprocessor 50, and the display control circuit 66 controls the display on the display device 68 based on the execution result, so that the display shown in FIG. The display control means 26 is realized. That is, the display control circuit 66 causes a predetermined area in each image stored in the image memory 64 to be displayed in each window on the display screen based on a command from the control microprocessor 50 (see FIG. 6). ), Controlling the display device 68. The mouse 15 corresponds to the selection means 25 shown in FIG. 2, and the trackball 14 corresponds to the movement amount input means 24 shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a data structure used in the window management program, and data constituting this data structure is stored in the RAM 54. In this data structure, there is only one base window structure 30, and the window structures 32, 34 and 36 have a one-to-one correspondence with each window displayed on the display screen. Therefore, FIG. 3 shows a case where three windows are displayed on the display screen. Each window structure stores data that describes the attributes of the corresponding window, that is, the following data. Window name Window area (upper left coordinate, lower right coordinate) Pointer to upper window structure Pointer to lower window structure Image number In this embodiment, "upper or lower" in the window structure having the above configuration By properly setting the value of the "pointer to the window structure of", each window structure is connected by the bidirectional pointers in the priority order of the windows to form a chained list (hereinafter referred to as "window list"). Then, a pointer to the window structure having the highest priority and a pointer to the window structure having the lowest priority are stored in the base window structure 30. In the present embodiment, when a plurality of windows are overlapped, the window management program displays the windows in the order of priority so that the windows overlap each other, and the window with the highest priority is displayed at the top.

The window management program of this embodiment performs the processing shown in the flowchart of FIG. 4 on the premise of the above data structure. That is, first, in step # 10, the device identification data is input together with the coordinate value data or the rotation amount data from the mouse 15 or the trackball 14 shown in FIG. At this time, the data flows like D1 shown in FIG.

Next, in step # 12, it is determined whether the device that has input the data is the mouse 15 or the trackball 14 based on the device identification data. As a result of this judgment, if the input device is the mouse 15, the base window structure 30 is referred to for the pointer to the beginning of the window list (the window structure having the highest priority), and step # While repeatedly executing the loop of 14 → step # 16 → step # 20 → step # 14, the window list is searched from the window having the highest priority to the window having the lowest priority, and the position specified by the mouse 15 is internally set. Search for the window that is included in (hereinafter referred to as the "specified window"). Here, whether or not the designated position is within the window is determined (step # 16) by using the coordinate value data input from the mouse 15 as coordinates indicating the area of the window stored in each window structure. You can do this by comparing with the value. When the designated window is found in this way, the process proceeds to step # 18. However, as a result of searching up to the window with the lowest priority (the last one in the window list), if the window containing the position specified by the mouse 15 (specified window) is not found, proceed to step # 21 and set the variable WINDOW. After clearing, return to step # 10 to input the next data. As described above, since the window structure and the like are stored in the RAM 54, the data flows as indicated by D2 in FIG. 5 in the search for the designated window.

In step # 18, the pointer value to the window structure of the designated window is stored in the variable WINDOW. After this, the process returns to step # 10 to input the next data.

As a result of the determination in step # 12, if the input device is the track ball 14, the process proceeds to step # 22, and the rotation amount data input from the track ball 14 at that time is stored in the variable ROAM. To do. Next, in step # 24, the pointer value stored in the variable WINDOW and the image number in the window structure pointed to by the pointer value are referred to and displayed in the window corresponding to the pointer value in the image corresponding to that image number. The display on the display device 68 is controlled so that the area to be moved has moved by the movement amount according to the rotation amount of the track ball stored in the variable ROAM. This display control is actually performed by the control microprocessor 50 issuing a predetermined command to the display control circuit 66. That is, the image to be displayed by each window is stored in the image memory 64, and the display control circuit 66 outputs the variable WINDOW among the images stored in the image memory 64 based on the instruction from the control microprocessor 50. The display on the display device 68 is controlled so that the area displayed in the window (designated window) corresponding to (1) moves according to the rotation amount of the trackball 14 (see FIG. 6). As a result, it appears on the display screen that the image displayed in the window where the mouse pointer 16 currently exists is roamed by the amount of movement specified by the trackball 14. At this time, the data flows like D3 shown in FIG. After roaming the image corresponding to the rotation amount of the trackball 14 in this way, the process returns to step # 10 to input the next data. If the pointer 16 of the mouse 15 is currently out of the window (not in any window), the variable WINDOW is cleared (see step # 21), and the window corresponding to the variable WINDOW exists. Since this is not done (see step # 24), image roaming is not performed even if the trackball 14 is operated.

As can be seen from the above description, in the present embodiment, the operation of the mouse 15 for designating the window in which the image to be roamed is displayed, and the image displayed in the designated window is roamed. It is a separate and independent operation from the trackball operation that specifies the amount of movement. Therefore, as described above, the operability of roaming when images are displayed in multiple windows is improved compared to the past, and even when the amount of roaming is large, the number of repetitive operations is reduced and roaming is performed more than necessary. Less to do. If the mouse is used with the right hand and the trackball with the left hand, and both hands are used, roaming operability is further improved. Also, if you set the roaming speed parameter to an appropriate value in advance, a faster roaming operation can be performed compared to the conventional method of dragging the image in the window with the pointer (the method of Fig. 7 (a)). It will be possible. Furthermore, in the conventional method, an operation of switching to the roaming mode by a pull-down menu or the like when roaming an image (or an operation of moving a mouse or the like while pressing a predetermined key on the keyboard) is necessary. In this image display device, since the movement amount input means (trackball) for roaming and the coordinate input means (mouse) for retouching operation can be provided separately, it is possible to switch to the roaming mode. It becomes unnecessary. Therefore, for example, when performing the retouching operation while looking at the image displayed on the display screen, the roaming operation and the retouching operation can be alternately performed without switching between the roaming mode and the retouching mode. , The efficiency of retouching work is improved.

In the above embodiment, the track ball is used as the movement amount input means for roaming, but other input means such as a joystick or an arrow key on the keyboard may be used.

[0017]

[Effect of the device]

 As described above, according to the present invention, in the image display device using the multi-window system, the window designation and the image roaming amount designation can be performed by independent and independent operations. There is no need to limit the size of the input operation for one movement amount to the window size, or to align the pointer with a limited area such as a scroll bar. As a result, the operability of image roaming is improved when images are displayed in multiple windows. The operability of roaming can be further improved by selectively using the right hand and the left hand for the operation by the selection means and the operation by the movement amount input means.

Further, in the conventional method, an operation of switching to the roaming mode by a pull-down menu or the like when roaming an image (or an operation of moving a mouse or the like while pressing a predetermined key on the keyboard) is required. However, according to the present invention, it is not necessary to switch to the roaming mode. Therefore, for example, when performing the retouching operation while looking at the image displayed on the image display device of the present invention, the efficiency of the retouching operation is improved.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an image roaming operation in an image display device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an image display device of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a data structure of a window management program in the image display device of the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the operation of a window management program in the image display device of the above embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a hardware configuration of the image display device of the embodiment and a data flow in the configuration.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing correspondence between images to be displayed and windows.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an image roaming operation in a conventional image display device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 14 ... Trackball (movement amount input means) 15 ... Mouse (selection means) 24 ... Movement amount input means 25 ... Selection means 26 ... Display control means 50 ... Control microprocessor (display control means) 54 ... RAM 56 ... ROM 64 Image memory 66 Display control circuit (display control means) 68 Display device

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] 1. An image display apparatus using a multi-window system for displaying a plurality of windows including a window for displaying a part of an image stored in an image memory on a display screen, and selecting one of the windows. Means, a movement amount input means for inputting a movement amount of the image, and an area displayed in the window selected by the selection means in the image to be displayed by the movement amount input means. An image display device, comprising: a display control unit that moves in accordance with a moving amount.