JPH06242881A - Instruction inputting device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To attain the input operation of an instruction with an excellent user interface by discriminating a manipulated variable from the set of operating positions, and executing the instruction corresponding to the manipulated variable. CONSTITUTION:When an operator indicates a position on a display screen with his finger or the like by a point touch operation, the position indicated by the operation is detected by X and Y-axial coordinate detecting circuits 42 and 43. Then, the detected coordinate is stored in a detected coordinate storage part 44. The set of the stored coordinates and positions is analyzed by an instruction analyzing part 45, the type of the instruction and an area where the instruction is executed, are identified, and the manipulated variable is discriminated from the set of the detected operation positions. The analyzed result is transferred to a word processing circuit 46, the instruction corresponding to the manipulated variable is executed, and an actual text edition processing is operated. Thus, the instruction corresponding to the manipulated variable of the point touch operation can be immediately executed, and the user interface can be sharply improved.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a command input device which detects a point contact operation on a display surface by an operator and inputs a command corresponding to the point contact operation.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Various devices capable of interactive communication between a user and a computer are known. Keyboards, interactive displays, etc. are used as media or ports that enable communication between the two. The problem of the user interface has been one of the major problems for many years, and research and development have been carried out with continuous efforts, and many effective user interfaces have been created. in spite of,
There is nothing that can be said to be universal, and we must continue to make further efforts in the future.

[0003]

One of the problems of such a very wide range of user interfaces is how easily a user or operator can input necessary information and instructions, particularly, complicated information, into a computer. There is a problem of whether it can be done, so-called operability problem. The prior art has not yet provided a sufficient solution to this problem. Take a word processor as an example. Edit processing (delete text,
Insertion, replacement, boxing, etc.), the word processor should select the necessary processing unless it is instructed what kind of instruction should be performed in what area of the text. Process cannot be performed without it, and therefore cannot meet the user's request. Therefore, in the conventional word processor, the user transmits all the information necessary for a specific editing process to the computer of the word processor, in order to transmit two kinds of information, that is, information about a place and an area where an instruction is to be executed, and I was transmitting (inputting) information to the computer about the type of command that I wanted to execute at the specified location.
Typically, the instruction execution area is designated by moving a screen cursor on the display with a moving device, such as a key cursor on a keyboard, a mouse, a trackball or the like. On the other hand, regarding the type of instruction, an edit instruction key or the like (for example, a delete key, an insert key, etc.) on the keyboard is selected and designated. An object of the present invention is to be able to perform an input operation of an excellent command on a user interface.

[0004]

The means of the present invention are as follows. A point contact operation at a position corresponding to the position on the display screen, and a detection unit that detects the operation position of this point contact operation, and determine the operation amount from the set of operation positions detected by this detection unit, Further, it has an instruction executing means for executing an instruction according to the operation amount.

[0005]

The operation of the means of the present invention is as follows. Now
It is assumed that the operator uses a finger or the like to instruct a position on the display screen by a point contact operation. The position by this operation is detected by the detection means. Then, the instruction executing means determines the operation amount from the set of detected operation positions, and further executes the instruction according to the operation amount. Therefore, only by the point contact operation at the position corresponding to the display screen,
The command corresponding to the operation amount of the point contact operation can be immediately executed, and the user interface is remarkably improved.

[0006]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT An embodiment in which the present invention is applied to a word processor will be described below. <Outline of Embodiment> In this embodiment, a mark such as a proofreader's mark of a document is input as an edit command input in order to operate an edit function in a word processor. Input of the mark is performed on the transparent touch operation surface overlaid on the document output screen.

FIGS. 1A and 1B show an example of inputting a calibration mark. FIG. 1A shows an example of inputting a mark for an insert command, FIG. 1B shows an example of inputting a mark for a delete command, and FIG. It is an input example. For example, as shown in FIG.

If the [External 1] mark is input, this is interpreted by the instruction analysis unit as "insert at text coordinate (3, 1)."
In this case, the type of the command "insert" and the area where the command "text coordinates (3, 1)" is executed and the position is one

At the same time, they are identified from [External 1]. As can be seen from this example, according to the present embodiment, when inputting an edit command,
The user only has to enter the mark, which greatly improves the user interface.

Further, in the present embodiment, the processor side, in this case the word processor, sets the position of the text displayed on the output screen for each character to a plurality of straight lines parallel to the row direction or the X-axis direction and the Y-axis direction or the column direction. At each intersection or each on a mesh defined by a plurality of straight lines parallel to (for example, a mesh consisting of each character line and character string in the display plane memory, and each character line and character page in the text memory) Position management in a memory cell at a specified line number and column number in a text memory (eg, relative x, y coordinates from a reference position such as the upper left on the output screen or the origin (0, 0)) I am assuming that I am doing it. Such a position management function is a function that an existing word processor usually has.

On the other hand, the operation position signal for the touch operation surface, which is input from the input device having the touch operation surface, is defined by a plurality of straight lines parallel to the X-axis direction and a plurality of straight lines parallel to the Y-axis direction. Finally, it is detected or identified as an intersection point on a mesh (hereinafter referred to as an input mesh).

Therefore, the instruction analysis means analyzes the type of instruction and the area in which the instruction is executed from the pattern of the set of intersections on the input mesh. Then, the instruction execution area defined as an intersection or a group of intersections on the input mesh is associated with a position or a group of positions on the mesh defined in the text memory or text display memory of the word processor.

As described above, in this embodiment, since an input mesh similar to (for example, similar to) the mesh on the word processor side is used, the instructions executed by the word processor can be executed only by performing mesh conversion (basically scale conversion). The area can be obtained. Therefore, the processing amount and the storage capacity (including the program) related to this can be extremely small, which greatly contributes to the improvement of responsiveness.

<Structure> FIG. 2 shows the entire structure of this embodiment. Reference numeral 41 denotes an input / output device, which serves both as an input of a calibration mark and an output display of characters from the word processing circuit 46. For example, it is configured by combining a display such as a CRT or LCD and a touch input device or coordinate input device of a type in which a transparent touch panel is placed on the screen.

Reference numerals 42 and 43 detect an operation position or an input coordinate on the touch operation surface. The Y coordinate is detected by the Y axis coordinate detecting circuit 42, and the X coordinate is detected by the X axis coordinate detecting circuit 43. To be done.

The touch operation surface (coordinate input surface) and the input coordinate detection circuit are arbitrary existing types, for example, digital detection method, analog detection method, matrix resistance / conductor type, resistance voltage dividing type, strain gauge type, optical type, Capacitive type, surface wave type, etc. can be used. In short, it is sufficient that the position of the input on the touch operation surface (not necessarily a physical panel) can be detected.

The coordinates detected by the X and Y axis coordinate detection circuits 42 and 43 are stored in the detected coordinate storage unit 44. The stored set of coordinates or positions is analyzed by the instruction analysis unit 45, and the type of the instruction and the area where the instruction is executed are identified. The analysis result is passed to the word processing circuit 46, and the actual text editing process is performed. The word processing circuit 46 can be composed of any existing word processor. Since the structure of the word processor itself is not the subject of the present invention, its explanation is omitted.

Detected coordinate storage unit, command analysis unit (see FIG. 3, FIG.
4) FIG. 3 shows an internal outline of the detected coordinate storage unit 44, and FIG. 4 shows a hardware configuration of the instruction analysis unit 45. The XY coordinate comparison unit 441 prohibits the same coordinate input, and when different data (coordinates) from the previous one is detected, the coordinate storage control unit 443.
To the coordinate storage RAM 442 while notifying that a valid coordinate has been detected. On the other hand, the coordinate storage control unit 443 uses the coordinate storage R
A detection signal is sent to the CPU 451 of the instruction analysis unit 45 (FIG. 4) including the CPU 451 and the program memory 452 to request the address for writing to the AM 442. When the address is thus returned from the CPU 451, the coordinate storage control unit 443 outputs the address on the address bus to address the coordinate storage RAM 442, and cancels the detection signal because the request was executed. By repeating this, the coordinate data is input to the coordinate storage RAM 442.

The instruction analysis unit starts accessing the coordinate storage RAM 442 in a state where the detection signal is not output for a predetermined time, for example. Input the coordinates during analysis to the XY coordinate comparison unit using FIFO.
Accumulated in the (first in, first out) format. In the paragraph where the analysis is completed, the coordinate storage control unit 443 sends an output control signal to the XY coordinate comparison unit 441, and the coordinate data is transferred to the coordinate storage RAM 442 until the FIFO becomes empty, that is, until the coordinate detection signal is exhausted.

<Operation> Next, the operation of the embodiment, particularly the processing of the instruction analysis unit 45 will be mainly described. Overall Processing (FIG. 5) FIG . 5 shows a main flow executed by the instruction analysis unit 45. Processes G1 and G2: This process is an insert instruction identifying process for checking whether or not the set of input coordinates has the type of insert instruction. Process G3: An output process performed in the case of an insert command, which includes a conversion process into text coordinates. Processes G4 and G5: When it is not an insert command, this delete command identifying process checks whether or not the input coordinate has the type of the delete command. Process G6: The process performed in the case of the delete command, which includes the process of converting to text coordinates. Processes G7 and G8: When it is not a deletion command, it is checked by this frame formation command identification process whether or not the input coordinates have the type of the frame formation command. Process G9: A process performed in the case of a frame opening command, which includes a process of converting to text coordinates. Process G10: When the input coordinate set does not have any instruction type, an unanalyzable signal is output.

Insertion Instruction Identification Processing (FIG. 6) FIG . 6 shows a flowchart of the insertion instruction identification processing. In this example, as can be seen from FIG. 1A, it is determined that the insertion instruction is

This is when a mark or symbol such as [External 2] is input. There are 3 coordinate points (A1), and 1 at the first x coordinate.
Is the next X coordinate, which is (A2), 2
The X coordinate of the third point is the one with the X coordinate of the point shifted to the right.
The coordinates are (A3), the first Y coordinate and the third Y point.
The coordinates are located at the same height (A4) and the second Y
When the difference in height between the coordinate and the Y coordinate of the first point is 1 (A
Only when all the conditions of 4) and 4 are satisfied, it is recognized as an insertion symbol (A6). Otherwise, it is recognized as not an insertion symbol (A7). It should be noted that if the conditions for forming the insertion symbol are too strict, the conditions may be looser. The programming changes necessary for this are easy for a person skilled in the art.

Deletion Command Identification Process (FIG. 7) FIG. 7 shows a flowchart of the deletion command identification process. As can be seen from FIG. 1B, the deletion instruction is recognized when a mark or symbol such as “→” is input. In this example, it is assumed that one line is deleted in the horizontal format. Therefore, for all coordinate inputs, the X coordinates are shifted to the right one by one, and the Y coordinates are all at the same height. The total number of coordinate points is calculated and used as the initial value of the coordinate number variable i (B1), and the following processing is performed for the variable i having the number after the pair of coordinates from the end point toward the start point (B2 to B7). .

The i-th x coordinate is immediately before, that is, (i-1)
If it is on the right side by one unit (one unit of the input mesh) from the Xth coordinate (B2), and the i-th Y coordinate and the (i-1) th Y coordinate are at the same horizontal position (B3), i The second one is a pass, so proceed to the previous coordinate number (B4),
This is repeated until i = 1, and if all pass, it is recognized as a delete command (B6), and if any one fails, it is recognized as not a delete command (B7). As in the previous case, the deletion instruction may be recognized under looser conditions. For example, if the start point and the end point satisfy the above conditions B2 and B3, the type of the instruction is set to "deletion instruction", or vice versa. Direction (right to left) is also allowed, etc.

Frame Opening Instruction Identification Processing (FIG. 8) FIG. 8 shows a flowchart of the frame opening instruction identification processing.
An example of the mark input of the frame opening command is shown in FIG. In this example, the mark input is as follows (X,
Y) Obtained as a sequence of coordinates. (1, 1), (2,
1), (3,1), (4,1), (5,1), (5,
2), (5,3), (5,4), (5,5), (4,
5), (3, 5), (2, 5), (1, 5), (1,
4), (1,3), (1,2), (1,1). The feature of this set of coordinate points is that the start point and the end point have the same coordinates, and a line is drawn on the ruled line. Also, in this example, the input mesh (indicated by the numbers not circled in Fig. 1)
Of the output mesh (indicated by circled numbers), and the intersection of the output mesh (character center) is a line number that has an even value among the intersections on the input mesh. It is assumed that only the intersection of the (Y coordinate) and the column number (X coordinate) matches.

Therefore, it is checked that the start point and the end point are the same coordinates in C1 and C2, and in C3 to C9,
For all input coordinates, it is checked that there are no even-numbered coordinates, and only if all the conditions are met, it is determined that the command is a frame opening command, and in all other cases it is determined that it is not a frame opening command (C10). .

Issue of instruction (FIGS. 9, 10 and 11) When the insert instruction is identified, the flow of FIG. 9 is entered. An insertion command signal is output to the word processing circuit 46,
Notify that the type of instruction is "insert instruction" (S
1). The X coordinate of the start point indicating the insertion position and the second Y coordinate are converted into the X coordinate and the Y coordinate of the text coordinate, which are passed to the word processing circuit 46 (S2, S3). As described above, in this embodiment, the input coordinates are defined using the input mesh similar to the output mesh associated with the text coordinates. Therefore, the region in which the instruction is executed can be very easily converted from the input mesh system to the output (text) mesh system (S2 in FIG. 9, see FIG. 1).

The word processing circuit 46 which has received the insert command signal and the information of the text coordinates to be inserted.
Reorganizes the text memory and rewrites the display memory (refresh memory) in the usual way for the execution of insert instructions. FIG. 10 is a flowchart of issuing a deletion instruction corresponding to the action G6 of FIG. 5, and FIG. 11 is a process G9 of FIG.
10 shows a flowchart of issuing a frame opening command corresponding to.
Since the operation is clear from the description of both figures, description thereof will be omitted.

[0026]

[Modification] The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment,
It can be changed. For example, in the above-described embodiment, a perspective type input device having a touch operation surface on the display screen is used as the input means. This is advantageous in that it is easy to associate the operation input with the response result when operating interactively.

However, the present invention is not limited to this, and a coordinate input device such as a tablet or a digitizer having a touch operation surface separately from the display screen can be used. Further, although the present invention is applied to the word processor in the above embodiment, it is also applicable to an interactive graphic processing device. As the mark input to the touch operation surface, a large number of mark inputs can be considered in addition to the above-mentioned embodiment, but all of them cannot be described due to space limitations.

For example, in addition to the one-stroke mark input, two-stroke or multiple-stroke mark input can be used. For example,

[Outer 3] (Meaning: Space between characters, space between lines, or fill spaces),

[Outer 4] (Meaning: Direction of arrow, for example, move character string or symbol string to the left), and so on. It is easy to modify the command analysis unit 45 so as to be able to handle the mark input of a plurality of writings.

[0029]

According to the present invention, a command corresponding to the operation amount of the point contact operation can be immediately executed only by the point contact operation at the position corresponding to the display screen, and the user interface is remarkably improved.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a mark format command input according to an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is an overall configuration diagram of an embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a configuration diagram of a detected coordinate storage unit.

FIG. 4 is a configuration diagram of an instruction analysis unit.

FIG. 5 is a main flowchart of the operation of the embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart of an insert instruction identifying process.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart of a deletion instruction identifying process.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart of a frame opening command identification process.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart of issuing an insert instruction.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart of issuing a delete command.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart of issuing a frame opening command.

[Explanation of symbols]

 41 input / output device 42, 43 coordinate detection circuit 45 instruction analysis unit 46 word processing circuit

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A point touch operation at a position corresponding to a position on a display screen, a detection means for detecting the operation position of the point contact operation, and an operation amount from a set of operation positions detected by the detection means. And an instruction executing means for executing an instruction according to the operation amount.