JPH064249A - Automatic demonstration device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide the automatic demonstration device which enables flexible editing operation regarding the reproduction time of a drawing signal by enabling the reproduction time of the drawing signal which is recorded and stored to optionally be set later. CONSTITUTION:The automatic demonstration device which automatically demonstrates application software 15 by recording and reproducing the drawing signal generated by the application software 15 is equipped with a repeating part 14 which repeats signals between an input/output device 16 for this device and the application software 15, a recording means 11 which records the drawing signal generated by the application software 15 through the repeating part 14, a storage means 12 which stores the recorded drawing signal together with its time information, a reproduction and output means which reproduces and outputs the stored drawing signal, and a time control means 17 which controls the reproduction time of the drawing signal reproduced by the reproduction and output means.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an automatic demonstration device for automatically demonstrating application software by recording and reproducing a drawing signal issued by application software.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art An automatic demonstration device is used as a means of appealing the usefulness of application software, and its role is extremely important. Usually, an application demonstration is performed by an operator actually operating the application software as explained by the person himself or another person. Note that there are some that operate automatically without an operator, but these have been specially created for demonstration purposes by modifying the actual application.

[0003] Here, the application software means an input interface, a result display, and the like among CRTs running on a computer.
The above is performed, and for example, word processing software, graph creation tools, other business software such as drawing software, and authoring software. FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the basic configuration of such an automatic demonstration device. In FIG. 3, 31 is a recording unit for recording drawing signals issued by application software, 32 is a storage unit for storing such drawing signals,
Reference numeral 33 is a reproduction unit for reproducing and outputting a drawing signal, 34 is a relay unit for relaying a drawing signal and an input signal, 35 is application software, and 36 is an input / output unit of the apparatus.

The operation of the basic automatic demonstration device configured as described above is as follows. In this automatic demonstration device, first, the input / output unit 36
At, an external input signal (an input signal for operating the application software 35) is received, and this input signal is sent to the relay section 34. Then relay section 3
At 4, the received input signal is sent to the application software 35. Therefore, the application software 35 performs processing according to the received input signal,
A drawing signal (including a drawing command for the CRT and a command for obtaining information necessary for drawing) is issued and sent to the relay unit 34. Then, the relay unit 34 sends the received drawing signal to the recording unit 31 and the input / output unit 36. The input / output unit 35 performs drawing processing (specifically, output processing such as displaying on a display screen) according to the received drawing signal, and the recording unit 31 receives the drawing signal and its drawing. Information on the time when the signal is issued is recorded and then stored in the storage unit 32. As described above, the application software 35 and the input / output unit 36 include the relay unit 34.
It operates while repeatedly transmitting and receiving the input signal and the drawing signal via the
The drawing signal issued by is stored in the storage unit 32 together with the time information through the recording unit 31.

The reproducing section 33 reads the drawing signal and its time information stored in the storing section 32, and sends the drawing signal to the input / output section 36 in accordance with this time information. Therefore, the input / output unit 36 performs the drawing process according to the drawing signal sent from the reproducing unit 33. And by this drawing process,
The recorded operation of the application software 35 is reproduced. In this way, by reproducing the recorded drawing signal, the application software 35 will be demonstrated.

[0006]

However, in the above automatic demonstration device, the reproduction time cannot be arbitrarily adjusted after the drawing signal is once recorded and stored. For this reason, the editability of the reproduction time of the drawing signal is poor, and it has been impossible to execute a demonstration that requires temporal synchronization.

When it is desired to add a panel or sound to the recorded drawing signal, it is necessary to shorten or widen the time interval between a certain drawing signal A and a certain drawing signal B, for example. In such a case, it is necessary to rewrite all the time information added to each drawing signal recorded from the drawing signal A to the drawing signal B. The present invention has been made in view of the present circumstances, and
It is an object of the present invention to provide an automatic demonstration device that enables flexible editing work regarding the reproduction time of a drawing signal by allowing the reproduction time of the stored drawing signal to be arbitrarily set later.

[0008]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention relates to an automatic demonstration apparatus for automatically demonstrating application software by recording / reproducing a drawing signal issued by application software. Relay means for relaying the exchange of signals between the input / output unit and the application software, recording means for recording the drawing signal issued by the application software through the relay portion, and the recorded drawing signal together with its time information. The present invention is characterized by including storage means for storing, reproduction output means for reproducing and outputting the stored drawing signal, and time control means for controlling the reproduction time of the drawing signal reproduced by the reproduction output means.

[0009]

According to the above structure, the relay means in the automatic demonstration device relays the exchange of signals between the input / output unit of the device and the application software.
That is, the input signal input through the input / output unit is sent to the application software, and the drawing signal issued by the application software is sent to the input / output unit.

The recording means records the drawing signal. Further, the storage means stores the recorded drawing signals together with information on the time when they are issued. The stored drawing signal is reproduced and output to the input / output unit by the reproducing / outputting unit. In this case, the time control means controls the reproduction time. Then, the application software is demonstrated through the input / output unit.

[0011]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be specifically described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an automatic demonstration device according to the present invention. In FIG. 1, 11 is a recording unit for recording a drawing signal, and 12
Is a storage unit for storing drawing signals, 13 is a reproducing unit for reproducing and outputting drawing signals, 14 is a relay unit for relaying drawing signals and input signals, 15 is application software, and 16 is input / output of the apparatus. The above is the same as the basic configuration of FIG. The difference from the configuration of FIG. 3 is that a time control unit 17 is newly provided in order to control the reproduction time of the drawing signal.

The operation of the automatic demonstration device configured as described above is as follows. First, the input / output unit 16 uses the application software 1 from the outside.
5 receives an input signal for operating 5 and sends the input signal to the relay unit 14. Subsequently, the relay unit 14 sends the received input signal to the application software 15. Therefore, the application software 15 processes according to the received input signal, issues a drawing signal, and sends it to the relay unit 14. Then, the relay unit 14 sends the received drawing signal to the recording unit 11 and the input / output unit 16. The input / output unit 16 performs drawing processing according to the received drawing signal, and the recording unit 11 stores the received drawing signal and information on the time when the drawing signal is issued in the storage unit 12. In this way, the application software 15
The input / output unit 16 operates while repeatedly transmitting and receiving the input signal and the drawing signal via the relay unit 14, and the drawing signal issued by the application software 15 is stored in the storage unit 12 together with the time information accordingly. Further, the time control unit 17 reads the drawing signal and the time information stored in the storage unit 12, sets the reproduction time of the drawing signal, and again
The reproduction time of the drawing signal at the time of reproduction is controlled while it is stored in the storage unit 12.

Next, the method of setting the reproduction time in the time control unit 17 and the method of controlling the time during reproduction will be described with reference to FIG. In FIG. 2, 21 is a drawing signal data group (in the figure, the data of the drawing signals 1 to 8 is shown as a representative), 22 is one drawing signal data, and 23 is 1 of the section designation data for reproducing the drawing signal Here is an example: In addition,
The section designation data is arbitrarily set via the input / output unit 16.

Here, the drawing signal data group 21 is formed by arranging the drawing signal data 22 in the order of recording. Then, the drawing signal data group 21 and the set section designation data 23 are both stored in the storage unit 12. That is, each of the stored drawing signal data 22 is composed of three elements of a drawing signal, recording time information, and designated reproduction time information. Specifically, the drawing signal is a drawing signal stored in the storage unit 12 by the recording unit 11, and the time information at the time of recording is
It is the time when the drawing signal is issued by the application software 15, and the time information at the time of reproduction is the reproduction time set as the section designation data.
Further, the time information at the time of reproduction is initialized at the time of recording.

As shown in the figure, the section designation data 23 includes the reproduction section of the drawing signal in addition to the reproduction time (which drawing signal to which drawing signal is reproduced).
Then, a total of three elements of the mode for reproduction are set. Then, the drawing signal belonging to the specified section is reproduced in the specified mode at the specified reproduction time. For example, as shown in the figure, the drawing signals 4 to 7 are reproduced at equal intervals, and the drawing signal 7 is reproduced 20 seconds after the drawing signal 4 is reproduced. Also, the reproduction is performed in the low speed mode.

Here, there are three modes, a high speed mode, a low speed mode, and a recording mode. In the high speed mode, the drawing signal in the designated section is reproduced as fast as possible and the drawing signal at the end of the section is set. Plays after the specified playback time. In the low speed mode, the drawing signals in the designated section are reproduced at equal intervals within the specified reproduction time. Further, in the recording mode, the drawing signal is reproduced according to the time of recording. However, in the high speed mode, a time shorter than the actual reproduction time cannot be specified as the reproduction time. In the recording mode, when the designated reproduction time is shorter than the recording time, the designated reproduction time is prioritized and the reproduction is performed in the low speed mode.

In reproducing the drawing signal, the reproducing unit 13 reads the drawing signal data group 21 and the section designation data 23 from the storage unit 12 and uses them as the time control unit 17.
Send to. On the other hand, when the section designation data 23 exists, the time control unit 17 calculates the final reproduction time according to the time setting and sends the information back to the reproduction unit 13. Then, the reproducing unit 13 sends a drawing signal to the input / output unit 16 according to the received reproduction time information. Then, the input / output unit 16 performs drawing processing according to the received drawing signal. In this way, the operation of the application software 15 recorded by the recording unit 11 can be reproduced according to the reproduction time set by the time control unit 17. Therefore, even after the drawing signal is recorded / stored, the time control unit 17 can adjust the reproduction time, and flexible editing work concerning the reproduction time can be performed.

The above embodiment describes one example of the data structure and time control method required by the time control unit 17, and the time control unit 17 in the automatic demonstration apparatus according to the present invention handles it. The data structure and time control method are not particularly limited and can be set freely.

[0019]

As described above, according to the present invention, even after the drawing signal issued by the application software is recorded and stored, the time control means for setting the reproduction time and controlling the reproduction time is provided. It is possible to flexibly edit the drawing signal reproduction time. That is, the reproduction (issue) time of the drawing signal is entirely under the control of the time control unit, and basically, the time information in the recording data has no meaning. Then, based on the time information set by the user, the system calculates and issues the time for actually playing (issuing) the drawing signal, which allows flexible editing such as adding panels and audio. Become. Further, it becomes possible to provide an excellent automatic demonstration device capable of sufficiently supporting a demonstration that requires time synchronization.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an automatic demonstration device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is for setting a reproduction time for reproducing a drawing signal,
It is an explanatory view for explaining a time control method at the time of reproduction.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a basic configuration of an automatic demonstration device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 11 recording unit 12 storage unit 13 reproducing unit 14 relay unit 15 application software 16 input / output unit 17 time control unit

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Takashi Kakiuchi 1006 Kadoma, Kadoma City, Osaka Prefecture Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. 72) Inventor Takeshi Ide 1006 Kadoma, Kadoma City, Osaka Prefecture Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. An automatic demonstration device for automatically demonstrating application software by recording / reproducing a drawing signal issued by application software, relaying a signal exchange between an input / output unit of the device and the application software. Relay means for recording, a recording means for recording the drawing signal issued by the application software through the relay part, a storing means for storing the recorded drawing signal together with the time information thereof, and a reproduction output of the stored drawing signal. An automatic demonstration apparatus comprising: a reproduction output means and a time control means for controlling a reproduction time of a drawing signal reproduced by the reproduction output means.