JPH064834U - Data processing device - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [Purpose] Make the direct command menu easier to use. [Structure] For each instruction area of the menu, the data of the number of times the instruction has been given so far is stored, and the instruction number data is updated each time a new instruction is given. Then, a predetermined number of instruction areas are displayed as a direct command menu in order from the one having the largest number of times specified so far. [Effect] Since the direct command menu only displays the frequently used instruction area, it is necessary to open the hierarchical menus one after another and execute the desired command. Decrease to.

Description

[Detailed description of the device]

[0001]

[Industrial applications]

 The present invention relates to a data processing device in which an instruction area corresponding to various commands is displayed as a menu on a screen and commands are input by instructing it with a pointing device such as a mouse.

[0002]

[Prior art]

 When giving commands to these CPUs when working on a personal computer or workstation, in order to improve the user interface, a menu consisting of multiple instruction areas is displayed on the screen and the mouse is displayed. A menu selection method is used in which one of the pointing areas is selected using a pointing device such as (including the case of using the cursor keys of the keyboard).

However, as the number of commands increases, the number of corresponding instruction areas also increases, and it becomes impossible to display all the instruction areas with only one menu. In this case, a large number of similar commands are grouped together in a hierarchical manner, and when one instruction area of a menu is indicated, another menu with many instruction areas is displayed on the screen. A method is adopted that corresponds to the menu structure. Even in this case, however, if the number of commands increases, the hierarchical structure of the menu will have to be deepened, and the instruction operation must be repeated many times to give the desired command. Disappear. For this reason, as the functions of various data processing devices have become more abundant in recent years, this menu selection has become a major neck in terms of operability.

Therefore, the instruction area frequently used by the operator can be always displayed in advance at a predetermined place on the screen in advance so that the menu hierarchy does not have to be lowered many times. A direct command menu method that allows direct command input has also been devised.

[0005]

[Problems to be solved by the device]

 The direct command menu method does not allow a large number of instruction areas to be constantly displayed on the screen. Therefore, the operator pre-registers only a small number of commands that are likely to be used relatively in future data processing in the direct command menu.However, if the data processing is actually performed, it is different from what was expected in advance. , It is possible to use more unregistered commands than commands registered in the direct command menu. In this case, the direct command menu, which is always displayed on the screen, only squeezes the screen and is rather annoying.

The present invention has been made to solve such a problem, and an object of the present invention is to provide a data processing device capable of displaying a direct command menu which is easier for an operator to use. To do.

[0007]

[Means for Solving the Problems]

 In the data processing device according to the present invention made to solve the above problems, a menu having a plurality of instruction areas is displayed on the screen by a predetermined menu open operation, and one of the instruction areas is instructed. A data processing device comprising a menu command system adapted to execute a predetermined command or to display a further menu, wherein: a) a command processing is executed for each of the command areas. A designated number of storage areas for storing the number of times, and b) a designated number of designated areas in order from the one having the largest number of times designated so far among the designated areas stored in the designated number storage means on the screen. And a direct command menu display means for displaying it in a predetermined area.

[0008]

The number of times of instruction storage means stores the instructions of each instruction area (the instruction area here is not an instruction area for displaying another menu, but an instruction area for actually executing a command). The number-of-times data is stored, and when any one of the designated areas is designated, the designated number-of-times data is incremented by one. The direct command menu display means displays a predetermined number of instruction areas in a predetermined area on the screen in order from the instruction with the highest instruction number stored in the instruction number storage means. This display is called the direct command menu. By designating one of the designated areas in the direct command menu displayed in this manner, the command corresponding to the designated area is immediately executed.

[0009]

【Example】

 An image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. As shown in FIG. 2, the image creating apparatus of the present embodiment is a data processing apparatus including a CPU 11, a ROM 12, a RAM 13, a display 14, an input device 15 and an external storage device 16, as shown in FIG. The CPU 11 performs an image creating process according to an operator's instruction by the basic program stored in the ROM 12 and the program loaded from the external storage device 16 to the RAM 13 as necessary. The operator creates an image by operating the input device 15 such as a mouse, digitizer, and keyboard, and during that time, the data of the image being created is stored in the RAM 13 and constantly displayed on the display 14. It The data of the completed image is recorded in the external storage device 16. These elements exchange data with each other through the bus 20. Interfaces (I / F) 17, 18, and 19 are provided between the display 14, the input device 15, the external storage device 16, and the bus 20, respectively.

The image creating apparatus according to the present embodiment performs basic lines, circles, and the like, as well as editing processes such as copying and moving so that an operator can easily create an image. Various convenient processes (hereinafter, these individual processes are referred to as unit processes) such as a process of reading a component image stored in the external storage device 16 and the like can be performed. These unit processes always display an instruction area on the screen 21 so that the operator can start the operation without taking his eyes off the screen 21, and indicate the instruction area with the input device 15 (mouse or the like). It is convenient to start by clicking (clicking). However, if the number of unit processes is large, it is not possible to constantly display all the instruction areas on the screen 21. Therefore, in the image creating apparatus of the present embodiment, these unit processes are divided into several groups of related ones, and since the number of the groups themselves is large, each group has a hierarchical structure. Organize and correspond to each designated area. Then, as shown in FIG. 1, only the designated area of the uppermost layer is constantly displayed on the upper part of the screen 21 of the display 14 (this is called a main menu 22), and the designated area of the lower layers is displayed. The menus are displayed one by one by clicking on the indicated area of the menu (this is called a hierarchical menu structure).

However, even with this arrangement, since the number of unit processes is extremely large, in order to activate the target unit process, the operator goes down the hierarchy one after another and searches for the corresponding instruction area. I have to go. Therefore, in the image creating apparatus of the present embodiment, the number of times each unit process is used is stored, and a small number of instruction areas 27 corresponding to the unit processes that are used many times are always displayed on the screen 21. (The menu that is always displayed in this way is called the direct command menu 26). The process performed by the image creating apparatus of this embodiment to display the direct command menu 26 will be described below.

First, in order to display such a direct command menu 26, the operator clicks a specific area (DCM area) 23 of the main menu 22 (or, a specific key operation is performed on the keyboard). And), the routine of FIG. 3 (a) starts. In this routine, first, it is checked whether or not a file storing the number-of-uses data and display coordinate data, which will be described later, exists in the external storage device 16 (step S1), and if the file does not exist, the process proceeds to step S2. If so, the process proceeds to step S5.

Here, the number-of-uses data is data of the number of times each unit process has been used so far. As shown in FIG. 5, a number (unit: It is stored in a predetermined area (use count table) in the RAM 13 in association with the processing number). Here, the unit process number is assigned according to the hierarchical structure of the menu. For example, the unit process number “132” is, as shown in FIG. 1A, the first instruction area (MENU 100) of the main menu 22. The third designated area (MENU 130) of the second menu 24 that appears when is clicked corresponds to the second designated area (MENU 132) of the third menu 25 that appears when further clicked.

If such data does not exist in the external storage device 16, a predetermined (default) number-of-uses data is read from the ROM 12 (step S2). In this, the system designer assigns a large number to all the unit processes (or only the main unit processes) in order from the one that seems to be used most frequently. Next, the operator is prompted to input the position of the area on the screen 21 for displaying the direct command menu 26 and the number of instruction areas 27 (the number of display items) to be displayed there. When the operator inputs them from the input device 15 such as a mouse or a keyboard (step S3), the CPU 11 calculates the coordinates of the upper left and lower right of each instruction area 27 on the screen 21 based on the data, and A display coordinate table as shown in 5 (b) is created (step S4). Also here, if the operator does not input specific data, the default display coordinate data may be read from the ROM 12. If the external storage device 16 contains a file containing the number-of-uses data and the display coordinate data, those data are read (step S5).

When the usage count table and the display coordinate table are created, in each area designated by the display coordinate table, the instruction area 27 corresponding to the unit process is displayed in order from the top of the usage count table. . As a result, the direct command menu 26 in the initial state is displayed on the screen 21 (step S6).

When the operator needs to use various unit processes while creating an image, if an instruction area 27 corresponding to the unit process is present in the direct command menu 26, it can be immediately clicked. The unit process is activated. However, if it is not displayed in the direct command menu 26, as in the usual case, the hierarchical structure is sequentially followed from the main menu 22 to display the target instruction area, and click there to perform the unit processing. to start.

In the image creating apparatus according to the present embodiment, the unit process is executed when the unit process is activated, regardless of the method from the direct command menu 26 or the hierarchical structure menus 22, 24 and 25. When the routine is started, the routine shown in FIG. 4 is also executed. In this routine, first, the number m (for example, "132") of the started unit processing is acquired (step S11), and the usage number table (FIG. 5A) corresponding to the unit processing is used. The number of times N (m) is increased by 1 (step S12). Next, it is checked whether or not the increased number of uses N (m) is equal to a predetermined maximum number N max (step S13). When N (m) = N max, all units of the number of uses table are checked. A predetermined number is subtracted from the number-of-uses data of the process (step S14). For example, if Nmax is 255, then 128 is subtracted from all usage counts. This is because there is a limit to the size of the memory area that stores the usage count of the usage count table.

After the usage count data is updated, the usage count table is sorted by the usage count (step S15). Since the number of times of use is increased by 1 only for one of the unit processes, the sort here is compared with the number of times of use of the unit process of the immediately preceding order to determine whether or not they are equal. Only. If it is still smaller than the number of times the unit process of the rank immediately above is used, the rank in the count table is not changed. When it becomes equal to the number of times the unit process of the immediately preceding order is used, the order of the unit process used this time and the unit process immediately above is exchanged. Based on the number-of-uses table updated in this manner, the direct command menu 26 is displayed on the screen 21 in the same manner as in step S6 described above. As a result, as shown in (a) and (b) of FIG. 1, the instruction area (“132”) whose number of times of use has been increased is displayed in the higher order in the direct command menu 26, or is displayed so far. The instruction area that was not displayed will be displayed.

Incidentally, in response to reading out the use frequency table and the display coordinate table from the external storage device 16 (step S 5), when the operator finishes the image creating process in the present image creating apparatus, FIG. 2) is started, and the number-of-uses table and the display coordinate table at that time are output from the RAM 13 to the external storage device 16 (step S8).

The direct command menu is not limited to one grouped area as shown in FIG. 1, but may be divided into a plurality of areas and displayed as shown in FIG. 6A. In the case of the display mode as shown in FIG. 6 (a), it is suitable for the operator to feel that the instruction area is divided into groups according to the main menu 22. Even when the direct command menu 29 is displayed by being divided into a plurality of groups in this way, a RAM 13 should be provided with a usage frequency table and display coordinate table as shown in FIGS. 5 (a) and 5 (b) for each group. Thus, the procedure similar to the above can be performed.

When the direct command menus 26 and 29 are unnecessary, the DCM area 23 of the main menu 22 is clicked to stop the display on the screen 21 as shown in FIG. 6B. May be. At this time, by storing the use count table and the display coordinate table as they are, the direct command menus 26 and 29 in the immediately previous state can be displayed at the same place when the DCM area 23 is clicked next time. .

In the above embodiment, the execution of each unit process corresponds to the command execution of the present invention, and the use number table storage area in the RAM and the CPU 11 which performs the processing of steps S11 to S15 for updating it. The CPU 11 performing the processing of step S8 or step S16 corresponds to the direct command menu display means in the instruction count storage means, respectively. However, the present invention can be applied not only to such an image creating apparatus, but also to various dedicated data processing apparatuses such as word processors and all general data processing apparatuses such as personal computers.

[0023]

[Effect of device]

 In the data processing apparatus according to the present invention, the direct command menu is constructed according to the operator's actual command usage frequency and is changed sequentially, so that the direct command menu is always easy for the operator to use.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram showing a display state of a direct command menu on a screen of a display of an image creating apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a hardware configuration of the image creating apparatus according to the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart of a direct command menu initial display process and a display end process performed by the image creating apparatus according to the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart of a process for updating a direct command menu performed by the image creating apparatus according to the embodiment.

[Fig. 5] R for displaying the direct command menu
Explanatory drawing which shows the content of the number-of-uses table and display coordinate table which are provided in AM.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing another display mode of the direct command menu.

[Explanation of symbols]

11 ... CPU 12 ... ROM 13 ... RAM 14 ... Display 15 ... Input device 16 ... External storage device 20 ... Bus 21 ... Screen 22 ... Main menu 26, 29 ... Direct command menu 27 ... Instruction area

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] 1. A menu having a plurality of instruction areas is displayed on the screen by a predetermined menu opening operation, and a predetermined command is executed or another menu is displayed by instructing any one of the instruction areas. A data processing device having a menu command system configured as follows: a) an instruction number storage unit that stores the number of times the instruction has been given so far for each of the instruction areas for executing the command; and b) the number of instructions. A direct command menu display means for displaying a predetermined number of instruction areas in order from the one having the largest number of times specified so far among the instruction areas stored in the storage means. Characteristic data processing device.