JPH0667829A - Data processor - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To shorten the moving distance of a cursor as short as possible at the time of selection by displaying plural processing candidates in the vicinity of a position on a display screen which is pointed out by a pointing device at present as guides. CONSTITUTION:A storage device 2, a display device 3, a mouse 4, and a character generator 5 are connected to a CPU 1. When it is possible to form a window corresponding to a selective branch part with a prescribed size around a mouse cursor position obtained before displaying a working message on the display screen, the selective branch part is displayed in the window with the prescribed size around the position of the mouse cursor without moving the cursor. When it is impossible to form the window, the window for the selective branch part with the prescribed size is included in the display screen, the cursor is moved so as to shorten the moving distance of the cursor as short as possible and the selective branch part is displayed in the window with the prescribed size around the position of the moved cursor.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a data processing apparatus for displaying a plurality of processing candidates in a guide display and executing the processing candidates selected by a pointing device such as a mouse or a joystick.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art When performing a series of data processing, each time one processing is completed, a plurality of processing candidates (options) indicating the processing content to be executed next are displayed in a guide in a window, and the plurality of processing candidates are displayed. There is known a man-machine interface type data processing apparatus that advances data processing by selecting a desired processing candidate from among the above with a pointing device.

In such a data processing apparatus, conventionally, a window forming position, that is, a display position of a plurality of processing candidates is fixed at a predetermined position without considering a position currently pointed to by a pointing device. .

For example, as shown in FIG. 7, even in the case where the pointing device (cursor) is currently pointing to the central position (finger mark shown in 7B) on the upper portion of the display screen, A window is formed in the center of the display screen, a message "Are you sure you want to cancel work?" Is displayed at the top of the window, and two messages "Yes" and "No" are displayed below the message. It was displaying choices.

In the case of FIG. 7, to select "YES" shown in 7A, the pointing device is operated to move the cursor to the "YES" position, and a switch attached to the pointing device is turned ON. Input the signal indicating that "Yes" is selected. Then, based on the signal, the work stop process, which is a process corresponding to "Yes", is executed.

[0006]

However, as shown in FIG. 7, if the distance between the current cursor position and the position of the choice is long, the moving distance of the cursor at the time of selection becomes long, and the pointing device. The time for controlling the movement of the cursor due to the operation has also increased, and the degree of operator fatigue has increased.

In some cases, it is necessary to return the cursor to its original position after selecting a desired option. In such a case, the operator's fatigue level is further increased.

The present invention has been made under such circumstances, and an object thereof is to select a group of processing candidates to be executed next in such a manner that the moving distance of the cursor at the time of selection becomes as short as possible. It is to be able to display a guide.

[0009]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a data processing apparatus for displaying a plurality of processing candidates in a guide display and executing a processing candidate selected by a pointing device. It is configured to display the plurality of processing candidates in the vicinity of the position on the display screen shown.

[0010]

When a plurality of processing candidates to be executed next are displayed as guides, a plurality of processing candidates are displayed near the position currently displayed by the pointing device, that is, the position shown by the pointing device before the guide display. The processing candidates of are displayed as a guide.

This means that the processing candidate group to be executed next is displayed as a guide in such a manner that the moving distance of the cursor when selecting is minimized.

[0012]

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a data processing device according to an embodiment of the present invention. This data processing device is a man-machine interface type data processing device, and with the CPU 1 as a core, a next process candidate group is displayed in a window every time one process is completed,
Data processing is performed while selecting a desired processing candidate from the processing candidate group displayed in the guide.

The CPU 1 includes a storage device 2, a display device 3,
A mouse 4 and a character generator 5 are connected.

The storage device 2 is composed of a ROM, a RAM, etc., and has a program area E1 for storing various control programs, a work area E2 for storing various processing data, and location coordinates indicating the current position of the mouse cursor. A cursor position area E3 for storing data and a message area E4 for storing various messages are formed. In the storage device 2, all data are stored in a code format, and when displayed, they are converted into dot pattern data and displayed.

The display device 3 includes a liquid crystal display and a CRT.
It has a display (display screen) such as a display, and a video RAM for storing display data (dot pattern data) corresponding to each pixel of the display screen.

The mouse 4 is used for designating a position on the display screen of the display device 3. When the mouse 4 is moved on a desk or the like, a mouse cursor displayed on the display screen is interlocked with the movement operation. Is configured to move.

The character generator 5 includes a display device 3
The font (dot pattern) of the character (character) to be displayed on the screen is stored. The character generator 5 also stores the shape data of the mouse cursor.

By the way, as the message stored in the message area E4 of the storage device 2, in addition to a normal message such as "incorrect operation", a work (work) candidate group to be executed next is indicated. The message is also stored. Such a work message is composed of a work message body part such as “? Are you sure you want to cancel the work?” And a processing candidate group (option) part such as “Yes” and “No”. The body part and the option part are stored in one-to-one correspondence and displayed in separate windows.

The option portion is shown in FIG.
As shown in, the position of the upper left corner of the window of the option part is defined as the start point, the position of the lower right corner is defined as the end point, and the coordinates of the upper left corner position of the display screen are defined as (0, 0). In this case, the coordinate data of the start point and the end point of the window of the option portion and the coordinate data of the mouse point for designating the display position of the mouse cursor are stored together with the character data of the option portion. As shown in FIG. 2 (b), the coordinates are set to (0, 0) at the position of the upper left corner of the display screen, and X is set in the right direction.
The coordinates increase, and the Y-coordinate increases as the coordinates move downward.

In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 2A, the window of the option portion has a rectangular shape, and its size is 201 in the X direction and 201 in the Y direction. It is 21. Therefore, (200, 20) is stored as the coordinate data of the end point of the window. The mouse point is set at the center of the window of the option portion, and (100, 10) is stored as the coordinate data of the mouse point.

Next, the work message display processing will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

In the process of displaying the work message, as shown by the arrow 4B in FIG. 4, the option portion is displayed near the current mouse cursor position.

That is, when one process is completed, the CPU 1 reads out a predetermined work message from the message area E4 of the storage device 2, and characterizes the dot pattern data corresponding to the data (code data) of the work message body portion of the read work message. Read from generator 5,
In order to display a window at a predetermined position on the display screen of the display device 3 (see reference numeral 4A in FIG. 4), it is transferred to the video RAM (step S1).

Next, the cursor position area E of the storage device 2
The location coordinate data indicating the current display position of the mouse cursor is read from 3 (step S2). Then, when the current display position of the mouse cursor is the mouse point in the window of the option portion shown in FIG. 2A, the coordinates of the window start point position are calculated (step S3). To calculate the coordinates of the window start point position, specifically, the X coordinate of the read location coordinate data is set to −10.
0, and the Y coordinate is set to -10.

Next, it is determined whether or not the calculated coordinates of the window start point position are positions on the display screen (step S4). Specifically, this determination is performed by determining whether at least one of the calculated X coordinate and Y coordinate of the window start point position is negative. As a result, at least one of the calculated X-coordinate and Y-coordinate of the window start point position becomes negative, and when the position is not within the display screen, the window start point position is corrected (step S5), and the process proceeds to step S9. To correct the window start point position, specifically, when both the X coordinate and the Y coordinate become negative, both the X coordinate and the Y coordinate are corrected to “0”,
When either the X coordinate or the Y coordinate becomes negative, the negative coordinate component is corrected to "0". For example, assuming that the location coordinates of the current mouse cursor are (50, 3), the calculated window start point coordinates are (-50, -7), and the X and Y coordinates are both minus and they are out of the display screen. Since it is the position, the window start point coordinates are corrected to (0, 0). If the location coordinate of the current mouse cursor is (50, 20), the calculated window start point coordinate is (-50, 10), and only the X coordinate becomes negative, and the left part of the window is displayed on the display screen. Since the protruding portion and the upper portion of the window are at a position where they do not protrude from the display screen, only the negative X coordinate is corrected to "0", and finally the window start point coordinate is corrected to (0, 10).

On the other hand, if the calculated coordinates of the window start point position are within the display screen, the current location position of the mouse cursor is further changed to the mouse point in the window of the option portion shown in FIG. 2 (a). And when
Calculate the coordinates of the window end position (step S
6). To calculate the coordinates of the window end position, specifically, the X coordinate of the read location coordinate data is +100.
Then, the Y coordinate is incremented by +10.

Next, it is judged whether or not the coordinates of the calculated window end point position are within the display screen (step S7). Specifically, this determination is performed by determining that at least one of the calculated X coordinate and Y coordinate of the window end position is the coordinate value of the position of the lower right corner on the display screen, that is, the X coordinate and Y coordinate on the display screen. This is performed by determining whether it is larger than the maximum value. As a result, when at least one of the calculated X-coordinate and Y-coordinate of the window end point position is larger than the corresponding maximum value, the window end point coordinate component that is larger than the corresponding maximum value becomes the maximum value of the display screen. The window start point position is corrected so that they coincide with each other (step S8), and the process proceeds to step S9. For example, in response to the horizontal width of the display screen being 639 and the vertical width of 479, the coordinate values of the lower right corner position on the display screen, that is, the maximum values of the X coordinate and the Y coordinate on the display screen are respectively "639",
Assuming that the location coordinates of the current mouse cursor are (600, 470), the calculated window end point coordinates are (700, 480) {in this case, the start point calculated in step S3. The coordinates are (500,460)}, and both the X coordinate and the Y coordinate are larger than the corresponding maximum value. In this case, step S3
The start point position (500, 460) calculated in step 2 is the maximum value of the X coordinate and the Y coordinate of the end point position of “639”,
The correction is made to the starting point position when "479" is set.
That is, when the window end point coordinates are (639, 479), the window start point coordinates are (439, 459), so the start point coordinates (500, 500, calculated in step S3.
460) is corrected to (439,459).

If the location coordinates of the current mouse cursor are (600, 450), the calculated window end point coordinates are (700, 460) {in this case, the start point coordinates calculated in step S3 are ( Fifty
0,440)}, and only the X coordinate is larger than the corresponding maximum value “639”. In this case, the start point position calculated in step S3 is corrected to the start point position when the X coordinate of the end point position is set to the maximum value "639".
That is, when the window end point coordinates are (639, 460), the window start point coordinates are (439, 440), so the start point coordinates (500,
440) is corrected to (439,440). When it is determined in step S7 that the calculated end point position coordinates are positions within the display screen, that is, when the calculated start point position coordinates and end point position coordinates are both within the display screen, the calculation is performed. The process proceeds to step S9 without correcting the starting point position coordinates.

In step S9, the option part is displayed from the position of the calculated start point position coordinate or the corrected start point position coordinate, and the mouse cursor is displayed at the center position (mouse point) of the option part window. Character data of the option portion and dot pattern data corresponding to the mouse cursor are read from the character generator 5 and transferred to the video RAM. At this time, as for the display position of the mouse cursor, if the start point position is not corrected, the position before displaying the alternative portion read out from the cursor position area E3 is maintained as it is. In addition, the position of the mouse cursor when the start point position is corrected is the X coordinate of the corrected start point position plus 100, and the Y coordinate plus 10.
It will be the position you did.

That is, when the start point position is not corrected, in other words, when the window of the option portion having a predetermined size can be formed on the display screen with the mouse cursor position before the display of the work message as the center. Displays the selection part in a window of a predetermined size centered on the position of the mouse cursor without moving the mouse cursor. On the other hand, when the start point position is corrected, in other words, when the window of the option portion having a predetermined size cannot be formed on the display screen centering on the mouse cursor position before the display of the work message, The window of the size selection part enters the display screen, and the mouse cursor is moved in such a manner that the movement distance of the mouse cursor is shortened as much as possible. Display the option part in the window.

As a result of the above processing, the option portion is displayed near the current mouse cursor position, as shown in FIG. Therefore, when the desired option is selected or when the mouse cursor is moved back to the original position after the selection, the operator's fatigue level can be reduced. In addition, in FIG.
This corresponds to the case where the mouse cursor is located at the position shown in FIG. 2, the Y coordinate of the calculated X and Y coordinates of the start point position is corrected, and the mouse cursor is shifted in the positive direction of the Y coordinate. It is an example displayed as.

[Application Modification] In the above-described embodiment, the position of the mouse cursor (mouse point) in the window of the option portion is an intermediate position between the two options, but the option that is likely to be selected is previously selected. When it is known, as shown in FIG. 5, it is possible to use the area of the option that is highly likely to be selected as the mouse point. In this way, when selecting an option that is likely to be selected, it is possible to proceed with the process simply by turning on the switch attached to the mouse without moving the mouse cursor.

In the above embodiment, the work message body part and the option part are displayed in separate windows.
As shown in FIG. 6, the work message body portion and the option portion may be displayed in the same window. In this case, in order to reduce the amount of movement of the mouse cursor when making a selection, it is preferable to display the option part closer to the current mouse cursor position and the work message body part farther away.

[0035]

As described above in detail, according to the data processing apparatus of the present invention, the option portion is displayed in the vicinity of the current position of the mouse cursor to select a desired option, or It is possible to shorten the moving distance of the mouse cursor when returning to the original position after selection, and reduce the degree of fatigue of the operator.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an outline of a data processing device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram exemplifying a window specification of an option portion (plurality of processing candidates) and a position of a mouse cursor (mouse point) to be displayed in the window.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a display process of a work message.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a display example of a work message (work message body portion and option portion) according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example in which the positions of mouse points are changed.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example in which a work message body portion and an option portion are displayed in the same window.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a display example of a conventional work message.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 CPU 2 Storage device 3 Display device 4 Mouse E1 Program area E2 Work area E3 Cursor position area E4 Message area

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A data processing apparatus for displaying a plurality of process candidates in a guide display and executing a process candidate selected by a pointing device, wherein the plurality of processes are provided near a position on the display screen currently indicated by the pointing device. A data processing device, characterized in that it is configured to display candidates as a guide.