JPH067307B2 - Cursor display method - Google Patents

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a cursor display system for an information processing apparatus with a display.

〔Overview〕

The present invention, in a cursor display system of an information processing apparatus with a display, displays an instruction message to the operator together with the cursor on the screen, so that the operator's erroneous operation is small and the operability is good, and the display area of the screen is effectively used. It was done like this.

[Conventional technology]

In recent years, with the spread of personal computers and workstations, applications such as word processors, spreadsheets (spreadsheets), and simple databases that allow an operator to work interactively while viewing the screen have come into general use. . Moreover, in order to make it easy for even an amateur to use with these applications, instead of inputting the operation command or operation target from the keyboard, move the cursor displayed on the screen with a cursor movement key or a pointing device such as a mouse as much as possible. The operation method of selecting by overlapping mouse buttons and the like is preferably used.

With the increasing complexity of applications, even in the operation method based on the cursor display method described above, there are various operation sequences such as what should be selected and in what order to execute the required means. I have no choice. For this reason, in some cases, the operation guidance is displayed in a message area specially provided on the screen according to the conventional operation stage to assist the operator.

[Problems to be solved by the invention]

However, in such a conventional cursor display method, the operator's attention is concentrated on the operation target in many cases, and the guidance message is often not noticed. Even if the operator notices, it is not easy to move the attention to the message area. There was a drawback that led to a decline. Further, since a special message area is prepared only for the operation guidance, the limited display area is wasted.

The present invention solves the above-mentioned drawbacks, and an object thereof is to provide a cursor display system that reduces erroneous operations by the operator, has good operability, and can effectively use the display area of the screen.

[Means for solving problems]

The present invention provides a display for displaying information, a display memory for storing the information to be displayed, a display display control device for controlling display of the contents of the display memory on the display, and a cursor on the screen of the display. In a cursor display system equipped with a pointing device that moves by operation input and selects a display target,
A cursor image buffer with a message that holds a plurality of instruction messages to the operator together with a plurality of cursor patterns, and an instruction message to the operator is read out from the cursor image buffer with a message and selected to give to the display memory. And a cursor display control device.

[Action]

A cursor image buffer with a message holds a plurality of instruction messages for the operator along with the cursor pattern. The cursor display control device reads an instruction message to the operator in accordance with the selection of a cursor pattern from the cursor image buffer with a message, gives it to the display memory and displays it. By the above operation, the operator's erroneous operation is reduced, the operability is good, and the display area of the screen can be effectively used.

〔Example〕

Embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. First
FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a cursor display device according to an embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 1, a cursor display device includes a common bus 1, a processing device 10 such as a microprocessor connected to the common bus 1, and a main storage device 20 connected to the common bus 1 for storing programs and data. , A data input device 30 such as a keyboard connected to the common bus l, a pointing device 40 such as a mouse connected to the common bus l for selecting a display target by moving a cursor on the screen, and connected to the common bus l. A display memory 50 in which the display object is stored as a bit image, a display controller 60 connected to the common bus 1 and reading out the display object stored in the display memory 50, and a display object under the control of the display controller 60 And a display 70 for displaying.

The cursor display device is also connected to the common bus 1 and is stored as a bit image together with a message accompanied by the cursor, the shape of the cursor and the message contents can be changed by the processing device 10, and the cursor and the message are displayed. Cursor image buffer 80 with a message that also stores a mask pattern for easy viewing regardless of the previous contents, and data acquisition of the corresponding area of the display destination of the cursor in display memory 50, and the cursor image buffer with a message A cursor display control device 90 is provided which generates a new pattern from a logical operation of a cursor image with a message in 80 and a pattern of a mask pattern and gives the new pattern to a corresponding area of the display memory 50.

The operation of the cursor display device having such a configuration will be described.
FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a display on the display of the cursor display device of the present invention. In FIG. 2, it is assumed that the document window 71 is displayed on the display 70 and a certain section in the document is copied to another place. A command menu 72 is displayed on the display 70 in addition to the document, and the operator can copy, delete, or delete the command menu 72 prior to work.
It is assumed that a command such as move is selected, and then a target to which the command is applied is selected. Since it is only possible to select a command other than entering text, the cursor 73 with the first message selects the command [command].
Is attached. Select the copy command with this cursor. Since the copy command expects information in the order of the start point, end point of the copy source and start point of the copy destination, the second message-attached cursor 74 has a message of [copy source start point], and after selecting the copy source start point, Like the cursor 75 with the third message [copy source end point]
Message, but also cursor with fourth message
Reference numeral 76 is accompanied by a message of [starting point of copy destination], and the message indicates the target to be selected by the user at each time point. After the copy operation is completed, a cursor with a message 73
Go back to the same cursor as and have the next operation.

FIG. 3 shows a detailed view of the cursor display device of the present invention. FIG. 3 shows a cursor image buffer 80 with a message, a cursor display controller 90 and a display memory shown in FIG.
Focusing on 50, the details are shown. In the cursor image buffer with message 80, four kinds of cursor patterns 81 _{1 to} 81 ₄ and the processing device are arranged according to the position of the cursor on the screen.
The message patterns 82 set by 10 and 10 are stored. In this embodiment, the size is the n × n-bit cursor pattern 81 _{1-81 4} pattern, the message pattern 82
Is m × n bits. The control circuit 91 of the cursor display control device 90 corresponds (n × m) × n from the display memory 50 according to the screen address information from the pointing device 40.
Bit display data 51 is read and screen holding buffer 92
It is temporarily stored in. Next, the control circuit 91 and a cursor pattern 81 of the cursor pattern 81 _{1-81 4,} the message patterns 82 in the order as positioned in its left or right
Is read, the logical operation between the patterns of the screen holding buffer 92 and the bit map logical operation circuit 93 is performed, and the result is returned to the area of the display data 51 again. As an example of the logical operation, the cursor pattern 81 of n × n bits may be exclusive ORed with the corresponding display data, and the message pattern 82 of m × n bits may be replaced. When the cursor moves, the control circuit 91 returns the contents of the screen holding buffer 92 to the position of the display data 51, and the above operation is executed again on the new cursor address. In order for the operator to move the cursor smoothly, the above-described operation needs to be performed within the data sampling time of the pointing device 40.

However, the point of the present invention is to display the instruction message to the operator in association with the cursor, and is not limited to the conditions such as the display realizing method.

〔The invention's effect〕

As described above, according to the present invention, an unskilled operator can reliably operate the information processing apparatus by displaying the cursor on the screen with the instruction message of the operation to be performed next by the operator. There is an excellent effect that work efficiency is improved.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a cursor display device according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a display on the display of the cursor display device of the present invention. FIG. 3 is a detailed view of the cursor display device of the present invention. 10 ... Processor, 20 ... Main memory, 30 ... Data input device, 40 ... Pointing device, 50 ... Display memory, 51 ... Display data, 60 ... Display control, 70 ...
... Display, 71 ... Document window, 72 ... Command menu, 73, 74, 75, 76 ... Cursor with message, 80 ... Cursor image buffer with message,
81 _{1 to} 81 ₄ ...... Cursor pattern, 82 …… Message pattern, 90 …… Cursor display control device, 91 …… Control circuit, 92
...... Screen holding buffer, 93 ...... Bitmap logical operation circuit, l ...... Common bus.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A display for displaying information, a display memory for storing the information to be displayed, a display display control device for controlling display of the contents of the display memory on the display, and a cursor on the screen of the display. In a cursor display method that includes a pointing device that selects a display target by moving with a cursor input, a cursor image buffer with a message that holds a plurality of support messages for the operator together with a plurality of cursor patterns, and this message A cursor display control device, comprising: a cursor display control device for reading a support message for an operator according to selection of a cursor pattern from a cursor image buffer and giving the same to the display memory.