JPH07200243A - Icon selection controller - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To indicate plural instructions with one icon by selecting the instructions which are previously allocated to respective areas by means of selecting/designating the respective areas. CONSTITUTION:A menu processing part 15 which has been informed of the double click operation position of a mouse 3, compares the position with information of icon management data in an icon management memory 11 and refers to it so as to check it. When the designated position is discriminated to be within any icon area on a screen, icon data of the corresponding icon is read from an icon image memory 12. When the designated position of the cursor which is previously checked is discriminated to be within the respective areas in the icon, a menu is selected. A program name corresponding to a sub-menu item is searched by referring to an icon instruction table 14. When it is reported to a data processing part 10, the data processing part 10 executes the program of the program name, which is stored in a program file 8.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an icon selection control device for controlling the selection of an arbitrary icon from the icons displayed on a screen in an information processing device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in order to cause an information processing apparatus such as a personal computer or a workstation to perform a predetermined process, it is necessary to give the information processing apparatus various commands such as opening a file or generating a window. In such a case, a method has been adopted in which predetermined commands required at that time are sequentially input using the key input unit of the information processing device. Nowadays, for the purpose of simplifying the operation when giving commands to the information processing device, a plurality of icons expressing the contents of the commands (operations and processes) by pictograms are displayed on the screen of the display unit of the information processing device. A so-called graphical user interface (GUI) is generally used, which is displayed in advance and any one of the plurality of icons is selected and designated on the screen by using a pointing device such as a mouse. It has become. The operability of the user is remarkably improved by adopting such a command execution method by selecting an icon represented by a picture that is visually easy to understand.

[0003]

However, in the conventional icon selecting method, only one specific process or operation can be defined for one icon. For this reason, if the number of commands to the information processing device required in a certain process increases, the number of icons to be displayed on the screen of the display unit also increases accordingly. For example, even when one type of command such as simply opening a file is represented by an icon, if there are multiple files required for a certain series of processing, these multiple files are individually Multiple icons must be displayed on the screen of the display to open in.

Therefore, there are cases where all the icons cannot be displayed on the screen. An object of the present invention has been made based on such an actual situation, and is to make it possible to instruct a plurality of operations and processes with one icon.

[0005]

The invention according to claim 1 is
It has the following means. The icon management means, for a composite icon having a plurality of individual areas respectively representing the contents of a plurality of instructions, an instruction corresponding to each of the plurality of individual areas,
It manages information related to display position and size.

The composite icon display means displays the composite icon on the screen of the display unit based on the management information of the composite icon managed by the icon management means.

The icon command selecting means holds the composite icon held by the icon managing means when the user selects and specifies the composite icon displayed on the composite icon display means on the screen of the display section. Based on the management information, when it is determined that the specified position is in any of the individual areas in the plurality of individual areas, a predetermined command corresponding to the predetermined individual area indicated by the specified position at this time is issued. select.

In addition to the above-mentioned icon management means, composite icon display means, and icon command execution means, the display size of the composite icon is changed by, for example, enlarging or reducing the display area. Further has a display size changing means for displaying on the screen.

[0009]

According to the first aspect of the invention, the composite icon display means reads the management information relating to the display of the composite icon from the icon management means and displays the composite icon at a predetermined position on the screen of the display section.

When the user performs a pointing operation for designating an arbitrary position on the screen of the display unit by, for example, a mouse operation, the icon command execution means manages the designated position by the icon management means. The management information relating to the display of the composite icon is compared to determine whether the specified position is in any of the individual areas of the plurality of individual areas of the composite icon. Then, when it is determined that any one of the individual areas has been designated, the icon management unit obtains a command corresponding to the individual area.

Therefore, in the information processing apparatus, it is possible to instruct a plurality of commands with one icon.
Further, in the invention of claim 2, the composite icon is further enlarged or reduced by the display size changing means and displayed on the screen of the display unit.

Therefore, when the display size of the individual area is small in an arbitrary composite icon, it is possible to enlarge the size to a size in which pointing is easy. It is also possible to restore the enlarged composite icon to its original size.

[0013]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings. In this embodiment, as an example, an environment for controlling various operations of the video camera 6 is considered, and one embodiment of the present invention under this environment will be particularly described.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a hardware configuration of an information processing apparatus which is an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in the figure, this information processing apparatus includes a CPU (central processing unit) 1, a key input unit 2, a mouse 3, a display memory 4, a display unit 5, a video camera 6, a video control unit 7, a program file 8, Data file 9, data processing unit 10, icon management memory 11, icon image memory 12,
It has a menu file 13, an icon command table 14, and a menu processing unit 15. Also,
Of these hardware, the key input unit 2 (mouse 3
,), The display memory 4, the video control unit 7, the data processing unit 10, and the menu processing unit 15 are connected to the CPU 1 via the bus 16, respectively.

In FIG. 1, the CPU 1 executes a program loaded on a main storage device (not shown) to control other blocks in the system as described later.
The key input unit 2 is composed of a keyboard and the like, and is provided with various keys used for inputting commands instructing activation of various application programs loaded on the main storage device.

The mouse 3 is a pointing device and is provided with buttons for designating various icons displayed on the screen of the display unit 2 on the screen. The display memory 4 is a video RAM (RAM is a random access memory), and stores image data displayed on the screen of the display unit 2 in a bitmap format.

The display unit 5 reads the image data from the display memory 4 and displays the image on a CRT (ca.
thodc ray tube) A display device such as a display.
The video camera 6 is an image pickup camera which is a control target in this embodiment.

The video control unit 7 is an interface for controlling various operations of the zoom lens, recording head, microphone, etc. of the video camera 6 by hardware. The program file 8 is a file in which various application programs such as an application program for controlling the video camera via the video control unit 7 are stored.

The data file 9 is a file in which various data created by executing the various application programs are stored. The data includes, for example, image pickup data and recording data of the video camera 6 converted into digital data.

The data processing unit 10 is a sub-processor that executes the application program stored in the program file 8 under the control of the CPU 1. Then, when the program is executed, the menu processing unit 15 is requested to display an image such as a menu display screen on the screen of the display unit 5. In addition, various data created by the execution of the application program is stored in the data file 9.

The icon management memory 11 is a storage device for storing icon management data, which will be described later.
It consists of a semiconductor memory such as M. The icon image memory 12 is a storage device that stores icon data and icon image data described later, and is composed of a semiconductor memory such as a RAM.

The menu file 13 is loaded into a program in an execution format for controlling a later-described icon menu display screen executed by the later-described menu processing section 15, the icon management memory 11, the icon image memory 12, and the later-described icon command table 14. Is a file in which data to be stored is stored, and is stored in an external storage device such as a magnetic disk.

As will be described later in detail, the icon command table 14 is executed by the data processing unit 10 corresponding to a menu (including a submenu described later) designated by the user by selecting an icon on the icon menu display screen. It is a table that stores the name of the program of the format in association with each menu described above, and is stored in a semiconductor memory such as a RAM. It should be noted that these executable programs form the application programs stored in the above-mentioned data file 9.

The menu processing unit 15 is the data processing unit 10.
In response to the request from, the bit image data of the initial screen of the icon menu display screen described later is drawn in the display memory 4. Further, it is in charge of controlling a user interface for an icon displayed on the icon menu display screen. That is, the detection of the icon designated by the user, the display of the sub-menu screen of the complex icon when the individual area is not directly designated in the complex icon, as will be described later in detail, etc. The menu processing unit 15 performs these processes by reading and executing the program stored in the menu file 13. When the icon menu display screen is displayed, the icon management data stored in the icon management memory 11 and the icon image data and icon data stored in the icon image memory 12 are referred to. When the user selects the icon selection designation, the program name of the command corresponding to the icon is read out by referring to the icon data and the information in the icon command table 14, and the program name is notified to the data processing unit 10. To do. In response to this, the data processing unit 10 reads the program having the name from the program file 8 and executes it. Thereby, the process corresponding to the menu specified by the user is executed.

Next, FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the format of the actual icon management data stored in the icon management memory 11. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of the icon menu display screen displayed on the screen of the display unit 5.

First, as shown in FIG. 2, in the icon management memory 11, an icon I representing the contents of a plurality of commands to the video control section 7 by one picture, an icon II for other operations and processes, Icon III, ...
The icon management data for managing the display information of the icons listed as a menu on the icon menu display screen is stored. One icon management data has three fields of "display position", "display size" and "pointer".

In the "display position" field, information indicating at which position on the screen of the display unit 5 the icon is to be displayed is set. In the "display size" field, information designating the size of the icon on the screen of the display unit 5 is set. Further, in the "pointer" field, address information indicating in which area of the icon image memory 12 the image data indicating the display image of the icon is stored is set.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing an image of the icon menu display screen displayed on the screen of the display unit 5 by the menu processing unit 15 based on the management data of the icons I, II and III.

As shown in the figure, on this menu display screen, an icon I (details of which will be described later) that compositely expresses the contents of a plurality of commands to the above-mentioned video control section 7 by one picture, and On the other hand, the icon II and the icon III, which respectively express the contents of other operations and processes, are displayed based on the information set in the "Display position" field and the "Display size" field in the icon management data described above. A predetermined image is displayed by the processing unit 15.

In the area of the menu bar 51 on this menu display screen, the icon menu display area 5 is displayed.
A magnifying button 51A for giving an instruction to double the size of various icons displayed in 2 by using the mouse 3
Similarly, a reduction button 51B for giving an instruction to reduce the display size by half by the mouse 3 is displayed.

Next, FIG. 4 shows the icon image memory 1
3 is a diagram showing the format of icon image data and icon data stored in FIG. As shown in the figure, the icon image memory 11 has the above-mentioned icon I and icon.
The actual display images of II, icon III, ... Are stored as icon images in bitmap format.

That is, regarding the icon I which is a composite icon for instructing a plurality of commands to the video control unit 7, the icon image data 121IM which is the bitmap image data of the icon I and the entire area of the icon image data 121IM. And the icon I data 121D consisting of three fields of "area position", "size" and corresponding "command" for each of the four individual areas a, b, c, d in the entire area are stored. There is.

Each of the four types of control commands for the video control section 7 is individually allocated to the individual areas a, b, c, d. In this embodiment, an icon having such a plurality of individual areas is defined as a "composite icon".

As for the icons II and III, the image data (the icon II image data 122IM and the icon III image data 123I) is also used as in the case of the icon I.
M) and icon data (icon II data 122D, icon III data 122D) are stored.

The icon II is also a composite icon and has two individual areas a'and b'as shown in FIG. Icon III is a normal icon and Icon II
Management information for only the entire area is set in the I data 122D.

In the "area position" field, when the icon is actually displayed on the screen of the display unit 5 based on the above-mentioned icon management data, the entire area or individual area of the icon is the icon menu. Information indicating which position on the display screen is displayed is set. In the "size" field, information indicating the size of the entire area or individual area of the icon on the icon menu display screen is set. In the “command” field, a menu item name indicating a command corresponding to the entire area or individual area of the icon is set. This menu item name indicates a program for executing the corresponding instruction when the above-mentioned entire area or individual area is selected, in the icon instruction table 14
It is used when reading from. Further, as will be described later, it is also used when displaying the sub-menu screen when the individual area is not correctly designated in the composite icon.

Next, FIG. 5 shows an icon I displayed as a composite icon on the icon menu display screen.
It is a figure which shows an example of the actual display image of. As shown in the figure, the display image of this icon 1 is a zoom-down,
A human face is expressed so that the user can intuitively understand the four commands of zoom-up, recording (including recording), and reproduction. That is, in order for the user to easily understand the contents of each of these commands, the zoom-down command is set to "small eyes (toward the left side)" and the zoom-up command is set to "big eyes (to the left)". On the right side), a recording face is assigned to "ears (both sides)", and a reproduction command is assigned to "mouth". Then, the entire composite icon is defined as the above-mentioned entire area, and the "small eyes" portion is set as the individual area a, and the "big eyes" portion is set as the individual area b.
By defining the “ear” portion in the individual area c and the “mouth” portion in the individual area d, the icon I displays the above-mentioned four commands relating to the control operation of the video camera 6. It is displayed at a predetermined position on the screen of the display unit 5 as a composite icon that the user can individually instruct.

Next, the specific operation of the execution process of various commands by icon selection in this embodiment will be described. The icon command selection process includes a menu selection process for causing the user to select and specify any one of the plurality of icons on the screen of the display unit 5 and executing a command for the video control unit 7. An icon size changing process for changing the display size of the icon on the screen of the display unit 5 is included. Hereinafter, each of these processes will be described in order.

First, FIG. 6 is a flow chart for explaining a menu selection process for selecting an icon and executing various commands by operating the mouse 3 on the icon menu display screen as shown in FIG.

As shown in the figure, in this menu selection processing, the menu processing unit 15 receives a request from the data processing unit 10 and displays an icon menu display screen for showing the contents of various commands to the user. It is started by referring to the icon management data in the memory 11 and the icon image data in the icon image memory 12 and displaying them on a part of the screen of the display unit 5 (S21).
At this time, the data processing unit 10 captures the image from the video camera 6 via the video control unit 7, writes the captured image in the display memory 4, and displays it on the main part of the screen of the display unit 5. Let

Then, in this state, the user specifies the position of the mouse cursor on the screen of the display unit 5 in order to select and specify any one of the plurality of icons on the icon menu display screen. When the mouse 3 is double-clicked (S22), the CPU 1 notifies the menu processing unit 15 of the input double-click operation position of the mouse 3 (designated position of the mouse cursor). The menu processing unit 15 compares and references the double-click operation position with the information of the icon management data in the icon management memory 11 to check (S123). Then, it is determined whether or not the designated position of the cursor corresponds to any icon area in the icon menu display screen (S24).

Here, when the menu processing section 15 determines that the designated position of the cursor is not in any icon area (S24; NO), it is determined that the selection and designation of the icon is not normally performed. , The above step S2 again
Returning to step 2, when it is determined that the designated position is within any icon area on the screen (S24; YES),
The icon data of the icon corresponding to the double click operation position is read from the icon image memory 12 (S25). Then, the menu processing unit 15 causes the "area position" and the "size" of the read icon data.
By referring to the data related to (1), it is determined whether the designated position of the previously checked cursor is further within the individual area in the icon (S26). Then, if it is determined that it is within the individual area (S26; YES), the menu set in the "command" field corresponding to the entire area of the previously read icon data is selected (S27). Next, the program name corresponding to the sub-menu item set in the "command" field of the individual area corresponding to the double-click operation position in the entire area is searched for by referring to the icon command table 14 (S28). , Notifies the data processing unit 10 of the program name. In response to this, the data processing unit 10 executes the program having the program name stored in the program file 8 (S29).

By the above operation, the user selects and designates the icon I, which is a composite icon expressing a command relating to the video operation by the video camera 6 from the icon menu display screen shown in FIG. 3, and the designated position of the cursor at this time is selected. , Individual area b that expresses the command to zoom in the image
If so, the submenu for executing the command to zoom in the video is selected and executed from the four submenus included in the menu for executing the command related to the video operation.

In the case of this example, the lens of the video camera 6 is driven by the video control unit 7, and the zoomed-up image is sent to the data processing unit 10.
Then, the data processing unit 10 writes the captured video in the display memory 4. As a result, the image previously displayed on the main part of the screen of the display unit 5 is displayed in a zoomed-up state.

When another individual area a, c or d is designated in the icon I, the corresponding processing such as "zoom down", "recording (including recording)" or "playback" is executed. .

On the other hand, when the menu processing section 15 determines that the specified position of the cursor on the screen of the display section 5 is not within the individual area within the icon (S26;
No), it is further determined whether or not there is an individual command (individual area) in the icon data read out previously (S3).
0). As a result, when it is determined that there is an individual command (S30; YES), the icon data of the menu is selected / read from the icon image memory 12 (S30).
31) Next, referring to the “command” fields of all the individual areas in the selected uncon data, the submenu in which the submenu items set in those command fields are listed as commands The screen is displayed at the position on the screen of the display unit 5 (S32). Then, in this state, the user selects one of the plurality of submenu items displayed on the screen of the display unit 5.
When one of them is selected and designated using the key input unit 2 or the mouse 3 (S33), the CPU 1 notifies the menu processing unit 15 of the selection operation information (click operation position, etc.). Based on this notification information, the menu processing unit 15 selects a submenu specified by the user from the icon data from a plurality of submenus (S34), and hereinafter, for the selected predetermined submenu, Step S
The processing of 29 is executed (S29), and the menu selection processing when the position other than the individual area is selected when the composite icon is selected is ended.

On the other hand, in step S30, if the menu processing section 15 determines that there is no individual command in the previously read icon data (S30; NO),
At this time, assuming that the selected and designated icon is not a composite icon but a normal icon that executes only one command, the menu item to be set in the “command” field of the entire area of the above icon data is read and the menu item is set. The icon command table 14 is referred to and converted into the corresponding program name. Then, by notifying the data processing unit 10 of this program name, the command corresponding to the icon is executed via the data processing unit 10 (S35).

When a composite icon such as the icon I or the icon II is selected and specified on the icon menu display screen by the above menu selection processing, the specified position is one of a plurality of individual areas in the composite icon. If the above condition applies, the instruction corresponding to the individual area is immediately executed. On the other hand, when the specified position is outside all the individual areas even within the composite icon, the menu items (sub-menu items) corresponding to those individual areas are displayed on the screen of the display section on the sub-menu screen. A desired menu (submenu) is selected and designated on the submenu screen by the user, and a predetermined command corresponding to the selected and designated submenu is executed.

Next, FIG. 7 is a flow chart for explaining the icon size changing process performed by the menu processing unit 15 for changing the size of the icon on the icon menu display screen shown in FIG.

As shown in the figure, in the icon size changing process, the user enlarges or reduces the icon while the icon menu display screen is displayed on the screen of the display unit 5 in the previous menu selection process. For the purpose, the menu bar 5 of the icon menu display screen
It is started when the enlargement button 51A or the reduction button 51B displayed in the area 1 is designated by clicking the mouse 3 (S41).

That is, when the position of the cursor is specified by the user's clicking operation of the mouse 3, the menu processing section 15 causes the menu specifying unit 15 to send the specified cursor position stored in the menu file 13 to the button. Check by referring to the display position information in the icon menu display screen of 51A or 51B (S4
2), the specified position of the cursor changes the icon size to 2
It is determined whether it is at the display position of the enlargement button 51A for instructing to double or the reduction button 51B for instructing to reduce the icon size by 1/2 (S43).

Here, when the CPU 1 determines that the designated position of the cursor is the display position of the enlargement button 51A (S43; enlargement), the CPU 1 gives the user a specific icon to be doubled at this time. Is selected by clicking the mouse 3 (S44), the drawing process is performed on the display memory 4, and the image of the selected and specified icon is doubled and displayed on the screen of the display unit 5. (S45).

On the other hand, the designated position is the reduction button "B".
When it is determined that it is in the display position of (S43; reduction), the user is also allowed to select and specify a specific icon to be reduced to 1/2 times at this time by clicking the mouse 3 (S46). The drawing process is performed on the display memory 4, and the image of the selected and designated icon is reduced by half and displayed on the screen of the display unit 5 (S
47).

Then, the CPU 1 enlarges or reduces the image of the selected and designated icon, and displays it on the display unit 5.
When it is displayed on the screen of the icon, the icon in the icon management memory 11 that defines the display form of the icon in order to display the icon on the screen of the display unit 5 while maintaining this state even after that. The contents of the data relating to the "display position" and the "display size" of the management data and the contents of the data relating to the "area position" and the "size" of the icon data in the icon image memory 12 are rewritten (S48). , This icon size changing process ends.

In the process of enlarging the composite icon, when the size of the individual area is small in a certain composite icon and it is difficult to grasp the contents or perform the pointing operation, it is necessary to select and specify the individual area of the information processing apparatus. It is extremely useful for allowing the user to do it easily and surely. Further, the process of reducing and displaying all of the plurality of icons is very useful in making the image of the video camera 6 displayed together with the plurality of icons visible to the user of the information processing apparatus.

[0056]

As described above in detail, according to the present invention, one composite icon is provided with a plurality of individual areas,
By selecting and designating each individual area, the instruction previously assigned to each individual area is selected.
It is possible to specify multiple commands with one icon.

Further, by assigning a command group related to the composite icon and allocating each individual command to each individual area, the user can operate, for example, a video device or an audio device via one composite icon. It is possible to operate the GU in a multimedia information processing device.
Very useful as I.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a hardware configuration of an information processing apparatus which is an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a format of icon management data stored in an icon management memory.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of an icon menu display screen displayed on a screen of a display unit.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a format of icon data and icon image data stored in an icon image memory.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of an actual display image of an icon I displayed as a composite icon on the icon menu display screen.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart for explaining a menu selection process of selecting an icon and executing various commands by operating the mouse on the icon menu display screen.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating an icon size changing process for changing the size of an icon on the icon menu display screen.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 CPU 3 mouse 5 display unit 6 video camera 7 video control unit 10 data processing unit 11 icon management memory 12 icon image memory 15 menu processing unit

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. An icon management means for managing information relating to a command, a display position, and a size corresponding to each of the plurality of individual areas for a composite icon having a plurality of individual areas respectively representing the contents of the plurality of instructions, A composite icon display means for displaying the composite icon on the screen of the display unit based on management information of the composite icon managed by the icon management means; and the composite icon displayed by the composite icon display means. When selected and designated by the user on the screen of the display unit, based on the composite icon management information held by the icon management means, the specified position is within any of the individual areas in the plurality of individual areas. If it is determined that the predetermined instruction is present, the predetermined instruction corresponding to the predetermined individual area indicated by the designated position at this time is selected. Icon selection control device characterized by having an icon instruction selecting means. 2. The icon selection control device according to claim 1, further comprising display size changing means for changing the display size of the composite icon and displaying it on the screen of the display unit.