JPH0728615A - Computer system performing interactive process - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a computer which can explain a display of a help function by using not only a document, but also figures and performs an easy-to-use interactive process for a user. CONSTITUTION:The computer system is equipped with a device that display messages of using methods, notes, etc., to the user and performs the interactive process, and a display device is provided with a document and figure data file 23 containing document messages and figure messages for usage, a means 18 which reads the document messages out of the data file 23, a means 21 which displays the read document messages on the display screen 12, a means 19 which reads the figure message data out of the data file 23, and a means 22 which displays figures, generated with the read figure message data, on the document display screen 12.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a computer system for interactive processing, and more particularly to interactive processing having a text and graphic display function for efficiently displaying text and graphics on a display screen while using a computer. Doing computer systems.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art While using a computer that advances processing interactively, if the user does not know how to use it, he / she can enter a text from HELP and a keyboard, or can use the screen pointing device or the like to point to the part displayed as "Help". There is a computer system having a function of displaying the usage method (hereinafter referred to as a help function). Here, the computer system that advances processing interactively is a computer-using program that allows a user to work while giving instructions to the computer system with a keyboard or mouse while looking at the computer screen.

The user can understand the usage by reading the displayed text. For example, as shown in FIG. 12, when the place where "Help" is displayed (61) is designated by the screen pointing device (usually, a screen pointing device called a mouse is used, and the user moves the mouse on the desk). A small arrow moves on the screen according to the movement.There is a button on the mouse. Move by moving the mouse, positioning the arrow where it is displayed as help on the screen, and pressing the mouse button. Then, a text display area 62 appears on the screen of the display, and the text 63 indicates what the user should do.

Further, during use, an error message is often displayed because the user's usage method is inappropriate and the program calls the user's attention. Also in this case, the content of the error can be understood by reading the displayed text. The mechanism is that the user can "help"
, Or when the program displays an error message to alert the user, the help text is in the file 29 as shown in FIG. 13, and the text reading unit 18 and the text display unit 21 It is in the computer main body 11. The flow chart is shown in FIG.
The content is read by the text reading unit 18 (3
5), the contents are displayed on the display screen 1 in the text display unit 21.
It has a structure (36) displayed in 2. Furthermore, FIG.
5 shows the contents of the file 29, data of such a sentence is written in the file (hereinafter referred to as a sentence data file). Here, a file is a collection of data normally recorded in an external storage device called a hard disk.

Incidentally, this sentence is often written in a file in ASCII format. Here, ASCII means American National Standard.
ard Code for Information
Interchange is a national standard (A
It is a standard established as NSIX 3.4), and is a standard character set that is adopted when representing characters in many computers. English characters (ABC, abc, etc.), Japanese characters (Hiragana, Katakana, Kanji, etc.) and symbols (123 ,! "# $ \, etc., are assigned by numbers, and created by this ASCII standard. A file is created by using the ordinary text editing program (editor) that is built into the computer as standard, while entering characters and symbols from the keyboard, or creating new contents, or the contents of an existing file. In addition, since this explanation is not enough, it is normal to have a printed instruction manual, which is a detailed description, for the user. Read the instructions.

[0006]

The above prior art is convenient for confirming a simple usage when the usage is unknown. However, the content is only a brief description of the text. Also, since the figure cannot be displayed together with the text of the explanation, it is necessary to explain only the text that can be easily explained by using the figure, and the explanation becomes redundant or insufficient. Often. Therefore, when the explanation cannot be understood, or when the explanation alone is insufficient, the instruction manual must be read. However, when actually operating the program, the user must search for the relevant part of the instruction manual one by one (reading this work is quite difficult), and the work is interrupted, so the work efficiency becomes very poor.

[0007]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the first invention of the present application is a computer system for carrying out an interactive process, comprising a device for displaying a message such as a method of use and a caution to the user. The display device includes a text / graphics data file in which text messages and graphic message data for the user are filed, means for reading the text message from the data file, and means for reading the graphic message data from the data file. The present invention relates to a computer system for performing interactive processing, characterized in that means for displaying a text message and a graphic message are provided on the same display surface by the text message and the graphic message data.

A second invention of the present application is a computer system for performing interactive processing, which is provided with a device for displaying a message such as a method of use and a caution to the user, wherein the display device displays only a text message to the user. A text data file that has been filed, a graphic data file that contains only graphic message data for the user, a text reading unit that reads text from the text data file, and a graphic data reading unit that reads graphic data from the graphic data file. Computer for performing interactive processing, characterized in that a text display part for displaying the displayed text on a display surface and a graphic display part for displaying a graphic on the same surface as the display surface based on the read graphic data are provided. Regarding the system.

[0009]

According to the present invention, since a sentence and a graphic can be displayed at the same time, it is possible to explain using a graphic, and the explanation can be easily understood by the user. Since the graphic data is, for example, an ASCII file, not only the text data but also the graphic data can be easily corrected by using an editor.
Therefore, it is also possible for the user to rewrite the sentence in an easy-to-understand manner. By doing so, it is possible to explain by using the figure, so that a help function that the user can easily understand can be created. Moreover, the frequent use of operating instructions is no longer necessary.

[0010]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows a specific configuration of the present invention. Computer body 1
1, display 12, mouse 13, keyboard 14,
In the reading unit 15, a character / symbol reading unit 16, a sentence / graphic segmenting unit 17, a sentence reading unit 18, a graphic data reading unit 19, and a sentence display unit 21 for displaying the sentence data on the screen as they are in the display unit 20. , A graphic data display section 22 for displaying a graphic on the screen based on graphic data represented by characters and numbers, and a text / graphic data file 23 (file in ASCII format).

FIG. 2 shows an example of a text / graphics data file, which is composed of ASCII characters and symbols. FIG. 3 is a screen when the text / graphics data file of FIG. 2 is displayed on the screen according to the present invention. FIG. 4 shows the operation of the apparatus when reading the text / graphic data shown in FIG.
Note that when "help" is instructed, the text / graphics display device according to the present invention operates. Explaining the contents of FIG. 2, the first to seventh lines are text data. The 8th to 12th lines are graphic data. The text data is normal characters from the first character of the line, but the figure data is
Is a character or symbol that is not used in the ordinary sentence. This character or symbol is called a graphic identification symbol. It is a normal character from the second character of the line to the end of the line. That is, whether the first character of a line is a graphic identification symbol is used to distinguish whether the line is text data or graphic data.

The text data is the text as it is displayed on the screen. The graphic data is data of a graphic to be displayed on the screen, and includes what kind of graphic, the color of the graphic, the thickness of the line, and the position. In the example of FIG. 2, LINE indicates that the number following it is a line. The numbers are the type of line, the width of the line, the color of the line, and the coordinate values of the start and end points of the line. The graphic display unit draws a graphic on the screen according to the graphic data. The figure identification symbol does not necessarily have to be ¥. ASC that program agitator does not use in help function sentences
Any symbol or character II may be used. When the user instructs "help" as shown in FIG. 12, the text / graphic data is read from the text / graphic data file. The operation of reading in FIG. 4 will be described below.

First, it is confirmed whether there is a line that is not read (31), and if there is, the character / symbol reading unit 16 reads the first character of the line (33). Sentence / figure division 1
In step 7, the read character is checked to determine whether it is a figure identification symbol (¥ in this example) (34). If it is other than the figure identification symbol, it is assumed that all the lines are text data, and the text reading unit 18 reads the text from the beginning of the line (35). The read text is displayed on the screen by the text reading unit 21 as it is (36). If it is a figure identification symbol, the figure data reading section 19 reads the characters following the line as figure data (37). Based on the read graphic data, the line is displayed from the start point to the end point with the line thickness, color, and line type specified in the graphic display unit 22 (38). Next, it is confirmed whether there is a line not to be read again (31), and if there is, the above process is continued. If not, it ends. After all, in FIG. 2, the first to seventh lines are the sentence data, and the eighth to 12th lines.
The line is divided into graphic data, the text data is displayed as it is on the screen as text, and the graphic data is converted into a graphic with its letters and numbers and displayed as a graphic on the screen.

As described above, by using this function, not only the text as shown in FIG. 3 but also the figure can be displayed at the same time with only the data in ASCII format composed of characters or symbols as shown in FIG. The figure identification symbol was explained as one character,
It may be identified by two or more consecutive characters. For example, the figure identification symbol may be ##. In this case, the first two characters of the line are read and identified.

This file is an ASCII format file, and the contents of both text data and graphic data can be easily modified with a general editor. This makes it easy to modify and modify the sentences and graphics required during program development, thus shortening the program development period. In addition, the user of this program can easily modify the sentences and figures, and the sentences and figures can be easily explained according to the user. Therefore, if you could not find it only with the text of the help function, which was only the text so far, you were looking for the relevant part in the instruction manual, but there is no need for it,
Program usage time can be shortened.

Further, until now, the help function text alone cannot provide a sufficient explanation, so that a detailed instruction manual, which is a printed matter using graphics, is required. Since the figures can be displayed at the same time, no instruction manual is required. Example 2 FIGS. 5 to 7 show a second example. This is to locate the figure identification symbols at the beginning and end of the figure data in the ASCII format text / figure data file. Even with such a method, the text data and the graphic data can be separated.

FIG. 5 shows the configuration of the present device, and the provisional sentence data 24, provisional figure data 25, and figure flag storage unit 26 are increased in comparison with FIG. Here, the flag is an indicator stored in the program only when the program is being executed, and the program itself can set the indicator and confirm the current state of the indicator. The figure flag is a flag for identifying whether the figure data or the text data is currently being read. OF when reading text data
F, set to ON when reading graphic data. The figure flag storage unit 26 is a unit that stores the flag.

FIG. 6 shows an example of text / graphic data.
Explaining the contents of FIG. 6, the first to seventh lines are text data. The 8th to 12th lines are graphic data. At the beginning of the 8th line, there is a figure identifying symbol, \. Furthermore, there is a \ at the end of the 12th line. The 8th to 12th lines sandwiched by the graphic identification symbols are graphic data. The other 1st to 7th lines are the sentence data. In other words, looking at the characters from the beginning of the sentence, the text data up to the first figure identification symbol becomes the figure data from the first figure identification symbol to the next figure identification symbol. In FIG. 6, the data ends here, but if there is a next character, that character becomes sentence data. Further, if there is a figure identification symbol next to it, the characters up to the next identification symbol after the identification symbol become the figure data.

FIG. 7 shows the operation of the present invention. First, the graphic flag is turned off (41). Next, the character / graphic data is read from the character / graphic data file 28, and it is confirmed whether or not there are any unread characters (42). If there are unread characters, the character / symbol 1-character reading unit 16 reads 1 character (4
3) The text / graphic separation unit 17 confirms whether the character is a graphic identification symbol (44). If it is not a graphic identification symbol, the graphic flag storage unit 26 is confirmed, and the current graphic flag is confirmed (45), OFF. If so, the character is provisional sentence data 2
Record in 4 (46). If the current figure flag is ON,
The character is recorded in the temporary figure data 25 (47). Also, one character read is a figure identification symbol (¥ in this example)
If so, the present figure flag stored in the figure flag storage unit 26 is confirmed (48), and if it is OFF, it is turned ON (4).
9) If it is ON, turn it OFF (50).

Next, it is confirmed again whether there is a character that has not been read (42). If there is no character, the text data in the temporary text data 24 is displayed on the screen (51), and the graphic in the temporary graphic data 25 is displayed. The data is read and the figure is displayed on the same screen (52). By this method, the text data and the graphic data can be separated and the text and the graphic can be displayed on the same screen as shown in FIG. Further, in this example, there is only one type of figure identification symbol, and the characters of the part sandwiched by the same figure identification symbols are the figure data. Even if the identification symbol is changed to another symbol, the text data and the graphic data can be similarly separated. Third Embodiment A third embodiment is shown in FIGS. This is a separate file of text data and graphic data. Both the text data file 29 and the graphic data file 30 are ASC
This is a II format file.

FIG. 8 shows the configuration of this apparatus, which is different from that of FIG. 1 in that the text / graphic data file 23 and the character / symbol reading unit 1 are used.
6 and the sentence / graphic data separation unit 17 are not provided, and instead, there are a text data file 29 and a graphic data file 30. FIG. 9 shows the contents of the text data file 29,
FIG. 10 shows the contents of the graphic data file 30. Since the text data file 29 and the graphic data file 30 are separate files, the graphic identification symbol is not necessary in the graphic data.

FIG. 11 shows the operation of the present invention.
First, the text data is read from the text data file 29 by the text reading unit 18 (35), and the text is displayed on the screen by the text display unit 21 (36). Next, the graphic data is read from the graphic data file 30 to the graphic data reading unit 19
Is read (37), and the graphic is displayed on the same screen as the text on the graphic display unit 22 based on the content (38). In this way, the data of FIGS. 9 and 10 are displayed on the same screen as the text and the graphic as shown in FIG.

[0023]

According to the present invention, in a computer system for interactive processing, the help function can be displayed using not only sentences but also figures, so that the user can easily understand how to use the display. You can Therefore, you do not know how to use it, and you do not need time to find the corresponding part in the instruction manual, so you can shorten the usage time. By using a text editing program (generally called an editor) that is standardly equipped in a normal computer, not only text but also graphic data can be easily corrected. Therefore, the development period of the program can be shortened. Furthermore, it is possible to create easy-to-understand sentences and figures that suit the user.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a text / graphics data file in the first embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a display screen that displays the data shown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is an operation flow chart of the first embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a configuration diagram of a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a text / graphics data file in the second embodiment.

FIG. 7 is an operation flow chart of the second embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a configuration diagram of a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a text data file in the third embodiment.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a graphic data file in the third embodiment.

FIG. 11 is an operation flow chart of the third embodiment.

FIG. 12

FIG. 13

FIG. 14 and

FIG. 15 is a diagram showing a conventional technique.

[Explanation of symbols]

11 ... Computer main body, 12 ... Display, 13 ... Mouse, 14 ... Keyboard, 15 ... Reading part, 16 ... Character / symbol reading part, 17 ... Text / figure separating part, 18
… Text reading unit, 19… Graphic data reading unit, 21
... Sentence display part, 22 ... Graphic display part, 23 ... Sentence / figure data file.

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A computer system for interactive processing, comprising a device for displaying a message such as a method of use, a caution, etc. to a user, wherein the display device files text message data and graphic message data for the user. Text / graphic data file, means for reading text message from the data file, means for reading graphic message data from the data file, text message and graphic on the same display surface by the read text message and graphic message data A computer system for performing interactive processing, characterized in that means for displaying a message is provided. 2. A computer system for interactive processing, comprising a device for displaying a message such as a method of use and caution to a user, wherein the display device is a text data file containing only a text message to the user. , A graphic data file that only contains data for graphic messages to the user, a text reading unit that reads text from the text data file, a graphic data reading unit that reads graphic data from the graphic data file, and a display screen that displays the read text. And a graphic display unit for displaying a graphic on the same surface as the display surface based on the read graphic data.