JPH07334293A - Information processing system and pointing information supplying method - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To enable an operation corresponding to a certain kind of button operation required for an application software even at a pointing device, which is not provided with enough number of buttons, by controlling a button selection area on a display with a system software. CONSTITUTION:When a pointed area is the button selection area, a pointing managing part 7 transmits position information to a button identifying part 5. When the pointed area is out of the button selection area, the pointing managing part 7 transmits the information of this pointed position and button identification information in a button storage part 6 to an application software 8 as pointing information. Namely, the display of the area for selecting buttons mounted at the pointing device on a display 2 is operated not by the application software but by an operating system (system software).

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an information processing system and a pointing information supplying method. In particular, the present invention relates to an information processing device using a pointing device without buttons such as a stylus pen as an input means.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In addition to conventional keyboards, pointing devices such as mice and stylus pens have been used as input means for information processing devices such as workstations and personal computers. Further, application software that uses an input means such as a mouse or the like has better operability than the input means such as a keyboard or cannot be operated with the keyboard is being developed and sold.

A mouse is equipped with one or more push buttons. However, there is generally no agreement on the number of mouse push buttons. For example, a series of computer products called Macintosh (product name) manufactured by Apple Computer Co., Ltd. includes a mouse having one push button, and application software developed for this Macintosh can be operated by this mouse. To be done.

A pointing device such as a mouse disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 6-3537 (G06F3 / 033) has two push buttons, a main push button and a sub push button.
Two buttons control the icon menu. For this reason, application software developed for use in information devices equipped with a mouse having a plurality of push buttons has a mouse having only one push button,
Alternatively, the information device equipped with the stylus pen may not always be operated without inconvenience.

The first countermeasure against these problems is as follows.
As disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 3-263116 (G06F3 / 03), there is an attempt to provide a stylus pen with buttons and operate application software corresponding to a plurality of buttons without change. However, this requires a change in hardware such as a stylus pen and is expensive.

Further, the application software using more buttons than the number of buttons provided on the stylus pen has the same problem as before and cannot be a fundamental solution. As a second countermeasure, a selection area for selecting a button is provided, and by clicking (pointing) this area, the application software may be changed so as to perform an operation corresponding to the button.

However, it is troublesome because the application software needs to be changed so that the device for operating the application software has a different number of buttons. Even if this change is realized, the operability will change for each device having a different number of buttons. In other words, even if the same application software is operated, the operability may be changed depending on the device, and the usability may deteriorate.

In particular, in recent years, the X window system (a general-purpose network window system for UNIX developed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and adopting the window system. UNIX was developed by Bell Laboratories in the United States. Operating system.) Terminal
There is an increasing number of cases in which an application is executed on a workstation such as (X terminal) that is used on the premise of a distributed graphics environment, and only display and input are processed by the X terminal.

At this time, the application software on the workstation builds an operation system on the assumption that the number of buttons on the pointing device of the workstation is set, and the number of buttons on the pointing device provided in the X terminal is limited. There is no consideration. Therefore, if the X terminal side does not have the same number of pointing devices as the workstation, the operation of the application software may be partially impossible.

By the way, Japanese Patent Publication No. 6-22009 (G06F15 / 0
As shown in 0), a system program such as an OS is interposed between the application software and the hardware.

[0011]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According to the present invention, even in an information processing apparatus having only a pointing device which does not have a sufficient number of buttons for operating the application software, the application software can be used without changing the application software. The purpose is to operate normally.

[0012]

According to the present invention, an operation for displaying an area (E) for selecting a button provided on a pointing device on a display (2) is operated by an operating system (system) instead of application software. It is operated by software).

The present invention also provides a pointing device (1)
In an information processing system including a display device (2),
A button display section (4) for displaying a button selection area (E) on the display device (2) and a pointing area by pointing the button selection area (E) with the pointing device (1). A button identification section (5) for identifying a button, a button storage section (6) for storing the button identification information identified by the button identification section (5), and a display screen area (A) for application software (8) (A1) (A
A pointing management unit for transmitting the pointing coordinate information and the button identification information of the button storage unit (6) to the application software (8) by pointing the pointing device (2) with the pointing device (1).
(7) is provided.

Further, according to the present invention, when a mouse is provided with a plurality of push buttons, a pressing operation inputs pointing information including button identification information for identifying the pressed push button and coordinate information at the time of the pressing operation. A method for supplying pointing information of an operating system (system software) for operating operating application software (8) with a mouse (1) having only one push button, and selecting a button on a display device (2). The area (E) is displayed, and the corresponding button identification information is stored by pointing operation with the mouse (1) in the button selection area (E).
By pointing the display screen areas (A), (A1) and (A2) of (8) with the pointing device (1), the pointed coordinate information and the button identification information of the button storage section (6) can be obtained. Application software (8)
It is characterized by being transmitted to.

Further, according to the present invention, the button selection area (E) is displayed on the display device (2), the button identification information is specified by the pointing operation of the button selection area (E), and the button identification information is stored. , Application software
By pointing operation of the display screen areas (A), (A1), and (A2) for (8), the pointing information including the pointed coordinate information and the stored button identification information is transmitted to the application software (8). The operation is performed by an operating system (system software).

The present invention also provides a pointing information supplying method in which operating system (OS), which is system software, supplies pointing information including coordinate position information and button identification information to application software. Information selection area
(E) is displayed on a part of the display screen (2A) and this selection area
By specifying (E) with the pointing means (1),
The button identification information is selected and stored, and then the display areas (A) (A1) (A2) of the application software (8) on the display screen (2A) are moved to the pointing means.
By specifying in (1), the stored button identification information and the coordinate position information specified by the pointing means (1) are supplied to the application software (8) as the pointing information. .

[0017]

In the present invention, the button selection area (E) on the display (2) is controlled by the system software (OS). Further, in the present invention, the button selection area (E) is displayed on the display (2), and the button identification information is selected and stored by pointing this area, and thereafter, the stored button identification information is identified by pointing other than this area. The information record and the pointed coordinate position information are transmitted to the application software (8) as pointing information.

[0018]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram of this embodiment. In the figure, (1) is a pointing device including a tablet and a stylus pen.

(2) is a display device made of a CRT or liquid crystal. This pointing device
The display device (1) and the display device (2) are integrated display and input, like a well-known pen-type input computer or pen-type terminal device.
(3) is a display management unit for displaying display data on the display device (2). (4) is a button display section that displays a button selection area (E in FIG. 2). The button display unit (4) sends display data and position information for displaying the button selection area (E) to the display management unit (3).

(5) is a button identification section. The button identification section (5) outputs button identification information corresponding to the pointed position when the button selection area (E) is pointed. (6) is a button storage unit. The button storage section (6) stores and stores the button identification information determined by the button identification section (5), and corresponds to a RAM.

(7) is a pointing management unit. This pointing management unit (7) is for pointing device (1) when pointing at any place on the display device (2).
Get position information (coordinate information) from. Further, the pointing management section (7) inputs the data for displaying the button selection area (E) from the button display section (4) and
(E) Position information (coordinate information) is provided.

Then, the pointing management section (7) sends the position information to the button identification section (5) if the pointed area is the button selection area (E). Further, the pointing management unit (7), if the pointing area is outside the button selection area (E), the pointing position information and the button identification information of the button storage unit (6) as pointing information. , Send to application software (8).

(8) is application software. 2 and 3 show examples of display screens on the display device (2). The control by the pointing operation in the first embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 2 and 3. 2 and 3, (2A) is a display screen of the display device (2).

(E) is a button selection area. The button selection area (E) includes areas of "button 1", "button 2", and "button 3". The "button 1,""button2," and "button 3" correspond to the three buttons of the mouse, respectively. (A) is a display screen area of application software.

This application software is created so that it can be appropriately operated by a mouse having three buttons. First, the screen of the first operation example will be described with reference to FIG. After pointing "Button 1" in the button selection area (E) and then pointing to the point (P1) in the application display screen area (A),
As described above, the menu screen (M1) is displayed with this point (P1) as a reference point.

Conventionally, the menu screen (M1) is displayed by moving the cursor to a point (P) with a mouse having three buttons.
Click button 1 of this mouse after moving to 1)
It is exactly the same as when you press (press). Next, an example of this operation will be described with reference to FIGS. 2 and 1. That is, the button display area (E) and the application software display area (A) are displayed on the display device (2) by the button display section (4) and the application software (8) via the display management section (3). It

Here, with the pen, the button selection area (E)
When the "button 1" of is pointed, the coordinate position information is transmitted from the pointing device (1) to the pointing management unit (7). Pointing management department (7)
Determines from the coordinate position information that the pointing position is within the button selection area (E).

Then, the button identification section (5) operates and the pointing position is determined to be "button 1", "button 2", or "button 2" in the button selection area (E) by this coordinate position information.
Which of the “buttons 3” is present is specified. The button identification section (5) outputs "button 1" which is the identification result (button identification information).

The button storage section (6) stores the identification result (button identification information). Next, when the point P1 in the application software display area (A) is pointed by the pen, the coordinate position information (P1) is transmitted from the pointing device (1) to the pointing management section (7).
Based on this coordinate position information, the pointing management unit (7) determines that the pointing position is outside the button selection area (E).

Then, the pointing information including the "button 1" which is the discrimination result (button identification information) stored in the button storage section (6) and the coordinate position information (P1) is
Output to application software (8). That is, the application software (8) is supplied with the same pointing information as when the "button 1" of the mouse is clicked at the coordinate (P1) on the screen in the conventional device.

In this example, when the pointing information including the (button identification information) of "button 1" and the coordinate position information is input, the application software (8) uses this coordinate position as a reference. , Display management unit (3) to display the menu screen (M1) corresponding to "Button 1"
To control. A second operation example will be described with reference to FIG.

After pointing "Button 3" in the button selection area (E), the application display screen area (A)
When the inside point (P2) is pointed, as shown in FIG. 3, the menu screen (M3) is displayed with this point (P2) as the reference point. This menu screen (M3) display is exactly the same as when clicking (pressing) button 3 of this mouse after moving the cursor to point (P2) with a mouse having three buttons in the past. Is.

Although the number of application software is one in the above embodiment, there may be a plurality of application software on a multi-window system such as an X window system. A second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. The second embodiment is an example of a display screen in a multi-window system.

(A1) is a window area of the first application software. (A2) is the window area of the second application software. That is, a plurality of window areas (A1) and (A2) for a plurality of applications will be displayed. Then, the pointed area (A
1) According to (A2), the pointing management section selects the application software that supplies the pointing information. That is, when the point (P3) in the first application display screen area (A1) is pointed after the "button 2" in the button selection area (E) is pointed, this point (P3) is set as shown in FIG. The menu screen (M2) for the first application software is displayed with reference to.

Conventionally, the menu screen (M2) is displayed by moving the cursor to the point (P3) with a mouse having three buttons and then pressing the button 2 of the mouse during the operation of the first application software. The operation is exactly the same as when clicking (pressing). In the above embodiment, the pointing device (1) is the pen input device, but this may be a mouse having only one button.
Other pointing devices or a combination of these may be used.

[0036]

As described above, according to the present invention, even a pointing device that does not have a sufficient number of buttons can perform an operation corresponding to the type of button operation required by application software. According to the present invention, even an information processing apparatus that uses a pointing device that does not have the number of buttons used by application software can be operated normally without changing the application software.

[Brief description of drawings]

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

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an application screen when a button 1 is pressed in the first embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an application screen when a button 3 is pressed in the first embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a second embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 pointing device, 2 display device (display), 2A display screen, 3 display management unit, 4 button display unit, 5 button identification unit, 6 button storage unit, 7 pointing management unit, 8 application software, OS operating system (system software) Software), A application software display area, A1 first application software display area, A2 second application software display area, E button selection area.

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A pointing device (1) and a display device (2)
An information processing system comprising: a button display section (4) for displaying a button selection area (E) on the display device (2); and pointing the button selection area (E) with the pointing device (1). A button identification section (5) for identifying a button corresponding to the area pointed to by, a button storage section (6) for storing the button identification information identified by the button identification section (5), and application software (8) Display screen area for
By pointing (A), (A1) and (A2) with the pointing device (1), the pointed coordinate information and the button identification information of the button storage section (6) are transmitted to the application software (8). An information processing system comprising: a pointing management unit (7). 2. Application software which is operated by pressing operation with a mouse having a plurality of push buttons, by inputting pointing information including button identification information for identifying the pressed push button and coordinate information at the time of this pressing operation. A method for supplying pointing information of system software for operating the wear (8) with a mouse (1) having only one push button, and displaying a button selection area (E) on the display device (2), By pointing operation of the mouse (1) in the button selection area (E), the corresponding button identification information is stored, and the display screen area (A) of the application software (8) is stored.
By pointing (A1) and (A2) with the pointing device (1), the pointed coordinate information and the button identification information of the button storage unit (6) are transmitted to the application software (8). Characteristic pointing information supply method. 3. A button selection area (E) is displayed on the display device (2), button identification information is specified by pointing operation of this button selection area (E), and this button identification information is stored, and application software ( Display screen area for 8)
By (A), (A1), and (A2) pointing operations, the system software performs an operation of transmitting pointing information including the pointed coordinate information and the stored button identification information to the application software (8). A pointing information supply method characterized by the above. 4. The system software (OS) stores pointing information including coordinate position information and button identification information.
In the pointing information supplying method for supplying the application software, the selection area (E) of the button identification information is displayed on the display screen (2A).
This button identification information is selected and stored by displaying the selection area (E) with the pointing means (1), and then displaying the application software (2A) on the display screen (2A). By designating the display areas (A) (A1) (A2) of 8) by the pointing means (1), the stored button identification information and the coordinate position information designated by the pointing means (1) are A pointing information supplying method characterized in that the pointing information is supplied to the application software (8) as the pointing information.