JPH08248938A - Pointing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To obtain a pointing device for facilitating the making of a stereo pattern on a graphic display screen. CONSTITUTION: This device is provided with a display screen 1 being a graphic display displaying a stereo pattern and a pointing cursor, etc., a cursor display means 2 displaying a pointing cursor for expressing three-dimensional direction on a display screen 1, a cursor moving means 3 moving the pointing cursor on the display screen 1, an original point displaying means 4 displaying a cursor used as a reference on the display screen 1 as an original cursor and a shape changing means changing the shape of the pointing cursor in accordance with the relative distance from the original cursor.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a pointing device for operating a pointing cursor that points to an arbitrary portion on a graphic display.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art FIG. 16 is a diagram showing a display example of three typical shapes and coordinate values of a conventional pointing cursor on a graphic display, and FIG. 17 is a diagram showing a conventional pointing device for operating the pointing cursor. Is. As shown in FIG. 16, the conventional pointing cursor has the same size, color, and shape regardless of the display position, like these three types. The positions of these pointing cursors are displayed as values of coordinates X, Y, Z on the screen as shown in the figure. In such a case, when a three-dimensional figure is drawn on the screen, it is relatively easy to point a certain point on the surface of the figure with the pointing cursor according to the positional relationship with the figure. However, if there is a point that you want to point at a point in the space away from the figure displayed on the screen, even if the position of the pointing cursor is displayed three-dimensionally by coordinates on the screen, In reality, it is difficult to point one point because there is no depth information as a figure in three dimensions. Further, as shown in FIG. 17, the conventional pointing device is a mouse, a trackball, a tablet, or the like, and these two-dimensionally move the pointing cursor on the display screen, and the coordinate values thereof are operated by a button operation at an arbitrary position. It has only the function of selecting, and does not move the pointing cursor three-dimensionally.

[0003] For example, when installing new equipment at a specific position on the upper part of a utility pole or installing new underground piping on an extension of the existing piping, it is necessary to install such equipment on the utility pole. It is necessary to specify the coordinate position by an easy operation. In such a case, conventionally, as shown in FIG. 16, the three-dimensional coordinate position of the pointing cursor is displayed as X, Y, and Z values in one corner of the screen, and the cursor is moved to rely on that. .

[0004]

In the conventional pointing device, when performing a design operation such that a new figure is arranged in the vicinity of a figure (object) three-dimensionally displayed (drawn) in the three-dimensional mapping process. , The operator was moving it while looking at the two-dimensional pointing cursor. Therefore, the depth cannot be grasped on the screen, and the cursor cannot be moved accurately including the depth direction.

The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and an object thereof is to obtain a pointing device which facilitates the creation of a three-dimensional figure on a graphic display screen. .

[0006]

According to the present invention, there is provided a display screen for displaying three-dimensional graphic information such as a solid figure and a pointing cursor capable of showing three-dimensional directions of X, Y and Z on the display screen. It is provided with a cursor display means for displaying and a cursor moving means for moving the pointing cursor to an arbitrary position in a direction with a depth on the display screen as needed for drawing a graphic.

The present invention comprises cursor display means for displaying a pointing cursor by the center of the cursor and three line segments extending from the center in the directions of the three axes X, Y and Z.

According to the present invention, further, an origin display means for displaying an origin cursor which is a reference point for drawing a graphic at an arbitrary position on the display screen, and a pointing cursor for moving to an arbitrary position based on the origin cursor. However, a shape changing means for changing the shape according to the relative distance from the origin cursor is provided.

According to the present invention, further, in the line segment of the pointing cursor displayed by three line segments extending in the three directions of X, Y, and Z, the length, the thickness, the direction from the center of the cursor, and the color. A shape changing means capable of changing any of the wire types is provided.

[0010]

The pointing device according to the present invention is provided with the display screen for expressing three-dimensional graphic information, the cursor display means for displaying the pointing cursor, and the cursor moving means for moving the pointing cursor. It can move three-dimensionally.

The pointing device according to the present invention comprises:
By providing a cursor display means for displaying the pointing cursor by the center of the cursor and three line segments extending in the three directions of X, Y, and Z from the center, the three-dimensional relative position of the figure can be known by the pointing cursor. It is a thing.

The pointing device according to the present invention comprises:
The origin display means for displaying the origin cursor, which is the origin, and the shape changing means for changing the shape of the moving pointing cursor according to the relative distance from the origin cursor are provided. The three-dimensional movement amount of can be recognized.

The pointing device according to the present invention comprises:
In the line segment of the pointing cursor, length, thickness,
By providing a shape changing means that can change the direction from the center of the cursor, color, or line type,
Of the X, Y, and Z axes, the movement amount on a specific axis can be distinguished from other axes.

[0014]

【Example】

Example 1. FIG. 1 is a block diagram of the pointing device in this embodiment. In FIG. 1, 1 is a display screen which is a graphic display for displaying three-dimensional figures and a pointing cursor, 2 is a cursor display means for displaying a pointing cursor which expresses a three-dimensional direction on the display screen 1, and 3 is a pointing cursor. Cursor moving means for moving the cursor on the screen 1, reference numeral 4 for displaying the reference cursor on the display screen 1 as the origin cursor, and reference numeral 5 for changing the shape of the pointing cursor according to the relative distance from the origin cursor. This is a shape changing means.

In this embodiment, as the shape of the pointing cursor, an example using a three-dimensional short vector for displaying the three-dimensional direction by three line segments extending from the center of the cursor in the X-axis direction, the Y-axis direction and the Z-axis direction Will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the shape of the origin cursor displayed on the screen by the origin display means 4. The origin cursor is
It is set by the operator at an arbitrary position and with an arbitrary size on the screen and serves as a reference for the operation of the pointing cursor. In this example, the unit length 10 is set for each of the X, Y, and Z axes. For coordinates 1 to 4, the center (origin) of the origin cursor is X = 0, Y = 0, Z = 0.
Shows the relative coordinates when. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example in which the coordinate values of the coordinates 1 to 4 shown in FIG. 2 and the shape of the pointing cursor when the origin cursor is used as a reference are changed by the shape changing means 5 corresponding to the respective coordinate values. Is. The rule regarding the change of the shape of the pointing cursor here is defined as follows. Regarding the coordinates of the point designated by the pointing cursor, (1) If the relative value from the origin cursor is within the unit length of the origin cursor, the length of the axis is displayed using the relative value as it is. (Example of coordinate 2) (2) If the relative value from the origin cursor is in the range of 1 to 10 times the unit length of the origin cursor, the length of the axis is displayed using the unit length of the origin cursor. (Example of coordinate 1) (3) If the relative value from the origin cursor is within 10 times the unit length of the origin cursor, the unit length of the origin cursor is used for the length of the axis, and a thick line Display with.
(Example of coordinate 4) (4) If the relative value from the origin cursor is a negative value, the direction of the axis is displayed in the opposite direction to the axis of the origin cursor. (Example of coordinate 3)

A case where a mouse is used as a pointing device will be described with reference to FIGS. 4 and 5. FIG.
It is a figure showing a mouse which is an example of a pointing device. FIG. 5 is a diagram showing details of mouse operation. This pointing device operates the pointing cursor displayed by the cursor display means 2 according to the above rule according to the shape changing means 5. In this embodiment, the mouse used is a mouse as a pointing device, as shown in FIG. 4, and therefore has three buttons. Button 2
Is an object selection button similar to an ordinary mouse, and performs an operation of selecting an object pointed by the pointing cursor by clicking. Button 1 is a button for moving the cursor to the back. When the button 1 is continuously pressed, the cursor moving means 3 moves the pointing cursor in the logical space in the direction away from the operator (back of the screen). Button 3 is a button for moving the cursor to the front. When the button 3 is continuously pressed, the cursor moving means 3 moves the pointing cursor toward the operator (in front of the screen). By moving the mouse itself, the depth of the pointing cursor does not change from the operator's point of view, and the position of the pointing cursor on the screen in the vertical and horizontal directions changes with the cursor moving means 3.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example in which the shape of the pointing cursor is changed according to the shape changing means 5 based on the origin cursor by operating the mouse which is the pointing device. When the button 1 or the button 3 is pressed, the pointing cursor moves in the direction in which the logical depth changes (−, + directions in FIG. 6) as seen from the operator who is looking at the screen. Changes the shape of the pointing cursor by the shape changing means 5 and causes a change in the shape of three line segments of X, Y, and Z according to the relative position. That is, the amount of movement of the pointing cursor can be grasped by comparing the shape of the pointing cursor with the shape of the origin cursor. However, the center of the pointing cursor does not move unless you move the mouse itself.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a method of determining the shape of the pointing cursor by the cursor moving means 3 and the shape changing means 5. As shown in FIG. 7, based on the reference coordinates and the spatial coordinates of the origin cursor displayed by the origin display means 4 and the reference lengths of the X, Y, and Z coordinate axes,
Gets the coordinate value of the point which is being pointed by the pointing cursor. Then, the relative position is calculated on the three axes based on the distance between the coordinates of the origin cursor and the coordinates of the pointing cursor. By this calculation, each time the pointing cursor is moved by the cursor moving means 3, the length, direction and thickness of the three axes of X, Y and Z are determined according to the calculated values. Then, the length and direction of the determined three axes of X, Y and Z,
Using the thickness, the shape changing unit 5 changes the cursor shape in real time, and the cursor display unit 2 displays it on the display screen 1.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing the amount of movement of the cursor. As shown in FIG. 8, for example, if a point to be pointed near the origin cursor is set, the change in the shape of the pointing cursor is small, and fine coordinate changes can be read, so that the cursor can be moved with high resolution and the cursor movement amount can be increased. Becomes finer. If the point to be pointed is set far away, the change in the shape of the pointing cursor is large, and the cursor can be largely moved with coarse resolution.

Next, a case where the origin cursor is appropriately moved to an arbitrary position will be described. FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a method of changing the origin cursor. As shown in FIG. 9, when changing (relocating) the origin cursor, the coordinates of the origin cursor up to that point are used as the origin, and the relative position after the movement is calculated in the same way as when the pointing cursor is moved, and the cursor shape is calculated. Change. Then, when the cursor at the coordinate at the time of determining the new coordinates is the origin cursor, the shape of the cursor is changed to the origin cursor shape, and the origin cursor up to now is erased. In this way, by moving the origin cursor appropriately and changing the position, it is possible to easily realize an arbitrary three-dimensional pointing cursor at an arbitrary position.

Example 2. Although the movement of the pointing cursor has been described in detail in the first embodiment, as another embodiment, when the pointing cursor moves around the origin cursor as shown in FIGS. 10 and 11, the origin cursor moves around the origin cursor. The three axes of X, Y, and Z, which are coordinate axes, may be temporarily displayed. Further, a dotted line connecting the tips of the X, Y, and Z line segments of the origin cursor and the pointing cursor may be displayed so that the movement path from the origin cursor can be known for the moved pointing cursor.

Example 3. Although the display example of the pointing cursor has been described in the first embodiment, as another embodiment, as shown in FIG. 12, not only the coordinates of the cursor are shown in one corner of the screen, but also the relative position is provided in the immediate vicinity of the pointing cursor. It may display the indicated coordinates.

Embodiment 4 FIG. Although the display example of the pointing cursor has been described in the first embodiment, as another embodiment, as shown in FIG. 13, when the pointing cursor is moved, X,
The three line segments Y and Z may be displayed with a scale indicating the amount of movement.

Example 5. In the first embodiment, when the relative value is 10 times or more, the line segment is displayed as a thick line. However, when the relative value is 10 times or more, the line segment of the cursor is changed to a dotted line as shown in FIG. It may be changed or the color may be changed. The thickness and color of the line segment may be changed under other conditions than 10 times or more.

Example 6. As another embodiment, if the position of the cursor is on a three-dimensional figure after the origin cursor is moved, the direction of the pointing cursor is changed to the origin cursor as shown in FIG. 15 so that the shape of the figure can be seen. It may be symmetrical with respect to.

[0026]

According to the present invention, a display screen for displaying graphic information, a cursor display means for displaying a pointing cursor capable of identifying a three-dimensional direction on the display screen, and a pointing cursor for displaying the pointing cursor displayed by the cursor display means. By providing the cursor moving means for moving to an arbitrary position, the cursor operation becomes easy in creating a three-dimensional figure.

In the present invention, further, the cursor display means is
When the pointing cursor is displayed by the center of the cursor and three line segments extending in the X-axis direction, the Y-axis direction, and the Z-axis direction from the center of the cursor, in creating a three-dimensional figure,
It is possible to display a three-dimensional cursor.

In the present invention, the cursor display means further comprises:
Since the origin display means for displaying the origin at an arbitrary position on the display screen and the shape changing means for changing the shape of the pointing cursor according to the relative distance from the origin, the distance between the pointing cursor and the origin is provided. Can be displayed in a visually easy-to-understand manner.

According to the present invention, the shape changing means changes at least one of the length, thickness, direction from the center of the cursor, color, and line type to create a three-dimensional figure. The coordinate position in a three-dimensional screen with depth can be expressed in an easy-to-understand manner, and the operation becomes easy.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration diagram of a pointing device in the present embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a shape of an origin cursor displayed on a screen by an origin display means.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example in which the coordinate values of coordinates 1 to 4 in FIG. 2 and the shape of the pointing cursor are changed.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a mouse which is an example of a pointing device for operating a pointing cursor according to the present embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing details of mouse operation according to the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example in which the shape of a pointing cursor changes based on an origin cursor.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a method of determining the shape of a pointing cursor.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a moving amount of a cursor in the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a method of changing the origin cursor.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a display example of a pointing cursor in another embodiment.

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing a display example of a pointing cursor in another embodiment.

FIG. 12 is a diagram showing a display example of coordinates indicating a relative position in the immediate vicinity of a pointing cursor in another embodiment.

FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of displaying the X, Y, and Z line segments of the pointing cursor with a scale indicating the movement amount in another example.

FIG. 14 is a diagram showing a display example of a pointing cursor in another embodiment.

FIG. 15 is a diagram showing an example in which the direction of the pointing cursor is point-symmetrical with respect to the origin cursor in another embodiment.

FIG. 16 is a diagram showing a display example of three typical types of conventional pointing cursor shapes and coordinate values.

FIG. 17 is a diagram showing a conventional pointing device for operating a pointing cursor.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 display screen, 2 cursor display means, 3 cursor moving means, 4 origin display means, 5 shape changing means.

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A pointing device having the following elements: (a) a display screen for displaying graphic information, (b) a cursor display means for displaying a pointing cursor capable of identifying a three-dimensional direction on the display screen, (c) the cursor Cursor moving means for moving the pointing cursor displayed by the display means to an arbitrary position on the display screen. 2. The cursor display means displays the pointing cursor by the center of the cursor and three line segments extending in the X-axis direction, the Y-axis direction, and the Z-axis direction from the center of the cursor. Item 2. The pointing device according to item 1. 3. The cursor display means further includes an origin display means for displaying an origin at an arbitrary position on the display screen, and a shape for changing the shape of the pointing cursor according to a relative distance from the origin. The pointing device according to claim 1, further comprising a changing unit. 4. The shape changing means includes a length of the line segment,
4. The pointing device according to claim 3, wherein at least one of thickness, direction from the center of the cursor, color, and line type is changed.