JPH09190171A - Method and system for window hierarchical display - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a method and system for window hierarchical display which is more flexible by making it possible to specify an area and make a visible and invisible choice, window by window, and is facilitated in operation by associating the specification of an area upon habitual operation. SOLUTION: As for the window hierarchical display method which displays plural windows (12, 13, and 14) hierarchically, a desired area 17 in the upper window 14 is made transparent by rubbing the desired area of the upper window 14 on a display screen, and the lower windows (12 and 13) which are hidden behind the upper window 14 are displayed in the desired area 17. Further, it is decided whether or not the area is made transparent according to the quantity of the rubbing. Further, the number of windows which become transparent is determined according to the quantity of the rubbing.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method and system for hierarchical display of windows in a window system.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a conventional multi-window system, various methods such as displaying a small map of windows and making all windows transparent have been proposed in order to grasp the overlapping state of windows. There is. For example, in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 5-173743, "Computer device having a function of displaying a plurality of windows," the upper and lower windows that are overlapped are mixed and displayed so that the overlapping state of the windows can be grasped.

[0003]

However, in the above conventional technique, only two modes, that is, a mode in which overlapping windows are hidden and displayed and a mode in which overlapping windows are transparently displayed can be selected, and therefore, there is a certain specific method. It is impossible from a structural point of view to mix and display only the area, or to transparently display up to a specific window and hide the windows below it.

The problem to be solved by the present invention is to provide a more flexible window hierarchical display method and its system by enabling designation of a region and selection of visible / invisible for each window. Further, a window hierarchical display method and its system are provided that facilitate the operation by conforming the area designation to the conventional operation.

[0005]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, a window hierarchy display method of the present invention is a window hierarchy display method in which a plurality of windows are displayed hierarchically. It is characterized in that the desired area of the upper window is made transparent by rubbing upward, and the lower window hidden by the upper window is displayed in the desired area. Here, in the step of making transparent, whether or not to make transparent is further determined according to the amount of rubbing. Further, the number of transparent windows is determined according to the rubbing amount.

Further, the multi-window system of the present invention is a multi-window system which hierarchically displays a plurality of windows, and an area designating means for designating a desired area of the upper window by rubbing on the display surface, and an upper area designating means. Display control means for making the desired area of the window transparent and displaying the lower window hidden by the upper window in the desired area is provided. Here, the display control means determines whether or not to be transparent according to the amount of rubbing by the area designating means. The display control means further determines the number of transparent windows according to the rubbing amount.

Further, the multi-window system of the present invention comprises area designating means for designating a desired area of a displayed window, window hierarchy creating means for creating a hierarchy of windows of the designated desired area, and the area designating. Window hierarchy editing means for editing the created window hierarchy of the desired area from the front window based on the designation by the means, and a window for displaying the window of the desired area based on the edited window hierarchy And a display means.

Here, the area designating means includes coordinate inputting means, and the figure determined by a plurality of coordinates input by the coordinate inputting means is set as the desired area. Further, the window hierarchy editing means has a window designating means for designating an arbitrary number of front windows reflecting the physical quantity obtained from the area designating means as editing targets. The coordinate input means inputs a plurality of coordinates by drawing a locus with a coordinate input pen, and the physical quantity is the length of the locus. Further, the area designating means includes coordinate inputting means, and the figure arranged at the coordinates input by the coordinate inputting means is set as the desired area.

The window hierarchy display method of the present invention is
An area designating step of designating a desired area of the displayed window, a hierarchy creating step of creating a hierarchy of windows of the designated desired area, and the desired area created based on the designation in the area designating step. And a hierarchy display step of displaying the window of the desired area based on the edited hierarchy of windows.

The computer readable memory of the present invention also comprises
A computer-readable memory in which program code for hierarchical display of windows is stored, and a code of an area designating step for designating a desired area of the displayed window,
Based on the code of the hierarchy creating step for creating the hierarchy of the specified window of the desired area and the specification in the area specifying step, a desired number of windows in front of the created hierarchy of the window of the desired area are displayed. It is characterized by including a code of a layer editing step for editing and a code of a layer displaying step for displaying the window of the desired area based on the layer of the edited window.

[0011]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

<Example of Configuration of Window Hierarchy Display Device of this Embodiment> FIG. 1 is a functional configuration diagram of the window hierarchy display of this embodiment. In the figure, 1 is an area designating section for designating an area in which a window hierarchy is displayed according to the present embodiment, 2 is a designated area window hierarchy creating section for creating a hierarchical relationship of windows in the designated area, and 3 is for editing a hierarchy of windows The window hierarchy editing section 4 is a designated area window display section for displaying the edited window in the designated area.

FIG. 2 is a hardware configuration diagram of the window hierarchy display device of this embodiment. In the figure, 20 is a calculation
A control CPU 21 is a ROM that stores a control procedure for operating the CPU 20 to achieve the above functions. In this example, it includes a window control program including a hierarchy editing module 21a and a hierarchy display module 21b. There is. This window control program may be incorporated in the conventional window display program or may exist independently. Reference numeral 22 denotes a RAM used as a work area when the CPU 20 operates, and includes a designated area storage unit 22a that stores a designated area in coordinates, a window hierarchy storage unit 22b that stores the current window hierarchy state, and a control program. Includes a program load area 22c when the program is downloaded from a storage medium or a host and executed.

Reference numeral 23 is an external storage device such as a floppy disk, and the storage medium includes an area designating module 23a, a hierarchy creating module 23b, a hierarchy editing module 23c, and
The hierarchy display module 23d is stored. Incidentally, a part or all of the area designation module 23a and the hierarchy display module 23d may be assigned functions by the OS and the BIOS. 24 is an input interface, which is a keyboard 24a
A mouse 24b or the like is connected. An input / output interface 25 controls display on the display unit 25a and pen input from the pen 25b in this example.

<Example of Window Hierarchy Display in Embodiment 1>
FIG. 3 is an example of a display screen for explaining the operation of the first embodiment. In FIG. 3A, 11 is a root window, 12 and 13 and 14 are general windows that overlap each other, 15 is a locus for specifying an area, and 16 is an embodiment of the area specifying unit 1 and is a coordinate input pen. , 17 represent areas edited by the window hierarchy editing unit 3.

That is, three windows are arranged on the root window 11 in the order of 12, 13, and 14 from the bottom. Now, although the characters are displayed in the window 12, the user wants to see the portion hidden by the window 14. In the past, this was achieved by displaying the entire window 12 in the foreground, but when continuing the work in the window 14, it was necessary to restore the original overlapping state.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the processing procedure of the first embodiment. The operation of the first embodiment will be described with reference to the above figures. In the present embodiment, the locus is input in step S21 by the coordinate input pen 16 which is the area designating unit 1. In step S22, it is determined whether or not the length of the input locus exceeds the constant a, and if it exceeds, the process proceeds to step S23, and if not, another locus processing routine is executed.

In step S23, the area where the locus exists is obtained. Specifically, the maximum value and the minimum value of all the input coordinates are obtained in the x direction and the y direction, respectively, and the rectangle indicated by those values is set as the region to be obtained. In step S24, the length of the locus is divided by a constant a, and the quotient is set to b. The value of b means that how many windows existing in the specified area are removed or made transparent.

Step S25 is a window hierarchy creating process which is the designated area window hierarchy creating unit 2. This process is well known in the event delivery routine of the window system and is a process of returning the overlapping state of windows at a certain specified point as a linear list such as window IDs. In this example, 12, 13,
A list such as 14 is obtained. In step S26,
Let n = 1. In step S27, the window hierarchy editing unit 3 selects n from the top of the created window hierarchy.
This means that the second window is deleted from the list created by the window hierarchy creating section 2 or that the display attribute of the window is made transparent. In this example, the top window 14 is removed, or the display attribute of the window 14 becomes transparent. In step S28, n is incremented by 1. In step S29, it is determined whether n is equal to b. If they are equal, step S30 is repeated, otherwise step S27 is repeated. In step S30, the designated area window display unit 4 redisplays the window in the obtained area.

By the above method, a display as shown in FIG. 3B is obtained as a result, and the portion that the user wants to see appears in the area 17. In the present embodiment, the number of transparent windows is made to correspond to the length of the locus, but if the pressure of the pen, the speed of locus input, etc. are taken into consideration, the upper window is erased with an eraser, for example. You can get closer to that feeling. Also, the area of the window that becomes transparent is not limited to a rectangular shape, and the trajectory may have a width so that only the trajectory part is transparent.

Further, the present embodiment is not limited to the window in the window system, but is not limited to IntelligentP.
It is also applicable to tools that handle objects with overlapping structures, such as ad (trademark of intelligent pad consortium) pads and primitives such as drawing software. Further, in the present embodiment, a coordinate input unit such as a mouse can be used as the region designation unit 1.

<Example of Window Hierarchy Display of Second Embodiment>
As the second embodiment, the coordinate input pen 16 is added to the area designating unit 1.
What uses the area designation icon 34 will be described. In FIG. 5A, two windows are overlapped with the windows 32 and 33 in this order from the bottom on the root window 31.

In the first embodiment, since the size and position of the area and the number of windows to be removed can be designated as the input of the locus, the operability is not bad, but the area designating icon 34 is prepared in advance, and the area designating section 34 is prepared. The operability is also improved by using 1 instead of the locus. FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the processing procedure of the present embodiment.

In this embodiment, coordinates are input in step S41 by the coordinate input pen 16 which is the area designating unit 1. In step S42, the area designation icon 34 is displayed at the position of the input coordinates. Step S
At 43, the value of the constant b and the predetermined area in the area designation icon 34 is acquired. Steps S44 and subsequent steps are the same as steps S25 and subsequent steps in the first embodiment, so description thereof will be omitted, but as a result, the display as shown in FIG. 5B is selected, and the user wants to see it. The portion appears in area 35.

A significant difference from the first embodiment is that the designated area desired by the user can be continuously changed by moving the coordinate input pen 16 from the state shown in FIG. 5B. Also in this embodiment, IntelligentP is not limited to the window in the window system.
It can also be applied to tools that handle objects with overlapping structures, such as ad (trademark of intelligent pad consortium) pads and primitives such as drawing software. Further, in the present embodiment, a coordinate input unit such as a mouse can be used as the region designation unit 1.

Further, in the present embodiment, it is possible to add a button or slider for changing the physical quantity to the area designation icon 34, and the same effect as that of the first embodiment can be obtained. Even when the present invention is applied to a system composed of a plurality of devices (for example, host computer, interface device, reader, printer, etc.), a device composed of one device (for example, copying machine, facsimile device, etc.) May be applied to.

The object of the present invention is, as described above,
A storage medium recording a program code of software that realizes the functions of the embodiments is supplied to a system or apparatus, and a computer (or CPU or MPU) of the system or apparatus reads and executes the program code stored in the storage medium. Needless to say, it can be achieved by things.

In this case, the program code itself read from the storage medium realizes the novel function of the present invention, and the storage medium storing the program code constitutes the present invention. As a storage medium for supplying the program code, for example, a floppy disk,
Hard disk, optical disk, magneto-optical disk, CD-
ROM, CD-R, magnetic tape, non-volatile memory card, ROM, etc. can be used.

When the computer executes the readout program code, not only the functions of the above-described embodiment are realized, but also the OS (Operating System) running on the computer based on the instruction of the program code. ) May perform some or all of the actual processing, and the processing may realize the functions of the above-described embodiments.

Further, after the program code read from the storage medium is written into a memory provided in a function expansion board inserted into the computer or a function expansion unit connected to the computer, based on the instructions of the program code, It goes without saying that the CPU included in the function expansion board or the function expansion unit performs part or all of the actual processing, and the processing realizes the functions of the above-described embodiments.

When the present invention is applied to the above-mentioned storage medium, the storage medium stores the program code corresponding to the above-mentioned flowchart. Briefly, the storage medium in FIG. Each module shown in the illustrated memory map example will be stored. That is, at least the program codes of the area designation module 23a, the layer creation module 23b, the layer editing module 23c, and the layer display module 23d may be stored in the storage medium.

[0031]

As can be seen from the above description, according to the present invention, it is possible to specify a region and select visible / invisible for each window, thereby providing a more flexible window hierarchical display method and system. it can. Furthermore,
By designating an area according to a customary operation (for example, erasing with an eraser), it is possible to provide a window hierarchical display method and system that facilitates operation.

That is, since the partial area of the lower window can be displayed without changing the position of the upper window and the structure of the windows, refer to the display of the lower window without hiding the attention part of the upper window. The effect is that you can do it. Also, since the display level of the window can be specified by the length of the locus input with a coordinate input pen, such as displaying the bottom of the window, the operability is improved together with the specification of the area. effective.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a functional configuration diagram of a window hierarchy display according to the present embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a hardware configuration diagram of a window hierarchy display device of the present embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of a display screen according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure of the first embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of a display screen according to the second embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure according to the second embodiment.

Claims (13)

[Claims] 1. A window hierarchical display method for hierarchically displaying a plurality of windows, wherein the desired area of the upper window is made transparent by rubbing the desired area of the upper window on the display surface. In the window hierarchy display method, a lower window hidden by the upper window is displayed. 2. The window hierarchy display method according to claim 1, wherein in the step of making transparent, it is further determined whether or not to make transparent in accordance with a rubbing amount. 3. The window hierarchy display method according to claim 2, wherein the number of transparent windows is determined according to the rubbing amount. 4. In a multi-window system for hierarchically displaying a plurality of windows, area designating means for designating a desired area of the upper window by rubbing on a display surface, and transparentizing the desired area of the upper window. And a display control means for displaying a lower window hidden by the upper window in the desired area. 5. The multi-window system according to claim 4, wherein the display control means determines whether or not the display is transparent in accordance with the amount of rubbing by the area designating means. 6. The multi-window system according to claim 5, wherein the display control means further determines the number of transparent windows according to the rubbing amount. 7. An area designating means for designating a desired area of a displayed window, a window hierarchy creating means for creating a hierarchy of windows of the designated desired area, and creation based on the specification by the area designating means. And a window display unit for displaying the window of the desired area based on the layer of the edited window. And a multi-window system. 8. The multi-window according to claim 7, wherein the area designating means includes coordinate inputting means, and a figure determined by a plurality of coordinates input by the coordinate inputting means is set as the desired area. system. 9. The window hierarchy editing means comprises window designating means for designating an arbitrary number of front windows that reflect the physical quantity obtained from the area designating means as editing targets. Item 9. The multi-window system according to item 8. 10. The multi-window according to claim 9, wherein the coordinate input means inputs a plurality of coordinates by drawing a locus with a coordinate input pen, and the physical quantity is a length of the locus. system. 11. The multi-window system according to claim 7, wherein the area designating means includes coordinate inputting means, and a figure arranged at a coordinate input by the coordinate inputting means is set as the desired area. 12. An area designating step of designating a desired area of a displayed window, a hierarchy creating step of creating a hierarchy of windows of the designated desired area, and creation based on the specification in the area designating step. A hierarchy editing step of editing a desired number of windows in front of the window hierarchy of the desired area, and a hierarchy displaying step of displaying the window of the desired area based on the edited window hierarchy. Hierarchical display method for windows. 13. A computer-readable memory in which program code for hierarchical display of windows is stored, the code of an area designating step for designating a desired area of the displayed window, and the hierarchy of the window of the designated desired area. And a code of a hierarchy editing step of editing a desired number of windows in front of the hierarchy of the created window of the desired area based on the code of the hierarchy creating step and the specification in the area specifying step, and And a code of a hierarchy display step for displaying the window of the desired area based on the hierarchy of the created window.