JPH09288741A - Graphic designation supporting device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a graphic indication device capable of easily selecting and designating an optional graphic from plural graphic elements displayed overlappingly on a screen by a user and improving the efficiency of an operation in a CAD system or the like. SOLUTION: A color is allocated to the graphic present at a point indicated by a cursor on the screen by the user and within a cursor valid range around it (S11)-(S13), the respective graphics are displayed by the allocated colors and the color palette of the colors corresponding to the respective graphics is displayed (S14)-(S16). When the user designates one optional graphic, the color of the corresponding graphic is specified from the displayed color palette (S17).

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention is used in a graphic processing device such as a computer-aided design (CAD) system, and in the graphic processing device, a user arbitrarily selects from a plurality of graphics displayed on a display screen. The present invention relates to a figure pointing support device that facilitates selection and pointing when selecting and pointing one figure.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art CAD systems are widely used to support design / manufacturing activities in the manufacturing and construction industries.

In working with a CAD system, when a user makes or modifies a design drawing, etc., the user composes the design drawing or the like displayed on the screen from among a plurality of graphic elements such as circles and straight lines. An arbitrary graphic element may be selected and an instruction to move, modify, delete, etc. the graphic may be given.

As an apparatus for facilitating selection and designation of an arbitrary figure from a plurality of such figure elements, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open Nos. 4-175979, 5-334415 and 4-246785.
There is one described in the issue.

Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 4-175979 discloses a device for enlarging the display screen and facilitating the selection of a target graphic when the user selects an arbitrary graphic. In addition,
No. 334415 discloses a device in which graphic elements existing in a display area on a screen designated by a user are sequentially displayed, and the user selects and instructs a desired graphic by a confirmation operation.
Further, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 4-246785 discloses an apparatus capable of selecting a desired graphic from graphic elements existing in a designated area by the user's next candidate key operation.

[0006]

However, in the device disclosed in the above invention, when selecting or instructing a figure, the desired figure cannot be indicated or the figure to be selected is wrong, Since it is necessary to repeat each of the above operations many times, there is a problem in operability, and therefore there is a problem in improving work efficiency.

[0007]

According to the present invention, in a graphic processing device such as a CAD system, processing such as movement, correction and deletion is performed from a plurality of graphics displayed overlapping a screen of a display device. In addition, the present invention relates to a figure pointing support device that can facilitate an operation when a user selects and points an arbitrary figure without requiring a conventional enlarging operation or repeated selecting operation.

In the figure instruction assisting device according to the present invention, the user gives an instruction of an arbitrary figure by instructing one point on the screen by the cursor, and the figure processing apparatus selects the instruction target based on the instruction by the user. A cancellation detection means for detecting cancellation of the selection by a user's operation after the graphic is displayed on the screen and the cancellation detection means detects the cancellation operation. Is assigned to each figure so that one color corresponds to one figure with respect to a plurality of figures displayed within the cursor effective range around the indicated point on the screen where the instruction is given, and at least two, A color palette setting unit having a color palette composed of the above colors on the screen, and a graphic to which the colors of the color palette are allocated are assigned. The color display means for displaying on the screen in different colors and the graphic instruction by the user are input by designating one color corresponding to the graphic in the color palette displayed on the screen, and the graphic processing is performed. It is characterized in that it comprises a graphic instruction inputting means to be given to the device.

Therefore, when the user selects and designates one desired figure, the color of the color palette assigned to the figure is selected, and the operation is performed only by the instruction operation of the color palette displayed on the screen. Therefore, the operability can be improved.

Preferably, the figure pointing support device according to the present invention, when assigning a figure existing within the effective range of the cursor to the color palette, sets colors at the beginning and the end of the color palette that are significantly different in hue from each other. The first color of the color palette is allocated to the first graphic and the last color of the color palette is allocated to the second graphic in the order stored in the graphic processing device. For one, a section from one of the two colors to which the figure has already been assigned to the other is defined as a section, a color with an intermediate number in the section is assigned to the figure, and the same procedure is repeated thereafter. Is assigned to each color of the color palette. Therefore, since the colors are assigned according to the procedure described above, it is possible to prevent the similar colors from being assigned subsequently, and thus it becomes possible to facilitate the selection by the user.

The graphic instruction support device according to the present invention is
Preferably, two or more figures displayed overlapping each other are regarded as one group, and when the color palette is displayed on the screen, each group is configured in the horizontal direction by the number of groups and each group is configured. The feature is that the number of figures is displayed in the vertical direction. Therefore, the user can easily understand which graphic element belongs to which group, thereby facilitating the selection of a desired graphic by the user.

Further, in the figure designating assistance apparatus according to the present invention, preferably, only the figures within the effective range of the cursor are targeted for allocation to the color palette, and the non-target figures are not displayed, and once selected. Shape
After that, when the selection is canceled, the graphic is excluded from the processing target. As a result, at the time of selecting a figure, a figure element unrelated to the user's selection and instruction is eliminated, so that the figure can be easily selected and more efficient work can be performed.

[0013]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 schematically shows the configuration of a graphic designating device according to the present invention. This device is integrally incorporated in a graphic processing device including a central processing unit 1, a display device 2, a keyboard 3 and a pointing device 4 such as a mouse, and the user can change the graphic displayed on the screen of the display device 2 to The keyboard 3 or the pointing device 4 is operated to select and instruct.

FIG. 2 is a flow chart showing the procedure of the graphic instruction by the graphic processing device having the graphic instruction support device according to the present invention, and FIGS. 3 and 4 are the processes enclosed by the broken line in the flow chart shown in FIG. Codes A and B, respectively
(Indicated by) is shown in detail.

A procedure for selecting and instructing a figure will be described below with reference to the drawings. In addition, here, before the user selects and instructs the figure by the following procedure, the figure processing (moving, correcting, deleting, etc.) is input as a command in advance, and then the figure to be processed is selected. Shall be instructed. In addition, in the flow charts of FIGS.
The steps indicated by broken lines indicate that the operation is performed by the user, and the solid lines indicate the processing performed by the device.

As shown in FIG. 2, first, in step 11, it is determined whether or not the user has correctly instructed the target figure. If the user has correctly instructed, the next process (movement, movement,
(Correction, deletion, etc.), but if the instruction cannot be given correctly, the user inputs a cancel command to the device in step 12. When a cancel command is input by the user, in step 14, the apparatus sets a color for a graphic existing within the effective range of the cursor on the display screen and displays it on the screen with a color palette. After that, when the user instructs the color palette displayed on the screen in step 15, the color palette display is ended in step 16, and the user judges again in step 17 whether the target figure has been correctly indicated. , Move to the next process (move, modify, delete, etc.).

The above procedure will be described in detail below with reference to FIGS.

First, in step 21 of FIG. 3, when the user selects an arbitrary figure with a cursor from a plurality of figures displayed on the screen and designates it, in step 22, the figure processing device moves within the cursor effective range. The figure is temporarily stored in the figure data buffer 5. Next, in step 23, the figure processing device judges one figure within the effective range of the cursor as a target figure and displays this figure on the screen. After that, in step 24, the user determines whether or not the target figure can be designated with the cursor, and if the figure displayed on the screen is the figure that the user wants to select, in step 25, the user issues a command for the next process, etc. Enter to end the instruction procedure. However, when the figure is not the one to be selected, the processing described below is performed.

That is, when the figure to be selected is not displayed as the target figure, when the user inputs a cancel command in step 26, the figure processing device determines the number of figures stored in the figure data buffer 5 in step 27. The number of the figure is determined in the next step 28, and if two or more figures are present, the next color palette process is performed.

Next, as shown in FIG. 4, the graphic data temporarily stored in the graphic data buffer in step 31 is read out,
Of the read graphics, each color of the color palette is set for each graphic other than the canceled graphic. Here, the color palette is set as follows. First, as the color palette, 64 colors are set to change from red as shown in FIG. 5 to blue with a hue significantly different from that, and the color to be applied to the figure is changed to that of the figure stored in the figure data buffer. Assign in order. Therefore, the first figure is red and the second figure is blue.

For the third and subsequent figures, the interval between the two colors for which the figure has already been set is defined as one section, and the color at the midpoint of this one section is sequentially set. At this time, if the number of colors in one section is 2n (n: natural number), the nth color is set. If the number of colors in one section is 0, the color is selected from the next section and set. For example, considering a case where colors are assigned to five graphic elements, the result is as shown in FIG. By setting as described above, it becomes difficult to continuously set similar colors.

Next, in step 32, the data of the graphic not to be processed and the data of the graphic canceled by the previous cancel operation are temporarily saved in the color data buffer 6, and then step
Of the graphics to which the colors of the color palette have been assigned in 33, the graphic elements that are displayed overlapping each other are grouped into one group and the data is temporarily recorded in the overlapped graphic data buffer. This means that if there are overlapping shapes,
This is because the figure on the lower side is hidden on the display screen so that the figure can be designated. In this case, if there is only one intersection, that is, if they only intersect, they are not regarded as a group.

Then, in step 34, the color palette to which each figure is assigned is displayed and each figure is displayed in the assigned color. The color palette is displayed for each group in the predetermined direction by the number of groups, and for each group, the number of graphic elements included in the group is displayed in the direction intersecting with the predetermined direction in the previous period (see FIG. 7). ). At this time, only the graphic to which each color of the color palette is assigned, that is, the graphic within the effective range of the cursor when the graphic is first designated by the cursor is displayed on the screen, and the other graphics are not displayed.

The specific procedure for this is as follows. First, as shown in FIG. 8, when the displayed figure within the cursor effective range is a figure in which three figure elements A, B, and C are overlapped, a color of a color palette is assigned to each figure.
Here, red is assigned to the graphic element A, blue is assigned to B, and yellow is assigned to C. Next, a group of graphic elements is set. In this case, (A, B) and (A, C) are set as the group. After that, a color palette is displayed for each of these two groups and each graphic element included in each group, and the graphic is displayed in the assigned color.
The color palette is displayed as shown in FIG. The color palettes are displayed in the order in which they are overlapped from the top.

Thereafter, the user selects the displayed color palette while looking at the color-coded graphics, and thereby the graphic element corresponding to the selected color palette color is selected (step 35, see FIG. 4). . For example, in the case of selecting the graphic element A in FIGS. 8 to 9, A is selected by pointing the displayed red color palette with a cursor or the like.

When the figure is selected by the user, the display of the color palette is terminated, the figure is restored to the original color, and the figure is displayed again. After that, processing (moving, deleting, etc.) is performed on the figure selected by the user.

[0028]

EXAMPLE The above procedure will be described with reference to a more specific example.

As shown in FIG. 10, let us consider a case where the graphic displayed on the screen is composed of five graphic elements A to E. Here, it is assumed that the user selects the graphic B.

First, the user moves the cursor to the display position of the figure B with the keyboard or the pointing device, and then performs the pointing operation (pick) of the figure B by operating the keyboard or the pointing device.

At this time, as shown in FIG. 11, there are four figures A to D within the effective range of the cursor, and this apparatus stores these four figures in the figure data buffer once. One of the figures is determined to be the processing target figure.
Since the figure E is outside the effective range of the cursor, it is not processed.

Here, when the apparatus judges that the graphic B is the graphic to be processed and displays it, the graphic B is the graphic targeted by the user, so the user inputs the next command (step 25, see FIG. 3). As a result, the present apparatus ends the graphic selection procedure and can perform the next processing (movement of graphic, etc.). However, if the apparatus determines that a figure other than the figure B, for example, the figure A, is a processing target figure and displays the figure, the figure A is not the figure designated by the user, and the user performs a cancel operation. As a result, the graphic A is excluded from the processing target.

After the cancel operation is performed by the user, the apparatus reads the graphic stored in the graphic data buffer and assigns each color of the color palette to each graphic. First, of the graphics read out from the graphics data buffer, colors other than the graphics A canceled by the user, that is, graphics B, C, and D, are assigned colors in the color palette. Here, it is assumed that red is assigned to the graphic B, blue is assigned to the graphic C, and yellow is assigned to the graphic D.

Next, each graphic is displayed on the screen in the assigned color, and a color palette is displayed for each graphic group. Here, there are three graphics to be processed, B, C, and D, and since they overlap each other, the group is one (B, C, D). Therefore, as shown in FIG. 12, each figure except the figure (figure A) canceled in the previous process and the color palette for one group are displayed.

Here, when the user picks the color palette assigned to the figure B to be instructed, that is, the red color palette from the color palette displayed on the screen, the figure B is selected. After that, the display of the color palette is terminated, the figure is returned to the original color, the figure is displayed again, and the next processing is performed.

In order to be able to display and designate again the graphic element once canceled in the above procedure, the processing command (enlargement, movement, deletion, etc.) input in advance is canceled or another processing command is executed. Interrupt input.

[0037]

As described above, according to the graphic designating apparatus of the present invention, it is possible to easily select and designate an arbitrary graphic element from the displayed graphics.
The operability is improved and the work efficiency is improved.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram schematically showing a figure pointing support device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flow chart showing a procedure of graphic instruction using the graphic instruction support device according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 shows details of the process indicated by reference sign A in the flowchart shown in FIG.

FIG. 4 shows details of the process indicated by reference sign B in the flowchart shown in FIG.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a color order when setting a color palette.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of a method of setting each color of a color palette to each graphic element.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of a display method of each color of a color palette to which each graphic element is assigned.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an example of a graphic displayed on a screen and graphic elements constituting the graphic.

9 is a diagram showing an example of the graphic element shown in FIG. 8 and a color palette display corresponding to it.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of a graphic displayed on the screen and graphic elements constituting the graphic.

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing a state where the figure shown in FIG. 10 is designated by a cursor.

FIG. 12 is a diagram showing a state in which a color palette assigned to each figure in the cursor effective range shown in FIG. 11 is displayed.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Central Processing Unit 2 Display Device 3 Keyboard 4 Pointing Device 5 Graphic Data Buffer 6 Color Data Buffer 7 Overlapping Graphic Data Buffer

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁶ Identification code Internal reference number FI Technical display location G06T 7/00 G06F 15/66 470 15/70 310

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A central processing unit, a display device having a screen,
Used for a graphic processing apparatus having a keyboard and a pointing device for moving a cursor on the screen by a user's operation, and selecting one arbitrary graphic to be processed by the user from a plurality of graphics displayed on the screen. In a graphic instruction support device for facilitating a physical instruction, a user gives an instruction of an arbitrary graphic by pointing at one point on the screen with the cursor, and based on the instruction by the user, the graphic processing device determines that the instruction target is the target. After determining that it is a figure and displaying the figure on the screen,
Cancellation detection means for detecting cancellation of the selection by a user operation, and the cancellation detection means, when the cancellation operation is detected,
For each of a plurality of figures displayed within the cursor effective range on the designated point on the screen where the user has given the instruction and the periphery thereof, at least each color is assigned to each figure so that one color corresponds to one figure, at least A color palette setting means for providing a color palette consisting of two or more colors on the screen; and a color display means for displaying a graphic to which the colors of the color palette are assigned, on the screen in the assigned color, A graphic instruction input means for inputting a graphic instruction by a user by designating one color corresponding to the graphic in the color palette displayed on the screen and giving it to the graphic processing device. The graphic instruction support device. 2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the color palette setting means assigns a figure existing within a cursor effective range to the color palette, and the first and the last of the color palette have a large hue. Different colors are allocated to the first color, the first color of the color palette is allocated to the first graphic, and the last color of the color palette is allocated to the second graphic in the order stored in the graphic processing device. For the second and subsequent figures, one section from one of the two colors to which the figure has already been assigned to the other is defined as a section, a color with an intermediate number in the section is assigned to the figure, and the same procedure is followed. A figure pointing support device, characterized in that the figure is repeatedly assigned to each color of the color palette. 3. The device according to claim 1, wherein
The color palette setting unit regards two or more figures displayed overlapping each other as one group, divides the assigned color into each group when displaying the color palette on the screen, and The number of symbols in the predetermined direction are displayed in the predetermined direction, and the number of graphics forming each group is displayed in the other direction intersecting with the predetermined direction. 4. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the color palette setting means sets only a graphic within a cursor effective range as an allocation target to the color palette, and other graphic. Characterized by instructing the graphic processing device not to display
Graphic instruction support device. 5. The apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the color palette setting means is configured such that the cancellation detecting means indicates that the user cancels the selection after selecting an arbitrary figure. A figure designating assistance device, which, when detected, excludes the figure from the processing target.