JPH0962475A - Window display device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide the window display device which can select an arbitrary window through a small number of operations whatever kind of a pointing device is in use. SOLUTION: The device 1 which sections and displays a plurality of pieces of information in windows 11 and 12 on a screen 2 is provided with a means which registers or deletes information on a generated or deleted window in a table when the window is generated or deleted and a means which displays an icon 13 for changing the display order of the windows on the screen when the number of the windows registered in the same table becomes >=2. The display order of the windows is changed by operating this icon. Further, an external switch 6 may be provided with a function for window control.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a device for displaying a plurality of pieces of information on a screen of a display device by dividing the information into windows. The window display device of the present invention is used for a device using a computer such as a navigation device and a PDA (Personal data assistant).

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a conventional window display device,
When a plurality of windows are displayed on the screen, the following operation is performed in order to display the target window in the foreground on the screen. 1) Move another window currently displayed on the screen or change the size on the screen so that the target window can be seen. Then, the operation for changing the display order is performed on the target window that has become visible.

2) A list of windows currently displayed on the screen is displayed on the screen, and an operation of selecting a target window from the list is performed. 3) Register a specific window in the menu bar and operate the button indicating the menu bar of the target window on the screen.

[0004]

The conventional methods described above have the following problems. In the method of 1), it is necessary to operate several windows before making the target window visible. The method 2) is easy to operate in an environment where a mouse can be used as a pointing device, but the mouse cannot be used in a navigation device, a PDA, etc., and thus the operation is troublesome.

In the method 3), since the number of menu bars is limited, it can be used only in a specific window among the many windows. It is an object of the present invention to provide a window display device capable of selecting an arbitrary window with less operation regardless of the type of pointing device.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention creates or deletes a window when creating or deleting the window in an apparatus for displaying a plurality of pieces of information on a screen by dividing the information into windows. Means for registering or deleting the information of the window in the table and means for displaying the icon for changing the display order of the window on the screen when the number of windows registered in the table becomes two or more.

As a result, the icon operated to change the display order of the windows appears on the screen. Incidentally, not only one icon is provided, but when the window is divided into a plurality of categories, a plurality of icons can be displayed for each category. When the screen is not a touch panel, the function of an external switch provided in the display device can be changed for window control, and the external switch can be used for changing the display order of windows. At this time, it is also possible to change the functions of a plurality of switches and set the switches for each category.

According to another aspect of the present invention, in a device for displaying a plurality of pieces of information on a screen by dividing the window into windows, when a window display order changing instruction is input,
Means for changing the priority order of the windows in the window table and means for re-displaying the windows on the display device according to the changed order are provided. By operating the aforementioned window control icon or switch, an instruction to change the window display order is input.
As a result, the priority order in the window table is changed, and the highest-order window is displayed on the screen according to the order. It is possible to display the target window on the screen by repeatedly operating the icon or the like until the target window is displayed on the front.

Further, according to the present invention, history storage means for storing a predetermined number of pieces of information on the window displayed in the foreground is added, and when a window display order changing instruction is input,
It is possible to redisplay the window according to the history storage means and preferentially display the window recently displayed on the screen. Further, the present invention is provided with a voice identification means for giving an instruction to change the window display order by voice,
The order changing means may perform the order changing process when an instruction to change the display order by voice is input. Further, by adding a function for identifying the name of the window to the voice identification means, the window with the identified name can be given the highest rank and the window can be displayed on the screen.

[0010]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION An example in which the present invention is applied to a navigation device will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows an operation panel 1 of a navigation device. The display device 2 is arranged in the center of the operation panel 1, and switches are arranged around the screen of the display device 2. Reference numeral 3 is a power switch, 4 is an operation button for adjusting the inclination of the screen, 5 is a selection switch, 6 is an external switch, 7 and 8 are operation buttons for adjusting the volume and the like, and 9 is various display lamps.

A navigation screen is displayed on the screen of the display device 2 shown, and two windows 11 and 12 are displayed on the navigation screen. Further, a window control icon 13 and a menu bar 14 for changing the window display order, which will be described later, are also displayed.
In the illustrated example, only one icon 13 is displayed, but when the display device 2 is used not only for navigation but also for different categories such as "fax" and "video", the same number of icons as that category is used. Can also be displayed.

FIG. 2 is a circuit diagram of the navigation device. In FIG. 2, circuits other than navigation, such as radio, television, and CD, are not shown. In the figure, reference numeral 21 is a computer unit that controls the navigation device. In this computer section 21,
A position sensor 22 such as a GPS, a map information recording unit 23 such as a CDROM, a speaker 24, a microphone 25, a display device 2 of the operation panel 1, various switches 5 and 6, and various display lamps 9 are connected.

The operation of changing the display order of windows on the display device 2 will be described below with reference to a flowchart. The following operations are processed by the computer unit 21 of FIG. FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating a process of generating and deleting the window control icon (icon 13 in FIG. 1). This flow starts when a window is created or deleted.

In step S11, window generation or deletion processing is performed as in the conventional case. Step S12
Then, the information of the created or deleted window is registered or deleted in the window table. This window table will be described later. In step S13, it is determined whether the number of windows registered in the table is 2 or more. If the number is 2 or more, the window control icon is displayed on the screen in step S14. Also, 1
In the following cases, the window control icon is deleted from the screen in step S15.

With the above operation, the window generation or deletion processing is completed. Although the window control icon is displayed on the screen in step S14, when the display device 1 is not formed of a touch panel, an external switch can be used instead of the icon. For this purpose, in step S14, the window control function is assigned to the external switch 6 shown in FIG.

FIG. 4 shows an example of the window table. In the figure, the item “ID” is an ID indicating a category of window information. The item “name” is a name unique to the window. The item “position” indicates the position of the window on the screen, and the coordinates of the upper left and lower right of the window are recorded. The item "priority order" represents the display order of each window.

In the item "priority order", "1" is given to the window displayed on the foremost side on the screen, and hereinafter, numbers are given in order. When a new window is created, a rank "1" is given to the window, and the ranks of the other windows are decremented by one.
Also, when a window is deleted, the rank of the window after the window is moved up by one.

The method of assigning this priority is arbitrary. For example, all windows can be serialized regardless of category. However, in this example, priorities are assigned to each category, and although not displayed in the table, priorities among categories are also assigned. The operation of changing the display order of windows will be described with reference to FIG.

When trying to display a window different from the currently displayed window, the icon 13 displayed on the screen or the external switch 6 changed to the window control function by the processing of FIG. 3 is operated. . Note that in the example of FIG. 5, icons are used for window control, and a plurality of icons are displayed for each category.

In step S21, it is determined whether or not the window control icon has been operated. If not operated, the process ends, but if operated, step S2
Proceed to 2. In step S22, the ID (category) of the operated icon is determined.

In step S23, the display order of the windows belonging to the specified ID group is changed. Various methods can be considered as the algorithm for this change.
For example, the window at the top is currently the bottom,
There is a method of sequentially moving the other windows up by one place, or a method of setting the lowest window at the top to the top and sequentially moving down the other windows by one place.

In step S24, the window is redisplayed. At this time, the highest ranked window in the category determined in step S22 is displayed on the screen. As a result, if the target window is displayed in the foreground, the operation of the icon is stopped there, but if the target window is not displayed, the icon is operated again. As a result, the processing from step S21 onward is repeated, and different windows are sequentially displayed.

According to the example described above, when the display order of windows is to be changed, the icon 13 on the screen is changed.
Alternatively, it suffices to push the external switch 6 until the target window is displayed at the front. Therefore, it is possible to easily display an arbitrary window with a simple operation. Further, in the example described above, the display order is changed for each category, and the window of the selected category is redisplayed with priority over the windows of other categories.
However, when trying to display another window instead of the currently displayed window, there are many cases in which it is desired to redisplay the window that was displayed several times before. Moreover, the target window may be in a different category from the currently displayed window.

In order to meet such a request, when the window is displayed again, the window can be selected according to the past history regardless of the category. This example will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. The flow of FIG. 6 is added after step S24 of FIG. When the changed window is re-displayed in step S24 of FIG. 5, weighting is applied in step S25.

In step S26, it is determined whether or not the window control icon is operated during this wait period, and if not operated, the process ends, but the re-displayed window is not the intended one, and the wait period is continued. If the icon is operated again, the process proceeds to step S27. In step S27, the information of the window currently displayed on the frontmost side of the screen is recorded in the history buffer. This history buffer has the same structure as the window table of FIG. 3, but the number of information recorded therein is a small number such as three. And when new information is recorded, that information is ranked highest,
The rank of the already recorded information is decremented by one.

In step S28, the window is redisplayed according to the history buffer. Specifically, the window with the second highest priority is displayed in the history buffer. afterwards,
The process ends. In step S28, if three or more pieces of information are recorded in the history buffer,
It is also possible to apply the same weight as that in step S25 after the re-display and to display the next rank window in the history buffer when the icon is operated during the weight period. In this case, the process is terminated when there is no remaining information in the history buffer. After that, when the icon is further operated, the processes in and after step S21 are performed, and the windows in the table are sequentially displayed.

In the above-mentioned example, the example in which the icon is used as the pointing device has been described. As the pointing device, as described above, the external switch 6 shown in FIG. 1 can be used instead of the icon. Further, it is possible to give an instruction to change the display by voice instead of manual operation. This example will be described with reference to the flowcharts of FIGS. Note that the microphone 25 of FIG. 1 is used for voice identification, and voice identification is performed in the computer unit 21. Further, the command necessary for the window operation instruction is, for example, “change window” or “display window XX”,
Decide in advance.

In the example of FIG. 7, the display order of windows is changed by a voice instruction. Note that this example is not categorized. In step S31, it is determined whether or not there is a voice input. If there is no input, the process ends, and if there is, the process proceeds to step S32. In step S32, it is determined whether or not the voice input is a voice instructing the window operation described above. If NO, the process ends, and if YES, the process proceeds to step S33.

In step S33, the process of changing the display order of the windows is performed, and in step S34, the windows are displayed again in accordance with the changed display order. In the example of FIG. 8, the name of the target window is designated by voice. In step S41, it is determined whether or not there is a voice input. If there is no input, the process is terminated, and if there is no input, step S
Go to 32.

In step S42, it is determined whether or not the voice input is a voice for instructing the window operation described above. If NO, the process ends, and if YES, the process proceeds to step S33. In step S43, it is determined whether or not there is a window corresponding to the name designated by voice in the table. If there is no corresponding name, the process ends, and if there is, the process proceeds to step S44.

In step S44, the priority of the window having the designated name in the table is set to the first priority, and the priority of the other windows is changed accordingly. Step S4
In step 5, the window is redisplayed according to the changed order, and the process ends.

[0032]

According to the present invention, any window can be
It is possible to obtain a window display device that can be selected with less operations regardless of the type of pointing device.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a navigation device to which a window display device of the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2 is a circuit diagram of the navigation device of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a process of generating a window control icon according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a window table used in the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a window display order changing process of the present invention.

6 is a flowchart showing processing in which a history buffer is added to the flow of FIG.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart (No. 1) showing the process of changing the window display order by voice according to the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart (No. 2) showing the process of changing the window display order by voice according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 ... Operation panel 2 ... Display device 6 ... External switch 13 ... Window icon 21 ... Computer part 25 ... Microphone

Claims (8)

[Claims] 1. A device for displaying a plurality of pieces of information on a screen by dividing the window into windows, when the windows are created or deleted, a means for registering or deleting the information of the created or deleted windows in a table, and the table. And a means for displaying an icon for changing the display order of the windows on the screen when the number of windows registered in 2 or more. 2. The window display device according to claim 1, wherein the means for displaying the icon displays a plurality of icons classified by the type of information. 3. A device for displaying a plurality of pieces of information on a screen by dividing the window into windows, and means for registering or deleting the information of the created or deleted windows in a table when the windows are created or deleted. A window display device, comprising means for changing the function of an operation switch provided in the device to a switch for changing the display order of windows when the number of windows registered in the table becomes two or more. 4. The window display device according to claim 3, wherein the function changing unit changes the function of the plurality of switches into switches for changing the display order of windows according to the type of information. 5. A device for displaying a plurality of pieces of information on a screen by dividing the window into windows, and a means for changing the priority order of windows in a window table when an instruction to change the window display order is input, and the change means. And a means for redisplaying the window on the display device according to the order. 6. A history storage unit for storing a predetermined number of pieces of information on the window displayed in the foreground, and a unit for redisplaying the window according to the history storage unit when an instruction to change the window display order is input. The window display device according to claim 5, wherein 7. The window according to claim 5, wherein a voice identification means is provided, and when the instruction to change the display order is input from the voice identification means, the order change means performs the order change process. Display device. 8. The voice identification means has a function of identifying the name of the window, and the order changing means gives the window of the identified name the highest priority. Window display device.