JPH10275045A - User interface device for candidate selection - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide the user interface device for candidate selection which easily selects a target candidate even when there are many selection candidates. SOLUTION: This is a user interface device which is used to select a selection candidate displayed graphically on the screen of a computer system, and equipped with a selection candidate arrangement acquiring means 101 which acquires position information on the selection candidates displayed on the screen, an area dividing means 102 which divides the screen or an area into a predetermined number of areas according to the acquired position information on the selection candidates, an area display means which discriminates and displays the divided areas, a selection indicating means 104 for selecting an area including a selection candidate out of the divided areas, and a selection deciding means 105 which decides whether or not one selection area includes plural selection candidates and selects one selection candidate when the selection candidate only is included or instructs the division of the area to the area dividing means when plural selection candidates are included.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a graphical user interface for a computer system.
In particular, the present invention relates to a candidate selection user interface device that reduces selection work of selection candidates displayed on a screen.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, an apparatus which divides a screen into a plurality of areas and allows a user to select one of the divided areas has been used in a system for image processing or the like to select a target area. Used for ease.

[0003] One example of such an apparatus is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 3-27.
No. 6190. In the image input / output editing device disclosed in this publication, the image to be processed is divided into similar shapes having a constant aspect ratio, and the user selects one of them to keep the aspect ratio constant. It is easy to change the position and the magnification.

Further, a device that divides a screen into a plurality of regions and performs switching display of the regions displays a necessary portion of information and simplifies the configuration of a keyboard in a recording device using a display or the like. Has been used for.

[0005] An example of such an apparatus is disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 1-25 / 1990.
3794. The recording apparatus using the display disclosed in this publication arranges selection candidates for setting functions and execution conditions on a plurality of screens, and switches and selects divided screens to select one screen. The configuration is such that selection can be made only by arranging keys required for operation input.

[0006]

A first problem in the above-mentioned conventional technique is that when there are many selection candidates, a target candidate cannot be easily selected. This is because the number of keys and the number of screens used in the conventional technique increase as the number of selection candidates increases. In the image input / output editing apparatus described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 3-276190, the screen is divided into regions having a fixed aspect ratio. The region to be divided is designated by inputting a key corresponding to the region. Therefore, when the number of areas is large, it is necessary to check and input the corresponding key, and it becomes difficult to select a candidate.

In a recording apparatus using a display described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 1-253794, selection candidates are distributed over a plurality of screens, and keys are assigned to the selection candidates for each screen. Is switched, and the user makes a selection by inputting a key. However, if the number of selection candidates in the screen is large, it is necessary to check the corresponding key and input it. Become.

On the other hand, if the number of screens is increased in order to reduce the number of selection candidates in one screen, an operation for switching screens to search for a screen including a target candidate is required, which makes it easy to select candidates. Can't do it.

[0009] A second problem with the prior art is that it is difficult to divide the area so that the selection is efficient.

[0010] In the image input / output editing apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 3-276190, no consideration is given to how to divide the image and perform efficient selection. For this reason, the area divided by the device may not include what the user desires.

In the recording apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 1-253794, selection candidates are scattered and arranged on a plurality of screens in consideration of the use frequency and the like. Labor is required. When the frequency of use of a certain user is different from the frequency of use of another user, it is substantially difficult to arrange the selection candidates so as to be appropriate for both.

An object of the present invention is to propose a candidate selection user interface device which can easily select a target candidate even when there are many selection candidates.

Still another object of the present invention is to propose a candidate selection user interface device which facilitates appropriate division of a region so that candidate selection can be performed efficiently.

[0014]

According to the present invention, there is provided a user interface device for selecting a candidate, which is used for selecting a selection candidate graphically displayed on a screen of a computer system. The screen or area is predetermined based on the position information of the selection candidate acquired by the selection candidate arrangement acquiring means for acquiring the position information of the selection candidate displayed above, and the selection candidate acquired by the selection candidate arrangement acquiring means. Area dividing means for dividing into a plurality of areas, display means for distinguishing and displaying the areas divided by the area dividing means, and a selection instruction for selecting the area including a selection candidate from the divided areas Means for determining whether a plurality of the selection candidates are included in the selected area, and determining whether the selected area includes one selection candidate. Perform selects the selection candidate, it contains multiple selection candidates, characterized in that it comprises a selection determining means for instructing a division of the region into the region dividing means.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the user interface device for selecting a candidate, the area dividing means divides the area such that each area after the division includes substantially the same number of selection candidates. .

According to a third aspect of the present invention, the display means displays different areas so that the areas can be distinguished from each other in accordance with the number of included selection candidates. I do.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided the user interface device for selecting a candidate according to the present invention, further comprising a selection candidate rearranging means for rearranging the candidates in accordance with a certain rule in accordance with the density of the selection candidates and the arrangement state. And

[0018]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows a configuration of an embodiment of a candidate selection user interface device of the present invention.

In FIG. 1, a candidate selection user interface device 10 according to the present embodiment includes a selection candidate arrangement obtaining means 101, an area dividing means 102, an area displaying means 103, a selecting instruction means 104, a selection determining means, Means 10
5 and a selection candidate rearrangement unit 106.

The selection candidate arrangement obtaining means 101 obtains position information of all the selection candidates existing on the screen.

Based on the position information of the selection candidates obtained by the selection candidate arrangement obtaining means 101, the region dividing means 102 determines a predetermined number of the selection candidates so that the number of the selection candidates included in each area becomes substantially equal. The screen or area is divided into areas. In the initial state where the screen is not divided, the region dividing means 102 performs the division by regarding the entire screen as the region of interest (to be divided), and in the state after the division,
The division is performed by regarding the region selected by the user as the region of interest.

The area displaying means 103 displays the area divided by the area dividing means 102 on the screen. In displaying the regions, the regions are displayed in different ways according to the number of selection candidates included in the regions so that the regions can be distinguished. As a display method for distinguishing the regions, a highlighted display, a display with a different color, or the like can be considered. By performing such display, the user can easily distinguish an area having many selection candidates from an area having few selection candidates.

The selection instructing means 104 is means for the user to make an input for selecting a candidate, and is, for example, a pointing device such as a keyboard and a mouse.

The selection judging means 105 judges whether or not the area selected by the user's selecting instruction means 104 includes a plurality of selection candidates. It instructs the area dividing means 102 to divide the area, and if the selection area includes one selection candidate, the selection candidate is selected.

Further, the selection judging means 105 controls so that an area which does not include a selection candidate cannot be selected by the selection instructing means 104.

The selection candidate rearrangement means 106 rearranges the selection candidates according to a certain rule so that the area can be easily divided. For example, when the user operates a specific key, the selection candidate rearranging unit 106 is activated, and rearranges the selection candidates according to a preset rule. It is also possible to set so that the selection candidate rearranging means 106 is automatically activated and rearranged according to the degree of density of selection candidates and the arrangement state. By rearranging the selection candidates at, for example, equal intervals, it becomes possible to divide the regions so that the number of selection candidates included in each region becomes substantially equal.

Next, the operation of the candidate selection user interface device according to the embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 2 is a flowchart for explaining an operation example of the candidate selection user interface device according to the embodiment of the present invention.

First, in a case where an activation condition is set such that the selection candidate rearrangement means 106 is activated in accordance with the density and arrangement state of the selection candidates and the selection candidates are rearranged, the state of the selection candidates is changed. In response, the selection candidate rearranging means 10
6 is rearranged (step 20).
1). For example, when the selection candidates are arranged irregularly, they are rearranged so as to be arranged at substantially equal intervals. Thereby, it is possible to prevent a plurality of adjacent selection candidates from being selected at the same time by the selection candidate selection operation.

Then, the position information on the screen of all the selection candidates existing on the screen is obtained by the selection candidate arrangement obtaining means 101 (step 202). Subsequently, the entire screen is regarded as the currently focused area (step 2).
03).

Next, the area dividing means 102 refers to the position of each selection candidate acquired by the selection candidate arrangement acquiring means 101 and makes the current area substantially equal in the number of selection candidates included in each area. In this way, the area is divided into a predetermined number of areas (step 204).

The area display means 103 displays each of the divided areas in a different manner according to the number of selection candidates included in the area so that the user can easily distinguish them (step 205).

The user selects one area including the target selection candidate by the selection instruction means 104 (step 206). At this time, it is not possible to select an area that does not include any selection candidates. The selection is performed, for example, by inputting a specific key associated with each area when the selection instruction means 104 is a keyboard. Since the number of regions is determined in advance, it is possible to preset keys used for selection.

The selection operation can be easily performed by associating the key for selection with the area, for example, by setting the positional relationship between the areas. For example, when a numeric key of the keyboard is set to select an area, the area selection operation can be intuitively performed by associating the upper left area of the screen with a “7” key and the lower right area with a “3” key. I can do it.

When the selection judging means 105 judges that the selected area includes a plurality of selection candidates (step 207), the selected area is set as the current area (step 209), and the process returns to step 204 to divide the area. Means 10
2, the selected area is divided into a predetermined number of areas. If it is determined that the number of selection candidates included in the selected area is one, the selection candidates included in the selected area are selected (step 208), and the process ends.

As described above, division and selection of the area are repeated, and when an area including only one selection candidate is selected,
The selection candidate is selected, and the selection operation ends.

Since the screen (region) is divided so that the number of selection candidates included in each region is substantially equal, the number of region selections required to select a target selection candidate is determined by the number of selection candidates. It is almost equal to the logarithm based on the number of regions. Therefore, even when the number of selection candidates is large, the target selection candidate can be selected with a small number of operations.

Further, by rearranging the selection candidates,
It is easy to divide the screen so that the number of selection candidates included in each area is substantially equal. Since the screen (area) is divided into a predetermined number of areas, the number of options is constant and the area can be easily selected.

[0038]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of a candidate selection user interface device 10 according to the present invention will be described in detail.

First, as an example, a case will be described in which the candidate selection user interface device 10 of the present invention is applied to the selection of an icon which is a selection candidate displayed on a screen. In this embodiment, the number of divided regions is nine,
As shown in FIG. 3, each numeric key of the numeric keypad of the keyboard as the selection instructing means 104 is assigned and set for selecting an area. That is, by associating the divided area with the arrangement of the numeric keypad, the lower left area is determined by the “1” key, the lower center area by the “2” key, the lower right area by the “3” key, and “4”. ”Key to the left center area,“ 5 ”key to the center area,“ 6 ”key to the right center area,“ 7 ”
Use the key to move the upper left area, the “8” key to move the upper center area,
It is set so that the upper right area can be selected with the “9” key.

Here, a case where the user selects the icon G from the icons A to O arranged on the screen as shown in FIG. 4A will be described. Since the total number of icons is 15 and the number of areas is 9, 1 is assigned to each area.
The area is divided by the area dividing means 102 such that one or two icons exist (FIG. 4B). As a result, the area where only one icon exists is displayed, for example, in gray by the area display means 103. As described above, since the divided areas are displayed in different ways according to the number of selection candidates included in the area, the user can easily distinguish the selection candidates included in each area.

Since the selection candidate icon G is included in the divided area at the right center of the screen, the user can select the selection instruction means 1.
Input the “6” key from the keyboard as 04.
Pressing the "6" key selects the right center area. Since the selected right center area includes two icons G and J, the selection determining means 105 determines that the selected right center area includes a plurality of selection candidates, and the selected right center area becomes the current area. Are further divided by the area dividing means 02 (FIG. 4C).

As a result of the division of the right central area, the area other than the upper left and lower right does not include an icon, so that the periphery is displayed by a broken line. Also here, the divided areas are displayed in different ways according to the number of selection candidates included in the area.

As a result of the division of the area, the icon G is included in the upper left area, so the user inputs the "7" key. However, in this case, the area above the center and the center left is
The "8" key or the "4" key is input because only the area including the icon G is included in the area which does not include the icon and is in contact with the area, and includes the icon. Also in this case, it can be considered that the area including the icon G has been selected.

Since only the icon G is included in the selected upper left area, the selection determining means 105 selects the icon G (FIG. 4D).

Further, if it is difficult to divide the area because the selection candidates are dense, etc., before dividing the area,
The selection candidate rearrangement means 106 rearranges the selection candidates. An example in that case is shown in FIG.

FIG. 5A shows an initial arrangement state of the selection candidates. Here, as shown in the figure, icons as selection candidates are arranged so as to overlap each other in a dense state.

In a state where the selection candidates are densely arranged as shown in FIG. 5A, it is difficult to divide the regions so that the number of selection candidates included in each region is substantially equal.

Here, by activating the selection candidate rearrangement means 106, the selection candidates are rearranged at equal intervals as shown in FIG. 5B. How to be rearranged by the selection candidate rearrangement unit 106 is set in advance.

As described above, if the area is divided while the selection candidates are rearranged at equal intervals, the number of selection candidates included in each area becomes substantially equal, so that efficient selection can be performed.

Although the present invention has been described with reference to the preferred embodiments and examples, the present invention is not necessarily limited to the above-described embodiments and examples.

[0051]

As described above, according to the candidate selection user interface device of the present invention, first, even when there are a large number of selection candidates, the effect that the target candidate can be easily selected is obtained. Can be The reason is that the screen is divided so that the number of selection candidates included in each area is almost equal, and the target candidate is selected by repeatedly selecting one of those areas. The count is
This is because the number of selection candidates is substantially equal to the logarithm based on the number of regions, and even when the number of selection candidates is large, candidate selection can be performed with a small number of operations. Also, because the screen is divided into a predetermined number of regions, the number of options is constant, and the operation of region selection becomes easy.

Secondly, an effect is obtained in that it is possible to easily realize the division of the region so that the candidate can be efficiently selected. The reason is that the area is divided into a predetermined number of areas so that the number of selection candidates included in each area is substantially equal. In addition, the selection candidates can be rearranged as necessary.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an embodiment of a candidate selection user interface device of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of the candidate selection user interface device according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of key assignment for region selection.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a specific operation example when the present invention is applied to icon selection.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of rearranging selection candidates.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 User interface device for candidate selection 101 Selection candidate arrangement acquisition means 102 Area division means 103 Area display means 104 Selection instruction means 105 Selection judgment means 106 Selection candidate rearrangement means

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A user interface device for selecting a selection candidate graphically displayed on a screen of a computer system, comprising: a selection candidate arrangement obtaining means for obtaining position information of the selection candidate displayed on the screen; A region dividing unit that divides the screen or region into a predetermined number of regions based on the position information of the selection candidates acquired by the selection candidate arrangement acquiring unit; Display means for distinguishing and displaying the selected area; selection instructing means for selecting the area including the selection candidate from the divided areas; and whether or not the selected area includes a plurality of the selection candidates. Is determined, and if one selection candidate is included, the selection candidate is selected. If a plurality of selection candidates are included, the region is divided. Candidate selection user interface device, characterized in that it comprises a selection determining means for instructing the serial area dividing means. 2. The user interface device for candidate selection according to claim 1, wherein the area dividing means divides the area such that each area after division includes substantially the same number of selection candidates. 3. The candidate selection user interface device according to claim 1, wherein the display unit displays the areas with different display contents so that the areas can be distinguished from each other according to the number of selection candidates included. . 4. The candidate selection user interface according to claim 1, further comprising selection candidate rearrangement means for rearranging the candidates in accordance with a certain rule according to the degree of density and arrangement of the selection candidates. apparatus.