JPH1139134A - Cursor movement control system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a cursor movement control system capable of smoothly performing the movement of a cursor and group changeover without specially providing a key dedicated to the group changeover in an input device. SOLUTION: In an input an means of a remote controller 10 or the like, a set of direction keys are provided. At a display device 30, components required for operation are grouped and displayed along with the cursor, and a display control part 22 controls the movement of the cursor based on an input operation performed to the direction key of the remote controller 10. An operation of moving the cursor within a group and an operation of moving the cursor to other groups are set as operations of the cursor, so that one of the respective operations is selected by the difference of the pattern of the input operation performed to one direction key, and the cursor movement is executed. These patterns are classified based on conditions set beforehand. Also, the groups can be hierarchically constituted and setting can be performed so as to execute the cursor movement between the groups for respective hierarchies by making the respective direction keys correspond to the hierarchies.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a cursor movement control system, and more particularly, to a GUI (graphical operation) operated by an input device using keys such as a remote controller and a keyboard.
User interface), for each key of a set of directional keys, a cursor movement operation within a group,
The present invention relates to a cursor movement control method that is associated with a group switching operation and the like.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, with the development of digital technologies such as broadcasting, communication, recording media, and computers, contents of media and services have diversified, and information is overflowing. Therefore, the playback device and terminal etc. for using them are
It has become necessary to have a function of displaying and operating more information in an easy-to-understand manner. This type of device is roughly classified into a type in which the device is operated near the screen using a keyboard and a mouse like a personal computer, and a type in which the device is operated from a distance from the screen using a remote control like a television.
As media and services become more diversified and these functions become richer and more complex, GU
I has spread. In a personal computer or the like, a cursor is moved using a pointing device such as a mouse, and components such as buttons on the screen are operated by the cursor.
UI is common.

On the other hand, when such a style is adopted by a GUI operated by a remote controller or the like without a pointing device, an operation procedure for moving a cursor becomes a problem. The simplest cursor movement control method for moving the cursor is, for example, a method in which the cursor moves around parts on the screen one by one by inputting a direction key, or a method in which the cursor is moved to a fixed position on the screen by inputting the direction key. And the like in which the number of pixels is moved. In this case, as the number of components on the screen increases, the number of procedures required to move the cursor to a target location increases. In order to improve this problem, the user can divide the components to be operated into groups and press the group switching key prepared separately from the direction keys to move the cursor so that the group can be switched. There is a control method.

[0004]

However, when the above-described group switching key is prepared, if only one group switching key is used, the procedure for moving to the target group increases when the number of groups increases. And complicated. Also, if the group arrangement on the screen becomes complicated, the order of group switching may become unnatural. On the other hand, separately from the direction keys for cursor movement, for example, if one set of direction keys for group switching is prepared, the number of keys on the remote controller increases carelessly, and the amount of movement of the user's finger increases,
Not preferred. The present invention has been made in view of the above situation, and provides a cursor movement control method capable of smoothly performing cursor movement and group switching without providing a special key for group switching in an input device. It was made for the purpose.

[0005]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided an input unit having at least a set of direction keys, a display unit for displaying a component to be operated by a cursor in a group and displaying the group together with a cursor, and Control means for controlling the movement of the cursor based on an input operation to a directional key, and as an operation of moving the cursor, an intra-group movement of moving a cursor between the parts in the group; A group movement in which a cursor is moved to the component in the group, a pattern of an input operation performed on one of the direction keys is classified based on a preset condition, and each of the classified patterns is By associating the intra-group movement or the inter-group movement with each of the The direction of movement of the cursor is designated by being selected, and one of the intra-group movement or the inter-group movement is designated by selecting one of the classified input operation patterns. The movement of the cursor is executed on the basis of the designation of the movement direction and the designation of either the intra-group movement or the inter-group movement.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the present invention, a click input operation and a repeat input operation are set as the classification of the input operation pattern, and the intra-group movement is associated with the click input operation. ,
The movement between groups is associated with the repeat input operation.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the present invention, a click input operation, a repeat input operation, and a double-click input operation are set as the classification of the input operation pattern. The input operation and the repeat input operation are associated with each other, and the inter-group movement is associated with the double-click input operation.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the present invention, as the condition for classifying the input operation pattern, a pressing pressure on the direction key is used, and the classification is performed based on the pressing pressure. The intra-group movement or the inter-group movement is associated with each of the input operation patterns.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in any one of the first to fourth aspects of the present invention, an upper group comprising one or a plurality of the groups is set based on the number of layers so as to form a hierarchical structure. Each of the set of direction keys is associated with one of the layers, and when an input operation for designating the inter-group movement is performed on the direction key, another cursor is displayed in the layer associated with the direction key. A movement to the group or a movement between layers to another higher-level group is executed.

[0010]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of a cursor movement control method according to the present invention will be specifically described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. In all the drawings for describing the embodiments, the same elements are denoted by the same reference numerals, and a repeated description thereof will be omitted. (Embodiment 1) A first embodiment of a cursor movement control system according to the present invention will be described. In this embodiment, the cursor movement control method of the present invention is applied to an information processing apparatus.
Is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of the information processing apparatus. This information processing apparatus includes a remote controller 10 and a main body 20
And a display device 30. The main unit 20 includes a key code receiving unit 21, a display control unit 22, and a screen database 23.
It is composed of

The remote controller 10 has a key matrix 11 for holding information on the pressed states of various keys including the direction keys, a timer 12 for measuring the timing of transmitting a repeat key code, and a state of the key matrix 11 for monitoring and generating The key operation processing unit 13 calculates a key code to be used, and the key code transmission unit 14 transmits the calculated key code as a signal.

[0012] The key code receiving section 21 receives the key code transmitted from the key code transmitting section 14 of the remote controller 10 and outputs the signal to the display control section 22. The display control unit 22 determines and executes an operation for the signal output from the key code receiving unit 21 based on the data of the screen database 23, updates the screen to be displayed, and displays the screen on the display device 30. On the display device 30, components such as buttons to be operated by the user are arranged in a plurality of groups.

Here, the processing procedure of the key operation processing unit 13 of the remote controller will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. First, in step S101, the "key pressed flag" used to determine whether the key has been pressed and whether the key is being pressed is cleared, and the process proceeds to step S102. In step S102, it is determined whether or not a key has been pressed by referring to the key matrix 11. If the key has not been pressed, the process returns to step S101. On the other hand, if the key has been pressed, the flow advances to step S103 to check whether or not the key has been started by using a flag. That is, when it is determined that the key press flag is not set, the process proceeds to step S104, and when it is determined that the key press flag is set, the process proceeds to step S106.

In step S104, as a process of starting key depression, a key depression flag is set, and a "normal code" corresponding to the key being depressed is transmitted. Then, the process proceeds to step S105. In step S105, the current time input from the timer 12 is recorded as the key code transmission time in order to keep the key code transmission interval at the time of key repeat at a predetermined time, and the process returns to step S102. In step S106, the timer 1
2, the elapsed time from the previous key code transmission time is measured. If the predetermined time has elapsed, the process proceeds to step S107; otherwise, the process returns to step S102. In step S107, a “repeat code” corresponding to the pressed key is transmitted. Then, the process proceeds to step S105. The "normal code" at the start of key press and the "repeat code" during key press are generated as described above.
Is input to the display control unit 22 through the key code receiving unit 21.

Next, the processing procedure of the display control unit 22 will be described with reference to FIG.
This will be described according to the flowchart shown in FIG. Step S1
At 21, input of a key code output from the key code receiving unit 21 is waited. If there is an input, step S122
Proceed to. In step S122, it is determined whether or not the input key code corresponds to the “normal code” of the direction key. If so, the process proceeds to step S123; otherwise, the process proceeds to step S124. In step S123,
The cursor is moved within the group corresponding to the input direction key, and the process returns to step S121. In step S124,
It is determined whether or not the input key code corresponds to the “direction key repeat code”.
If not, go to step S126. In step S125, a group switching operation corresponding to the input direction key is performed, and the process returns to step S121. Step S
At 126, processing for other key inputs is performed, and the process returns to step S121.

Here, a specific operation example of the cursor movement control method of this embodiment will be described. FIG. 4 and FIG.
FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating a display example of an operation screen for describing the present embodiment. In this example, five groups 4 are displayed on the display screen 31.
1, 42, 43, 44, 45 and a cursor C are present. Further, each group includes buttons as illustrated in the drawing (representative buttons 41a, 42a to 42d, 4
3a, 44a, and 45a). It is assumed that the remote controller for operating this screen has [up] and [down] direction keys. Clicking a direction key on the remote control causes the cursor C to move within the group. On the other hand, when the direction key is kept pressed for a certain period of time, a group switching operation is performed, and at the same time, the cursor C moves to a predetermined button of the destination group. As the predetermined button of the destination group, a button at the head of the group,
The button at the position corresponding to the button where the cursor was placed before the movement or the button at the position corresponding to the button indicating the current value of the choices can be considered, but here, the button is moved to the first button of the group It will be described as what is done.

Hereinafter, the operation of moving the cursor, which is executed based on the input operation performed on each direction key, will be specifically described with reference to FIG. In the state of FIG. 4, the cursor C is positioned on the button 42b of the group 42. In this state,
Clicking the [Up] key on the remote control moves the cursor C to the button 42a. When the click is repeated, the cursor C moves in the group 42 in the order of the buttons 42d and 42
c, 42b, 42a... Similarly,
By clicking the [Down] key, the cursor C moves through the group 42 in the order of the buttons 42c, 42d, 42a,
42b... Also, in the state of FIG.
If the [UP] key is pressed for a certain period of time or longer, the group to be operated is switched to the group 41. At the same time, cursor C
Moves on the button 41a. Thereafter, when the [UP] key is further pressed, the operation target group is cyclically switched to the groups 45, 44, 43, 42, 41, 45... Sequentially, and accordingly, the cursor C is sequentially moved to the buttons 45a, 44.
a, 43a, 42a, 41a... Similarly, when the [DOWN] key is kept pressed, the group to be operated is cyclically switched to the groups 43, 44, 45, 41, 42,...
3a, 44a, 45a, 41a, 42a... As described above, the intra-group movement and the group switching movement (the movement between groups) using the [Up] / [Down] direction keys.
By properly using these, the display screen 31 of FIG.
The cursor C can be smoothly moved above.

As described above, in the present embodiment, the movement of the cursor in the group and the movement of the group switching are distinguished in correspondence with the click input and the repeat input to the direction key. A method is also conceivable. For example, the group switching movement of the cursor may be associated with the double-click input operation, and the intra-group movement of the cursor may be associated with the single-click input operation or the repeat input operation. Also, a method of attaching a key pressure sensor to the input device and selectively using the group switching movement and the intra-group movement depending on the strength of the pressing force of the direction key can be considered.

(Embodiment 2) Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described. FIG. 6 and FIG. 7 are views showing display examples of an operation screen for explaining the present embodiment, which is more complicated than the screen in the first embodiment. The entire screen is divided into four main groups 51, 52, 53, 54,
Each is further subgroups 51a-51d, 52a-5
2c, 53a to 53d, and 54a to 54d, and has a hierarchical structure having layers. For example, the main group 52 has three subgroups 52a, 52b, and 52c.
Consists of Each sub-group includes buttons and meters to be operated by the user. The remote control for operating this screen is [Up], [Down], [Left],
And [right] direction keys.

The click input of the directional key is associated with the movement of the cursor in the group as in the first embodiment. On the other hand, for repeat input of a direction key, a group switching movement in a different layer is associated with a set of [up] / [down] and [left] / [right] among the four direction keys. That is, if you press and hold either the [Up] or [Down] key, the sub group will switch
Pressing and holding any of the [right] keys will switch the main group. The cursor sub-group switching operation performed by the repeat input of the [UP] / [DOWN] key involves a cursor moving operation. Here, as in the first embodiment, the cursor is moved to a sub-group within the sub-group. This is the first button. The main group switching operation performed by the repeat input of the [left] and [right] keys involves a process of displaying the selected main group on the foreground and a sub group switching operation. As the switching destination of the sub-group, the head sub-group in the main group or the sub-group at the position corresponding to the sub-group which was the operation target before the switching may be considered. Shall be.

Hereinafter, the operation of moving the cursor, which is performed based on the input operation performed on each direction key, will be described in detail with reference to FIG. In the state of FIG. 6, the operation target is the sub group 52a in the main group 52, and the cursor C is positioned on the “I” button in the sub group 52a. When the [Down] key is clicked in this state, the cursor C moves to the button “P” in the sub-group 52a. When the click is repeated, the cursor C goes around the buttons “W”, “B”, “I”, and “P”. Similarly, when another direction key is clicked, the cursor C moves within the sub-group 52a. If the [DOWN] key is kept pressed for a certain period of time, the main group to be operated is not switched, but the sub-group is switched. At the same time, the cursor C moves on a predetermined button of the sub-group. For example, if the [DOWN] key is kept pressed in the state of FIG. 6, as shown in FIG. 7, the operation target is switched to the sub-group 52b, and at the same time, the cursor C is over the button "1" in the sub-group 52b. Moving. If you hold down the [Down] key,
The operation target goes around the sub-groups 52c, 52a and 52b in order, and at the same time, the cursor C also moves on the first button of the sub-group. Also, when the [UP] key is kept pressed, the sub-group switching and the corresponding cursor movement are executed in the same manner.

On the other hand, when the [right] key is kept pressed for a certain period of time in the state of FIG. 6, the main group to be operated is switched, and as shown in FIG. 8, the main group 53 is displayed at the forefront, and at the same time, The sub group is also switched, and the cursor C moves to the “item-A” button of the sub group 53a.
When the [Right] key is further pressed, the main groups to be operated and displayed on the front are the main groups 54, 51, and
52, 53... Accordingly, the sub group to be operated and the cursor C also move. Also when the [Left] key is kept pressed, the main group switching and the accompanying sub group switching and cursor movement are executed in the same manner.

[0023]

【The invention's effect】

Advantages of the invention: The group movement and the cursor movement on the screen can be executed by an easy-to-understand operation corresponding to the direction keys of the input device such as a remote controller without increasing the number of special keys on the input device. it can. Also,
Since only one set of directional keys is used, the size of the input device is not unnecessarily increased, and the operator can easily operate the input device with one hand. Therefore, the operation for moving the cursor to the target location can be performed smoothly.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, even when the components to be operated have a hierarchical structure and are diversified and complicated, the group movement is set by considering a hierarchy with one set of directional keys.
An operation for moving the cursor to a target location can be performed smoothly.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an embodiment of an information processing apparatus to which a cursor movement control method according to the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a processing procedure in a key operation processing unit of the remote controller illustrated in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a processing procedure in a display control unit illustrated in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of an operation screen display for explaining the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing another example of an operation screen display for explaining the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of an operation screen display for explaining a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing another example of an operation screen display for explaining the second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing still another example of the operation screen display for explaining the second embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

10 remote controller, 11 key matrix, 12 timer, 13 key operation processing unit, 14 key code transmission unit,
Reference Signs List 20: Main unit, 21: Key code receiving unit, 22: Display control unit, 23: Screen database, 30: Display device, 31
... Display screens, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45 ... Groups, 41a, 42a, 42b, 42c, 42d, 43
a, 44a, 45a ... buttons, 51, 52, 53, 54
... Main groups, 51a, 51b, 51c, 51d, 52
a, 52b, 52c, 53a, 53b, 53c, 54
a, 54b, 54c, 54d: sub-group, C: cursor.

Claims (5)

[Claims] An input unit including at least a set of direction keys; a display unit configured to display a component to be operated by a cursor in a group together with a cursor; and Control means for controlling the movement of the cursor, wherein the operation of moving the cursor includes moving the cursor between the parts in the group, and moving the cursor to the parts in another group. Group movement to be performed, and classifying an input operation pattern performed on one of the direction keys based on a preset condition;
By associating the intra-group movement or the inter-group movement with each of the classified patterns, the moving direction of the cursor is designated by selecting one of the set of directional keys. In addition, when one of the classified input operation patterns is selected, either the intra-group movement or the inter-group movement is designated, and the moving direction of the cursor is designated, and the intra-group movement or the group movement is specified. A cursor movement control method, wherein the movement of the cursor is executed based on any designation of the inter-movement. 2. A classification of the input operation pattern is as follows.
The cursor according to claim 1, wherein a click input operation and a repeat input operation are set, and the intra-group movement is associated with the click input operation, and the inter-group movement is associated with the repeat input operation. Movement control method. 3. The classification of the input operation pattern includes:
A click input operation, a repeat input operation, and a double click input operation are set, and the intra-group movement is associated with the click input operation and the repeat input operation, and the intergroup movement is associated with the double click input operation. The cursor movement control method according to claim 1, wherein: 4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the condition for classifying the input operation pattern is a pressure on the direction key.
2. The cursor movement control method according to claim 1, wherein movement within the group or movement between the groups is associated with each of the input operation patterns classified based on the pressing pressure. 5. A higher-level group comprising one or a plurality of said groups is set based on the number of layers so as to form a hierarchical structure, and each of said set of direction keys is associated with one of said layers. When an input operation for designating the inter-group movement is performed on a direction key, the cursor is moved to another group or another higher-level group in a hierarchy corresponding to the direction key. 5. The cursor movement control method according to claim 1, wherein: