JPS61236590A - Operation indication system - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] This bulletin contains application data before electronic filing, so abstract data is not recorded.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Technical Field of the Invention] The present invention relates to an operation instruction method suitable for a man-machine interface using a display.

[Technical background of the invention and its problems]

Recently, with the development of computer systems, information processing devices using computer systems, such as document creation devices,
Automatic translation device, pattern! ! ! identification devices, document management devices, etc. have been developed. In this type of information processing device,
Conventionally, messages from the information processing device itself are output on a display, and various instructions to the information processing device are input interactively based on the messages displayed on the display. A machine interface is built. Specifically, various operation icons for the information processing iiM main body are displayed on the display as a selection menu, and information on operations for the information processing apparatus main body is inputted by pointing the icons using a light ben or the like. That's what I do.

However, when selecting and instructing such operation icons using a cursor displayed on a display, it is necessary to move the cursor to the display position of the operation icon by operating a cursor movement key or using a mouse or the like. . However, the operation of moving the cursor is generally a troublesome task, and when the distance of movement is long or operation instructions are frequently given, the operation of moving the cursor places a considerable burden on the operator.

Furthermore, when the cursor is moved to the menu display section in this manner, a problem arises in that the position on the display previously indicated by the cursor is lost.

[Purpose of the invention]

The present invention has been made in consideration of these circumstances, and its purpose is to provide an excellent man-machine interface that allows instructions to be easily given to the information processing device itself without moving the cursor. The objective is to provide an operation instruction method.

[Summary of the invention]

The present invention enables a cursor whose position is controlled and is displayed on a display to carry display information corresponding to a plurality of instructions to the main body of an information processing device, for example, by different display colors and pattern shapes of the cursor, and also enables the display The display information of the cursor displayed above is sequentially changed and controlled, for example, at regular intervals, and the display information is circulated, and when an instruction is input to the information processing device through the cursor, An instruction corresponding to display information of a cursor displayed on the display is given to the main body of the information processing apparatus.

〔Effect of the invention〕

Thus, according to the present invention, a desired instruction can be given to the information processing apparatus main body while checking the displayed information without moving the cursor.

In other words, by simply performing an instruction input operation via the cursor when the display information corresponding to the desired instruction is obtained, it becomes possible to input the instruction corresponding to the display information of the cursor. Therefore, it is possible to significantly reduce the burden on the operator, and it is also possible to simplify inputting instructions. Moreover, the display information of the cursor that is sequentially and cyclically controlled to be changed makes it clear to distinguish the cursor from other display information on the display, and has the advantage of making it easier to confirm the position of the cursor.

[Embodiments of the invention]

Hereinafter, one embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of the main parts of a cursor control device that implements this method, and FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of a cursor display. The coordinate input unit 1 receives pointing information from, for example, a mouse, and obtains information on the coordinates of a cursor displayed on the display. Address information input through the coordinate input section 1 is given to the cursor control section 2 at any time, and the display position of the cursor displayed on the cursor display section 3 is controlled. In other words, the address information input through the coordinate input section 1 and the display position of the cursor displayed on the display are the same as those of the cursor III control section 2.
It is possible to make a sequential correspondence via .

The cursor pattern generating section 4 generates pattern data of a cursor that is position-controlled and displayed on a display as described above, and the pattern shape of the cursor that is displayed on the display is determined according to this pattern data. For example, when pointing an area, an "arrow pattern" is generated, and when the information processing apparatus itself creates a text, a "bent shape pattern" is generated as a Kahnle pattern.

Further, the cursor display color switching section 5 changes the display color of the cursor displayed on the display under the control of the timer control section 6 at regular intervals. For example, if four colors (blue, red, green, and white) are prepared as the cursor display colors, each of these display colors will be changed cyclically at predetermined time intervals as shown in Figure 3. Displayed under change control. This control to change the display color of the cursor is performed so that, for example, as shown in FIG. 4, the cursor is displayed in the color indicated by the count value of the ring counter. Then, in step b), the value of the ring counter is incremented (step C). This can be achieved by returning the process to step a and executing it cyclically.

In the case of the four-color display described above, a quaternary ring counter is used, and for example, when the count value is (00) (blue),
01) (red), (10) (green), (11) (white)
It would be better to display them respectively.

Incidentally, as shown by the broken line in FIG. 1, a timer control section 7 may also be provided for the cursor pattern generation section 4, and the cursor pattern itself may be sequentially changed at predetermined time intervals.

The feature of this method is that the cursor display information (display color and pattern shape), which is cyclically changed and controlled as described above, is set in response to multiple instructions given to the information processing device main body. The content of the instruction and the display information associated with the cursor are displayed in a mutually corresponding manner in the menu area 11 of the display 10, as shown in FIG. That is, information such as display information indicating function F1 is a cursor (blue), display information indicating function F2 is a cursor (red), etc. is displayed.

Therefore, even if the cursor is displayed at the coordinates (×1°Yl) on the display 10 in the display state of the information processing content on the main body of the information processing apparatus via the display 10, or the cursor is displayed at the coordinates (×1°Yl) on the display 10, or Even when the coordinates (x2.Y2) are moved on the display 10 via the section 1, the coordinates are changed at regular intervals under the display information change control. And the change is
It is repeated endlessly.

Thus, in this system equipped with such a cursor display control device, for example, when an instruction for processing content is given to the information processing device main body via the cursor, the display information (color) of the cursor corresponds to the instruction. This is done by pointing with the mouse when the screen is displayed. By this pointing, the main body of the information processing apparatus gives an instruction () corresponding to the information displayed on the cursor displayed on the display. function information). In other words, in the past, an operation icon (function information) was input as cursor position information, but with this method, instructions to the information processing device are given as display information such as cursor color and pattern shape. .

Therefore, the operator can simply point the cursor when the cursor corresponding to the desired instruction is displayed without moving the cursor, making it very easy to input the instruction information. Furthermore, since there is no need to move the cursor, the instruction information can be input without taking one's eyes off the position on the display 10 to be processed. In addition, since the displayed information is cyclically updated at regular intervals, it is only necessary to hold the cursor until the desired displayed information is changed, and the selection operation becomes extremely easy. . Furthermore, since the display information of the cursor is sequentially and cyclically changed, a display effect similar to blinking control of the cursor can be obtained, and it is easy to distinguish the display information from other display information on the display 10. Therefore, its operability can be significantly improved, and its usefulness as a man-machine interface is extremely high.

Note that the present invention is not limited to the embodiments described above. For example, the size of the cursor may be made variable, and the change time t of the display information of the cursor may be variably set. Further, the number of display information may be determined according to the number of contents of instructions to the information processing apparatus main body. Furthermore, when changing the display information, it is also possible to set a high appearance rate of display information corresponding to frequently used instructions. In addition, the present invention can be implemented with various modifications without departing from the gist thereof.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

The figures show an embodiment of the method of the present invention, in which Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of the main parts of a cursor control device, Fig. 2 is a diagram showing an example of cursor display in the embodiment device, and Fig. 3 is a cursor display color. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of changing control of cursor display information. 1... Coordinate input section, 2... Cursor control section, 3...
・Cursor display section, 4... cursor pattern generation section,
5... Cursor display color switching unit, 6, 7... Timer control unit, 10... Display.

Claims (3)

[Claims] (1) A cursor whose position is controlled and displayed on the display is responsible for display information corresponding to multiple instructions to the information processing device main body, and the display information of the cursor displayed on this display is sequentially changed and controlled. and when an instruction is input to the information processing apparatus through the cursor, an instruction corresponding to the display information of the cursor displayed on the display is given to the information processing apparatus main body. Operation instruction method. (2) The operation according to claim 1, wherein the display information carried by the cursor is given as a cursor display color or a cursor pattern shape corresponding to a plurality of instructions to the information processing device main body. Instruction method. (3) The operation instruction method according to claim 1, wherein the change control of the display information carried by the cursor is performed by cyclically changing the display information at predetermined time intervals.