JPS6180320A - Cursor control device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To improve the operability of a display device and the processing efficiency of a cursor control device by reading out functional information stored in a definition function storage means at the repeated depression of a cursor moving key to control the moving distance of a cursor. CONSTITUTION:A data processing system using a cursor control device is constituted of an input device 1, an input control part 2, a data processing part 3, a definition function storage part 4, a cursor position conversion part 5, a display device 7, and a display control part 6. In this case, a definition function or its reverse function is set up and moving distance of the cursor and a cursor moving key are repeatedly depressed, the number of times of the repetition is used as a subtrahend or an addend on the basis of said definition function or the like. The functional information stored in said storage part 4 is read out on the basis of an auto-repeating function at the movement of the cursor to control the moving distance of the cursor. Thus, various and rapid cursor movement can be attained only by using a normal keyboard.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Examples of the acquisition technique and the present invention are applicable to word processors, data processing devices, CA
D (Computer Aided Design
n) Improvements in cursor control devices suitable for use in systems, etc., particularly those capable of high-speed cursor movement;
For example, it is possible to perform various and high-speed cursor movements simply by using a normal keyboard without the need for special cursor movement devices such as pointing devices, and is useful for input/output processing of various data and editing work. This article relates to a cursor control shield with improved operational efficiency.

Generally, various data processing systems such as word processors and data processing devices are connected to a display device such as a CRT, and the operator can perform operations such as inputting and editing documents or figures by interacting with the display screen. It is carried out.

In this case, with a normal keyboard-based input device, the cursor is moved every 191 positions, such as one character or one dot, to indicate the current editing target position.

Therefore, when the amount of movement of the cursor is large, the time taken to move the cursor increases, resulting in a disadvantage that the processing efficiency of the system decreases.

Cursor movement traditionally used in systems using a conventional keyboard, i.e., in data processing systems for editing documents, diagrams, or pictures without using a so-called two-dimensional position indicating device such as a pointing device. Control methods can be broadly classified into three types: (1) to (2) below.

■A method in which the cursor that indicates the current operation target is moved one character or one dot at a time.

■A method that allows you to select the amount of movement by switching modes.

■A method in which two types of cursor movement keys are assigned to each direction, and the units of movement are different for each, similar to method (■).

Next, display screens and operation examples using these conventional cursor movement methods will be described with reference to the drawings.

5(1) to (4) are diagrams for explaining the conventional cursor moving method and the display screen and operation example of the cursor control device of the present invention, and FIG. 5(1) is before the cursor moving operation. An example of a display screen shown in FIG. 2 is based on the conventional techniques (1) and (2), and FIGS. (3) and (4) are examples of display screens according to the cursor control device of the present invention.

Point A in the drawing is the current cursor position, and point B is the target position of the cursor movement.

In the explanation of cursor movement below, as shown in Figure 5 (1), the current cursor position points to point A, and each method of cursor operation moves the cursor from this position to point B. shall be moved. In this case, the lowest position of the cursor movement is one dot.

First, in the method of moving the cursor according to the prior art (2), the amount of movement of the cursor is always one dot at a time.

Therefore, the method according to the prior art (2) has the disadvantage that when it is desired to move the cursor by a large distance, that is, the larger the amount of movement, the longer the movement operation takes.

The following method of moving according to prior art (■) is an improved method of moving by one unit (2) above, in which the amount of movement of the cursor, that is, the unit of movement, is set in advance, and the unit of movement of the cursor is set by changing the mode. It is characterized by its ability to change.

In this cursor movement method by mode switching, the cursor movement unit is, for example, 1 unit in [Mode 1],
In [Mode 2], set the amount of movement in advance according to each mode, such as 5 units, etc.=4=, and select the appropriate mode according to the amount you want to move the cursor. .

For example, as shown in Fig. 5 (2), with the cursor position pointing to point A, first select [Mode 2] of 5-row movement, and then operate the right direction movement key. , move the cursor in the direction of the target position point B by 5 dots of 5 units.

Next, when the cursor approaches point B, the mode is switched to [mode 1], and the cursor position is moved to point B by similarly operating the right direction movement key to move one unit at a time.

In this way, when the amount of movement is small, select [Mode 1] and move in 1m increments, and when the amount of movement is large, select [Mode 2] to move in large increments such as every 5 units. It has the advantage of being able to be moved in units.

However, in the method of prior art (2), there is a limit to the variations in the modes of the amount of movement, and there is a disadvantage that it is not possible to set an arbitrary amount of movement.

Finally, the method of moving the cursor according to conventional technology (■) is basically the same as that of conventional technology (■).If the amount of movement is set by inputting on the numeric keypad, the cursor can be moved relatively quickly even when the amount of movement is large. I can do it. In this case, the number of moving dots is changed by pressing the key.

However, in the movement method of prior art (2), a part of the numeric keypad is also normally used as a cursor movement key, so the numeric keypad cannot be used for numerical input.

Another disadvantage is that the variations are not expandable and the number of keys on the keyboard is limited.

As described above, all of the prior art techniques (1) to (2) have advantages and disadvantages, and they have the disadvantage that they do not necessarily allow quick cursor movement.

Here, for reference, a method of moving the cursor using a pointing device that can move the cursor at high speed will also be briefly described.

According to this movement method, the cursor movement becomes faster.

However, in addition to the need for a pointing device, there are two drawbacks: (1) and (2) below.

■ Operability is good when you move the cursor on the screen and select commands, etc., but when you have to input data from the keyboard after moving the cursor, the operator's hand becomes difficult. is forced to move back and forth between the pointing device and the keyboard, making operation cumbersome.

■ When operating a pointing device, unless it is a touch sensor type, touch the screen directly.
The problem is that it takes up extra space on your desk.

As described above, even if a pointing device capable of high-speed cursor movement is used, the cursor movement is not always satisfactory, and the operating efficiency of the system is reduced.
There remained the problem of not being able to do so.

Further, even when using the conventional techniques (1) to (4), there is a problem in that it is not possible to move the cursor with good operability.

-L- Makoto Therefore, the cursor control device of the present invention solves these inconveniences in various conventionally known cursor movement control methods, and uses only a normal keyboard without using a special high-speed movement device. The purpose of the present invention is to improve the processing efficiency of the system by making it possible to move the cursor quickly and in a variety of ways, thereby improving the operability of the display device.

To that end, in the cursor control device of the present invention,
Definition functions f(n) and g(n) and/or their inverse function f whose arguments and/or addends are the maximum value n of the cursor movement amount and the number of repetitions when the cursor movement key is pressed repeatedly. -1(n) and g-1(n) are provided in the input device, and definition function storage means stores the set maximum value n and the above definition function, and auto= 8- A repeat function is provided, and when the cursor is moved by repeatedly pressing the cursor movement key, the function information stored in the definition function storage means is read out to control the amount of movement of the cursor. This is the first feature.

Furthermore, it is possible to define multiple functions f(n), g(n), and/or their inverse functions f-1(n), g-1(n), and an integral multiple of the number of iterations is , are respectively used as arguments and/or addends.

Next, embodiments of the cursor control device of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram showing one embodiment of a data processing system using the cursor control device of the present invention. In the drawings, 1 is an input device, 2 is an input control section, 3 is a data processing section, 4 is a defined function storage section, 5 is a cursor position conversion section, 6 is a display control section, and 7 is a display device.

The input device 1 performs input control by generating signals corresponding to various key manual inputs including cursor keys (cursor movement keys for instructing left/right, up/down movement directions) and function designation keys by the cursor control device of the present invention. Output to section 2.

The input control section 2 generates a key manual code in response to a signal given from the input device 1 and outputs it to the data processing section 3.

The data processing section 3 sends the data of the key manual code to the display control section 6, also gives a signal for setting the definition function to the definition function storage section 4, and further sends the cursor data and function number to the display control section 6. It is output to the cursor position converter 5.

The definition function storage unit 4 stores a signal for setting a definition function given from the data processing unit 3, and the stored definition function is read out as necessary and is sent to the cursor position conversion unit as function definition information. Output to 5.

The cursor position conversion unit 5 receives the cursor data and function number given from the data processing unit 3, and the definition function storage unit 4.
The function definition information read from the cursor position data is converted into cursor position data and output to the display control unit 6.

The display control section 6 creates display data using the display data given from the data processing section 3 and the cursor position data given from the cursor position conversion section 5, and sends it to the display device 7.

Through such operations, data and a cursor are displayed in a visible pattern on the screen of the display device 7.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart 1 for explaining an example of cursor movement control in the circuit of FIG. 1.

The embodiment shown in FIG. 2 shows the case where only one defining function is provided.

The functions include f(n) and g(n), which generate respective amounts of movement in the X direction and in the X direction. Here, n is the number of times the same cursor movement key, for example the right movement key, is used repeatedly.

The functions f(n) and g(n) can be set arbitrarily by the operator.

An example of a function definition is f(n)=n (n5M) = M (n > M) g(n)=f(n). Note that in this function definition, M is the maximum value of the amount of movement determined considering the size of the display screen.

First, press the "function setting key" on the input device to enter function setting mode.

Here, referring again to FIGS. 5(1) to (4), when the display screen is in the state before the cursor movement operation shown in FIG. 5(1), the flow shown in FIG. So, n=10
Set.

By setting n-10, the movement of the cursor is controlled as shown in FIG. 5(3).

That is, when the same cursor movement key, for example the right direction movement key, is pressed repeatedly, the amount of cursor movement changes according to the function f, (n)=10 already registered in the definition function storage unit 4. .

In this example, the auto-repeat function operates,
From 1st to 10th press of the movement key, the cursor is moved according to the function f(n)=n. The auto repeat 1 to functions can be operated by simply pressing and holding the same cursor movement key φ.

Therefore, the amount of movement of the cursor is the function f(n)=n=1
According to 0, the cursor is moved by the amount of movement, starting from 1 dot and increasing by 1- by 1-dot, until it reaches 10 dots.

Note that if you wish to cancel the auto-repeat function while the cursor is moving, you can simply stop pressing the function designation key.

When this function designation key is not pressed, that is, when the auto-repeat function is canceled, the cursor is moved by f(n). The function f(n) in this case is
f(n)=1, and the cursor moves in units of one dot, similar to the movement of the cursor with conventional cursor keys.

When the cursor approaches the target point B, repeat the operation of pressing the cursor movement key and quickly releasing it in the same way as normal cursor movement operations to move the cursor one dot at a time until the target position is reached. It can be quickly moved to point B.

In this way, the ratio of the x and y directions of the display screen is rr ] n
If it is close to , it is not necessarily necessary to set separate functions for each of the X and y directions, and it is sufficient to set f(n)''g(n) as in this embodiment.

When the ratio of the display screen in the X and y directions is greatly different for two-dimensional display, it is extremely effective to be able to set functions separately for the X+V directions.

As is clear from FIG. 2 and FIG. 5(3), in the cursor control device of the present invention, when the same cursor movement key is repeatedly pressed, the effect becomes extremely large.

As described above, in the cursor control device of the present invention, by using the defined function, the cursor can be moved quickly and in various ways, thereby improving the processing efficiency of the data processing device.

Next, another embodiment of the cursor control device of the present invention will be described.

In the embodiment described in connection with FIG. 2 above, the case was described in which only one function, specifically, only f (n) and g(n) were defined.

However, the definition of a function does not necessarily have to be one; it is also possible to use multiple definition functions, and it is also possible to make each defined function act like an inverse function. You can also do it.

The meaning of the inverse function in this example is defined by the equation below.

That is, when M-n≦0, f　(n)=　f　(1) Also, when M - n > 0, Let f-1(n)=f(M-n+1).

As an explanation of the example, let us define one function f
A case will be described in which it is possible to specify (n) and its inverse function f''(n).

FIG. 3 shows one defined function f (n) and its jφ function f-1 in the cursor control device of the present invention.
(n) is shown in a graph. In the drawing, the horizontal axis shows the number of repetitions, the vertical axis shows the amount of cursor movement, and M
-10.

If you graph the function f(n) defined in the example explained in relation to Figure 2 and its inverse function f-1(n) explained in this example, it will look like this Figure 3. Become.

In FIGS. 5(1) to (4) showing display screens and operation examples, FIG. 5(4) defines one function f(n) and its inverse function f 1( This is an example of a display screen when using n).

First, as shown in FIG. 5(1), the current cursor position indicates point A, and the cursor is moved from this state to point B.

In the case of FIG. 5 (3) described in the example of FIG. 2, the key press is moved according to the function f(n) = 10 from the 1st time to the 10th time the key is pressed, and thereafter, the key is moved one dot at a time. Met.

On the other hand, the inverse function f-1 of the defined function f(n)
(n), the cursor is moved.
), the amount of cursor movement is the iφ function f-1 (
n)=10, from 1 to 10 key presses,
Sequentially, the number decreases by 1 dot from 101) until the end is 1.
It ends by moving to dotu 1.

So after that, normal cursor movement will occur,
By f-'(])=1, it will be moved by 1 dot (11th position).

In this way, the auto repeat 1 function is used to move the key from 1 to 10 times, and the auto repeat 1 function is used to move the key one dot at a time.
You can disable the auto-repeat function by pressing the key once and then releasing it immediately.

Then, when the auto repeat 1- function works, the function f+
When (n) is specified, n increases by one, and conversely, when the ;φ function f-'+(n) is specified, n decreases by one.

Furthermore, when the auto-repeat function does not work, n is 1 and fo(t)=1.

The following FIG. 4 is an example of flowchart 1 for explaining the processing of the cursor control device of the present invention in a case where a plurality of functions are defined and their inverse functions are also used.

In the case of the flow shown in Fig. 4, there are P function specification keys, and when each function specification key is pressed, the function f
+(n) to fp(n).

Furthermore, when the function designation key and the inverse function key are pressed at the same time, this corresponds to f-'+ (n)-f-'p (n).

The operation when defining these multiple functions and also using the φ function is basically to define one function f(n) and its inverse function f-1(n). As in the case of using, the definition functions ft(n) to fP(n) whose arguments and/or addends are the number of repetitions, and their inverse function f
-'+ (n)-f -'p (n) not only increases or decreases n by 1, but also by 2, 3,
The number of repetitions is changed by an integer multiple of the argument and/or addend, as in...

As a result, the cursor movement amount can be increased or decreased in P types in response to the P function designation keys.

On the other hand, when the function specification key is not pressed,
The cursor is moved by fO(n).

The function fO(n) in this case is fo(n)=1,
The cursor is moved dot by dot in the same way as normal cursor movement using conventional cursor keys.

As explained in detail above, in the cursor control device of the present invention, the maximum value n of the cursor movement amount and the number of repetitions when a cursor movement key is repeatedly pressed are defined functions that take as an argument and/or an addend. f(n), g(
n), and/or its inverse function f-1(n), g-
' (n) is provided in the input device with a setting means for setting
In addition, a definition function storage means for storing the set maximum value n and the above definition function, and an auto-repeat function are provided, and when the cursor is moved by repeatedly pressing the cursor movement key, the definition function storage means is provided. The first feature is that the amount of movement of the cursor is controlled by reading function information stored in the cursor.

Furthermore, it is possible to define multiple functions f(n), g(n), and/or their inverse functions f-1(n), g-''(n), and the number of iterations thereof is an integral multiple. , are respectively used as arguments and/or addends.

Effect □□--According to the cursor control device of the present invention, it is possible to move the cursor in various ways and at high speed simply by using a normal keyboard, without requiring a high-speed device such as a pointing device. Become.

In addition, the amount of movement can be arbitrarily set by the operator, which improves operability and significantly improves the processing efficiency of the system.

Further, the cursor moving method according to the prior art can also be used as a function in the cursor control device of the present invention, and many excellent effects can be obtained, such as being able to be used easily.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Figure 1 is a functional block diagram showing an embodiment of the data processing system 11 using the cursor control device of the present invention, and Figure L2 is a functional block diagram illustrating an example of cursor movement control in the circuit of Figure 1. Flowchart No. 1 shows a graph of one defined function f(n) and its inverse function f-1(n) in the cursor control device of the present invention, and FIG. An example of a flowchart for explaining the processing of the cursor control device of the present invention in the case where a function is defined and its inverse function is also used. FIG. 1 is a diagram for explaining a display screen and an operation example of the cursor control device of the invention. FIG. (3) and (4) show display screens by the cursor control device of the present invention. In the drawings, 1 is an input device, 2 is an input control section. 3 is a data processing section, 4 is a definition function storage section, 5 is a cursor position conversion section, 6 is a display control section, and 7 is a display device.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. It has at least an input device and a display device, and the input device specifies the movement of a cursor that indicates a current operation target on the screen of the display device to input data. , in a data processing device equipped with a processing/editing function, a defined function f whose argument and/or addend is the maximum value n of the cursor movement amount and the number of times the cursor movement key is repeatedly pressed. (n), g(n),
and/or its inverse function f^-^1(n), g^-^
and a setting means for setting 1(n) in the input device,
Further, a definition function storage means for storing the set maximum value n and the above-mentioned definition function, and an auto-repeat function are provided, and when the cursor is moved by repeatedly pressing the cursor movement key, the definition function storage means is provided. 1. A cursor control device that controls the amount of movement of a cursor by reading function information stored in the device. 2. In the cursor control device according to claim 1, the functions f(n), g(n), and/or their inverse functions f^-^1(n), g^-^1(n ) can be defined in plural numbers, and an integral multiple of the number of repetitions thereof is used as an argument and/or an addend, respectively.