JPS6215591A - Multiscreen display control 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 [Field of Application of the Invention] The present invention relates to a method for displaying a screen in a raster scan type display device having a display memory and for extracting thorn indication information corresponding to an arbitrary position by specifying the position. A multi-screen display control method suitable for simultaneously displaying a plurality of pieces of information on the screen of one display device [Background of the Invention] Conventional Art Most screen display methods cannot display multiple pieces of data at the same time on one display device, so
If you want to view multiple pieces of data at the same time, you must install multiple display devices, which tends to result in an expensive system.

Nowadays, in devices for personal use such as personal computer, interactive processing based on display devices has become the main focus. Under these circumstances, displaying multiple pieces of data on one display device at the same time has become an important issue in improving user operability and processing efficiency, and there are signs that companies in Japan and overseas are implementing this. be. Regarding this point, the situation is described in detail in an article entitled "Multi-window software that is the key to improving the operability of a personal converter" in the January 30, 1984 issue of Nikkei Electronics. Also, a more specific example of a multiple screen display method is BY
T.E., Feb.

%The Li5a Compute in 1983
r System I.

By the way, in these multi-screen display systems, in order to perform interactive processing based on the display device at high speed, it is necessary to efficiently manage the display position of all information on the display screen. Any on screen? A major problem is how to quickly achieve processing such as extracting display information corresponding to a position or executing corresponding processing when a position is specified.

In addition, in the multi-screen display method described above, commands and commands for performing interactive processing based on the display device
The method of arranging menus, icons, etc., that is, the screen configuration is an important factor in improving operability, and whether or not this screen configuration can be easily set and changed is also a major issue.

[Purpose of the invention]

In view of the above-mentioned problems, an object of the present invention is to: 1. make it possible to arbitrarily set and change the screen configuration on a display screen; /
Also, by providing location information that points to the displayed screen information, it is possible to quickly execute processing that is pre-configured for that screen information, and furthermore, it is possible to quickly execute processing that corresponds to the displayed screen information. It is an object of the present invention to provide a method that allows the display position of each piece of display information to be interactively manipulated through a screen when displaying by allowing matching.

[Summary of the invention]

The multi-screen display control method according to the present invention manages the display positions and mutual positional relationships of all the information displayed on the display screen and the processing to be executed when the information is instructed through the screen in relation to each other, In addition, when a coordinate value representing a position on the screen is given, a means is provided to immediately determine the corresponding display information and execute a predetermined process, and a means for setting or changing the display screen configuration is also provided. By preparing this, we aim to achieve the above-mentioned purpose.

[Embodiments of the invention]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows an example of the configuration of a computer system, such as a personal computer, according to the present invention. The system includes a main memory (MM) 10, a processing unit wt (CPU) 11, a graphic display controller (GDP) 20
, display (D) 19, magnetic disk (DIS)
C) 14, magnetic disk controller (DC) 13, keyboard (KB) 16, KB controller (KBC) 15, pointing device (PD) such as a mouse 18, PD controller (PDC) 17, printer (PR) ) 29 PR control device (PRC) 28 and a common bus 12. Further, as shown in FIG. 2, the GPU 20 also includes a segment memory (SM) 21, a graphic display processing device (GP
) 22, a display memo Ij (FM) 23, and a display control device (DD) 24 are connected via an internal bus 25. Here, 5M21 can be replaced by MMII if the system scale is small.

The display method will be briefly explained using FIGS. 1 and 2. By program P1 running on CPU II,
When displaying figures or characters on D19, first transfer the figure or character data to be displayed (generally these are figure drawing command strings or character code strings) from MMIO to 5M21 by program P,1. Then, an execution request is issued to the GP 22. Upon receiving the execution instruction, GP22 extracts the graphic data or character data from 5M21, develops the data into dot data corresponding to each display point of D19, and places the dot data at the location corresponding to the display position on FM23. Store data. On the other hand, D19
The display control device DD24 scans the FM23 at regular intervals and displays the information on the D19 according to the content.

Therefore, the nuclear dot data stored in FM23 is
24, it will be immediately displayed on D19.

FIG. 3 explains a display example using the multi-screen display control system according to the present invention, and shows a D190 screen 30. The screen 30 is mainly composed of three parts. One is a system control display area that allows the user to interact with the system through the screen, and includes areas 310 to 319 for displaying system control command menus (characters), and system control command icons ( It consists of areas 320 to 329 for displaying graphics). The other is the system/input/output display area,
It consists of a character input area 330 for displaying character strings input from a keyboard, etc., and a message output area 331 for displaying system error messages and the like. The last one is the user display area 390. In the user area 390, multiple pieces of information can be superimposed and displayed simultaneously.
These display areas 340, 360, and 380 are called windows. The windows 340, 360, and 380 are displayed in the order of 360, 380, and 340, that is, the window 340 has the highest display priority and is displayed in the foreground. The display priority of these windows can be changed as appropriate, so if you specify the window you want to bring to the forefront, the display priority will be changed immediately and all hidden parts of the specified window will be displayed. be done. Regarding the window 340 that is displayed in the foreground, you can move the display position of the window in any direction, arbitrarily enlarge or reduce the window display chair, erase the window, and Window control such as arbitrarily changing the displayed content (scrolling) can be performed. For this purpose, in the frontmost window 340, around the user display information 352, there are 7 window control commands for controlling the window.
Icon areas 341 to 351 are displayed.

Here, area 341.343 is for window movement, area 342 is for window deletion, area 344.345.34
7.348.350.351 is for scrolling within the window (corresponding to scrolling up, down, right, left, down, and up, respectively), and area 346.349 is for window enlargement/reduction, and these are specified. This allows predetermined operations to be performed.

FIG. 4, FIG. 5, FIG. 6, and FIG. 12 show control tables according to the present invention.

The input coordinate buffer (ICB) 40 is for storing coordinate values on the display screen instructed by the PD 18. The system area control block (SACB) 410 controls the individual system display areas 310-319, 320-3
29, 330, 331, etc., the display position, display content, and processing when an operation is instructed for that area. System area attribute management field (SAA) 413a to 413i, SA
A field (SAMAX) 414 indicating the maximum number of A;
Field (SAN) 4 indicating the number of currently valid SAA
12, and a field (UAC8) 411 for managing the display position of the user display area 390.

The detailed configuration of the 5AA413 is as shown in FIG. 5, including a field (SiC2) 41 indicating the display position of the corresponding display area.
31. Data area for storing display contents (DATAI)
A field indicating memory storage addresses 450 to 452 (D
DADDR) 4134, a field (MADDR) 4133 indicating the memory storage address of the area (PROGI) 420 to 422 for storing the corresponding processing program, and other fields.

Window icon control block (CWICB) 43
0 is the window control command/icon area 34 that is displayed around the window 340 that is displayed in the foreground.
This is a control table for managing the display position, display content, and processing when an operation is instructed for that area regarding 1 to 351, and its configuration is the same as the previous 5ACB as shown in FIG. That is, WIC8431 is connected to UAC8411, WIN432 is connected to 5AN412, WIC8431 is connected to UAC8411, WIN432 is connected to 5AN412,
IMAX434 becomes SAMAX414, CWIA433
is 5AA413, I ACS 4331 is 5AC84
131, MADR4333 to MADDR4133,
l) DADR4334 corresponds to DDADI)R4134.

The window control block (WCB) 471 manages the size and display position of each window, display data number, presence or absence of window overlap, etc., and controls the WCBIJ strike pointer (WLST) 4 in order of display priority.
70.

As shown in FIG. 12, the configuration of the WCB 470 is as shown in FIG.
It consists of a B pointer (WPT) 4711, coordinate values Wl 4715 and W24716 indicating the display position of the window.

Window overlap data save area management block 5ICB
480 to 482 are display information 5IDB490 to 482 of other windows that are hidden by each window due to overlapping.
This is for managing 492.

7 to 11 show the processing procedure of the multiple screen display control method according to this embodiment.

In this embodiment, the system display area 310 to 319.32
0~329.330. ．． Definitions such as 331 (DEI-8
YS-AREA) 70, and deletion (DEL-8YS-
AREA) 100, definitions of window control command/icon areas 341 to 351, etc. (DEF-WINDOW
-CONTL-AREA) 80, and delete (DEL-
WINDOW-CONTL-AREA) 110, and processing related to a process (SELECT-DATA) 90 that, when an arbitrary position on the screen is specified, identifies a process corresponding to display information at that position and immediately passes control to the process. Show the steps. In addition, each window display (WRITE-WI
NDOW), redisplaying hidden window information (POP-
UP-WINDOW), moving the window display area (M
OVE-WINDOW) and clearing the window (C
Control of windows such as LEAR-WINDOW is detailed in the previously filed application No. 59-257570, and detailed explanation thereof will be omitted in this embodiment.

Each processing procedure will be explained below using FIGS. 7 to 11.

(1) DEF-SMS-A RE A
FIG. 7 shows the system area control block (SACB) 41
System display areas 310 to 319 on display screen 30
．． Register 320-329.330.331D E
F-S M S-A REA: I This shows the processing procedure for mud 7°. CPUII is screen 30
The target coordinate values of the system rectangular display area above, the memory address of the area that stores the information to be displayed in that area, and the area that stores the processing program to be executed when that area is selected. When this command accompanied by a memory address is received, those parameters are first read (block 705).

Then 5ACB410f7) SAN412 and SAMA
5AA414 and determines whether there is space in 5AA413 (block 710). At this time, 5AA41
If there is no space for 3, the processing of this command is immediately terminated. If there is space in 5AA413, the diagonal-coordinate value of the specified area and UAC841 of 5ACB410
1 and determines whether the specified area is other than the system display area (block 715) 0 At this time, if the specified area is other than the system display area, the processing of this command is immediately terminated. If the specified area is within the system display area, then compare the coordinates of the 5AC84131 and the specified area for all 5AA413 that have already been registered, and if the specified area overlaps with the already registered area. (block 720).

At this time, if the area overlaps with the already registered area, the processing of this command is immediately terminated. If the specified area is an unregistered area, the specified parameters that were imported earlier are added to the free 5AC84131, DDA of 5AA413.
DDR4134 and MADDR4133 are set (block 725). And SAN412 of 5ACB410
(Block 730L) The processing of this command is ended (Block 735). By executing this command, the specified system display area is registered in 5ACH.

(2) DEF-WINDOW-CONTL-ARE
AFigure 8 shows the window icon control block (CW
ICB) 430, the frontmost window 3
Window control command/icon area 3 related to 40
DEF-WINDOW-CON to register 41 to 351
The processing procedure of the TL-AREA command 80 is shown.

The processing procedure for this command is the DEF-8MS explained earlier.
- It can be easily understood in the same way as the explanation of the AREA command 70.

(3) DEL-8Y S-A RFJA 1st
FIG. 0 shows the processing procedure of the I) E L-8Y 5-AREA command 100 for deleting the system display area registered in the 5ACB 410. CPU
When l1 receives this command accompanied by diagonal coordinate values pointing to the system display area on screen 3o, it first reads specified parameters (block 100j). Then 5ACB
410 and determines whether there is a registered area in 5ACB 410 (block 101
0). At this time, if there are no registered areas in 5ACB410, this command is immediately terminated.If
If there is a registered area in 5ACB410, check whether the specified area is other than the system display area by checking U of 5ACB410.
The determination is made by comparing the diagonal coordinate values of the AC8411 and the designated area (block 1015).

At this time, if the specified area is other than the system display area,
Immediately terminates processing of this command. If the specified area is within the system display area, the coordinates of the specified area and its 5AC84 will be displayed for all registered 5AA413.
131 to find a registered area that matches the specified area (block 1020). At this time, if there are no matching areas, the processing of this command ends immediately. if,
If there is a matching area, 5AC84131, MADDR4133, DDADDR related to 5AA413 at that time
Delete all registration information such as 4134 (block 1
025).

Then, subtract 5AN4112 of 5ACB410 by 1 (
Block 1030), and the processing of this command ends (Block 1035).

(4) DEL-WINDOW-CONTI, -AR
EA Figure 11 shows the DEL command to delete the window system #command icon area registered in CWICB430.
-WINDOW-CONTL -AREA command 11
0 processing procedure is shown. The processing procedure of this command can be easily understood in the same way as the explanation of the DEL-8MS-AREA command 100 explained earlier.

(5) SELECT-DATA 9th
The figure shows 5 AC when any position on the screen is specified.
This shows the processing procedure of the 5ELECT-DATA command 90, which uses the B410, CWICB430, etc. to identify a process corresponding to the display information at that position and immediately passes control to the process. When the CPU II receives this command, it first takes in the coordinate values of the position on the screen 30 designated by the pointing device 18 and stores them in the ICB 4O (block 915).

Next, the coordinates of the specified position and the UAC 84 of 5ACB 410
11 to determine whether the specified position is within the system display area (block 920).

At this time, if the specified position is within the system display area, 5
Search all 5AA413 of ACB410, 5AC
84131 to find an area that includes the specified position (block 950). At this time, if there is no corresponding area, the processing of this command is immediately terminated. If there is a corresponding area, the MADD'R 4133 of the 5AA 413 at that time is extracted, and the process branches to the processing module having the memory address indicated therein, using the coordinate values of the specified position as a parameter (block 955). As a result, the process previously associated with the specified position is executed.

At block 920, if the specified position 1i# is outside the system optical display area, the WIC 843 of CWICB 43.0
1 and the coordinate values of the specified position to determine whether the specified position is within the frontmost window (current window) area (block 925). If it is within the current window area, the coordinate values of the specified position and Wl 4715, W2 of WCB 471 corresponding to the current window
4716 to determine whether the specified position is within the window control command icon area of the current window (block 930).

Here, if the specified position is within the window control command/icon area, all C
The WIA 433 is searched and an area including the specified position is found from the AC 34331 (block 935). At this time, if there is no corresponding area, the processing of this command is immediately terminated. If there is a corresponding area, the CW at that time
The MADR 4333 of the IA 433 is taken out and the coordinate value of the specified position is used as a parameter to branch to the processing module having the memory address indicated therein (block 9
40). As a result, window control processing previously associated with the specified position, such as moving, enlarging, or reducing the current window, is executed.

At block 930, if the designated position is outside the window control command icon area, a graphic pick (extraction) process is performed regarding the user data displayed within the current window. There are various methods for this pick processing, but since they are not essential to this embodiment, their explanation will be omitted.

In block 925, if the specified position is outside the current window area, the WCB! The J block is sequentially searched, Wl and W2 of each WCB are compared with the coordinate values of the specified position, and a window containing the specified position is found (block 905). At this time, if there is no corresponding area, the processing of this command is immediately terminated.

If there is a corresponding area, use the WCB WN (window number) 4712 at that time as a parameter to create a POP-U as detailed in the previously filed Japanese Patent Application No. 59-257570.
Perform P-WINDOWl processing. As a result, the current window that corresponds to the specified position is displayed at the forefront.
It will become a window.

By the way, the storage location of the control table and the execution location of the processing procedure used in the explanation so far can be any of the following combinations. (1) Control table is MM1
0, the processing procedure is CPU II, (2) the control table is M
MIO1 processing procedure is GPI, (3) control table is 5M
As explained above, in this embodiment, by managing the system display area and the window control command/icon area, an arbitrary screen can be configured.
In addition, there is an effect that a predetermined process can be executed immediately by specifying an arbitrary position on the screen.O [Effect of the Invention] According to the present invention, the screen configuration of the display screen can be arbitrarily set or changed. Furthermore, by providing positional information pointing to the displayed screen information, it is possible to quickly execute processing that is pre-assigned to the screen information.

Further, according to the present invention, when a plurality of pieces of information are displayed on the same screen by allowing overlapping, the display position of each piece of information can be interactively manipulated through the screen. be.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a computer system according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a block configuration diagram of the graphic display device portion of FIG. 1, FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of the configuration of a display screen, and FIGS. 6 is a configuration diagram of a control table according to the present invention, FIGS. 7 to 11 are flowcharts showing the processing procedure of a multi-screen display control method according to the present invention, and FIG. 12 is a configuration diagram of a control table according to the present invention. Figure. Explanation of symbols 410--System display area control block, 43
゜・・・Window/icon control block, 47
1...Window control block, 7o...
DEI: F-8YS-AREAMm procedure, 80---
-- DEF-WINDOW-CONTL-ARgA processing procedure, 90-----5 ELECT-DATA processing procedure, 100----- DEL-8YS-AREA processing procedure, 110--DEL-WINDOW-CONTL
- AREA processing procedure.

Claims (1)

[Claims] In a computer system having a processing device and a memory, a display memory that stores display data, a raster scan type display device that displays the contents of the display memory, and screen coordinates that can specify any position on the screen of the display device. In addition to providing an input device, a processing program to be executed when the display position of each of the plurality of display data stored in the display memory, the storage location of the display data, and the display position of the display data is instructed from the outside. A control table for managing a storage location is provided in the memory, and a predetermined process is executed in the processing device by specifying a position on the screen using the control table, a display device, and a screen coordinate input device. A multi-screen display control method characterized by performing multi-screen display.