JPS62197817A - Guide help system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To obtain an information processor that takes a user interface and the using environment into consideration, by displaying the guide information as frequently as possible and then performing the aural guide in a minimum necessary case where the display of guide information is impossible. CONSTITUTION:A guide display is performed while the information displayed presently on a display screen kept as long as possible. Then aural guide is performed in a minimum necessary case at a time point when it is decided that the guide display is impossible. Thus the user interface and also the using environment are taken into consideration. This can reduce greatly the anxiety and dissatisfaction of users and therefore improves greatly the operability of users. Furthermore the user can use an information processor without anxiety and also learn easily the new functions, etc.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Technical Field of the Invention] The present invention relates to a guide help method for guiding an information processing device or an application system.

[Technical background of the invention and its problems]

In information processing devices such as computer systems, word processors, information retrieval devices, facsimile machines, and telephones, guide help information related to usage and guide information for application programs are often shown.

Therefore, how to output guide information in an easy-to-understand manner to users has become an important issue in terms of user interfaces.

On the other hand, in conventional guide methods, guidance is often displayed on the screen of an output device when a guide is requested. Furthermore, some multi-window type workstations display a guide near the window that made the guide request. But on the display screen.

Generally, a large number of windows are displayed, and if the guide display ignores the window display status, the guide display will hide the important display window that the user is currently looking at, and the guide display will hide the important display window that the user is currently looking at. There are 5 problems with this, which goes against the common sense of user interfaces, which is to make the desired target screen and guide information visible to the user at the same time.

On the other hand, there is also a guide method that always provides guidance using audio information. But with a guide device like this.

There are many problems because it constantly makes noise.

[Purpose of the invention]

The present invention has been made in consideration of these circumstances, and its purpose is to improve the user interface by displaying guide information as much as possible and providing voice guidance in the minimum necessary cases where the information cannot be displayed. Another object of the present invention is to provide an information processing device that takes into consideration the usage environment.

[Summary of the invention]

The present invention has information regarding the position, size, and priority (importance) of windows displayed on the display screen of a display device such as a display, and also provides advance guidance on usage and application systems. Regarding information, error messages, and help information, there is overlap between displayable information and voice information, and when a user requests guidance or when guidance is automatically output from the system, windows that have a priority level higher than a certain level, etc. Determine whether guide display is possible so that the displayed information is not obscured.

If display is possible, it will be displayed in the most appropriate part.

Also, when it is determined that guide display is not possible.

This is a guide help method that provides guidance using corresponding audio information.

(Effects of the Invention) According to the present invention, the information currently displayed on the display screen is displayed as much as possible, the guide display is performed without hiding the information, and only when it is determined that the guide display cannot be performed, the minimum A limited audio guide will be provided.

Therefore, consideration is given not only to the user interface but also to the usage environment, which greatly reduces user anxiety and dissatisfaction, and therefore greatly increases user operational efficiency. In addition, users can not only use the information processing device with peace of mind, but can also easily learn new functions, which has great practical effects.

[Embodiments of the invention]

An embodiment of the method of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an embodiment of the system of the present invention. Here, input part 1 is a character.

It is an input device that can input numerical values 9 position coordinates, commands, etc., and specifically, it is a keyboard, a mouse, etc.

The output unit 2 is a display device such as a CRT, liquid crystal display, or plasma display. The storage unit 3 includes one or both of an internal storage device and an external storage device.

The storage unit has at least a part for storing a guide item table (a guide item table storage part), a part for storing guide display information (a guide information storage part), and a part for storing audio guide information (a voice guide storage part). .

The audio conversion unit 4 is a part where audio guide information is converted into audio signals. If the audio guide information is coded and compressed using the ADPCM method, etc., this is an expansion device into an audio signal, and if the audio guide information is a character code (kana code, etc.), it is a speech synthesizer. be.

The audio output unit 5 is an audio output device such as a speaker. The control unit 6 also controls these.

FIG. 2 shows an example (a) of a display layout of windows and the like on the display screen of the output unit and an example (b) of a window management table of the control unit corresponding thereto. Window management table is 9
Display window target number, its position on the screen, size,
It consists of priority (level of importance) and manages the window display state.

FIG. 3 shows an example of the guide item table in the storage unit. Consists of an address pointer (audio guide pointer) to guide information. Figure 4 is 9
It is a flow chart of processing of a control part in one example of a system of the present invention.

Furthermore, FIG. 5 shows examples ((a) to (e)) of display screens for explaining one embodiment of the method of the present invention.

The control unit 6 uses the window management table of the control unit and the guide item table of the storage unit to determine whether a guide can be displayed in response to a guide request input from the input unit 1 or a guide request from an application system, etc. 2. If display is possible, determine the appropriate position.

The guide information of the corresponding item is checked from the guide information storage section of the storage section 3 and displayed on the output section 2. When it is determined that guide display is not possible, corresponding audio guide information is checked from the audio guide storage section of the storage section 3 and outputted to the audio output section 5 through the audio conversion section 4.

The flow of processing performed by the control unit 6 will be specifically explained below based on the flowchart of FIG. 4 and FIG. 5.

First, the control unit confirms the user's guide request or the system's guide output request. Guide control is then started (step 41 in FIG. 4).

The guide request (guide output request) is given a guide item a and a guide request window (window number 1 in FIG. 2 in this example). Next, a guide target search is performed using the guide item table in Figure 3 (Step 42 in Figure 4).
, the guide size corresponding to the guide item ae [Zl+w
l co-guide display pointer PL1 audio guide pointer v
Take i, x=zL, Y=Ij.

(Step 43 in Figure 4).

This applies to each window numbered 2 and below in the window management table, if conditions (1), (n), (m), and (IV) are met.
All you have to do is check whether the above conditions are satisfied and whether the area is within the range of the screen.

(Condition 1) Window j in the window management table does not overlap the right adjacent part of window 1.

■　XJ+XJ<X, +X,.

Or ■ x j > X x + x, + x.

or ■ V J + Y J < Y L s or ■ y J > y x + Y□.

Either one of these must be satisfied.

, (Condition ■) Window j in the window management table does not overlap with the adjacent part below window 1: ■ xj + XJ < x t + or ■ XJ > X engineering + X engineering.

or ■ yj+YJ <yt + Yt v or ■ yj>yt +v1+ Y.

(Condition ■), Window j in the window management table does not overlap with the left adjacent part of Window 1 means ■ x j + LJ < x I X H or ■ x
Either of j>

(Condition ■), window j in the window management table does not overlap with the upper and adjacent portion of window 1.

■　xj+Xj<xl.

Or ■　XJ>　x1+　X,...

or■yj+Yj<yx-Y* or ■ yj>yl One of the following must hold true.

If there is an empty area [X, Yl of size [X, Yl] (step 45 in Fig. 4), the guide position is determined at that position (step 414 in Fig. 4), and guide information is stored using the guide pointer P of the guide target. The guide information is retrieved from the output section (step 415 in FIG. 4), and the guide information is displayed from the output section (step 416 in FIG. 4).

The display example shown in FIG. 5(a) is an example in which a guide is displayed on the right adjacent portion of window 1.

If the free area of size [X, Yl is not in the adjacent part of the requesting window, ■ size in the screen, then condition (V) for all windows j in the window management table.
and is within the screen ([Ma+ylt[Ma+
It is sufficient to determine x+yL [ma+x, 70Yl, [ma, y+Y]).

It does not overlap with j. ■　xj＋xjくx.

Or ■　XJ>X+X.

or■　yj+YJ　＜y　e or ■ yj>y+Y One of these is to be satisfied.

This results in an empty area of size [X, Yl ([X.

yL [x+Xe yL [x+X, y1Y
, [X.

y+Y]) (step 47 in Figure 4), determine its guide position, search for guide information using the guide pointer P of the guide target, and display it from the output section (4).
Steps 414 to 416) and the display example shown in FIG. 5(b) are examples in which a guide is displayed in an empty area.

If there is no free area of size [X, Yl (Step 47 in Figure 4), perform the same operation as above (■) except for window areas with priority (importance) a or lower in the window management table among the 9 screens (step 47 in Figure 4). Figure 4 step 48). As a result, if there is an area of size [X, Yl (Step 49 in Figure 4)
, determine the guide position and display the guide. (Figure 5(c)
).

If there is no area of size [X, Yl (Step 49 in Figure 4), the window management table (Priority (importance level) in Figure 2 (b)) The same operation is performed (step 410 in FIG. 4).

As a result, if there is an area of size EX, Yl (step 411 in FIG. 4), the guide position is determined and the guide is displayed. (See the display example in FIG. 5(d)).

If there is no area of size [X, Yl (Step 49 in Figure 4), guide display cannot be performed (see the example in Figure 5 (a)). In this case, audio data for the audio guide pointer Vi to be guided. is retrieved from the voice guide storage unit (step 412 in FIG. 4), converted by the voice converter, and outputted by the voice output unit (step 413 in FIG. 4). After these processes, the process ends. .

As described above, guide information is displayed as much as possible, but when one cannot be displayed, a corresponding audio guide will appear.

The present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned embodiment. For example, in the above-mentioned embodiment, the order is first adjacent vacant area, vacant area, adjacent vacant area excluding priority a or lower, vacant area excluding priority Ω or lower. Although only a part of this search may be performed, the method is not limited to the method of conditions i, n, m, rv, and v, and may be changed without changing the gist of the present invention. .

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration block diagram of an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of the display layout of windows on the display screen of the output unit and an example of a window management table of the control unit, and FIG. A diagram showing an example of a guide item table in the storage section, FIG. 4 is a flowchart of processing of the control section of the method of the present invention, and FIG. 5 is an example of a display screen for explaining an embodiment of the method of the present invention. FIG. 1...Input section 2...Output section 3...Storage section 4...Speech conversion section 5...Sound output section 6...Control section agent Patent attorney Noriyuki Chika Yudo Kikuo Takehana Figure 2 Figure 4 Figure 6

Claims (1)

[Claims] An input means for inputting a character code, a figure code, etc., a display means for displaying a document, etc. according to the code inputted from this input means, and guide help information to be displayed on this display means and an audio guide corresponding thereto. The control means includes a storage means for storing information, an audio output means for outputting audio guide information, and a control means for controlling these. , display status holding means for holding size, etc., identification means for identifying a guide request, and when a guide request is identified by the identification means, the displaying means refers to the information held in the display situation holding means. determining means for determining whether or not there is an area in which guide help information can be displayed; and means for outputting audio guide information from the audio output means when the determining means determines that there is no displayable area. A guide help method characterized by the following.