JPS6222141A - Menu display controller - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent the generation of mis-operation by providing menu information selected on a menu display device of hierarchy architecture to a control table and using a current pointer to instruct a current menu displayed and selected at present thereby displaying a hysteresis menu and the current menu. CONSTITUTION:An input/output controller 1 codes key information of a key input section 3 of a controller and applies it to a processor 6 and a program executed by a CPU6 is read by an external storage device 8 connected to an external storage controller 7. The menu controller 9 is driven by the program of menu display of hierarchy architecture read in this way. The controller 9 reads the 1st menu data being an object in the device 8 and applies the result directly a menu display graphic memory 5. The displayed menu and its hysteresis at present are stored by a control table 11 and a current pointer 10 connected to the controller 9. Then the information from the memory 5 is displayed on a display section 2 to prevent mis-operation of the device.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Technical Field of the Invention] The present invention relates to a device for displaying a hierarchically structured menu, and more particularly to a menu display control device for managing selection history.

[Conventional technology]

Personal computers and office computers have developed rapidly in recent years because they can perform desired processing by replacing programs, that is, loading executable programs. Programs to be executed on these computers are produced and sold in various fields.

Conventionally, the above-mentioned programs are not limited to those for a single process, but often perform multiple processes. In particular, programs that process accounting and planning have many processing objectives and classification items.

It is configured to perform menu management with a hierarchical structure. For example, in a planning program for a factory, the first step is development and manufacturing.

Display a menu to select each section of purchasing. If development is instructed, the next step is investigation.

Displays a menu of work contents such as design and prototyping.

When manufacturing is instructed, menus for each process such as assembly, wiring, adjustment, etc. are displayed. If it is uni, menus such as product parts list, parts order list, delivered parts list and inventory list are displayed.

The aforementioned menu items are, for example, menus used when performing factory management for one product, and necessary processing is executed by specifying an item for each menu.

FIG. 5 is a menu hierarchical structure diagram showing menus in a hierarchical structure in the above-mentioned planning process such as factory management. Menu A represents a major category of menus, and includes the aforementioned development and manufacturing.

Corresponds to the menu representing purchase 1 etc. Medium-class menus G, B, and J are provided in the hierarchy below menu A of the nine major classifications. These menus G, B, and J are related to the development and design mentioned above.

This menu displays trial production, one assembly, wiring, adjustment, product parts list, parts order list, delivered parts list, inventory list, etc. Under the middle category, there are subcategories and item menu H-, and further below that, menus D, F, etc. are provided.

In each menu A- shown in FIG. 5, one menu is displayed on the entire screen of the display device.

When sequentially selecting menus in the conventional hierarchical structure described above, the operator always had to remember where in the hierarchical structure the menu currently displayed on the display device was. For example, if the operator does not memorize the menu selection, whether it is a menu showing parts relationships provided at the lower level of a development prototype, or a menu showing various lists for purchasing, the current display will not be possible. It becomes unclear where the displayed screen is located in the hierarchical structure.

Furthermore, even when there is a selection error in a menu, the user must sequentially backtrack (return to the menu in the upper hierarchy) at the time when the user notices the two-selection error in order to find out the location of the erroneous selection. Therefore, in the past, when such an erroneous selection was made, there was a problem in that all the previous selections had to be cleared and the selection had to be made again from the beginning.

[Purpose of the invention]

In view of the above-mentioned drawbacks of the conventional art, it is an object of the present invention to provide a menu display control device that allows quick selection correction even when nine layers become complicated, and furthermore, reduces operational errors and improves menu selection operability. shall be.

[Key points of the invention]

To achieve the above object, the present invention provides an apparatus for displaying a hierarchically structured menu, including a first storage means for storing a plurality of hierarchically structured menus.

A menu control means for displaying the history of the selected menu on a part of the display screen, a second storage means for storing the history of the selected menu, and a pointer for pointing to the menu stored in the second storage means. and the menu control means displays the menu instructed by the pointer and stored in the second storage means on the display screen.

The present invention is characterized in that menus stored in the second storage means and not indicated by the pointer are displayed in a hierarchical order on a part of the display screen.

〔Example〕

The present invention will be described in detail below using one drawing.

FIG. 1 is a circuit diagram of an embodiment of the present invention. The input/output control device 1 includes a display section 2. Key human power department 3.7 us4. Menu display graphic memory 5. processor (, CPU
)6 is connected. The key provided in the key human power section 3 (
(not shown) is pressed, key information from the key input section 3 is added to the input/output control device 1, encoded, and output to the processor (CPU) 6. For example, if the pressed key is a command to execute a program such as factory management, the processor (CPU) 6 uses an external storage device 8 connected to the processor (CPU) 6 via an external storage control device 7 to Read and execute the program. When the read program is a program having a hierarchical menu display, the processor (CPU) drives a menu control device 9 connected to the processor (CPU) 6. The menu control device 9 includes a processor (CPU) 6 (7).
)(fM,: Current pointer 10. Control table E1
．． A menu display graphic, a menu 5, and an external storage control device 7 are connected. When the menu control device 9 is activated, first, the first menu data 12 in the target hierarchical structure stored in the external storage device 8 is read out.

This read data is directly added to the menu display graph ink memory 5 from the external storage control device 7 without going through the menu control device W9. As a result, the first menu data is stored in the menu display graphic memory 5. Ru.

The input/output control device 1 displays a menu display graphic screen 5
It has a circuit that converts the menu data stored in the 1.
It is displayed on the display unit 2 (FIG. 2(a)). Menu A is the top-level menu, and since there are no higher-level menus at this time, only menu A is displayed.Next, the operator operating this device presses the key corresponding to the item in menu A. is pressed.

Alternatively, when a displayed item is designated by the mouse, it is encoded by the input/output control device 1 and sent to the processor (CPU) 6 in the same manner as described above.

5 The processor (CPU) 6 generates a control signal to display the next menu from the input code data.
- output to the control device 9; Menu control device 9:
From the control signal applied from the processor (CPU) 6.

1° Control is performed to read the target menu data from the external storage bag f12 and store it in the menu display graphic memory 5. Note that the menu data is directly stored in the menu display graphic memory 5 by the external storage control device 7. Then, the table 1 is displayed on the display section 2 (Figure 2).

On the other hand, the data stored in the menu display graphic memory 5, that is, the data of the current menu, is image data that corresponds to the dots displayed on the display section 2 in a 1:1 ratio, starting from f&. Regarding the lower menu display, the menu control device 9 also performs control to display the menu that has been displayed and selected so far above the current menu that is currently being displayed. A control table 11 and a current pointer 1o are connected to the menu control device 9.
This control table stores the current menu currently displayed and the history of menus selected so far.

FIG. 3 shows the control table 11, current point 10, external storage device 8, and menu display graphic memory 5.
FIG. The control table 11 has two menu name columns.

Choice number column 11-2. Disk management pointer column 11-3. It is composed of a menu display graphic memory pointer column 11-4. FIG. 3 shows the contents of the table when menu B is selected from menu A and menu C is selected from menu B. Menu name column 11-1 is the menu A- mentioned above.
Memorize the name of C. The option number column 11-2 stores, for example, the number of the item selected in menu A or menu B. The disk management information pointer column 11-3 indicates the storage start position of each menu in the external storage device 8, and the menu display graph ink memory pointer column 11-4 indicates the start position of the selected menu stored in the display graphic memory. Remember address.

Each time each i in the menu is selected in sequence, the number of the selected item is stored in the option number column 11-2, and at the same time, the start address of the disk management information W113 where the storage location of the next menu to be displayed is stored. is read from the external storage device 8 with reference to the disk management information pointer column 11-3, and based on this, the menu control device 9 reads new menu data from the external storage device and stores it in the menu display graphic memory 5. By repeating this selection, the control table 11 stores history data of sequentially selected menus.

The menu display graphic memory 5 is provided with a plurality of divided areas (5-1 to 5-n) for displaying history menus at positions corresponding to the upper part of the display screen. These divided areas (5-1 to 5-n) are areas for displaying the li history menu. Area 5-X is a current menu area that displays items to be selected.

Menu control device! Each time a new menu selected by the key operator or mouse is displayed, 9 reduces the menu immediately after it to the position following the menu currently displayed in the above-mentioned area (5-1 to 5-n). and store it. Figure 2) selects menu B from menu A, displays menu B, and displays a small menu A at the top.
Figure 2 (C) shows the display screen displaying Menu B.
The display screen after selecting menu C is shown in Figure 2(d).
represent the display screen after selecting menu D from menu C. Note that the menu hierarchy in FIG. 2 has the hierarchical structure shown in FIG. 4.

The menu control value w9 operates to add a circle mark to the number of the selected item in the reduced menu displayed at the top on the screen.

On the other hand, it may be necessary to make corrections such as changing the selected item due to an operator's operational error or the like. In such cases, do you use the cursor keys or the mouse? The present invention is configured such that it is possible to move to any menu that has been displayed in the past, that is, by moving a mark or the like and then pressing a change key, for example. For example, Figure 2 (
By mouse like ei? When the mark is moved to menu B and the change key is pressed, what is the input/output control device 1?
Along with detecting in which area the mark is present.

Detects the menu number 1 in that area and moves the current pointer 1
Store that number in 0. Then, the menu displayed immediately before the position indicated by the current pointer 10 from the beginning of the control table is displayed in the graph ink memories 5-1 to 5-.
The menu at the position indicated by the current pointer 10 is stored and displayed in the menu display graph ink memory 5-x as the current menu.

FIG. 2 <r> shows the case where the ↑ mark is moved by the mouse 4 and menu B is selected. At this time, menu B is displayed and a small menu A is displayed above menu B. This display is 0 where the current pointer 10 has been added as described above.)-c fx 8□
ttor agree. ``'C/=s'-B
When 3 is selected (menu E), menu E is displayed and menus A and B are displayed in a reduced size above it (Fig. 2 (g)). moreover.

When 3 is selected in menu E (menu F), menu F is displayed and menu A is displayed above it.
, B, and E are displayed in a reduced size (FIG. 2(h)). During the selection described above, each time a selection is made, the menu name column 11-1. Choice number column 11-2. Disk management information pointer column 11-3. Menu display graphic memory pointer column 11-4. Stores each menu name 9 selection number, disk management information pointer, and menu display graphic memory address.

Note that the disk management information pointer indicates an address where the necessary information corresponding to the menu is stored in the external storage device 8, and from this address value, the next menu corresponding to each item is stored in the specific area. Data and, at the time of processing, the storage address of the processing program, etc. are stored.

In the embodiment of the present invention described above, the history menu is simply reduced and displayed at the top of the display screen, but as shown in FIG. In order to display the menu selection history, it is also possible to display even more menu selection histories by overlapping and displaying these menus.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As described above, the present invention is configured to provide information on a selected menu in a control table in a device that displays a hierarchically structured menu, and to point a current menu that is currently displayed and selected using a current pointer. Since the history menu and the current menu are displayed on the menu control device using a table and a current pointer, according to the present invention, selection correction can be made clearly even for menus with complicated hierarchies, reducing operational errors. Furthermore, it is possible to obtain a menu display control device with improved menu selection operability.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a circuit configuration diagram of an embodiment of the present invention. Figures 2 (al to hl are diagrams of display examples of the selection menu and history menu. Figure 3 is a relationship diagram showing the relationship between the control table, current pointer, external storage device, and menu display graphic/graphic memory. Figure 4) is a diagram of another display example of the present invention. FIG. 5 is a menu hierarchical structure diagram showing menus in a hierarchical structure. l... Input/output control device. 2... Display section. 3... Key manual power. Part. 5... Menu display graphic memory. 6... Processor. 9... Menu control device. 10... Current pointer. 11... Control table. Patent Applicant Casio Computer Co., Ltd. $ Figure 1 2 Figure 4 Figure 5

Claims (1)

[Claims] A device for displaying a hierarchically structured menu, comprising: a first storage means for storing the plurality of hierarchically structured menus; a menu control means for displaying a history of the selected menu on a part of the display screen; It has a second storage means for storing a history, and a pointer for pointing to a menu stored in the second storage means, and the menu control means is pointed by the pointer, and the second storage means A menu characterized in that a stored menu is displayed on the display screen, and a menu that is stored in the second storage means and that is not pointed by the pointer is displayed in a hierarchical order on a part of the display screen. Display control device.