JPS63256987A - Cursor display 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 Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a cursor display method for an information processing device with a display.

〔overview〕

The present invention provides a cursor display method for an information processing device with a display, by displaying an instruction message for the operator on the screen together with the cursor, thereby reducing operator errors and improving operability, and effectively using the display area of the screen. This is how it was done.

[Conventional technology]

In recent years, with the advent of personal computers and workstations, applications such as word processors, spreadsheets, and simple data storage systems that allow operators to work interactively while referring to a screen have become commonly used. It's here. Moreover, in order to make these applications easy to use even for amateurs, you do not have to enter operation commands or objects from the keyboard, but rather use cursor movement keys or a pointing device such as a mouse to move the cursor displayed on the screen. A preferred method of operation is to overlay the image on the screen and select it by operating a mouse button.

As applications become more complex, even though the operation method is based on the cursor display method described above, the operation sequences, such as what to select and in what order to execute the necessary steps, are becoming more diverse. I have no choice but to. For this reason, conventionally, operation guidance may be displayed in a message area specially provided on the screen depending on the stage of operation to help the operator.

[Problem that the invention seeks to solve]

However, with such conventional cursor display methods, the operator's attention is focused on the operation target and often does not notice the guidance message, and even if the operator notices it, it is difficult to move his attention to the message area, which impairs operability. There were drawbacks that led to a decline.

Furthermore, since a special message area is prepared only for operation guidance, there is a drawback that the limited display area is wasted.

The present invention is intended to solve the above-mentioned drawbacks, and aims to provide a cursor display method that reduces erroneous operations by the operator, has good operability, and can effectively use the display area of the screen.

[Means for solving problems]

The present invention provides a display that displays information, a display memory that stores the information to be displayed, a display display control device that controls displaying the contents of the display memory on the display, and a cursor on the screen of the display. In a cursor display method equipped with a pointing device that moves and selects a display target based on operation input,
A cursor image buffer with messages that holds a plurality of instruction messages for the operator along with a plurality of cursor patterns, and an instruction message for the operator that is read from the cursor image buffer with messages in response to selection of a cursor pattern and provided to the display memory. The present invention is characterized by comprising a cursor display control device.

[Effect]

A cursor image buffer with messages holds multiple instruction messages for the operator along with cursor slams. The cursor display control device reads out an instruction message for the operator from the message-attached cursor image buffer in accordance with the selection of the cursor pattern, and supplies it to the display memory for display. The above-described operation reduces operator errors, improves operability, and makes effective use of the display area of the screen.

〔Example〕

Embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. 1st
The figure is a block diagram of a cursor display device according to an embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 1, the cursor display device includes a common bus 1, a processing device 1o such as a microprocessor connected to the common bus 1, and a main memory N20 connected to the common bus 1 and storing programs, data, etc. , a data human device 30 such as a keyboard connected to the common lotus l.
, a pointing device 40 such as a mouse connected to the common bus l for moving a cursor on the screen and selecting a display target, and a display memory 50 connected to the common bus l and storing the display target as a bit image. , a display control device 60 that is connected to the common bus 4 and reads out display objects stored in the display memory 50, and a display 7o that displays the display objects under the control of the display control device 60.

A cursor display device is also connected to the common bus l and stores the cursor in a bit image together with the accompanying displayed message, the shape of the cursor and the message content being changeable by the processing device 10, and the display of the cursor and message. A cursor image with a message path 80 that also stores a mask button for displaying the previous content in an easy-to-read manner, and the data of the corresponding area of the cursor display destination in the display memory 50 are taken in, and this and a cursor with a message are stored. Imageno〈・Sofa 80
The present invention includes a cursor display control device 90 that generates a new button from a logical operation between a cursor image with a message and a mask size button pattern, and displays the new button in the corresponding area of the display memory 50.

The operation of the cursor display device having such a configuration will be explained.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the display of the cursor display device of the present invention. (see Figure 2), display 7
Assume that a document window 71 is displayed at 0 and a certain section of the document is to be copied to another location. Display 7
0, a command menu 72 is displayed in addition to the document, and the operator selects a command such as copy, delete, or move from the command menu 72 before starting work, and then selects the target to which the command is applied. do. Since the user is only allowed to select commands (other than inputting text), the first message-attached cursor 73 has the message [Command] indicating command selection. Select the copy command with this cursor.

Since the copy command expects information in the order of the starting point of the source to be copied, the ending point, and the starting point of the copy destination, the second cursor with message 74 has a message of [Copy source starting point], and after selecting the copy source starting point, Like the third cursor 75 with a message, there is a message [copy source end point], and similarly, the fourth cursor 76 with a message has a message [copy destination start point], indicating the target that the user should select at each point. Instructions are given via message. After the copy operation is completed, the cursor returns to the same cursor as the message cursor 73 and waits for the next operation.

FIG. 3 shows a detailed view of the cursor display device of the present invention. FIG. 3 shows details focusing on the message-attached cursor image buffer 80, cursor display control device 90, and display memory 50 shown in FIG. In the cursor image buffer with message 80, there are four types of cursor patterns 81. ~81.
and a message pattern 82 set by the processing device 10 are stored. In this embodiment, the size of the pattern is that the cursor patterns 811 to 814 are nXn focus,
The message pattern 82 is mxn bits. The control circuit 91 of the cursor display control device 90 controls the display memory 5 based on the screen address information from the pointing device 40.
Display data 51 of corresponding (nXm)xn bits from 0
is read out and temporarily stored in the screen holding buffer 92. Next, the control circuit 91 controls the cursor patterns 81° to 814.
One of the cursor patterns 81 and the message patterns 82 are read out in the order that they are located to the left or right of the cursor pattern 81, and the contents of the screen holding buffer 92 and the bitmap logic operation circuit 93 perform logical operations between the patterns. The result is returned to the display data 51 area. As an example of the logical operation, the nXn bit cursor pattern 81 may be subjected to an exclusive OR with the corresponding display data, and the mxn bit message pattern 82 may be a replacement operation. When the cursor moves, the control circuit 91 returns the contents of the screen holding buffer 92 to the position of the display data 51, and the above-described operation □ is performed again on the new cursor address. In order for the operator to move the cursor smoothly, the above-described operation needs to be performed within the data sampling time of the pointing device 40.

However, the main point of the present invention is to display an instruction message to the operator along with the cursor, and the present invention is not limited to conditions such as the display implementation method.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, the present invention enables even an unskilled operator to operate an information processing device reliably by adding and displaying an instruction message for the next operation the operator should perform on a cursor on the screen. , which has an excellent effect of improving work efficiency.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a cursor display device according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the display of the cursor display device of the present invention. FIG. 3 is a detailed diagram of the cursor display device of the present invention. 10... Processing device, 20... Main storage device, 30...
- Data input device, 40... Pointing device, 50... Display memory, 51... Display data, 60
...Display control device, 70...Display, 71...Document window, 72...Command menu, 73.74.75.76...Cursor with message, 80...Cursor with message Image buffer, 811-814... Cursor pattern, 82.
...Message bang, 90...Cursor display control device, 91...Control circuit, 92...Screen holding buffer, 93...Bitmap logic operation circuit,! ...Common bus. Patent applicant NEC Corporation 7, - Agent Patent attorney Nao Takashi Ide Example display C77 - Example figure 3

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) A display that displays information, a display memory that stores the information to be displayed, a display display control device that controls displaying the contents of this display memory on the display, and a cursor on the screen of the display that operates. In a cursor display method equipped with a pointing device that moves according to input to select a display target, a cursor image buffer with a message holds a plurality of cursor patterns and a plurality of instruction messages for the operator, and a cursor image with the message. A cursor display method comprising: a cursor display control device that reads an instruction message to an operator from a buffer in response to selection of a cursor pattern and provides the message to the display memory.