JP2680205B2 - Information processing device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an information processing device such as a word processor and a computer, and more particularly to an information processing device capable of providing a vertically and horizontally long screen by rotating a display surface.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art An information processing device such as a personal computer or a word processor is usually provided with a device body having a control unit and the like, a display device for displaying display contents, and a keyboard for input operation. Conventionally, in such an information processing apparatus, the display surface of the display device has a rectangular shape, and the display device is generally fixed so that the display surface has a vertically long or horizontally long arrangement.

For example, in a structure in which the display device is fixed so that the display surface is horizontally long, a large number of characters in the horizontal direction can be output. Therefore, when a document is created in the horizontally placed A4 size document format. It is possible to output the entire A4 size document on one screen.

[0004]

However, the above-mentioned conventional information processing apparatus has the following problems because the display device is fixed vertically or horizontally.

There are various document formats, such as A4 size and B4 size, and there are two types of documents, one of which is placed horizontally and the other of which is placed vertically. For this reason, on a horizontally long display surface, for example, if an attempt is made to create a document in a vertically placed A4 size document format, the number of display digits in the vertical direction of the display surface is small, so the entire A4 size document is output on one screen. There is nothing to do. Therefore, in order to view a document on one screen, it is necessary to move the screen, and the accompanying operation tends to be complicated.

Therefore, in recent years, a structure has been proposed in which the entire display device can be rotated between a vertically long position and a horizontally long position, and the above problems have been solved. However, in such a configuration, it is necessary to set the displayable area appearing on the display surface to be vertically or horizontally long by operating the keyboard or the like according to the vertically or horizontally long layout of the display device. Therefore, each time the operator switches the orientation of the display device, the screen setting must be switched as described above.

Further, in the above configuration, the orientation of the displayable area can be changed regardless of the orientation of the display device, so that the screen setting that does not match the orientation of the display device is made due to an operator error or the like. Be seen. Therefore, when trying to restore the screen setting to an appropriate one, an operation therefor is required, which causes a problem that work efficiency is reduced.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to set an appropriate screen according to the orientation of a display device and prevent an operation error during screen setting.

[0009]

An information processing apparatus according to the present invention includes a display unit having a rectangular display surface rotatably provided between a vertically long position and a horizontally long position, and display on the display surface. An information processing apparatus including a switching control unit that switches a displayable area to a portrait orientation or a landscape orientation according to a switching command, and takes the following means in order to solve the above problems.

That is, the information processing apparatus includes vertical / horizontal detection means for detecting whether the display means is in the vertical position or the horizontal position, while the switching control means switches the detection result by the vertical / horizontal detection means. And a match determination means for switching the orientation of the displayable area only when the orientation of the display means and the orientation of the displayable area designated by the switching instruction match. I am trying.

[0011]

In the above structure, the displayable area is displayed only when the orientation of the display means detected by the vertical / horizontal detection means and the orientation of the displayable area set by the switching command match by the coincidence determination means of the switching control means. Since the orientation of the displayable area is switched, the orientation of the displayable area is not set differently from the orientation of the display means by the switching command. As a result, it is possible to always correctly set the screen according to the switching of the orientation of the display means, and it is possible to prevent a decrease in work efficiency due to an operation error or the like.

[0012]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The following is a description of an embodiment in which the present invention is applied to a document creating apparatus, with reference to FIGS.

As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the document creating apparatus according to the present embodiment has a base unit 1 on which the entire apparatus is stably placed on a desk or the like, and a base unit 1 which is raised upward. The main body 2 and the display unit 3 as a display unit are attached to the front side of the main body 2 on the operator side.

A front side of the base 1 projects from the main body 2, and a floppy disk device 4 for recording / reproducing document data or the like to / from a floppy disk 5 (see FIG. 4) is provided at the right end on the front side. It is provided. On the inner side of the floppy disk device 4, there is provided a curved inclined surface 1a formed by being curved from the upper end surface of the floppy disk device 4 to the upper end surface of the base 1.

The main body 2 has a built-in control unit and the like for controlling the operation of the document creating apparatus, and has a rotation support unit 21 on the front side. The rotation support portion 21 supports the display unit 3 so as to be rotatable in the A direction and the B direction. The display unit 3 has a liquid crystal display panel 22 serving as a display surface and a panel frame body 23 that supports the liquid crystal display panel 22, and a floppy disk in the panel frame body 23 when set in a vertically long position. A notched inclined portion 23a is formed in a corner portion on the device 4 side. The cutout inclined portion 23a, together with the curved inclined surface 1a, functions to prevent the display unit 3 from colliding with the base 1 when rotating.

The liquid crystal display panel 22 is adapted to display in a rectangular displayable area which is slightly smaller than its outer shape. Further, the panel frame body 23 is provided with a pair of, for example, power switches 24, 24 at corner portions facing each other with respect to the center of the liquid crystal display panel 22. These power switches 24, 24 are located at the lower left end when the display unit 3 is set in the vertically long position as shown by the one-dot chain line in FIG. 1, and when the display unit 3 is set in the horizontally long position. It is located on the lower right side.

Further, the panel frame 23 is provided with a placement sensor 25 in the vicinity of the notched inclined portion 23a on the lower end surface when the display unit 3 is set in the vertically long position. The placement sensor 25, which serves as a vertical / horizontal detection unit, is a push-type micro switch, and detects a vertically long or horizontally long layout state of the display unit 3 by detecting that the side under heavy pressure is the bottom side. There is. As the vertical / horizontal detection means, a device other than the above micro switch may be used.

Here, the control unit and the like built in the main body 2 will be described.

As shown in FIG. 4, the control unit includes a CPU (Ce
ntral Processing Unit) 6 and ROM (Read Only Memo)
ry) 7, RAM (Random Access Memory) 8, controllers 10 and 12, keyboard controller (KEY controller in the figure) 13, printer controller 15, communication unit 17, and display controller 18
And is constituted by.

When the switching command for switching the orientation of the displayable area of the liquid crystal display panel 22 is input through the keyboard 14, the CPU 6 as the switching control means receives the switching command and the detection result of the placement sensor 25. Is detected, and only when it is determined that the orientation of the displayable area designated by the switching command matches the orientation of the display unit 3 determined by the detection signal, the switching command is issued. The display controller 18 is controlled so as to switch the direction of the displayable area, and has a function of a match determination unit.

The switching command is, for example, the keyboard 14
Can be switched by operating the switch key (not shown)
"1" is set so as to correspond to portrait orientation, and "0" is set to correspond to landscape orientation. Therefore, if the detection signal becomes "1" when the display unit 3 is set to the vertically long position, and the detection signal becomes "0" when the display unit 3 is set to the horizontally long position, the CPU 6 determines that When both are "1", the displayable area is switched to the vertically long, and when both are "0", the displayable area is switched to the horizontally long.

The controllers 10 and 12 are adapted to control the hard disk device 9 and the floppy disk device 4, respectively, by communicating with the CPU 6. The keyboard controller 13 is a keyboard (KEY in the figure)
14 is connected, and the input from the keyboard 14 is
The data is converted into data that can be processed by the PU 6. The keyboard 14 is provided with ten function keys (not shown) each having three different functions, and various processing functions can be used by switching the function of each function key. .

The ROM 7 is a read-only memory for storing control programs and data, and includes programs for executing the above-described operations of the CPU 6, as well as control programs for various control units and various data. Is stored. On the other hand, the RAM 8 stores the input data and the CPU 6
The memory is a memory that can be written / read at any time and has a function of temporarily storing the calculation result and the like.

The printer controller 15 is the printer 1.
6 is connected, and controls the printing operation of the printer 16 based on a command from the CPU 6. The communication unit 17 is a device for communicating with another document creation device or the like, and is configured by a modem or the like.
The display controller 18 converts display data from the CPU 6 into a video signal and sends it to the display unit 3, and controls the display operation of the display unit 3 according to a command from the CPU 6.

In addition to the above control unit, the main body 2 has
A hard disk drive 9 and a main power supply 20 are built in. The hard disk device 9 is capable of recording and reproducing document data and the like, similarly to the floppy disk device 4 described above, and includes a hard disk (not shown) as a recording medium. The main power source 20 is a controller or a hard disk device 9
And so on.

In the above configuration, the procedure of screen setting according to the orientation of the display unit 3 will be described based on the flowchart of FIG.

First, the placement sensor 25 detects the current orientation of the display unit 3 (S1), and a switching command for switching the orientation of the displayable area is input by operating the keyboard 14 (S2). Then, the detection signal of the arrangement sensor 25 and the switching command are compared with each other to determine whether the two match (S3). When the two match, the CPU 6 determines the direction of the displayable area. Are switched (S4). On the other hand, if it is not determined in S3 that the two match, the process in S4 is not performed, and the orientation of the displayable area cannot be switched.

For example, when the display unit 3 is set in the vertically long position and a switching command for switching the displayable area to the vertically long is input, the displayable area is vertically changed according to the switching command, but the displayable area is changed. When a switching command for switching to landscape is input, the displayable area is not switched to landscape.

As described above, in the document creating apparatus according to this embodiment, the placement sensor 25 detects whether or not the orientation of the display unit 3 and the orientation of the displayable area designated by the switching command match. Since the determination is made by comparing the signal with the switching instruction for switching the orientation of the displayable area, the orientation of the displayable area is always switched according to the orientation of the display unit 3. Therefore, even if the operator erroneously performs a switching operation that does not match the orientation of the display unit 3, the operation is not accepted, and an operation error can be prevented.

[0030]

As described above, the information processing apparatus of the present invention detects whether the display means rotatably provided between the vertically long position and the horizontally long position is in the vertically long position or the horizontally long position. On the other hand, the switching control means for switching the displayable area displayable on the rectangular display surface of the display means to the portrait orientation or the landscape orientation according to the switching command,
It has a match determination means, and by this match determination means,
The orientation of the displayable area is switched only when it is determined that the orientation of the display means matches the orientation of the displayable area set according to the switching instruction by comparing the detection result of the vertical / horizontal detection means with the switching instruction. Is configured.

As a result, the orientation of the displayable area is switched only when the orientation of the display means and the orientation of the displayable area designated by the switching instruction match, so that the orientation of the displayable area is changed by the switching instruction. It will no longer be set differently than the orientation. Therefore, there is an effect that it is possible to improve the work efficiency by preventing an operation error caused by switching the direction of the display means and always performing the screen setting correctly.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a flowchart showing a procedure of screen setting according to a direction of a display unit.

FIG. 2 is a front view showing the outer appearance of the document creation device according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a left side view of FIG.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a control unit of the document creation apparatus shown in FIGS. 1 and 2.

[Explanation of symbols]

 2 main body section 3 display unit (display means) 6 CPU (switch control means, coincidence determination means) 7 ROM 21 rotation support section 22 liquid crystal display panel (display surface) 25 placement sensor (vertical and horizontal detection means)

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A display means having a rectangular display surface rotatably provided between a vertically long position and a horizontally long position, and a vertically displayable displayable area on the display surface in response to a switching command. An information processing apparatus comprising: a switching control unit for switching to a landscape orientation, wherein the switching control unit includes a portrait and landscape detection unit for detecting whether the display unit is in a portrait position or a landscape position. There is a coincidence determining means for comparing the detection result of the means with the switching instruction, and switching the orientation of the displayable area only when the orientation of the display means and the orientation of the displayable area specified by the switching instruction are coincident with each other. An information processing device characterized in that