JP2931327B2 - Method of executing display processing in computer system - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Summary] The present invention relates to a method for executing display processing in a computer system used as a so-called workstation or the like. A multi-task operation can simultaneously execute at least multiple independent display processes for displaying screens and input processes corresponding to input operations with the aim of providing a comfortable working environment for all operators. A method of executing a display process in a computer system configured as described above, wherein, among the plurality of display processes, one specified display process is executed with the highest priority as an active display process,
Other display processes are executed as inactive display processes at a lower priority than the input process, and when the inactive display process is switched to the active display process by the input process, the display process is switched to active. The display processing is executed with the highest priority.

[Industrial applications]

The present invention relates to a method of executing display processing in a computer system used as a so-called workstation or the like.

Computer systems that greatly improve the efficiency of work involved in various tasks, such as engineering workstations and OA workstations, have become widespread, and realization of more comfortable computer use environments has been promoted.

[Conventional technology]

In a computer system called a workstation, the system is generally controlled by a single CPU (Central Processing Unit). When a CPU enters a waiting state while executing one task (program), the CPU sequentially operates. A multitask operation (multiple programming operation) for interrupting and executing a task of another process is performed. That is, the system apparently executes a plurality of processes in parallel.

In executing a plurality of processes, the execution priority (priority level) for each process is set in consideration of the operation speed of an input / output device constituting the system so as not to impair the functions of the entire system. Have been.

For example, operation input means such as a keyboard for inputting data and instruction codes, screen display means such as a CRT for displaying input data and the progress of processing, and a printer for printing processing results and the like In a display device used as a terminal device of a network system, first, display processing for displaying a screen, input processing corresponding to an input operation, and finally output processing for printing are given in order of priority. Is set. That is, the display process accompanied by the response to the access from the host control device of the network system is executed with the highest priority. The input processing and the output processing are executed between display processings. For example, when a key input operation is performed by an operator (operator) during execution of the lowest priority printing (output processing), the printing is interrupted. Then, the input processing of the second highest priority is executed first.

[Problems to be solved by the invention]

However, in the prioritized execution method in the conventional display device, the priorities for a plurality of display processes independent of each other are set equally, and a plurality of application programs each involving a display process (hereinafter, referred to as a “display application”). Is activated, a plurality of display processes having the same priority are sequentially and evenly executed by time division (time slice method).

Therefore, conventionally, when a plurality of display applications are activated, the execution time of each display process becomes relatively long.

For example, when the operator activates the CAD program and the database search program to carry out the design work and also performs the data search work, on the screen, the graphic drawing speed and the display speed of the search result are displayed on one side. It is slower than performing only work.

In addition, since display processing has priority over input processing and output processing, response to operation input and end of printing are
Slower than launching a single display application.

For this reason, when a plurality of operations involving display processing are attempted to be performed in parallel using the display device, work efficiency is reduced due to deterioration of the display speed of the screen and the responsiveness of the input operation, and the comfort of the work environment is reduced. There was a problem of being damaged.

In view of the above problems, an object of the present invention is to provide a work environment that is comfortable for an operator of a display device without lowering work efficiency even when performing a plurality of works in parallel.

[Means for solving the problem]

In order to solve the above-described problems, the present invention provides at least a plurality of mutually independent display processes D1 to D4 for performing screen display and an input process K corresponding to an input operation, as shown in FIG.
A display process in a computer system configured to be able to be executed in parallel by a multi-task operation, wherein a specified one of the plurality of display processes is an active display process. As the highest priority, the other display processes are executed as inactive display processes at a lower priority than the input process, and when the inactive display process is switched to the active display process by the input process. The display process that has been switched and becomes active is executed with the highest priority.

(Operation)

In executing a plurality of processes by the multitask operation in parallel, one specified display process among a plurality of mutually independent display processes D1, D2, D3, and D4 for performing screen display is preferentially executed. .

The priority of the execution of the other display processing is lower than the priority of the input processing K corresponding to the input operation.

〔Example〕

 Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a configuration of the display device 1 according to the present invention.

The display device 1 includes a main unit 51 incorporating a CRT 71 for screen display, a keyboard 61 as an operation input unit for inputting data and instruction codes, a printer 81 for print output (printing), and the like. Has a function as a terminal device of the network system.

The main body device 51 has a built-in control unit 100, which will be described later, that controls the entire display device 1, and a tablet, a mouse, a light pen, and the like can be connected as operation input means as necessary.

 FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a configuration of the control unit 100.

The control unit 100 includes a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 10, an OS (Operating System) 20, which is a management program for managing the entire processing tasks of the display device 1, a display application and a system management program, and a priority task table described later. Storage device 30 for storing TT, CRT71
A screen buffer 32 for storing data to be displayed in the printer buffer 34 for storing data to be output to the printer 81;
A keyboard control unit 60 for analyzing operation input from the keyboard 61, a display control unit 70 for controlling screen display by the CRT 71,
The printer includes a printer control unit 60 for controlling the printer 61, and a bus 90 for connecting the CRU 10 to each unit.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the configuration of the priority task table TT.

The priority task table TT is provided by allocating a predetermined memory area in the storage device 30, and associates each of the priority levels 1, 2, 3,... Indicating the priority with each of the processes D, K, and P.

In the normal case, that is, when only one display application is activated, as shown in FIG.
The task of the display processing D for displaying the progress of the execution of the input data and the processing by T71 is given the highest priority of priority level 1, and the task of the input processing K corresponding to the operation input by the keyboard 61 is given the second priority. The task of the output process P for printing by the printer 81 is set to the third highest priority level 3.

Accordingly, the display processing D is given the highest priority, and the tasks of the respective processings D, K, and P are executed at any time by the multitask operation in the priority order of the input processing K and the output processing P. That is,
When the schedule of the CPU 10 is managed by the OS 20, the priority task table TT is referred to, and the task to be executed next is determined according to the priority level.

When a plurality of display applications DA1 to DA4 are started and a plurality of independent display processes D1, D2, D3, and D4 and an input process K and an output process P are executed in parallel, the display processes D1 to D4 are executed. Of the display processes, for example, only the task of the display process D1 is set to the priority level 1, and the other display processes D2 to D4 are set to the priority level 4 lower than the priority level 3 of the output process P. It is said.

Therefore, when a plurality of display applications are activated at the same time, the active display processing specified according to the operator's intention is executed with priority over the non-specific inactive display processing. Further, the input processing K and the output processing P are executed with higher priority than the inactive display processing.

When an input operation for changing a display process to be specified is performed by the keyboard 61, the keyboard control unit 60
By exchanging the pointers indicating the addresses in 30, the correspondence between each process and the priority level in the priority task table TT is partially changed.

FIGS. 4 (a) to 4 (e) are views showing an example of a screen display of the CRT 71, and FIGS. 5 (a) to 5 (e) are views showing how the priority task table TT corresponding to FIG. 4 is changed. is there. In these figures, the same alphabets a to e
The state of the priority task table TT is associated with each state of the screen display.

FIG. 4 shows an example of a screen display by a multi-window function of the overlapping system. That is, in the example shown in the figure, windows (display areas) W01 to W04 of a predetermined size are provided in the screen G of the CRT 71 each time a plurality of display applications DA1 to DA4 are sequentially activated. W01 to W04 are displayed so as to overlap the paper. CU in the figure is a cursor that can be moved on the screen G by operating keys on the keyboard 61.

FIG. 4 (a) shows a state in which the first display application DA1 has been activated, and a display corresponding to the display application DA1 is made in the window W01 by the display processing D1.

FIG. 4 (b) shows a state in which the second display application DA2 is activated, and a display corresponding to the display application DA2 is made in the window W02 overlapping the window W01 by the display processing D2.

FIGS. 4 (c) and 4 (d) show the activated states of the third and fourth display applications DA3 and DA4, respectively. The windows W03 and W04 show the display applications DA3 and DA4 by the display processes D3 and D4, respectively. Is displayed in accordance with.

FIG. 4 (e) shows that the operator moves the cursor CU to select (pop up) the window W01, and performs the display processing D1.
Is shown. In other words, this indicates a state in which the operator is particularly paying attention based on the first display application DA1.

The keyboard control unit 60 changes the priority task table TT as described above so as to correspond to each state of the screen display as described above.

When only the first display application DA1 is activated as shown in FIG. 4 (a), the display process D1 is set to the priority level 1 in the priority task table TT [FIG. 5 (a). ].

When the second display application DA2 is started,
The display processing D2 is specified and activated, that is, the priority level is set to 1, and the other display processing D1 is changed to the priority level 4 (FIG. 5B).

Next, when the third display application DA3 is activated, the display process D3 becomes active, the display process D2 is changed to the priority level 4, and the display process D1 is changed to the priority level 5 [FIG. c)].

Subsequently, when the fourth display application DA4 is activated, the display processing D4 becomes active, and the display processing D4 is started.
3, D2 and D1 are changed to priority levels 4, 5 and 6, respectively (FIG. 5 (d)).

When the operator pops up the window W01, the display processing D1 becomes active, and the display processing D4, D3,
D2 is changed to priority levels 4, 5, and 6, respectively (FIG. 5 (e)).

That is, the priority levels of the display processes D1 to D4 are changed so as to correspond to the order of the overlapping of the windows W01 to W04.

6 (a) to (f) and FIGS. 7 (a) to (f) show other examples of the screen display of the CRT 71, and FIGS. 8 (a) to (f) show FIGS. FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a state of a change of a priority task table TT corresponding to FIG. 7; Also in these figures, the same alphabets a to e correspond to the states of the priority task table TT with respect to each state of the screen display.

FIG. 6 shows an example of screen display by the multi-window function of the screen division system. That is, in the example of FIG.
By dividing the screen G into four, the windows W11 to W14
Is provided in each of the windows W11 to W14 by the display processing D1 to D4, respectively.
The display corresponding to 1 to DA4 is performed.

FIG. 6A shows a state in which the window W11 is a window (active window) displaying the cursor CU, and FIG. 6B shows a state in which the active window is moved from the window W11 to the window W12 by the movement of the cursor CU. 6 (c) to 6 (f) show the state in which the active window is sequentially switched to the window W13, the window W14, the window W12, and the window W11, respectively.

FIG. 7 shows an example of screen display by the multi-window function of the virtual screen system. That is, the first processing is performed on the screen G that is actually displayed and the three virtual screens G1 to G3 provided in the screen buffer 32 by the display processing D1 to D4, respectively.
-Display corresponding to the fourth display application DAI1 to DA4 is performed.

FIG. 7A shows that the first display application DA1 is displayed on the screen G, and the second display application DA1 is displayed on the virtual screens G1 to G3.
To the fourth display application DA2 to DA4.

FIG. 7 (b) shows a state where the second display application DA2 is activated in place of the first display application DA1, and the display of the second display application DA2 is performed on the screen G, and the first display application DA2 is displayed on the screen G. Display application DA
1 is displayed on the virtual screen G in which the display of the second display application DA2 was previously performed in the state of FIG. 7A.
It is done at 1.

FIGS. 7 (c) to 7 (f) show a display application to be activated, respectively, as a third display application.
A state where DA3, a fourth display application DA4, a second display application DA2, and a first display application DA1 are shown.

In the case of the example of FIGS. 6 and 7, each of the display processes D1 to D4
Are basically equivalent. However, in FIG. 6, the display process corresponding to the active window is preferentially executed, and in FIG. 7, the display process corresponding to the display on the screen G is preferentially executed. TT is changed.

That is, as shown in FIGS. 7 (a) to 7 (f), in accordance with the specification of the display application, the display processing corresponding to each activated display application is set to the priority level 1, and the other display processing is set to the priority level. 4, the priority task table TT is changed. The display processing of the equivalent priority level 4 is executed in the order of the queue.

For example, in FIG. 7 (a), the display processing D1 corresponding to the active first display application DA1 is set to the priority level 1, and the display processing corresponding to the inactive second to fourth display applications DA2 to DA4. D2 to D4 are all set to priority level 4. The display processes D2 to D4 are executed in the order of the queue, that is, in the order of the display process D3 and the display process D4.

According to the above-described embodiment, even when a plurality of display applications are activated at the same time, the display processing corresponding to the specified one display application is given priority over the display processing corresponding to the other display applications. Be executed. Therefore, the execution time of each display application does not become longer and longer, and the operator can quickly proceed with the work of interest, that is, the work based on the specified display application.

Further, since the input processing K and the output processing P are executed with priority over the display processing corresponding to the display application other than the specific display application, the response to the input operation and the printing are not delayed by activating the plurality of display applications. .

〔The invention's effect〕

According to the present invention, even when a plurality of tasks are performed in parallel, the working efficiency is not reduced, and a comfortable working environment for the operator of the display device is provided.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of a priority task table, FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a configuration of a display device according to the present invention, FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a control unit, and FIGS. e) is a diagram showing an example of a CRT screen display, FIGS. 5 (a) to (e) are diagrams showing how the priority task table corresponding to FIG. 4 is changed, and FIGS. 6 (a) to (f). 7) shows another example of the CRT screen display, FIGS. 7A to 7F show other examples of the CRT screen display, and FIGS. 8A to 8F show the sixth example. FIG. 8 is a diagram showing how the priority task table corresponding to FIG. 7 and FIG. 7 is changed. In the figure, 1 is a display device, D1, D2, D3 and D4 are display processes, and K is an input process.

Continuation of front page (56) References JP-A-2-31238 (JP, A) JP-A-63-228215 (JP, A) JP-A-63-24474 (JP, A) JP-A-2-267621 (JP) , A) Kawai, Sanuki, Funaki, co-authored, "Introduction to OS / 2", published by Baifukan Co., Ltd. (first edition in 1988), p. 97-109, 144-152. (58) Field surveyed (Int. Cl. ⁶ , DB name) G06F 9/46, 3/14, 13/10 G09G 5/14

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A display system in a computer system configured to execute at least a plurality of mutually independent display processes for displaying a screen and an input process corresponding to an input operation by a multitask operation. Executing the identified one of the plurality of display processes as an active display process with the highest priority, and performing the other display processes as an inactive display process more than the input process. A computer that executes the display processing that has been switched and becomes active when the inactive display processing is switched to the active display processing by the input processing. How to execute display processing in the system.