JP3211263B2 - Display control device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a multi-window display device used for a workstation or the like, and more particularly to a multi-window display device for displaying output data in a plurality of windows under a window system.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Recently, in order to more effectively use a limited screen space, a virtual display surface called a plurality of windows is provided on a display screen, and the windows can be moved, enlarged, Multi-window displays that shrink or overlap are widely used. When this multi-window display is used, a plurality of documents can be opened simultaneously and a limited display screen can be effectively used. In addition, if data can be freely transferred between these windows, work efficiency will be significantly improved. FIG. 14 is a diagram showing a display screen 20 when a window is displayed by a conventional control method. As shown in this figure, a plurality of windows are switched and displayed on the display screen 20 in the open state. In the figure, a window 21 indicated by a thick solid line indicates an active open state, and windows 22 and 23 indicated by a thin solid line indicate a negative open state. Window 21 is displayed. Reference numeral 30 denotes a mouse cursor.
Window 2 in this open state and in a negative state
When it is desired to display 2 in the first (front) position, an operation of designating a negative window 22 with a mouse or the like and bringing that window to the front is required. In this case, basically, the shape of the window does not change, and the superposition simply changes.

[0003]

However, such a conventional multi-window display device is designed based on the idea that a window is opened when it is needed and closed when it is not needed. There were the following problems. That is, in daily work, it is often desired to open a window of a certain size at a predetermined place.However, in the conventional system, the user has to open a pointing device such as a mouse each time to determine the size and position, so that the operation has to be performed. It was troublesome.
In order to reduce the time and effort described above, there is a method of opening all windows and using them while switching between them.However, in this case, the screen becomes cluttered and it is difficult to see, and when switching windows with a pointing device, There is a drawback in that it becomes difficult to specify a window, and it is necessary to generate a trigger many times before reaching a target window in window switching by a predetermined trigger, and the switching efficiency is reduced. In addition, if an interrupt operation is entered while working on the window system, opening the window for the interrupt operation in addition to the current window may cause confusion in the operation. If an interruption operation is started from the beginning, it takes time to return to the original operation at the end of the operation. In addition, although it was possible to reduce the window size of unused windows, it took a similar amount of time to return the window to its original size, and where there were multiple windows, There is no way to know at what size the window was opened, and it must always remember information such as what the window was opened for, what window it was paired with, etc. It can also be painful. In other words, it is clear that the provision of a standby state in which windows in the open state are temporarily made to wait can prevent problems such as complicated window specification and screen clutter. It is an object of the present invention to make a window in an open state a standby state so that a display screen can be easily viewed without performing a complicated window switching instruction.

[0004]

A display control device according to the present invention is a display control device for controlling a window in a display state opened on a display screen, and a standby instruction for the window in the open display state. The standby display control means for erasing the window from the display screen and displaying the identification mark indicating the window at a predetermined position, and the erased window corresponding to the identification mark by the open instruction for the identification mark. Open control means for performing open display and status information display control means for displaying status information relating to a deleted window corresponding to the identification mark in response to a selection instruction for the identification mark are provided. The predetermined position at which the standby display control means displays the identification mark is a position that does not overlap with another window.

[0005]

[Explanation of Functional Block Diagram] FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram for explaining the functions of the embodiment. 1 is a display means, 2 is a standby state instructing means, 3 is a control means for displaying a displayed window in a standby state by changing to a reduced mark, and displaying the original window by instructing the mark. is there. 4 is a display means, 5 is a group storage means, 6 is a display state switching display instructing means, and 7 is a window to be switched by a display state switching instruction and a window of a group to which the window belongs. Control means for switching the display state.

[0006]

An embodiment will be described below with reference to FIGS. First, the configuration will be described. FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the multi-window display device. In this figure, reference numeral 11 denotes control of the entire apparatus, and window generation processing described later,
Window switching processing, window group generation processing,
A CPU (Central Processing Unit) that performs various window display processes including a window group switching process;
The PU 11 controls various operations of the multi-window display device according to a microprogram or fixed data stored in a ROM (not shown). The CPU 11 is connected with a mouse 12 as a pointing device for performing positioning on the screen and a key input unit 13 composed of a keyboard as a normal input device. The operator uses the mouse 12 and the key input unit 13 to perform window switching operation. Trigger signals, that is, a standby trigger, an open trigger, a guidance trigger that also serves as a select trigger, a negative trigger, and a select trigger can be input to the CPU 11. The CPU 11 also stores a window management table 14 in which information on the window position data and the positional relationship of each window, its size and group code status is stored, and a negative status order which stores the priority (display order) of the displayed window. The memory 15 is connected to a job processing unit 16 that processes a predetermined calculation or the like, and a display unit 17 that displays window information stored in a predetermined memory in a specified screen area.

FIG. 3 shows a mouse 12 used as a pointing device of a multi-window display device. In this figure, a mouse 12 has buttons 1 and 2 that can perform click and double click operations, and generates a trigger corresponding to the state of each button in a window indicated by a mouse cursor 30 (see FIGS. 14 to 16). . For example, clicking the button 1 generates a select trigger, and double-clicking generates an open trigger. A standby trigger is generated when the button 2 is clicked, and a close trigger is generated when the button 2 is double-clicked.

FIG. 4 is a state transition diagram showing transition of each state of the window. When the above-mentioned trigger is received, the display state of the window changes according to the transition diagram. For example, in FIG. 4, when the multi-window display device is in the closed state 100 where no window is displayed on the display screen 20 of the display unit 17 of the multi-window display device, it is opened by a pointing device or the like (for example, the mouse 12) or a key operation. When a trigger is given, the window enters an open state 101 in which the window can operate. Here, when the window is opened according to an instruction from a pointing device or the like to be in the open state 101, a desired process is subsequently executed on the window in the open state. The window in the open state 101 has an active open state 102 and a negative open state 103 as shown in FIG.
The window immediately after opening is in the active open state 102. The active open state 102 is a state in which the occupation right of the console or the like is given as in a window 21 indicated by a thick solid line in FIG. 14 to be described later. Will be given to the program that This active open state 102 continues until any valid trigger is provided from a pointing device, keyboard, or other window. When a negative trigger (see FIG. 4) is given to the window in the active open state 102, this window relinquishes the exclusive right of the console or the like, and enters the negative open state 103. The negative open state is
As shown in the windows 22 and 23 of the lower frame overlapped with each other as shown by the thin solid line in FIG. 14, there is no exclusive right to the console or the like. Further, when a select trigger (see FIG. 4) is given to the windows 22 and 23 in the negative open state 103, the exclusive right of the console or the like is acquired from the active window at that time, and the negative window 22 is placed in the active open state 102. (See FIG. 15). The active open state 102
In any of the open states 101 of the negative open state 103 and the negative open state 103, if the window is closed by the close trigger, all windows disappear and the state becomes the closed state 100.

This embodiment is different from the conventional one in that a standby state 104 is provided in which the window in the open state 101 is temporarily made to wait according to a predetermined instruction. That is, active open state 1
When a standby trigger (see FIG. 4) is given to the window at 02, the window in the active open state 102 disappears from the screen as a standby state 104 and is in the standby state 104 as shown in FIG. Is displayed at a predetermined position on the screen.
In other words, in the standby state, the window that has been in the active open state is changed to a window of reduced size and displayed as a mark 31 at a predetermined position on the display screen that does not overlap with other windows. At the same time, a select trigger is issued to the next priority window (for example, the window that was active immediately before the window that was active open becomes active), and the window with the next priority is active open. 102 (see the window 22 in the thick solid line frame in FIG. 15). The standby state 104 maintains the standby state 104 until a predetermined trigger is given, and the standby state 1
During the period 04, the priority or next window 22 is temporarily displayed in the active state. When an open trigger is given in this state, the standby state 104 is released, and returns to the active open state 102 shown in FIG. Further, when the guidance trigger (also used as a select trigger) is turned ON while in the standby state 104, the guidance display state 105 is established, and FIG.
As shown in the figure, the mark 31 indicating the status of the standby state is opened, the guidance display section 32 is displayed, the guidance such as the title is displayed, and when the guidance trigger is turned off, the guidance display state 105 returns to the standby state 104.
The guidance display unit 32 displays information about the window in the active open state 102 immediately before the standby state 104 originally displayed if the standby state 104 is not entered,
For example, a title, a place, and a position are displayed.

Note that the transition of each window state is performed by clicking the buttons 1 and 2 of the mouse 12, but it is needless to say that the assignment of the trigger in the button operation is an example and may be another combination. For example, different meanings can be given according to the displayed window display even in the case of similar click and double click operations. Further, the key operation using the keyboard and the operation using the mouse 12 may be used together, or a predetermined icon may be displayed on the screen and the icon may be selected.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described. Figure 5
FIG. 13 shows the CPU 1
3 is a flowchart showing window control performed in step 1, and shows a flow when a new window is generated from an existing window. In FIG.
= 1, 2,...) Indicate each step of the flow, and FIGS.
The process proceeds to each step in FIG. When the window generation program starts, first, in step S1, the position, size, and group code of a window to be newly generated are specified, and the position, size, and group code specified in step S2 are used for a new setting window. It is stored in the window management table 14. Then
In step S3, as shown in FIG.
Is set to the negative state 103, the negative order is rewritten in step S4, and the newly set window is set to the active state 102 in step S5. That is, when a new window is generated, the window becomes active. Next, a newly set active window is displayed in step S6, and in this state, a trigger input from the mouse 12 is waited in step S7. If there is no trigger, return to step S6 and wait for a trigger,
Step S when there is a trigger by the operation of the mouse 12
In steps 9 to S16, it is determined what trigger has been input. That is, when it is determined in step S9 that the trigger is a negative trigger (see FIG. 4), step S10 in FIG.
In step S100, the window in the active state 102 is set to the negative state 103, and the window is set to the lowest rank. Next, in step S101, the window of the negative first rank is set to the active state 102, and step S101 is performed.
In step 102, the negative order is rewritten, and step S6 is performed.
Return to

At step S10, a select trigger (FIG. 4)
(See step S200 in FIG. 7).
The process proceeds to step S200, where it is determined whether or not the window is a standby window. If it is not a standby window when the select trigger is operated, it is determined that the select trigger has been operated in order to make a transition from the negative state 103 shown in FIG. 4 to the active state 102, and the window in the active state 102 is changed to the negative state in step S201. First
Rank. Next, in step S202, the negative order is rewritten, and in step S263, the designated window specified in advance is set to the active state, and step S6 is performed.
Return to On the other hand, when it is determined in step S200 that the window is the standby window, it is when the guidance trigger that also functions as the select trigger is operated during the display of the standby window shown in FIG. 15, and the window display unit 32 of FIG. 16 is displayed. Thus, it is determined that the select trigger has been operated, and the status display of the standby window is waited in step S204, and in step S205, it is determined whether or not the select trigger is in the connected state. When the select trigger is continued, the process returns to step S204 to maintain the guidance display state 105, and when the select trigger is not connected, the process returns to step S6.

If it is determined in step S11 that the trigger is a closed trigger, the process proceeds to step S300 in FIG. 8, and it is determined in step S300 whether or not the window is an active window. If the window is the active window when the close trigger is operated, the window of the first negative order is set to the active state, the negative order is rewritten in step S302, and the process proceeds to step S303. On the other hand, if it is not the active window, step S30
Proceed to 3. In step S303, the designated window is closed, and the process returns to step S6. If it is determined in step S12 that it is the standby trigger (see FIG. 4), the process proceeds to step S400 in FIG. 9, and in step S400, it is determined whether or not the window is the active window. If the active window is the active window when the standby trigger is operated, it is determined that the standby trigger has been operated in order to make a transition from the active open state 102 to the standby state 104 shown in FIG. 4, and the first negative window is activated in step S401. State. Next, in step S402, the negative order is rewritten, and in step S403, the designated window designated in advance is set in a standby state, and step S6 is performed.
Return to On the other hand, if it is determined in step S400 that the window is not the active window (that is, it is negative), the designated window is set in a standby state in step S404, the negative order is rewritten in step S405, and the process returns to step S6.

In step S13, an open trigger (FIG. 4)
(See step S50 in FIG. 10).
The process proceeds to 0, and it is determined in step S500 whether or not the window is a standby window. If it is a standby window when the open trigger is operated, it is determined that the open trigger has been operated in order to make a transition from the standby state 103 to the active state 102 shown in FIG. 4, and the window in the active state 102 is changed to the negative state in step S501. Rank first. Next, in step S502, the negative order is rewritten, and in step S503, the designated window specified in advance is activated, and the process returns to step S6. By executing the processing of FIGS. 6 to 10 in accordance with the triggers of steps S9 to S13, the individual windows repeat the window state transition as shown in FIG. As described above, each window is provided with a standby state, and in the standby state, a guidance function for displaying the status of the window is provided as needed, so that many windows can be handled efficiently.

In this embodiment, in addition to the above functions, by grouping a plurality of windows, it is possible to simultaneously put a plurality of windows belonging to a certain group into a standby state and to simultaneously open a plurality of windows belonging to a group. Making it possible. For grouping, in the present embodiment, a group code for group identification is provided for each window in the window management table 14 of FIG. 2, and when a given instruction is given to a certain window, the other windows to which the window belongs are similarly set. Execute instructions in order. The following triggers are used to indicate the window to be processed in this group: a group close trigger for instructing to delete the entire group of the specified window, a group wait trigger for instructing the entire group to be in a standby state, a group There is a group open trigger that instructs the entire system to be open. The group close trigger, the group standby trigger, and the group open trigger correspond to the close trigger, the standby trigger, and the open trigger, respectively. For example, when a predetermined group key is pressed on a keyboard, the group trigger is shown in FIG. This is generated by performing a click or double-click operation of the mouse 12.

Returning again to the window generation flow of FIG. 5, if it is determined in step S14 that the trigger is a group close trigger, the flow proceeds to step S600 of FIG. 11, the designated window is closed in step S600, and the same is performed in step S601. Close each window in the group. That is, when a group close trigger is received, a close trigger is generated and closed not only for the designated window but also for each window of the same group. Next, in step S602, it is determined whether or not there is an active window. If there is no active window, in step S603, the negative first order window is set to the active state, and the process proceeds to step S604. If it is determined in step S602 that there is no active window, the process directly proceeds to step S604. In step S604, the negative order is rewritten, and the process returns to step S6. If it is determined in step S15 that it is a group standby trigger, the process proceeds to step S700 in FIG. 12, where the designated window is set to a standby state in step S700, and each window in the same group is set to a standby state in step S701. That is, when a group standby trigger is received, a standby trigger is generated not only for the specified window but also for each window in the same group, and the windows of the entire group are set to the standby state. Next, it is determined in step S702 whether or not there is an active window.
In step 03, the negative first-rank window is activated, and the flow advances to step S704. If it is determined in step S704 that there is no active window, the process directly proceeds to step S704. In step S704, the negative order is rewritten, and the process returns to step S6. If it is determined in step S16 that this is a group open trigger, the process proceeds to step S800 in FIG.
When 0, the window in the active state is set to the negative state and is set to the first order, and in step S801, the designated window is set to the active state. Next, each window in the same group is set to a negative state in step S802, the negative order is rewritten in step S803, and the process returns to step S6. That is, when a group open trigger is received, an open trigger is generated for another window in the same group, and windows in the group are set to a negative state.

As described above, in this embodiment, when a standby state for temporarily reducing and displaying a certain window at a predetermined display position is designated, the designated window is reduced as shown in FIG. Window (mark 3
In addition to controlling the display to be at a predetermined display position instead of 1), when the non-standby state is instructed, the reduced display window (mark 31) in the standby state is returned to the original display position before the standby state and Because it is controlled so that it is restored to the size and displayed, it is very easy to see the screen because you do not have to temporarily close windows that you do not see while working and keep it underneath as a negative state In addition, it is possible to eliminate the troublesome work of specifying a window. Further, a guidance display function is provided for displaying the status such as the title and position of the window (mark 31) temporarily in the standby state by the guidance trigger when in the standby state of FIG. 15 as shown in FIG. Therefore, the state of the window to be displayed can be immediately confirmed if the state is not the standby state.

Further, in this embodiment, when there is a display state switching instruction instructing to switch the display state of a window to another display state, the window for which the switching instruction has been issued and other windows of the group to which the window belongs are also displayed. Since the display status is controlled to be switched at the same time, when performing multiple tasks, the windows related to each task can be simultaneously opened, closed, or moved to another state with a simple operation And the efficiency of multitasking can be improved.

In this embodiment, the designated window is changed to a reduced-size window and displayed at a predetermined display position. The reduced-size window is set to a standby state before the window enters a standby state. Any kind of message may be used as long as it indicates something, for example, a rectangular mark 31 as in the present embodiment, or a simple symbol mark, a message displayed on an icon part, or the like. . Also, the displayed position is not limited to the lower left of the screen as in the present embodiment, and it may be displayed at any position, and the display position may be arbitrarily changed. Needless to say.

In this embodiment, the window in the active state is designated to be in the standby state. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and it is possible to instruct the window in the negative state to be in the standby state. A plurality of windows can be put in a standby state by the same method.

[0021]

According to the present invention, when a plurality of windows are displayed on the display screen and become difficult to see, the open windows are temporarily erased by a simple operation to make the display screen easier to read. Since the status information of the erased window is displayed by the selection instruction of the identification mark displayed according to the fact that the window has been erased, the user can check the contents of the window in the non-display state. Therefore, usability can be improved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a multi-window display device.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a pointing device of the multi-window display device.

FIG. 4 is a state transition diagram showing transition of each state of a window of the multi-window display device.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart of a window generation process of the multi-window display device.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart of a window generation process of the multi-window display device.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart of a window generation process of the multi-window display device.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart of a window generation process of the multi-window display device.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart of a window generation process of the multi-window display device.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart of a window generation process of the multi-window display device.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart of a window generation process of the multi-window display device.

FIG. 12 is a flowchart of a window generation process of the multi-window display device.

FIG. 13 is a flowchart of a window generation process of the multi-window display device.

FIG. 14 is a diagram showing a display screen of the multi-window display device.

FIG. 15 is a diagram illustrating a display screen when a window of the multi-window display device is in a standby state.

FIG. 16 is a diagram showing a display screen when a window of the multi-window display device is in a guidance display state.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 11 CPU 12 Mouse 13 Key input unit 14 Window management table 15 Negative status order memory 16 Job processing unit 17 Display unit 20 Display screen 21, 22, 23 Window 30 Mouse cursor 31 Mark 32 Guidance display unit

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (58) Field surveyed (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) G06F 3/00 601-658 G06F 3/14-3/153 G09G 5/14

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. A display opened on a display screen.
A display control device that controls the window in the state
The standby finger for the window in the open display state.
When the window is deleted from the display screen
In both cases, the identification mark indicating the window is
The standby display control means to be displayed and the open instruction for the identification mark allow the identification to be performed.
Open display of the deleted window corresponding to the mark
Open control means for performing the identification and the selection instruction for the identification mark
Stay on erased window corresponding to mark
Status information display control means for displaying status information.
A display control device, comprising: 2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said standby display control means sets an identification mark.
The specified position to be displayed is such that it does not overlap with other windows.
The display control device according to claim 1, wherein the display control device is a display device.
Place.