JP2003330594A - Device, computer program and method for automatically moving cursor - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a method for automatically moving a cursor which allow to move a mouse cursor to a position of GUI components shown on a screen by using a simple operation when the screen is shown by a multi-window system. <P>SOLUTION: The method is featured by comprising a process to detect the position of the GUI components currently displayed on the basis of contents currently displayed on a window screen through the multi-window system (step S1), a process to selectively shift the cursor to the position where the GUI components exist. (Step S2 to S5), and a process to move the cursor to the position of the selected GUI components (Step S6). <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an automatic cursor movement method, an automatic cursor movement device, and a computer program for realizing the automatic cursor movement device using a computer.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a graphical user interface (GUI) has been used as one of computer user interfaces. In the GUI, a user controls graphical components such as buttons, menus, and icons (hereinafter referred to as GUI components) with a pointing device such as a mouse for operation. A pointing device is a device for pointing a specific place on a computer screen, and a mouse is a typical one. Other pointing
Examples of the device include a trackball, a stick type pointing device, and a touch pad which are mainly used in notebook personal computers.

In the GUI environment, a cursor called a mouse cursor (for example, an arrow) is displayed on the screen to indicate a position pointed by the operation of the pointing device. Shown. This mouse cursor is GUI
It is one of the parts and moves on the screen in conjunction with the pointing device. With this, it is possible to quickly specify an arbitrary GUI component on the screen by using the pointing device. For example, a user can use a mouse to operate GUI components (buttons, menus,
You can move the mouse cursor to a position (such as an icon) and press a button, select a menu, or click an icon to start an application program or open a file.

A function of automatically moving a mouse cursor has also been realized. This conventional cursor automatic movement method is to automatically move the mouse cursor to the closest position of the GUI component in the movement direction of the mouse cursor by operating the mouse or the like. Furthermore, when displaying multiple window screens (one main window screen and one or more sub-window screens on the main window screen) on one computer screen by the multi-window method, The mouse cursor is automatically moved to the position of the GUI component on the window screen (hereinafter referred to as the operation window screen), which is currently selected as one of the plurality of window screens being displayed.

[0005]

However, in the above-mentioned conventional automatic cursor movement method, the mouse cursor is moved only to the position of the GUI component on the operation window screen among the plurality of currently displayed window screens. As a result, even if the GUI component is visible to the user, the mouse cursor cannot be automatically moved to the position of the GUI component on the window screen other than the operation window screen. Therefore, the user temporarily stops the automatic cursor movement function and manually moves the mouse cursor onto a desired window screen other than the operation window screen. Then, after clicking on the desired window screen to make it the operation window screen, the automatic cursor movement function is operated again to automatically move the mouse cursor. However, this operation is complicated,
There is a problem that it is not easy to use.

The present invention has been made in consideration of such circumstances, and an object thereof is to perform a mouse operation at a position of a GUI component visible on the screen by a simple operation when the screen is displayed by the multi-window method. An object of the present invention is to provide a cursor automatic movement method and a cursor automatic movement device that can automatically move a cursor.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a computer program for realizing the automatic cursor movement device using a computer.

[0008]

In order to solve the above problems, the method for automatically moving a cursor according to the present invention is currently displayed on the basis of the contents currently displayed on the window screen displayed by the multi-window method. Detecting the position of the GUI part, selecting the GUI part to which the cursor is moved based on the operation content of the pointing device, and moving the cursor to the position of the selected GUI part. It is characterized by including and. According to the present invention, regardless of whether or not it is the operation window screen, the position of the currently displayed GUI part for all the displayed window screens is detected, and the position of the detected GUI part is moved. Since the previous GUI component is selected and the cursor is moved, when displaying on the screen by the multi-window method, the cursor is moved to the position of the GUI component (the GUI component currently displayed) visible on the screen by a simple operation. It can be moved automatically.

In the method of automatically moving a cursor according to the present invention, the selecting step includes a step of detecting a moving direction of the cursor based on operation contents of a pointing device, and the detecting of the position detected GUI parts. It is characterized by including a process of searching for a GUI part in the moving direction and a process of selecting a GUI part to which the cursor is moved based on the search result. According to the present invention, among the GUI parts in the moving direction of the cursor detected based on the operation content of the pointing device,
Since the GUI component that is the movement destination of the cursor is selected, it is possible to automatically move the cursor to an appropriate position.

The cursor automatic movement method of the present invention is
The method may further include the step of recording the position of the GUI component whose position is detected. According to the present invention, since the position of the detected GUI component is recorded, the recorded contents can be used to search for the GUI component in the moving direction of the cursor. This eliminates the need to detect the position of GUI parts when operating the pointing device.
Since the processing amount required for the automatic cursor movement can be reduced, the response speed of the cursor movement can be improved.

The cursor automatic movement method of the present invention is
And a step of accepting a setting for excluding at least one of the plurality of pointing devices as a detection target of the movement direction and excluding at least one of the detection targets of the movement direction. . According to the present invention, at least one pointing device can be a target device for automatic cursor movement, and at least one pointing device can be excluded from the target device for automatic cursor movement.
The cursor may be automatically moved by at least one pointing device, and the cursor may be manually moved by at least one pointing device.

Further, the automatic cursor movement method of the present invention is
The present invention is characterized by including a step of accepting a setting of execution start or an execution stop of the automatic cursor movement processing consisting of the above steps, and a step of controlling execution of the automatic cursor movement processing according to this setting. According to the present invention, the setting for starting or stopping the execution of the automatic cursor movement process is accepted and the execution of the automatic cursor movement process is started or stopped. Therefore, the start and the stop of the automatic cursor movement process are switched, and the automatic cursor movement is performed. The function can be turned on / off and used.

In order to solve the above problems, the automatic cursor movement device of the present invention determines the position of the currently displayed GUI component based on the contents currently displayed on the window screen displayed by the multi-window method. Position detecting means for detecting, selecting means for selecting the GUI component to which the cursor is moved based on the operation content of the pointing device, and movement processing means for moving the cursor to the position of the selected GUI component. It is characterized by having. According to the present invention, the position detecting means detects the position of the GUI component currently displayed on all the displayed window screens regardless of whether it is the operation window screen, and the selecting means detects this position. From the detected GUI components, the GUI component that is the destination is selected, and the movement processing means moves the cursor. Accordingly, when the screen is displayed by the multi-window method, the cursor can be automatically moved to the position of the GUI component (the GUI component currently displayed) visible on the screen by a simple operation.

In order to solve the above problems, the computer program of the present invention detects the position of the GUI component currently displayed on the basis of the contents currently displayed on the window screen displayed by the multi-window method. A method of causing a computer to execute a process, a process of selecting the GUI component to which a cursor is moved based on an operation content of a pointing device, and a process of moving the cursor to the position of the selected GUI component. I am trying. According to the present invention, regardless of whether or not it is the operation window screen, the position of the currently displayed GUI part for all the displayed window screens is detected, and the position of the detected GUI part is moved. It becomes possible for the computer to execute the process of selecting the previous GUI component and moving the cursor. As a result, the above-described cursor automatic movement device can be realized using a computer.

In the present invention, the cursor refers to what is called a mouse cursor such as an arrow, which is displayed on the window screen to indicate the position pointed by the operation of the pointing device.

[0016]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. In the present embodiment, a case where the automatic cursor movement method of the present invention is applied to a computer will be described as an example. FIG. 1 shows a configuration example of a computer according to this embodiment. FIG. 2 shows the external appearance of the computer shown in FIG. In FIG. 1, a computer includes a CPU (central processing unit) 1 for controlling each circuit unit, a storage unit 2 for storing programs of the CPU 1 and various data, and an operation unit 3 including a keyboard 13 and a mouse 14 (pointing device). The display unit 4 includes a display device 15 such as a liquid crystal display panel, and the input / output unit 5 includes a read / write device 12 for a recording medium such as a flexible disk.

In FIG. 2, the computer main body 11
Includes a CPU 1, a storage unit 2, a read / write device 12, and various circuits, and is connected to a keyboard 13, a mouse 14, and a display device 15.

The programs in the storage unit 2 include a program for realizing the cursor automatic movement function. By executing this program, CPU1
The cursor automatic movement method of the present invention is realized.

FIG. 3 shows a part of a block configuration in which the functions of the processing unit 20 realized by the CPU 1 executing the program of the storage unit 2 are developed. Only the blocks according to the present invention are shown in FIG. In FIG. 3, the display processing unit 21 has a function of displaying a window screen on the display screen of the display device 15 by the multi-window method. This display processing unit 2
1 outputs the current display information indicating the display content currently displayed on the display screen of the display device 15. Currently displayed information includes
At least information on the positions of all currently displayed GUI parts (mouse cursor, button, menu, icon, etc.) is included. Further, the mouse cursor is displayed at the position of the moving destination according to the input information of the moving destination of the mouse cursor (cursor moving information).

The automatic cursor movement processing section 22 has a function of automatically moving the mouse cursor to the position of the GUI component on the window screen. The automatic cursor movement processing unit 22 selects a GUI component to which the mouse cursor is moved based on the current display information and mouse operation information, outputs cursor movement information indicating this GUI component, and moves the mouse cursor.

The mouse control processing section 23 has a function of outputting mouse operation information indicating the operation content of the mouse 14.
The mouse operation information includes information such as the operation direction of the mouse, the moving distance, and whether the mouse button is pressed.

FIG. 4 shows the structure of the cursor automatic movement processing unit 22 shown in FIG. In FIG. 4, the position detector 31
Has a function of detecting the position of the GUI component currently being displayed based on the current display information. The moving direction detector 32
It has a function of detecting the moving direction of the mouse cursor based on the mouse operation information. The search unit 33 includes the position detection unit 31.
It has a function of searching for a GUI component in the movement direction detected by the movement direction detection unit 32 among the GUI components whose position is detected by. The destination selection unit 34 is the search unit 33.
As the destination of the mouse cursor based on the search result of
It has a function of selecting a UI component. For example, the GUI component closest to the mouse cursor is selected. Movement processing unit 35
Has a function of outputting cursor movement information indicating the GUI component selected by the movement destination selection unit 34 and moving the mouse cursor.

Next, the operation of the automatic cursor movement processing unit 22 shown in FIG. 4 will be described with reference to FIGS. Figure 5
4 is a flowchart showing a flow of cursor automatic movement processing performed by the cursor automatic movement processing unit 22 shown in FIG. 4.
FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of a display screen of the display device 15, and is for explaining the operation of the cursor automatic movement processing unit 22.

In FIG. 6, the main window screen W1
A plurality of GUI parts A1 to A63 and a sub window screen W2 are displayed on the upper side. A plurality of GUI components B1 to B15 and a sub window screen W3 are displayed on the sub window screen W2. A plurality of GUI parts C1 to C3 are displayed on the sub window screen W3. Also,
The mouse cursor D1 is displayed on the sub window screen W2. In FIG. 6, only one sub window screen W3 is selected as the current operation target, and the main window screen W1 and the sub window screen W2 are not operation window screens.

In FIG. 5, first, the position detector 31
The current display information is acquired from the display processing unit 21, the positions of all GUI components (mouse cursor, button, menu, icon, etc.) currently displayed are detected based on the current display information, and a list of this position is displayed. The data is recorded in the storage unit 2 (step S1).

Here, the position detection unit 31 detects the position of the GUI component currently displayed on all of the window screens W1 to W3 on the display screen of the display device 15 regardless of whether it is the operation window screen or not. And record it in the list. The GUI component currently being displayed refers to what is actually visible on the screen. Therefore, for example, GUI parts on the main window screen W1 in FIG. 6 which are hidden in the sub window screen W2 and are not visible are excluded from the position detection targets. However, for example, the GUI components A34 to A40 on the main window screen W1 shown in FIG. 6 are those whose position is to be detected, and those positions are detected and the position of the display part is recorded. .

Next, when the mouse 14 is operated and the mouse operation information is input from the mouse control processing section 23, the moving direction detecting section 32 detects the moving direction of the mouse cursor based on the mouse operating information (step). S2, S
3). Next, the search unit 33 refers to the list recorded in the storage unit 2 in step S1 above, and finds the GUI component in the moving direction detected in step S3 based on the position of the mouse cursor in the list. Search (step S4).

Next, the move destination selecting unit 34 selects the GUI component closest to the mouse cursor from the search results as the move destination of the mouse cursor (step S5). Next, the movement processing unit 35 outputs the cursor movement information indicating this GUI component to the display processing unit 21, and moves the mouse cursor (step S6). After this process, the process returns to step S1.

Thus, for example, in FIG. 6, if the mouse 14 is operated so as to move the mouse cursor D1 toward the GUI part A25, the position of the GUI part A25 on the main window screen W1 which is not the operation window screen is displayed. The mouse cursor D1 automatically moves.

As described above, in the present embodiment, the position of the GUI component currently being displayed on all the window screens on the display screen of the display device is detected, and the position of the detected GUI component is determined as the destination. Select the GUI component to be displayed and move the cursor. As a result, the GUI that is visible on the screen regardless of whether it is the operation window screen or not.
The mouse cursor can be automatically moved to the position of the I component (GUI component currently displayed) by a simple operation.

The G currently displayed in step S1 is displayed.
Regarding the position detection processing of the UI parts, the position may be detected each time the mouse is operated, and may not be particularly recorded.
It is preferable to detect and record the position in advance as in the above-described embodiment. As a result, since it becomes possible to search for the GUI component in the moving direction of the mouse cursor using the recorded contents, there is no need to detect the position of the GUI component when operating the mouse, and the process relating to the automatic cursor movement is performed. The amount can be reduced. As a result, the effect that the response speed of cursor movement can be improved is obtained.

Further, in the case of a computer having a plurality of pointing devices, at least one of these pointing devices is set as a detection target in the moving direction in step S3, and at least one of them is moved. You may make it accept the setting excluded from the detection target of a direction. As a result, at least one pointing device is set as a target device for cursor automatic movement, and at least one pointing device is set.
Since the device can be excluded from the target devices of the cursor automatic movement, the cursor can be automatically moved by at least one pointing device, and the cursor can be manually moved by at least one pointing device. .

In the case of a notebook personal computer,
For example, there is one provided with two pointing devices such as a stick type pointing device and a touch pad. In such a case, for example, the touch pad may be used for automatic cursor movement, and the stick-type pointing device may be excluded from the automatic cursor movement target for manual cursor movement.

Thus, the cursor is automatically moved to the desired GUI component position by a rough operation using the touch pad, and a button is pressed, a menu is selected, or an icon is clicked to execute an application. You can easily start the program. On the other hand, it becomes possible to manually move or copy the GUI parts by, for example, a drag operation using the stick-type pointing device, which brings about an effect of improving usability. The automatic cursor movement operation is very useful particularly when a large number of GUI parts are arranged in a solid state, such as the GUI parts on the main window screen W1 in FIG. Further, even when the displayed button is small, the cursor can be easily moved onto the button, which greatly improves the usability.

The setting for starting or stopping the execution of the automatic cursor movement process consisting of steps S1 to S6 in FIG. 5 may be accepted, and the execution of the automatic cursor movement process may be controlled in accordance with this setting. For example, a predetermined key operation on the keyboard 13 can be used to set the start and stop of execution of the automatic cursor movement process. As a result, the setting to start or stop the execution of the automatic cursor movement process is accepted, and the execution of the automatic cursor movement process is started or stopped. It becomes possible to use it by turning off / on. As a result, even when only one pointing device is used, the cursor automatic movement operation for automatically moving the cursor exactly to the desired GUI component position by a rough operation and the manual movement operation can be freely used. It becomes possible and usability improves.

The cursor automatic movement processing section 22 shown in FIG. 4 may be realized by dedicated hardware. In the present embodiment, the position detection unit 31 corresponds to the position detection means. Further, the moving direction detecting unit 32, the searching unit 33, and the moving destination selecting unit 34 correspond to selecting means. The movement processing unit 35 corresponds to movement processing means.

Further, a program for implementing each step shown in FIG. 5 is recorded in a computer-readable recording medium, and the program recorded in this recording medium is read by a computer system and executed to execute cursor automatic operation. You may perform a moving process. The "computer system" may include an OS and hardware such as peripheral devices. In addition, the “computer system” includes a homepage providing environment (or display environment) if a WWW system is used. Further, the “computer-readable recording medium” refers to a portable medium such as a flexible disk, a magneto-optical disk, a ROM, a CD-ROM, or a storage device such as a hard disk built in a computer system.

Further, the "computer-readable recording medium" means a volatile memory (RAM) inside a computer system which serves as a server or a client when a program is transmitted via a network such as the Internet or a communication line such as a telephone line. ), Which holds the program for a certain period of time. The program may be transmitted from a computer system that stores the program in a storage device or the like to another computer system via a transmission medium or by a transmission wave in the transmission medium. Here, the "transmission medium" for transmitting the program refers to a medium having a function of transmitting information, such as a network (communication network) such as the Internet or a communication line (communication line) such as a telephone line. Further, the program may be a program for realizing some of the functions described above. Further, it may be a so-called difference file (difference program) that can realize the above-mentioned functions in combination with a program already recorded in the computer system.

Although the embodiment of the present invention has been described in detail above with reference to the drawings, the specific structure is not limited to this embodiment, and design changes and the like within the scope not departing from the gist of the present invention. included.

[0040]

As described above, according to the present invention,
When the screen is displayed by the multi-window method, the effect that the mouse cursor can be automatically moved to the position of the GUI component visible on the screen by a simple operation is obtained.

Further, according to the present invention,
Since the GUI part to which the cursor is moved is selected from the GUI parts in the moving direction of the cursor detected based on the operation content of the device, the cursor can be automatically moved to an appropriate position. The effect that it can be obtained.

Further, according to the present invention, the position-detected GU
It becomes possible to search for the GUI component in the moving direction of the cursor by using the recorded contents of the position of the I component. As a result, it is not necessary to detect the position of the GUI component when operating the pointing device, and the processing amount required for automatic cursor movement can be reduced, so that the response speed of cursor movement can be improved.

Further, according to the present invention, the cursor can be automatically moved by the at least one pointing device, and the cursor can be manually moved by the at least one pointing device. As a result, for example, in a notebook personal computer equipped with two pointing devices such as a stick type pointing device and a touch pad,
The touch pad can be used for automatic cursor movement, and the stick type pointing device can be used for manual cursor movement as an object of automatic cursor movement. As a result, the desired GU can be roughly operated using the touchpad.
It is possible to automatically move the cursor exactly to the position of the I-part and easily perform various operations (button pressing, menu selection, application program activation by icon clicking, etc.). On the other hand, it becomes possible to manually move or copy the GUI parts by, for example, a drag operation using the stick-type pointing device, which brings about an effect of improving usability.

Further, according to the present invention, it is possible to switch the start and stop of execution of the cursor automatic movement processing and to turn on / off the cursor automatic movement function, so that when only one pointing device is used. Also in the above, it is possible to freely use the cursor automatic movement operation for automatically moving the cursor exactly to the desired GUI component position by a rough operation and the manual movement operation, and the usability is improved. .

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of a computer to which a cursor automatic movement method of the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2 is an external view of the computer shown in FIG.

3 is a block diagram showing a part of a configuration in which a function of a processing unit 20 realized by executing a program of a storage unit 2 by a CPU 1 shown in FIG. 1 is expanded.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a cursor automatic movement processing unit 22 shown in FIG.

5 is a flowchart showing a flow of cursor automatic movement processing performed by the cursor automatic movement processing unit 22 shown in FIG.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of a display screen of the display device 15 cited for explaining the operation of the automatic cursor movement processing unit 22.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ... CPU, 2 ... storage unit, 3 ... operation unit, 4 ... display unit, 5
Input / output unit 11, computer main body unit 12, read / write device, 13 ... keyboard, 14 ... mouse, 15 ... display device, 20 ... processing unit, 21 ... display processing unit, 22 ... cursor automatic movement processing unit, 23 ... Mouse control processing unit, 31 ... Position detecting unit, 32 ... Moving direction detecting unit, 33 ... Searching unit, 34
... destination selection unit, 35 ... movement processing unit, A1 to A63, B
1-B15, C1-C3 ... GUI parts, D1 ... Mouse cursor

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Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. A process of detecting the position of a GUI component currently displayed based on the contents currently displayed on a window screen displayed by the multi-window method, and a cursor movement based on the operation contents of a pointing device. A method of automatically moving a cursor, comprising: a selecting step of selecting the GUI part to be moved to; and a step of moving the cursor to the position of the selected GUI part. 2. The selecting step includes a step of detecting a moving direction of a cursor based on operation contents of a pointing device, and a search for a GUI part in the detected moving direction among the position-detected GUI parts. The process and the GUI to which the cursor is moved based on this search result
The automatic cursor movement method according to claim 1, further comprising: a step of selecting a component. 3. The method for automatically moving a cursor according to claim 1, further comprising a step of recording the position of the detected GUI component. 4. A step of receiving at least one of the plurality of pointing devices as a detection target in the movement direction and a setting for excluding at least one of the detection targets in the movement direction. The automatic cursor movement method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein: 5. The method according to claim 1, further comprising: a step of accepting a setting of execution start or an execution stop of the cursor automatic movement process, the step of controlling execution of the cursor automatic movement process according to the setting. The automatic cursor movement method according to any one of claims 1 to 3. 6. A position detecting means for detecting the position of the GUI part currently displayed on the basis of the contents currently displayed on the window screen displayed by the multi-window method, and an operation content of the pointing device. An automatic cursor movement device comprising: a selection unit that selects the GUI component that is the destination of the cursor; and a movement processing unit that moves the cursor to the position of the selected GUI component. 7. A process for detecting the position of a GUI component currently displayed on the basis of the contents currently displayed on the window screen displayed by the multi-window method, and a cursor operation based on the operation contents of the pointing device. A computer program that causes a computer to execute a process of selecting the GUI component to be a destination, and a process of moving a cursor to the position of the selected GUI component.