JP2004029046A - Multi-display control system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To make it unnecessary for an operator to move a display screen by moving an operation screen to the front of the operator when an application for performing display operation is changed. <P>SOLUTION: When an image detection condition is satisfied, which position of a virtual page 5 is the position of a mouse is detected. Then the existence of the mouse on a 2nd sub-display device 8 is judged from the position detection result. When a judged operation picture is not a main display device 6, the picture contents of the 2nd sub-display device 8 and that of the main display device 6 are exchanged with each other and the exchanged contents are displayed on respective display devices 6, 8. Namely the picture contents of the 2nd sub-display device 8 are transferred to the main display device 6 and the picture contents of the main display device 6 are transferred to the 2nd sub-display device 8. Thus an operation area shown by the mouse can be arranged always on the front and the operation efficiency of picture display can be furthermore improved. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO

Description

[0001]
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a multi-display control system for controlling an image signal generating device and an image display device, and more particularly, to an image signal generating device having a predetermined format used in a personal computer or a workstation, and a liquid crystal display. It controls an image display device including a display device such as a panel, a CRT, and a plasma display (PDP), and controls display of an image when a plurality of the image display devices are connected to the image signal generating device. The present invention relates to a multi-display control system.
[0002]
[Prior art]
For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2001-67055 and the like disclose an image display device capable of switching between signals input to a plurality of displays to display an image. FIG. 9 is a configuration diagram of a multi-display control system that performs display control in the image display device disclosed in JP-A-2001-67055. In the figure, a two-input type display device 10 and a two-input type display device 20 are mutually connected by a signal line 30.
[0003]
The signal A is input to the connector 11 of the two-input type display device 10, and the signal D is input to the connector 22 of the two-input type display device 20. Further, the unused connectors 12 and 21 are connected to each other. In the display device 10, when the user operates the changeover switch 16 to select the connector 11, the selector 14 connects the connector 11 to the display 15. Thus, the display 15 displays an image corresponding to the signal A. When the user selects the connector 12 with the changeover switch 16, the selector 14 connects the connector 12 to the display 15. Further, the selection signal operates the selector 23 via the connector 12 and the connector 21. Thereby, the selector 23 connects the connector 22 to the connector 21. At this time, since the connector 12 and the connector 21 are already connected, the display 15 can display an image corresponding to the signal D input to the connector 22 as a result. By operating the changeover switch 26 also in the display device 20, the same operation as described above can be performed. As a result, the signals input to the respective display devices 10 and 20 can be switched and displayed, so that extremely effective information provision can be performed for customer correspondence and presentations.
[0004]
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2000-352962 discloses a technique in which an index image signal for identifying an image display device is used, and a frame on which an image is to be displayed is determined by identifying the index. According to this technique, even if the number of image display devices increases, the number of image signal generating means for generating image signals and the number of connection cables do not increase. FIG. 10 is a configuration diagram of an index type multi-display system disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2000-352962. In FIG. 10, a plurality of image displays including a display device such as a liquid crystal panel, a CRT, and a plasma display (PDP) are provided in an image signal generator 31 having a predetermined format used in a personal computer, a workstation, or the like. Device 32 is connected. Each image display device 32 is assigned a different image display device number 31, 32... 3n.
[0005]
The image signal generating device 31 includes a net image signal actually displayed on an image display unit such as a liquid crystal panel of the image display device 32, the same signal corresponding to the net image signal, and a part of the net image signal. And outputs the added transmission index signal as a composite signal. The composite signal output from the image signal generator 31 is transmitted in parallel to a plurality of connected image display devices 32. The plurality of image display devices 32 compare and collate the image display device numbers assigned to each of them in advance with the transmission index signal, and display only the appropriate net image signal on the image display unit of the corresponding image display device 32. . Thus, an arbitrary image can be displayed on an arbitrary image display device without increasing the number of image signal generating means and connection cables.
[0006]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
By the way, recently, an operating system (OS) such as Windows (registered trademark) supports image display, so that the use of the multi-display has been considerably widened. However, in the conventional multi-display as described above, even when the image display processing is performed as one virtual page, the images actually displayed by the application are individually displayed on different display devices. Will be.
[0007]
FIG. 1 is a conceptual diagram showing an operation of a conventional multi-display system showing a state in which an image of one virtual page is individually displayed on a plurality of image display devices. As shown in FIG. 1, the display on which the application is actually displayed is fixed, and even if the application is processed as one virtual page 5 inside the personal computer, a plurality of applications are displayed on a plurality of images. Since the work is displayed on the screen of the device 32, the display (that is, the image display device 32) used changes every time the application used changes. For this reason, depending on the application to be used, the work area is not displayed on the front image display device 32, so that the worker needs to move to the front of each image display device 32. Further, in the control system for a multi-display of an image display device disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2001-67055, switching between displays requires a user's switch operation, and when three or more displays are used, It is necessary to provide all the connectors for one display, so that the number of connection cables increases and the control system of the multi-display becomes complicated.
[0008]
The present invention has been made in view of the above-described problems, and has as its object to provide a work screen in front of a worker even when an application for work is changed while using a multi-display. Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a multi-display control system in which the operator does not need to move the display screen and the screen display work efficiency is improved.
[0009]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
In order to achieve the above object, a multi-display control system according to the present invention relates to a multi-display control system that controls display of an image display device by connecting a plurality of image display devices to an image signal generator having a predetermined format. Pointing device detecting means for detecting the position of a pointing device, work area determining means for recognizing a screen on which work is being performed based on the position detection result of the pointing device detecting means, and automatically or manually switching the arrangement of one surface on the screen Screen control means.
[0010]
Further, the multi-display control system of the present invention is a multi-display control system for connecting a plurality of image display devices to an image signal generating device having a predetermined format and controlling display of the image display devices. Active window detecting means for detecting the position of a possible active window, work area determining means for recognizing a screen on which work is being performed based on the position detection result of the active window detecting means, and automatic or manual arrangement of one surface on the screen. Switching screen control means.
[0011]
Further, the multi-display control system of the present invention further comprises a virtual one page for the entire display area on the screen, and a work area in which the worker is working in the entire display area is located in front of the worker. A work area arranging means for automatically or manually arranging the work area.
[0012]
Further, the multi-display control system according to the present invention is characterized in that the entire display area is configured by a ring-shaped page.
[0013]
Further, the multi-display control system of the present invention includes a display device selecting means for selecting a display device so that a main operation can always be performed on a display device having the maximum resolution when display devices having different display resolutions are combined. It is characterized by.
[0014]
BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION
Hereinafter, some embodiments of the multi-display control system according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. The multi-display control system according to the present invention is characterized in that the work screen always comes to the front of the worker even when the application for work is changed in a state where the multi-display is used. This eliminates the need for the operator to move the display screen even when the application is changed.
[0015]
Embodiment 1
FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration of the multi-display control system according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention. In FIG. 2, a multi-display control system includes a pointing device detection unit 1 that detects a position of a pointing device such as a mouse, a touch pad, and a trackball, and a user performing an operation based on a position detection result of the pointing device detection unit 1. A work area determination means 2 for determining a work area in which the work area is located, and a screen control means 3 for automatically or manually switching a screen position so that the work area determined by the work area determination means 2 is in front of the worker. ing.
[0016]
FIG. 3 is a conceptual diagram illustrating a display control method of the multi-display control system according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention. FIG. 3 shows a flow of image display processing in a multi-display control system including three image display devices. The operator performs the work by arranging the main display device 6 on the front and the first sub-display device 7 and the second sub-display device 8 on the left and right, respectively. Hereinafter, the flow of image display processing will be described with reference to FIGS. 2 and 3.
[0017]
In advance, the operator selects the image detection condition at the time of starting the pointing device detection unit 1 in FIG. 2 to be either automatic or manual. If the image detection condition is automatic, the image is always detected.If the image detection condition is manual, the image is detected when an event such as a mouse click or drag operation or a specific key press on the keyboard occurs. Perform detection. When the image detection condition is satisfied, the pointing device detection unit 1 detects where the position of the pointing device such as a mouse is on a virtual single page 5 (Process 1).
[0018]
Next, the work area determination unit 2 determines on which image display device the mouse position is located based on the position detection result of the pointing device detection unit 1. Note that the example in FIG. 3 indicates that the mouse is over the second sub-display device 8 (process 2). If the work screen determined by the work area determining means 2 is not the main display device 6, the screen control means 3 determines the screen content of the relevant sub-display device (the second sub-display device 8 in the example of FIG. 3) and the main screen. The contents of the screen of the display device 6 are exchanged and displayed on the respective image display devices. That is, the screen contents of the second sub display device 8 are converted to the main display device 6, and the screen contents of the main display device 6 are converted to the second sub display device 8 (process 3).
[0019]
The process of exchanging the screen contents between the image display devices by the screen control means 3 is performed, for example, by applying the index-type multi-display system disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2000-352962 described in the related art, only by rewriting the transmission index signal. And can be easily realized. That is, in the image signal generating device, a part of the index signal for identifying the image display device is replaced and added to a predetermined position of the image signal having a plurality of pages, and the image signal is identified by the image display device. By selecting an image display device that should display, the screen contents between the image display devices can be easily exchanged.
[0020]
By performing image display processing as described above, when multiple applications are used on different screens using the multi display, the work slope is displayed differently with the change of the application used conventionally. Although it was necessary to move to the device, with the multi-display control system of the present invention, the work area indicated by the pointing device such as a mouse can always be in front, and the worker moves the image display device less, Work efficiency of image display can be improved.
[0021]
Embodiment 2
FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a multi-display control system according to Embodiment 2 of the present invention. In FIG. 4, the multi-display control system includes an active window detecting means 4 for detecting a position of an active window operable by an operator, and a work area in which a user is performing work based on a position detection result of the active window detecting means 4. And a screen control means 3 for automatically or manually switching the position of the screen so that the work area determined by the work area determination means 2 ′ comes to the front of the worker. I have.
[0022]
In ordinary Windows (registered trademark), there is only one active window, that is, a window that can be operated by an operator. Clicking a mouse on Windows (registered trademark) or clicking a title on a menu bar is performed. Thus, the designation of the active window can be performed. Here, regarding what the operator positions the active window, the coordinates of the origin of the window (usually the coordinates of the upper left of the window), the center coordinates of the window, the cursor position, and the case where the window extends over a plurality of work areas are determined in advance. If the window can be selected from the center coordinates of the window in the work area having the maximum area, the position of the window can be uniquely specified even when the window extends over a plurality of work areas.
[0023]
4, the active window detecting means 4 detects where the position of the active window is on a virtual page 5 shown in FIG. (Process 1). Subsequent processing is the same as in FIG. 3 in the first embodiment, and the work area determining means 2 ′ determines on which image display device the mouse position exists based on the position detection result of the active window detecting means 4. (Process 2). When the work screen determined by the work area determining means 2 ′ is not the main display device 6, the screen control unit 3 determines the screen of the corresponding sub display device (that is, the second sub display device 8 in the example of FIG. 3). The content and the screen content of the main display device 6 are exchanged and displayed on the respective image display devices. That is, the screen contents of the second sub display device 8 are converted to the main display device 6, and the screen contents of the main display device 6 are converted to the second sub display device 8 (process 3).
[0024]
When the image display processing is performed as described above, the image display area in operation can be detected more specifically, and when the active window is switched, the window can be displayed on the main display device on the front.
[0025]
Embodiment 3
FIG. 5 is a conceptual diagram illustrating a display control method of the multi-display control system according to the first embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 5, the screen control unit 3 divides the area of one virtual page 5 into a first display area 5a, a second display area 5b, and a third display area 5c. When the mouse pointer is in the third display area 5c, the third display area 5c is displayed on the main display device 6, and the second display area 5b is displayed on the second sub display device 8. The first display area 5a is displayed on the first sub display device 7 as it is.
[0026]
Then, when the mouse is moved right and left, the actual display device has a main display despite the first sub-display device 7 and the second sub-display device 8 being arranged right and left with the main display device 6 in front. When the mouse is moved to the right end of the device 6, that is, the right end of one virtual page 5, the mouse stops moving any more. When the mouse is moved to the first sub display device 7 beyond the left end of the main display device 6, the operator feels that the mouse has moved to the first display area 5a. On 5, the display has moved to the second display area 5 b, the second display area 5 b is displayed on the main display device 6, and the third display area 5 c is displayed on the second sub display device 8. This is the same when the display area is divided into three or more.
[0027]
FIG. 6 is a ring-shaped page configuration diagram showing a virtual page configuration of the multi-display control system according to Embodiment 3 of the present invention. When the page configuration is a ring-shaped configuration as shown in FIG. 6, the right end of the third display area 5c and the left end of the first display area 5a continue, and the right end of the first display area 5a and the left end of the second display area 5b continue. Configuration.
[0028]
7A and 7B are conceptual diagrams showing the operation of the multi-display control system according to Embodiment 3 of the present invention. FIG. 7A shows a case where the mouse is in the first display area, and FIG. At some point, (c) shows the state when the mouse is in the third display area. In the case of a ring-shaped page configuration as shown in FIG. 6, when the mouse pointer is in the first display area 5a as shown in FIG. 7A, the first display area 5a is displayed on the main display device 6, The third display area 5c is displayed on the first sub display device 7, and the second display area 5b is displayed on the second sub display device 8. Similarly, as shown in FIG. 7B, when the mouse pointer is in the second display area 5b, the second display area 5b is displayed on the main display device 6, and the first display area 5a is displayed on the first sub display device. 7 and the third display area 5c is displayed on the second sub display device 8.
[0029]
As shown in FIG. 7C, when the mouse pointer is in the third display area 5c, the third display area 5c is displayed on the main display device 6, and the second display area 5b is displayed on the first sub display device 7. Then, the first display area 5a is displayed on the second sub-display device 8, respectively. When a multi-display system is constructed in the vertical direction, the pages are similarly formed in a ring shape in the vertical direction.
[0030]
According to the multi-display control system of the third embodiment, when the mouse is always moved from the main display device 6 on the front to the first sub-display device 7 on the left, the display is performed on the first sub-display device 7 until then. When the mouse is moved to the first display area on the main display device 6 and to the second sub display device 8 on the right side, the display area previously displayed on the second sub display device 8 is displayed on the main display device 6. Can be done. As described above, since the movement of the pointing device such as the mouse and the accompanying switching operation of the display area coincide with each other, the workability of the image display operation by the operator is further improved.
[0031]
Embodiment 4
Although the efficiency of screen display work increases as the display becomes larger and the resolution increases, the LCD panel and PDP become more expensive as the resolution increases. FIG. 8 is a conceptual diagram showing an operation of the multi-display control system according to Embodiment 4 of the present invention. That is, FIG. 8 shows that the display area corresponding to three screens having a resolution of SXGA (1280 dots × 1024 lines) (that is, the first display area 5a, the second display area 5b, and the third display area 5c) has a resolution of SXGA. This is an example in which the multi-display control system of the present invention is realized by one main display device of the panel and two sub-display devices 7 and 8 of the panel of the resolution XGA (1024 dots × 768 lines).
[0032]
The sub-display devices 7 and 8 display the SXGA display area on the XGA in a simplified manner such as down-scaling and are not suitable for detailed word processing work, but can be used sufficiently for reference screens. By moving the mouse or changing the active window, the display area actually operated by the operator is automatically displayed on a detailed main display device.
[0033]
According to the multi-display control system of the fourth embodiment, the work efficiency is reduced by increasing the resolution of the main display device for displaying the actual operation screen and reducing the cost of the sub-display device used for reference to a low cost. And the entire system can be constructed at low cost.
[0034]
The embodiment described above is an example for describing the present invention, and the present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, and various modifications are possible within the scope of the invention. For example, in each of the above-described embodiments, a case has been described in which three image display devices display three image display regions, respectively. However, the present invention is not limited to this. Each display area can be displayed.
[0035]
【The invention's effect】
As described above, according to the multi-display control system of the present invention, when a plurality of applications are used on different screens using the multi-display, the work inclination is conventionally changed according to the change of the application to be used. Although it was necessary to move to another image display device, the working area indicated by the pointing device such as a mouse can always be brought to the front by the multi-display control system of the present invention, and the operator can move the image display device. And the work efficiency of image display can be further improved.
[0036]
Further, according to the multi-display control system of the present invention, it is possible to more specifically detect a working image display area, and when the active window is switched, the window can be displayed on the front main display device. Further, according to the multi-display control system of the present invention, when the mouse is always moved from the main display device on the front to the first sub-display device on the left, the first display previously displayed on the first sub-display device The area can be displayed on the main display device, and when the mouse is moved to the second sub-display device on the right side, the display region previously displayed on the second sub-display device can be displayed on the main display device. . At this time, the movement of the pointing device such as a mouse and the accompanying switching operation of the display area coincide with each other, so that the workability of the image display operation by the operator is further improved.
[0037]
Also, according to the multi-display control system of the present invention, the main display device for displaying the actual operation screen has a high resolution, and the sub-display device used for reference has an inexpensive low resolution, thereby reducing work efficiency. And the entire system can be constructed at low cost.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a conceptual diagram showing an operation of a conventional multi-display system showing a state where an image of one virtual page is individually displayed on a plurality of image display devices.
FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a multi-display control system according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention.
FIG. 3 is a conceptual diagram illustrating a display control method of the multi-display control system according to the first embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a multi-display control system according to Embodiment 2 of the present invention.
FIG. 5 is a conceptual diagram showing a display control method of the multi-display control system according to the first embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 6 is a ring-shaped page configuration diagram showing a virtual page configuration of a multi-display control system according to Embodiment 3 of the present invention.
FIGS. 7A and 7B are conceptual diagrams illustrating an operation of the multi-display control system according to the third embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 7A illustrates a case where the mouse is in the first display area, and FIG. At some point, (c) shows the state when the mouse is in the main display area.
FIG. 8 is a conceptual diagram showing an operation of the multi-display control system according to Embodiment 4 of the present invention.
FIG. 9 is a configuration diagram of a multi-display control system that performs display control in an image display device disclosed in JP-A-2001-67055.
FIG. 10 is a configuration diagram of an index type multi-display system disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2000-352962.
[Explanation of symbols]
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Pointing device detection means, 2, 2 '... Work area determination means, 3 ... Screen control means, 4 ... Active window detection means, 5 ... Virtual one page, 5a ... 1st display area, 5b ... No. 2 display area, 5c: third display area, 6: main display device, 7, 8: sub display device, 10, 20: display device, 30: signal line, 31: image signal generating device, 32: image display device, 33 ... Keyboard and mouse

Claims (5)

In a multi-display control system that performs display control of an image display device by connecting a plurality of image display devices to an image signal generation device having a predetermined format,
Pointing device detection means for detecting the position of the pointing device;
A work area determining means for recognizing a screen on which work is being performed based on a position detection result of the pointing device detecting means;
A multi-display control system comprising: a screen control unit that automatically or manually switches an arrangement of one surface on a screen. In a multi-display control system that performs display control of an image display device by connecting a plurality of image display devices to an image signal generation device having a predetermined format,
Active window detecting means for detecting a position of an active window operable by an operator;
Work area determining means for recognizing a screen on which work is being performed based on the position detection result of the active window detecting means;
A multi-display control system comprising: a screen control unit that automatically or manually switches an arrangement of one surface on a screen. Furthermore, a work area arrangement in which the entire display area on the screen is constituted by one virtual page, and the work area in which the worker is performing work is automatically or manually arranged in front of the worker in the entire display area. The multi-display control system according to claim 1, further comprising a unit. The multi-display control system according to claim 3, wherein the entire display area is configured by a ring-shaped page. 5. A display device selecting means for selecting a display device so that when a display device having a different display resolution is combined with a display device having the maximum resolution, main operations can be always performed. A multi-display control system according to any one of the above.

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