JPH06324839A - Cursor control means of display device - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] (Correction) [Purpose] Easy, quick, and reliable selection of any functional area (menu item) from multiple functional areas (menu items). [Structure] A cursor 15 and a plurality of functional areas (menu items) M1 to M9, etc. are displayed on the display screen 14, and the cursor 15 is displayed on the display screen 1 by manually operating the cursor moving means.
4 has a control device that allows the user to move the robot 4 and manually select it by superimposing it on an arbitrary functional area to execute the instructed processing. If the manual operation time of the cursor moving means or the moving distance of the cursor is within a predetermined value, the cursor is moved during the manual operation of the moving means, while the manual operation time or the cursor moving distance exceeds the predetermined value. When the moving means is being manually operated, the cursor 15
Is moved between the plurality of menu items in the moving direction, and when the manual operation is stopped, the cursor 15
Has a cursor control means for forcibly stopping it by superimposing it on the nearest functional area on the extension line of the moving direction.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention is a computer for executing a process instructed by a plurality of functional areas such as menu items displayed on the screen of a display device by manually moving the cursor to select the functional areas. The present invention relates to a cursor control means of a display device in a system, and more particularly, to a cursor control means of a display device for quick and easy and reliable manual operation of an arbitrary functional area.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there is a display device for a computer of this type, which gives an instruction to execute executable process contents or read data contents by menu selection. For example, as shown in FIG. 7, a plurality of menu items m1, m2 to m9 which are functional areas are displayed on a display screen 1 of a display device together with a cursor 2 indicated by an arrow in the figure, while the cursor 2 is displayed. , A cursor key (not shown) or a cursor moving means such as a pointing device such as a mouse is manually operated to move the cursor onto the display screen 1, and the cursor 2 is moved to a desired menu item, for example, a seventh menu item m7 indicated by a broken line in the figure The seventh menu item m7 is selected by superimposing, and the processing contents instructed by the menu item m7 are executed.

[0003]

However, in such a conventional cursor control device, when the seventh menu item m7 is selected by the cursor 2 as shown in FIG. 7, for example, as shown by the broken line in the figure. In order to move the cursor 2 from, for example, the start point a on the third menu item m3 to the end point b on the seventh menu item m7, it is necessary to operate the cursor moving means. Since the movement of the cursor 2 in the menu items m3 and m5 and the movement of the cursor 2 other than these menu items are not directly related to the selection of the seventh menu item m7, it can be said to be a wasteful operation.

Further, if the seventh menu item m7 has various shapes and it is difficult for the operator to recognize that it is a functional area, it becomes difficult to select the seventh menu item m7 itself. If the operator of the cursor moving means determines that the seventh menu item m7 is not a functional area, the function (processing) of the seventh menu item m7 is not executed.

That is, in the conventional cursor control device in which the cursor 2 on the display screen 1 of the display device can be freely moved in the direction instructed by the operator manually operating the cursor moving means, within one menu item (functional area). Movement is meaningless and wasteful, and it takes time to move the cursor 2 from one menu item (functional area) to another menu item (functional area), so that menu selection is not always quick. . Further, when it is visually difficult to distinguish between the functional area of the menu item and the other non-functional area, there is a problem that it becomes very difficult to select the functional area.

Therefore, the present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and an object thereof is to provide a cursor control means of a display device capable of quickly and easily and surely selecting a functional area such as a menu item. It is in.

[0007]

The present invention is configured as follows in order to solve the above-mentioned problems.

The invention according to claim 1 of the present application (hereinafter, referred to as the first
Of the invention), by displaying a cursor and a plurality of functional areas on the display screen, and moving the cursor on the display screen by manual operation of the cursor moving means, and by superimposing on the arbitrary functional area. In a display device having a control device for manually selecting and executing a process instructed by this functional area, the movement of the cursor on the display screen is controlled by moving the cursor moving means manually during operation of each functional area in the moving direction. It is characterized in that a cursor control means for forcibly stopping is provided.

The invention according to claim 2 of the present application (hereinafter referred to as the second invention) displays a cursor and a plurality of functional areas on the display screen, and the cursor is manually operated by the cursor moving means. In the display device having a control device that allows the user to move it on the display screen and manually select it by superimposing it on any of the functional areas, and to execute the processing instructed by the functional area, in the manual operation time of the cursor moving means. , Or when the moving distance of the cursor is within a predetermined value, the cursor is moved during the manual operation of the cursor moving means, while the manual operation time or the cursor moving distance exceeds a predetermined value. During the manual operation of the cursor moving means, the cursor is forcibly stopped for each of a plurality of functional areas in the moving direction, When stopping the manual operation of the Sol moving means, the cursor, characterized in that a cursor control means for stopping forcefully superimposed on the nearest functional areas on the moving direction extension line.

Further, in the invention according to claim 3 of the present application (hereinafter referred to as the third invention), the cursor control means is configured to move the cursor even after the cursor is forcibly stopped on a required functional area. Is continuously operated manually, during this period, it is characterized by having means for forcibly moving the cursor between the functional areas on the extension line of the moving direction by jumping.

[0011]

[Action]

<First Invention> When the cursor on the display screen enters a functional area such as an arbitrary menu item by the manual operation of the cursor moving means, the cursor on the display screen is moved to the functional area by the cursor control means. It is forcibly stopped at a predetermined position inside, for example, the center.

Therefore, when the cursor is further moved by the cursor moving means, the cursor jumps between the functional areas in the moving direction. For this,
According to the present invention, it is possible to select a plurality of functional areas in a scattered manner with a cursor, so that a desired functional area can be selected quickly and easily from the plurality of functional areas.

<Second Invention> When the manual operation time of the cursor moving means or the moving distance of the cursor on the display screen is within a predetermined value, the cursor control means moves the cursor during the manual operation of the cursor moving means. , Move.

That is, when the operation time of the cursor moving means is shorter than the predetermined time, it can be moved and stopped only during the manual operation of the cursor moving means as in the conventional example.

On the other hand, the manual operation time of the cursor moving means,
Alternatively, when the cursor movement distance exceeds a predetermined value, the cursor movement control means forcibly stops the cursor for each functional area in the movement direction during the manual operation of the cursor movement means. That is, the cursor jumps between the plurality of functional areas, and when the manual operation of the cursor moving means is stopped, the cursor is forcibly stopped by superimposing the cursor on the nearest functional area on the extension line of the moving direction.

Therefore, according to the present invention, it is possible to select a plurality of functional areas in a scattered manner by making the manual operation time of the cursor moving means exceed a predetermined value. It is possible to quickly, easily and surely select the functional area of.

<Third Invention> When the cursor moving means is continuously operated manually even after the cursor on the display screen is forcibly stopped on the required functional area, during that time,
This cursor is forcibly stopped for each functional area on the extension of the moving direction. That is, since the cursor is forcibly moved between the plurality of functional areas by forcibly, the required functional area can be selected quickly and easily from the plurality of functional areas.

[0018]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the overall construction of an embodiment including the first to third inventions of the present application. In the drawing, a control device 13 having a cursor moving means 12 is electrically provided on a display device 11. Connected.

As shown in FIG. 2, the control device 13 has a plurality of functional areas indicated by hatched frames on the display screen 14 such as a CRT (cathode ray tube) or LCD (liquid crystal display device) of the display device 11, for example. It has means for displaying menu items M1, M2 to M9 and a cursor 15 shown by an arrow in the figure.

The cursor moving means 12 is a cursor key (not shown) or a pointing device such as a mouse. By moving the cursor 15 displayed on the display screen 14 vertically and horizontally, the menu items M1 to M, which are a plurality of functional areas, are moved.
This is for manually selecting any menu item M1 to M9 by superimposing on any one of the nine items. When these menu items M1 to M9 are selected, an instruction is given by the selected menu item M1 to M9. The processing that is being performed is executed.

Further, the control device 13 is the cursor control means 1
Have six. This cursor control means 16 manually operates the cursor moving means 12 when the manual operation time of the cursor moving means 12 or the moving distance of the cursor 15 on the display screen 14 is within a predetermined value. First means for moving the inside, which is almost the same as the conventional one,
When the manual operation time of the cursor moving means 12 or the cursor moving distance exceeds a predetermined value, the cursor moving means 1
2. While the manual operation 2 is in progress, the cursor 15 is moved between the plurality of menu items M1 to M9 in the moving direction in a jump manner, and when the manual operation of the cursor moving means 12 is stopped,
There is provided a second means for forcibly stopping the cursor 15 so as to be superposed on the nearest menu item M1 to M9 on the extension line of the movement direction, for example, the central position.

Further, the cursor control means 16 uses the display screen 1
If the cursor moving means 12 continues to be manually operated even after the cursor 15 on the cursor 4 is forcibly stopped on the menu items M1 to M9, which are the required functional areas, during that time,
There is provided a third means for forcibly moving the cursor 15 between the menu items M1 to M9 on the extension of the moving direction.

That is, the first means of the cursor control means 16 is, as shown in FIG. 4, that the moving time or the continuous moving distance of the cursor 15 is within the predetermined value T1 and the moving point P thereof.
If none of the menu items M1 to M9 that are the functional areas in 0 exist, the cursor 15 starts from T0 on the third menu item M3, for example, and moves to the next fifth line on the extension line of the movement direction. While the cursor moving means 12 is being operated up to a point P1 which overlaps the menu item M5 of
Continuously move and stop. After that, if the cursor moving means 12 is continuously operated manually, the cursor 15
Is moved to a point P2 on the seventh menu item M7 which is the next functional area on the extension of the movement direction.

The second means of the cursor control means 16 is, as shown in FIG. 5, the time when the cursor 15 is moved is a predetermined moving time (or a predetermined moving distance) T1, and the moving point is either When it is on the menu item of, for example, the sixth menu item M6, the point T1 is regarded as the forced stop point of the cursor 15, and the movement of the cursor 15 is forcibly stopped. When the manual operation is continued, for example, the ninth menu item M9 on the extension of the moving direction is captured, and the cursor 15 is automatically moved from P1 to P3.

Further, as shown in FIG. 6, the third means of the cursor control means 16 causes the predetermined movement time (or predetermined movement distance) T1 of the cursor 15 to exceed the second menu item M2 which is the first functional area. In the non-functional area, the cursor 15 is not forcibly stopped in the second menu item M2, and the cursor 15 reaches the contact point P4 of the first menu item M1 which is the functional area after exceeding the predetermined value T1. Move continuously.

Next, the control program executed by the cursor control means 16 will be described with reference to FIG. In addition, in FIG. 3, S1 to S12 indicate each step of the flowchart.

First, in S1, the cursor control means 16 repeatedly determines whether or not the cursor moving means 12 is manually operated. If YES, in S2, the cursor 15 is moved in the direction designated by the cursor moving means 12.

At the next step S3, it is determined whether or not the manual operation of the cursor moving means 12 has been completed.
Return again to step S1 and subsequent steps, but NO
In the case of, it is judged in S4 whether or not the moving time of the cursor 15 has passed the predetermined time T1, and in the case of YES, S
In step 5, it is determined whether or not the cursor 15 is over any one of the plurality of menu items M1 to M9 which is the functional area. If NO, the process proceeds to S6, and if YES, the process proceeds to S7.

In S6, it is determined whether or not the manual operation of the cursor moving means 12 is completed. If YES, the process returns to S1 again, and the processes after S1 are repeated. If NO, the process proceeds to S8, and the designated direction. The cursor 15 is moved to, then the process returns to S5 and the steps from S5 onward are repeated.

On the other hand, when the cursor 15 overlaps any one of the plurality of menu items M1 to M9 in the functional area in S5, the cursor 15 is moved in S7 to a predetermined position such as the central position in the functional area. S forcibly stop after
Proceed to 9.

In S9, it is determined whether or not the manual operation of the cursor moving means 12 is completed. If YES, the process returns to S9 again, and the steps following S9 are repeated. If NO, in S10, the cursor moving means 12 is returned. When any one of the nearest menu items M1 to M9 is searched for on the extension line of the pointing direction of S1 and one of the menu items M1 to M9 is found in S11, the found menu item is selected in S12. Move the cursor 15 to, then return to S9,
Repeat the following steps.

Therefore, according to the present embodiment, when the cursor moving means 12 is manually operated or the moving distance of the cursor 15 is within a predetermined value T1 or less, as in the conventional example,
The cursor 15 can be moved while the cursor moving means 12 is being operated.

Further, the operation time of the cursor moving means 12,
Alternatively, when the movement distance of the cursor 15 exceeds the predetermined value T1, the plurality of menu items M1 to M9 on the extension line of the movement direction of the cursor 15 are moved in a scattered manner,
By stopping the operation of the cursor moving means 12, it is possible to forcibly stop at the nearest menu item M1 to M9 and select the desired menu item. Therefore, an arbitrary menu item can be selected quickly and easily from the plurality of menu items M1 to M9.

Further, even after the cursor 15 is stopped on a desired menu item, if the cursor moving means 12 is continuously operated manually, during that time, the cursor 15 moves the menu item on the extension line of the moving direction. In this case as well, the required menu items can be selected quickly and easily and surely from among the plurality of menu items M1 to M9, because the gaps are forcibly moved intermittently.

[0036]

As described above, the first invention of the present application is
When the cursor on the display screen enters a functional area such as an arbitrary menu item by the manual operation of the cursor moving means, the cursor on the display screen is moved by the cursor control means to a predetermined position in the functional area, for example, Since it is forcibly stopped at the center or the like, it is possible to quickly and easily and surely select a desired functional area from a plurality of functional areas.

Further, in the second invention of the present application, when the operation time of the cursor moving means or the moving distance of the cursor is within a predetermined value, the cursor is moved only during the operation of the cursor moving means as in the conventional example. In addition, if the operation time of the cursor moving means or the moving distance of the cursor exceeds a predetermined value, the cursor is randomly moved among a plurality of functional areas to be selected. The required functional area can be selected quickly, easily and surely.

Further, according to the third invention of the present application, when the cursor moving means is continuously operated manually even after the cursor is forcibly stopped on the required functional area, the cursor is moved during that time. By forcibly moving between the functional areas on the extension line of the direction by skipping, and by stopping the manual operation of the cursor moving means, the nearest functional area is selected, so you can select an arbitrary functional area from multiple functional areas. A quick, easy and reliable choice can be made.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an overall configuration of an embodiment of a cursor control means of a display device including the first and second inventions of the present application.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram when a menu screen is displayed on the display screen of the display device shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart of a control program executed by the cursor control means shown in FIG.

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram when a menu screen is displayed on the display screen of the display device shown in FIG.

5 is a schematic diagram when a menu screen is displayed on the display screen of the display device shown in FIG.

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram when a menu screen is displayed on the display screen of the display device shown in FIG.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a menu screen for explaining a conventional cursor movement method.

[Explanation of symbols]

 11 display device 12 cursor moving means 13 control device 14 display screen 15 cursor 16 cursor control means M1 to M9 menu item (functional area)

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A cursor and a plurality of functional areas are displayed on a display screen, and the cursor is moved manually on the display screen by a manual operation of a cursor moving means, and is manually placed by overlapping on the arbitrary functional area. In a display device having a control device for selecting and executing a process instructed by this functional area, the cursor on the display screen is moved for each functional area in the moving direction during manual operation of the cursor moving means. A cursor control means for a display device, comprising cursor control means for forcibly stopping. 2. A cursor and a plurality of functional areas are displayed on the display screen, the cursor is moved on the display screen by a manual operation of a cursor moving means, and the cursor is manually overlapped on the functional area. In a display device having a control device for selecting and executing a process instructed by this functional area, when the manual operation time of the cursor moving means or the moving distance of the cursor is within a predetermined value, this cursor is While moving the cursor moving means during manual operation, when the manual operation time or the cursor moving distance exceeds a predetermined value, while the cursor moving means is being manually operated, the cursor is moved in a plurality of directions in the moving direction. Forcibly stop each function area of the cursor, and when the manual operation of the cursor moving means is stopped, move this cursor A cursor control means for a display device, comprising cursor control means for forcibly stopping by superimposing it on the nearest functional area on the extension line. 3. The cursor control means, when the cursor moving means continues to be manually operated even after the cursor is forcibly stopped on a desired functional area, during this time, the cursor is moved in the moving direction. 4. The cursor control means of the display device according to claim 2, further comprising means for forcibly moving each functional area on the extension line.