JPH09311837A - Screen saver message display method - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) Abstract: When there is no input operation from the input device for a fixed time, the screen saver 3 of the information processing device 2 displays a display screen dedicated to the screen saver on the display device 25. The user is surely notified of the message received from the information processing device 1 during execution of the screen saver 3. A communication control unit 29 stores a message received from an information processing device 1 in a message area 21.
When the screen saver 3 detects a message in the message area 21 while the screen dedicated to saver is taken out from the saver screen area 22 and displayed on the display device 25, the screen saver 3 displays the received message on the display device 25 instead of the screen dedicated to saver. To do. When an input operation is entered after the message is displayed, the message in the message area 21 is compared with the content in the message screen save area 23, and a new message is displayed only when the message is changed.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a screen saver for displaying a display screen for protecting the display screen when there is no input operation for a certain period of time, and particularly when receiving a message notification from another information processing device. Message display method.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a computer system in which an information processing device such as a personal computer or a workstation is connected to another information processing device via a network, one information processing device is connected to another one or a plurality of information processing devices. You may need to notify you of an urgent message. In such a case, the operating system of the information processing device that receives the notification of the message writes the received message on the display screen that is logically handled as a file. Therefore, if the application program is running at this time,
An urgent message will be overlaid and written on the display screen output by this application program. Since the application program does not usually have a process for receiving the emergency message, the application screen is not saved and the emergency message is not displayed on the display device. However, the output screen of the application program is usually a fixed screen without movement, and the displayed urgent message is not lost.

On the other hand, a screen saver is used to protect the screen of a display device. screen·
When the saver is activated, the screen saver displays a message or an animation screen specified in advance when there is no input operation for a certain time due to the absence of the operator while executing the application program. However, if the screen saver is displaying an animation screen and an urgent message received from another information processing device is written on the display screen when an object on the screen moves, it is written on the screen while the operator is absent. Emergency messages may disappear.

[0004]

According to the above prior art, when the screen saver receives an urgent message from another information processing device while displaying the dedicated screen, the urgent message written on the display screen is displayed. There was a risk of disappearing.

An object of the present invention is to reliably notify a user of a message received during execution of a screen saver.

[0006]

According to the present invention, a message received from another information processing device is temporarily received on a storage device, and when the screen saver detects this message, it is replaced with a display screen for the screen saver. A message display method of a screen saver for displaying the received message on the display screen is characterized.

[0007]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS One embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of the computer system of this embodiment. An information processing apparatus 1 includes a personal computer and a workstation on the side of sending a message.
Reference numeral 2 denotes an information processing apparatus including a personal computer and a workstation which are connected to the information processing apparatus 1 via the network 4 and receive a message sent from the information processing apparatus 1, and a plurality of information processing apparatuses may exist. Reference numeral 11 denotes a message transmission unit that transmits a message to the information processing device 2. 1
A communication control unit 3 controls communication with the information processing device 2 via the network 4. Reference numeral 12 denotes a user interface unit that is interposed between an input device and a display device (not shown) and the message transmission unit 11 to realize communication with the user.

A display device 25 is connected to the information processing device 2 and displays a message received from the information processing device 1, information output by the application program 27 and information output by the screen saver 3. An input device 26 is connected to the information processing device 2 and inputs commands and data to the application program 27 such as a mouse and a keyboard. A storage device 20 is connected to the information processing device 2, and holds a message area 21, a saver screen area 22, a message screen save area 23, and an AP screen save area 24. The message area 21 is an area for storing a message received from the information processing device 1, and is cleared in the initial state. The saver screen area 22 is a display screen output by the screen saver 3, and is an area for storing a display screen such as a message previously defined by the user of the information processing device 2 or a commercially available animation screen specified by the user. . The message screen save area 23 is an area for saving the message stored in the message area 21, and is cleared in the initial state. The AP screen save area 24 is an area for saving a normal display screen output by the application program 27. When there is no input operation from the input device 26 to the application program 27 for a certain period of time, the screen saver 3 takes out a display screen for screen save from the saver screen area 22 and displays it on the display device 25. Is a processing unit for displaying the message on the display device 25 instead of the saver screen when the message from is stored in the message area 21. The application program 27 is a program such as a business program other than the screen saver 3 that advances information processing for business while communicating with the user via the display device 25 and the input device 26. The message area 21 indicates a message received from the information processing device 1 via the network 4.
Is a communication control unit to be stored in. 28 is the screen saver 3 or the application program 27 and the display device 2.
5 is a user interface unit that intervenes between the input device 26 and the input device 26 and that realizes communication with the user by means such as a mouse, an icon, a menu, and a window. The user interface unit 28 displays a message defined by the user or a specified animation screen or the like on the saver screen area 22 via the display device 25 and the input device 26.
To be stored.

The message transmission unit 11 is realized by executing a program stored in the storage device of the information processing device 1. The user interface unit 12 and the communication control unit 13 are realized by executing the programs stored in the hardware and the storage device of the information processing device 1. The screen saver 3 and the application program 27 are realized by executing a program stored in the storage device of the information processing device 2.
In addition, the user interface unit 28 and the communication control unit 29
Is realized by executing the program stored in the hardware of the information processing device 2 and the storage device.

Input device 2 after information processing device 2 is powered on
User interface section 2 according to a user's instruction from 6
The screen saver 3 is activated via 8. The application program 27 executes business processing while communicating with the user via the display device 25, the input device 26, and the user interface unit 28. On the other hand, information processing device 1
When a message to be notified to each information processing device 2 occurs on the side, the message transmitting unit 11 creates a message in response to a command from the user interface unit 12, and the information processing device 2 via the communication control unit 13 and the network 4 Send to. When sending the same message to a plurality of information processing devices 2, it is efficient to send the message using the broadcast communication function. Communication control unit 29 of information processing device 2
Receives this message and stores it in the message area 21.

2a and 2b are flow charts showing the flow of processing of the screen saver 3 after the screen saver 3 is activated. Screen saver 3
Requests a timer interrupt setting to an operating system (OS) not shown (step 3)
1). The set time of the timer is a preset time. Next, the OS is requested to set the user operation interrupt (step 32). This interrupt setting is for setting control to be passed to the screen saver 3 when an input operation interrupts the input device 26. Next, the screen saver 3 enters a waiting state and waits for an interrupt to occur (step 33). If the screen output by the application program 27 is displayed on the display device 25, the screen is continuously displayed. When a timer interrupt or user operation interrupt occurs, control is
Passed from S to screen saver 3. screen·
The saver 3 determines the type of interrupt (step 34).
If it is a user operation interrupt (step 34 operation interrupt), the process returns to step 31 and the above processing is repeated. If it is a timer interrupt (step 34 timer interrupt),
Since the previous interrupt setting has been reset, the user operation interrupt is set again (step 35), and the screen displayed by the application program 27 is changed to the AP screen save area 24.
Save to screen (step 36) and then saver screen area 22
The display screen designated as dedicated to the screen saver stored in is displayed on the display device 25 via the user interface unit 28 (step 37). However, when displaying an animation screen, saver screen area 2
The program for displaying the second screen will be called and executed. The animation program goes to the next step 38 after displaying the animation screen for a certain period. When the occurrence of the user operation interrupt is detected (YES in step 38), the screen saver 3 takes out the screen displayed by the application program 27 from the AP screen save area 24 and displays it on the display device 25 via the user interface unit 28 ( Step 39), Step 31
Then, the above process is repeated. If the user operation interrupt does not occur (NO in step 38), the message area 21
It is determined whether the message has been stored in or changed to another message (step 40). The determination is made by comparing the contents of the message area 21 and the contents of the message screen save area 23. When the message is first stored in the message area 21, the message screen save area 23 is cleared, so it is determined that the message has been changed. When there is a change in the message (change in step 40), the screen saver 3 takes out the message from the message area 21 and displays the message screen on the display device 25 via the user interface section 28 (step 41). If the saver screen is being displayed until then, the screen switches to the message screen. Next, the contents of the message area 21 are saved in the message screen save area 23 (step 42). If the user operation interrupt does not occur (NO at step 43) and the message is not changed (same as step 44), the process returns to step 43 to repeat the above process. When the occurrence of the user operation interrupt is detected (YES in step 43), the screen saver 3 takes out the screen displayed by the application program 27 from the AP screen save area 24 and displays it on the display device 25 via the user interface unit 28 ( Step 45) and the procedure is returned to step 31, and the above processing is repeated. Message area 2
If the message is changed while the message 1 is displayed (change in step 44), the process returns to step 41 to repeat the above process. If the message is not changed while the saver screen is displayed (same as step 40), the process returns to step 37 to repeat the above process. Message area 2 in the initial state
Since 1 and the message screen save area 23 are both cleared, it is determined that the message has not been changed. When a user operation interrupt occurs while the message in the message area 21 is being displayed (YES in step 43), the display screen of the application program 27 is displayed, and if no input operation is performed for a certain time thereafter, the saver screen of the screen saver 3 is displayed. The saver screen is continuously displayed unless the message in the message area 21 is changed. Since the user is looking at the message displayed on the display device 25 before the input operation, it is not necessary to display the same message, and it is sufficient to display only when the message is changed. .

[0013]

As described above, according to the present invention, since the screen saver confirms the received message on the storage device before displaying the received message, the received message is displayed instead of the display screen dedicated to the screen saver. It can be displayed, and the user can be surely notified of a message received from another information processing device.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a computer system according to an embodiment.

FIG. 2a is a flowchart showing a processing flow of the screen saver 3 of the embodiment.

FIG. 2b is a flowchart (continuation) showing the flow of processing of the screen saver 3 of the embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

1, 2 ... Information processing device, 3 ... Screen saver, 21 ... Message area, 22 ... Saver screen area, 25 ... Display device

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A method of displaying a message for a screen saver for displaying a display screen dedicated to the screen saver on a display device when it is detected that there is no input operation for a certain period of time, the information being executed by the screen saver. When a message received from an information processing device different from the processing device is detected, the received message is displayed on the display screen instead of the display screen dedicated to the screen saver. Message display method. 2. After displaying the received message on the display screen, saving the message display screen, comparing the received message with the saved message, and when there is a change in the received message, 2. The screen saver message display method according to claim 1, wherein the changed received message is displayed on the display screen. 3. After displaying the received message on the display screen, when an input operation is detected, an output screen of an application program other than the screen saver is displayed, and then an input operation is performed within a certain period of time. Either the output screen of the application program or the display screen dedicated to the screen saver is displayed depending on whether or not there is a change in the message received while the display screen dedicated to the screen saver is being displayed. The screen
3. The screen saver message display method according to claim 2, wherein the received message is displayed on the display screen instead of the saver-dedicated display screen.