JPH0219917A - Multi-window control method and information processor - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To confirm the timing where a process is set in a key input waiting state by changing the color and the luminance of the frame of a window which is not active and set in a key input waiting state. CONSTITUTION:A window state table 230 in a window display system 200 has the information on the sizes and positions of windows, the overlapping states of windows, etc. A frame change processing routine 220 refers to the table 230 to change the color of the frame of the window in response to the due request. While a key input routine 410 in an operating system 400 calls out the routine 220 in case a buffer corresponding to the process of a caller includes no advance input data. Then the routine 410 requests the change of the color of the widow frame and is set in a key input waiting state. Thus it is possible to know a key input waiting state even in an inactive state.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Summary] Regarding a multi-window control method in an information processing device capable of multi-process operation that performs multi-window type display control, and an information processing device for realizing the control method, The purpose of this technology is to change the color, brightness, etc. of the frame of an inactive window that is waiting for a key input. This allows the operator to know when a process is waiting for a key input.

[Industrial application field]

The present invention relates to a multi-window control method and an information processing apparatus for implementing the control method.

As the processing power of workstations improves, the way they are used has become more complex, leading to multi-process operations in which several processes are executed simultaneously. At this time, allocate one window to each process,
Multi-windows are often used to view processing status.
There is active research into how to improve the operability of multi-windows.

[Prior Art] FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a conventional multi-window control system. In the figure, 100 is a display screen, 110 to 130 are windows, 210 is a screen display mechanism, and 310
330 to 330 are processes, 420 is a judgment unit, 510 is a keyboard, and 520 is a mouse.

There are multiple windows 110 and 120 on the display screen 100.
There are 130. In the illustrated example, window 110 is displayed on top, followed by window 120, and
A window 130 is displayed at the bottom.

The topmost window becomes the active window.

Window 110 corresponds to process 310, window 120 corresponds to process 320, window 330 corresponds to
corresponds to process 330. A process can be thought of as an application program. The screen display mechanism 210 has a function of ignoring screen display requests from processes that do not have active windows, and accepting screen display requests from processes that have active windows.

In the illustrated example, the screen display mechanism 210 is the process 310
It accepts screen display requests from processes 320 and 330 and ignores screen display requests from processes 320 and 330. For example, process 310 is a word processing program, process 32
0 is the database program 1, process 33
0 is a spreadsheet program. Each process is assigned one window. The determining unit 420 has a function of passing input data from the physical keyboard to a process having an active window. The physical keyboard refers to, for example, the keyboard 510 and the mouse 520.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

As mentioned above, a window is allocated and displayed for each process. However, since there are only a few input devices such as a keyboard and a mouse, generally an input device is assigned to one window. This window is called the active window.

Generally, to improve the throughput of the entire processing system,
Only the active window causes the actual physical screen to be updated by the processing of the process. However, with this method, the operator cannot know when an inactive window is waiting for a key input unless he switches the active window.

For this reason, if you ask a process to perform a process that will take a long time, and you are performing other processes interactively in another window until the process completes, you may need to switch screens occasionally to confirm completion. Must.

The present invention was created in view of this point, and has a primary purpose of providing a multi-window control method that makes it possible to easily know which processes are waiting for key input. A second objective is to provide an information processing device for implementing the method.

[Means to solve the problem]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the principle of the present invention. The invention of claim (1) provides a method for displaying a window frame corresponding to a process when a process is in a state of waiting for a key input in an information processing device capable of multi-process operation that performs multi-window type data control. It is characterized by changing the aspect.

The invention of claim (2) is an information processing device capable of multi-process operation that performs multi-window type data control, which comprises a key input processing unit stage 410 and a framing processing unit 22.
0 and a window status table 230.

The window status table 230 stores information such as window display positions, sizes, and overlapping conditions.

The key input processing unit 410 checks whether or not there is data in the buffer of the requesting process when the process is requested, and if there is data, passes the data to the requesting process, and the data is If not, a request is made to the framing processing unit 220 to change the display mode of the window frame, and after making the request, the state enters a key input waiting state, and after data is input and the key input state is released, the frame is changed. loading processing section 22
0 to return the display mode of the window frame to its original state.

When the frame processing unit 220 receives a request to change the display mode of the frame, the frame processing unit 220 updates the window state table 2.
When a request is received to change the display mode of the window frame as instructed by referring to the contents of 30, and to return the display mode of the window frame to the original state, the request is made with reference to the contents of the window state table 230. The window frame is configured to perform processing to restore the display mode of the window frame to its original state.

〔Example〕

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of one embodiment of the present invention.

In the figure, 200 is a window display system, 22
0 is the frame change processing routine, 230 is the window status table, 400 is O5 (operating system)
, 410 indicate key input routines, respectively. Note that the same reference numerals as in FIG. 4 indicate the same parts.

In the window display system 200, a screen display mechanism 2 is provided.
10, a frame change processing routine 220 and a window status table 230 are present. The screen display mechanism 210 has a function of accepting screen display requests from processes with active windows and ignoring screen display requests from other processes.

The window status table 230 has information such as window sizes, positions, overlapping conditions, etc., and also includes a key input wait flag. The frame change processing routine 220 includes:
When a request is made to change the color of the window frame, the window status table 230 is referred to and the color of the window frame is changed, and the key input wait flag is set to "1". In addition, when it is requested to restore the window frame color to the original color, the frame change processing routine 220 refers to the window status table 230 and restores the window frame color to the original color, and flags the key input waiting flag. Set to "0". When a command is passed to the process, the process performs processing corresponding to the command, and when the command processing is completed, calls a key input routine. 08400 includes a determination unit 420 and a key input routine 410. The determining unit 420 has a function of passing input data from the physical keyboard to a process having an active window.

The key input routine 400 checks to see if there is any lookahead data in the buffer corresponding to the calling process. If there is data in the buffer, the data is passed to the calling process.

If there is no data in the buffer, calls the frame change processing routine 220 to request a change in the color of the window frame;
It enters a key input waiting state. When the key input waiting state is canceled by the operator operating the physical keyboard and inputting data, the key input routine 410 calls the frame change processing routine 220 and requests that the window frame color be restored to its original color. do. After the window border color is restored, control is returned to the calling process.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of the transition of display screens in the present invention. In the illustrated example, three windows 110, 12
0,130 exist. In FIG. 3(a), window 110 is active and windows 120, 13
0 is not active. The processes corresponding to windows 120 and 130 are currently executing processing. The color of the window border corresponding to the active process is red,
The color of the frame of the window corresponding to the process waiting for key input is blue.

Assume that the process having the window 120 has finished processing and is now waiting for a key input. Then, the frame change processing routine 220 is called and the color of the frame of the window 120 is rewritten to a color indicating that the window 120 is waiting for input.

Here, the color of the frame of the window 120 is rewritten to blue. This state is shown in FIG. 3(b).

The operator activates the window 120, performs key input, and returns to processing. Key input routine 220
The frame change processing routine is called at the exit of window 1.
The color of the 20 frames is written back to red.

This state is shown in FIG. 3(C).

〔Effect of the invention〕

As is clear from the above description, according to the present invention, the CPU idle time of the entire system can be significantly reduced. In other words, the operator can know when the key input is waiting even when the key input is not active, so he can request multiple processes and perform other processes (dialogue style) while the request is being made.
When it is known that the process is waiting for a key input (meaning that the process has finished), the active switch can be performed and the next request can be made. Also, the only change is the color of the frame,
Does not require extra space on the entire screen. The present invention -e
It can be easily integrated into most popular multi-window systems. Note that instead of changing the color of the window frame, you can also change the brightness or blink the window.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a diagram showing the principle of the present invention, Fig. 2 is a block diagram of an embodiment of the present invention, Fig. 3 is a diagram showing an example of display screen transition in the present invention, and Fig. 4 is a conventional multi-window control. It is a figure explaining a method. 100... Display screen, 110 to 130... Window, 200... Window display system, 210
is a screen display mechanism, 220... frame change processing routine, 2
30...Window status table, 310 to 33
0... Process, 400... O8, 410... Key input routine, 420... Judgment unit, 510... Keyboard, 520... Mouse. Patent Applicant: Pfn Co., Ltd. (1 other person) Representative Patent Attorney: Yotsube Saimei 0 Tsume Risen 1 Figure 3

Claims (2)

[Claims] (1) In an information processing device capable of multi-process operation that performs multi-window type data control, when a process enters a state of waiting for a key input, the display mode of the window frame corresponding to the process is changed. Multi-window control method. (2) An information processing device capable of multi-process operation that performs multi-window type data control, and includes a key input processing unit (410), a frame change processing unit (220), and a window status table (230). The window status table (230) stores information such as the display position, size, and overlap of windows, and the key input processing unit (410) stores information such as window display positions, sizes, and overlapping conditions, and the key input processing unit (410)
It is checked whether there is advance input data in the buffer of the requesting process, and if there is data, the data is passed to the requesting process, and if there is no data, a window is sent to the frame change processing unit (220). A request is made to change the display mode of the frame, and after the request is made, the state enters a key input waiting state, and after data is input and the key input state is released, the frame change processing unit (220) changes the display mode of the window frame. The frame change processing unit (220) is configured to make a request to restore the original state, and when receiving a request to change the display mode of the frame, the frame change processing unit (220) refers to the contents of the window status table (230). If a request is received to change the display mode of the specified window frame and restore the display mode of the window frame, the contents of the window status table (230) are referred to and the specified window frame is changed. An information processing device configured to perform a process of restoring a display mode to its original state.