JP2001060134A - Multi-window control system - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [Problem] In a multi-window system for grouping and managing a plurality of windows, windows belonging to the group are collectively iconized, and display and non-display operations are performed.
Further, it is possible to clarify the correlation between each group and the window group. A group of windows is collectively temporarily hidden, redisplayed, and iconified to improve visibility in a window system using a large number of windows. In addition, the window frames of the grouped windows are color-coded, and the control panel for group control is used to improve operability and visibility.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a window control system, and more particularly to a window control system for controlling the display order of a plurality of windows.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a conventional window control system, for example, in a window control system (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 10-232755), a plurality of windows are grouped, and a change in a window display order within a group and a change in a group display order are performed. By making it possible, many window controls were facilitated.

[0003] In addition, by converting windows into icons, temporarily unnecessary windows are evacuated from the display device to facilitate access to other windows.

[0004]

However, when the number of windows increases, the user cannot determine which window belongs to which window group, and the window required by the user is displayed in the foreground. However, it was difficult to perform operations such as changing window display order.

[0005] In addition, the iconization function of the window
Since it only provided a function to replace one window with one icon, there was no function to temporarily evacuate any window group from the screen temporarily,
In a window system that displays many windows, window control is complicated.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problem and, when displaying and working with a large number of windows, collectively convert window groups into icons, and perform operations of displaying and hiding them. It is possible to improve the visibility and operability of the group.

[0007]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, according to the present invention, a grouped window group can be collectively operated such as iconizing a window group belonging to the group, non-display, and display. This improves the visibility and operability of the window in the window control system.

According to the first aspect of the present invention, the grouped windows are collectively converted into icons (here, the iconification means that windows or windows on a screen are temporarily displayed as small symbols). The iconization means that a window or a group of windows is temporarily erased from the display device and an icon is displayed on the display device instead), and window control that enables restoration to the original window state System.

[0009]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS (First Embodiment) An embodiment of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 101 denotes a main storage device which is used as a work memory of a screen control unit 102 and a window management unit 103, and 104 denotes an overlapping state of windows. Is a window hierarchy buffer for storing. 105 is VRAM
(Video RAM) and stores data to be displayed on a display device such as a CRT (106). Reference numeral 107 denotes a keyboard on which the operator performs window operations and input operations. Reference numeral 108 denotes a mouse (pointing device) for an operator to perform a window operation. 109 is an MPU (Micro Processes)
singUnit) and the main storage device (101), VR
AM (105), keyboard (107), mouse (10
The control of 8) is performed.

FIG. 2 shows an example of output to the display device of the present embodiment. In FIG. 2, reference numeral 201 denotes a display device (CR
T), 202, 203, 204, 205 and 206 indicate windows, respectively. In the example of FIG. 2, 202, 203, and 204 of the five windows belong to window group 1, and 205 and 206 belong to window group 2. The windows belonging to the two window groups are identified by different colors of the window frames.

FIG. 3 shows the internal structure of the window hierarchy buffer (104) corresponding to the display example of FIG. As shown in FIG. 3, the window hierarchy buffer has a double list structure. Numeral 301 in FIG. 3 indicates a pointer at the head of the window hierarchy buffer having a linked list structure. In FIG. 3, the link relation of the list is represented by an arrow.

Each of 302 to 308 in FIG.
A window management buffer corresponding to one window.
A state information buffer such as a window display state buffer (312), a window frame color buffer (313), and a window display position buffer (314) for managing a non-display state is held. Reference numerals 309 and 310 denote buffers for holding window group information. 307 and 308
Is a window management buffer corresponding to the icon.
Icons are managed in a list in the window hierarchy buffer like windows. 307 and 308
They correspond to the icons of window groups 1 and 2, respectively.

Reference numeral 311 in FIG. 3 denotes a window group management table for managing the total number of window groups and the color of the frame of each window group. The number of window groups and the setting of the frame color of each window group are defined by editing an external text file by an operator, and are read into the main storage device (101) in FIG. 1 when the window system is activated. When a new window is added to an arbitrary window group, such as when a new window is displayed, the outline window frame color is determined according to the window group management table, and the color information is stored in the outline window window management buffer. Is written to.

The windows are displayed on the front of the display device in order from the top of the list. In the case of the example shown in FIG. 3, window group 1 is displayed before window group 2, and windows A (302) and B ( 303), C
(304), D (305), and E (306) are displayed in this order. Icon 1 (307) and icon 2 (308) indicate that they are not displayed. When a new window is displayed, the window is registered in an active window group (the active window group indicates the window group displayed on the display device (201) in the foreground). It is placed at the forefront in the group. FIG. 4 shows a display example in which a new window F is added to the state shown in FIG.
Shown in FIG. 5 shows the state of the window hierarchy buffer after adding the window F.

In the display state shown in FIG. 2, a specific key combination using the keyboard (107) or a combination of a key and a mouse button of the mouse (108) is operated to change the window hierarchy in the window group. Or change the window group hierarchy. FIG. 6 shows a display example on the display device (201) after the window hierarchy is changed in the window group, and FIG. 7 shows internal information of the window hierarchy buffer (104) in the same state.

FIG. 8 shows a display example on the display device (201) after the window group hierarchy is changed, and FIG. 9 shows internal information of the window hierarchy buffer (104) in the same state.

In the example of FIG. 9, window group 1 has been moved to the lowermost end of the window group hierarchy. As shown in FIG. 9, in this operation, the window group 1 is moved to a lower level of the non-display icons (307, 308).

FIG. 10 is a display example showing a state in which the window group 1 shown in FIG. 2 is collectively iconified.
The windows 202, 203, and 204 in FIG. 2 are temporarily deleted from the display device (201), and the icon (207) is replaced with the icon (207) instead of the window group 1.
Displayed in 1). FIG. 11 shows the internal information of the window hierarchy buffer (104) after the operation.

As shown in FIG. 11, windows (302, 30) belonging to the iconized window group
3, 304) is in a non-display state, and is moved to the lowermost position of the window group hierarchy. As a result, the window group 2 positioned lower than the window group 1 becomes the uppermost (active) window group.

Further, the icon (307) corresponding to the window group 1 is displayed. Furthermore, since the iconized window group and the icon are not necessary for the user for the time being, the icon is placed at the bottom of the window group hierarchy.

Hereinafter, the flow of processing when iconifying a window group will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.

First, the operation of the keyboard (107) or the mouse (108) performed by the operator in the process 1202 is detected, and in the process 1203, it is determined whether or not the operator's operation is a process of converting a window group into an icon. If it is not an iconizing operation, process 1
At 208, other processing is performed.

If the operator's operation is to convert the window group into an icon, in step 1204 the link in the window hierarchy list of the window hierarchy buffer (104) is followed, and all windows belonging to the window group are hidden. .

In step 1205, the window group is moved to the bottom of the window group hierarchy.

In step 1206, the icon window corresponding to the window group is moved to the lowermost end of the window group hierarchy.

In step 1207, the icon is displayed, and the flow returns to step 1202.

(Second Embodiment) FIG. 13 shows a display example of an embodiment using a control panel.

Reference numeral 1304 in FIG. 13 denotes a display device (201).
It is an example of an initial state before performing an operation on the upper window group.

Reference numeral 1302 in FIG.
Are displayed as reduced images of the arrangement of the windows belonging to the display group on the display device (201). Similarly, reference numeral 1303 denotes a reduced image icon corresponding to the window group 2. Reference numeral 1301 denotes a control panel for arranging reduced image icons (1302, 1303).

Reference numeral 1305 denotes a display example after the window hierarchy in the window group 1 has been changed from the state of 1304.

Reference numeral 1306 denotes a display example after the window group hierarchy is changed from the state of 1304. The operator can assign any window belonging to a specific window group to the keyboard (107), the mouse (108),
Alternatively, use the control panel (1
301) on the reduced image icon (1302, 130)
3) Drag the mouse (108) to change the positional relationship between the reduced image icons (1302, 1303), thereby changing the window group hierarchy. 130
7 is a display example after a new window is displayed in the state of 1304. The new window is displayed as a window belonging to the active (topmost) window group.

As shown in 1305, 1306, and 1307, the window hierarchy is changed, the window is displayed,
Information such as arrangement. Reduced image icon (1302,
1303) is reflected in the reduced image, and the change in the hierarchy of the window group is performed by the reduced image icon (1302,
1303).

Reference numeral 1308 denotes a display example after the windows belonging to the window group 1 are collectively hidden from the state of 1304. Also, by selecting the reduced image icon with a pointing device such as a mouse,
By selecting the menu item "Restore" from the menu,
It is possible to return to the state of the original window group. This is an application example of collective iconification of windows belonging to a window group in the embodiment.

As shown by 1308, when the active window group is hidden, the reduced image icon (1302) corresponding to the window group becomes
The background color of the reduced image icon (1302) is changed at the rightmost end of the control panel.

FIG. 14 shows the internal information of the window hierarchy buffer (104) in the embodiment using the control panel.

As shown in FIG. 14, in the second embodiment,
There is no individual icon window for each window group. Instead, a window (1401) corresponding to the control panel (1301) is stored in the window hierarchy buffer (10
It is managed by the list in 4). Hereinafter, the control panel (13
01) will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.

First, the operation of the keyboard (107) or the mouse (108) performed by the operator in the process 1502 is detected, and in the process 1503, it is determined whether or not the operation of the operator is the temporary non-display of the window group.

If the operator's operation is to temporarily hide the window group, in step 1504 the link in the window hierarchy list of the window hierarchy buffer (104) is followed to hide all windows belonging to the window group. I do.

In step 1505, the window group is moved to the lowermost end of the window group hierarchy.

In process 1506, the reduced image (window arrangement, color) on the reduced image icon corresponding to the approximate window group is updated based on the list of the window group in the window group hierarchy buffer.

In process 1507, the background color of the roughly reduced image icon is changed.

In step 1508, the reduced icon is moved to the rightmost position on the control panel (1301) in response to the fact that the general window group is hidden, and the process returns to step 1202.

If it is determined in step 1503 that the operation of the operator is not to temporarily hide the window group, it is determined in step 1509 whether the operation of the operator is a change in the hierarchy within the window group.

If the operator's operation is to change the hierarchy within the window group, then at step 1510, the list of general window groups in the window hierarchy buffer (104) is changed.

In process 1511, the reduced image (window arrangement, color) on the reduced image icon corresponding to the approximate window group is updated based on the window group list in the window group hierarchy buffer, and the process returns to process 1502.

If it is determined in step 1509 that the operation of the operator is not a change in the window hierarchy within the window group, in step 1512, it is determined whether or not the operation of the operator is a change in the window group hierarchy.

If the operator's operation is to change the window group hierarchy, in step 1513, the list of window groups in the window hierarchy buffer (104) is changed.

In step 1514, the control panel 130 is controlled based on the list in the window group hierarchy buffer.
Update the arrangement of the reduced image icons on
Return to 02.

If it is determined in step 1512 that the operator's operation is not a window group hierarchy change, in step 1515, it is determined whether the operator's operation is a new window display.

If the operator's operation is to display a new window, the process proceeds to step 1516, where the window group list in the window hierarchy buffer 104
A window management buffer corresponding to the outline window is added to the top of the window list of the top group.

In step 1517, the reduced image (window arrangement, color) on the reduced image icon corresponding to the approximate window group is updated based on the list of the window group in the window group hierarchy buffer, and the process returns to step 1502.

In step 1515, if the operation of the operator is not a new window display, the process 1
At 518, another process is performed, and the process returns to 1502.

As described above, the invention made by the present inventor is:
Although the present invention has been described in detail with reference to the embodiment, the present invention is not limited to the embodiment, and it is needless to say that various changes can be made without departing from the scope of the invention.

[0055]

As described above, according to the present invention,
In a multi-window system in which windows can be grouped and the display order within the group can be changed and the group display order can be changed, display, non-display, and iconization of each group can be performed to easily control many windows. I can do it. In addition, by color-coding by group and introducing a control panel, the correlation between each window and the window group can be clarified, and the operation of the window group can be facilitated.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a window control system of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of output to a display device according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a data structure of a window hierarchy buffer.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of output to a display device after a new window is added.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a data structure of a window hierarchy buffer after a new window is added.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an output example after a hierarchy change in a window group.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a data structure of a window hierarchy buffer after a hierarchy change in a window group.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an output example after a window group hierarchy is changed.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a data structure of a window hierarchy buffer after a window group hierarchy is changed.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an output example after iconifying window group 1;

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing a data structure of a window hierarchy buffer after window group 1 is iconified.

FIG. 12 is a flowchart of a window group iconification process.

FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an embodiment of a control panel.

FIG. 14 is a diagram showing a data structure of a window hierarchy buffer in the embodiment using the control panel.

FIG. 15 is a flowchart of an outline of processing in an embodiment using a control panel.

[Explanation of symbols]

101: Main storage device, 102: Screen control unit, 103: Window control unit, 104: Window hierarchy buffer, 1
05 VRAM, 106 CRT, 107 keyboard, 108 mouse, 109 MPU, 201 display device (CRT), 202 to 206 windows, 301
Window hierarchy buffer start pointer, 302 to 30
7 Window management buffer, 309 to 310 Window group management buffer, 311 Window group management table, 312 Window display state buffer, 313 Window frame color buffer, 314 Window display position buffer, 401 New window, 50
1: Window management buffer for new window, 100
1 ... icon, 1301 ... control panel, 1302-13
03: reduced image icon, 1304: display example in initial state, 1305: display example after changing hierarchy in window group, 1306: display example after changing hierarchy of window group, 1307: display example after displaying new window
1308... Display example after hiding the window group 1
401 Window control buffer of the control panel.

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A window control system for hierarchically displaying a plurality of windows on a display device, comprising a window management buffer for managing the display order of windows,
The hierarchically displayed windows are grouped by dividing them into a plurality of layers, and the display order within the group can be changed and the display order of the group can be changed. In a window system that enables non-display and re-display, a group of windows is collectively iconified (the icon here indicates a window on the screen or a window group as a temporary small symbol) The term iconification means that a window or a group of windows is temporarily erased from a display device and an icon is displayed on the display device instead), and that the original window state can be restored. A window control system characterized by the following. 2. The window control system according to claim 1, wherein the color of the window frame can be changed for each window group. 3. A window position and a display order of a window group belonging to each window group in a display device are displayed in a reduced image, and the reduced image is pasted on an icon and arranged on a control panel. ,
The window control system according to claim 1, wherein control of the window group can be performed.