JPH09305355A - Device and method for information input - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To automatically move a focus to a data item to be inputted and urge input operation on a data input screen consisting of data items. SOLUTION: The positions of respective data are found by counting their head and tail positions in the form of the numbers of characters based upon the initial character of the 1st data among all the data as '0'. Further, data indicating the input fields of the respective data are defined corresponding to the data positions. A reference table is formed of those position data and input field data. On a screen 8 where the data are listed, the cursor 10 is moved to the position where data to be corrected is displayed and double clicks are made. The position where the double clicks are made is judged and a corresponding information input screen is displayed according to the reference table; and the focus is automatically moved to the corresponding input field according to the input field of the reference table.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention, when referring to information displayed on a display by a computer or the like and inputting data, simply specifies the data to be input on the information reference screen, and the data item The present invention relates to an information input device and an information input method capable of automatically displaying an information input screen and moving the focus to an input item.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art For example, while referring to data registered in a database, it is sometimes desired to correct the data. In such a case, conventionally, first, for example, a command for modifying data is executed from the software menu to display a screen for information input, and data to be modified is input to this screen. In the example of the database, for example, one record is composed of a plurality of data items having different input formats, and data is often input in this record unit.

When data is input in record units, a plurality of data input sections corresponding to the data items making up a record are arranged on the information input screen, and the user inputs the plurality of data. It was necessary to find out the data input section corresponding to the data item to be corrected from the section and move the focus for prompting the input to the data input section by operating the mouse or the keyboard.

In this prior art data input method,
For example, when the number of data items in a record is large and many data input sections are arranged on the information input screen, it takes time and effort to find the data item to be corrected, and mistakes are likely to occur. It was

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide an information input device and an information input method in which a focus is automatically moved to a data item to be input in a data input screen consisting of a plurality of data items to prompt input. To provide.

[0006]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention provides an information reference screen display means for displaying an information reference screen for referring to information on a display, and 1 or 1 representing data classification. A table creating means for detecting a data position of a plurality of items and data corresponding to each item and creating a table showing the relationship between the item and the data position, and when selecting and designating the data displayed on the information reference screen, Information is displayed in the information input screen display means for determining the item corresponding to the data by referring to the table and displaying the information input screen corresponding to the item, and the information input section corresponding to the item in the information input screen by referring to the table. An information input device, comprising: means for moving a focus for indicating an input position.

Further, in order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention provides a step of displaying an information reference screen for referring to information on a display, and data corresponding to one or a plurality of items representing data classification. When you select and specify the data displayed on the information reference screen, you can refer to the table and select the item corresponding to the data. Determining and displaying an information input screen corresponding to the item, and referring to the table, moving the focus for indicating the information input position to the information input unit corresponding to the item in the information input screen This is an information input method characterized in that

As described above, according to the present invention, the information input screen is displayed based on the table showing the relationship between the item and the data position, which is created by detecting the positions of the data corresponding to the plurality of items. Since the focus for prompting information input is moved to the information input section corresponding to the item, the user does not need to select an item to input data from the information input section including a plurality of items.

[0009]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS One embodiment of the present invention will be described below. The present invention has, as a table, the position information of the data displayed on the information reference screen for data reference and the information necessary for moving the focus to the data on the information input screen for inputting the data on the memory. Then, when data is designated on the information reference screen, this table is referred to, and the focus is automatically moved to the data input section to be input on the information input screen.

FIG. 1 shows a functional block diagram of an example of a computer system to which the present invention can be applied. A keyboard 2 and a mouse 3 are connected to the CPU 1 as input devices. The CPU 1 is composed of, for example, a microprocessor and has necessary memories such as RAM and ROM.
For example, the database 4 is configured in an external storage device including a hard disk. Further, the display 7 is connected to the CPU 1 via the display control unit 6. This display control unit 6 is based on the information given from the CPU 1.
The display 7 is controlled to be displayed.

The user can search the data registered in the database 4 by giving search conditions to the CPU 1 using the keyboard 2 and the mouse 3 and issuing a search instruction. The CPU 1 issues an instruction to the data search unit 5 to search the database 4.
Based on this instruction, the data search unit 5 searches the database 4 under the given search conditions. The data obtained by satisfying the search condition as a result of the search from the database 4 is read from the database 4 and stored in the memory, and is also supplied from the CPU 1 to the display control unit 6, for example, information reference. The screen 8 is displayed on the display 7.

FIG. 2 shows an example of the information reference screen 8. In this example, the information reference screen 8 is displayed as a window in this way. In this window, a list of data obtained as satisfying the search condition is displayed. In this example, data is retrieved from the address book database under a predetermined condition, and one record is composed of three data items of “name”, “address”, and “phone number”. . These data items represent the classification of data.

FIG. 3 shows a flow chart of processing for displaying the information reference screen 8. With the given search conditions,
This flow is started when the data retrieval unit 5 retrieves data from the database 4. The data obtained by the search is stored in the memory of the CPU 1, for example. At this time, each of the data is attached with a data item name such as "name" and a delimiter such as ":" for separating the data item name from the data on the display, and the data for display is displayed. Is memorized. Hereinafter, the data with the data item name and the delimiter is referred to as a group.

In the first step S1, an empty information reference screen 8 on which no data is displayed is displayed on the display 7 based on an instruction issued from the CPU 1 to the display control unit 6.

In the next step S2, the start position and the end position are obtained for each of the groups stored in the memory. At this time, the position is obtained in byte units, and the number of characters from the start position to the end position of the group can be counted, for example, with one half-width character as one character. The start position and the end position are cumulatively counted over all groups based on the search result. In this example, the number of characters to the end including the line feed code is counted, with the start position in the entire search data set to "0". For example, FIG.
In the data displayed as, the first "name"
The leading position of the group is set to "0", the line feed code at the end of the group is counted in half-width units, and the ending position is set to "14". The start position of the next "address" group is counted as "15" since it is counted from the end position of the "name" group, and the end position is "33".

Although the information position is obtained from the character position here, the present invention is not limited to this example. For example, the information position may be coordinates when displayed on the screen. The coordinates when the screen is displayed can be obtained even if the screen is not actually displayed if the amount and format of the data to be displayed are known. Thus, when the information position is obtained, the process proceeds to the next step S
Move to 3.

In step S3, data (hereinafter referred to as user data) corresponding to the data item in each group is added to each group. This user data is information for data input, and based on this user data, the focus is moved with respect to the input data field on the information input screen described later. That is, this user data represents an input data field defined for the group. When only one data input item is defined for one group, the input data field number is used as the user data, for example. On the other hand, when a plurality of data input items are defined for one group, for example, a pointer for referencing the plurality of data input items is set as user data.

The start position, end position, and user data for each group thus obtained are stored in a predetermined area of the memory of the CPU 1 as a reference table. FIG. 4 shows an example of this reference table. FIG. 4A shows
This is an example when one data input item is defined for one group. In this way, the start position, the end position, and the field number (user data) of one group are stored at the address appropriately set in the memory. In this example, the address' 000
The start position, the end position, and the field number of the first group are stored in 0 ', and the second position is stored in the address'000C'.
The values of each of the groups are stored. Also, the input field for name data is field number '1',
Similarly, the address is the field number "2" and the telephone number is the field number "3". These stored data are designated by the address by the CPU 1,
The start position, end position, and user data can be read together.

On the other hand, FIG. 4B shows an example in which a plurality of data input items are defined for one group. In this case, a pointer for referring to another address is used as user data. With this pointer, it is possible to read the data at the address indicated by the pointer by referring to a second table, an example of which is shown on the right side of this figure as another table of page numbers and field numbers. it can.

In the above description, step S2 is performed and then step S3 is performed, but these may be performed in parallel. That is, since the number of characters in a group is known when the group is generated, it is possible to store the start position, the end position, and the user data in the memory each time.

In this way, when the information position of the group and the input information are stored in the memory as a table in step S3, the process proceeds to the next step S4, and the display data of one record is displayed on the information reference screen 8. Be seen. This display data is data that is retrieved from the database at the start of this flow and is grouped with item names and delimiters.

In this example, this display is performed in a text format based on a line feed code included in the data. This is not limited to this example. For example, a column is set for each data item, and this display can be performed in a table format in which records are displayed in row units. In the case of the table format, the above-mentioned start position, end position, and user data are the respective attributes of the cells forming this table.

When the display data is displayed on the information reference screen 8, it is determined in the next step S5 whether or not there is display data to be displayed. If all the data retrieved first is displayed, it is determined that the display has ended, and the flow of a series of data display on the information reference screen 8 ends. On the other hand, if there is data that has not been displayed yet, the process returns to step S2, and the next display data is displayed.

The display of the information reference screen 8 shown in FIG.
This is done. In this example, the number of retrieved data is three, and all of them are displayed on the screen 8. However, when there are many retrieved data and the displayed information is out of the screen 8, For example, a scroll bar having a function of moving the display in the screen 8 up and down may be arranged at the right or left end of the screen 8, and the information protruding by operating the scroll bar can be viewed. This also applies to the horizontal direction of the screen 8.

Next, a case of correcting the data displayed on the information reference screen 8 will be described. FIG. 5 shows a flowchart of this data correction process. Of the data displayed on the information reference screen 8 on the display 7,
For example, if you want to correct the address of the first group, first,
In the first step S10, the user operates the mouse 3 to specify the data to be modified. FIG. 6 shows how the correction data is designated. The user operates the mouse 3 to move the mouse cursor 10 displayed on the display 7 to the position of the data to be corrected (on the character of the data including the item name). Then, there, so-called double-clicking, in which the mouse 3 is clicked twice continuously, is performed. Then, the double-clicked data is displayed in reverse video, etc., indicating that the data has been designated. The designation of data by double-clicking may be performed by a predetermined operation on the keyboard 2.

In the next step S11, the position where the double click is performed is obtained as the character position. As an example of the method of obtaining the character position, a method of using a pointer that moves in single-byte characters can be considered. In this example, the character display on the information reference screen 8 is performed in the text format as described above, that is, according to the line feed code included in the data. Therefore, the pointer for counting the number of characters moves from the 0th character in 1-byte units, that is, in units of 1 half-width character, with the beginning of the entire displayed data as 0th character. If there is a line feed code, this pointer counts the line feed code itself as one character, and counts the number of characters again from the beginning of the next line. Thus, when the character double-clicked is reached, the number of characters from the beginning to this character is known.

Here, it is assumed that the 15th digit (in half-width characters) of the second line, that is, the 31st character from the beginning is designated by double-clicking. This character position can be obtained using various methods other than the above-mentioned method. For example, the double-clicked position can be obtained as coordinates on the screen, and the character position can be obtained based on the coordinate size of one half-width character.

When the character position is obtained in this way, the process proceeds to the next step S12. In this step S12, the input information which is user data is acquired from the obtained character position. This is done by comparing the obtained character position with the start position and the end position in the reference table stored in the memory when the information reference screen 8 shown in FIG. 4A is displayed. In this example,
Since the character position is "31", the start position is "15",
It was found that the group whose end position was "35" was clicked, and the field number "2" was set as user data.
Is obtained.

Here, if the user data is a pointer as shown in FIG. 4B, the second table is further referred to from this pointer, and in this example, the page number and the field number are obtained.

Further, it is possible to know the record to which the data included in this group belongs from the obtained character position. In addition, the acquisition of this record information,
Instead of step S12, it may be performed in step S11 described above, which is a step of obtaining the character position.

In the next step S13, the information input screen 9 is displayed on the display 7 based on the obtained user data. FIG. 7 shows an example of the display of the information input screen 9. This information input screen 9 can be prepared in a plurality of types corresponding to the type of input data. Then, based on the user data, a predetermined screen can be selected and displayed from the prepared plural types of information input screens 9. That is, it is possible to select and display the information input screen 9 having the input items corresponding to the record for which the data correction is performed. In this example, input fields 21a, 21b, and 21c are arranged in the window of the information input screen 9 for the items of name, address, and telephone number, respectively. Further, an OK button 22 and a cancel button 23, which respectively instruct registration and cancellation of the input data, are arranged.

When the information input screen 9 is displayed, the process proceeds to the next step S14. In step S14, on the displayed information input screen 9, the focus that prompts the user to input data is moved to the input field in which the user wants to correct the data based on the user data. In this example, the display of the input field 21b is reversed, and it is shown that the focus is moved here. As described above, the user data is associated with the group consisting of data, data item name, and delimiter. Therefore, by obtaining the user data, it is possible to move such an input field.

The user inputs predetermined data into the input field whose focus has been moved in this way. If the input data is to be registered in the database, the OK button 22 is designated. If the user does not want to register, the cancel button 23 is designated.
As described above, step S11 and step S12
The data item and record of this data can be known by obtaining the character position in. When the OK button 22 is designated, the input data is written and registered in a predetermined position of the database 4 based on these data items and records.

Alternatively, when the OK button 22 is designated, the input data is once written in the memory or the like, and when all the data correction work is completed, a designation method different from the designation by the OK button 22, for example, for database registration is separately performed. The database 4 may be registered by designating a provided registration button (not shown).

The data search unit 5 in the above-described embodiment is actually implemented by software, and the display control unit 6 is implemented by software and hardware.

[0036]

As described above, according to the present invention, by linking the information reference screen and the information input screen based on the position of the data on the information reference screen, the information input screen and the information reference screen are linked. The focus for data entry can be automatically moved to the input field corresponding to the specified data item. Therefore, it is possible to directly enter the necessary data from the information reference screen without performing a task such as selecting a command from the menu, so that data correction work can be easily performed. effective.

Further, since the focus is automatically moved to the target data input field, it is possible to prevent an error in data input from occurring.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram of an example of a computer system to which the present invention can be applied.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing an example of an information reference screen.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart for displaying an information reference screen.

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of a reference table.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart of data correction.

FIG. 6 is a diagram for explaining designation of correction data.

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of a display of an information input screen.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ... CPU, 3 ... Mouse, 4 ... Database, 8 ... Information reference screen, 9 ... Information input screen, 1
0 ... Mouse cursor, 21a, 21b, 21c ...
・ Input field

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. An information input device for inputting information by referring to a display on a display by a computer or the like, and an information reference screen display means for displaying an information reference screen for referring to information on the display, and data classification. A table creating means for detecting a data position of data corresponding to one or a plurality of items and creating a table showing a relation between the item and the data position, and selecting the data displayed on the information reference screen. When specifying, the information input screen display means for determining the above item corresponding to the above data by referring to the above table and displaying the information input screen corresponding to the above item, and referring to the above table, the above information input screen In the information input unit corresponding to the above items in the, there is a means for moving the focus for indicating the information input position. Information input device for the butterflies. 2. The information input device according to claim 1, wherein the data position is based on the number of characters forming the data. 3. An information input method for inputting information by referring to a display on a display by a computer or the like, the step of displaying an information reference screen for referring to information on the display, and one or a plurality of data classifications. A step of detecting a data position of data corresponding to each item and creating a table showing the relationship between the item and the data position, and when selecting and designating the data displayed on the information reference screen, A step of determining the item corresponding to the data by referring to the table and displaying an information input screen corresponding to the item, and an information input unit corresponding to the item in the information input screen referring to the table And a step of moving a focus for indicating an information input position.