JPH10232754A - Recording medium recording command menu program module and information processor - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To reduce operation required for menu page switching by displaying a subordinate menu for preferentially displaying a command having high use frequency. SOLUTION: The use frequency of each command is recorded (S1). Each time the command is selected/executed, which command is executed is recorded, the use frequency of each command is found, and a command execution time table is generated by successively arranging commands from high execution time to low execution time (S2). Among the commands in the high order of command execution time table, the command not registered in the displayed menu is extracted (S3). Concerning the extracted command considerably increasing the number of times of command execution with the repeated selection/ execution of command according to a main menu and the subordinate menu, the command to be extracted in the command exetraction (S3) is changed so that the subordinate menu can be updated at such a time (S5). The constitution of main menu is not affected by the fluctuation of order.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to the operation of an information processing apparatus, and more particularly, to the display and selection of a command by a user of the information processing apparatus.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A method of inputting a command to an information processing apparatus is roughly classified into a method of directly inputting a command from a keyboard and a method of selecting a desired command from a group of commands and icons displayed on a screen. There is.

[0003] If the former is a direct input method and the latter is a menu selection method, the direct input method can easily cope with applied inputs. It is necessary to know in advance how to specify the necessary parameters and the like, and it is necessary to input with a keyboard, so it can be said that this is a command input method that is difficult for beginners.

On the other hand, in the menu selection method, a group of usable commands is displayed on the screen in advance, and the user only needs to select a desired command from among them, so that anyone can operate to a certain level. become. For this reason, the menu selection method is employed in various application programs (hereinafter, abbreviated as applications) including an operating system (hereinafter, abbreviated as OS).

[0005] On the other hand, as the processing capability of computers has been improved, OSs and applications have become increasingly multifunctional, and the number of commands to be registered in menus is steadily increasing. In particular, CAD (Computer A)
In software such as “ided Design”, the number of selectable commands is enormous, and it is difficult to display a menu corresponding to all commands on one screen.

In response to such a situation, there is a menu selection method in which a plurality of menu pages are prepared as shown in FIG. 9 and switched and displayed, and commands that cannot be accommodated on one screen are displayed (hereinafter, menu page display). Called the law).

However, according to the menu page display method, a problem arises in operability when a plurality of commands are continuously used. In the menu page display method of FIG. 9, there are three menu pages M _A , M _B , and M _C , each of which has a1
～A12, B1 to B12, the 12 kinds of Cl -C 12, but in total 36 kinds of commands are registered, for example, "M _A
After the command a1 registered in the execution, when you try repeatedly perform the task of executing the command c6 registered in M _C ", at least, to display a menu page M _A. Select the command a1. To display the menu page M _C. Select the command c6. These four steps are repeated.

As a specific example, when a plurality of defects found individually are corrected one after another while performing a command operation for checking the validity of the entire input data, a correction function for each data is used. , The user has to repeat the round trip between these menu pages.

Further, when performing an operation using a combination of a plurality of commands, the combination of the commands differs depending on the user. Therefore, even if the command arrangement in the menu is easy for the user to use, there is another command arrangement. It is not always easy for users to use. That is, in the menu page display method, when a plurality of commands are used in combination, as the number of commands increases, it becomes extremely difficult to prepare in advance a command arrangement that is easy for anyone to use.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2-117218 (hereinafter referred to as Reference 1) relates to the above conventional technology.
There has been proposed a command instruction device that changes the command arrangement in a menu based on the frequency of use of commands. That is,
According to Reference 1, commands that are frequently used move toward the head of the menu, and commands that are rarely used move toward the end, so that the command arrangement in the menu can be automatically adjusted according to the usage pattern of the user. Is changing.

However, according to Reference 1, a situation occurs in which the command arrangement in the menu changes each time it is used. That is, the user must always operate while conscious of where the desired command is. One of the advantages of the menu selection method is that the user can intuitively operate the commands by arranging the commands if the user is familiar with the operation to some extent. However, according to Reference 1, this advantage is lost and the convenience at the time of command selection is reduced. Will be.

Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 4-188356 (hereinafter referred to as Reference 2) discloses that when commands are classified into command groups according to functions and displayed hierarchically, the command arrangement in each hierarchy is used by the command usage frequency. , The command selection at each level is facilitated.

However, the reference 2 merely facilitates selection at each level, and the number of steps for continuously selecting a plurality of commands does not change. For example, in FIG. 10, each layer has five options, and layers 1 to 4
Assuming that there are up to, in order to select a command registered in the d1 and lower layers following the command registered in the d1 and lower layers of the first layer, at least select from the options in the first layer. Select from the options of the layer 2. Select from the options of the layer 3. A command is selected from the options of the layer 4. Needs to be repeated twice.

[0014]

An object of the present invention is to select a desired command with a smaller number of steps when an operation using a plurality of commands in a menu selection method is repeated. Command menu program modules, applications,
An object of the present invention is to provide an OS and an information processing device operated by the OS.

[0015]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to solve the above problems, the present invention is a recording medium readable by an information processing apparatus, and uses the information processing apparatus from a main menu displaying a plurality of commands. A command menu program module for executing a command selected by a user, an application, and a recording medium on which an OS is recorded, wherein the command menu program module includes a use frequency storage step for storing a use frequency of each command; A command ranking step of comparing the usage frequencies of the stored commands and ranking the commands in order from the command with the highest usage to the command with the lowest usage, and a command ranking step in which the command with the highest usage frequency in the command ranking step is determined in advance. A command extraction stage for extracting commands up to A command menu program module, an application, and an OS, including a submenu registration step of registering the command extracted in the command extraction step in a submenu independent of the menu based on the ranking of the commands. The present invention provides a recording medium on which the information is recorded, and an information processing apparatus that operates on the command menu program module, the application, and the OS.

[0016]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A menu page display by a command menu program module according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

The present invention has a main menu as a premise. The main menu consists of several menu pages listing commands. FIG. 1 shows an example in which commands are listed and displayed in a menu format. "D""A"
“S” and “Q” indicate deletion of data (Delete
e), an addition (Add), a display (Show), and a menu termination (Quit). In this display, if the number of commands is small, only one menu page is required as shown in FIG. 1A, but if the number of commands is large, all commands cannot be contained in one menu page. As shown in (b), a plurality of menu pages are used. Here, "N" means the display (Next) of the next menu page. The user selects a desired command from these options using a mouse pointer, a cursor, or the like.

In the menu page display according to the present invention, a sub menu independent of the main menu as described above is displayed. FIG. 2 is a flowchart of the command menu program module of the present invention. The operation of the command menu program module will be described with reference to FIG.

First, the frequency of use of each command is recorded (S1). Each time a command is selected / executed, which command is executed is recorded, the frequency of use of each command is obtained, and a command execution count table is generated in which commands are executed in descending order of execution count (S2). . FIG. 3 is an example of the command execution count table. Although FIG. 3 shows the top nine commands and the number of executions, the number of executions of all commands is actually recorded. In the state where the use history of the command does not exist, the number of times of execution of each command is all 0, but it is also possible to put in advance the numerical value assumed by the menu designer in the command execution number table at this time. This makes it possible to determine the display of the sub menu in a state where the use history does not exist.

Next, commands that are not registered in the displayed main menu are extracted from among the commands at the top of the command execution count table (S3). Here, the number of commands to be extracted is the number of commands that can be registered in the submenu. In the present embodiment, it is assumed that three commands can be registered in the submenu. That is, among the commands that are not registered in the displayed main menu, the three most frequently used commands are extracted. Assuming that the same main menu as that of FIG. 1B is displayed, the commands extracted in the command execution frequency table of FIG. 3 are “file operation / save”, “change / insert”, “change”.・ Add ”command. "Input / add", "input / display",
The three commands “input / delete” are not extracted because they are registered in the displayed main menu. Also, the two commands of “grammar / grammar check” and “grammar / vocabulary check” are not extracted here because the number of commands that can be registered in the submenu has already been extracted.

The command extracted in S3 is registered in the sub menu. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a menu display by the command menu program module of the present embodiment when the command execution frequency table is shown in FIG. The sub-menu 410 "file operation and Save" (F _S), "change or insertion"
(C _I ) and three commands of “change / add” (C _A ) are displayed.

Next, the operation when the order of commands changes will be described. It is assumed that the command execution frequency table becomes as shown in FIG. 5 while the selection and execution of the command by the main menu and the sub menu are repeated. The number of executions of all commands has increased, but the number of executions of "grammar / vocabulary check" commands has increased significantly, overtaking the number of "change / addition" and "grammar / grammar check". . Of these, overtaking "grammar / style check" does not affect the commands registered in the submenu, but overtaking "change / addition" involves extracting the command (S
In order to change the command extracted in 3), the sub menu is updated at this time (S5). FIG. 6 illustrates the updated sub menu and main menu. "Grammar / Vocabulary Check" instead of "Change / Add" (C _A )
(G _SC ) is registered in the sub menu 610.

FIG. 7 is a table showing the number of command executions when a command is executed and the order changes. "grammar·
Vocabulary check "overtakes the number of times" change / insert "is performed. Here also, the order of the command extracted in the command extraction (S3) is changed, so that the sub menu is updated (S5). FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating the updated sub menu and main menu.

Note that the order change in the command execution frequency table does not affect the configuration of the main menu at all. Only the submenu changes the configuration of the registered command in accordance with the order change.

[0025]

According to the present invention, in a menu display in which a menu page of a main menu composed of a plurality of menu pages listing commands is switched and displayed, and a user selects and executes the displayed command, This menu is displayed independently of the menu, and displays a sub-menu that gives priority to the commands with the highest frequency of use. Therefore, even when operating an application program or OS with a large number of available commands, the main menu is displayed. It is possible to reduce operations required for switching menu pages of a menu, which contributes to improvement of work efficiency.

Although the present invention has been described based on the embodiment, the present invention is not limited to this, and it is understood that changes and improvements can be made within the ordinary knowledge of those skilled in the art. Of course.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an example of a main menu in which commands are listed in a menu format. (A) shows a main menu composed of only one menu page, and (b) shows a main menu composed of a plurality of menu pages.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart of a command menu program module of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an example of a command execution count table.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a display of a main menu and a sub menu corresponding to the command execution count table of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is an example of a command execution count table.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a display of a main menu and a sub menu corresponding to the command execution count table of FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 is an example of a command execution count table.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a display of a main menu and a sub menu corresponding to the command execution count table of FIG. 7;

FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating a conventional menu display.

FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating a conventional menu display.

[Explanation of symbols]

 400, 600, 800 Main menu 410, 610, 810 Sub menu

Claims (10)

[Claims] 1. A recording medium readable by an information processing apparatus, wherein a command menu program module for executing a command selected by a user of the information processing apparatus from a main menu displaying a plurality of commands is recorded. The command menu program module compares a use frequency of each command stored in the use frequency storage step with a use frequency storage step of storing a use frequency of each command, and sequentially uses the commands from a command having a high use frequency to a command having a low use frequency. A command ranking step of ranking commands, a command extraction step of extracting from a command having the highest frequency of use in the command ranking step to a command of a predetermined number of ranks, based on the ranking of the commands The submenu independent of the menu Recording medium for recording a command menu program modules, characterized in that it comprises a sub-menu registration step of registering the command extracted in de extraction stage. 2. A recording medium on which a command menu program module according to claim 1 is recorded, wherein said main menu is constituted by a plurality of menu pages which can be switched with each other. . 3. The recording medium storing the command menu program module according to claim 2, wherein the sub-menu registration step registers a command registered in the menu page that is not displayed in the sub-menu. A recording medium that records a command menu program module to be executed. 4. A recording medium on which the command menu program module according to claim 1 is recorded, wherein the command menu program module displays the main menu and the sub menu at the same time. A recording medium on which a command menu program module is recorded. 5. A recording medium storing the command menu program module according to claim 1, wherein the command menu program module displays one of the main menu and the sub menu. A recording medium on which a featured command menu program module is recorded. 6. A recording medium on which the command menu program module according to claim 1 is recorded, wherein said command menu program module displays a submenu for displaying a command as an icon. A recording medium on which a menu program module is recorded. 7. A recording medium recording the command menu program module according to claim 1, wherein said information processing apparatus is used by a plurality of users, and said command menu program module is used by each user. A storage medium storing a command menu program module, wherein the use frequency storage step is individually performed. 8. A recording medium on which the command menu program module according to claim 1 is recorded, wherein said command menu program module is included in an application program. recoding media. 9. A recording medium storing the command menu program module according to claim 1, wherein said command menu program module is included in an operating system. recoding media. 10. An information processing apparatus for executing a command selected by a user from a main menu displaying a plurality of commands, wherein the command is displayed and executed in accordance with the command menu program module according to claim 1. An information processing device characterized by performing.