Patent Application
20060114225
The present application claims priority from Japanese application JP2004-346130 filed on Nov. 30, 2004, the content of which is hereby incorporated by reference into this application.
The present invention relates to a cursor function switching method and an information processing device using the same. More specifically, the invention relates to the cursor function switching method and the information processing device using the same in which by selecting the function of a cursor in the information processing device, an operation using cursor functions can be easily performed. In the information processing device, the cursor to be controlled by a pointing device is displayed on a display screen thereof, and operation processing is thereby performed.
Generally, in a graphic user interface (GUI) in the information processing device such as a personal computer (PC), a mouse, a touch pad, or the like is employed as a pointing device to display the cursor (pointer) on the display screen. In the pointing device, the cursor is displayed and moved to a certain position on the display screen of the information processing device to select a text character at that position, or to use the address of a home page on the Internet displayed at that position, thereby making access to the home page. In order to change the function of the cursor in the common GUI, some techniques such as the change using rollover and the change using a tool palette are known. In the change using the rollover, when the cursor rolls over an object, the function of the cursor changes to the function according to the object. Usually, these techniques are combined, thereby making it possible to bring about a change in the cursor function needed by a user. In this method of combining these techniques, in order to determine the position of pointing, the user uses clicking alone as a physical operation. By changing the cursor function, however, the user can execute various commands.
As prior arts about the methods of using the pointing device, three techniques, for example, are known. The first one is the technique disclosed in JP-A-2002-82770, in which switching between the mouse and the touch pad is performed, for use. The second one is the technique disclosed in JP-A-2002-323945. In this technique, whether a hand touches a mouse pointer or not is recognized by the touch pad, and control is performed so that a menu or a help facility is displayed only while the hand touches the mouse pointer, and the menu or the help facility disappears when the hand is detached from the mouse pointer. Status information, a control function, information on a help text and the like can be thereby provided to the user. The third one is the technique disclosed in JP-A-10-3352. The touch pad is provided in place of a mouse button, and behavior at the time of clicking is changed according to the pressure of a finger that presses down the touch pad.
The prior arts described above, however, have no interaction for intuitively selecting a frequently used cursor function, and are therefore inadequate as the methods of selecting the frequently used cursor function.
Now, by giving attention to movement of a human hand when work is actually performed using the PC or the like, this problem will be described.
Generally, the human hand has ability to variously change its shape according to the context and target of the work. Humans can perform operations such as pointing to a specific location of a document on a disk, turning a page of the document on the disk, or moving the document while pressing the document against the desk, by changing the shape of the hand. The thought process of the humans at the time of changing the shape of the hand is an intuitive process in which the hand changes to a desired shape at the instant when an operation desired to be performed on an object has been determined. It is not the process in which one of tools for performing the operation on the object is selected.
When the PC is operated, the cursor on the display screen may be considered to be an extension of the human hand. Accordingly, a desire is generated in the user, in which by changing the cursor function as intuitively as with the hand, some cursor functions can be implemented. On contrast therewith, by the change in the cursor function using the rollover described above only one cursor function can be implemented. Thus, in some cases, the user cannot select a desired cursor function. One of the cases, for example, is the one in which although the user desires to select part of a text within a hypertext, the cursor function is automatically changed to the function of jumping to the destination of a link.
As a method of selecting the desired cursor function at the user's decision, the tool palette or a context menu are provided. The thought process for cursor function selection using this tool or menu is a flow in which selectable tools or menus are viewed and a target tool or menu is selected from among them. This flow is different from the thought process described above when the shape of the hand is changed. More specifically, in this method, when a frequently used tool is selected in such a manner as is performer by the user's hand, it sometimes happens that the process does not match the process expected by the user, so that the process is felt to be bothering.
Further, as a method of more directly selecting the desired cursor function, selection by modifier keys of a keyboard or selection by option buttons of the pointing device is provided. These selections have problems as follows.
In the selection by the modifier keys, relationships between the keys and the cursor functions must be learned. Thus, a barrier for being skilled in the selection is high. Further, since the hand different from the hand that holds the pointing device must be used, the selection by the modifier keys is not so intuitive.
For the selection by the option buttons of the pointing device, there are provided a method of assigning cursor functions to the option buttons of the pointing device and a method of performing cursor function switching by pressing down an option button of the pointing device. In the cursor function assigning method (using the panning function of a center button in a Kensington Studio Mouse [1], for example), relationships between the buttons and the cursor functions must be learned as in the case of the modifier keys. Further, unless the option buttons are pressed down, the functions assigned to the buttons, respectively, cannot be known. Accordingly, an erroneous operation of selecting an unintended cursor function and pressing down the option button corresponding to the unintended cursor function tends to occur.
In the switching method of the cursor functions (such as the scroll direction and speed control function of the wheel button of a Microsoft Wheel Mouse [2]) by pressing down the option button of the pointing device, it must take the trouble to press down one of the option buttons in order to perform the cursor function switching. Thus, pressing down the one of the option buttons is felt to be bothering. Further, the “cursor function switching” and “function execution (clicking)” are both performed by pressing down the buttons on the pointing device. Thus, confusion tends to be brought about.
An object of the present invention is therefore to solve the problems of the prior arts described above and to provide a cursor function switching method and an information processing device using the same in which by enabling intuitive and easy selection of the function of a cursor in the information processing device, an operation using the cursor can be readily performed. In the information processing device, the cursor to be controlled by a pointing device is displayed on a display screen thereof, and operation processing is thereby performed.
The object of the present invention is achieved by a cursor function switching method in an information processing device, the information processing device displaying on a display screen thereof a cursor to be controlled by a pointing device, thereby performing operation processing, wherein
the information processing device receives a signal from cursor function selecting means of the pointing device and assigns a function corresponding to the received signal to the cursor and changes the displayed shape of the cursor to a shape indicating the function.
Alternatively, the object of the present invention is achieved by an information processing device that displays on a display screen thereof a cursor to be controlled by a pointing device, thereby performing operation processing, wherein
the pointing device includes a cursor function selecting unit; and
the information processing device includes:
a unit for receiving a signal from the cursor function selecting unit of the pointing device and assigning a function corresponding to the received signal to the cursor; and
a unit for changing the shape of the displayed cursor to a shape indicating the assigned function.
According to the present invention, in the information processing device that displays on the display screen thereof the cursor to be controlled by the pointing device, thereby performing operation processing, intuitive and easy selection of the cursor function from among cursor functions can be performed, so that an operation using these cursor functions can be readily performed.
Other objects, features and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following description of the embodiments of the invention taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
An embodiment of a cursor function switching method and an information processing device using the same according to the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to drawings.
The information processing device shown in
In the information processing device shown in
Since the information processing devices shown in
Next, operations of the pointing devices that perform the method according to the embodiment of the present invention will be described. Before that, an outline of the cursor function switching method according to the embodiment of the present invention will be first described.
In the embodiment of the present invention, in order to intuitively change a cursor function as in the case of a user's own hand, a unit for making selection among a plurality of cursor functions through movement of a finger is provided on (or in the vicinity of) a click button of the pointing device such as the mouse, thereby enabling clicking immediately after a desired cursor function has been selected. Further, when the cursor function is changed by the selection unit on the pointing device, the change in the cursor function is reflected on display of a cursor on the display screen of the information processing device. Accordingly, before the clicking, it can be seen which cursor function a user has selected.
By the unit for selecting the cursor function described above, the user can select the cursor function as he desires with the finger of his hand that holds the pointing device. Differing from a case where a context menu or the like is employed, this selection is closer to a feeling of directly selecting a “usually used cursor function” felt by the tip of the finger rather than selection of the cursor function among a plurality of alternatives. Further, the selection unit is on (or in the vicinity of) the click button, selection of the cursor function and execution of the cursor function (clicking) are not performed separately: the execution of the cursor function can be performed almost simultaneously with the selection of the cursor function. Such an interaction may be close to the action of the “human hand” that will change its shape so that it can easily hold an object almost at the same instant when the “human hand” holds the object.
When only the unit for selecting the cursor function described above is provided, however, the user cannot select the desired cursor function unless he learns relationships between finger movements and cursor functions. Thus, in the embodiment of the present invention, when the cursor function is changed by the selection unit on the pointing device, the change is reflected on the cursor display on the display screen. The result of the cursor function selection can be thereby informed to the user before clicking. Thus, even if the user is not used to the operation of the cursor function selection, the user can perform the operation of the selection with reliability. Further, since the user can see the cursor that changes corresponding to the movement of his finger, he can learn the relationships between the finger movements and the cursor functions while he uses the cursor functions. He can therefore pass through the natural process of gradually learning frequently used cursor functions.
The pointing device with wheel 13 shown in
Now, it is assumed that a hand-shaped cursor showing a scrolling function as shown in (b) of
In the example described with reference to
The pointing device 13′ with slider switch shown in
Now, it is assumed that the hand-shaped cursor showing the scrolling function as shown in (b) of
In the example described in
In the method described above with reference to
The pointing device with slider switch 13′ shown in
Now, it is assumed that the hand-shaped cursor showing the scrolling function as shown in (b) of
The touch sensor 41 can be moved with the finger touched thereon, and selection of the cursor function can also be performed by this movement. With this arrangement, the same function as that of the wheel described with reference to
In the pointing devices with touch sensors 13′ in
In the pointing device with touch sensor 13′ shown in
Generally, the cursor function that can be performed is determined by the status of a location of the display screen in which the cursor is positioned, or an object in that location. A combination of the object and the cursor function described above is referred to as a context. In an example of processing described in the flowchart shown in
(1) The rotating position of the wheel indicates a cursor function N, in which N is an integer ranging from one to three at a time when the processing operation has been started at step 501. First, the context of the cursor is checked at step 502.
(2) When it is found that the context of the cursor is the context A after the check at 502, the cursor functions 1, 2, and 3 are assigned to the cursor functions A, B, and C, respectively at step 503 according to cursor function assignment described with reference to
(3) After the processing at step 503 or 504, the cursor function N determined by the rotating position of the wheel at the start of the processing operation is selected at step 505, and a cursor N corresponding to the cursor function N is displayed at step 506. When the cursor function determined by the rotating position of the cursor at the start of the processing operation is the cursor function 1 (in which N is equal to one), for example, a cursor A is displayed in both of the contexts A and B. When the cursor function is the cursor function 2 (in which N is equal to 2), for example, a cursor B is displayed in the case of the context A, and a cursor D is displayed in the case of the context B.
(4) Next, it is checked at step 507 whether the wheel has been rotated or not. It is also checked in which direction the wheel has been rotated. When it is found that the wheel has been rotated in the downward direction, it is determined whether the integer N of the cursor function N determined by the rotating position of the wheel at the start of the processing operation is smaller than three or not at step 508. When it is found at step 508 that the integer N is smaller than three, the cursor function is sequentially switched from the cursor function 1, cursor function 2, to cursor function 3 at step 509. Alternatively, the cursor function is switched from the cursor function 2 to the cursor function 3 at step 509.
(5) When it is found after the check at step 507 that the wheel has been rotated in the upward direction, it is determined whether the integer N of the cursor function N determined by the rotating position of the wheel at the start of the processing operation is larger than one at step 510. When it is found at step 510 that the integer N is larger than one, the cursor function is sequentially switched from the cursor function 3, cursor function 2, to cursor function 1 at step 511. Alternatively, the cursor function is switched from the cursor function 2 to the cursor function 1 at step 511.
(6) When it is found after the determination at step 508 that the integer N of the cursor function N is three, when it is found after the determination at step 510 that the integer N of the cursor function N is one, or when it is found after the check at step 507 that the wheel has not been rotated, the cursor function N is kept unchanged from the cursor function N determined by the rotating position of the wheel at the start of the processing operation, at step 512.
Next, the cursor function N changed by the processing at step 509 or step 511, or kept unchanged by the processing at step 512 is selected at step 513, and the cursor N having the shape corresponding to the cursor function N is displayed at step 514. When the cursor function obtained by these processing is the cursor function 2 (in which N is equal to two), for example, the cursor B is displayed in the case of the context A, while the cursor D is displayed in the case of the context B. When the cursor function obtained by these processing is the cursor function 3 (in which N is equal to three), for example, the cursor C is displayed in the case of the context A, while the cursor E is displayed in the case of the context B.
(8) Next, it is determined whether the wheel or the left-clicking button has been pressed down or not at step 515. When it is found that the wheel or the left-clicking button has not been pressed down, the operation is returned to the processing at step 502 and the processing is repeated. When it is found that the wheel or the left-clicking button has been pressed down, the cursor function N is executed at step 516, the operation is returned to the processing at step 502, and the processing is repeated for a subsequent processing operation.
The alternative of step 507 will be described next.
Before checking whether the wheel has been rotated or not, it is checked at step 507 whether the right-clicking button has been pressed down or not.
When it is found that the right-clicking button has been pressed down, it is checked whether the wheel has been rotated or not.
And the process of after detecting rotation of the wheel is the same as foregoing description.
When it is found after the check at step 507 that the right-clicking button has not been pressed down, the cursor function N is kept unchanged from the cursor function N determined by the rotating position of the wheel at the start of the processing operation, at step 512 except checking the wheel.
In this case, the screen information can be scrolling by rotation of the wheel without pressing the right-clicking button.
The other alternative of step 507 will be described next.
Before checking whether the wheel has been rotated or not, it is checked at step 507 whether the right-clicking button has been pressed down or not.
When it is found that the right-clicking button has been pressed down, the cursor function N is kept unchanged from the cursor function N determined by the rotating position of the wheel at the start of the processing operation, at step 512 except checking the wheel.
When it is found after the check at step 507 that the right-clicking button has not been pressed down, it is checked whether the wheel has been rotated or not.
And the process of after detecting rotation of the wheel is the same as foregoing description.
In this case, the screen information can be scrolling by rotation of the wheel with pressing the right-clicking button.
As in the description given with reference to
(1) The processing is started at step 601, and the context of the cursor is first checked at step 602.
(2) When it is found that the context of the cursor is the context A after the check at 602, the cursor functions 1, 2, and 3 are assigned to the cursor functions A, B, and C, respectively at step 603 according to the cursor function assignment described with reference to
(3) Next, it is checked whether the finger has touched the touch sensor or not at step 605. It is also checked in which location on the touch sensor the finger has touched. When a reaction in which the finger has touched the left side (a position 1) of the touch sensor is detected, or when it is found that the finger has not touched anywhere on the touch sensor, the cursor 1 is selected at step 606, and the cursor having the shape corresponding to the cursor function 1 is displayed at step 607. In this case, in both cases of the context A and the context B, the cursor A is displayed.
(4) When the reaction in which the finger has touched the middle (a position 2) of the touch sensor is detected after the check at step 605, the cursor function 2 is selected at step 608, and the cursor having the shape corresponding to the cursor function 2 is displayed at step 609. In this case, the cursor function B is displayed in the case of the context A, while the cursor D is displayed in the case of the context B.
(5) When the reaction in which the finger has touched the right side (a position 3) of the touch sensor is detected after the check at step 605, the cursor function 3 is selected at step 610, and the cursor having the shape corresponding to the cursor function 3 is displayed at step 611. In this case, the cursor function C is displayed in the case of the context A, while the cursor E is displayed in the case of the context B.
(6) Next, it is determined whether the left-clicking button has been pressed down together with the touch sensor or not at step 612. When it is found that the left-clicking button has not been pressed down, the operation is returned to the processing at step 602 and the processing is repeated. When it is found the left-clicking button has been pressed down together with the touch sensor, the cursor function displayed by the processing at step 607, 609, or 611 is executed at step 613, the operation is returned to the processing at step 602, and the processing is repeated for a subsequent processing operation.
The processing operation of the information processing device when the pointing device with touch sensor described with reference to
Each of the processing in this embodiment of the present invention described above can be constituted as a processing program. This processing program can be stored in a recording medium such as an a hard disk (HD), a digital audio tape (DAT), a floppy disk (FD), a magneto-optic disk (MO), a digital video disc-read only memory (DVD-ROM), or a compact disc read only memory (CD-ROM), for supply.
Now, it is assumed that as shown in
Assume that such a relationship between the cursor functions and the rotation of the wheel is set and a specific cursor function is arranged at the beginning or last of a cursor function candidate list. Then, the predetermined specific cursor function arranged at the beginning or last of the cursor function candidate list can be readily selected by rotation of the wheel completely.
In an example shown in
The foregoing description was directed to the cursor function switching method in the embodiment of the present invention. Next, an application example of the cursor function switching method in the embodiment of the present invention, described above, will be described.
Generally, the tool palette enables improvement in usability when drawing software or the like is used. One of a plurality of cursor functions as shown in (a) of
The user first clicks one of cursors in the tool palette, thereby positioning an arbitrary one of the cursors with cursor functions assigned in the embodiment of the present invention in advance to the cursor of the tool palette the user desires to use. The arbitrary one of the cursor functions is positioned to the cursor with a coloring function displayed in (a) of
This enables the user to use the cursor function selected from the tool palette by switching according to the processing in the embodiment of the present invention. An example in
In the foregoing description, it was described that the cursor function selected from the tool palette is added to the cursor functions that have been assigned in the embodiment of the present invention in advance. When the number of the types of the cursors to be selected in the embodiment of the present invention described above is small, the cursor function less frequently used among the assigned cursor functions can be replaced by the cursor function selected from the tool palette. In this case, one of the cursors less frequently used among the assigned cursors should be positioned to the cursor in the tool palette desired to be used, and the left-clicking button should be pressed down.
Generally, when the area of the window within the display screen is expanded or reduced, it is necessary to operate the cursor to be positioned on the frame line of the window. In the application example described herein, when the cursor approaches the frame line of the window (within a distance from the predetermined frame line), it is arranged that the cursor can be functioned as in a case where the cursor is positioned on the frame line of the window.
For this reason, in the application example shown in
When the resize cursor is selected, a line connecting the frame line to be moved and the resize cursor can be displayed, as shown in
In the foregoing description, the cursor function switching method and its applications in the embodiment of the present invention were described. When cursor function switching is performed in the embodiment of the present invention described above, it was not seen that what cursors with what function can be selected as a whole unless an operation for selection was performed. In the present invention, when the context is determined to perform cursor selection, the shapes of all the cursor functions that can be selected can be displayed, and it can be informed to the user that what cursors with what functions can be selected.
Normally, as shown in (a) of
When the user rotates the wheel in this state so as to switch the cursor function, the whole list of the cursors are shifted up and down and displayed, as shown in (c) and (d) of
According to an example described above, when cursor function switching is performed, the user can see what cursors with what functions can be selected as a whole at a glance.
Other example of a case where the present invention has been applied to the command selection will be described next.
When the user is to touch the wheel of the pointing device and rotate the wheel, a list of the command menu that can be selected according to the rotation of the wheel is displayed above and below the cursor.
And the operation and behavior of the menu are the same as the list of the cursors of shapes described above.
And it depends on the context, for example, the location of the cursor or the timing of the rotation of the wheel, whether the list of the command menu is displayed or the list of the cursors of shapes is displayed.
Various examples when the mouse is employed as the pointing device used in the above-mentioned cursor function switching method in the embodiment of the present invention were described. The present invention can also be used for the pointing device such as the touch pad or track pointer used a lot in the notebook PC or the like. Next, an example of application to the notebook PC will be described.
As the pointing device used a lot in the notebook PC or the like, the touch pad as shown in
One of examples where the present invention has been applied to the pointing device that uses the touch pad as described above is shown in
Other example in which the present invention has been applied to the pointing device that uses the touch pad as described above is shown in
Alternatively, as the pointing device used a lot in the notebook PC or the like, the track pointer as shown in
It should be further understood by those skilled in the art that although the foregoing description has been made on embodiments of the invention, the invention is not limited thereto and various changes and modifications may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention and the scope of the appended claims.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2004-346130 | Nov 2004 | JP | national |
