JPH0944329A - Document / graphics processing device with coordinate input mechanism - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [Structure] In a document / graphics processing apparatus having a coordinate input mechanism without a switch such as a pen, the program checks the contents of the keyboard 6 when the user operates the pen 9 6 is a process in which a specific key and a pen operation are combined. For example, if the specific key is pressed, the subsequent pen operation is ignored to determine the input stroke. [Effect] Unnecessary graphic editing is suppressed by confirming the input to the graphic that the user has input, changed, and moved, and it is equivalent to a pointing device with a switch such as a mouse without requiring hardware changes. Get a sense of operation.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to the field of a computer or a document / graphics processing device having a coordinate input mechanism such as a pen and a keyboard as an input device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a device such as a personal computer or a Japanese word processor capable of processing a document or a figure, a pointing device such as a mouse (having two or more switches, If a device that can be designated is included, the coordinate position on the screen is specified by moving the mouse, and the function such as the menu is executed by pressing the switch.

FIG. 11 is an example of a screen display during document creation processing in the document creation application. In this display, move the mouse, move the mouse cursor to the part marked "File", and press the left switch of the mouse to display the menu screen under "File" as shown in Fig. 12, for example, "Call". The menu is highlighted by moving the mouse cursor to the pointed portion. In this state, if the right switch of the mouse is pressed, the processing up to that point is canceled and the display returns to that of FIG.

Conventionally, in a processing device such as a personal computer or a Japanese word processor having a coordinate input device having no switch such as a pen as an auxiliary input device, it is impossible to execute the function performed by the right switch of the mouse. It was impossible, and hardware was changed and switches were provided to have equivalent functions. In the figure input application as shown in FIG. 13, move the mouse to move the mouse cursor to the part marked "draw" and press the left mouse switch to display the submenu for drawing as shown in FIG. It Then, in this submenu, move the mouse cursor to the part marked "thickness" and press the left switch of the mouse in the same way as above, and the setting menu for "thickness" as shown in Fig. 15 is displayed. It

When a line is input by operating the mouse after the thickness of the pen is specified, a line having the specified attribute as shown in FIG. 16 is input. That is, in the prior art, before inputting a graphic such as a line, attributes of strokes (continuous coordinate data input by a coordinate input device such as a pen, straight lines and curves input by a graphic processing device) are input. It was necessary to specify it.

Further, in the figure processing apparatus, when a figure is input by using a coordinate input device such as a pen, the pen is moved to a desired position on the screen as shown in FIG. decide. Next, the position is moved while the pen is touching the screen, the end point is determined by moving the pen away from the screen, and a figure as shown in FIG. 18 is drawn. At this time, the designated point may be separated from the point desired to be input by pressing or lifting the pen.

[0007]

As described above, the conventional device has various problems. Therefore, the present invention relates to a coordinate input device which does not normally have an input means such as a switch and a keyboard which a processing device has. By combining the operations, an operating environment equivalent to a pointing device having an input means such as a switch is provided. Further, by combining the operation of the keyboard and the coordinate input device, it is possible to provide an environment in which the processing conventionally performed by a plurality of operations can be executed at one time. Finally, it provides an environment in which the operation of the keyboard used for these operations can be changed according to the user's environment.
The details are as follows.

(First Problem) In a document processing apparatus such as a personal computer or a Japanese word processor having a coordinate input mechanism without a switch such as a pen, a function used in a conventional pointing device having a switch such as a mouse. There was no way to realize, and it was realized by adding hardware changes such as providing a switch on the pen. It is an object of the present invention to realize a function provided by a pointing device with a switch in a coordinate input device such as a pen having no switch by combining a specific key on a keyboard and an operation of the coordinate input device. And

(Second Problem) In a device for processing a document or a graphic such as a personal computer or a Japanese word processor having a coordinate input processing mechanism such as a pen, attribute information such as stroke color or thickness is conventionally determined by the application. As a function, it was decided before stroke input by specifying attributes from the menu. In the present invention,
By combining a specific key on the keyboard and the operation of the coordinate input device, the user can freely change the attribute.

(Third Problem) In a device capable of performing graphic processing such as a personal computer or a Japanese word processor having a coordinate input mechanism such as a pen, in the prior art, the coordinate input of the start point, the end point and a plurality of intermediate points is performed. The size of a graphic is changed or moved by inputting a straight line or a curve specified by the device and selecting the input graphic.
In this operation, the coordinate position specification device such as a pen moves when specifying coordinates or when determining the size change or movement of a figure, making it difficult for the user to specify the desired coordinates. It was In the present invention, an input point such as a start point or an end point, a size or a moving point when a figure is changed are designated by a coordinate input device, and a specific key on the keyboard is pressed to extract the coordinate and confirm the input. The purpose is to realize a function that allows the user to easily specify desired coordinates.

(Fourth Problem) Another object of the present invention is to realize a function of changing a special key on a keyboard used in combination with a coordinate input device according to a user's environment.

[0012]

As a first means, according to the present invention, in a document processing apparatus or the like having a coordinate input mechanism without a switch such as a pen, when a user performs a pen operation,
The program has means for performing a process in which a specific key on the keyboard and a pen operation are combined by examining the contents of the keyboard. By the above means, it is possible to provide an operating environment equivalent to a pointing device such as a mouse with a switch, using a coordinate input device such as a pen without a switch. As a second means, according to the present invention, in a document processing device or the like having a coordinate input mechanism such as a pen, when a user performs a pen operation, a program checks the contents of a keyboard to obtain input stroke attribute information. It has a means to change. By the above means, the user can easily set and change the attribute of stroke input in the coordinate input device.

As a third means, in a figure processing device having a coordinate input mechanism such as a pen, when a user operates the pen, the program checks the contents of the keyboard so that a specific key is pressed. For example, it has means for deciding the input stroke by ignoring the subsequent pen operation. By the means described above, it becomes possible to easily perform operations such as inputting, changing, and moving figures using the coordinate input device. That is, just before lifting the pen at the end of drawing, if you press a specific key with the fingertip of the hand without the pen,
As its action, the position coordinates are fixed. Operation without positional deviation can be reliably achieved.

As a fourth means, a database for associating a specific key of the keyboard with an operation function is provided on the internal storage device or the external storage device, and means for changing the user according to the environment is provided. With the above means, it is possible to freely set the above-mentioned operation method in a form that matches the environment of the user.

[0015]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION A document processing apparatus having a coordinate input mechanism of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.
In this embodiment, the case where the document / graphics processing apparatus is applied to the document creation function and the graphic creation function mounted on the Japanese word processor will be exemplified.

The Japanese word processor in this example is
As shown in FIG. 1, the CPU 1 mainly controls each constituent block of the apparatus and the execution of the program.
RA storing document data and graphic data in the document
M2 and ROM3 for storing control programs and data
Is connected.

A printer 4, which is an output device for printing a document and graphic data in the document, a display device 5 for displaying the document data, and information input by a user's operation are input to the CPU 1. A keyboard 6 which is an input device for inputting data, and an FD (floppy disk) 7 which is an external storage device for storing and calling various data such as documents and figures are connected. Also, by the operation of the user,
A mouse 8 capable of inputting coordinate positions on the screen or a coordinate input device 9 such as a pen is connected, and the CPU and software operating on the CPU obtain the data shown in FIG. 19 through the I / O port. You can

Software of a personal computer or a Japanese word processor as shown in FIG. 1 usually has a configuration as shown in FIG. The above-mentioned pen 9 and mouse 8,
The hardware 13 such as the printer 4 exchanges data with the application program 11 through software called a driver 12. The normal application program 11 and the driver 12 are supplied as separate programs, stored in an external storage device such as the FD 7, transferred to the area of the RAM 2 as necessary, and then executed.
Or, it is stored in the area of the ROM 3 and executed.

FIG. 3 shows an example of a flowchart of the coordinate input by the mouse, which is currently used and is also used in this apparatus.
The coordinate input by the mouse 8 starts when an interrupt event occurs (step S ₁ ). Upon receiving the interrupt from the mouse 8, the software checks whether the left switch of the mouse 8 is pressed (step S ₂ ). If you are pressed if sets an internal flag in software (Step S _3), reads the coordinate position of the current mouse (Step S _6). If left switch has not been pressed similarly examined right switch (switch S _4, S _5).

(Example 1) In the Japanese word processor shown in FIG. 1, the coordinate input device 9 such as a pen has an interrupt output, and outputs an interrupt signal to the CPU 1 when an operation is performed. FIG. 4 is a flowchart of software that processes the present apparatus according to claim 1. This software is called from the FD 7 which is an external storage device to the area of the RAM 2 as needed and executed in the area of the RAM 2 or in the area of the ROM 3 and executed. In this example, the operation of the driver 12 as software is shown.

When the user touches the screen with the coordinate input device such as a pen in line with the "file" item while using the device as an application program (FIG. 11) (reference numeral 16), the display as shown in FIG. Becomes Consider a case where the user touches the "call" portion with the pen 9 in this state. In addition, as a specific key, "SHIF
The "T" key is set. When the user has contacted the "call" part pen (code 17), an interrupt signal is issued to the CPU1 from the coordinate input device 9 (step S _11). At this time, the software reads the I / O port to which the pen device is connected and obtains the data as shown in FIG.

In the example of FIG. 22, it means that the user has brought the pen into contact with the screen at the position of X coordinate 100 and Y coordinate 150 on the screen. The software stores this data in the work area set in its own RAM area in the format as shown in FIG. 20 (step S ₁₂ ). In FIG. 20, the head position 21 is the offset value on the memory where the input start command (22) is stored,
The end position (23) stores the next offset value in which the input end command (24) is stored.

Down flag 1 to down flag N
(25) is a flag used for determining whether or not a specific key to be described later is pressed. As shown in FIG. 23, when 0001 is set in the portion, the specific key is pressed in (31). If 0000 is set as shown in FIG. 23 (36), it means that the specific key has not been pressed. The input start command means that the data obtained from the pen is stored as the subsequent data, and the input end command means that the data from the pen is completed. Data obtained from the pen is stored in the area (26) sandwiched by the input start command and the input end command, and a plurality of data shown in FIG. 19 are stored.

FIG. 23 shows an example of data in the work area when the user touches the "call" portion while pressing a specific key in the display example shown in FIG. In this case, the start data (32) is the input start command FFF.
0006 is stored in the offset (33) in which E is stored, and the input end command FFF is stored in the end data position.
00, which is the next offset (34) in which F is stored
10 is stored. Since the specific key is pressed, 0001 is set in the key down flag 1 (31). Since only one key is assumed as the specific key in the example 1, only one area is prepared for the keydown flag.

The ware then reads the I / O port to which the keyboard hardware is connected and obtains the key data. The key data can be obtained in the format shown in FIG. 21, and the code corresponding to the key pressed at that time is obtained (step S ₁₃ ). In this example, "SH
Since the "IFT" key is pressed, as shown in FIG. 25, the key code is hexadecimal 2A in the I / O port.
00 is set in the CII code, and the software reads these values. In this case, this means that the specific key is depressed to set the 0001 to key down flag in the work area as shown in FIG. 23 (step S _14).

Next, the coordinate position of the pen in the work area (step S ₁₅ ) and the state of the pen (step S ₁₆ )
Is read (each item of X coordinate, Y coordinate, pen state in FIG. 23). If the flag does not indicate that the pen has come into contact with the screen (pen down) (FIG. 24), it means that the normal pen has been moved, so the process returns to the beginning. If the state of the pen in the work area indicates pen down (step S ₁₇ ,
Figure 23) examines the key down flag in the work area (step S _18), and that 0001 is for a pen-down must be set to not pressed "SHIFT" key occurs, the mouse left switch is pressed Assuming (step S ₁₉ ), control is passed to the document processing apparatus as if the “call” function in FIG. 12 was selected.

[0027] If the key-down flag indicates to that "SHIFT" key is pressed, it is assumed that the mouse right switch is pressed (Step S _20), FIG. 12
Cancel the processing on the screen and return to the display of FIG. In either case, after the processing is completed, the process returns to the beginning of the flowchart and waits for an interrupt from the next pen.

(Example 2) In the Japanese word processor shown in FIG. 1, the coordinate input device 9 such as a pen has an interrupt output, and outputs an interrupt signal to the CPU 1 when an operation is performed. FIG. 5 shows a block diagram of software in claim 2. FIG. 6 is a flowchart of the application program in the configuration shown in FIG. This software is called from the FD7, which is an external storage device, to the area of the RAM2 as necessary, and the RA
It is executed in the area of M2 or exists in the area of ROM3 and executed. In this example, the operation of the driver 12 as software is shown.

The application program in this example is for inputting a figure by using a pen. As shown in FIG. 13, the point where the normal pen is in contact with the screen is the starting point, and the pen is kept in contact with the screen. It is assumed that a line segment is drawn with the pen moved to move the pen away from the screen. Also, as a specific key, the correspondence between the keyboard and the attribute number shown in FIG. 26 is provided in the RAM 2 of the application program, and the correspondence between the attribute number and the attribute is provided in the application program in the form of FIG. To do.

Consider a case where the user touches or moves a coordinate input device such as a pen on the screen while pressing a specific key while using the graphic processing device which is an application program (FIG. 13). FIG. 28 shows a correspondence table between the key code and the attribute number in this example, and FIG. 29 shows an example correspondence table between the attribute number and the attribute information. The user inserts the pen into FIG.
When the figure input screen (part indicated by the arrow) is touched, the coordinate input device 9 issues an interrupt signal to the CPU 1 (step S ₂₁ ). At this time, the software reads the I / O port to which the pen device is connected and obtains the data as shown in FIG.

In the example of FIG. 22, it means that the user has brought the pen into contact with the screen at the position of X coordinate 100 and Y coordinate 150 on the screen. The software stores this data in the work area set in the area of its own RAM 2 in the format shown in FIG. 20 (step S ₂₂ ). In the figure, the head position stores the offset value on the memory in which the input start command is stored, and the end position stores the next offset value in which the input end command is stored.

Down flag 1 to down flag N are flags used for determining whether or not a specific key described later is pressed. If 0001 is set in the relevant portion, the specific key is pressed. Means 0
When 000 is set, it means that the specific key is not pressed. The input start command means that the data obtained from the pen is stored as the subsequent data, and the input end command means that the data from the pen is completed. The data obtained from the pen is stored in the area sandwiched by the input start command and the input end command, and a plurality of data shown in FIG. 19 are stored.

In the display example shown in FIG. 13, the user touches the pen with the arrow portion (coordinates X = 100, Y = 150 on the screen), and while holding down a specific key, moves the pen to the arrow portion (FIG. 16). FIG. 30 shows an example of data in the work area when moved to the coordinates X = 500, Y = 250) on the screen.
In this case, the start data (41) is the input start command FF.
002 that is the offset (42) in which the FE is stored
6 is stored, and the end data position (43) stores the input end command FFFF.
005A which is 4) is stored.

Since the specific key is pressed, 0001 is set in the key down flag 1. In Example 2, there are as many key down flags as the number of specific keys to be pressed, and in this example, the key down flag 2 is set to 0000 as the key down flag N (45). The software then reads the I / O port to which the keyboard hardware is connected,
Get key data. Data key can be obtained in a format as shown in FIG. 21, the code corresponding to the key being pressed at the time is obtained (step S _23).

In this example, since the "SHIFT" key is pressed, the key code is set to hexadecimal 2A and the ASCII code is set to 00 in the I / O port as shown in FIG. Read out these values.
In this case, since the specific key is being pressed,
Sets 0001 the key down flag in the work area as shown in FIG. 30 (step S _24).

Next, the coordinate position of the pen in the work area (step S ₂₅₎ and pen states (step S ₂₆₎
Is read (in FIG. 23, each item of X coordinate, Y coordinate, pen state). If the flag does not indicate that the pen has moved away from the screen (pen-up), the normal pen is in the process of moving, and the process returns to the beginning. If the state of the pen in the work area indicates pen-up (offset 0056 in FIG. 30).
The byte 0002 (46) indicates pen-up, and the key-down flag 1 in the work area is checked (step S
_27), 0001 because if it is set "SHIFT" key is pressed pen operation occurred, to draw a line segment by setting the attributes of the pen fine print (step S _28, FIG. 1
6).

If the key-down flag 1 does not seem to be set, then the key-down flag 2 is checked (step S ₂₉ ). If the key-down flag 2 is set to 0001, the CTRL key has been pressed and a pen operation has occurred. set the attributes of the pen in bold to draw the line segment (step S _30). Thus, the number of keys down flag, examines the state of the flag, unless the last key down flag N is set (step S _31), draws a line in the default attributes.

(Example 3) The structure of software in claim 3 is shown in FIG. FIG. 8 is a flowchart of the application program in the configuration shown in FIG. When the user operates the coordinate input device 9 such as a pen,
An interrupt signal is issued from the coordinate input device 9 to the CPU 1 (step S ₄₁ ). The application program 16 sends the pen hardware 2 through the pen driver 19.
When this interrupt signal is received from 0, the keyboard driver 17 checks the state of the keyboard hardware (step S ₄₂ ).

[0039] At this time, setting a flag with in the application program if a specific key is pressed (step S _43). If the specific key is not pressed, the flag is reset. Next, the application program obtains coordinate position information from the pen hardware through the pen driver (step _S44 ). At this time,
When the internal flag is set, the application program ignores input information from the pen other than the message that the pen has been lifted. If the internal flag is not set, normal processing is performed (step _S45 ).

In a personal computer or Japanese word processor having the device configuration shown in FIG.
RA the data table with the memory image shown by
Place in the area of M2. The memory table consists of key codes that can be input from the keyboard and corresponding function codes, and there are applications for the applications to be used. Use a dedicated program to set the table,
The program operates according to the flowchart shown in FIG.

When the program is executed, it selects an application and switches the table to the target one (step S ₅₁ ). Next, the user stores the key code of the key of the keyboard used in combination with the operation of the coordinate input device such as a pen in the key code area in FIG. 9 (step _S52 ). The user specifies the function (the right switch of the mouse, thickens the stroke, etc.) corresponding to the entered key code, and the program stores the specified data in the function code area in FIG. 9 (step S ₅₃ ).

The user selects whether or not to store the created data table in the external storage device (step S ₅₄ ), and if the storage table is selected, the data is output to the external storage device (step S ₅₅ ). . The user can choose whether to end the program (step S
₅₆ ), if not selected, the process returns to the key code selection (step _S52 ) again.

[0043]

As an effect of the first aspect of the present invention, in the document / graphics processing apparatus having the coordinate input mechanism, it is possible to provide an operational feeling equivalent to that of a pointing device with a switch such as a mouse without changing the hardware. As an effect of claim 2, in the document / graphics processing device having the coordinate input mechanism, since the attribute can be changed without using the stroke attribute change as the function of the application, the operation related to the user's attribute change is easy. Becomes

As an effect of claim 3, in the document / graphics processing apparatus having the coordinate input mechanism, the user decides the input to the graphic which has been input, changed or moved, thereby suppressing unnecessary graphic editing. be able to. As an effect of claim 4, by providing a function capable of changing a specific key of the keyboard according to the environment of the user, the user can easily set according to his / her environment and easily learn the operation. .

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block circuit diagram of a Japanese word processor showing one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of software such as a Japanese word processor.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart for inputting coordinates using a mouse used in a Japanese word processor or the like.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart of processing of a document / graphics processing apparatus having a coordinate input mechanism according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a software configuration diagram for processing by another example of the present apparatus.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart of processing performed by another example of the present device.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart of processing performed by another example of the present device.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a setting table on a memory according to another example of the present apparatus.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart of processing performed by another example of the present device.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a display example 1 in the document processing of the present apparatus.

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing a second display example in the document processing of the present apparatus.

FIG. 12 is a diagram showing a display example 1 in the graphic processing of the present apparatus.

FIG. 13 is a diagram showing a second display example in the graphic processing of the present apparatus.

FIG. 14 is a diagram showing a display example 3 in the graphic processing of the present apparatus.

FIG. 15 is a diagram showing a display example 4 in the graphic processing of the present apparatus.

FIG. 16 is a diagram showing a display example 5 in the graphic processing of the present apparatus.

FIG. 17 is a diagram showing a display example 6 in the graphic processing of the present apparatus.

FIG. 18 is a diagram showing an example of data received from a pen of this device.

FIG. 19 is a diagram showing a configuration example of a work area of a driver in this device.

FIG. 20 is a diagram showing an example of data obtained from a keyboard in this device.

FIG. 21 is a diagram showing an example of data obtained from the pen in FIG. 11.

FIG. 22 is a diagram showing an example of data in a work area when a specific key is pressed in this device.

FIG. 23 is a diagram showing an example of data in a work area when a specific key is not pressed in this device.

FIG. 24 is a diagram showing an example of data obtained from the keyboard when the SHIFT key is pressed in this device.

FIG. 25 is a diagram showing an example of a correspondence table structure example of a key code on a keyboard and an attribute number in this device.

FIG. 26 is a diagram showing an example of the structure of a correspondence table between attribute numbers and attribute information in this device.

FIG. 27 is a diagram showing an example of a correspondence table between key codes on a keyboard and attribute numbers in another example of the present device.

FIG. 28 is a diagram showing an example of a correspondence table between attribute numbers and attribute information in another example of the present apparatus.

FIG. 29 is a diagram showing an example of work area data in another example of the present apparatus.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 CPU (Central Processing Unit) 2 RAM (Random Access Memory) 3 ROM (Read Only Memory) 4 Printer 5 Display Device 6 Keyboard 7 FD (Floppy Disk) 8 Mouse 9 Coordinate Input Device

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. When a pen operation is performed, a program is provided with means for performing a process in which a specific key operation on the keyboard and a pen operation are combined by checking the contents of the keyboard, and a function equivalent to a pointing device such as a mouse. Documents with coordinate input mechanism characterized by having
Graphic processing unit. 2. A document / graphic having a coordinate input mechanism according to claim 1, further comprising means for changing attribute information of an input stroke by combining a specific key operation on the keyboard and a pen operation. Processing equipment. 3. The device according to claim 1, further comprising means for extracting and confirming the coordinates output by the coordinate input device by pressing a specific key on the keyboard when drawing a figure. A document / graphics processing device having a coordinate input mechanism. 4. A database having a specific key of the keyboard and an operation function associated with each other is provided on an internal storage device or an external storage device, and a program for a user to change according to an environment is provided. A document / graphics processing apparatus having the coordinate input mechanism according to claim 3.