JPH03154916A - Crt interactive device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To facilitate the suppression and restoration of input of information and to prevent the influence of disturbance like a miscontact, cleaning, etc., by providing a console information input device which reads the types of commands issued by an operator via a console and a touch screen information validity deciding means which suppresses and processes the input information given from a touch screen based on a command received from the console. CONSTITUTION:A console 7 is provided to transmit the command of an operator together with a console information input device 9 which reads the command type out of the console 7, and a touch screen information validity deciding means 10 which suppresses the input information given from a touch screen 4 and processes the input information as the valid information based on the command received from the console 7. Thus, it is possible to suppress the miscontact occurring when no interaction is required, the screen switching due to the cleaning of a CRT screen, and the display of undesired information and to simply restore the input of information. In such a constitution, a CRT interactive device can display a fact whether the input is inhibited or not from the screen 4 on the CRT screen.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention [Object of the Invention] (Industrial Application Field) The present invention relates to a CRT display device that performs input and output using a CRT display device and a touch screen installed on the surface of the CRT display device.
'r Concerning a dialogue device.

(Prior Art) In recent years, CRT display devices have been used in many fields, and have also been adopted for monitoring and controlling industrial plants such as power plants. Coupled with this, dialogue devices using CRT display devices and CRT dialogue devices are also widely used, and various input means for dialogue are used in addition to conventional keyboards.

Among these, we have adopted a touch screen that displays text and pictures for dialogue on the screen of a CRT display device, and allows the interlocutor to input commands by touching the text or pictures with a finger or by bringing them close to a certain distance. is increasing.

Unlike a keyboard, a touch screen does not require you to memorize the layout; it is easy to use, even for amateurs, because it is displayed with pictures, etc., and it is difficult to make mistakes because you operate it while looking at the screen with your eyes. Since a screen is installed, there is an advantage that the input device does not take up space in front of the CRT display screen, unlike keyboards, tablets, and mice.

FIG. 2 shows an example of the configuration of a CRT interactive device using a touch screen. In Figure 2, computer 1 is a CRT.
It manages the entire dialogue system as the center, and displays menus for dialogue, their results, etc. on the CR7 display device 2 via the CRT display control device 3 as text and pictures.

When the operator indicates the area of the requested item or function from the menu displayed on the CR7 display device 2 with a finger or the like on the touch screen 4, the indicated area is displayed on the CR7 using the touch screen input control device 5. Convert to coordinates indicating the position of the screen of the display device 2, and calculate the CR in the computer 1.
The information is transmitted to the T processing means 6. C RT that was informed of the coordinate position
The processing means 6 determines the operator's command based on the transmitted coordinate position in the menu displayed on the CR7 display device 2, and outputs a new menu or a response to the given command to the CRT display control device. 3 to be displayed on the CR7 display device 2.

Thereafter, new instructions are input in the same way, and the dialog processing is sequentially performed according to the input instructions.

As a result of the dialogue, in addition to displaying text and pictures on the CR7 display device 2, in industrial plants, it is also possible to open/close valves, start/start motors, etc.
It is also used to operate plants such as shutdowns.

(Problem to be solved by the invention) However, C
The RT dialogue device also had the following problems.

That is, the screen of the touch screen 4 is more likely to get dirty than directly touching the CR7 display device 2 with a finger or the like, and as a result, the frequency of cleaning the screen increases; however, in order to clean the screen, it is necessary to touch the screen. First, by touching the touch screen 4, meaningless information is transmitted to the cR'r processing means 6 via the touch screen input 34 control device 5.

Furthermore, compared to other input devices, touch screens are easier to input and have less tactile sensation, making it easier to accidentally touch the screen and making it difficult to recognize when an erroneous operation has been performed.

In this way, incorrect information is transmitted to the CRT processing means 6, causing problems such as unnecessary information being displayed on the CR7 display device 2 or the monitored screen being switched to an unnecessary screen. Not only in industrial plants,
Misoperation of the plant may lead to plant accidents.

Therefore, conventionally, when cleaning the screen of a CRT display device, input from the touch screen is prohibited.
This was done after the touch screen input control device 5 or CRT dialogue device was removed from online by an operation such as turning off the power.

Generally, one system uses multiple CRT dialogue devices to interact with the CRT and monitor the plant.
The number of these devices is the optimum number that is installed according to the usage under normal conditions. - Excluding the CRT dialogue device, even temporarily, is a degeneration of the function of the entire system, and the operation of the entire system is affected. This may lead to a decline in performance and plant monitoring capabilities, and may also impede safe plant operation.

[Structure of the invention]

(Means for solving the problem) Display selected information such as letters and pictures on the CRT screen,
Equipped with an optical touch screen in which a light emitting device and a light receiving device are arranged on the top and bottom, left and right sides of the screen, and
By blocking the light beam of the touch screen in front of the characters and pictures on the RT screen, the position where the characters and pictures are displayed on the CRT screen is detected, and the position information is used as input information to interact with the operator. In a CRT dialogue device, there is a console that transmits operator commands, a console information input device that reads the operator's command type from the console, and a console information input device that suppresses input information from the touch screen based on the commands from the console. The present invention is characterized in that it includes touch screen information validity determining means for processing the touch screen information as valid information.

(Function) This makes it easy to suppress information input from the touch screen and restore it, making it easier for the operator to control input, and using a touch screen that is not affected by disturbances such as erroneous contact or cleaning. A CRT interactive device can be provided.

(Example) The configuration of the present invention will be explained using FIG. 1. Reference numeral 1 denotes an electronic computer that serves as the center of the CRT dialogue device and performs processing, and also monitors and controls the plant. The CRT display device 2 displays plant abnormalities, menus for dialogue, dialogue results, and the like.

The CRT display control device 3 converts the information to be displayed on the CRT display device 2 from an electrical signal into an image, and
This controls the T display device.

A touch screen 4 is provided immediately in front of the CRT display device 2, and temporarily converts the position of the CRT display device 2 instructed by the operator into an electrical signal. 5 is a touch screen control device that detects changes in information from the touch screen 4, learns new interaction information from the operator, uses electrical signals from the touch screen 4 as coordinate information, and uses the electric signal from the touch screen 4 as coordinate information to locate the position specified by the operator. This is to transmit the touch screen information to the validity determining means of the IO.

The CRT processing means 6 is for displaying plant alarm information, menus for dialogue, and determining information requested by the operator through dialogue on the CRT display device, and creating data for displaying the results. be. The operation console 7 is used to install switches operated by an operator. The selection switch 8 is a switch operated by the operator to determine whether or not the information from the touch screen 4 is valid.

A console information input device 9 converts the position information of the selection switch 8 into an electrical signal.

The touch screen information validity determining means of IO determines whether or not the touch screen information is effective based on the state of the selection switch 8 set by the operator, and only when the selection switch 8 is in the state indicating validity, the CRT This is means for transmitting to the processing means 6 information obtained from the touch screen and inputted by the operator via the touch screen 4 for interaction.

Next, in FIG. 1, the CRT processing means 6 has a CRT
Menu information necessary for dialogue and touch area information such as a frame indicating the position of the touch area are displayed on the screen of the T display device 2 via the CRT display control device 3, and dialogue processing is started. do.

The operator selects the desired function from the displayed menu by touching it. The operator's commands are input as position information of the CRT display device 2 on the touch screen 4, and are input to the touch screen input control device 5.
Then, a new operator command is detected based on a change in the touch position, and the operator's dialogue information is transmitted to the touch screen input information judgment device IO as a coordinate position. At the same time, the state of the selection switch 8 provided on the operation console 7 is as follows.
The information is read into the touch screen input information determining device 1O via the console information input device 9, and it is determined whether the position information from the touch screen 4 is required by the operator.

If you think that the information from the touch screen 4 is unnecessary because the operator uses the CRT screen only for cleaning or monitoring, you can set the selection switch 8 to the side that specifies "prohibit" to remove the information from the touch screen 4. No matter what location information comes to the touch screen input judgment device lO,
The position information is discarded by the touch screen input determination device 10, is not transmitted to the CRT processing means 6, and is processed as if nothing had been touched on the touch screen 4, so the CR
The screen of the T display device 2 does not change to a screen for other functions or disappear.

When the operator wants to interact, by setting the selection switch on the console 7 to the "enabled" side, the operator's touch information from the touch screen 4 is transferred to the touch screen via the touch screen input control device 5. The information validity determining means 10 directly transmits the command to the CRT processing means 6 as a new command from the operator, and dialogue processing proceeds.Similarly, the operator operates the selection switch 8 to change the information from the touch screen 4 to the CRT processing means 6. location information can be easily suppressed or restored.

The processing flow of the touch screen information validity determining means 10, which is the main part of this operation, will be explained using the flowchart of FIG. 3.

In the touch screen information validity determination process 10, the information detected on the touch screen 4 is read in the process A. Next, in the mouth processing, the setting state of the selection switch on the console 7 is read, and in the judgment processing, if it is set to "valid" according to the state of the selection switch read in the mouth processing, The information from the touch screen 4 obtained in the process 3 is sent to the CRT processing means 6 in the process 2, and when the state is set to "prohibited", the process 2 is executed in B.
By y-passing, the information from the touch screen 4 is discarded in the touch screen information validity determination process 10.

In this way, the information from the touch screen 4 can not only be easily suppressed and restored by operating the selection switch 8, but also enable the operator to interact at any time by observing the state of the selection switch 8. It can be determined whether the

In addition, since the present invention only suppresses input from the touch screen 4, the information from the CRT processing means 6 to the CR7 display device 2 is displayed at any time, so there is no omission of displayed information, so there is no problem with monitoring etc. It won't happen.

FIG. 4 shows the configuration of another embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, the CRT screen of the CR7 display device 2 is shown in FIG. always displayed.

The touch screen input mode display area of 11-2-b is always displayed as shown in e of FIG. 6, and the touch screen input mode display area of C displays the suppression state of information from the touch screen 4. For example, when the signal is suppressed, the state d is displayed, and when the signal is not suppressed, the state d' is displayed.

Further, FIG. 7 shows the flow of processing by the touch screen information validity determining means 7 in this embodiment.

In FIG. 4 of this embodiment, the electronic computer t-CRT display device 2, CRT display control device 3, touch screen 4, and touch screen input control device 5 have the same functions as the embodiment shown in FIG. and perform the same processing.

First, the operating method of this embodiment will be explained using FIGS. 5 and 6. In FIG. 5, b is used to switch the suppression state of touch screen input as described above, and C indicates the current suppression state of information from the touch screen, and further serves as auxiliary information at the time of switching. The initial state is d'
The valid state of is set.

(Procedure-1) Touch the top of the CRT screen.

(Procedure-2) Continuing from Step-1, touch the upper part of the CRT screen.

With the above operation, the state can be switched to the state of part C of procedure-1.

Thereafter, the suppression state of information from the touch screen 4 is switched each time steps-1 and 2 are repeated.

Furthermore, the reason why parts C and B are operated continuously and the switching process is performed in two actions is to prevent the suppression state from being switched even if the CRT screen is accidentally displayed, and this is for the same purpose. The C sections are set at separate locations.

The processing of the touch screen information validity determining means 7 that performs switching and suppression processing of information from the touch screen 4 in the above dialog processing will be explained using FIG. 7.

In FIG. 7, in order to set the initial state when the computer 1 starts up, process A: Touch screen input is enabled.

Processing B: It is assumed that the previously entered area is not a touch screen status area, and a command is sent to the CRT processing means 6 to display e and d' in FIG.

Next, the process waits for the operator's touch screen operation in process-C. When there is a touch screen input from the operator, it is judged with judgment - ○ whether the touched area is the touch screen input mode display area, and if it is the touch screen input mode display area, it is issued as a primary switching request. , since touch screen input mode display area b is requested, processing E for storing the previous area is executed and processing C waits for operator operation again.

Next, when the touch screen input mode switching area b is touched by the operator, the process branches from Judgment-D to Judgment-F, passes through Judgment-G, processes Judgment-H, and processes Process-■
After performing the process of validating the information from the touch screen 4 in Process-J or the process of inhibiting (suppressing) the information from the touch screen 4 in Process-J, and reversing the previous suppression state, the CRT screen screen touch screen Process-K is executed to display the new suppression state of d or d' shown in FIG. 6 in the input mode display area C.

In process-N, a series of suppression state switching processes is completed and the previous touch input information is initialized.

The above is the flow of processing when switching the suppression state.

Also, if the input information is not in the area for switching the status display mode, the current status is checked in the process-M, and if the dialog processing is valid, the input information from the touch screen is transferred to the CRT processing means in the process-M. Send to 6.

If the state is prohibited (suppressed), process-M is By-pass.
By doing so, unnecessary touch screen input information will be ignored.

As described above, according to this embodiment, the current inhibit/enable state of interactive processing is displayed on the CRT screen, and input via the touch screen 4 is directed to the bottom left of the two areas according to the displayed state. By separating the screen into the edges and the upper right corner and fixing the order of the two areas, you do not need to be particularly careful when touching the screen for cleaning etc., and there is no possibility that the state will change accidentally if you touch it by mistake. If the area is small, and the area is further provided at the upper left end and the lower right end, and the order is fixed, the possibility of switching due to erroneous contact will be eliminated.

In this embodiment, the prohibition/recovery of inputting unsafe information from the touch screen can be set without the need for a console or selection switch, and there is no need to install unnecessary equipment around the CRT display device. .

[Effects of the Invention] As described above, according to the present invention, in a CRT dialogue device using a touch screen, c. It is easy to switch screens due to accidental contact or cleaning the CRT screen, suppress the display of unnecessary information, and easily restore it, and display on the CRT screen whether or not input from the touch screen is prohibited. A possible CRT dialogue device is obtained.

Further, it is possible to easily know the suppression state of input from the touch screen on the selection switch on the operation desk or on the screen of the CRT display device.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Figure 1 is a configuration diagram of the present invention, Figure 2 is a conventional configuration diagram, and Figure 3 is a configuration diagram of the present invention.
4 is a block diagram of another embodiment, FIG. 5 is a plan view of a screen configuration example of a CRT display device of another embodiment, and FIG. This figure is an explanatory diagram of a display example in the display area in FIG. 5, and FIG. 7 is a flowchart of the processing of the touch screen information validity determining means in another embodiment. 1... Computer 2... CRT display device 3... CRT display control device 4... Touch screen 5... Touch screen input control device 6... CRT
Processing means 7...Operation console 8...Selection switch 9...Operation console information input device 10...Touch screen information validity determination means 11...
・CRT dialogue device

Claims (1)

[Claims] Selected information such as text and pictures is displayed on the CRT screen, and the CRT
Equipped with an optical touch screen in which a light emitting device and a light receiving device are arranged on the top and bottom, left and right sides of the screen, and
By blocking the light beam of the touch screen in front of the characters and pictures on the RT screen, the position where the characters and pictures are displayed on the CRT screen is detected, and the position information is used as input information to interact with the operator. In a CRT dialogue device, there is a console that transmits operator commands, a console information input device that reads the operator's command type from the console, and a console information input device that suppresses input information from the touch screen based on the commands from the console. 1. A CRT dialogue device characterized by comprising touch screen information validity determining means for determining touch screen information and processing it as valid information.