JPS61188586A - Display controller - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] This bulletin contains application data before electronic filing, so abstract data is not recorded.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a display control device for moving a cursor to a specific information field displayed on a screen of a display device.

[Summary of the Disclosure] The display control device includes a key input means for registering a special control key, and in response to pressing of the control key, searches for an identification code indicating a selectable field in the code storage means, and stores the identification code. An operation is performed to move the display device 8 cursor on the display screen corresponding to the storage position of .

[Prior Art] Among the plurality of information fields displayed on a display screen, a field containing information that can be selected by an operator is called a selectable field.
By positioning a light pen in a selectable field on a display device equipped with a pen,
Information can be selected. On the other hand, light
On display devices without a pen, first operate the cursor movement keys to move the cursor to the desired selectable area.
You must move the cursor to the field and then press the cursor select key to select information.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] As mentioned above, the operation of moving the cursor to the selectable field using the cursor movement keys on a display device not equipped with a light pen (selector pen) requires a movement speed that is too slow for the machine. There are problems in that it is time-consuming and troublesome because it is limited by speed, and if it fails to move to the target position correctly, it must be restarted.

c. Means for Solving Problem] According to the present invention, a selectable field is provided to enable quick movement of a cursor to a selectable field.
Control keys called field tab keys are provided on the key input means. Furthermore, depending on the operation of this control key,
Detecting a selectable field identification code within the code storage means.

Keystroke detection means cooperating to change the cursor address depending on the storage location of the code.

Access means! ! Separate code detection means and cursor address changing means are provided.

[Embodiment] FIG. 1 shows the basic configuration of a display control device of the present invention. The video control means 2 performs CR according to the cursor address stored in the cursor address storage means 3.
It has a function of displaying a cursor on the screen of the T display section 1.

That is, the cursor is displayed at the display position specified by the cursor address. Moreover, the video control means 2
The code storage means 4 has a function of displaying characters specified by various character codes stored in the code storage means 4 on the screen.The code storage means 4 has a plurality of storage positions corresponding to a plurality of display positions on the screen. , it stores not only character codes but also various control codes such as attributes. or,
A selectable field identification code (SF identification code) is stored in the first storage location of the selectable field.

The key input means 9 is the select/7-2 Bruno-7 No 1b R Koidego 87-l Jl-Lnn displayed on the screen.
Warehouse L - equipped with special control keys 10 for movement. When the key operation detection means 8 connected to the key input means 9 detects that the control key 10 has been pressed, it gives an output signal indicating this to the access means 5. In response to this, the access means 5 reads out the codes in successive memory positions that are continuous in a predetermined direction with the memory position in the code storage means 4 corresponding to the display position where the h-sol is currently displayed as a reference point. The identification code is given to the identification code detection means 6.

When the identification code detection means 6 detects the SF identification code, it provides an output signal indicating this to the access means 5 and the cursor address change means 7.

In response, the access means 5 stops reading the code. On the other hand, the cursor address changing means 7 changes the cursor address so that the cursor is displayed at the display position on the CRTl screen corresponding to the storage position in the code storage device [4] storing the detected SF identification code. The cursor address in the address storage means 3 is changed.

Refer now to FIG. This is the access means 5-identification code detection means 6 in the basic configuration shown in FIG. This shows a more specific embodiment of the present invention in which the functions of the cursor address changing means 7 and the key operating means 8 are realized by a microprocessor (MPU) 20 and a microprogram.

The MPtJ20 is connected to the address register (A
It has a configuration including various circuits including R) 21 and a register group 22. Since such a configuration is generally well known, detailed explanation will be omitted. MPU20
A control storage device 23, a refresh buffer 24, a video control circuit 25, and a keyboard interface circuit 29 are connected to a bus 34 extending from the bus 34. In addition.

Bus lines 34 include data buses, address buses, and control lines.

Control storage! 23 stores microprograms for controlling various operations of the MPU 20. The refresh buffer 24 corresponds to the code storage means 4 in FIG. 1, and stores not only the aforementioned SF identification code but also various codes for display. The video control circuit 25 has the function of extracting character dot pattern data from the character generator 27 in accordance with the character code extracted from the refresh buffer 24 and displaying it on the CRT screen 28. Furthermore, the video control circuit 25 has a cursor address register (CAR) 26, and also has the function of displaying a cursor C at a display position according to its contents.

A keyboard 31 is connected to the keyboard interface circuit 29 . The keyboard 31 has various keys. When any key is operated, keyboard interface circuit 29 sets the scan code representing that key in scan code register 30 and sends an interrupt request signal on line 3 requesting that the scan code be read.
5 to the MPU 20. The MPU 20 sets an appropriate address in the AR 21 so that if only the control storage device 23 and the refresh buffer 24 are used, the fCAR
26 and scan code register 30 can also be selectively designated for read or write operations.

The keys of keyboard 31 include a cursor select key 32 and a selectable field tab (SFT) key 33 provided in accordance with the present invention. That is, the SFT key 33 is the control key lO in FIG.
, and is used to move the cursor to a selectable field. Since the operation sequence of the MPU 20 when the operator presses the SFT key 33 is shown in FIG. 3, the cursor movement control operation will be explained in more detail with reference to FIG. 3 and FIG.

The keyboard interface circuit 29 is the SFT key 33
When detecting an operation, MPtJ 20 sets the corresponding scan code in scan code register 30 and issues an interrupt request signal on line 35, as described above. Take successive instructions of the keyboard interrupt microprogram from , and read the scan code in the scan code register 30 accordingly (step 40 in FIG. 3) + SFT key 33
It is determined whether the scan code is (step 41).

If it is not the scan code of the SFT key 33, a corresponding microprogram is extracted and an appropriate operation is performed, but when the scan code of the SFT key 33 is detected, -S
The microprogram related to the FT key 33 is taken out and the following operations are performed.

First, the cursor address in the CAR 26 of the video control circuit 25 is read into the register 22a of the register group 22 in the MPU 20 (step 42). In this embodiment, the address itself indicating the storage location in the refresh buffer 24 is read. is used as a cursor address indicating the display position on the CRT screen 28. Therefore, the cursor address read into register 22a is.

It also shows the storage location corresponding to the current cursor display position. Further, in this embodiment, the SFT key 33 is set to 9, which is used to command the cursor movement to the selectable field located after the current cursor display position, that is, in the direction of gradually increasing addresses, so the SFfi separate code is In the search for.

First, add 1 to the cursor address in the register 22a and set it in the AR 21 (step 43).

Using this, the code in refresh buffer 24 is read and stored in register 22b of register group 22 (step 44).

Next, it is determined whether or not the code in the register 22b is an SF identification code (step 45).This determination operation is performed by storing an SFfi separate code in the other register 22c in advance, and then inputting it into the register 22b. This is done by comparing the code within. If the SFfi-specific code is not detected, the address in AR 21 is incremented (step 46) and reading of the code from refresh buffer 24 is repeated until it is detected.

When a SFjll separate code is detected, the video control circuit 25 writes the address in -AR21 to CAR26 as a new cursor address (step 47).
The cursor C is displayed at the display position specified by the contents of 6, that is, at the top display position of the selectable field. Figure 2 shows three selectable screens on the CRT screen 28.
A simple example is shown in which field 36.3 is displayed. If the SFT key 33 is pressed while the cursor C is initially at the position shown in the figure, the cursor C will immediately move to the first display position P of the field 36, and if the SFT key 33 is pressed again, the cursor C will be moved to the field 36. The process moves to the first display section fffQ of 37. S again one more time
When the FT key 33 is pressed, the display position wR8 moves to the beginning of the top field 38.

In this case, when reading the code from the refresh buffer 24 for searching for the SF identification code,
Address rotation is performed so that next to the storage location corresponding to the display position in the lower right corner of the CRT screen 28, the storage location corresponding to the display position in the upper left corner is specified.

After positioning cursor C in a desired selectable field, the operator can select information in that selectable field by pressing cursor select key 32.

Although the embodiment described above has only one SFT key 33 for moving the cursor C in only one direction, two SFT keys are provided, one for forward movement as described above, and the other for forward movement as described above. It is also possible to use it for movement in the opposite direction. In that case, it is determined which of the forward SFT and reverse SFT is pressed, and depending on the control result, the AR21
Step 41-4:L in FIG.
It is necessary to change 46.

〔Effect of the invention〕

According to the present invention, the cursor can be moved to a selectable field much more quickly and accurately than in the prior art using cursor movement keys.

When we actually conducted an experiment to move the cursor to a desired selectable field, we found that it took an average of 1 minute and 44 seconds when using the cursor movement keys.
When performed using the SFT key according to the invention, an average of 4
Data shows that it only took 8 seconds.

This average cursor movement operation time of 48 seconds is
This is similar to the time taken when using a pen. That is, according to the present invention, work efficiency comparable to that of a light pen, which requires an expensive mechanism, can be achieved at a low cost.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 shows a basic embodiment of the present invention, Fig. 2 shows an embodiment using a microprocessor, and Fig. 3 shows an S
3 is a flowchart illustrating a microprocessor operation sequence related to FT key operation. 1... CRT display section, 2... Video control means. 3...Cursor address changing means, 4...Code storage means, 5...Accessing means, 6...Identification code detection means-7...Cursor address changing means, 8 . . . Key operation detection means, 9 . . . Key input means, 10 . . . Control keys. Procedural amendment (voluntary) March 29, 1985

Claims (1)

[Claims] A first storage means for storing a cursor address;
A display control device having a function of displaying a cursor at a display position on a display surface specified by the cursor address, and displaying a character code or control code representing information to be displayed on the display screen. a storage means for storing an identification code of each selectable field containing information selectable by an operator in a storage location corresponding to the position thereof; key input means having a control key operable to command that a cursor should be displayed in a field; key operation detection means for producing an output signal indicative of the operation of the control key; In response to the generation of the output signal from the operation detecting means, codes located at successive memory positions that are continuous in a predetermined direction with the memory position in the second memory means corresponding to the cursor display position at that time as a reference point are detected. access means for reading out sequentially, and checking whether the code read by the access means is the predetermined identification code or not, and when the code is the predetermined identification code, producing a detection output signal indicating the same; and changing the cursor address of the first storage means so that the cursor is displayed at a display position corresponding to the storage position of the identification code, according to the detection output signal of the identification code detection means and the identification code detection means. A display control device comprising: means.