Computer graphics processing and selective visual display system – Display peripheral interface input device – Cursor mark position control device
Reexamination Certificate
1998-07-20
2001-07-10
Saras, Steven (Department: 2675)
Computer graphics processing and selective visual display system
Display peripheral interface input device
Cursor mark position control device
C345S182000, C345S182000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06259432
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus that permits data entry using a pointing device, such as a mouse, under a GUI (Graphical User Interface) environment, and in particular to an information processing apparatus that can adjust the scrolling speed for data displayed in a work window of a display. More specifically, the present invention pertains to an information processing apparatus that can adjust the scrolling speed for data displayed in a work window using a pointing device, and that can visually provide a scrolling speed.
2. Description of the Related Art
In accordance with recent technological developments, various types of personal computers (PCS), such as desktops, towers and notebooks, are being produced and marketed. Because of the enhancement of the processing capabilities of CPUs (Central Processing Units) and the improvement of video sub-systems, it has become common for current PCS to include a bit map display function, i.e., a function for the drawing of individual pixels on a display. In such a hardware environment, the operating system (OS) usually can support a bit mapped display and can provide multiple windows.
The latest OSs, such as “OS/2” from IBM Corp. (“OS/2” is a trademark of IBM Corp.) and “Windows95” from Microsoft Corp.(Windows is a trademark of Microsoft Corp.), have graphical user interfaces (GUIs). A computer system that provides a GUI environment generally permits the installation of an input device (pointing device), such as a mouse, a track ball, a touch pad, a TrackPoint or a joystick, that can be used to designate coordinates. With the pointing device, a user can operate a computer system as though he or she were issuing instructions directly to the screen.
A pointing device has two basic functions: one is the two-dimensional moving of a cursor (mouse cursor) on a display screen, and the other is a clicking function used for one type of selection operation. The user can move a mouse cursor to a specific location (to an object) on a display screen, and then clicks on an object at that location to select its associated function.
Present on a display screen under a GUI environment, i.e., on a “desktop,” are many object symbols, such as icons and folders. A user can move a cursor on the desktop to a desired icon or folder by using a pointing device, such as a mouse, and can select an object symbol at the current location of the cursor by depressing (clicking) a mouse button. When, for example, an icon associated with a specific application is selected, the application is activated. Or when a folder is selected, it is opened on the desktop. Further, when a cursor is moved from a specific object symbol to another while the mouse button is held down, and the mouse button is thereafter released, i.e., when a “drag and drop” operation is performed, the moving/copying or erasure of the object symbol can be performed. In other words, under a GUI environment, a user can easily and directly enter his or her desired data merely by intuitively operating the mouse cursor while watching the screen. That is, since the user can perform almost all computer operations merely by manipulating the mouse, he or she is required neither to remember many OS commands nor to study the operation of a keyboard, as is required when using a conventional CUI (Character User Interface) environment.
Generally, only a part of a target file (a document or an image) appears in an application window displayed on the desktop due to the size of the document or image relative to the window. With regard to long word processing documents, for example, only one part of the document text appears in the window. The operation by which data within the corresponding window is moved vertically or horizontally, i.e., the scrolling operation, is conventionally performed in response to a depression or the continuing depression of one of the cursor keys on a keyboard that instructs a desired displacement.
Under a windowing environment, the data displayed within a window can be scrolled by manipulating a scroll bar. Ordinarily, scroll bars for the horizontal and vertical directions are prepared along the lower edge and the right edge of a window. A right scroll button or a left scroll button at either end of the horizontal scroll bar, or an upper scroll button or a lower scroll button at either end of the vertical scroll bar is selected by clicking on it with a mouse button. As is well known in the art, this causes data in the window to be scrolled in a desired direction.
The latest pointing device, “IntelliMouse” from Microsoft Corp., employs another form to provide a screen scroll operation. The structure and the function of the IntelliMouse will now be briefly explained.
FIG. 8
shows the external appearance of the IntelliMouse. To attain the ease with which the IntelliMouse can be held, the body
150
of the IntelliMouse is formed substantially in a J shape, and a rotary ball
152
is provided on the bottom surface of the body
150
.
One of the features of the IntelliMouse is the provision of a rotary switch
154
, called a “wheel,” that can be both rotated and depressed, and that is disposed between two conventional mouse buttons. The wheel
154
can be rotated forward or backward, each one step rotary displacement of the wheel being the equivalent of one click, and 18 steps constituting a complete revolution. A third mouse button (a middle button) can be emulated by depressing the wheel. Further, besides the independent employment available with the wheel, the combined use of the wheel and the “Ctrl” key or the “Shift” key on the keyboard can provide many additional functions. It should be noted, however, that special application software is required in order to make the wheel functions available, and that the wheel functions provided by the application software are slightly different. When application software is used that is not compatible with the use of the wheel, messages generated by the manipulation of the wheel are disregarded, and the IntelliMouse functions substantially the same as does a normal “two-button mouse.”
Merely by rotating the wheel of the IntelliMouse forward or backward, it is possible to scroll a document on a screen (a one step rotary displacement of the wheel corresponds to the scrolling of three lines). Since unlike in the conventional case, it is not necessary for the mouse cursor to be moved to the scrolling bar at the window's circumferential edge, a user can easily scroll the screen without removing his or her eyes from the document/content of the window.
When the mouse is moved while the wheel is being depressed like a button and held, the document can be sequentially scrolled at a desired speed and in a desired direction. This function is called “panning” or “sequential scrolling,” and when the wheel is released, the scrolling operation is terminated. Since the document is sequentially scrolled without the user removing his or her eyes from the document, a desired portion can be easily found.
Further, when the wheel is clicked once and the mouse is moved, the document is automatically scrolled. This function is called “auto scrolling” or the “reading mode.”
The scrolling speed for the “panning” or the “auto scrolling” is proportional to the displacement of the mouse ball. The “scrolling speed” in this case is essentially equivalent to the total volume traveled when scrolling performed in accordance with a single scrolling instruction, the operation involving the clicking the wheel and the movement of the mouse. Since the cursor is moved the instructed total scroll volume at one time, displayed data seem to be scrolled rapidly in proportion to the total scrolling volume, so that the user assumes that the scrolling volume is equivalent to the scrolling speed.
Another specific function of the IntelliMouse is a “zoom” function by which the display of the document is enlarged/reduced. Further, a “data zoom” function is provided by which data is folded and hidden or folded
Kato Naotaka
Tsuchiya Kazuo
Yamada Saturo
Doudnikoff Gregory M.
International Business Machines - Corporation
Kumar Srilakshmi
Saras Steven
LandOfFree
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