INPUT DEVICE AND METHOD FOR A DOCUMENT-PREPARING SYSTEM

Abstract: The document preparing system in accordance with the present invention comprises: input processing means for detecting the per-unit-time moving amount of a click such as a mouse and for supplying information to be used for calculation for correction; correction means for executing a calculation for correction based on informa­ tion supplied from the input processing means and for supplying a corrective value; and mouse cursor moving amount calculation means for calculating the per-unit-­ time moving amount of a mouse cursor using the correc­ tive value and the per-unit-time mouse moving amount. According to the present invention, as the mouse moving speed is higher, the mouse cursor moving speed is further increased. This enables to closely reproduce the mouse user's operation feeling that a fine movement of the mouse is slowly made while a rough movement thereof is quickly made. This improves a smooth operational ef­ fectiveness of the mouse.

Description: FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a document preparing system having a user-manipulable input device, hereinafter called a clicking input device, such as a mouse, for a computer, a word-processor or the like. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION A clicking input device such as a mouse is generally used as an input device for office machines typically represented by computers. The combination of such a clicking input device with a display device enables the operator to carry out an interactive processing with respect to a machine. More specifically, the operator may operate a mouse cursor on the display device by operating a mouse by hand. The mouse cursor is moved according to the movement of the mouse as if the movement of the mouse is associated directly with the movement of the mouse cursor. This enables the operator to concentrate his attention on the screen of the display device. Fig. 3 shows a method of moving a mouse cursor with the use of a mouse in a conventional document preparing system; Fig. 3 (b) illustrates the movement of the mouse on a mouse input board 13, and Fig. 3 (a) illustrates the corresponding movement of the mouse cursor on a display screen 9. The moving amount of the mouse has no relation to time. For example, the movement of the mouse from a position 14 to a position 15, or from the position 15 to a position 16 is reflected, as it is, on the display device 9. Such movement is displayed as the movement of the mouse cursor from a position 10 to a position 11, or from the position 11 to a position 12. At this time, even though the mouse is moved from the position 15 to the position 16 at a speed higher than that at which the mouse is moved from the position 14 to the position 15, the movement of the mouse cursor from the position 11 to the position 12 is not carried out at a speed higher than that of the mouse cursor movement from the position 10 to the position 11. That is, regardless of the mouse moving amount, the mouse cursor is moved by an amount in which the mouse movement amount is multiplied by a constant. It is therefore difficult to efficiently achieve both fine and broad movements of the mouse. More specifically, the mouse cursor moving method in a conventional document preparing system is of the linear type in which the movement of the mouse cursor on the display device corresponding to the mouse operation by the operator, is in function of only the amount of mouse movement on the mouse input board. Accordingly, it is difficult to closely reproduce the user's operation feeling that a fine operation is slowly made, while a rough operation is quickly made. This is particularly disadvantageous in a bit map display having a high resolution. From JP-A-62-236025, there is known a cursor control system in which the cursor moving amount is calculated according to the sum of a value proportional to the moving amount of the mouse and a value proportional to the product of the moving amount and the speed of the mouse. The calculation necessitates a hardware structure which is undesirably complicated and costly. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a document preparing system in which the mouse cursor may be precisely designated or positioned in a fine area on a display device by operating the mouse slowly and finely, while the mouse may be quickly moved to a remote position so that the per-unit-time moving amount of the mouse cursor may be increased. It is another object of the present invention to provide a document preparing system capable of closely reproducing the operation feeling that a fine movement of the mouse is slowly made while a rough movement of the mouse is quickly made, thereby to improve a smooth operational effectiveness. To achieve the above-mentioned objects, in one aspect, the present invention provides a document preparing system for controlling movement of a cursor on the screen of a display device in dependence upon movement on a surface of a user-manipulable input device including a clicking input device such as a mouse, the system comprising: input processing means for detecting the per-unit-time moving amount of the input device as an integer number m; correction calculation means for calculating a correction value according to the equation: Σ m i for m i > 0, where m i = m - iN, i = 1, 2, 3, ... and N is a predetermined threshold value of said per-unit-time device moving amount m, said correction value being zero for m ≦ N; and cursor moving amount calculation means for calculating the per-unit-time moving amount of said cursor on the display screen by addition of said correction value to said per-unit-time device moving amount m. In another aspect, the invention provides a method for controlling movement of a cursor on the screen of a display device as defined in the appended claim 6. According to the above-mentioned arrangement, when the per-unit-time mouse moving amount is small, the per-unit-time mouse cursor moving amount is linearly proportional to the per-unit-time mouse moving amount. When the per-unit-time mouse moving amount is great, the per-unit-time mouse cursor moving amount is so corrected as to be further increased. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Figures 1 and 2 show an embodiment of the present invention; Figure 1 is a block diagram of the arrangement of the present invention; Figure 2 is a graph showing the per-unit-time moving amount of a mouse cursor corresponding to the per-unit-time moving amount of a mouse, according to each of the present invention and a conventional system; and Figure 3 shows how a mouse cursor movement corresponds to a mouse movement according to a conventional system; Figure 3 (a) showing a display device, and Figure 3 (b) showing a mouse input device. DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS The following description will discuss an embodiment of the present invention with reference to Figs. 1 and 2. As shown in Fig. 1, processing is made such that a per-unit-time mouse moving amount m entered from a mouse input device 1 is sent to a mouse input processing unit 2, as input processing means, in which a calculation of (m1 = m - N) is carried out and the result value m1 (information to be used for calculation for correction) is sent to a correction calculation unit 3 as correction calculation means. Here, N is a threshold constant of the per-unit-time mouse moving amount m . Processing is also made such that the per-unit-time mouse moving amount m is sent to a cursor moving amount calculation processing unit 4 which constitutes mouse cursor moving amount calculation means. The per-unit-time mouse moving amount m is the total sum of pulses having a predetermined frequency which are generated from a pulse generator (not shown) during a predetermined period of time. Accordingly, it may be judged that the mouse moving speed is higher as the moving amount m is greater. When m1 is positive, the correction calculation unit 3 further executes a correction processing to be discussed later, and the corrective value thus obtained is sent to the cursor moving amount calculation processing unit 4. When m1 is equal to 0 or negative, the corrective value sent from the correction calculation unit 3 to the cursor moving calculation processing unit 4, is equal to 0. In the cursor moving amount calculation processing unit 4, the corrective value obtained from the correction calculation unit 3 is added to the per-unit-time moving amount m obtained from the mouse input processing unit 2. The resultant value this added is sent, as a per-unit-time mouse cursor moving amount, to a cursor display processing unit 5. In the cursor display processing unit 5, the per-unit-time mouse cursor moving amount sent from the cursor moving amount calculation processing unit 4 is added to a value representing the position of the mouse cursor located immediately before the mouse is operated. Thus, there is obtained a mouse cursor position on a display device 6. The mouse cursor is then actually moved to the position thus obtained. When ml is positive, the correction processing in the correction calculation unit 3 is made as outlined below. When m2 is equal to (m1 - N), and m3 is equal to (m2 - N) and so on, (m1 + m2 + m3 + ...) is used as a corrective value (where m1, m2, m3 ... are positive). Accordingly, as the per-unit-time mouse moving amount m is greater, the corrective value is greater. As the result, the per-unit-time mouse cursor moving amount is further increased. For example, when the per-unit-time mouse moving amount m is equal to a value in a range from 1 to N, m₁, i.e. (m - N) is equal to or smaller than 0. Accordingly, the mouse moving amount m represents, as it is, the mouse cursor moving amount. When m is a value in a range from (N + 1) to 2N, ml is equal to (m - N) which is equal to (N + 1 - N) which is equal to 1, where m is equal to (N + 1). Therefore, m2 is equal to m₁ - N, i.e. (1 - N) which is smaller than zero. The corrective value is thus m₁ = 1 and the mouse cursor moving amount is m + m₁, i.e. N + 2. On the other hand, where m is equal to 2N, ml is equal to (m - N) which is equal to (2N - N) which is equal to N. Therefore, m2 is equal to m₁ - N, i.e. (N - N) which is equal to zero. Accordingly, the corrective value is equal to m1, i.e. N. As the result, the mouse cursor moving amount is equal to (m + m1), i.e. 2N + N = 3N. Likewise, the corrected value of the mouse cursor moving amount is equal to (m + m1 + m2) when m is in a range from (2N + 1) to 3N. Thus, the mouse cursor moving amount may be successively corrected such that, as the per-unit-time mouse moving amount m is greater, the corrective value becomes greater and the per-unit-time mouse cursor moving amount on the actual screen of the display device is also greater. Fig. 2 shows the relationship between the mouse moving amount (on the axis of abscissa) and the mouse cursor moving amount (on the axis of ordinate). In Fig. 2, the mouse cursor movement in the document preparing system in accordance with the present invention is shown by a solid line 7, while a conventional movement is shown by a two-dot chain line 8 as a comparative example. For example, when the per-unit-time mouse moving amount m is equal to the threshold constant N, the per-unit-time mouse cursor moving amounts in the present invention and the conventional method are equal to N. That is, the mouse cursor on the display device according to the present invention is moved at the same speed as that in the conventional method. When the per-unit-time mouse moving amount m is equal to 3N, the mouse cursor moving amount is equal to 3N in the conventional method, while it is equal to 6N in the present invention. That is, the mouse cursor on the display device in the present invention is moved at double the conventional mouse cursor moving speed. It is understood from the foregoing that, according to the mouse cursor moving method in the document preparing system of the present invention, as the mouse moving amount is greater, the mouse cursor moving amount is further increased as compared with the conventional method. As thus described, the document preparing system according to the present invention comprises: input processing means for detecting the per-unit-time moving amount of a clicking input device such as mouse and for supplying information to be used for calculation for correction; correction means for executing a calculation for correction based on information supplied from the input processing means and for supplying a corrective value; and mouse cursor moving amount calculation means for calculating the per-unit-time moving amount of a mouse cursor by addition of the corrective value to the per-unit-time mouse moving amount. With such arrangement, the mouse cursor may be precisely designated and positioned in a fine area on the display device by operating the mouse slowly and finely, while the mouse may be quickly moved to a remote position so that the per-unit-time mouse cursor moving amount is increased, enabling the mouse cursor to be quickly moved to the desired position. This enables the mouse to be smoothly operated. Further, a changeover of the mouse cursor moving amount may be achieved quite naturally and smoothly with no particular operation required. This gives the operator a good mouse operation feeling.

Claims: A document preparing system for controlling movement of a cursor on the screen of a display device in dependence upon movement on a surface of a user-manipulable input device including a clicking input device such as a mouse, the system comprising: input processing means (2) for detecting the per-unit-time moving amount of the input device as an integer number m; correction calculation means (3) for calculating a correction value according to the equation: Σ m i for m i > 0, where m i = m - iN, i = 1, 2, 3, ... and N is a predetermined threshold value of said per-unit-time device moving amount m, said correction value being zero for m ≦ N; and cursor moving amount calculation means (4) for calculating the per-unit-time moving amount of said cursor on the display screen by addition of said correction value to said per-unit-time device moving amount m. A document preparing system according to claim 1, further comprising: cursor display processing means (5) for calculating the position on the display screen to which the cursor is to be moved according to the per-unit-time cursor moving amount supplied by said cursor moving amount calculation means (4) and the position of the cursor immediately before said input device is operated. A document preparing system according to claim 1 or claim 2, further comprising: a mouse (1) including a clicking input device as said input device. A document preparing system according to any one of claims 1 to 3, further comprising: a display device (6) for displaying said cursor. A document preparing system according to any one of the preceding claims, further comprising: a pulse generator for supplying pulses having a predetermined frequency and a counter for counting the number of said pulses to determine said per-unit-time moving amount of the input device. A method for controlling movement of a cursor on the screen of a display device in dependence upon the movement on a surface of a user-manipulable input device including a clicking input device such as a mouse, the method comprising the steps of: detecting the per-unit-time moving amount of the input device as an integer number m; calculating a correction value according to the equation: Σ m i for m i > 0, where m i = m - iN, i = 1, 2, 3 ... and N is a predetermined threshold value of said per-unit-time device moving amount m, said correction value being zero for m ≦ N; and calculating the per-unit-time moving amount of said cursor on the display screen by addition of said correction value to said per-unit-time device moving amount m.

Inventors: FUJIMURA, SHIGERU, HARADA, SHIGEAKI, NAGAYA, TOSHIKAZU, NAKANE, FUTOSHI, TAKIGUCHI, YASUHIRO, YAMAMOTO, YASUSHI
Applicants: SHARP KABUSHIKI KAISHA
Application year: 1989
Main classification: G06F3
IPC codes: G06F3