Patent ID: 7716600

Claim:
A computer comprising: a display device with a screen; an interface operatively connected with the screen, the screen displaying at least either of icons or input control portions respectively associated with each of a plurality of functions and, when one of the functions associated with one of the icons or the input control portions is selected by means of one of the icons or the input control portions displayed on the screen, reporting the selected function to a function processing section which activates the function, wherein the screen has a first display region displaying one or more of the icons and a second display region displaying one or more of the input control portions, and wherein the interface comprises display control means which allows the icons to be displayed in the first display region on the screen in a repeatedly changing manner by repeatedly moving each of the icons across the first display region automatically and which allows the input control portions to be displayed in the second display region on the screen on a permanent basis, wherein the display control means is capable of deleting the icons displayed in the repeatedly changing manner in the first display region so as to display, in the second display region, the input control portions associated with the same functions as the deleted icons, and deleting the input control portions displayed in the second display region so as to display, in the first display region, the icons associated with the same functions as the deleted input control portions in the repeatedly changing manner, wherein said deleting the icons and the input control portions is performed in response to a user selecting, from a displayed list of names of each of the plurality of functions, one or more checkboxes displayed in association with said names of the plurality of functions, to designate either the first display region or the second display region for one or more of the plurality of functions, and the display control means automatically determining in response to said selection, whether to display the associated icon in the first display region on the screen in the repeatedly changing manner or to display the associated input control portions in the second display region on the screen on a permanent basis for each of the plurality of functions by reading a data table that stores in correlated form identification numbers describing the plurality of functions, image data of the icons, image data of the input control portions, display region data describing the display regions as set by said user selection.