Patent ID: 6876397

Claim:
A menu display apparatus comprising: display means including internally controlled means for displaying a series of interactive menus for prompting a user to make a selection and/or enter data, each said interactive menu of the said series of interactive menus comprising: a plurality of menu items within a predetermined field, each of the plurality of menu items being provided with an identifier and presented free of control of the user and in text characters of substantially common font type and size; said plurality of menu items displayed on an initial menu scene display control means in each said menu for displaying the identifier corresponding to a selected menu item on a fixed portion of the viewing screen outside of the predetermined field, wherein the identifier corresponding to the identifier of the menu item selected by said selection means and displayed on the screen is displayed within a window, operation means for operating the display means including at least an up/down key and a selection key; and selection means for inputting data for selecting an arbitrary one of the series of interactive menus, or for selecting an arbitrary one of the plurality of menu items that are displayed by the series of interactive menus, whereby the selected menu item is selected by at least an operation of said up/down key causing a selected number to be displayed and clearly conveyed to the user and rendered visually distinguishable from non-selected menu items to thereby facilitate the input operation and improve the operability of the apparatus.