JPH0744349A - Image display method and device - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [Purpose] The windows to be displayed can be freely moved between the displays connected to the network. [Structure] Window 1 displayed on display 514
41 indicates management information 515 by the window control unit 511.
It is managed by. In addition, the window display unit 513 is
Information on the displayed window is managed by the display information 517. When the window 141 is dragged to the icon 142 to be displayed on another display, the window display unit 513 extracts the information of the moved window from the display information, and the inter-window manager communication unit 512.
Pass to. Information about the window is displayed as a window 241 on the display 524 from the window display portion 523 of another terminal or the like on the network.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image display method and apparatus for controlling a display unit for each window or the like.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there is a method of displaying a plurality of windows on one display by dividing or superimposing the screen for each area called a window. In this method, an application having one or more windows exists, and a manager that manages all windows of all applications exists. In this case, as a method of displaying windows, the method of arranging windows so that they do not overlap is called tiled window display.A display method that allows overlapping windows and hides the overlapping lower window part It is called overlapping window display.

In the case of a computer having a sub-display, it has a method of displaying a particular window or particular information on the sub-display. In the method of displaying a specific window, an application has its own means for displaying a specific window on a sub-display, or a window manager determines a specific window.

In these systems, input from a user and display are managed by one computer, and input and display are performed.

There is also a method in which a plurality of computers are connected to a network, and when the window system of each computer is in a movable state, one computer requests window management of another computer for window management. In this case, there are two types of requesting computers, one for requesting execution of the application itself and the other for requesting only the user interface.
A format for requesting only the user interface is shown in FIG. PS1 and PS2 in the figure are units of applications running on each computer. PS2 in OS1 indicates a state in which a window manager on the OS2 side is requested to perform display and input operations. In this case, it is difficult to move the window between the displays after this state.

[0006]

In the window display by one display, the actual display area (the area in which the window display area can be displayed at one time regardless of the logical display area) is limited, so that the window is displayed at one time. There are limited windows that can be used. For example, in the tiled window display method, as the number of display windows increases, the size of each window becomes smaller, making it difficult to see. Therefore, in reality, only a few windows are displayed. Even in the overlap type display system, when many windows are opened, the overlapping portions increase and the windows are hidden behind, so that the same problem eventually occurs.

A system with a sub-display is at most 1
Only one window can be extracted and this does not solve the problem.

In the conventional method using a network connection, any number of windows can be requested to another computer for window display, so that the limitation in window display is removed and the problem of the display area is solved. However, since all display windows are managed by the window manager on the display side, it is difficult to move between the displays once the windows are displayed.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned conventional example, and arranges and displays a window on an arbitrary display between computers to which a plurality of displays can be connected, and is processed by a window manager on the display side, or An object of the present invention is to provide a window display method and apparatus that can be arbitrarily moved between display displays by processing by an application.

[0010]

In order to achieve the above object, the image display method of the present invention has the following constitution.

An image display device for displaying an image on a plurality of display screens connected by a network, having image management information for each window, and displaying the image on the display screen based on the management information. Display control means for controlling
An instruction means for instructing a display state and a communication means for transmitting and receiving the management information via the network according to the instruction means are provided.

The image display method of the present invention has the following configuration.

An image display method for displaying an image on a plurality of display screens connected by a network, which has image management information for each window, and displays the image on the display screen based on the management information. A display control step for controlling
An instruction step of instructing a display state and a communication step of transmitting / receiving the management information via the network according to the instruction are provided.

[0014]

With the above arrangement, the image display device and method of the present invention are capable of transmitting and receiving management information via the network,
Images can be exchanged between multiple display screens connected to the network.

[0015]

First Embodiment FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a feature of the present invention on one computer and a display. In the figure, 501 is a window control unit that manages windows used by applications. The window control unit 501 manages windows of applications executed on the nuclear computer. An information list 504 for window management by the window control unit 501 has a window number for window management, an ID of a window display unit that controls a display at the display destination, and window information.

Reference numeral 502 is an inter-window manager communication unit that communicates with a window manager (control unit, display unit) operating on another computer. Reference numeral 505 denotes window manager information for communication, which has an ID of a window manager to be connected, a communication address, and protocol information.

A window display unit 503 displays windows and performs input processing. Window control unit 50
Displaying a plurality of windows given from 1 and moving windows according to input, resizing, and other window display operations. Further, when it is necessary to exchange information with the application based on the input result, communication with the application is also performed through the inter-window manager communication unit 502. Reference numeral 506 denotes window display information for display and input, which is a window manager ID having a window control unit of the core window and a window control unit 501.
It has a window number and window information managed by.

FIG. 2 shows a connection configuration between two computers. The configuration shown in FIG. 1 is configured by each computer and is network-connected through the inter-window manager communication unit. Window control unit 501 in FIG.
2 corresponds to the window control units 511 and 521, the communication unit 502 in FIG. 1 corresponds to the communication units 512 and 522 in FIG. 2, and the display unit 503 in FIG. 1 corresponds to the display units 513 and 523 in FIG. Reference numerals 514 and 524 are displays connected to each computer. Reference numerals 515 and 525 correspond to the window manager information 505 shown in FIG.
This is window management information managed by 521. 51
6, 526 is the window manager information 5 shown in FIG.
This is connection information between window managers in the same format as 05, and is managed by the communication units 512 and 522, respectively. 51
Reference numeral 7,527 is display information in the same format as the information 506 shown in FIG. 1 in the window.

The operation of this embodiment will be illustrated with the above-mentioned configuration. The window 141 is managed by the control unit 511 and is displayed by the display unit 513. The information for managing the window 141 is the information 151, and the information for displaying is the information 17
It is 1. The icon 142 clearly indicates another window manager to be connected, and is displayed by the display unit 513 based on the information managed by the communication unit 512. Window 241
Is a window managed by the control unit 521 and displayed on the display unit 523. The management information of the window 241 is recorded as the information 152, and the displayed information is recorded as the information 271. The icon 242 clearly indicates another window manager to be connected, and is displayed by the display unit 523 based on the information managed by the communication unit 522. With this information and configuration, the information in the window 141 can be exchanged through the display unit 513-communication unit 512-control unit 511, and the information in the window 241 can be displayed in the display unit 523-communication unit 522-communication unit 5.
12-Replaceable through control 511.

Next, the operation will be described. When the application is started from the window 141, the window 141
A new application (hereinafter referred to as AP2) is activated on the computer on which the application (hereinafter referred to as AP1) operates, that is, on the computer on which the control unit 511 operates. In generating the window of AP2, the control unit 511 refers to the window display unit ID of the window management information 151 of AP1 to determine the window display unit of the window of AP2. The window information, window display ID, and window number when AP2 is started are determined,
The window management information required by the control unit 511 is determined. This management information and control unit ID are passed to the communication unit 512.
The communication unit 512 passes the management information and the control unit ID to the target window display unit based on the display unit ID inside the management information. The window display section creates window display information based on the passed information and displays the window on the screen.

When the user moves the display between windows (the window 141 is replaced by the icon 142).
(Drag to, etc.), the destination window display unit passes the destination window display unit ID and the window display information to the inter-window manager communication unit, and erases the window to be moved. The inter-window manager communication unit, based on the destination window display unit ID,
Send the window display information to the destination window display section.
In addition, the window display information and the destination window display ID are passed from the window display information management source ID to the control unit that manages this window. As a result, the window control unit recognizes the display destination of the moved window management information. The destination window display unit displays a window according to the passed information. Taking an example of an instruction to move the window 141 to the display indicated by the icon 142, the display unit 513 passes the display information of the window 141 and the ID 02 of the movement destination to the communication unit 512. The communication unit 512 passes the display information and the movement destination ID to the control unit 511 and also to the movement destination communication unit 522. The communication unit 522 transfers the received information to the display unit 523 and displays the window on the corresponding display 524. In the control unit 511, the communication unit 51
The display destination of the management information is changed based on the information received from 2. By this operation, the window information is thereafter exchanged through the control unit 511, the communication unit 512, the communication unit 522, and the control unit 521.

When the window is deleted, the window information to be deleted and the management source ID are sent from the window control section to the inter-window manager communication section, and the inter-window communication section transfers the window information to the display destination window display section. The window display unit deletes the core window from the sent information and deletes the information corresponding to the deleted window from the window display information.

With the above configuration and function, it is possible to move windows between displays in a device having a plurality of display displays and input devices.

[0024]

[Second Embodiment] As a second embodiment, a method of collectively managing window manager information will be described. In this case,
As shown in, a window manager communication management unit, which performs central processing of communication between window managers, is added. The other parts are the same as in FIG. In the first embodiment, the inter-window manager communication section identifies the communication partner from the ID and transfers the information, but in the present embodiment, the inter-window manager communication section temporarily transfers information to the inter-window manager communication management section. And the information is transferred to the destination window manager communication management section by this communication management section. This transfer method is different from that of the fifth embodiment. According to this transfer method, it becomes easy to add a system and change each system when the number of IDs increases.

[0025]

Third Embodiment As a third embodiment, one computer has a plurality of displays and input devices. In this case, as shown in FIG. 4, it has one window control section, two window manager communication sections, and two window display sections. On the other hand, the communication between the window managers is different only in the portion which is not connected to the window control unit, and the same operation as that of the above-described embodiment connects, displays and inputs a plurality of displays. Further, the movement of windows between different displays in one computer can be smoothly processed by having a means for checking the communication between window managers and sending information to the communication section between managers inside the system. As a result, windows can be moved between displays in a system having one computer and a plurality of displays and input devices.

That is, in the devices of the first and second embodiments, each computer is configured with the same window system or a window system capable of semantic communication on a network to which a plurality of computers are connected. , Windows can be moved and operated arbitrarily among multiple displays. The same applies when one computer has a plurality of displays.

The present invention may be applied to a system composed of a plurality of devices or an apparatus composed of a single device. Further, it goes without saying that the present invention can be applied to the case where it is achieved by supplying a program to a system or an apparatus.

[0028]

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a system configuration diagram showing a first embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a system configuration diagram showing the connection and flow of the system when the systems are connected.

FIG. 3 is a system configuration diagram showing a second embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a system configuration diagram showing a third embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a configuration diagram of a conventional example of network connection.

[Explanation of symbols]

501, 511, 521 window control unit, 502, 512, 522 window manager communication unit, 503, 513, 523 window display unit, 514, 524 display device.

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. An image display device for displaying an image on a plurality of display screens connected by a network, comprising image management information for each window, and an image to be displayed on the display screen based on the management information. An image display device, comprising: display control means for controlling the display of the display; instruction means for instructing a display state; and communication means for transmitting and receiving the management information via the network according to the instruction means. . 2. An image display method for displaying an image on a plurality of display screens connected by a network, comprising image management information for each window, and an image to be displayed on the display screen based on the management information. And a communication step of transmitting and receiving the management information via the network in accordance with the instruction.