Method for making cursor form

• US 5,625,771 A
• Filed: 10/28/1993
• Issued: 04/29/1997
• Est. Priority Date: 11/04/1992
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
• Inventors: Okuda, Hiroyuki, Sakaguchi, Toshiaki
• Primary Examiner(s): Zimmerman, Mark K.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Vo, Cliff N.
• Application Number:
  US08/144,838
• Time in Patent Office: 1,279 Days
• Field of Search: 395/148, 395/149, 395/155, 395/161, 395/147, 364/419.2, 345/145, 434/150, 434/153
• US Class Current: 715/207
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0481 based on specific properties of the displayed interaction object or a metaphor-based environment, e.g. interaction with desktop elements like windows or icons, or assisted by a cursor's changing behaviour or appearance
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04812 Interaction techniques based on cursor appearance or behaviour, e.g. being affected by the presence of displayed objects

Abstract

A cursor form is created for linking parts of a displayed image with corresponding entries of a table. When setting a link by designating a cursor on the display screen, a cursor for designating the location where a link is to be set surely and quickly is provided. Table data of the table (for example, a residents information table) consisting of image data (for example, a map) and a plurality of entries for setting links to this image data are displayed on the output device, and a mark which is the same as that of a predetermined item in the entry selected to set a link from the display table is designated by the cursor on a display image. When obtaining the location information on said designated image having the same mark, the data of a predetermined item among the entry data selected from the table is converted to image data, and the cursor form data is constituted. Thereafter, a cursor having this form is displayed on the display image, and a user sets a link between the image data and table data using this cursor.

Claims

1. A method for making a cursor form, by using a processor connected with an input device, a display device and a storage device, for linking a part of an image displayed on said display device with one of a plurality of entries of table data stored in said storage device, the method comprising the steps of:

a) displaying on said display device said image and said table data including a plurality of entries;

b) reading from said storage device data of a selected entry, said selected entry being selected from said table data by using said input device;

c) generating said cursor form by converting a character string included in a predetermined item of said selected entry to cursor form data;

d) obtaining location information for a part of said image including a same mark as that of said character string by designating a location including said same mark with said cursor form displayed on said display device, said location being previously undetermined; and

e) setting a link between said selected entry and said obtained location information.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein said step c) further comprises the steps of:

f) storing the link, set in step e), in a link information file;

g) deciding whether links are already set to said selected entry based on links stored in the link information file in said step f); and

h) changing cursor display status of said cursor form data displayed on said display device according to whether a link is set.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein said step c), further comprises the steps of:

i) if an instruction for changing said predetermined item of said selected entry to a second item is inputted from said input device, generating said cursor form by converting the character string of the second item designated by said change instruction included in said selected entry to cursor form data.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein said image is map data and said table data is residents information.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein said generated cursor form can obtain location information in any area of the display of said display device.

6. A method for making a cursor form, by using a processor connected with an input device, a display device and a storage device, for linking a part of an image displayed on said display device with one of a plurality of entries of table data stored in said storage device, the method comprising the steps of:

a) displaying on said display device said image and said table data including a plurality of entries;

b) reading from said storage device data of a selected entry, said selected entry being selected from said table data by using said input device;

c) generating a cursor form by converting a character string included in a predetermined item of said selected entry to cursor form data, wherein said step of generating a cursor form comprises the substeps of;

c1) obtaining said character string, including a predetermined number of characters, from the beginning of the character string of said predetermined item included in said selected entry;

c2) comparing said obtained character string with character strings of the data included in the predetermined item of other entries in said table data successively;

c3) if the same character string is not found in said other entries, generating said cursor form by converting said obtained character string to cursor form data; and

c4) if the character string is found in said other entries, incrementing the predetermined number of obtained characters by one until said obtained character string differs from the character strings of said other matching entries, and generating said cursor form by converting said obtained character string to cursor form data;

d) obtaining location information for a part of said image including a same mark as that of said character string by designating a location including said same mark with said cursor form displayed on said display device, said location being previously undetermined; and

e) setting a link between said selected entry and said obtained location information.