Information display apparatus

• US 6,873,345 B2
• Filed: 03/15/2001
• Issued: 03/29/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 04/24/1997
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
• Inventors: Fukuda, Yoshibumi, Kawamata, Yukihiro, Yamaashi, Kimiya
• Primary Examiner(s): Huynh, Ba
• Application Number:
  US09/808,127
• Publication Number:
  US 20010010525A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,475 Days
• Field of Search: 345/781, 345/788, 345/792, 345/803, 345/764, 345/765, 345/744, 345/807, 345/581, 345/593, 345/594, 345/3.3, 345/3.4
• US Class Current: 715/807
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1626 with a single-body enclosure integrating a flat display, e.g. Personal Digital Assistants [PDAs]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1684 Constructional details or arrangements related to integrated I/O peripherals not covered by groups G06F1/1635 - G06F1/1675
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04803 Split screen, i.e. subdividing the display area or the window area into separate subareas
• 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: G09G 1/162 for displaying digital inputs as analog magnitudes, e.g. curves, bar graphs, coordinate axes, singly or in combination with alpha-numeric characters cathode-ray oscilloscopes for displaying analog inputs, singly or in combination with alpha-numeric characters G01R13/20; television receiver circuitry for displaying supplementary, e.g. alpha-numeric, information H04N5/445
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 5/14 Display of multiple viewports

Abstract

An adaptive information display apparatus is provided for simultaneously displaying a plurality of kinds of display information on a display screen in an optimal display form. The information display apparatus includes a work processing unit for executing a plurality of kinds of work processing based on each of data inputted from a sensor input unit and a character/coordinate input unit and outputting the results of the work processing, and a display unit for displaying the results of the plurality of kinds of work processing outputted from the work processing unit. The information display apparatus further includes a display form detector unit detecting display form data for the display unit, an arrangement rule storage unit storing an arrangement rule defining display forms corresponding to each of the plurality of kinds of work processing, and a display arrangement control unit comparing the display form data and the arrangement rule for each work to output a predetermined display arrangement instruction. The work processing unit outputs the results of each of the plurality of kinds of work processing to the display unit in a predetermined display form in accordance with the display arrangement instruction.

Claims

1. An information display apparatus including a sensor input unit inputting sensor data, a character and coordinate input unit for inputting characters and coordinates, a work processing unit executing a plurality of kinds of work processing and outputting results of the work processing based on the sensor data input from the work processing unit and selection of information to be displayed on a display screen by said character and coordinate input unit as screen displaying information, and a display unit having the display screen and displaying the screen displaying information which is the result of the plurality of kinds of work processing output from said work processing unit, said information display apparatus comprising:

a representation mode detector unit detecting representation mode data of information displayed on said display screen, and detecting a current status of the display unit, the current status including at least one of an area available for display, a number of colors allocatable for display and a drawing speed;

arrangement rule storing means for storing an arrangement rule defining an optimal representation mode corresponding to each of said plurality of kinds of work processing with respect to the current status of the display unit; and

a display arrangement rule control unit coupled to said representation mode detector unit and said arrangement rule storing means and comparing the current status of the display unit with the arrangement rules stored in said arrangement rule storing means for each work processing to output a matched representation mode to the display unit, and

in response to the output from said display arrangement control unit, said work processing unit outputting information display instructions of a representation mode in accordance with said matched representation mode to said display unit.

2. An information display apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said representation mode data detected in said representation mode detector unit is a display resolution, and the arrangement rule stored in said arrangement rule storing means comprises display areas set in accordance with the display resolution and display formats.

3. An information display apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said representation mode data detected in said representation mode detector unit is the number of display colors, and the arrangement rule stored in said arrangement rule storing means comprises the number of display colors and display formats.

4. An information display apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said representation mode data detected in said representation mode detector unit is a drawing speed, and the arrangement rule stored in said arrangement rule storing means comprises drawing speeds and display formats.

5. An information display apparatus comprising a sensor input unit for inputting sensor data, a character and coordinate input unit for inputting characters and/or coordinates, a work processing unit for executing a plurality of kinds of work processing and outputting results of the work processing based on the sensor data input from said sensor input unit and said character and coordinate input unit, and a display unit having a display screen for displaying the screen displaying information which is the results of the plurality of kinds of work processing output from said work processing unit, said information display apparatus further comprising:

arrangement rule storing means for storing an arrangement rule defining an optimal representation mode corresponding to each of said plurality of kinds of work processing with respect to a current status of the display unit, the current status including at least one of an area available for display, a number of colors allocatable for display and a drawing speed; and

a display arrangement rule control unit for comparing the current status of the display unit with the arrangement rule stored in said arrangement rule storing means for each work to output a matched display arrangement rule, and

in response to the output from said display arrangement control unit, said work processing unit outputting information display instructions of a representation mode in accordance with said matched display arrangement rule to said display unit.

6. An information display apparatus according to claim 5, wherein said work processing data detected in said work processing unit is a computation speed, and the arrangement rule stored in said arrangement rule storing means comprises computation speeds and display formats.

7. An information display apparatus according to claim 5, wherein said work processing data detected in said work processing unit is the number or works, and the arrangement rule stored in said arrangement rule storing means comprises the number of works and display formats.

8. An information display apparatus according to claim 5, wherein said work processing data detected in said work processing unit is a work load, and the arrangement rule stored in said arrangement rule storing means comprises work loads and display formats.

9. An information display apparatus according to claim 5, wherein said work processing data detected in said work processing unit is work priority, and the arrangement rule stored in said arrangement rule storing means comprises work priority levels and display formats.

10. A method of operating an information display apparatus comprising a sensor input unit inputting sensor data, a character and coordinate input unit inputting characters and coordinates, a work processing unit executing a plurality of kinds of work processing and outputting results of the work processing based on respective data input from said sensor input unit and said character and coordinate input unit, and a display unit displaying the results of the plurality of kinds of work processing output from said work processing unit, comprising the steps of:

detecting display form data for a said display unit by a display form detector unit, the display form data including at least one of an area available for display, a number of colors allocatable for display, and a drawing speed;

storing arrangement rule defining display forms corresponding to each of said plurality of kinds of work processing with respect to the current status of the display unit in a storage unit;

comparing the current status of the display unit with the arrangement rule stored in said storage unit for each work processing by a display arrangement control unit to output a predetermined display arrangement instruction; and

outputting the result of each of said plurality of kinds of work processing in a predetermined display form in accordance with said display arrangement instruction in said work processing unit.

11. A computer-readable recording medium for storing a program for causing a computer to operate an information display apparatus comprising a sensor input unit inputting sensor data, a character/coordinate input unit inputting characters and coordinates, a work processing unit executing a plurality of kinds of work processing and outputting results of the work processing based on respective data input from said sensor input unit and said character/coordinate input unit, and a display unit displaying the results of the plurality of kinds of work processing output from said work processing unit, said program comprising:

program means for causing said computer to detect display form data for said display unit, the display form data including at least one of an area available for display, a number of colors allocatable for display, and a drawing speed;

program means for causing said computer to store an arrangement rule defining display forms corresponding to each of said plurality of kinds of work processing with respect to the current status of the display unit;

program means for causing said computer to compare the current status of the display unit with said stored arrangement rule for each work processing to output a predetermined display arrangement instruction; and

program means for causing said computer functioning as said work processing unit to output the result of each of said plurality of kinds work processing in a predetermined display form in accordance with said display arrangement instruction.