To reduce the load of internal processing while improving operability.

A control unit 13 includes: a mouse 23 for instructing execution of processing by moving a pointer to be displayed on a monitor 22; and a touch panel 51 superimposed on the monitor 22 to be depressed by a user. When the operation to the touch panel 51 is detected, a control part 56 turns the pointer which has been displayed so far to a non-display state, and when the mouse 23 is operated in such a state that the pointer is not displayed, displays the pointer again. When operating the touch panel 51 like this, visualization of the screen of the monitor 22 is facilitated and operability is improved by making the pointer non-displayed, and a processing load is reduced since the display processing of the pointer is not performed. This invention is applicable to an observation system.