JP2007148482A - Image forming apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an image forming apparatus which can reduce a burden on a user resulting from complexity of an operation at the initial setting for equipment. <P>SOLUTION: An image forming apparatus includes an application layer 103 having a user interface 300 which displays screens to perform setting related to an operation or management, notifies the existence of relevance when items set on each screen cooperates with items set on other screens on each screen or has exclusive relevance to one another, and performs direct transition to the other screens having the relevance. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus capable of performing an initial setting via a user interface.

In recent years, copying machines can be used for various applications such as fax machines, printers, and scanners. The user needs to perform various initial settings on the device so that operations according to his / her purpose can be performed using these functions. For this reason, these image forming apparatuses generally have an interface for the user to perform various data initial settings for the device.
Since there are an enormous number of setting items set from the interface, many configuration screen configurations have been proposed so that the user can systematically understand the setting items. A typical example of such a highly usable screen design is a tree configuration setting screen flow. Each setting item is classified according to related items to create each setting screen, and the setting screen is also classified according to related contents, and a parent screen is created to organize them. Many are seen.
By having this structure in the setting screen, the user can select a category that seems to include the item he / she wants to set from the parent screen one after another, and follow the tree from the parent screen to the child screen. You can stand up and understand the setting screen and setting items.
On the other hand, if the tree child screen is traced to a deep hierarchy in the tree structure, it takes time to transition to a screen incorporated far away in the tree structure. In addition, it is difficult for the user to understand the relationship between the items set on such remotely incorporated screens and the items currently set by the user. However, in practice, setting items between screens that the user cannot find at first glance may have a linked or exclusive relationship due to the classification of setting items and device restrictions.
When the user changes setting items having such a relationship, two patterns are considered as the contents of processing. One is a case where the device overwrites another item related to the item in accordance with the user setting. The other is a case where when the user tries to make a setting, the setting cannot be performed or a warning is displayed to notify the user that some item is linked or exclusive.

First, in the case of the former, an item that the user has not changed is overwritten, which causes confusion in the setting operation. In the latter case, it is difficult for the user to understand why it is rejected. Even if an item with a content such as “Go to this screen on the tree structure and follow this child screen and set it again like this” is displayed, the user can operate up to the target screen. It is difficult to intuitively understand whether or not to transition.
In order to solve the above problem, it is necessary to realize the following two points.
(1) The item that the user intends to set is displayed in an easy-to-understand manner to the user that the item that is to be set is linked and exclusive with the item that exists on the other screen.
(2) It is possible to easily change to the screen shown in (1) where items having relevance can be confirmed.
An object of the present invention is to provide an image forming apparatus that realizes the above two points and can reduce the load on the user due to the complexity of the operation in the initial setting of the device.

In order to achieve the above object, the invention according to claim 1 displays a screen for performing settings relating to operation or management, and an item set on each screen is linked or exclusive with an item set on another screen. The image forming apparatus provided with an application layer having a user interface that directly transitions to another screen having the above-mentioned relation is notified to the user that the above-mentioned relation exists. Features.
The invention according to claim 2 is characterized in that the user interface has a key or button on the screen as a trigger for transition to another screen having relevance to the current setting item. And
In the invention according to claim 3, the user interface can set one or a plurality of setting items in one setting screen, and only when there is another screen having relevance with respect to each setting item, The image forming apparatus according to claim 2 which displays a screen that triggers a transition is a main feature.
In the invention according to claim 4, when there are a plurality of other screens having relevance to one setting item and the transition of the setting item to the related screen is selected, a plurality of transition destination candidates The image forming apparatus according to claim 2, which displays a screen showing a message to a user as a main feature.

According to the first aspect of the invention, the user can easily understand the operation content of the setting screen by clearly indicating to the user whether or not there is a relationship with another screen and the transition means. In addition, since it is possible to make a direct transition to the related item setting screen, the initial setting operation is simplified.
According to the invention described in claim 2, by displaying on the screen a key or button that triggers the transition to another screen, the position where the operation content / result is displayed and the position where the operation is viewed as viewed from the user Are the same. As a result, the line of sight is fixed and the appliance can be improved.
According to the third aspect of the present invention, for a plurality of setting items, it is displayed so that the user can understand at a glance which information about the item, and only the information on the item that the user wants to set is selected smoothly. By being able to do so, the appliance can be enhanced.
According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, the user can understand the existence of a plurality of transition destinations and the outline of the transition destination screen, and the user can select the screen that the user wants to actively transition to understand the causal relationship of the screen operation. The screen operation reflecting the user's intention can be realized.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a conceptual diagram showing the hardware and software configurations of an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. Specifically, the hierarchical relationship between the software 100 and the hardware 200 is shown. As shown in the figure, the software 100 is hierarchized. A service layer 102 is constructed above the operating system 101, and an application layer 103 is constructed above the service layer 102. The hardware 200 has a hardware resource 201. The service layer 102 of the software 100 corresponds to a driver that controls the hardware resource 201.
The present invention is characterized by the application layer 103 of the software 100. The application layer 103 includes a copy application, a scanner application, a fax application, and a printer application. The user interface 300 of the present invention (shown in FIG. 6) is included in the module of the application layer 103.
FIG. 2 is a flow configuration diagram of an initial setting screen assumed in the image forming apparatus of the present invention. The screen arranged on the upper screen represents a large classification in which setting items are bundled. When a transition trigger such as a user selecting a key is applied, the screen transitions to a child screen corresponding to the trigger content. The sub-screen also bundles a plurality of setting items, and the number of screens arranged on the lower screen increases.

FIG. 3 is a first operation flow diagram during screen display in the image forming apparatus of the present invention. When the display of the initial setting screen is instructed in step 1, a display irrelevant to the presence or absence of the related screen is drawn in step 2. In step 3, it is determined whether there is a screen related to a setting item that can be set from the currently displayed screen. If it exists, the process proceeds to step 4 to notify the interface control section that informs the user of the existence of the related screen that “there is a related screen”, and the screen display is completed in step 5. If there is no related screen at step 3, the screen display is completed at step 5 without doing anything.
FIG. 4 is a first operation flowchart at the time of screen transition in the image forming apparatus of the present invention. When the user gives support through the interface, a transition request to the related screen of step 1 is made. First, options on the interface selected by the user in step 2 are specified. Next, in step 3, the transition screen corresponding to the option is specified. When the screen is specified, in step 4, a drawing request for the transition destination screen is issued, and the process ends.
FIG. 5 is a second operation flowchart at the time of screen display in the image forming apparatus of the present invention. When the display of the initial setting screen is instructed in step 1, a display irrelevant to the presence or absence of the related screen is drawn in step 2. In step 3, it is determined whether there is a screen related to a setting item that can be set from the currently displayed screen. If it exists, the process proceeds to step 4, and a display such as a button for informing the user of the existence of the related screen is drawn on the screen. The screen display is completed at step 5. If there is no related screen at step 3, the screen display is completed at step 5 without doing anything.

FIG. 6 is a view showing a screen display example of the user interface in the image forming apparatus of the present invention. In this example, there are three setting items on one screen of the user interface 300. For each item, the related screen displays 301 and 302 are drawn only when there is a screen representing the related setting item. When the user selects this display, a screen transition request is issued as shown in the operation flow diagram of FIG.
FIG. 7 is a third operation flow chart during screen display in the image forming apparatus of the present invention. When the display of the initial setting screen is instructed in step 1, a display irrelevant to the presence or absence of the related screen is drawn in step 2. In step 3, a list of setting items that can be set is acquired from the currently displayed screen. In step 4, it is determined whether or not there is an item that has not been processed for determining whether there is a related screen. When the display of the screen is started and there are setting items, there is always an unprocessed item. Therefore, the process proceeds to step 5, and it is determined whether or not there is a related screen in the setting item currently being processed.
If there is a related screen, the process proceeds to step 6 to draw a display with the related screen, and in step 7, the next setting item is determined. If there is no related screen in step 5, do nothing and move to the next setting item in step 7. In step 4, as long as there is an undecided process setting item, the above operation is repeated. If it is determined in step 4 that all the setting items on the screen have been determined, the process proceeds to step 8 and the screen display process is terminated.

FIG. 8 is a second operation flowchart at the time of screen transition in the image forming apparatus of the present invention. When the user gives support through the interface, a transition request to the related screen of step 1 is made. First, the setting item on the interface selected by the user in step 2 is specified. Next, in step 3, it is determined whether or not there are a plurality of transition screens corresponding to the setting item. If there are not a plurality of transition destinations, a transition screen corresponding to the option is specified in step 4.
If there are a plurality of transition destinations at step 3, a display screen showing the transition destination options to the user is drawn at step 5. When one of the options is selected by the user in step 6, a transition screen corresponding to the option is specified in step 4. When the transition destination screen is specified, a drawing request for the transition destination screen is issued in step 7, and the process ends.

1 is a conceptual diagram illustrating a hardware and software configuration of an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 6 is a flow configuration diagram of an initial setting screen assumed in the image forming apparatus of the present invention. FIG. 5 is a first operation flowchart when a screen is displayed in the image forming apparatus of the present invention. FIG. 6 is a first operation flowchart at the time of screen transition in the image forming apparatus of the present invention. FIG. 6 is a second operation flowchart when a screen is displayed in the image forming apparatus of the present invention. It is a figure which shows the example of a screen display of the user interface in the image forming apparatus of this invention. FIG. 10 is a third operation flowchart when a screen is displayed in the image forming apparatus of the present invention. FIG. 10 is a second operation flowchart at the time of screen transition in the image forming apparatus of the present invention.

Explanation of symbols

100 software 103 application layer 200 hardware 300 user interface

Claims (4)

  If the screen for performing settings related to operation or management is displayed, and the items set on each screen are linked or exclusive to the items set on other screens, the above relationship exists. An image forming apparatus comprising an application layer having a user interface that notifies a user and directly transitions to another screen having the above-described relationship.   The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the user interface includes a key or a button on the screen that triggers a transition to another screen having relevance to a current setting item.   The user interface can set one or a plurality of setting items on one setting screen. Only when there is another screen having relevance for each setting item, a screen that triggers transition is displayed. The image forming apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the image forming apparatus displays the image.   The user interface displays a screen showing a plurality of transition destination candidates to the user when there are a plurality of other screens having relevance to one setting item and the transition to the related screen of the setting item is selected. The image forming apparatus according to claim 2, wherein:

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