JP4935408B2 - Information processing apparatus and program - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus and a program.

A technique is known in which an input device is connected to an information processing device and an instruction is given to the information processing device by operating the input device. For example, Patent Document 1 discloses a technique for giving an instruction to a copier or printer located at a remote place using a workstation connected via a network. Patent Document 2 discloses a technique for displaying images (icons) imitating various machines on a network and peripheral devices connected to the machines, and managing the system configuration using the icons. . Further, Patent Document 3 discloses a technique for displaying a television image when a keyboard is not connected in a personal computer capable of receiving a television broadcast. Further, in Patent Document 4, when displaying text data in HTML (HyperText Markup Language) format on the touch panel, a character indicating a hyperlink is displayed in a size larger than other characters and a hyperlink is designated. A technique for facilitating the operation is disclosed.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 03-253961 JP 2000-293463 A Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2001-1000087 JP 2002-366417 A

  By the way, instructions can be given to an information processing apparatus equipped with a touch panel by operating the touch panel, but another input device such as a keyboard or a mouse is connected to this type of information processing apparatus. You can also. That is, this information processing apparatus accepts an operation with a touch panel and an operation with another input device, and performs processing according to the operation.

In this case, the following problem occurs.
In the operation using the touch panel, since the soft buttons arranged on the screen are designated by a human fingertip, the size of each soft button needs to be larger than the fingertip. Therefore, the number of soft buttons that can be arranged on the screen is limited, and the types and number of contents that can be specified by the user are inevitably reduced. On the other hand, for example, with a mouse operation, a soft button can be designated using a pointer displayed on the screen, and thus such a large soft button is unnecessary.

Thus, conventionally, when the input device is connected to the information processing apparatus, the screen characteristics required for operation by the touch panel and the screen characteristics required for operation by another input device are not distinguished. The operability of could not be improved.
The present invention has been made in view of such a background, and an object of the present invention is to display different operation screens depending on whether an input device is connected or not.

  In order to solve the above-described problems, the present invention provides a display unit that has a display surface and outputs a signal corresponding to a position touched on the display surface, a connection unit to which an input device is connected, and the connection unit. When the input device is not connected to the connection means, a determination means for determining the type of the connected input device, and an operation element image representing a predetermined operation element is displayed on the display means. When connected to the connection means, a display control means for displaying on the display means an operation element image representing a plurality of operation elements corresponding to the type of the input device determined by the determination means, and output from the display means. Processing means for specifying the operation element image displayed at the position specified by the signal and performing processing according to the operation element represented by the specified operation element image. To provide a broadcast processing apparatus.

  When the input device is not connected to the connection means, the display control means displays an operation element image for inputting characters or numbers on the display means, and the display control means displays the operation device image of the input device connected to the connection means. When it is determined that the type is an input device for inputting characters or numbers, the operation device image other than the operation device image for inputting characters or numbers that can be input using the input device is displayed. It is desirable to display on the means.

  When it is determined that the type of the input device connected to the connection unit is an input device for inputting characters or numbers, the display control unit is configured to display the input device when the input device is not connected. An operator image for inputting characters or numbers that can be input using the input device in an empty area by not displaying the operator image for inputting characters or numbers and not displaying the operator image. It is desirable to display an operator image other than the above.

  When it is determined that the type of the input device connected to the connection unit is an input device that designates a position on the display surface, the display control unit is connected to the connection unit. The size of the operation element image displayed on the display means when it is not displayed is reduced, and the operation element image specified by the input device is displayed in an area vacated by the reduced display of the operation element image. desirable.

The display control means preferably displays information related to processing performed by the processing means in addition to the operation image in the vacant area.
It is desirable that the display control means causes the display means to display information related to the manipulator represented by the manipulator image displayed at the position designated by the input device on the manipulator image.

It is desirable to provide moving means for moving a member on which the input device is placed or attached to the inside or outside of the information processing apparatus.
It is desirable that the processing means execute an image forming process in which the content of the process is determined by an operator represented by the identified operator image.

  Further, the present invention provides a computer having a display surface, a display unit that outputs a signal corresponding to a position touched on the display surface, a connection unit to which an input device is connected, and the connection unit. When the input device is not connected to the connection means, a determination means for determining the type of the input device is displayed on the display means, and an operation device image representing a predetermined operation device is displayed on the display device. When connected to the connection means, a display control means for displaying on the display means an operation element image representing a plurality of operation elements corresponding to the type of the input device determined by the determination means, and output from the display means. The operation element image displayed at the position specified by the signal to be identified is a program for functioning as processing means for performing processing according to the operation element represented by the identified operation element image. To provide a gram.

  Different operation screens are displayed depending on whether the input device is connected or not.

[First Embodiment]
(1) Configuration FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an image forming apparatus 10 and a plurality of input devices for inputting instructions to the image forming apparatus 10. The input device is, for example, a mouse 21 and a keyboard 22 and includes connection interfaces 21a and 22a such as USB connectors. The user connects or disconnects the mouse 21 or the keyboard 22 to or from the image forming apparatus 10 by inserting or removing these connection interfaces 21 a and 22 a into or from the connection unit 12 of the image forming apparatus 10. Can do. These input devices are placed on a tray provided in the image forming apparatus 10, and are housed inside the image forming apparatus 10 while being placed on the tray while not being used by the user. When the movement button 14a provided on the image forming apparatus 10 is pressed by the user, the tray on which the input device is placed protrudes toward the front and stops at a position suitable for the user to operate. When the user finishes using the input device and pushes in the tray, the input device is housed in the image forming apparatus 10 together with the tray.

  FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of the image forming apparatus 10. As shown in the figure, the image forming apparatus 10 includes a control unit 11, a connection unit 12, a communication unit 13, a display operation unit 14, an image reading unit 15, an image forming unit 16, and a storage unit 17. And. The control unit 11 includes, for example, a central processing unit (CPU), a read only memory (ROM), and a random access memory (RAM), and controls each unit of the image forming apparatus 10. The ROM stores a basic control program executed by the CPU. The RAM is a work area of the CPU. The connection unit 12 is a connector for connecting the connection interfaces 21 a and 22 a between the mouse 21 and the keyboard 22. The connection unit 12 is provided with a connection port for inserting the connection interface 21 a of the mouse 21 and a connection port for inserting the connection interface 22 a of the keyboard 22.

  The communication unit 13 is a communication interface that transmits and receives data to and from an external device connected via a network. The display operation unit 14 has a touch panel type display surface and various operation buttons, displays various images based on image data supplied from the control unit 11, and corresponds to a position touched on the display surface. The signal is output to the control unit 11. The image reading unit 15 reads an image of a sheet set on the platen glass or the automatic sheet feeding unit, and generates image data representing the read image. The image forming unit 16 forms an image on a sheet based on the image data supplied from the image reading unit 15 or the communication unit 13.

  The storage unit 17 is a storage medium such as an HDD (Hard Disk Drive), for example, and the storage unit 17 stores a plurality of operation screen data SD and related information RD. The operation screen data SD is data for displaying an operation screen on which a plurality of operation element images representing various operation elements are arranged on the display operation unit 14. These operation screen data SD are stored hierarchically associated with each other, and the control unit 11 makes a transition from the operation screen displayed on the display operation unit 14 to another operation screen according to the hierarchical structure. For example, when the user selects an operation element image “copy” from among the operation element images “copy”, “scan”, and “facsimile” arranged on a certain operation screen, another operation corresponding to the “copy” is selected. For example, an operation screen is displayed.

  In the image forming apparatus 10, the operation screen when the input device is not connected is different from the operation screen when the input device is connected. Further, the operation screen when the input device is connected varies depending on the type of the input device connected. Therefore, the operation screen data SD when the input device is not connected and the operation screen data SD corresponding to the type of the connected input device are prepared separately and stored in the storage unit 17. The related information RD is information related to processing executed by the image forming apparatus 10. The related information RD includes, for example, a user name, date, and processing setting information assigned in advance to a user who uses the image forming apparatus 10. The process setting information is information that defines the content of the process. For example, in the case of copying to one side of A4 size paper, the setting information is “A4”, “single side”, and “copy”.

(2) Operation Next, the operation of the present embodiment will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.
The operation of the present embodiment is performed when an instruction to display an operation screen is input to the image forming apparatus 10 such as when the power is turned on, when returning from the power saving mode, or when a predetermined operation is performed by the user. It will be triggered by that. First, when receiving an operation screen display instruction (step S100), the control unit 11 of the image forming apparatus 10 determines whether an input device is connected to the connection unit 12 (step S110).

  For example, when neither the mouse 21 nor the keyboard 22 is connected to the connection unit 12, the control unit 11 determines that no input device is connected to the connection unit 12 (step S <b> 110: NO). ). And the control part 11 reads the operation screen data SD which should be displayed when the input device is not connected from the memory | storage part 17, and displays an operation screen on the display operation part 14 based on the read operation screen data SD. (Step S120).

  FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the operation screen P1 displayed in step S120, and illustrates an operation screen when registering a user name in the image forming apparatus 10. As shown in the figure, the operation screen P1 includes a software keyboard K for inputting characters and numbers, and a text field F for presenting characters and numbers input by the software keyboard K. Yes. Above the text field F, a “register” soft button B10 for registering the content input by the software keyboard K as a user name, and a soft button B11 “clear” for clearing the input content, Is arranged. Further, below the software keyboard K, language switching software buttons B12 and B13 for switching the input language of characters on the software keyboard K are arranged. The language switching soft button B12 “Chinese” is a soft button for switching the input language to Chinese, and the language switching soft button B13 “Russian” is a soft button for switching the input language to Russian. is there. The software keyboard K and the soft buttons B10, B11, B12, and B13 are all operator images. When the input device is not connected in this way, an operation screen on which a predetermined operator image is arranged is displayed on the display operation unit 14.

  In this operation screen P1, it is assumed that the user touches the display surface of the display operation unit 14, inputs the word “userA” using the software keyboard K, and then presses the “register” soft button B10. In response to this operation, the control unit 11 identifies the key button and the soft button of the software keyboard K displayed at the position touched by the user, and “userA” according to the instruction represented by the identified key button and soft button. A registration process is performed to store the characters “username” in the storage unit 17 (step S130).

  On the other hand, it is assumed that the user connects the keyboard 22 to the connection unit 12 before an operation screen display instruction is input to the image forming apparatus 10. In this case, in step S110 shown in FIG. 3, it is determined that the input device is connected to the connection unit 12 (step S110: YES). Subsequently, the control unit 11 determines the type of the input device connected to the connection unit 12 (step S140). Specifically, an identifier representing the type is stored in each input device, and when the control unit 11 inquires about the type of the input device, the identifier is notified to the control unit 11 from the input device. The control unit 11 determines the type of the input device with reference to the identifier. In this example, since the keyboard 22 is connected to the connection unit 12, the type of the input device is determined to be the keyboard 22. And the control part 11 reads the operation screen data SD according to the kind of connected input device from the memory | storage part 17, and displays it on the display operation part 14 (step S150).

  FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an operation screen P2 displayed on the display operation unit 14 in step S150. In this operation screen P2, the software keyboard K displayed on the operation screen P1 shown in FIG. 4 is not displayed, and “edit” and “user delete” are displayed in an area that is not displayed. New soft buttons B20 to B23 including the above are arranged. This is because the user can input characters and numbers from the keyboard 22 connected to the connection unit 12, and therefore it is not necessary to display the software keyboard K on the operation screen P2. On the operation screen P2, language switching soft buttons B12 and B13 for switching the character input language are arranged in the same manner as the operation screen P1 shown in FIG. This is because the instruction input by pressing the language switching soft buttons B12 and B13 cannot be input using the keyboard 22.

  In this operation screen P2, after the user operates the keyboard 22 and inputs the characters “userA”, the display operation unit 14 is operated, the soft button B10 “register” is pressed, and “userX” ”Is designated and the soft button B21“ delete user ”is pressed. Then, in step S130 shown in FIG. 3, in accordance with the instruction input by this operation, a registration process for storing the characters “userA” as the user name in the storage unit 17 is performed, and further the user name “userX” is stored. A deletion process for deleting from the unit 17 is performed.

  According to the first embodiment described above, when the keyboard 22 is connected to the connection unit 12, the unnecessary software keyboard K is not displayed, and a new soft button is displayed instead. This increases the types and number of contents that can be specified by the user on the operation screen.

[Second Embodiment]
Next, a second embodiment will be described.
Since the configuration of the image forming apparatus 10 according to the second embodiment is the same as the configuration of the first embodiment shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the description thereof is omitted. The operation of the second embodiment is different from the operation of the first embodiment in the configuration of the operation screen displayed on the display operation unit 14. Therefore, hereinafter, the configuration of the operation screen displayed on the display operation unit 14 will be mainly described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.

  For example, suppose that the operation screen P3 shown in FIG. 6 is displayed on the display operation unit 14 in step S120 when the user does not connect the mouse 21 and the keyboard 22 to the connection unit 12. On the operation screen P3, only six soft buttons B30 to B35 are arranged among twelve related soft buttons for instructing various setting information for defining the contents of the image forming process. Then, when the image N “2” arranged on the right side of the operation screen P3 is pressed, the remaining six soft buttons are displayed. That is, this operation screen P3 is composed of a screen for the first page shown in the figure and a screen for the second page (not shown). Since the soft buttons displayed on the display operation unit 14 are designated by the fingertip of the user, it is necessary to make each soft button larger than the fingertip. For this reason, all twelve soft buttons cannot be arranged in the display area of the display operation unit 14. For these reasons, the soft button group is displayed separately on the two-page operation screen. In step S130, on the operation screen P3, the soft button displayed at the position of the display surface of the display operation unit 14 touched by the user is specified, and the process is performed according to the instruction represented by the specified soft button. . At this time, if the user presses a soft button that is not arranged on the screen of the first page, the user must press the desired soft button after pressing the image N “2” to display the screen of the second page. I must.

  On the other hand, it is assumed that the user connects the mouse 21 to the connection unit 12 before an operation screen display instruction is input to the image forming apparatus 10. In this example, the type of the input device is determined to be the mouse 21 in step S140 shown in FIG. Subsequently, in step S150, an operation screen P4 shown in FIG. 7 is displayed on the display operation unit 14 as an operation screen corresponding to the mouse 21. The operation screen P4 includes a reduced size of the six soft buttons B30 to B35 arranged on the operation screen P3 shown in FIG. 6, and the second page of the operation screen P3 shown in FIG. The hidden soft buttons B40 to B45 are reduced in size. That is, on this operation screen P4, all the 12 soft buttons arranged over two pages in the operation screen P3 shown in FIG. 6 are arranged together on one page. This is because an operation with the mouse 21 can designate a soft button using a pointer displayed on the screen, and there is no problem even if the soft button displayed on the screen is reduced in size. Further, a message M generated based on the related information RD stored in the storage unit 17 is arranged on the operation screen P4. In this example, based on the user name, date, and processing setting information included in the related information RD, the message M “Date: December 24, User name: fujiko Processing setting information: Copy> Color” is displayed. Has been placed. In step S130, the soft button displayed at the designated position by operating the mouse 21 is specified on the operation screen P4, and the process is performed according to the instruction represented by the soft button.

  According to the second embodiment described above, more soft buttons are displayed in a list and a message is further displayed. Thereby, the types and number of contents that can be specified by the user on the operation screen can be increased.

[Modification]
The above is the description of the embodiment, but the contents of this embodiment can be modified as follows. Moreover, you may combine the following each aspect suitably.
(1) In the second embodiment, the control unit 11 may further display information on the operation screen P4 illustrated in FIG. 7 according to an operation specific to the mouse 21. FIG. 8 shows a screen when the user right-clicks the mouse 21 on the soft button B35 for specifying the setting information “color balance” on the operation screen P4 shown in FIG. As shown in the figure, on this setting screen P4, the setting information “cyan”, “magenta”, “yellow”, “black” belonging to the lower layer of the setting information “color balance” is displayed as a pop-up menu U. Has been. As a result, the types and number of contents that can be specified by the user can be further increased, and the operability can be improved. When the input device is not connected, an operation corresponding to a right click of the mouse 21 cannot be performed on the display operation unit 14, and as illustrated in FIG. 8, the information is superimposed and displayed at a position specified by the user. Is never adopted.
The pop-up menu U may be displayed when a right click is performed on the background on the operation screen P4, or may be displayed when a pointer displayed on the screen passes over the soft button. Further, the information displayed on the pop-up menu U may be setting information “image quality adjustment” and “copy” belonging to the upper layer of the setting information, or “start” for instructing execution of the image forming process, Information such as “clear” for canceling the setting information, “copy”, “scanner”, “facsimile”, etc. for selecting each function may be used. Moreover, the information for explaining the function which each soft button has may be sufficient. That is, the information displayed as the pop-up menu U may be any information as long as the information is related to the operation of the image forming apparatus 10.

(2) In the above embodiment, the mouse 21 and the keyboard 22 are described as examples of the input device, but the input device is not limited to this. The mouse 21 described above may be a pointing device that designates a soft button using a pointer such as a joystick or a trackball. The keyboard 22 may be an input device for inputting characters and numbers. Further, the number of input devices connected to the image forming apparatus 10 is not limited to two, and may be three or more. In the embodiment, the input device is placed on the tray and used. However, the input device is not used in such a manner, but is attached to the moving means for moving the information device inside or outside the information processing device. There may be.

(3) In the above embodiment, when the control unit 11 detects that the input device is connected to or disconnected from the connection unit 12, the control unit 11 may switch the operation screen according to the detected connection status. For example, when the keyboard 22 is connected to the connection unit 12 by the user while the operation screen P1 shown in FIG. 4 is displayed on the display operation unit 14, the control unit 11 detects the connection and performs the display operation. The screen displayed on the unit 14 may be switched to the operation screen P2 shown in FIG. Thereby, even if the input device is connected to the connection unit 12 while the operation screen is displayed, the operation screen corresponding to the connection is displayed.

(4) In the above embodiment, the language switching soft buttons B12 and B13 are arranged as soft buttons that cannot be input using the keyboard 22 on the operation screen P2 shown in FIG. On the other hand, on the operation screen P2, an operation image representing another operation element that cannot be input using the keyboard 22, for example, a soft button for inputting a special character may be arranged.

(5) In the above embodiment, the input device may include connection interfaces 21a and 22a other than the USB connector. For example, the mouse 21 may include a PS / 2 mouse connector, and the keyboard 22 may include a PS / 2 keyboard connector. When this input device is connected to the connection unit 12 and the control unit 11 inquires about the type of the input device, an identifier indicating the type stored in each input device is sent to the control unit 11 in the same manner as described above. Be notified. The control unit 11 determines the type of the input device with reference to the notified identifier.

(6) In the above embodiment, the message M arranged on the operation screen P4 shown in FIG. 7 is arranged in an empty area because the software keyboard K is not displayed on the setting screen P2 shown in FIG. May be.

(7) In the above embodiment, the storage unit 17 stores a plurality of operation screen data SD, and the control unit 11 displays an operation screen based on the operation screen data SD read from the storage unit 17. 14 is displayed. On the other hand, the storage unit 17 stores a plurality of pieces of image data that are parts constituting each operation screen data SD, and the control unit 11 follows a procedure of a screen generation program for generating each operation screen data SD. The operation screen data SD may be generated by combining a plurality of appropriate image data. This image data may be image data representing each operation element image, or may be image data in which a plurality of operation element images are combined. For example, when the input device is not connected, the control unit 11 follows the procedure of the screen generation program described above and the plurality of image data constituting the operation screen data SD to be displayed when the input device is not connected. Is read from the storage unit 17 and the operation screen data SD is generated based on the plurality of read image data. On the other hand, when an input device is connected to the connection unit 12, the control unit 11 configures a plurality of pieces of operation screen data SD corresponding to the type of the connected input device according to the procedure of the screen generation program described above. Are read from the storage unit 17, and operation screen data SD is generated based on the read image data. Even with such a method, the same effect as the above-described embodiment can be obtained.

(8) In the above embodiment, the program executed by the control unit 11 of the image forming apparatus 10 is a magnetic tape, a magnetic disk, a flexible disk, an optical recording medium, a magneto-optical recording medium, a CD (Compact Disk), a DVD (Digital Versatile). Disk) or a recording medium such as a RAM.

1 is a diagram illustrating an image forming apparatus 10 and an input device. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of an image forming apparatus 10. It is a flowchart which shows operation | movement. It is a figure which shows the operation screen P1. It is a figure which shows the operation screen P2. It is a figure which shows the operation screen P3. It is a figure which shows the operation screen P4. It is a figure which shows the operation screen P4 which concerns on a modification.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Image forming apparatus, 21 ... Mouse, 22 ... Keyboard, 21a, 22a ... Connection interface, 14a ... Movement button, 11 ... Control part, 12 ... Connection part, 13 ... Communication part, 14 ... Display operation part, 15 ... Image Reading unit, 16 ... image forming unit, 17 ... storage unit, SD ... operation screen data, RD ... related information.

Claims (6)

Display means having a display surface and outputting a signal corresponding to the position touched on the display surface;
Connection means to which the input device is connected;
Determining means for determining the type of the input device connected to the connecting means;
When the input device is not connected to the connection means, an operation element image representing a predetermined operation element is displayed on the display means, and the input device is connected to the connection means and connected to the connection means. When it is determined that the type of the input device is an input device that designates a position on the display surface, the operation element displayed on the display unit when the input device is not connected to the connection unit Display control means for displaying a manipulator image specified by the input device in an area vacated by a reduced display of the manipulator image, and displaying the manipulator image in a reduced size .
Processing means for specifying the operation element image displayed at a position specified by the signal output from the display means, and performing processing according to the operation element represented by the specified operation element image. Information processing apparatus. The display control means includes
It said vacant area, the other operating image, the information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the display information related to the processing performed by the processing means. The display control means includes
Information according to claim 1, wherein the displaying the information related to operator represented by the manipulator image being displayed at the position specified by the input device, on said display means to overlap the operating image Processing equipment. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a moving unit configured to move a member on which the input device is placed or attached to the inside or the outside of the information processing apparatus. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the processing unit executes an image forming process in which processing content is determined by an operator represented by the identified operator image. Computer
Display means having a display surface and outputting a signal corresponding to the position touched on the display surface;
Connection means to which the input device is connected;
Determining means for determining the type of the input device connected to the connecting means;
When the input device is not connected to the connection means, an operator image representing a predetermined operator is displayed on the display means, and the input device is connected to the connection means and connected to the connection means. When it is determined that the input device type is an input device that designates a position on the display surface, the input device is displayed on the display device when the input device is not connected to the connection device. Display control means for reducing the size of the manipulator image and displaying the manipulator image specified by the input device in an area vacated by the reduced display of the manipulator image ;
A function for specifying the operation element image displayed at a position specified by a signal output from the display means, and for functioning as a processing means for performing processing according to the operation element represented by the specified operation element image. program.

Images