CN104070855B

CN104070855B - Image processing system

Info

Publication number: CN104070855B
Application number: CN201310106071.5A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 金刚
Original assignee: Oki Data Corp
Current assignee: Oki Electric Industry Co Ltd
Priority date: 2013-03-29
Filing date: 2013-03-29
Publication date: 2018-01-30
Anticipated expiration: 2033-03-29
Also published as: JP2014198468A; CN104070855A

Abstract

The embodiments of the invention provide a kind of image processing system, including：Image forming part, it is to recording medium the output for printing image；Operating portion, it receives the operation input from user；Storage part, it stores multiple menu items；Control unit, it is inputted based on the operation received by the operating portion, and specific menu item is selected from the multiple menu items for being stored in the storage part, and described image forming portion is controlled, by the menu item the output for printing of the selection to recording medium.By image processing system provided in an embodiment of the present invention, user can directly input the numbering of selected menu item, thus, it is possible to quickly in print on paper menu item, and without printing unwanted menu item, save the consuming of paper and colour band.Also, due to the push-botton operation guide of easily visible printing, therefore the operating mistake of user can be avoided, the waste of operating time can be reduced.

Description

Image forming apparatus with a toner supply device

Technical Field

The present invention relates to a menu display method in a stylus printer, and more particularly, to an image forming apparatus.

Background

In a conventional printer, as described in reference 1 (jp-a 2007-156719), it is necessary to display characters of a panel menu in a reverse manner in a hierarchical manner, and to improve user ability by displaying information for allowing a user to grasp a current position.

On the other hand, as described in reference 2 (japanese patent laid-open No. 2007-156628), it is also possible to display the contents in which the hierarchy and the position where the user is currently located are indicated in the form of numbers and the panel menu in a panel display in an alternately blinking manner, and to display information for the user to grasp the currently located position, thereby improving the user ability.

However, the inventors have found in the process of implementing the present invention that, in the conventional art, when a user selects a menu item, the menu item before the menu item to be set is printed, which wastes ribbon and paper, and further wastes time because the menu selection efficiency is low.

Disclosure of Invention

An embodiment of the invention aims to provide an image forming apparatus to improve menu selection efficiency.

According to an aspect of an embodiment of the present invention, there is provided an image forming apparatus including: an image forming unit that prints and outputs an image on a recording medium; an operation unit that receives an operation input from a user; a storage unit that stores a plurality of menu items; and a control unit that selects a specific menu item from the plurality of menu items stored in the storage unit based on an operation input received by the operation unit, controls the image forming unit, and prints and outputs the selected menu item on a recording medium.

The embodiment of the invention has the beneficial effects that: through the image forming device provided by the embodiment of the invention, a user can directly input the number of the selected menu item, so that the menu item can be quickly printed on paper without printing unnecessary menu items, and the consumption of paper and ribbon is saved. Further, since the printed button operation manual is easily visible, it is possible to avoid an operation error by the user and reduce waste of operation time.

Specific embodiments of the present invention are disclosed in detail with reference to the following description and drawings, indicating the manner in which the principles of the invention may be employed. It should be understood that the embodiments of the invention are not so limited in scope. The embodiments of the invention include many variations, modifications and equivalents within the spirit and scope of the appended claims.

Features that are described and/or illustrated with respect to one embodiment may be used in the same way or in a similar way in one or more other embodiments, in combination with or instead of the features of the other embodiments.

It should be emphasized that the term "comprises/comprising" when used herein, is taken to specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps or components but does not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps or components.

Drawings

Many aspects of the invention can be better understood with reference to the following drawings. The components in the figures are not necessarily to scale, emphasis instead being placed upon illustrating the principles of the invention. For convenience in illustrating and describing some parts of the present invention, corresponding parts may be enlarged or reduced in the drawings. Elements and features depicted in one drawing or one embodiment of the invention may be combined with elements and features shown in one or more other drawings or embodiments. Moreover, in the drawings, like reference numerals designate corresponding parts throughout the several views, and may be used to designate corresponding parts for use in more than one embodiment. In the drawings:

FIGS. 1A-1C are perspective views of a printer;

FIG. 2 is a functional configuration diagram of a printer of embodiment 1;

FIGS. 3A and 3B are schematic diagrams of data structures of the correspondence table;

FIG. 4 is a schematic structural view of an operation part in embodiment 1;

FIG. 5 is a flowchart of a menu display process of embodiment 1;

fig. 6A and 6B are schematic diagrams of a half-out of a sheet of embodiment 1 on which an explanation of a button is printed;

FIGS. 7A and 7B are schematic diagrams of the printing results of the half-out sheet of example 1;

FIG. 8A and FIG. 8B are explanatory views of a menu print format of embodiment 1;

FIG. 9 is an explanatory view of a conventional menu print format;

FIG. 10 is a schematic diagram showing the numbers 0 to 9 of the LED panel of example 1;

FIG. 11 is a functional configuration diagram of a printer of embodiment 2;

fig. 12A and 12B are flowcharts of a menu display process of embodiment 2;

fig. 13A and 13B are diagrams of half-out of a sheet printed with a button explanation of embodiment 2;

FIG. 14 is a schematic structural view of an operation part in embodiment 2;

FIG. 15 is a diagram showing patterns of 0 to 9 of the LED panel of embodiment 2.

Detailed Description

The foregoing and other features of embodiments of the present invention will become apparent from the following description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. These embodiments are merely exemplary and are not intended to limit the present invention.

An embodiment of the present invention provides an image forming apparatus including: an image forming unit, an operation unit, a storage unit, and a control unit. Wherein:

the image forming unit prints and outputs an image on a recording medium.

The recording medium may be various types of paper, and the image to be printed may be a menu item to be printed, but the embodiment is not limited thereto. In the following description, the case where the recording medium is a sheet of various types and the image to be printed is a menu item to be printed will be described as an example.

The operation unit receives an operation input from a user.

The operation input is, for example, a number designated by the user, and the designated number corresponds to a menu item that the user desires to print. In the following description, the number corresponding to the menu item desired to be printed, which is designated by the user through an operation input from the user, will be described as an example.

The storage unit stores a plurality of menu items.

Different menu items correspond to different printing settings, and before a user prints a file, the user needs to perform printing settings, that is, at least one menu item is selected to perform printing, such as depth, percentage, paper size, and the like. Each menu item corresponds to a number, and each menu item and the corresponding number are known by a user in advance. That is, the user knows in advance the correspondence between the number of the menu item (which may also be referred to as an index) and the menu item.

The control unit selects a specific menu item from the plurality of menu items stored in the storage unit based on an operation input received through the operation unit, controls the image forming unit, and prints and outputs the selected menu item onto a recording medium.

When the user designates the number through the operation unit, the control unit extracts the menu item corresponding to the designated number from the storage unit and controls the image forming unit to print the selected menu item, that is, to print and output the selected menu item to the recording medium.

With the image forming apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention, the user prints only the menu items corresponding to the operation input (i.e., the designated number) received by the operation section, thereby improving the menu selection efficiency.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the operation unit may be configured by a plurality of buttons (or switches), and the control unit may control the image forming unit to print out the description information of each button together with the selected menu item.

However, since the panel is small, it is difficult for the user to know what the button indicates, and the image forming apparatus according to this embodiment solves this problem by printing explanatory information (also referred to as an operation guide) at the head of the sheet.

In another embodiment of the present invention, the control section first controls the image forming section to print out the specification information; then, the operation part is controlled to receive operation input from a user; then, a specific menu item is selected from the plurality of menu items stored in the storage unit based on an operation input received through the operation unit, and the image forming unit is controlled to print and output the selected menu item to the storage medium.

With the image forming apparatus of this embodiment, in a state where the explanatory information (also referred to as an operation manual) is printed, the conveyance and printing of the paper is temporarily stopped, and a user is waited for an operation input (designation number) by the operation portion.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the control section controls the image forming section to make the printing direction of the specification information different between the sheet mode and the continuous mode of the image forming apparatus. So that the user can easily see the explanatory information.

Since the paper feeding path in the single paper mode is different from the paper feeding path in the continuous paper mode (see fig. 1), the control unit may control the image forming unit to rotate the description information in the continuous paper mode by 180 degrees to output the description information in order to facilitate a user to see the description information.

For example, the control section first determines whether the paper feed mode is the sheet mode or the continuous mode; if the mode is the single-page mode, the control part controls the image forming part to directly print the description information; if the mode is the continuous paper mode, the control part controls the image forming part to rotate the instruction information by 180 degrees and then print the instruction information.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the control section may further control the image forming section to print the specification information on the same page as the menu item corresponding to the operation input received through the operation section. That is, the operation guide is printed on the page where the menu items corresponding to the numbers designated by the user are the same.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the control section may further control the image forming section to print the specification information at the head of each sheet. That is, the operation guide is printed at the head of each sheet, and for example, in the case of printing a menu item of three pages, the operation guide is printed at the head of the first page, the head of the second page, and the head of the third page, respectively.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the operation unit may further include a plurality of LEDs, and the control unit controls each of the plurality of LEDs or a combination of the plurality of LEDs to display a number corresponding to the operation input based on the operation input received through the plurality of buttons.

In one example of this embodiment, the LED is an LED lamp, and in this case, the control unit controls the plurality of LEDs to turn on, turn off, or blink based on the operation input received through the plurality of buttons, and indicates the number corresponding to the operation input of each button.

In another example of this embodiment, the LEDs are digital LEDs, and in this case, the control unit controls each of the plurality of LEDs to perform a corresponding digital display based on operation inputs received via the plurality of buttons.

Conventionally, when printing and outputting a menu item table of an apparatus such as a printer, it is necessary to print and output a large number of all menu items, and therefore it is difficult for a user to find a menu item to be set or confirmed, and toner is wasted. Further, in the embodiment of printing the operation guide, since the printed button operation guide is easily seen, an operation error of the user can be avoided, and waste of the operation time can be reduced.

In order to make the composition and function of the image forming apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention more clearly understood, the image forming apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings and specific embodiments, taking the image forming apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention as an example of a printer.

Example 1

The configuration of the printer according to embodiment 1 will be described below with reference to fig. 1 to 4.

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of the printer (fig. 1A) and an explanatory diagram of a paper feed route (fig. 1B and 1C).

The perspective view shows an outline of the appearance of the printer. As shown in fig. 1A, the operation panel is disposed on the paper feeding path of the printer (this is for illustration only, and the present embodiment is not limited thereto). A Lamp (LED) (010) and a button (011) are provided on the operation panel. The user makes a selection of a menu item by pressing a button. At the same time, the current state is displayed by lighting, lighting-off, and blinking the Lamp (LED).

The paper feed path explanatory diagram shows the paper feed direction of the printer. As shown in fig. 1B, in the case of a cut sheet (012), the sheet is fed from the front of the printer and discharged to the front of the printer. As shown in fig. 1C, in the case of continuous paper (013), the paper is fed from the rear of the printer and discharged to the front of the printer.

In the following description, the case of a single sheet of paper is referred to as a single-sheet mode, that is, a single sheet of paper. For example: a sheet of paper A3/A4, as shown in FIG. 7A.

In the following description, the case of continuous paper is referred to as a continuous paper mode, that is, continuous paper. Each sheet is physically continuous as shown in fig. 7B.

Fig. 2 is a functional configuration diagram of the printer. As shown in fig. 2, the printer as an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention mainly includes, for a menu display function: a control unit (020), a storage unit (021), an operation unit (022), and an image forming unit (023).

The control unit (020) reads menu setting contents stored in the Flash-ROM in the RAM, and controls the menu display contents and the print format command structure from the RAM when the menu is displayed. A storage part (021) stores menu contents selected by a user in a Flash-ROM. The menu table data (including a language for display and a number or called an Index) is stored. The operation unit (022) operates buttons (switches) and displays Lights (LEDs). The user presses a button to activate a function set in advance, and the user performs LED display to grasp the status of the printer. An image forming unit (023) converts binary data (dot image) from a character string of a menu list, and creates print data for each pin (pin) of a print head from the converted dot image.

Fig. 3 is a data structure diagram of a corresponding menu list stored in the storage part (021). Fig. 3A is a schematic diagram of a hierarchical structure of each item of the menu table, and fig. 3B is a schematic diagram of a correspondence relationship between each item and a number in each hierarchy. As shown in fig. 3A, the menu display is composed of three levels (level 1 (030) → level 2 (031/033) → level 3 (032/034)).

The level 1 (030) is a group (group) of menus, and menu items of similar categories are stored in one group. Level 2 (031/033) are menu items, where each function is a menu item. The 3 levels (032/034) are settings for menu items, and all settings for each menu item are in the 3 levels.

In this case, a menu Index number is attached to each hierarchical item. The format of the Index numbers is in the form of XYZ. X, Y, Z is in the range of 0-9. Indexes of level 1 are 000, 100, 200, …, 900. Indexes of the 2-layer are X00, X10, X20, … and X90. The Index numbers of the 3-stage are XY0, XY1, XY2, … and XY 9. Specifically, as shown in fig. 3B.

Fig. 4 is a configuration diagram of an operation unit (including an operation panel and an LED), and as shown in fig. 4, the operation panel includes three buttons, SEL, LF/FF, and LOAD/exit. In the normal mode, switching between off-line and on-line is performed by pressing a SEL button, wherein off-line (offline) means receiving a command to perform subsequent actions, and on-line (online) means no longer receiving any command; in addition, line feed is performed by pressing the LF/FF button for a short time, where line feed refers to switching one line for a printing operation; in addition, page changing is performed by long-pressing LF/FF, wherein page changing refers to performing printing operation by changing one page; when paper is not fed, the paper is sent to the printer by pressing the LOAD/EJECT; when the paper feeding is finished, the paper is discharged by pressing the LOAD/EJECT. When entering the menu mode, 100 bits of the menu Index number are added by 100 by pressing the SEL button; adding 10 to 10 bits of the menu Index number by pressing an LF/FF button; the 1 bit of the menu Index number is incremented by 1 by pressing the LOAD/EJECT button. Thus, by pressing the SEL button, the change in the menu Index number is 1XX → 2XX → 3XX → 4XX → … 9XX → 0XX → 1 XX; by pressing the LF/FF button, the change in the menu number is X1X → X2X → X3X → X4X → … X9X → X0X → X1X; the change in the menu Index number by pressing the LOAD/EJECT button is XX1 → XX2 → XX3 → XX4 → … XX9 → XX0 → XX 1. In order to easily understand the number selected by the user, the LED display is performed while the button is pressed. In the present embodiment, the display of the numerals 0 to 9 is performed by a combination of three LEDs. For a specific LED display, please refer to fig. 10.

The operation of the printer according to embodiment 1 will be described below with reference to fig. 5 to 10.

Fig. 5 is a flowchart of the menu display processing. Referring to fig. 5, first, the user determines the menu item to be selected. After the decision, the number of the menu item is also known. Then, based on the operation of the user on the operation unit (022), the first sheet of paper is fed out (S011), the menu mode is entered, and the image forming unit (023) prints a button operation manual at the top of the sheet of paper (S012). In a state where the operation manual is printed, the image forming unit (023) temporarily stops the conveyance and printing of the paper, and the control unit (020) waits for the user to designate a number to the operation unit (022). When the user presses the SEL button in accordance with the number of the menu, the control unit (020) receives input of 100-bit data (S013). After the input is completed, the user presses the LF/FF button or the LOAD/EJECT button (S014), and the control unit (020) determines 100 bits of data (S015). When the user presses the LF/FF button, the control unit (020) receives the input of 10-bit data (S016). After the input is completed, the user presses the SEL button or the LOAD/EJECT button (S017), and the controller (020) determines 10-bit data (S018). When the user presses the LOAD/EJECT button, the control unit (020) accepts input of 1-bit data (S019). After the input is completed, the user presses the SEL button or LF/FF button (S020), and the control unit (020) determines 1-bit data (S021). Accordingly, the control unit (020) adds the 100-bit data, the 10-bit data, and the 1-bit data together to determine the final menu number (S022). The control unit (020) reads out the corresponding menu item from the menu list based on the number, and controls the image forming unit (023) to print on the paper (S023). After the menu items are printed, the control unit (020) determines whether or not to continue (S024). Here, when continuing, paper feeding is continued by changing one line, and when the user presses the LF/FF button while pressing the SEL button and presses the LOAD/EJECT button, the next menu item is continuously set. The user ends the menu printing when pressing the LF/FF button and simultaneously pressing the SEL button while pressing the LOAD/EJECT button. When the menu printing is continued and there is no paper during the printing (S025), the second sheet is fed out and the operation guide is printed, and then the menu number is input and the operation is repeated to print the menu item. In addition, when there is a sheet in the middle of printing, the process of feeding out the second sheet and printing the operation manual is not executed any more.

Fig. 6 is a schematic diagram of a half-out of a sheet printed with an explanation of a button. Fig. 6A is a schematic diagram of the sheet mode, and fig. 6B is a schematic diagram of the continuous mode. In order to understand the meaning of the change of the menu Index in the state where the user presses the button, the user prints an explanatory character (also referred to as explanatory information or an operation guide) of the button pressing at the head of the sheet. The paper feeding path includes two modes of single-sheet paper and continuous paper, fig. 6A shows a printing result (060) of single-sheet paper feeding, and fig. 6B shows a printing result (061) of continuous paper feeding.

Fig. 7 is an example of printing paper. Fig. 7A is a schematic diagram of a printing result in the sheet mode, and fig. 7B is a schematic diagram of a printing result in the continuous mode. When there is no paper during printing, the button operation explanatory text is printed again after the paper is fed again, as shown in fig. 7, on the 1 st to 3 rd lines of the paper, that is:

SEL LF/FF LOAD/EJECT

↓ ↓ ↓

100 bit 10 bit 1 bit

For example, after the sheet of the 2 nd page is fed out, two items of "Font Pitch20 CPI" and "Symbol Sets Zero Character Slashed" are printed in the following order:

after pressing SEL button 2, LF/FF button 4, LOAD/EJECT button 4, print the "Font Pitch20 CPI" menu item with Index number 244;

after pressing SEL button 3 times, LF/FF button 3 times, and LOAD/EJECT button 1 times, the "Symbol Sets Zero Character Slashed" menu item with Index number 331 is printed.

As shown in fig. 7, 070 is the print result of the 1 st page from which the cut sheets are fed. 071 is the print result of the 2 nd page of the delivered sheet. 072 is a print result of page 1 of the fed continuous paper. 073 is a printing result of the 2 nd page of the fed continuous paper. In the present embodiment, the explanation characters of the button operations on the sheet and the continuous sheet are printed on the 1 st to 3 rd lines of the sheet, and the same applies to the print contents.

Fig. 8 is an explanatory diagram of a menu print format for printing menu items by the image forming method of the present embodiment. Fig. 8A is a schematic diagram of a part of a menu item list, and fig. 8B is a schematic diagram of a print result of a selected menu item. According to the menu table structure of fig. 3B, all menu items are numbered in advance (080). In the operation panel, three buttons display 1 bit, 10 bits, and 100 bits, respectively. When the button is pressed, LED display is performed for easy understanding. When the user selects a desired menu item, the menu item is printed on a sheet by inputting a menu number through the panel. To avoid an operation error, the explanatory text of the button operation is printed at the top of the sheet. The format is shown in FIG. 8B (084).

For example, the user wants to confirm the print setting values in order to set three menu items 081, 082, and 083 shown in fig. 8A, which correspond to numbers 110, 244, and 331, respectively.

When the menu item 081 is selected, the number 110 is input by pressing the SEL button once and the LF/FF button once to print the menu item 081.

When the menu item 082 is selected, the number 244 is input by pressing the SEL button twice, the LF/FF button four times, and the LOAD/EJECT button four times to print the menu item 082.

When the menu item 083 is selected, the number 331 is input by pressing the SEL button three times, the LF/FF button three times, and the LOAD/EJECT button once to print the menu item 083.

As shown in fig. 8B, it can be seen that only three selected menu items (085) are printed after improvement by the present embodiment, improving the efficiency of menu display and saving paper and ribbon.

Fig. 9 is an explanatory diagram of a conventional menu print format. As shown in fig. 9, according to the conventional menu printing method, when three menu items 081, 082 and 083 are selected, seven menu items 090 to 091 and four menu items 092 to 093 are printed in addition to the three menu items. As can be seen from fig. 9, before improvement, when the user selects the same item, unnecessary items other than the item desired to be selected are also printed.

FIG. 10 is a schematic diagram of the pattern display of numbers 0 to 9 of the LED panel. The present embodiment also displays the menu Index number by an LED for the user to easily understand the selected menu Index number. Wherein,

the LED display of the number 0 is displayed by 101, and as shown by 101, the three LEDs are in a light-out state;

the LED display of the number 1 is displayed through 102, as shown in 102, the left LED and the right LED are in a light-off state, and the right LED is in a light-on state;

the LED display of the number 2 is displayed through 103, as shown by 103, the left LED and the right LED are in a light-off state, and the LED in the middle is in a light-on state;

the LED display of the number 3 is displayed by 104, as shown by 104, the middle LED and the right LED are in a light-off state, and the left LED is in a light-on state;

the number 4 LED display is shown by 105, with the left and center LEDs being off and the right LED flashing as shown at 105.

The number 5 LED display is shown at 106, with the left and right LEDs being off as shown at 106, and the center LED flashing.

The LED display of the number 6 is indicated by 107, and as indicated by 107, the center LED and the right LED are in the off state, and the left LED is in the flashing state.

The LED display of the number 7 is indicated by 108, where the left LED is flashing, the center LED is off, and the right LED is on, as indicated by 108.

The LED display of the number 8 is indicated by 109. As indicated by 109, the left LED is in a flashing state, the middle LED is in a lighting state, and the right LED is in a lighting-off state.

The LED display of the number 9 is shown at 110, where the left LED is flashing as shown at 110, and the center LED and the right LED are lit.

Therefore, no matter the user selects the number on 100 bits, the number on 10 bits or the number on 1 bit, the three LED lamps can be used for displaying, and the user can conveniently confirm the number input by the user.

With the image forming apparatus of the present embodiment, when the user selects a menu item, only the menu item to be set is printed, and the other menu items are not printed. Accordingly, by performing LED display by pressing the button, the menu item selected by the user can be grasped, and an operation error can be avoided. Further, since the menu items not selected are not printed, the selection efficiency can be improved, and the cost of paper and ribbon can be reduced.

Example 2

In this embodiment, the schematic view of the printer is basically the same as that of embodiment 1, and the LED of this embodiment is a digital LED, which is different from embodiment 1, thereby easily displaying the menu Index number and easily understanding the menu item selected by the user. In addition, compared to embodiment 1, the button operation explanatory characters printed on the paper are reversed by 180 degrees, which is convenient for the user to view from his own viewpoint.

The configuration of the printer according to embodiment 2 will be described below with reference to fig. 11.

Fig. 11 is a functional configuration diagram of the printer. As shown in fig. 11, the printer as an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention mainly includes, for a menu display function: a control unit (110), a storage unit (111), an operation unit (112), and an image forming unit (113). The storage unit (111) is the same as the storage unit (021) of embodiment 1. The image forming section (113) is the same as the image forming section (023) of example 1. The same as in embodiment 1 is applied to the menu display of the control unit (110) except that a process of converting the display of the button operation explanatory characters (132, fig. 13B) by 180 degrees when feeding paper from behind is added. The operation of the button (switch) on the operation unit (112) is the same as in embodiment 1, but the LED display is a display of a menu Index selected among three numerical LEDs.

The operation of the printer according to embodiment 2 will be described below with reference to fig. 12 to 15.

Fig. 12 is a flowchart of the menu display processing. Fig. 12A is a flowchart of the menu display processing of embodiment 2, and fig. 12B is a flowchart of the processing of step S026 added thereto. As shown in fig. 12A, according to embodiment 1, the same as embodiment 1 is applied except that the additional control unit (110) controls the image forming unit (113) to perform the process of converting the operation guide (S026) before the operation guide is printed (S012). As shown in fig. 12B, in the process (026) of switching the operation guide, the control unit (110) first determines whether the mode is the sheet mode or the continuous paper mode (S0261), and if the mode is the sheet mode, returns to step S012; if the mode is the continuous paper mode, the control unit (110) controls the image forming unit (113) to convert the operation manual print data by 180 degrees and output the converted data by reprinting, and then returns to step S012.

Fig. 13 is a diagram of a half-out of a sheet printed with button operation explanatory characters. Fig. 13A shows a sheet mode, and fig. 13B shows a continuous mode. As shown in fig. 13A, the paper feed state and the print result (131) in the sheet mode are the same as those in embodiment 1. As shown in fig. 13B, in the case of the continuous paper mode, the button operation explanatory characters (132) of the first three lines are switched by 180 degrees to be printed. The following menu content printing (133) is the same as in embodiment 1.

Fig. 14 is a configuration diagram of an operation unit (including an operation panel and LEDs). As shown in fig. 14, 141 denotes a panel layout. Consisting of three buttons and three digital LEDs. The function of each button is the same as in embodiment 1. The three digital LEDs respectively represent XYZ numbers. X, Y, Z is in the range of 0-9. In the case of the menu mode, the 100-digit number is changed by pressing the SEL button, the 10-digit number is changed by pressing the LF/FF button, and the 1-digit number is changed by pressing the LOAD/EJECT button. Refer to fig. 12 for a flowchart of pressing a button (switch). For the LED display, please refer to fig. 15.

FIG. 15 is a schematic diagram of pattern display of 0-9 of an LED panel. As shown in fig. 15, by three digital LEDs (151). The numbers 0 to 9 are shown as 152.

With the image forming apparatus of the present embodiment, when the user selects a menu item, the menu Index number is displayed by the digital LED, which is easy for the user to understand, and operation errors and misunderstandings can be avoided. Also, the button operation guide is switched by 180 degrees, which is easier for the user to see when confirming the print result. Thus, the user directly inputs the Index of the selected menu item, and can immediately print the menu item on the paper. The unnecessary items are not printed. The cost of paper and ribbon can be saved. Further, since the printed button operation manual is easily visible, it is possible to avoid an operation error by the user and reduce waste of operation time.

In the above embodiments, the image forming apparatus is described as an example of a stylus printer. However, the embodiment of the present invention is not limited thereto, and the present invention is also applicable to menu display (i.e., image formation) of NIP printers (Non Impact printers), copying machines, facsimile apparatuses, scanner apparatuses, and the like.

While the invention has been described with reference to specific embodiments, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that these descriptions are illustrative and not intended to limit the scope of the invention. Various modifications and alterations of this invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art based upon the spirit and principles of this invention, and such modifications and alterations are also within the scope of this invention.

Claims

1. An image forming apparatus, comprising:

an image forming unit that prints and outputs an image on a recording medium;

an operation unit configured from a plurality of buttons, the operation unit receiving an operation input from a user;

a storage unit that stores a plurality of menu items;

a control unit that selects a specific menu item from the plurality of menu items stored in the storage unit based on an operation input received by the operation unit, and controls the image forming unit to print and output the selected menu item to a recording medium,

the control unit prints and outputs the explanatory information of each of the plurality of buttons on the recording medium, and thereafter, the control unit temporarily stops the conveyance of the recording medium and the printing of the recording medium, receives an operation input from a user in the operation unit, selects a specific menu item from the plurality of menu items stored in the storage unit based on the operation input, and controls the image forming unit to print and output the selected menu item on the same page as the page of the recording medium on which the explanatory information is printed.

2. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1,

the control section controls the image forming section to differentiate a printing direction of the specification information between a sheet mode and a continuous mode of the image forming apparatus.

3. The image forming apparatus according to claim 2,

the control part judges whether the mode is a single-page mode or a continuous mode;

if the mode is the single-page mode, the control part controls the image forming part to directly print the description information;

if the mode is a continuous paper mode, the control section controls the image forming section to rotate the explanatory information by 180 degrees and then print the explanatory information.

4. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1,

the control section controls the image forming section to print the specification information at the head of each sheet.

5. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1,

the operating portion further has a plurality of LEDs;

the control unit controls each of the plurality of LEDs or a combination of the plurality of LEDs to perform a corresponding display based on an operation input received through the plurality of buttons.

6. The image forming apparatus according to claim 5,

the LED is an LED lamp;

the control unit controls the plurality of LEDs to be turned on, turned off, or blinked based on the operation input received through the plurality of buttons, to indicate a number corresponding to the operation input of each button.

7. The image forming apparatus according to claim 5,

the LED is a digital LED;

the control unit controls each of the plurality of LEDs to perform a corresponding digital display based on an operation input received through the plurality of buttons.