GB2121574A

GB2121574A - Sentence displaying device

Info

Publication number: GB2121574A
Application number: GB08313400A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Hidetaka Miyake; Junichi Yamaguchi
Original assignee: Fuji Xerox Co Ltd
Current assignee: Fujifilm Business Innovation Corp
Priority date: 1982-05-17
Filing date: 1983-05-16
Publication date: 1983-12-21
Also published as: DE3317952C2; JPS58199388A; GB2121574B; DE3317952A1; GB8313400D0

Abstract

A sentence displaying system for indicating the operating state of a copying machine or the like is modified to display sentences in different languages. A set of display sentences are stored in a series of ROMs, each of the ROMs storing the sentences in a different language. An external mounting (20) is provided to the machine so that a selected one of the ROMs forms the memory of the display system. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Sentence displaying device This invention relates to a sentence displaying device for providing and displaying data which is necessary in order for an operator to operate equipment such as a copying machine, a printer, or a facsimile machine in the proper manner.

In the display device of a conventional apparatus such as a copying machine or a printer (hereinafter referred to as a "copying machine", when applicable), light emitting means applies light to predetermined characters and symbols so that the latter are displayed on a panel in sequence. Alternatively, predetermined character boards may be selectively displayed. These display devices of the prior art are disadvantageous in that their display area is severely limited. Thus, the number of characters (as well as the total number of different sentences) which can be displayed is limited. In addition, these characters or sentences cannot be readily or clearly read.

The current state of the art of copying machines or the like is highly developed. Copying machines which are manufactured today are very intricate in construction and versatile in function. Accordingly, the operation of these copier is rather intricate. Thus, it is necessary to display the contents of operations to be carried out in a relatively detailed fashion. In order to meet this requirement, a device capable of displaying various sentences has been proposed and put into practical use.

Owing to the recent developments in transportation and communication, the market for copiers is worldwide. Accordingly, copying machines or the like have been exported to a number of countries having languages different from that of the manufacturer. Therefore, it is necessary in such copying machines that, in order to facilitate their use, inspection, and maintenance, the sentence displaying devices employ the languages spoken in the importing countries. For example, the sentence displaying device which is used in Japan employs Japanese characters "katakana" in order to simplify the construction and to decrease the manufacturing costs hereof. However, operators who use these copiers in the United States can read the corresponding English alphabetical characters more readily.

In view of the foregoing, an object of this invention is to provide a sentence displaying device which can readily and accurately display sentences as required by the user or operator, without changing the construction of an apparatus such as a copying machine for which the display device is provided.

The foregoing object has been achieved by the provision of a sentence displaying device in which a plurality of memories, each of which has stored displaying sentences, are provided in correspondence to a plurality of languages (Japanese, English, French, and German, or Japanese "katakana", or "hiragana", or "kanji" mixed with "kana"). The memories are mechanically and electrically detachably connected to a copying machine or the like. Sentences which are different in language but the same in meaning are stored in the same addresses in the plurality of memories or with the same sentence number.

The structures and teachings of the present invention will become more apparent upon a detailed description of a preferred embodiment thereof. In the description to follow, reference will be made to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a perspective view showing one example of a copying machine having a sentence displaying device according to this invention; Figure2 is an explanatory diagram showing a memory cassette inserting means of the invention; Figure 3 is a block diagram showing one example of a sentence displaying circuit of the invention; Figure 4 is an explanatory diagram showing the arrangement of data in a cassette memory of the invention, and; Figure 5 is a flow chart outlining a sentence displaying operation according to the invention.

As shown in Figure 1, the copying machine 10 comprises a platen 11 on which an original is placed, a sheet cassette 12, a copy tray 13 and an original tray 16. The copying machine has a panel 14 at the upper front part, which has operating switches S1 through S5 for copying operations and a display section 15 for indicating necessary data to the operator. An inserting hole 20, through which a memory cassette described later is inserted, is provided on one external side of the copying machine.

An example of the memory cassette of the invention is shown in Figure 2 in conjunction with the inserting hole 20. In Figure 2, the memory cassette 30 has a substrate 31 with a necessary numer of protruding terminals 32, the substrate 31 being incorporated within a box-shaped casing 39. The casing 39 has an opening for the terminals 32. A ROM (hereinafter referred to as "a cassette memory", when applicable) and other necessary circuits are provided on the substrate 31. A connector 22 is provided within a guide hole 21 of the copier so that, when the memory cassette 30 is inserted through the inserting hole 20 into the guide hole 21 in the direction of the arrow Fl, the terminals 32 engage the connector 22.The connector 22 is mounted on a substrate 23 provided with a display control section and other circuits, so that the cassette memory 60 is electrically connected to the circuits on the substrate 23.

Figure 3 shows one example of the display circuit which causes the display section 15 to display the content of the cassette memory 60 according to the state of the copying machine 10. The display circuit as shown in Figure 3 comprises a display control section 40 which receives a signal representing a state of the copying machine from a copying machine control section 90 to select a suitable one of the sentences which have been stored in the cassette memory 60, and a display drive section 50 for displaying the sentences thus selected.

The display control section 40 is a circuit which is controlled by a central processing unit 41 (hereinafter referred to as a "CPU 41"). The CPU 41, a ROM 42, a RAM 43, an l/O port 44, a buffer circuit 45 and an interface circuit 46 are coupled to a fixed bus, so that data are transmitted therebetween. The ROM 42 stores a first program for reading the internal state of the copying machine 10 through the I/O port 44 to determine a sentence number to be displayed by the display drive section 30; a second program for reading, according to the sentence number thus determined, the character code train of the corresponding sentence through the buffer circuit 45 out of the cassette memory 60 and transferring it to a display RAM 47 (described later); and other programs required for the operational and time control of the overall system.The RAM 43 operates to temporarily store data during operation when required. The I/O port 44 and the I/O port 19 of the copying machine control section 90 transmit data therebetween. Signals for notifying the display section of the various states of the copying machine 10 are thus applied to the I/O port 44. The buffer circuit 45 is connected to the cassette memory 60. The buffer circuit 45 transmits data to and receives data from the cassette memory 60 in response to requests from the CPU 41, and temporarily stores this data.

The interface circuit 46 is connected through a predetermined bus to the display RAM 47 and a character generating section 48. The circuit 46 is used to smoothly input character code strings to the display RAM 47.

Character code strings read out of the cassette memory 60 are stored in the display RAM 47, and in response to the character code strings thus stored, character datum are outputted by the character generating section 48.

The display RAM 47 is connected to an interface circuit 49 and applies a character code string to the character generating section 48 according to the output of the circuit 49. The output character data of the character generating section 48 is inputted to the interface circuit 49'.

The display drive section 50 comprises a display section 15 which has a liquid crystal means and a series of light emitting diodes or fluorescent display tubes. An X-driver for performing the X-direction scanning of the display section and a Y-driver 56 for conducting the Y-direction scanning of the display section drives the display section 15. A timing pulse outputted by a timing circuit 53 is converted into a predetermined signal by a decoder 54. The output of decoder 54 is applied to the X-driver 55, whereby in the display section 15 an address in the X-direction is specified and driven. On the other hand, the output data of a shift register 52 is applied to the Y-driver 56, whereby in the display section 15 an address in the Y-direction is specified and driven. The shift register 52 and the timing circuit 53 are connected to an interface circuit 51.

The interface circuit 51 cooperates with the interface circuit 49 so that signals are smoothly transmitted between the display control section 40 and the display drive section 50. That is, in response to the timing pulse generated by the timing circuit 53, the address in the X-direction of the display section 15 (namely, the line) is specified. At the same time, the timing pulse is applied through the interface circuits 51 and 49 to the display RAM 47, so that a character code to be displayed at the Y-address which corresponds to the specified X-address is inputted to the character generating section 48, where the corresponding character data is produced.The character data thus produced is applied through the interface circuits 49 and 51 and the shift register 52, as a dot signal, to theY-driver 56, so that the character dot corresponding to the specified line is displayed.

The above-described operation is carried out for each address in the X-direction, so that the sentence which has been stored as a character code string in the display RAM 47 is displayed by the display section 15.

The above-described cassette memory 60 will now be described in more detail. Figure 4 is an explanatory diagram of the memory contents of the cassette memory 60 having an address table 61 and memory regions 62 through 65. The address table 61 shows the relationships between sentence numbers and the addresses in the cassette memory 60 where discrete sentences specified by the sentence numbers have been stored.

For instance, the first line indicates that a sentence having sentence number 1 is stored in the memory region 62 having a start address "0", the second line indicates that a sentence having sentence number 2 is stored in the memory region 63 having a start address "1", and so on. For instance, a character code string corresponding to a Japanese sentence "OMACHI KUDASAI" (which translates to "please wait") is stored in the memory region 62, a character code string corresponding to a Japanese sentence "TONA O HOKYU SHITE KUDASAI" (i.e. "please add toner") is stored in the memory region 63, and so on downward.

According to the program stored in the ROM 42, the CPU 41 determines the sentence number corresponding to the sensed state of the copying machine. The sentence corresponding to this sentence number is stored in cassette memory 60, which is accessed through buffer 45. In the case as shown in Figure 4, the stored sentences are in the Japanese language. However, it should be noted that a variety of memory cassettes can be provided in which the sentences are in the English or German languages or in Japanese "hiragana" or Japanes "hiragana" mixed with "kanji". In this regard, it is essential that sentences having like sentence numbers have like meanings.For instance, the English-Japanese sentences corresponding to the Japanese sentences of Figure 4 are shown in the table below: TABLE 1 Sentence Japanese English Number Sentence Sentence 1 OMACHI KUDASAI PLEASE WAIT 2 TONA O KOKYUSHITE PLEASE ADD KUDASAI TONER 3 WARIKOMI JOBU PROGRAM SECOND MODO DESU JOB 4 SETSUDEN MODO DESU POWER SAVE ON.

PUSH "START" TO WARM UP 5 COPII DEKIMASU READY TO COPY.

PUSH "START" The whole operation of the above-described embodiment will now be described with reference to Figures 1 through 4 and Figure 5. Figure 5 is a flow chart outlining the sentence display procedure of the invention.

As the flow chart shows only a part of the entire operation of the copying machine, steps "Start" and "End" are not included.

First, the operator selects the memory cassette 30 in which sentences written in a desired language are stored, and inserts it into the inserting hole 20 of the copying machine 10 (cf. Figures 1 and 2). Then, an original is placed on the platen 11, and a copying operation is carried out by suitably operating the swtiches S1 through S5. During the copying operation, the instantaneous operating state of the copying machine 10 is applied through both the I/O port 19 of the copying machine control section 90 and the I/O port 44 of the display control section 40 to the CPU 41. The operating state is read by CPU 41, and the sentence numbers corresponding to the display sentences indicative of the sensed operating state are determined (cf. Figure 3).

The sentence number thus determined is applied to the cassette memory 60. The start address corresponding to the transmitted sentence number is called according to the address table 61, and the character code string stored at the memory area having the chosen start address is read out and stored in the display RAM 47.

For example, when the copying machine 10 is short of toner, sentence number 2 is selected (cf. Figure 5).

According to the address table 61 in the cassette memory 60, the character code string in the memory region 63 starting at an address "1" is stored in the display RAM 47 (cf. Figure 4). The content of memory region 03 is then stored in display RAM 47, the content of which is displayed on the display section 15 by the display drive section 50. Accordingly, a Japanese "katakana" sentence "TONA O HOKYUSHITE KUDASAI (PLEASE ADD TONER) is displayed. The operator, upon reading this display, will be alerted to supplement the amount of toner in order to continue the copy operation.

In the case where the sentences in the memory cassette (cf. Figure 2) are in English, an English sentence "PLEASE ADD TONER" is displayed.

In the above-described embodiment, the cassette memory 60 is in the form of an IC or LSI; however, a method may be employed in which mechanical driving means are provided on the side of the copying machine 10, and a cassette type magnetic tape is used as the cassette memory 60. The memory cassette inserting hole 20 may be positioned as desired; however, it is desirable that, where the frequency of inserting a memory cassette is low, the inserting hole is positioned on the side which is opposite to the side of the panel, and where the insertion frequency is high, it should be positioned on the same side as panel 14.

In the case where an IC or LSI such as the cassette memory 60 is used as the memory cassette and where the frequency of inserting the memory cassette is low, an IC socket may be used to achieve the replacement of the substrate. Further, the contents and arrangements of data to be stored in the cassette memory 60 are not limited to those in the above-described embodiment. The circuit elements specified may be replaced by others having the same functional characteristics. Finally, while the invention has been described with reference to a copying machine, it is to be understood that concepts of the invention may be applied to other devices such as facsimiles or printers.

As is apparent from the above description, the sentence displaying device according to the invention is designed so that a memory, in which is stored a plurality of displaying sentences, is mechanically and electrically detachably connected to a copying machine or the like. Therefore, merely by providing memories in having sentences in different languages (Japanese, English, French, German, etc., or Japanese "katakana", "hiragana", or "kanji" mixed with "kana") the operating state of the copying machine may be readily ascertained by the user without modifying the structure of the copying machine or the like.

Claims

1. In a machine display section of the type comprising a control section for detecting one of a plurality of

possible operating states of a machine and a sentence display section for selectively displaying one of a plurality of display sentences as a function of said detected operational state of said machine, the improvement comprising: a plurality of display sentence memory means, each of said sentence memory means storing said plurality of display sentences in a particular language; and means for connecting a selected one of said plurality of sentence memory means to said sentence display section, whereby the language of said display sentence displayed by said sentence display section may be readily varied.

2. The machine display section as recited in Claim 1, wherein said connecting means comprises a mounting means to which said selected sentence memory means is detachably connected.

3. The machine display section as recited in Claim 2, wherein said mounting means is disposed on an external portion of said machine.

4. The machine display section as recited in Claim 1, wherein each of said plurality of sentence memory means comprises a ROM.

5. The machine display section as recited in Claim 1, wherein each of said plurality of sentence memory means comprises a magnetic tape.

6. In a machine display section of the type comprising a control section for detecting one of a plurality of possible operating states of a machine and a sentence display section for selectively displaying one of a plurality of display sentences in a particular language as a function of said detected operational state of said machine, the improvement comprising: means for selectively varying said particular language of said plurality of display sentences, comprising a mounting on an external portion of said machine, to which a selected one of a plurality of display sentence memory means is detachably connected.