JP2006058326A - Electronic equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide electronic equipment for attaining GUI even when being a small-sized liquid crystal display of a small display area. <P>SOLUTION: The electronic equipment comprises LCD 8, and an overlay 30 having a first opening part 31 exposing a display face 8a of LCD 8. The overlay 30 comprises an equipment display part 32 expressing an entire outline of a compound machine adjacent to the first opening part 31, and a second opening part 32a provided in the equipment display part 32 so as to view a part of the display face 8a of LCD 8. The part of the display face 8a of LCD 8 capable of being viewed from the second opening part 32a displays the state (paper size and paper residual amount) of a paper cassette equivalent to a certain part of the second opening part 32a of the equipment display part 32. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to an electronic apparatus such as a printer, a copier, a facsimile machine, and a multifunction machine having both a copy function and a facsimile function.

For example, some electronic devices having a liquid crystal display in the operation unit include a graphical user interface (GUI) that allows the user to intuitively grasp the state of each part of the device through vision. For example, there is an image forming apparatus configured to display an image representing the entire apparatus on a display unit (liquid crystal display panel), and to display a sheet size, a sheet direction, and a remaining sheet amount on each of the portions corresponding to the sheet cassette. (For example, refer to Patent Document 1).
JP 2001-188446 A

  However, in order to display an image representing the entire device as in the device described in Patent Document 1, a relatively large liquid crystal display with a large display area is required, resulting in an increase in size and cost of the device. Yes. On the other hand, large-sized liquid crystal displays cannot often be used for small and low-priced devices. In that case, a liquid crystal display capable of displaying about two lines of a character string is used, but a GUI as disclosed in the technique described in Patent Document 1 cannot be realized.

  The present invention has been made paying attention to such problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide an electronic device that can realize a GUI even with a small liquid crystal display with a small display area.

  In order to achieve the above object, an electronic apparatus according to the present invention includes a display device and an overlay having a first opening that exposes a display surface of the display device. A device display unit that represents at least a part of the device adjacent to the opening, and a second opening that is provided in the device display unit and allows a part of the display surface of the display to be visually recognized. The display surface portion of the display that can be viewed from the opening portion displays the state of the device corresponding to the portion having the second opening portion of the device display portion.

  In this electronic device, in addition to the first opening, the overlay is provided with a device display unit adjacent to the first opening, and the display of the display device is displayed from the second opening of the device display unit. The surface is exposed, and the state of the device corresponding to the portion having the second opening of the device display portion is displayed on the display surface portion of the display device that appears from the second opening.

  More specifically, the image forming unit includes an image forming unit that records an image on a sheet, and a sheet supply unit that supplies the sheet to the image forming unit. It is preferable to provide an opening and display the state of the paper supply unit on the display surface portion of the display that can be viewed from the second opening.

  Furthermore, the information displayed on the display surface portion of the display that can be viewed from the second opening of the device display unit is at least one of the paper size of the paper supply unit corresponding to the second opening and the remaining amount of paper. Is preferred.

  According to the present invention, if the display of the second opening of the device display unit is viewed at a glance, the state of the device corresponding to the portion having the second opening can be intuitively grasped. Thereby, even if it uses a small display device with little display information, GUI which a user can intuitively visually recognize the state of an apparatus is realizable. In particular, the image forming apparatus can realize the GUI of the state of the paper supply unit (paper size, paper remaining amount).

  Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in more detail with reference to embodiments.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of a multi-function machine (a copier, a facsimile machine or the like) as an electronic apparatus according to the embodiment. This multifunction device has both a copy function and a facsimile function, and includes an MPU (main control unit) 1 and an NCU (network control circuit).
rol Unit) 2, MODEM 3, CODEC (Coder and Decoder) 4, scanner 5, operation unit 6, liquid crystal driver 7, ROM 9, RAM 10, image memory 11, and printer An image processing circuit 12 and a printer mechanism control circuit 14 are provided, and these units are connected via a bus 15.

  The MPU 1 comprehensively controls each part constituting this multi-function peripheral in accordance with a program stored in the ROM 9. The NCU 2 controls the connection with the public telephone line network (PSTN) 16 that is a communication line, and also detects a function of sending a dial pulse corresponding to the telephone number (including the FAX number) of the communication partner and an incoming call. It has a function.

  MODEM3 is an ITU (International Telecommunication Union) -T recommendation T.264. 30, T.M. 4 according to the facsimile transmission control procedure (facsimile communication procedure) according to FIG. 17, V.R. 27ter, V.I. The transmission data is modulated and the received data is demodulated in accordance with 29. The MODEM 3 also has a function of modulating transmission data, which is a digital signal, into an analog voice signal for transmission to the public telephone line network 16 via the NCU 2, and an analog received from the public telephone line network 16 via the NCU 2. The audio signal is demodulated into a digital signal.

  The CODEC 4 encodes (encodes) the read image data according to the MH, MR, MMR method, or the like in order to transmit or store the read image data. Further, the CODEC 4 decodes (decodes) the image data received in a compressed and encoded state for recording by a printer as an image forming unit. The scanner 5 optically scans and reads image data of a document when performing facsimile transmission or copying. The scanner 5 can also read a color image. In the case of color reading, the scanner 5 optically scans an original image and obtains RGB three-color separation signals.

  The operation unit 6 includes a numeric keypad, a start key, a stop key, a copy key, various setting keys, and the like, as shown in FIG. The liquid crystal driver 7 controls display on an LCD (liquid crystal display) 8. The LCD 8 has a display surface 8a disposed on the operation panel as shown in FIG. 2, and the display surface 8a has an area where two lines of character strings can be displayed here. On the display surface 8a, message contents necessary for data transmission / reception, a telephone number and a FAX number inputted by the operation of the operation unit 6 are displayed.

  The ROM 9 stores a program for controlling the operation of the entire multifunction machine. The RAM 10 stores data necessary for control by the MPU 1 and data that needs to be temporarily stored during the control operation. The image memory 11 encodes the image data read by the scanner 5 and stores it in a compressed state, and also stores the image data received from an external device such as a personal computer or the image data read from a recording medium in a compressed state (MR, MMR). , JBIG, JPEG, etc.).

  Although not particularly shown in FIG. 1, a printer as an image forming unit is of, for example, an electrophotographic system, and records received image data and image data of a document read by a scanner 5 in a copying operation on a recording sheet. To do. The printer image processing circuit 12 performs resolution conversion processing and smoothing processing of image data so that an electrostatic latent image corresponding to input image information is formed on the surface of the photoreceptor in the printer, and serves as an exposure device. The LED print head (or laser scan unit (LSU)) is controlled.

  The printer mechanism control circuit 14 controls a recording paper transport mechanism, various mechanisms related to exposure, development, transfer, and fixing. Further, in this multi-function machine, two paper cassettes, that is, a main body cassette 21 and an option cassette 22 can be mounted as paper cassettes (paper supply units) for storing recording paper. Sensors (1), (2) 21a, 22a and paper size setting SW (1), (2) 21b, 22b are provided. The printer mechanism control circuit 14 receives detection signals from the remaining paper amount sensors (1), (2) 21a, 22a and detection signals from the paper size setting SW (1), (2) 21b, 22b. Based on this, the paper size and the remaining amount of paper in each of the cassettes 21 and 22 are determined, and display according to the determination result is performed on the LCD 8. This display will be described later.

  2, the entire operation panel on which the operation unit 6 and the display surface 8 a of the LCD 8 are arranged is covered with an overlay (surface layer sheet) 30, and various keys of the operation unit 6 are covered on the overlay 30. Characters indicating functions (“start”, “stop”, “copy”, “image quality”, “density”, “hold”, etc.) are written. The overlay 30 is formed with a first opening 31 that exposes the display surface 8a of the LCD 8, and a hole through which various keys of the operation unit 6 are inserted and a hole for LED display.

  The feature of this embodiment is that an overlay 30 is provided with a device display unit 32 schematically representing the entire multifunction peripheral adjacent to the first opening 31, and the display of the LCD 8 is displayed in the device display unit 32. The second opening 32a is formed so that a part of the surface 8a can be visually recognized. Here, six rectangular openings 32a are formed. The second opening portion 32a is located at a position corresponding to the paper cassette (paper supply portion) of the device display portion 32, and accordingly, on the display surface 8a portion of the LCD 8 that can be visually recognized from the second opening portion 32a. Displays the status of the paper cassette. That is, on the first line of the display surface 8a, the paper size and the remaining amount of the main cassette 21 are displayed, and on the second line, the sheet size and the remaining amount of the option cassette 22 are displayed.

  The display by the second opening 32a of the device display unit 32 has various forms. For example, the example shown in FIG. 3 is a case in which only the remaining amount of paper is displayed without showing the paper size, and there is a sufficient number of sheets stored in the main cassette 21 and the option cassette 22 respectively. . In the example of FIG. 4, the paper in the main cassette 21 is slightly more than half, and the paper in the option cassette 22 is somewhat less than half. In the example of FIG. 5, it indicates that there is no paper in the main cassette 21, and “x” blinks repeatedly when there is no paper. The example of FIG. 6 is a case where both the paper size and the remaining amount of paper are displayed. The paper in the main body cassette 21 is A4 size, the remaining amount of paper is as displayed, and the paper in the option cassette 22 is B5 size. The remaining amount of paper is as shown.

  Next, display processing by the second opening 32a of the device display unit 32 in this multifunction device will be briefly described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. When the main cassette 21 is mounted on the multifunction peripheral, for example, by inserting paper into the main cassette 21, the size of the paper stored in the main cassette 21 is detected by the paper size setting SW (1) 21b in step ST1, and the printer mechanism is controlled. Capture to circuit 14. At the same time, in step ST2, the remaining amount of paper stored in the main body cassette 21 is detected by the remaining paper amount sensor (1) 21a and taken into the printer mechanism control circuit 14.

  Next, in step ST3, it is determined whether or not the option cassette 22 is attached to the multi-function peripheral. If it is attached, the size of the paper stored in the option cassette 22 is determined by the paper size setting SW (2) 22b in step ST4. Detected and taken into the printer mechanism control circuit 14. At the same time, in step ST5, the remaining amount of sheets stored in the option cassette 22 is detected by the remaining sheet sensor (2) 22a and is taken into the printer mechanism control circuit 14. If the option cassette 22 is not installed, steps ST4 and ST5 are skipped.

  Thereafter, in step ST6, a display font corresponding to the paper size and the remaining amount of paper in each of the cassettes 21 and 22 is selected. In step ST7, the selected font is selected as the second font of the device display section 32 on the display surface 8a of the LCD 8. It displays on the part corresponding to the opening part 32a (FIG.2 and FIG.6).

  In the MFP of this embodiment, the size and remaining amount of the paper stored in the main body cassette 21 and the option cassette 22 can be intuitively grasped by looking at the display of the second opening 32a of the device display section 32. Thereby, even if the display surface 8a of the LCD 8 can display only two character strings, it is possible to realize a GUI that allows the user to intuitively visually recognize the state of the paper cassette (paper size, remaining amount of paper).

  Incidentally, conventionally, as shown in FIG. 8, the display portion 8b of the paper size and the remaining amount of paper on the display surface 8a of the LCD 8 and the device display section 32 of the overlay 30 are independent, and the main body cassette 21 has paper. In this case, for example, in addition to the corresponding portion 35 of the device display unit 32 being lit by the LED, the paper size and the remaining amount of paper are displayed on the display portion 8b of the LCD 8, so that the displayed paper size, remaining amount of paper and paper are displayed. It is difficult to associate with the position of the cassette at a glance.

  In the above embodiment, the number of paper cassettes that can be mounted on the multifunction peripheral is two, but may be three or more. In this case, the number of second openings 32a of the device display unit 32 is also increased according to the number of paper cassettes that can be mounted. For example, when the number of paper cassettes that can be mounted is three, the display surface 8a of the LCD 8 is capable of displaying three lines of character strings, and the second opening 32a is formed in three stages, upper, middle, and lower. Also, the shape of the second opening 32a need not be square, and may be any shape.

  Further, in the above embodiment, the second opening 32a of the device display unit 32 is provided at a position corresponding to the paper cassette, but the position indicating the remaining amount of toner in the printer, the life of the photosensitive drum, and the amount of waste toner. May be provided.

  In addition, the device display unit 32 schematically represents the entire multifunction peripheral, but may represent only a part of the multifunction peripheral.

1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of a multifunction peripheral as an electronic apparatus according to an embodiment. FIG. 3 is a plan view showing an example of an operation panel of the multifunction machine. FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of a display form (only the remaining amount of paper) by a second opening of an overlay device display unit on the operation panel of the multifunction peripheral. FIG. 10 is a diagram showing another example of a display form (only the remaining amount of paper) by the second opening of the overlay device display section on the operation panel of the multifunction peripheral. FIG. 10 is a diagram showing still another example of a display form (only the remaining amount of paper) by the second opening of the overlay device display section on the operation panel of the multifunction peripheral. FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of a display form (both paper size and remaining amount of paper) by a second opening of an overlay device display unit on the operation panel of the multifunction machine. FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing an example of display processing by a second opening of the device display unit in the multifunction machine. It is a figure which shows the positional relationship of the apparatus display part of an overlay and the display screen of LCD in the operation panel of the multifunctional device which concerns on a prior art example.

Explanation of symbols

1 MPU
6 Operation part 8 LCD (display)
8a Display screen 14 Printer mechanism control circuit 21, 22 Paper cassette (paper supply unit)
21a, 22a Paper remaining amount sensor 21b, 22b Paper size setting SW
30 Overlay 31 First Opening 32 Device Display 32a Second Opening

Claims (3)

In an electronic device comprising a display and an overlay having a first opening that exposes a display surface of the display,
The overlay includes a device display unit that represents at least a part of the device adjacent to the first opening, and a second opening that is provided in the device display unit so that a part of the display surface of the display device can be visually recognized. And a display surface portion of the display that can be visually recognized from the second opening portion, and displays the state of the device corresponding to the portion having the second opening portion of the device display portion. .   An image forming unit that records an image on a sheet and a sheet supply unit that supplies the sheet to the image forming unit. A second opening is provided at a position corresponding to the sheet supply unit of the device display unit. The electronic device according to claim 1, wherein the state of the paper supply unit is displayed on a display surface portion of the display that is visible from the unit. The information displayed on the display surface portion of the display that can be visually recognized from the second opening of the device display unit is at least one of the paper size and the remaining amount of paper of the paper supply unit corresponding to the second opening. The electronic device according to claim 2, characterized in that:

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