JP2008242941A - Character input device and image forming apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To enable a user to accurately and easily designate and edit an intended character. <P>SOLUTION: The character input device comprises an operation display part 1 which inputs a character and displays the input character, and a control part 7 which stores a character input from the operation display part 1 and display a cursor. The control part 7 deletes, upon input of a character number and a delete instruction from the operation display part 1, characters corresponding to the character number based on the cursor 10 of characters stored therein and displayed on the operation display part 1. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a character input device and an image forming apparatus having a character input function.

Some image forming apparatuses typified by cellular phones, printer apparatuses, copier apparatuses, facsimile apparatuses and the like have a character input function. In such mobile phones and image forming apparatuses, a character input function is mainly used when creating an e-mail. Patent Document 1 below discloses a technique for efficiently deleting and editing input characters in character input (document creation) of a mobile phone. This conventional technology recognizes the position of the cursor when the character deletion range specification for specifying the character deletion range is displayed by long-pressing the clear key, and deletes the sentences before the cursor at once. To do.
JP 2004-78819 A

  However, in the above prior art, since the sentences before the cursor are deleted at once, the range intended by the user cannot be easily deleted. For example, when the cursor is positioned in the sixth column of a line in a sentence and an attempt is made to delete characters from the top of the line to the third column, all the characters in the line where the cursor is are deleted in the conventional technique. Therefore, even the first column name and the characters in the second column that the user does not intend to delete are deleted, and there is a problem that the workability of the text editing operation after character input is poor.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above-described circumstances, and an object thereof is to specify and edit a character intended by a user accurately and easily.

  In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides, as a first solution means for a character input device, an operation unit for inputting characters, a display unit for displaying characters input from the operation unit, and the operation unit. A character input device including a control unit that stores the characters input from the display unit and displays the characters together with a cursor on the display unit, and the control unit has already received a number of characters and a deletion instruction from the operation unit. Among the characters stored and displayed on the display unit, a means is adopted in which characters corresponding to the number of characters are deleted from the cursor as a base point.

  Further, as a second solving means related to the character input device, an operation unit for inputting characters, a display unit for displaying characters input from the operation unit, a character input from the operation unit, and the memory are stored. A character input device including a control unit that causes a display unit to display a cursor together with the control unit, and when the number of characters and the moving direction of the cursor are input from the operation unit, the control unit already stores and displays on the display unit Among the generated characters, a means is adopted in which the cursor is moved to a character corresponding to the number of characters in the movement direction of the cursor with the cursor as a base point.

  As a third means for solving the character input device, an operation unit for inputting characters, a display unit for displaying characters input from the operation unit, a character input from the operation unit, and the display unit And a control unit for displaying a character together with a cursor. When the number of characters and a conversion instruction are input from the operation unit, the control unit stores a character already stored and displayed on the display unit. Among these, a means is adopted in which the character corresponding to the number of characters is set as a re-conversion object with the cursor as a base point.

  Further, the present invention employs a means of providing any one of the first to third character input devices as a solution means for the image forming apparatus.

  According to the present invention, by instructing the number of characters and the editing content (deletion, cursor movement direction or conversion), the character corresponding to the number of characters is subjected to editing processing based on the character indicated by the cursor. It is possible to specify and edit accurately and easily.

Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a functional configuration of the multifunction peripheral A according to the present embodiment. The multifunction peripheral A has functions as a printer, a facsimile machine, a scanner, and a copying machine. As shown in the figure, an operation display unit 1, an image reading unit 2, an image storage unit 3, a communication unit 4, an image processing unit. 5, a printing unit 6 and a control unit 7 are provided.

  As shown in the figure, the operation display unit 1 includes a touch panel 1a and operation keys 1b, and functions as a man-machine interface that associates the user with the MFP A. As is well known, the touch panel 1a is provided with a transparent surface pressure sensor such as a resistive film type on the display surface of the display panel, and the user presses the operation button displayed on the display panel by the control unit 7 with a finger or the like. When pressed, the planar pressure sensor outputs an operation signal indicating a pressed position (pressed coordinate) to the control unit 7.

  On the touch panel 1a, a plurality of operation buttons to which various functions are assigned are displayed in a predetermined layout by the control unit 7. In addition, the touch panel 1a receives a predetermined operation instruction from the user. Then, an e-mail creation screen (character input screen) is also displayed under the control of the control unit 7.

  The operation key 1b is a hardware key other than the operation buttons displayed on the touch panel 1a, such as a power button, a numeric button, and a transmission start button. The operation buttons displayed on the touch panel 1a are displayed by the control unit 7 in software based on a predetermined program, but the operation keys 1b are physically provided as hardware keys. An operation signal based on a user operation is output to the control unit 7.

  Such an operation display unit 1 is used not only for inputting various operation instructions to the multifunction device A but also for inputting various characters such as hiragana, kanji, alphabets, and numbers to the multifunction device A. It is. For example, when an electronic mail is transmitted from the multi-function peripheral A to the outside, the user operates the operation display unit 1 to input characters into the multi-function peripheral A to create a title or body of the electronic mail. Thus, in creating an e-mail, etc., the operation display unit 1 functions as a character input device by cooperating with the control unit 7 as described later.

  The image reading unit 2 includes a document table, a scanner, and the like. Under the control of the control unit 7, a document image (document image) placed on the document table is read by the scanner and output to the image storage unit 3. To do. The image storage unit 3 includes an external storage device such as a hard disk and / or a semiconductor memory. The image storage unit 3 writes image data of the original image and reads the image data based on a control command input from the control unit 7. Output to the image processing unit 5.

  The communication unit 4 communicates with an external multifunction device, a facsimile machine, or a PC (Personal Computer) using a LAN (Local Area Network) or a telephone line under the control of the control unit 7. That is, the communication unit 4 has a communication function compliant with a LAN standard such as Ethernet (registered trademark) and a communication function compliant with a facsimile standard such as G3. For example, the communication unit 4 attaches the transmission image acquired from the image storage unit 3 to the e-mail input from the control unit 7 and transmits the e-mail to the LAN. The mail body is output to the control unit 7 and the image (received image) is output to the image storage unit 3.

  The image processing unit 5 corresponds to the image composition unit in the present embodiment, and in cooperation with the image storage unit 3, various kinds of document image data (RGB type image data) stored in the image storage unit 3 are used. The image processing (RGB format image data) generated by the image processing is converted into print format image data (YCMK format image data) and output to the printing unit 6.

  The printing unit 6 prints an image of a document on a sheet based on print format image data input from the image processing unit 5. The printing unit 6 employs, for example, a tandem system, and a plurality of photosensitive drums corresponding to colors of Y (yellow), C (cyan), M (magenta), and K (black) are arranged along the intermediate transfer belt. Are arranged in parallel, and a single color toner image is individually formed on each photosensitive drum using a laser beam, and the toner image on each photosensitive drum is transferred to the intermediate transfer belt (primary transfer), and further on the intermediate transfer belt. The toner image of all colors is secondarily transferred to a sheet.

  The control unit 7 includes a CPU (Central Processing Unit), an internal memory such as a ROM (Read Only Memory) and a RAM (Random Access Memory), the operation display unit 1, the image reading unit 2, the image storage unit 3, and a communication unit 4. The image processing unit 5 and the printing unit 6 include various input / output interface circuits that exchange data. The control unit 7 executes a control program stored in the ROM based on an operation instruction or the like input from the operation display unit 1, so that the operation display unit 1, the image reading unit 2, and the image storage that are control targets are executed. The unit 3, the communication unit 4, the image processing unit 5, and the printing unit 6 are controlled as a whole.

The control program includes not only a control function to be controlled but also a character input function for realizing a character input function using the operation display unit 1. This character input function also includes a Japanese kana-kanji conversion function, which is activated when the user inputs characters by operating the operation display unit 1 (for example, when creating an e-mail). Executed by.
That is, the control unit 7 and the operation display unit 1 constitute a character input device in the multifunction device A, and such a character input device is a feature point of the multifunction device A.

  Next, a characteristic operation of the MFP A configured as described above, that is, an operation related to character input of the MFP A will be described in detail with reference to a flowchart of FIG. 2 and schematic diagrams of FIGS. In the description of the operation, a character input operation when the user creates an e-mail will be described as an example.

  When the user inputs an e-mail creation instruction to the operation display unit 1, the control unit 7 displays an e-mail creation screen (character input screen) on the touch panel 1a based on the control program. As shown in FIG. 3, the e-mail creation screen includes a software keyboard 8 composed of various operation keys, and a character display unit 9 for displaying the title and text of a mail input by the user via the software keyboard 8. Is included. Since the operation key 1b is a hardware key, the number of the operation key 1b is limited. Therefore, the multifunction machine A performs character input using the software keyboard 8.

  The software keyboard 8 is provided with arrow keys 11a, 11b, 11c, for indicating the moving direction of the cursor 10 (see FIG. 4) displayed together with the characters on the character display unit 9, in addition to the numeric keys and the alphabet keys. 11d, BS key 12 for instructing deletion of the backward character with the cursor 10 as the base point, DEL key 13 for instructing deletion of the forward character with the cursor 10 as the base point, and conversion key 14 for instructing kana-kanji conversion , A Cancel key 15 for canceling the input operation, an enter key 16 for instructing confirmation of the input operation, and the like.

  The user operates such a software keyboard 8 to input the title of the e-mail and the text of the text to create a text (text). That is, the control unit 7 sequentially converts, for example, alphabets sequentially input from the software keyboard 8 into hiragana and kanji, stores them in the internal memory as Japanese characters, and sequentially displays them on the character display unit 9 as well as the cursor. Move position 10 to the end of the character. By repeating such character input, the text of the mail body as shown in FIG. 4A is finally stored in the internal memory of the control unit 7, while the character display unit 9 The sentence is displayed.

  In the middle of such character input (sentence creation), the control unit 7 operates the numeric key of the operation key 1b (for example, the numeric key “9”) instead of the software keyboard 8 for character input. (Step S1), the number (for example, “9”) indicated by the number key is recognized as the number of characters to be edited, and as shown in FIG. 4B, the character corresponding to the number of characters to be edited with the position of the cursor 10 as a base point. (9 characters) is selected and displayed as the character to be edited (step S2). When the BS key 12 is operated subsequently to the numeric key (step S3), the control unit 7 erases the editing target character from the internal memory and the character display unit 9, as shown in FIG. In step S4, the cursor 10 is moved to the end of the remaining characters (sentences).

  On the other hand, when the conversion key 14 is operated instead of the BS key 12 (step S5), the control unit 7 reconverts the edit target character as shown in FIG. 4D (step S6). Therefore, when the arrow keys 11a, 11b, 11c, and 11d and the cursor 10 (for example, the arrow key 11c) are operated in place of the BS key 12 and the conversion key 14 (step S7), the control unit 7 performs FIG. As shown in e), the cursor 10 is moved by the number of characters to be edited (step S8), and then the process returns to step S1.

  Further, when the cancel key 15 is operated without operating any of the BS key 12, the conversion key 14 and the arrow keys 11a, 11b, 11c, and 11d (step S9), the control unit 7 performs the process. Returning to S3, while waiting for any one of the BS key 12, the conversion key 14 or the arrow keys 11a, 11b, 11c, and 11d to be operated, the BS key 12 is operated within a predetermined period after the numeric key of the operation key 1b is operated. If none of the conversion key 14, the arrow keys 11a, 11b, 11c, 11d and the cancel key 15 are operated, the process returns to step S1.

  According to this embodiment, the operation key (BS key 12, conversion key 14 or arrow keys 11a, 11b) is used to designate the number of characters to be edited by the numeric keys of the operation key 1b and to indicate the editing contents of the software keyboard 8. , 11c, 11d), the editing of the number of characters intended by the user can be performed accurately and surely by an extremely simple operation of instructing the editing contents by the user.

In addition, this invention is not limited to the said embodiment, For example, the following modifications can be considered.
(1) In the above embodiment, when the numeric key of the operation key 1b different from the character input software keyboard 8 is operated, the control unit 7 recognizes the operation as a designation operation for the number of characters to be edited. Instead, the software keyboard 8 is provided with a dedicated key for switching between the character input mode and the edit mode, and when this dedicated key is operated to shift from the character input mode to the edit mode, the control unit 7 The number indicated by the number key in 8 may be recognized as the number of characters to be edited. In this case, character input and character editing can be performed only by the software keyboard 8.

(2) Alternatively, the software keyboard 8 is provided with a dedicated key for switching the function of the numeric key included in the software keyboard 8, and by operating the dedicated key, the numeric key of the software keyboard 8 is changed to the character key. You may switch to the function for inputting numbers as one and the function for specifying the number of characters to be edited.
(3) Further, the operation keys indicating the editing contents are not limited to the BS key 12, the conversion key 14, or the arrow keys 11a, 11b, 11c, and 11d in the above embodiment. Other operation keys may be used.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a functional configuration of a multifunction peripheral A according to an embodiment of the present invention. 5 is a flowchart showing a characteristic operation of the multifunction peripheral A according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is a schematic diagram of the software keyboard 8 in one Embodiment of this invention. It is a schematic diagram which shows the character edit operation | movement in one Embodiment of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

  A ... multifunction device, 1 ... operation display unit, 1a ... touch panel, 1b ... operation key, 2 ... image reading unit, 3 image storage unit, 4 ... communication unit, 5 ... image processing unit, 6 ... printing unit, 7 ... control 8 ... Software keyboard 9 ... Character display 10 ... Cursor 11a, 11b, 11c, 11d ... Arrow key 12 ... BS key 13 ... DEL key 14 ... Conversion key 15 ... Cancel key 16 … Enter key

Claims (4)

Character having an operation unit for inputting characters, a display unit for displaying characters input from the operation unit, and a control unit for storing characters input from the operation unit and causing the display unit to display them together with a cursor An input device,
When the number of characters and a deletion instruction are input from the operation unit, the control unit erases characters corresponding to the number of characters from a cursor as a base point among characters already stored and displayed on the display unit. Character input device. Character having an operation unit for inputting characters, a display unit for displaying characters input from the operation unit, and a control unit for storing characters input from the operation unit and causing the display unit to display them together with a cursor An input device,
When the number of characters and the movement direction of the cursor are input from the operation unit, the control unit stores the number of characters already stored and displayed on the display unit in the movement direction of the cursor using the cursor as a base point. A character input device that moves the cursor to a corresponding character. Character having an operation unit for inputting characters, a display unit for displaying characters input from the operation unit, and a control unit for storing characters input from the operation unit and displaying the characters on the display unit together with a cursor An input device,
When the number of characters and a conversion instruction are input from the operation unit, the control unit re-converts characters corresponding to the number of characters from the cursor as a base point among characters already stored and displayed on the display unit. A character input device characterized by setting.   An image forming apparatus comprising the character input device according to claim 1.

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