JP2010204980A - Character display system and multilingual supporting image forming device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a character display system capable of display in a language more easily comprehensible to a user on an operation panel of an MFP (Multi Function Peripheral). <P>SOLUTION: A plurality of languages desired to be displayed on an operation panel by a user are prioritized and registered, and then, when the MFP is used by a user, the character display system displays an operation panel of the MFP using a higher prioritized language that is one of the plurality of languages desired by the user among languages in language data stored in memory of the MFP. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an operation panel provided in an image forming apparatus or the like.

  In recent years, copying machines have become increasingly multifunctional, and copying machines installed in offices are so-called multi-function machines (hereinafter referred to as “MFP (Multi Function Peripheral)”) having a plurality of functions such as a FAX function and a printer function. ) Is the mainstream.

  As the number of functions increases, the operation method is often complicated. Therefore, it is desirable that the display on the operation panel provided in the MFP is easy for the user to understand.

  On the other hand, with the progress of internationalization, not only Japanese people but also offices of people from various countries, that is, people who speak various languages, are increasing.

  Therefore, in an MFP installed in such an office where people who speak various languages become users, it is desirable that the operation panel display be displayed in various languages so that the user can easily understand.

  Therefore, there is a technique in which a language used is registered via a network such as the Internet, and a language displayed by an operation panel is set as a language registered by a user (see Patent Document 1).

  Specifically, the MFP receives a user ID and a language used from the user via the Internet or the like, and stores the user ID and the language used in association with each other. The user inputs his user ID when using the MFP. The MFP displays the operation panel in the language used in association with the input user ID.

  According to this technology, a user can easily register an easy-to-understand language in the MFP via the network, and when using the MFP, the operation panel display is set in an easily-understood language. be able to.

JP 2004-86611 A

  However, in this technique, the MFP needs to store display data for all the languages used in order to support all the languages used by the user.

  However, since there is a limit to the memory capacity that can be allocated for display on the operation panel in the MFP, it is not practical to store display data for all languages used.

  Therefore, normally, display data of the language used is stored as much as can be stored in the memory, and when a language other than the stored language is desired, a predetermined language, for example, English is used. It is supposed to be displayed.

  However, it is not inconvenient for a user who is not good at the predetermined language because it is not a display using the language desired by the user.

  SUMMARY An advantage of some aspects of the invention is that it provides a character display system that allows a user to display in an easy-to-understand language.

  In order to achieve the above object, a character display system according to the present invention includes a display unit for displaying a character string, user identification information for identifying a user, and a language indicating a plurality of prioritized languages. User information storage means for storing information in association with each other, character string storage means for storing a character string in a predetermined language, which is a character string displayed on the display unit, and user identification information for acquiring user identification information A character in a language having a higher priority among a plurality of languages indicated by language information stored in association with the user identification information acquired by the acquisition unit and the user identification information acquisition unit by the predetermined language And display means for displaying the columns on the display unit. Here, the character string refers to a character string composed of one or more characters, numbers, symbols, and the like.

  Since the character display system with the above configuration stores a plurality of languages desired by the user with priority, the display is performed in a higher priority language among the predetermined languages stored in the character string storage unit. It becomes possible.

  That is, by giving higher priority to a language that is easier for the user to understand, the operation panel is displayed in a language that is easier for the user to understand.

1 is a diagram illustrating an example of an overall configuration of a character display system 100 using an MFP 2000. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of a hardware configuration of an MFP 2000. FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating an example of functional configurations of an authentication server 1000 and an MFP 2000. FIG. It is a figure which shows the example of a structure and content of the user information table 1310. FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration and contents of a corresponding language table 2610. FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration and contents of a language data table 2620. FIG. It is a figure which shows the example of the user information table 1310 and the corresponding language table 2610 in order to demonstrate the example which determines the language used for the display of the operation panel 20f. 6 is a diagram showing an example of a user information input screen 1310 in the authentication server 1000. FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of a standby screen 2600 that prompts the user to hold the IC card over the IC card reader 20i in the MFP 2000. FIG. FIG. 10A is a diagram showing an example of an initial screen 2210 using Japanese in the MFP 2000, and FIG. 10B is a diagram showing an example of an initial screen 2210 using English. 10 is a flowchart showing processing for displaying a screen on an operation panel of MFP 2000 in the character display system.

<Embodiment>
<Overview>
The character display system of the embodiment displays characters on the operation panel of the MFP, and the MFP stores display data in a plurality of languages so that characters in a plurality of languages can be displayed.

  On the other hand, the user designates a language desired to be displayed on the operation panel, but if the MFP does not store data of the desired language, the language is displayed in a predetermined standard language, for example, English.

  However, some languages other than English stored in the MFP may be easier for the user to understand than English. In such a case, it is more convenient for the user to display the operation panel in a language that is easier to understand than English.

  Therefore, the present invention enables a user to specify a plurality of languages desired to be displayed on the operation panel with priorities.

  Hereinafter, a character display system according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

<Function>
FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of the overall configuration of the character display system 100.

  The character display system 100 includes an authentication server 1000, an MFP 2000, and a user terminal 3000 connected to a network.

  The MFP 2000 is generally called a multifunction peripheral, and is an apparatus that integrates functions such as a copy function, a fax function, a network printing function, a scanner function, and a box function.

  Authentication server 1000 is a server device having a function of determining whether a user who intends to use MFP 2000 is a user who is permitted to use MFP 2000.

  The user terminal 3000 is a so-called personal computer, which is provided with an interface such as a display and a keyboard, and is a terminal device having a normal function such as transmitting a print job to the MFP 2000.

  Next, the hardware configuration of the MFP 2000 will be described.

  FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of a hardware configuration of the MFP 2000.

  The MFP 2000 includes a central processing unit (CPU) 20a, a random access memory (RAM) 20b, a read only memory (ROM) 20c, a hard disk 20d, a control circuit 20e, an operation panel 20f, a communication interface 20g, a printing device 20h, and an IC card reader. 20i or the like.

  The control circuit 20e is a circuit for controlling devices such as the hard disk 20d, the operation panel 20f, the communication interface 20g, the printing device 20h, and the IC card reader 20i.

  The operation panel 20f is a touch panel panel, a screen for giving a message or an instruction to the user, a screen for inputting the type of processing and processing conditions desired by the user, and processing executed by the CPU 20a. Display a screen showing the results. Further, the user can give an instruction to the MFP 2000 or specify processing conditions by touching a predetermined position on the operation panel 20f. As described above, the operation panel 20f serves as a user interface of a user who operates the MFP 2000.

  Next, the communication interface 20g is a NIC (Network Interface Card) or a modem for communicating with other devices such as the authentication server 1000 via a communication line by TCP / IP (Transmission Control Protocol / Internet Protocol). .

  The printing apparatus 20h is an apparatus that prints an image reproduced on the basis of image data of a print job transmitted from the user terminal 4000, or performs so-called copying.

  The IC card reader 20i is an IC card reader device that reads data from an IC card.

  Hereinafter, the authentication server 1000 and the MFP 2000 constituting the character display system 100 will be described with reference to FIG.

  FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating examples of functional configurations of the authentication server 1000, the MFP 2000, and the language data server 3000.

  First, the authentication server 1000 includes an authentication unit 1100, a user information registration unit 2000, and a user information storage unit 1300.

  The functions of each part of the authentication server 1000 described below are realized by executing a program stored in the memory of the authentication server 1000 by the CPU.

  Authentication unit 1100 has a function of receiving a user's IC card number from MFP 2000, authenticating the received IC card number, and transmitting an authentication result to MFP 2000. The authentication unit 1100 also transmits information related to the language displayed on the operation panel 20f along with the authentication result.

  Authentication is performed with reference to user information stored in the user information storage unit 1400. Specifically, a positive authentication result is obtained if an IC card number is registered in the user information, and a negative authentication result is obtained if it is not registered. It is assumed that information on language and the like is registered in the user information.

  The user information storage unit 1300 has a function of storing user information. The stored user information is information about a user who is authorized to use MFP 2000. The user information will be described with reference to the following <Data> section.

  In addition, the user information registration unit 1200 has a function of acquiring information about the user from the user and storing it in the user information storage unit 1300. Specifically, a screen for user registration is displayed on the display of the authentication server 1000, user input is received, and user information is acquired.

  Next, the MFP 2000 includes a control unit 2100, a panel display unit 2200, a language determination unit 2300, an IC card reading unit 2400, a panel screen storage unit 2500, and a language data storage unit 2600.

  The functions of each part of the MFP 2000 described below are realized by the CPU 20a executing a program stored in a memory such as the hard disk 20d of the MFP 2000.

  The control unit 2100 performs general control processing necessary for the MFP 2000 and controls processing unique to the present invention. Further, it has a function of requesting the authentication server 1000 to authenticate the IC card number read by the IC card reading unit 2400 and acquiring information related to the language desired by the user.

  The panel display unit 2200 has a function of displaying a screen on the operation panel 20f in response to a request from the control unit 2100, and a function of detecting a user operation and notifying the control unit 2100 of it.

  The screen displayed here is generated by the panel display unit 2200 reading screen layout data from the panel screen storage unit 2500, reading language data from the language data storage unit 2600, and combining the screen layout data and language data. .

  Panel screen storage unit 2500 has a function of storing screen layout data to be displayed on operation panel 20f for each screen. The screen layout data stored in the panel screen storage unit 2500 includes information related to the display configuration of the screen, information such as the position where the character string is displayed, and the character string to be actually displayed is included in principle. Absent.

  The language data storage unit 2800 has a function of storing language data to be displayed on the operation panel 20f for each screen. Here, basically, the language data actually displayed on the operation panel 20f is stored. Language data will be described later with reference to the <Data> section.

  The language determination unit 2300 has a function of determining a language used for screen display in response to a request from the panel display unit 2200. Specifically, among the languages stored in the language data storage unit 2600, the language desired by the user and having the highest priority is determined as the language used for display on the screen. If none of the languages desired by the user is stored in the language data storage unit 2600, the standard language is determined as the language used for screen display.

  The IC card reading unit 2400 has a function of reading an IC card number from the IC card 2410 possessed by the user via the IC card reader 20 i and passing the read IC card number to the control unit 2100.

<Data>
Hereinafter, main data used in the character display system 100 will be described with reference to FIGS.

  FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration and contents of the user information table 1310 stored in the user information storage unit 1300 of the authentication server 1000. It is assumed that the user information table 1310 is created in advance by the user via the user information registration unit 1200.

  The user information table 1310 includes a user name 1311, a card number 1312, a first language 1313, a second language 1314, and a third language 1315.

  The user information table 1310 includes information of all users who can use the MFP 2000, and one record 1319 having the above configuration is registered as user information of one user. In the embodiment, the number of languages that can be specified by the user is three, but the present invention is not limited to this.

  The user name 1310 is a so-called user identifier.

  The card number 1312 is an IC card number of an IC card possessed by the user indicated by the user name 1310. In the embodiment, it is assumed that the IC card number is information for authenticating the user.

  The first language 1313, the second language 1314, and the third language 1315 are languages that the user wants to use for screen display. The priority is higher in the order of the first language 1313, the second language 1314, and the third language 1315. That is, the first language 1313 is the language that the user most wants to use for screen display.

  Next, FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration and contents of the corresponding language table 2610 stored in the language data storage unit 2600 of the MFP 2000.

  The corresponding language table 2610 manages the types of language data stored in the language data storage unit 2600. That is, the languages that the MFP 2000 can support are shown.

  The correspondence language table 2610 includes a first correspondence language 2611, a second correspondence language 2612, and a third correspondence language 2613.

  The first corresponding language 2611, the second corresponding language 2612, and the third corresponding language 2613 indicate the languages of the language data stored in the language data storage unit 2600, respectively. The first supported language 2611 indicates a standard language in the MFP 2000.

  For example, since the first corresponding language in the corresponding language table 2610 in FIG. 5 is “English”, the second corresponding language is “Japanese”, and the third corresponding language is “−”, the language data storage unit 2600 stores English. Japanese language data is stored, and the standard language is English. The third corresponding language “−” indicates that language data of the third language is not stored.

  Next, FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration and contents of the language data table 2620 stored in the language data storage unit 2600 of the MFP 2000.

  In this language data table 2620, a character string to be displayed on the operation panel 20f is registered for each screen and for each language.

  The language data table 2620 includes a screen number 2621 and a language 2622.

  The screen number 2621 is an identifier of a screen displayed on the operation panel 20f.

  A language 2622 indicates the type of language.

  In the language data table 2620 of FIG. 6, language data of Japanese and English is stored.

<Language determination method>
Hereinafter, a method for determining the language used by the language determination unit 2200 of the MFP 2000 to display the screen will be described with an example.

  FIG. 7 is a diagram showing user information 1310 stored in the authentication server 1000 and corresponding language tables (2610A, 2610B, 2610C) stored in each of the three MFPs (2000A, 2000B, 2000C). Note that the card number 1312 of the user information 1310 that is not used in the description is not described.

  When a user indicated by a user name 1311 “U001” (hereinafter referred to as “user 001”) uses the MFP 2000A, a screen using “Japanese” is displayed.

  This is because the first language 1313 of the user 001, that is, the language with the highest priority is “Japanese”, and “Japanese” is registered in the corresponding language table 2610A.

  When the user 001 uses the MFP 2000B, a screen using “Chinese (traditional)” is displayed.

  “Japanese” that is the first language 1313 of the user 001 is not registered in the corresponding language table 2610B, but “Chinese (traditional)” that is the second language 1314 is registered in the corresponding language table 2610B. Because.

  When the user 001 uses the MFP 2000C, a screen using “English” is displayed.

  “Japanese” that is the first language 1313 of the user 001 is not registered in the corresponding language table 2610C, and “Chinese (traditional)” that is the second language 1314 is also “Chinese” that is the third language 1314. This is because “word (simplified character)” is not registered in the corresponding language table 2610C. If neither is registered, a screen using “English” which is the first corresponding language 2611C which is the standard language is displayed.

  Similarly, when the user indicated by the user name 1311 “U002” uses the MFP 2000A, a screen using “English” is displayed. When using MFP 2000B, a screen using “English” is displayed, and when using MFP 2000C, a screen using “French” is displayed.

<Display screen>
Hereinafter, main screens displayed by the character display system 100 will be described with reference to FIGS.

  An example of a screen displayed on the display of the authentication server 1000 will be described with reference to FIG. An example of a screen displayed on the operation panel 20f of the MFP 2000 will be described with reference to FIGS.

  FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a user information input screen 1210 in the authentication server 1000.

  The user information input screen 1210 displays an input area for a user name, a password, and a language used. The language to be used is input to the first priority, second priority, and third priority input areas in descending order of priority (arrow 1211).

  The user inputs data in each input area and presses an “OK” button.

  FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a standby screen 2110 that prompts the user to hold the IC card over the IC card reader 20i in the MFP 2000. When this standby screen 2110 is displayed on the operation panel 20f, it indicates that the IC card reader 20i is operating. When the user intends to use the MFP 2000, the user logs in the MFP 2000 by reading the IC card.

  Next, FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an initial screen 2210 that is displayed first when the user is authenticated by holding the IC card over the IC card reader 20i.

  FIG. 10A is an example of an initial screen 2210J using Japanese, and FIG. 10B is an example of an initial screen 2210E using English. The initial screen 2210 is a screen indicated by a screen number “P001”.

<Operation>
Hereinafter, operation | movement of the character display system 100 of embodiment is demonstrated using FIG.

  FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing processing for displaying a screen using the language desired by the user on the operation panel 20f of the MFP 2000.

  The user displays a user information input screen 1210 on the display of the authentication server 1000, inputs a user name and the like, and presses an OK button.

  The user information registration unit 1200 that has detected that the user has input the user information by displaying the user information input screen 1210 displays the user information table 1310 stored in the user information storage unit 1300 based on the input information. User information is added (step S100). If the same user name as the input user name is already registered in the user name 1311, the user information that is the same as the input user name is rewritten with the input information.

  Next to the MFP 2000, the user confirms that the standby screen 2110 (see FIG. 9) is displayed on the operation panel 20f, and holds the IC card 2410 over the IC card reader 20i.

  The IC card reading unit 2400 reads the IC card number from the IC card 2410, and passes the read IC card number to the control unit 2100 (step S200).

  The control unit 2100 to which the IC card number is passed transmits the received IC card number to the authentication server 1000 and requests authentication (step S210).

  Upon receiving the authentication request, the authentication unit 1100 of the authentication server 1000 searches whether the received IC card number is registered in the card number 1312 of the user information table 1310 stored in the user information storage unit 1300. If it is registered, it is determined that the authentication is positive, and if it is not registered, it is determined that the authentication is negative.

  If the authentication unit 1100 determines that the authentication result is affirmative, the first language 1313 to the third language 1315 of the user information in which the card number 1312 of the user information table 1310 is the same as the received IC card number are displayed. read out.

  If the authentication unit 1100 determines that the authentication result is negative, the authentication unit 1100 returns an authentication result indicating that the authentication result is negative to the MFP 2000. If it is determined that the authentication result is affirmative, the authentication result indicating affirmation and the read first language 1313 to third language 1315 are returned to MFP 2000 (step S110).

  The control unit 2100 of the MFP 2000 that has received the authentication result or the like ends the process if the authentication result is negative.

  On the other hand, if the authentication result is affirmative, the control unit 2100 displays the first language 1313 to the third language 1315 received from the authentication server 1000 in the panel display unit 2200 and the screen of the initial screen 2210 (see FIG. 10). A number “P001” is passed to request display.

  Receiving the screen display request, panel display unit 2200 requests language determination unit 2300 to determine the language used for screen display. At this time, the panel display unit 2200 passes the first language 1313 to the third language 1315 received from the control unit 2100 to the language determination unit 2300.

  Upon receiving the request, the language determination unit 2300 searches the corresponding language table 2610 stored in the language data storage unit 2600 to see if the language indicated by the first language 1313 to the third language 1315 is registered.

  If it is registered (step S220: Yes), the language with the highest user priority among the registered languages is determined as the language used for display on the screen (step S230).

  That is, when the language indicated by the first language 1313 is registered, the language indicated by the first language 1313 is determined as the language used for display on the screen. When the language indicated by the first language 1313 is not registered and the language indicated by the second language 1314 is registered, the language indicated by the second language 1314 is used as the language used for display on the screen. decide. When neither the language indicated by the first language 1313 nor the language indicated by the second language 1314 is registered and the language indicated by the third language 1315 is registered, the language indicated by the third language 1315 is indicated. The language is determined as the language used to display the screen.

  On the other hand, when the language indicated by the first language 1313 to the third language 1315 is not registered in the corresponding language table 2610 stored in the language data storage unit 2600 (step S220: No), The language indicated by the first corresponding language 2611 is determined as the language used for screen display (step S240).

  The language determination unit 2300 that has determined the language used for the screen display passes the determined language to the panel display unit 2200.

  The panel display unit 2200 that has received the determined language reads the screen layout data of the requested screen number from the panel screen storage unit 2500.

  Next, the language data of the requested screen number is read from the language data storage unit 2700. At this time, the language data of the language indicated by the language received from the language determination unit 2300 is read out.

  The panel display unit 2200 generates a screen using the read language data and the screen layout data read from the panel screen storage unit 2600, and displays the screen on the operation panel 20f (step S250).

  Specifically, panel display unit 2200 first creates display data such as a frame of buttons constituting the screen from the screen layout data. A screen is generated by superimposing the character string included in the language data on the created display data. The character string is arranged according to the position information included in the screen layout data.

  The panel display unit 2200 displaying the initial screen 2210 detects a user operation such as pressing the touch panel, and notifies the control unit 2100 (step S260).

  Upon receiving the user operation notification, the control unit 2100 performs processing according to the user operation.

  That is, if the operation is to instruct the display of another screen (step S260: another screen display), the screen number to be displayed next is passed to the panel display unit 2200 to request the display.

  If the user operation is an end operation, the panel display unit 2200 is requested to display the standby screen 2110, and the process ends. The panel display unit 2200 that has received the request displays the standby screen 2110 on the operation panel 20f (step S260: end).

If the user operation is another process, such as a print instruction operation (step S260: other instruction), a process corresponding to the instruction is performed (step S270).
<Supplement>
As mentioned above, although embodiment of this invention was described, this invention is not restricted to the said form, You may make it as follows.
(1) In the embodiment, user authentication is performed using an IC card number, but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, authentication may be performed using a user name and a password.
(2) In the character display system, all or some of the components shown in FIG. 3 and the like may be realized by an integrated circuit of one chip or a plurality of chips.
(3) In the character display system, all or part of the components shown in FIG. 3 and the like may be realized by a computer program, or may be implemented in any other form.

  In the case of a computer program, a program written on any recording medium such as a memory card or CD-ROM may be read and executed by a computer, or a program may be downloaded and executed via a network. Also good.

  The present invention can be applied when the language of a character string displayed on a display such as an MFP is changed.

100 Character Display System 1000 Authentication Server 1100 Authentication Unit 1200 User Information Registration Unit 1300 User Information Storage Unit 2000 MFP
2100 Control unit 2200 Panel display unit 2300 Language determination unit 2400 IC card reading unit 2500 Panel screen storage unit 2600 Language data storage unit

Claims (6)

A display part for displaying a character string;
User information storage means for storing user identification information for identifying a user and language information indicating a plurality of prioritized languages in association with each other;
A character string storage means for storing a character string of a predetermined language, which is a character string displayed on the display unit;
User identification information acquisition means for acquiring user identification information;
Among the plurality of languages indicated by the language information stored in association with the user identification information acquired by the user identification information acquisition unit in the predetermined language, a character string of a higher priority language is displayed on the display. A character display system comprising: display means for displaying on the section. If the predetermined language is not one of the languages indicated by the language information stored in association with the user identification information acquired by the user identification information acquisition unit, the display unit specifies the predetermined language. The character display system according to claim 1, wherein a language character string is displayed on the display unit. A display part for displaying a character string;
User identification information acquisition means for acquiring user identification information for identifying a user;
Language information acquisition means for acquiring language information indicating a plurality of prioritized languages based on the acquired user identification information;
A character string storage means for storing a character string of a predetermined language, which is a character string displayed on the display unit;
An image forming apparatus comprising: a display unit configured to display, on the display unit, a character string of a language having a higher priority among the languages indicated by the acquired language information. A character display method used in an image forming apparatus including a display unit on which a character string is displayed,
A user identification information acquisition step for acquiring user identification information for identifying a user;
A language information acquisition step for acquiring language information indicating a plurality of prioritized languages based on the acquired user identification information;
A character string storage step of storing a character string of a predetermined language in a memory, which is a character string displayed on the display unit;
A character display method comprising: a display step of displaying, on the display unit, a character string of a language having a higher priority among the languages indicated by the acquired language information. User identification information and language information are stored in the server in association with each other,
5. The character display method according to claim 4, wherein in the language information acquisition step, language information is acquired from the server. A computer program for a computer that performs character display processing,
In the computer,
A user identification information acquisition process for acquiring user identification information for identifying a user is executed;
Based on the acquired user identification information, execute language information acquisition processing for acquiring language information indicating a plurality of prioritized languages,
A character string displayed on the display device, and a character string storage process for storing a character string in a predetermined language in a memory,
A computer program for executing a display process for displaying, on the display device, a character string of a language having a higher priority among the languages indicated by the acquired language information.

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