JP2012094054A - Operation device and image forming apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an operation device that allows a user to easily select a desired button.SOLUTION: An operation device includes: an operation display part that displays arranged buttons; and control means that changes an aspect and/or arrangement of the buttons according to selection possibility when the screen of the operation display part is pressed, and causes the operation display part to display the changed aspect and/or arrangement of the buttons.

Description

  The present invention relates to an operating device and an image forming apparatus.

  Currently, image forming apparatuses such as copiers and multifunction peripherals and electronic devices such as ATMs (automated teller machines) are equipped with a touch panel that has both an operation function and a display function, and buttons are displayed on the touch panel. The user is guided to a predetermined operation. By the way, in such an electronic device, the number of buttons and the like to be displayed on the touch panel is increasing as the number of functions increases. However, the screen size of the touch panel is limited, and the display of each button has become smaller due to the increase in the number of buttons. If the area of the button is thus reduced, it becomes difficult for the user to press the button. Therefore, for example, Patent Document 1 below devises a user interface for enlarging and displaying a peripheral region of a place pressed on a touch panel.

JP 2000-322169 A

  However, in the above-described prior art, the area around the place pressed on the touch panel is enlarged, that is, a plurality of buttons are simply enlarged and displayed at the same ratio around the place where the depression is made. It is difficult to say that the user can easily select a desired button from among the buttons.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above-described circumstances, and an object thereof is to make it easy for a user to select a desired button.

  In order to achieve the above object, according to the present invention, as a first solving means related to the operating device, there is provided an operating device having an operation display unit for displaying arranged buttons, wherein the screen of the operation display unit is displayed on the screen. When the button is pressed, a means is provided that includes a control means for changing the mode and arrangement of the buttons according to the selection possibility, or changing the mode or arrangement and displaying the change on the operation display unit.

  In the present invention, as the second solving means relating to the operating device, in the first solving means, the control means displays a button having a high possibility of selection on the operation display unit larger than a button having a low possibility of selection. Adopt the means to let.

  In the present invention, as a third solving means relating to the operating device, in the first or second solving means, the control means changes the shape of a button having a high selection possibility and a button having a low selection possibility. The means for displaying on the operation display unit is employed.

  In the present invention, as a fourth solving means relating to the operating device, in any one of the first to third solving means, the control means places a button having a high selection possibility in the center of the screen of the operation display unit. The buttons are arranged at the edge of the screen with a low possibility of selection.

  In the present invention, as a fifth solving means relating to the operating device, in any one of the first to fourth solving means, the control means determines the possibility of selecting a button based on button usage history information. Adopt the means to do.

  In the present invention, as a first solving means related to the image forming apparatus, an operation device adopting any one of the first to fifth solving means is provided, and an operation instruction is received by the operating device. Is adopted.

  According to the present invention, there is provided an operation device including an operation display unit that displays arranged buttons, and when the screen of the operation display unit is pressed, the mode and arrangement of the buttons according to the selection possibility Or a control means for changing the mode or arrangement and displaying the operation display unit on the operation display unit. As described above, the present invention makes it easy for the user to select a desired button by changing the mode and arrangement of the button or the mode or arrangement according to the selectability.

FIG. 3 is a functional block diagram of a multifunction peripheral A according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is a schematic diagram which shows the software keyboard of the multifunctional machine A which concerns on embodiment of this invention. 6 is a flowchart showing an operation of the multifunction peripheral A according to the embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram illustrating a pressing range on a software keyboard of the multifunction peripheral A according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is a schematic diagram which shows the character input button which changed the magnitude | size and the position according to the selectability of the multifunctional machine A which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.
The multifunction peripheral (image forming apparatus) A according to the present embodiment has a copy function, a print function, a scan function, a facsimile transmission / reception function, and an e-mail transmission function. As shown in FIG. 1, the multi-function device A includes an operation display unit 1, an image reading unit 2, an image data storage unit 3, an image processing unit 4, a paper transport / image forming unit 5, a communication unit 6, and a main control unit (control unit). Means) 7 is provided.

  The operation display unit 1 includes operation keys 11 and a touch panel 12, and functions as a man-machine interface that associates the user with the multifunction device A. The operation display unit 1 outputs an operation instruction of an operation button 11 pressed or an operation button displayed on the touch panel 12 to the main control unit 7 and displays various screens on the touch panel 12 based on a control signal from the main control unit 7. Is displayed.

 The touch panel 12 displays a software keyboard on the touch panel 12 as one of various screens. The software keyboard is used to input characters in the same manner as a general keyboard, and is displayed when character input is necessary, such as when creating an e-mail. As shown in FIG. 2, the software keyboard has character input buttons corresponding to alphabets (A to Z) and numerals (0 to 9).

  The image reading unit 2 is a document automatically fed by a DP (Document Processor: automatic document feeder) based on a control signal input from the main control unit 7 or an image of a document placed on a platen glass (document The image) is read by the line sensor and converted into document image data, and the document image data is output to the image data storage unit 3.

  The image data storage unit 3 is a semiconductor memory or a hard disk device or the like, and receives document image data, print image data, and facsimile image data (received by the communication unit 6 from the outside) based on a control signal input from the main control unit 7. The image data is stored and read out and output to the image processing unit 4.

  The image processing unit 4 performs various types of image processing (for example, image processing corresponding to enlargement / reduction copying) on the image data input from the image data storage unit 3 based on a control signal input from the main control unit 7. At the same time, the image data is converted into image data in an image forming format and output to the paper transport / image forming unit 5. When the image reading unit 2 reads a color original, the image data input from the image data storage unit 3 to the image processing unit 4 is RGB image data (color image data) corresponding to the three primary colors of light. Reference numeral 4 denotes image data corresponding to the image forming format using such RGB image data, for example, YMCK image data, that is, an image using Y (yellow), M (magenta), C (cyan), and K (black) as reference colors. The data is converted and output to the paper transport / image forming unit 5.

 The paper transport / image forming unit 5 includes a print engine (photosensitive drum, charger, developing device, fixing roller, and the like), a paper feed roller, a paper discharge roller, and the like. The paper transport / image forming unit 5 transports recording paper from a paper feed cassette (not shown) by a paper feed roller based on a control signal of the main control unit 7, and an image based on image data input from the image processing unit 4. Is transferred to a recording sheet and fixed, and the recording sheet is discharged onto a discharge tray (not shown) by a discharge roller.

  The communication unit 6 communicates with an external multifunction peripheral or facsimile apparatus via a telephone line based on a control signal from the main control unit 7, or with a client computer via a local area network. That is, the communication unit 6 has both a communication function conforming to a LAN standard such as Ethernet (registered trademark) and a communication function conforming to a facsimile standard such as G3. The communication unit 6 can perform e-mail transmission or facsimile transmission / reception, for example.

  The main control unit 7 includes a CPU (Central Processing Unit), a ROM (Read Only Memory), a RAM (Random Access Memory), the operation display unit 1, an image reading unit 2, an image data storage unit 3, an image processing unit 4, and a sheet. An interface circuit for inputting / outputting signals to / from the transport / image forming unit 5 and the communication unit 6, and the like. Based on a control program stored in the ROM and an operation instruction input from the operation display unit 1, Controls the overall operation of the multifunction machine A. The control program stored in the ROM includes a screen control program, and the main control unit 7 executes screen control based on the screen control program. The details of the processing executed by the main control unit 7 will be described below as the operation of the multifunction device A.

Next, the operation of the MFP A according to the present embodiment configured as described above will be described in detail with reference to FIG.
First, a user who wants to create an e-mail using the multifunction device A operates the operation display unit 1 to display an e-mail creation screen on the touch panel 9. Then, the user starts inputting the subject and body of the e-mail.

  When the main control unit 7 receives a text input start instruction by an operation of the touch panel 12 by the user, the main control unit 7 displays a software keyboard (see FIG. 2) on the touch panel 12 (step S1). After step S1, the main control unit 7 determines whether or not the character input button is pressed, and determines whether or not there are a plurality of pressed character input buttons (step S2). When it is determined “NO” in step S2, that is, when there are not a plurality of pressed character input buttons, the main control unit 7 accepts a character input for one pressed character input ( Step S3).

  If it is determined as “YES” in step S2, that is, if there are a plurality of pressed character input buttons, the main control unit 7 determines the user's finger to the pressed character input buttons. The selection possibility is determined based on the contact area of the button, and the character input button having a high possibility of selection is larger than the character input button having a low possibility of selection, and the button having a high possibility of selection is arranged at the center of the screen and selected. A button with a low possibility is arranged at the edge of the screen (step S4). The determination of the possibility of selection based on the contact area is determined such that the larger the contact area, the higher the possibility of selection, and the smaller the contact area, the lower the possibility of selection. That is, the contact ratio of the finger to the character input button (the ratio of the contact area) and the selectability of the character input button are in a proportional relationship.

Here, the above operation will be specifically described.
For example, as shown in FIG. 4, there are a plurality of pressed character input buttons, ie, “1”, “2”, “7”, “8”, “0” and “6” buttons. In this case, as shown in FIG. 5, “1”, “2”, “7”, “8”, “0”, and “6” are enlarged and displayed. At this time, the ratio of the area of each character input button is determined according to the selection possibility, that is, the ratio of the finger touching the character input button. Further, as the arrangement, “1” and “7” buttons having a high contact rate are arranged at the center of the screen, and “2”, “8”, “0” and “6” buttons having a low contact rate are arranged at the edge of the screen. Placed in.

In this way, the main control unit 7 arranges a button having a higher possibility of selection than a character input button having a lower possibility of selection and a button having a higher possibility of selection in the center of the screen. A low button is placed at the edge of the screen. In this way, the user can easily select a desired button.
After step S4, the main control unit 7 transitions to step S2, and when there are a plurality of character input buttons pressed again, step S4 is executed again.

  As described above, in the MFP A according to the present embodiment, the main control unit 7 changes the size and arrangement of the character input buttons according to the selectability. As described above, the multi-function peripheral A can make it easier for the user to select a desired button by changing the mode and arrangement of the buttons in accordance with the selectability.

As mentioned above, although one Embodiment of this invention was described, this invention is not limited to the said embodiment, For example, the following modifications can be considered.
(1) Although the multi-function device A according to the above embodiment determines the selection possibility based on the contact area of the user's finger with respect to the character input button, the present invention is not limited to this.
For example, the main control unit 7 may store the usage history of the character input button as usage history information, and determine the possibility of selecting the character input button based on the usage history information. Specifically, when a plurality of character input buttons are pressed down, the main control unit 7 sets a character input button with a high usage rate based on usage history information to be larger than a character input button with a low usage rate, Furthermore, a button with a high usage rate may be arranged at the center of the screen, and a button with a low usage rate may be arranged at the edge of the screen. In this case, the character input button is simply displayed based on the utilization rate regardless of the pressed location.

  Further, as a different method, when there are a plurality of pressed character input buttons, the main control unit 7 stores the usage rate of the character input buttons that are finally used from the plurality as the use history information. Then, based on the usage history information, a character input button with a high usage rate is enlarged to a character input button with a low usage rate, a button with a higher usage rate is arranged in the center of the screen, You may make it arrange | position to the edge of.

(2) Although the MFP A according to the above embodiment displays the character input buttons with high possibility of selection large and the character input buttons with low possibility of selection small, the present invention is not limited to this. In addition to the method of changing the size of the character input button as described above, there is also a method of changing the shape of the character input button according to the possibility of selection. For example, the shape of a character input button having a high possibility of selection may be made a star, and the shape of a character input button having a low possibility of selection may be made a circle to make the character input button having a high possibility of selection stand out. Further, a sector shape corresponding to the selectability like a pie chart may be assigned to the character input button and displayed on the touch panel 12.

(3) Although the MFP A according to the above embodiment has changed the mode (size and shape) and arrangement of the character input buttons according to the selectability, the present invention is not limited to this.
For example, only the aspect may be changed, or only the arrangement may be changed.

(4) In the MFP A according to the above embodiment, the main control unit 7 displays a software keyboard on which character input buttons corresponding to alphabets and numbers are arranged on the touch panel 12 and executes the above-described processing. The invention is not limited to this. For example, the main control unit 7 causes the touch panel 12 to display a screen on which buttons corresponding to symbols other than characters, emoticons, symbols, pictures, videos, and the like are arranged, and performs the above-described processing on the buttons. It may be.

A ... MFP, 1 ... operation display unit, 2 ... image reading unit, 3 ... image data storage unit, 4 ... image processing unit, 5 ... paper transport / image forming unit, 6 ... communication unit, 7 ... main control unit ( Control means), 11 ... operation keys, 12 ... touch panel

Claims (6)

An operation device including an operation display unit for displaying arranged buttons,
When the screen of the operation display unit is pressed, control means for changing the mode and arrangement of buttons according to the selection possibility, or changing the mode or arrangement and displaying the operation display unit, is provided. Operating device to do.   The operation device according to claim 1, wherein the control unit causes the operation display unit to display a button having a high possibility of selection larger than a button having a low possibility of selection.   The operation device according to claim 1, wherein the control unit causes the operation display unit to display differently shaped buttons having a high selection possibility and buttons having a low selection possibility.   4. The control unit according to claim 1, wherein a button having a high possibility of selection is arranged at a center of the screen of the operation display unit, and a button having a low possibility of selection is arranged at an edge of the screen. The operating device according to claim 1.   The operation device according to claim 1, wherein the control unit determines the possibility of selecting a button based on button usage history information. An image forming apparatus comprising the operation device according to claim 1, wherein an operation instruction is received by the operation device.

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