JP2013044840A - Display control system, electronic apparatus, and image forming device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a display control system which allows an electronic apparatus having a browser supporting no video replay to display animated images.SOLUTION: A call center terminal device 3 transmits push display data to an image forming device 1. The image forming device 1 has a display control part 31 which receives the push display data, creates a plurality of screen data files from the push display data, and allows a browser 31a to sequentially transit a plurality of screens based on the plurality of screen data files so as to be displayed on a display device 11a.

Description

  The present invention relates to a display control system, an electronic apparatus, and an image forming apparatus.

  When an error occurs in an electronic device, an inquiry may be made to a support service to resolve the error.

  In a certain system, an operator operates a monitoring terminal to collect an operation log of an electronic device and grasps a customer's operation status (see, for example, Patent Document 1). In another system, a user-side image processing apparatus holds user operation data and transmits it to a support PC (see, for example, Patent Document 2).

  In another system, an information terminal transmits an error code and receives and displays a recovery measure corresponding to the error code (see, for example, Patent Document 3).

JP-A-8-77419 JP 2010-74522 A JP 2005-332129 A

  When displaying information to be provided to the user on an electronic device on the user side as in the technique described in Patent Document 3 described above, it is more appealing to the user to display a moving screen like a moving image. For this reason, when the electronic device on the user side has a browser capable of reproducing a moving image, it is preferable to transmit the moving image file to the electronic device for reproduction. However, in the case of an embedded device, the browser may not support the playback of moving images from the viewpoints of limitation of resources such as memory and processing capability.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and a display control system that allows an electronic device having a browser that does not support moving image playback to display a moving screen, and an electronic that can be used in the system. An object is to obtain an apparatus and an image forming apparatus.

  In order to solve the above problems, the present invention is configured as follows.

  A display control system according to the present invention includes an electronic device and a display data providing device that provides display data to the electronic device. Then, the electronic device generates a plurality of screen data files from the display device, the communication device that receives the display data, and the display data, and sequentially displays a plurality of screens based on the plurality of screen data files by the browser. And a display control unit to be displayed on the apparatus.

  Accordingly, even when the electronic device has a browser that does not support moving image playback, the display data providing apparatus can cause the electronic device to display a moving screen.

  An electronic apparatus according to the present invention includes an input device that receives a user operation, a display device that displays an operation screen for the user, a communication device that receives display data transmitted from a predetermined external device, and display data A display control unit that generates a plurality of screen data files from the plurality of screens and causes a plurality of screens based on the plurality of screen data files to be sequentially shifted by a browser and displayed on the display device.

  Thus, even when the electronic device has a browser that does not support moving image playback, it is possible to display a moving screen.

  In addition to the above electronic device, the electronic device according to the present invention may be as follows. In this case, the display data includes text data described in a markup language and an image file. The text data includes a text message displayed on the screen and an image based on the text message and the image file. Layout information. Then, the display control unit generates a screen data file of a screen on which the text message and the image are arranged according to the layout information.

  Moreover, in addition to any of the electronic devices described above, the electronic device according to the present invention may be configured as follows. In this case, the above-described text data has transition information for designating a transition destination screen. And a display control part produces | generates a screen data file so that a screen transition may be performed according to transition information.

  Moreover, in addition to any of the electronic devices described above, the electronic device according to the present invention may be configured as follows. In this case, the display data is data for displaying a plurality of screens showing answers to the inquiry from the user.

  Thereby, user support can be performed by sending an answer when providing a support service.

  An image forming apparatus according to the present invention includes an input device that receives a user operation, a display device that displays an operation screen for the user, a communication device that receives display data transmitted from a predetermined external device, and a display A display control unit configured to generate a plurality of screen data files from the data, and cause a plurality of screens based on the plurality of screen data files to be sequentially changed by a browser and displayed on a display device;

  Thereby, even when the image forming apparatus has a browser that does not support moving image reproduction, it is possible to display a moving screen.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to cause a moving screen display to be performed on an electronic device having a browser that does not support moving image reproduction.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a support service system having the image forming apparatus and the call center terminal apparatus shown in FIG. FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of push display data in the push display database in FIG. FIG. 4 is a sequence diagram for explaining the operation of each device in the system shown in FIG. FIG. 5 is a flowchart for explaining generation of the screen data file in FIG.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. The image forming apparatus 1 is a kind of electronic equipment and is a multifunction machine. The image forming apparatus 1 has an operation panel 11 that receives user operations. The image forming apparatus 1 may be another apparatus having a printing function such as a printer, a facsimile machine, a copying machine, or the like.

  FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a support service system having the image forming apparatus 1 and the call center terminal apparatus 3 shown in FIG.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the image forming apparatus 1 includes an operation panel 11, a communication device 21, a printing device 22, an image reading device 23, and an arithmetic processing device 24.

  The operation panel 11 includes a display device 11a such as a liquid crystal display and an input device 11b such as a touch panel, and displays an operation screen for the user and detects a user operation.

  The communication device 21 can be connected to a host device (not shown) or the call center terminal device 3 via the network 2 and performs data communication using a predetermined communication protocol. The network 2 is a computer network including a LAN (Local Area Network), the Internet, and the like.

  The printing device 22 is an internal device that prints a document image on printing paper by, for example, electrophotography.

  The image reading device 23 is an internal device that optically reads a document image from a document and generates image data of the document image.

  The arithmetic processing unit 24 is a computer having a CPU (Central Processing Unit), a ROM (Read Only Memory), a RAM (Random Access Memory), etc., and stores a program stored in the ROM or a storage device (not shown) in the RAM. Various processing units are realized by loading the program and executing the program by the CPU.

  After the image forming apparatus 1 is activated, various programs are appropriately executed by the arithmetic processing unit 24. In this embodiment, in the arithmetic processing unit 24, processing units such as a display control unit 31, a communication processing unit 32, a request processing unit 33, an image processing unit 34, a controller 35, and a state information transmission unit 36 are realized.

  The display control unit 31 displays a screen on the display device 11a by the browser 31a, and performs screen transition of the display device 11a according to a user operation on the input device 11b. Further, when detecting a predetermined user operation, the display control unit 31 supplies a request corresponding to the user operation to the request processing unit 33. Further, when a predetermined error occurring in the image forming apparatus 1 is detected by the request processing unit 33 or the like, the display control unit 31 displays an error screen indicating the content of the error on the display device 11a.

  In addition, the display control unit 31 generates a plurality of screen data files from the push display data transmitted from the call center terminal device 3, and sequentially shifts the plurality of screens in the browser 31a based on the plurality of screen data files. It is displayed on the display device 11a. The browser 31a interprets a file described in a predetermined markup language, and causes the display device 11a to display a screen corresponding to the file. However, the browser 31a does not support moving image playback.

  In this embodiment, the push display data includes text data described in a markup language and an image file. The text data is stored in the text message displayed on the screen, and the text message and image file. Based image layout information. Then, the display control unit 31 generates a screen data file of a screen on which the text message and the image are arranged according to the layout information.

  In this embodiment, the above-mentioned text data has transition information for designating a transition destination screen. And the display control part 31 produces | generates a screen data file so that a screen transition may be performed according to transition information.

  The communication processing unit 32 is a processing unit that controls the communication device 21 to perform data communication with the call center terminal device 3, the host device, and the like.

  The request processing unit 33 accepts a print request based on a user operation on the operation panel 11, a print request supplied from a host device, a copy request, and the like, and in response to the request, the controller 35 causes the printing device 22, the image reading device. 23 and the like are executed to execute the job. Further, the request processing unit 33 functions as a login processing unit that performs login processing of a user who is operating the input device 11 b of the operation panel 11. In the login process, the user is specified from the user ID input by the user. Further, as necessary, in the login process, user authentication is performed based on the user ID and password input by the user.

  For example, when document data in a predetermined data format such as PDL (Page Description Language) or PDF (Portable Document Format) is received as a print request from the host device, the request processing unit 33 obtains image data from the document data. Generate. When the request processing unit 33 receives a copy request by the user operation on the operation panel 11 from the display control unit 31, the request processing unit 33 acquires the image data of the document image read by the image reading device 23.

  Note that the print settings applied at the time of printing are designated by a print request supplied from the host device, a user operation on the operation panel 11, or the like.

  The image processing unit 34 performs predetermined image processing on the image data, and generates print data (for example, print image data binarized for each color).

  The controller 35 is a processing unit that monitors and controls internal devices such as the printing device 22 and the image reading device 23.

  Further, when the status information transmission unit 36 receives the status acquisition command from the call center terminal device 3 using the communication device 21 and the communication processing unit 32, the screen image data of the display device 11a and the image forming device 1 are displayed. The status information is collected and transmitted to the call center terminal device 3.

  In this embodiment, when receiving the status acquisition command, the status information transmission unit 36 collects the screen image data of the display device 11a and the status information of the internal devices (printing device 22, image reading device 23, etc.). Send to support service terminal.

  In this embodiment, the status information transmission unit 36 further collects job status information from the request processing unit 33 when a status acquisition command is received, and transmits the job status information as the status information. The job status information is information indicating the progress status of the waiting job and the job being executed.

  In this embodiment, the status information transmission unit 36 further collects login user information of the logged-in user when the status acquisition command is received from the request processing unit 33, and transmits the login user information as the status information. . The login user information includes a user ID and attribute information of the user ID (user authority information, department information, etc.).

  In this embodiment, a screen ID is assigned to each screen, and the status information transmission unit 36 transmits the screen ID of the screen being displayed together with the image data. In this embodiment, the state information transmission unit 36 may compress the above-described image data and transmit the compressed image data.

  On the other hand, the call center terminal device 3 is a terminal device such as a personal computer installed in a call center (that is, a support center), and is connected to the network 2. Image data and status information are acquired from the image forming apparatus 1. The call center terminal apparatus 3 functions as a display data providing apparatus that provides push display data to the image forming apparatus 1. In this embodiment, the push display data is data for displaying a plurality of screens showing answers to inquiries by the user.

  The call center terminal device 3 includes a communication device 51, a display device 52, an input device 53, an arithmetic processing device 54, and a storage device 55.

  The communication device 51 is a device that can be connected to the image forming apparatus 1 via the network 2 and performs data communication using a predetermined communication protocol.

  The display device 52 is a device such as a liquid crystal display that displays information of the image forming apparatus 1 that is a support service target to a call center operator.

  The input device 53 is a device such as a keyboard that receives an operation of a call center operator.

  The arithmetic processing unit 54 is a computer having a CPU, a ROM, a RAM, and the like, and various processing units are realized by loading a program stored in the ROM or the storage device 55 into the RAM and executing the program by the CPU. To do.

  The storage device 55 is a nonvolatile storage device such as a hard disk drive or a flash memory that stores data and programs in advance, and stores a push display database 64.

  The push display database 64 has one or a plurality of push display data. The push display data selected by the call center operator is read from the push display database 64 and provided to the image forming apparatus 1.

  The push display data includes text data described in a markup language and an image file. The text data includes a text message displayed on the screen, and an image layout based on the text message and the image file. Have information. In this embodiment, the text data is described in XML (Extensible Markup Language).

  FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of push display data in the push display database 64 in FIG.

  The push display data shown in FIG. 3 includes an XML file 71 having the above text data, and image files 72-1 to 72-N referred to in the text data. The image files 72-1 to 72-N are binary data and have PNG format image data.

  The control element in the XML file 71 is an element indicating the attribute of this push display data, and one screen element corresponds to one screen. The id element in the control element indicates the ID of this push display data, and the image element in the control element indicates whether an image is displayed on the screen based on the push display data. The screen tag describes the ID of the screen. In the screen element, the expression element indicates a text message to be displayed on the screen, the image element indicates an image file of an image to be displayed on the screen, the try element indicates a transition destination screen, and the Pattern element indicates a screen. Specify the text message and image layout pattern.

  After the call center terminal device 3 is activated, various programs are appropriately executed by the arithmetic processing unit 54. In this embodiment, processing units such as a communication processing unit 61, a remote control unit 62, and a state analysis unit 63 are realized in the arithmetic processing unit 54.

  The communication processing unit 61 controls the communication device 51 to execute data communication with the image forming apparatus 1.

  The remote control unit 62 transmits a status acquisition command to the image forming apparatus 1 designated by the operator using the communication device 51 and the communication processing unit 61 in accordance with the operation of the call center operator. The status acquisition command is a screen image data and status information transmission request.

  Further, the remote control unit 62 reads out push display data designated by the operation of the call center operator from the push display database 64 and transmits it to the image forming apparatus 1 using the communication device 51 and the communication processing unit 61.

  The remote control unit 62 automatically reads the push display data corresponding to the analysis result of the state analysis unit 63 from the push display database 64 and uses the communication device 51 and the communication processing unit 61 to transfer to the image forming apparatus 1. You may make it transmit.

  The state analysis unit 63 receives the screen image data and the state information transmitted from the image forming apparatus 1 in response to the state acquisition command, displays the screen image based on the screen image data on the display device 52, and also displays the state information. And the analysis result is displayed on the display device 52. For example, the state analysis unit 63 refers to a database (not shown) that stores the correspondence between the value of the state information and the error factor, and identifies and displays the error factor in the image forming apparatus 1 based on the state information. Let

  Next, the operation of each device in the system will be described.

  FIG. 4 is a sequence diagram for explaining the operation of each device in the system shown in FIG.

  For example, when an error occurs while using the image forming apparatus 1, the user makes an inquiry to the call center using a telephone or the like. In the call center, an operator who handles the user operates the call center terminal device 3 to identify the image forming apparatus 1 of the user from the name of the user, the ID of the image forming apparatus 1 and the like.

  In the call center terminal device 3, the remote control unit 62 transmits a status acquisition command to the image forming apparatus 1 of the user using the communication device 51 and the communication processing unit 61 in accordance with the operation of the operator with respect to the input device 53 (step). S1).

  In the image forming apparatus 1, when the state information transmission unit 36 receives the state acquisition command using the communication device 21 and the communication control unit 32, the screen image of the display device 11 a at that time is captured and screen image data is obtained. While generating (step S2), state information is collected from the request processing unit 33 or the like (step S3). Here, the status information includes date and time information when the screen image is captured, login user information when the screen image is captured, job status information when the screen image is captured, and internal device when the screen image is captured Contains status information. The status information of the internal device includes the mounting status (such as the presence / absence of mounting) of optional hardware (optional memory, finisher, etc.).

  When acquiring the screen image data and the status information, the status information transmission unit 36 transmits the screen image data and the status information to the call center terminal device 3 together with the device ID of the image forming apparatus 1 using the communication device 21 and the communication control unit 32 (step S4).

  In the call center terminal device 3, when the remote control unit 62 receives the device ID, the screen image data, and the status information using the communication device 51 and the communication processing unit 61, the remote control unit 62 obtains the device ID, the screen image data, and the status information. It is passed to the state analysis unit 63.

  The state analysis unit 63 analyzes the state information (step S5), and displays the analysis result on the display device 52 together with the screen image based on the screen image data (step S6).

  Then, the operator provides a support service to the user while viewing the screen image and the analysis result. At this time, the operator operates the input device 53, selects push display data of an answer corresponding to the inquiry from the user, and transmits it to the image forming apparatus 1.

  In the call center terminal device 3, the remote control unit 62 reads the push display data from the push display database 64 according to the operation on the input device 53, and transmits it to the image forming device 1 (step S7).

  In the image forming apparatus 1, when the display control unit 31 receives the push display data using the communication device 21 and the communication processing unit 32, first, the browser 31a displays an “open answer” button on the display device 11a. (Step S8).

  Thereafter, when the user operates the input device 11b and presses the “open answer” button, the display control unit 31 detects the operation (step S9), and each of a plurality of screens is detected from the push display data. A screen data file is created for (Step S10). The browser 31a of the display control unit 31 transitions the screens, for example, every predetermined time based on the plurality of created screen data files, and displays the plurality of screens in order (step S11).

  In this way, a moving screen display is performed without performing the operation reproduction.

  FIG. 5 is a flowchart for explaining generation of the screen data file (step S10) in FIG.

  The display control unit 31 interprets the push display data XML file 71 in order from the top. First, the display control unit 31 refers to attribute information (control element) and specifies whether or not to perform image display (step S21). For example, in the case of the XML file 71 in FIG. 3, since the value of the image element in the control element is 1, it is specified that image display is performed. If the value of this image element is 0, it is specified that no image display is performed.

  Next, the display control unit 31 searches the XML file 71 for screen information (screen element) and determines whether there is screen information (step S22).

  When it is determined that there is screen information (screen element), the display control unit 31 determines whether there is wording information (explanation element) in the screen information (step S23). Reads and interprets the wording information (step S24).

  Further, the display control unit 31 determines whether or not there is image information (image element) in the screen information (step S25), and if there is image information, reads and interprets the image information ( Step S26).

  Further, the display control unit 31 determines whether or not there is transition information (try element) in the screen information (step S27), and when there is transition information, reads and interprets the transition information ( Step S28).

  Then, the display control unit 31 reads and interprets the layout information (Pattern element) in the screen information (step S29), and reads the text message based on the detected word information and the image file based on the image information (or the image file). A screen data file using at least one of (see) is generated (step S30). At this time, if there is transition information, the screen specified by the transition information (that is, the screen element having the ID of the same value as the value of the try element) is specified as the transition destination screen, and is stored in the screen data file. The transition destination screen is specified with.

  When the generation of the screen data file for one screen is completed, the process returns to step S22, and the display control unit 31 searches the XML file 71 for the next screen information (screen element). Then, the display control unit 31 generates a screen data file for each screen information (screen element) until the end of the XML file is reached. The screen data file is described in XML that can be interpreted by the browser 31a.

  After generating all the screen data files based on the XML file 71, the display control unit 31 causes the browser 31a to interpret the screen data files in order from the top screen data file. Transition to a screen, and if there is no transition information in the screen data file, the screen transition ends on that screen.

  As described above, according to the above embodiment, the image forming apparatus 1 generates a plurality of screen data files from the push display data received from the call center terminal device 3, and a plurality of screens based on the plurality of screen data files. Are displayed in order on the display device 11a by the browser 31a.

  As a result, an electronic device having a browser that does not support moving image playback can display a moving screen.

  The above-described embodiments are preferred examples of the present invention, but the present invention is not limited to these, and various modifications and changes can be made without departing from the scope of the present invention. is there.

  For example, in the above-described embodiment, the push display data is for displaying an answer corresponding to the inquiry by the user, but instead, it may be for displaying an advertisement or a notification to the user.

  The present invention is applicable to a support service for an image forming apparatus, for example.

1 Image forming apparatus (an example of electronic equipment)
3 Call center terminal device (example of display data providing device, example of external device)
11a Display device 11b Input device 21 Communication device 31 Display control unit 31a Browser 71 XML file (an example of text data)
72-1 to 72-N Image file

Claims (6)

Electronic equipment,
A display data providing device for providing display data to the electronic device,
The electronic device is
A display device;
A communication device for receiving the display data;
A display control unit that generates a plurality of screen data files from the display data, and causes the display device to display a plurality of screens based on the plurality of screen data files that are sequentially shifted in a browser;
A display control system. An input device that accepts user operations;
A display device for displaying an operation screen for the user;
A communication device that receives display data transmitted from a predetermined external device;
A display control unit that generates a plurality of screen data files from the display data, causes a plurality of screens based on the plurality of screen data files to be sequentially shifted in a browser and displayed on the display device;
An electronic device comprising: The display data includes text data described in a markup language and an image file,
The text data includes a text message displayed on the screen, and image layout information based on the text message and the image file,
The display control unit generates a screen data file of a screen on which the text message and the image are arranged according to the layout information;
The electronic device according to claim 2. The text data has transition information for designating a transition destination screen,
The display control unit generates the screen data file so that a screen transition is performed according to the transition information;
The electronic device according to claim 3.   5. The electronic device according to claim 2, wherein the display data is data for displaying the plurality of screens indicating answers to the inquiry by the user. 6. An input device that accepts user operations;
A display device for displaying an operation screen for the user;
A communication device that receives display data transmitted from a predetermined external device;
A display control unit that generates a plurality of screen data files from the display data, causes a plurality of screens based on the plurality of screen data files to be sequentially shifted in a browser and displayed on the display device;
An image forming apparatus comprising:

Images