JP2014215648A - Information processing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To display only a page which can be assumed to be a necessary part in a document image by predicting the intention of an inputted scroll button operation.SOLUTION: When a scroll-down or scroll-up operation is performed via an input part 17, a thread for a timer 32 is generated and activated by a scroll event handler 31. When the thread for the timer 32 is generated and activated in the same way within its set period, e.g., within one second, an immediately preceding timer thread is halted and extinguished (it is predicted that the intention of input indicates that a thumbnail image need not be viewed) and, in the absence of a next scroll operation before an elapse of 1 second, the timer thread generates a time-up event, and a scroll process is executed (it is predicted that the intention of input indicates that the thumbnail image is wanted to be viewed).

Description

  The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus having a function of performing a scroll process in response to a scroll button operation input.

  For example, a preview thumbnail image of a document may be displayed and the document may be printed after confirmation.

  Patent Document 1 below discloses a configuration in which image data for one screen is generated and displayed with thumbnail images for a plurality of pages when a direction key as a scroll button is continuously pressed.

JP 2006-221406 A

  However, it may be necessary to confirm only a specific page or a certain range of pages before printing the document. In such a case, displaying the preview thumbnail image sequentially from the first page is wasteful, The time until the display processing of the portion to be confirmed is completed becomes longer. This problem also occurs when a document is normally displayed instead of a thumbnail image before printing, or when a document is displayed regardless of printing.

  In view of such problems, an object of the present invention is to provide an information processing apparatus that can predict the intention of a scroll button operation input and display only a page that can be estimated as a necessary part in a document image. .

In one aspect of the present invention, in response to a scroll button operation input to the input unit, the scroll processing unit causes the processor to perform scroll processing, and the scroll processing is performed at the longitudinal scroll position in the long image display region. In the information processing apparatus, which is a process of requesting the local image from the image processing unit if the local image does not exist in the storage device, and storing the image included in the response in the storage device and displaying the image on the display unit , For the processor
In response to the occurrence of a scroll event corresponding to the scroll button operation input, a software timer is started, and if there is an operating software timer, it is stopped, the longitudinal scroll position is updated, and the updated software position is updated. A scroll event handler that displays page information at the longitudinal scroll position;
A software timer is further provided for generating a time-up event after a set time has elapsed since the activation and for performing the scrolling process.

  According to the configuration of the above aspect, the image scrolling is not performed only by responding to the occurrence of the scroll event corresponding to the scroll button operation input, and the software timer is started by this response. Stops, updates the longitudinal scroll position, only displays the page information of the updated longitudinal scroll position, and generates a time-up event after the set time has elapsed since the start, so the scroll process is performed, so a short time When scroll-up or scroll-down operation is performed at intervals, it is predicted that the input intention does not need to see the document image, and there is no next scroll button operation for a set time, for example, 1 second The input intention is expected to indicate that you want to see the document image, Only the image of the page that can be estimated can be displayed, therefore, been omitted wasteful image processing, an effect that the necessary image can be high-speed display.

  Other objects, characteristic configurations and effects of the present invention will become apparent from the following description read in connection with the appended claims and the drawings.

1 is a schematic block diagram illustrating a hardware configuration of an image forming system including an information processing apparatus and an image forming apparatus. In the system shown in FIG. 1, a preview thumbnail image of a document to be printed by the image forming apparatus is acquired from the image forming apparatus before printing by the information processing apparatus in response to a user operation on the input apparatus, and is displayed on the display device. It is a general | schematic functional block diagram which shows a structure. FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram of an in-window scroll operation of preview thumbnail images for all pages of one document arranged in the long image display area. It is a schematic flowchart which shows the process started in response to the notification of the scroll event corresponding to the scroll operation of the input device by a user. FIG. 5 is a schematic flowchart illustrating processing by a scroll processing unit that is started when a timer thread activated in step S0 in FIG. 4 generates a time-up event. When the scroll down button in FIG. 3 is continuously clicked, the positions P0 to P4 of the window inner area origin P (P5 is a position when smooth scrolling and stopped), scroll events SE0 to SE6, and activation of each timer thread 5 is a timing chart showing a scroll processing time due to occurrence of time-up events TE0 to TE2 during a period from start to stop. It is a schematic flowchart which shows the process corresponding to FIG. 4 which concerns on Example 2 of this invention. It is a schematic flowchart which shows the process corresponding to FIG. 5 which concerns on Example 2 of this invention.

  FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram illustrating a hardware configuration of an image forming system including the information processing apparatus 10 and the image forming apparatus 20.

  This hardware configuration is a normal personal computer, and a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 11 has a PROM (Programmable Read Only Memory) 13, a DRAM (Dynamic Random Access Memory) 14, an auxiliary storage device 15, a network via an interface 12. Coupled to interface 16, input device 17 and display device 18. In FIG. 1, a plurality of types of interfaces are represented by one block 12 for simplification.

  The PROM 13 is a flash memory, for example, and stores a basic input / output system (BIOS). The DRAM 14 is used as a main storage device. The auxiliary storage device 15 stores an OS (Operating System), various drivers, and applications. This application includes a software configuration related to scrolling a plurality of thumbnail images shown in FIG. The input device is, for example, a keyboard and a pointing device.

  In the image forming apparatus 20, a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 21 is connected via an interface 22 to a PROM (Programmable Read Only Memory) 23, a DRAM (Dynamic Random Access Memory) 24, an auxiliary storage device 25, a network interface 26, an operation panel 27, The scanner 28, the printer 29, and the fax modem 2A are coupled. In FIG. 2, a plurality of types of interfaces are represented by one block 22 for simplification.

  The PROM 23 is, for example, a flash memory, and stores a basic input / output system (BIOS), an operating system (OS), various drivers, and various applications for causing the image forming apparatus to function. The DRAM 24 is used as a main storage device.

  In the auxiliary storage device 25, printing data, image data read by the scanner 28, document data received from the PC 20, and facsimile reception data are stored as document files in a predetermined box based on a predetermined rule.

  Network interface 26 is coupled to network 2B. The operation panel 27 includes an input unit and a display unit. The scanner 28 is used to digitize an image on a paper medium, and the file is used for printing, facsimile transmission, or file transmission. The printer 29 includes a print engine, a paper feed unit, a conveyance unit, and a paper discharge unit. The bitmap data generated on the DRAM 24 is supplied, and an electrostatic latent image is formed on the photosensitive drum based on the data. Then, this image is developed with toner, and the toner image is transferred and fixed on a sheet, and discharged.

  2, in the system of FIG. 1, the information processing apparatus 10 acquires a preview thumbnail image of a document to be printed by the image forming apparatus 20 from the image forming apparatus 20 before printing in response to an operation of the input device 17 by the user. 3 is a schematic functional block diagram showing a configuration of a portion that is scroll-displayed on the display device 18. FIG.

  In the information processing apparatus 10, the user operates the input device 17, that is, the scroll up button 55 or the scroll down button 56 on the scroll bar 54 at the right end of the window 52 including the window internal area 51 as shown in FIG. Is pointed and clicked with the pointing device of the input device 17, or the user presses a one-way key or an opposite direction key (not shown) on the keyboard of the input device 17.

  In response to this, the UI unit 30 generates a scroll up or scroll down event and notifies the scroll event handler 31 of the event. Reference numeral 57 denotes a scroll position display section on the scroll track which is modeled by reducing the area 50.

  In response to this, the scroll event handler 31 starts the processing shown in FIG. In the following, the step identification codes in the figure are shown in parentheses.

  (S0) The scroll event handler 31 generates a thread of the timer 32 and starts it.

  (S2) The scroll event handler 31 proceeds to step S3 if there is a thread of the currently operating timer 32, and proceeds to step S4 otherwise.

  (S3) The scroll event handler 31 stops the thread of the timer 32 that is currently operating, and extinguishes the thread. As a result, only the thread of the timer 32 generated last exists and enters the operating state.

  (S4) The scroll event handler 31 smoothly or intermittently moves the window internal area 51 on the long image display area 50 shown in FIG. 3 by a set amount corresponding to one operation of the input device 17. The top coordinate T (Y coordinate) of the origin P of the window internal area 51 with respect to the origin P of the long image display area 50 is updated while scrolling up or down by 8 thumbnail images.

  The size (W, H) of the window internal region 51, the size (w, h) of the thumbnail image 53, the interval D between the adjacent thumbnail images 53, the interval t between the periphery of the window internal region 51 and the thumbnail image 53, The number of thumbnail images 53 (number of pages) in the window internal area 51 is determined by the parameter l, and the page number of each thumbnail image 53 in the window internal area 51 is determined by this and the top coordinate T.

  The scroll event handler 31 updates the top coordinates T in the page information storage unit 37 and the page number of the upper left thumbnail image 53 in the window internal area 51 (the first page number in the window internal area 51). A page number is displayed at the top of the thumbnail image 53.

  When the elapsed time due to the periodic count of the timer 32 reaches the set time, a time-up event occurs, and in response to this, the processing of the scroll processing unit 33 is started.

  FIG. 5 is a schematic flowchart showing processing by the scroll processing unit 33.

  (S11) The scroll processing unit 33 stops and extinguishes the thread of the timer 32 that has timed up.

  Here, in the page information storage unit 37, in addition to the top coordinate T and the first page number in the window internal area 51, the number of thumbnail images 53 (number of pages) in the window internal area 51, the job ID, Corresponding to this, the total number of pages of the document and an image presence / absence flag Fimg indicating whether the thumbnail image exists in the preview image storage unit 36 for each page (the initial value is “0” indicates absence). The page information including is stored.

  The job ID and the total number of pages of the document corresponding to the job ID are stored in the page information storage unit 37 at the time of a print request from the information processing apparatus 10 to the job control unit 41 or a response from the job control unit 41. . The number of pages in the window internal area 51 is determined before the print request from the above parameters.

  (S12) The scroll processing unit 33 refers to the page information storage unit 37, and if there are not a plurality of thumbnail images 53 in the window internal region 51 corresponding to the current window internal region origin P, the process proceeds to step S14. If it exists, the process proceeds to step S15.

  (S14) The scroll processing unit 33 displays page information including the print job ID of the document, the first page number in the window corresponding to the window internal area origin P of the document, and the number of pages in the window internal area 51. The accompanying thumbnail image acquisition request is sent to the image forming apparatus 20 via the communication unit 34. This request is supplied to the job control unit 41 via the communication unit 40 of the image forming apparatus 20.

  The job control unit 41 generates a thumbnail image in this range via the image processing unit 42 based on the first page number and the number of pages included in the page information of the document with the job ID included in the page information, and performs communication. The response is transmitted to the scroll processing unit 33 via the unit 40 and the communication unit 34 of the information processing apparatus 10.

  The scroll processing unit 33 stores the received thumbnail image in the preview image storage unit 36 and sets an image presence / absence flag Fimg corresponding to the received thumbnail image among the page information in the page information storage unit 37. .

  (S15) The scroll processing unit 33 instructs the UI unit 30 to display a thumbnail image, and the UI unit 30 refers to the page information storage unit 37 in response to the instruction and displays a plurality of corresponding images in the preview image storage unit 36. Are read out and displayed on the display device 18.

  6 shows the positions P0 to P4 of the window internal region origin P when the scroll down button 56 is continuously clicked (P5 is a position when the scroll is smoothly scrolled and stopped), the scroll events SE0 to SE6, and the timer 32. It is a timing chart which shows the scroll processing time by generation | occurrence | production of the time-up event TE0-TE2, the period from starting of a thread | sled to a stop.

  In the scroll events SE0 to SE3, the thread of the timer 32 that is operating at that time is stopped and extinguished, and the thumbnail image 53 is acquired and displayed only by the time-up events TE0 to TE2 corresponding to the scroll events SE4 to SE6. Is shown.

  The scroll-up operation is the same as the scroll-down operation.

  That is, when scroll-up or scroll-down operation is performed at short time intervals, it is predicted that the input intention indicates that it is not necessary to view the thumbnail image, and the next scroll button is set for a set time, for example, 1 second. When there is no operation, it is predicted that the input intention indicates that the user wants to see the thumbnail image, and only the thumbnail image of the page that can be estimated as necessary can be displayed.

  Therefore, it is possible to omit unnecessary image processing and transfer processing and to display a necessary thumbnail image at high speed.

  7 and 8 are schematic flowcharts corresponding to FIGS. 4 and 5, respectively, according to the second embodiment of the present invention.

  In the process of FIG. 7, step S1 is added to the process of FIG. 4 between step S0 and step S2, and the interruption flag F is turned on.

  Further, in FIG. 8, step S10 is added before step S11, the interruption flag F is turned off, step S13 is added between steps S12 and S14, and if the interruption flag F is off, step S13 is executed. Proceeding to S14, if it is on, the processing of FIG. 8 is terminated.

  Thereby, even if the thread of the timer 32 is timed up and the processing of FIG. 8 is started by the scroll processing unit 33, the timer 32 is generated by the next scroll button operation during the processing by the scroll processing unit 33, and the interruption flag F When is turned on, the processing in step S14 and step S15 is omitted, and the thumbnail image 53 is not acquired and displayed.

  As a result, it is predicted that the input intention indicates that it is not necessary to view the thumbnail image, and unnecessary image processing and transfer processing are omitted from the case of the first embodiment, so that more necessary thumbnail images can be obtained. There is an effect that high-speed display is possible.

  In the above, preferred embodiments of the present invention have been described. However, the present invention includes various modifications, and other combinations of the components described in the above-described embodiments, and functions of the components. Those using other configurations for realizing the above, and other configurations that would be conceived by those skilled in the art from these configurations or functions are also included in the present invention.

  For example, instead of the image processing unit 42 of the image forming apparatus 20, that is, the configuration in which the preview image is received from the image processing unit in the information processing apparatus 10 instead of the image forming apparatus 20 outside the information processing apparatus 10, the present invention is configured. You may apply.

  Further, the present invention may be applied to a configuration in which the original page image that is not reduced is scrolled instead of the thumbnail image obtained by reducing the page image of the document.

  The local image displayed in the window may be a page image read by a scanner, a facsimile reception page image, or a thumbnail image thereof.

  Furthermore, it goes without saying that the information processing apparatus 10 may be a smartphone or a tablet.

10 Information processing apparatus 11 CPU
12 Interface 13 PROM
14 DRAM
15 Auxiliary storage device 16 Network interface 17 Input device 18 Display device 20 Image forming device 21 CPU
22 Interface 23 PROM
24 DRAM
25 Auxiliary storage device 26 Network interface 27 Operation panel 28 Scanner 29 Printer 2A Fax modem 2B Network 30 UI unit 31 Scroll event handler 32 Timer 33 Scroll processing unit 34, 40 Communication unit 36 Preview image storage unit 37 Page information storage unit 53 Thumbnail image 34, 40 Communication section 41 Job control section 42 Image processing section 43 Print control section 50 Long image display area 51 Window internal area 52 Window 53 Thumbnail image 54 Scroll bar 55 Scroll up button 56 Scroll down button 57 Scroll position display section P Window internal area origin T Top coordinate

Claims (5)

In response to the scroll button operation input to the input unit, the scroll processing unit causes the processor to perform scroll processing, and the scroll processing is performed by storing the local image at the longitudinal scroll position in the long image display area in the storage device. In the information processing apparatus, which is a process for requesting the local image from the image processing unit if it does not exist and saving the image included in the response in the storage device and displaying the image on the display unit,
In response to the occurrence of a scroll event corresponding to the scroll button operation input, a software timer is started, and if there is an operating software timer, it is stopped, the longitudinal scroll position is updated, and the updated software position is updated. A scroll event handler that displays page information at the longitudinal scroll position;
A software timer that generates a time-up event after a set time has elapsed since being started, and performs the scroll process;
An information processing apparatus further comprising: The image processing unit is an image processing unit in an external image forming apparatus,
The local image is a plurality of preview thumbnail images of the document.
The information processing apparatus according to claim 1. The image processing unit is an image processing unit in an external image forming apparatus,
The local image is a page image of a document.
The @ according to claim 1, wherein:   The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the information processing apparatus is a smartphone or a tablet. For the processor:
The scroll event handler further turns on an interrupt flag in response to the occurrence of the scroll event,
The timer further turns off the interrupt flag in response to the occurrence of the time-up event,
The scroll processing unit further does not request the image if the interruption flag is on.
The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the information processing apparatus is an information processing apparatus.

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