JP2019134320A - Image forming apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

To make it possible to easily perform comparison between the past and present setting values, even when the setting values are on a setting value list for an image forming apparatus printed on paper.SOLUTION: A setting value list generation unit collects the current setting values of an image forming apparatus for predetermined setting items, and an image forming unit prints a current setting value list on paper (S11). A display control unit controls a display unit to display, to a user, a message that encourages an operation to scan a past document and a current document on each of which a setting value list is printed (S12). An image reading unit reads the documents placed on a placement table to acquire images (S14), and a character recognition unit converts the images read by the image reading unit into text data (S15). A setting comparison unit compares the past setting value list with the current setting value list converted into text data by the character recognition unit (S18). After the end of comparison for all the setting items, the display control unit controls the display unit to display a result of comparison stored in a comparison result storage unit (S20).SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 2

Description

  The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus that reads an image of a document and prints the read image on a sheet.

  In recent years, image forming apparatuses are connected via a network, and a host computer collects various setting values of the image forming apparatus, and compares past setting values (for example, setting values at the time of shipment) with current setting values, thereby generating an image. Maintenance of the forming equipment.

  Patent Document 1 describes an image forming apparatus that acquires apparatus information at set time intervals and performs cause analysis of abnormal operation.

JP 2005-225173 A

  There is a great demand for printing the collected setting value list of the image forming apparatus on paper and storing it on a paper basis. However, when the set value list is printed on paper, it is necessary to visually check the change in the set value and the numerical value abnormality. , It took time to confirm.

  An object of the present invention is to make it possible to easily compare past and current set values even in a set value list of an image forming apparatus printed on paper.

  An image forming apparatus according to one aspect of the present invention includes an image reading unit that reads an original to obtain an image, an image forming unit that prints an image on a sheet, a display control unit that performs display control on a display unit, and a predetermined number. A setting value list generation unit that collects setting values of the image forming apparatus for the set items and generates a setting value list; and an image acquired by reading the sheet on which the setting value list is printed by the image reading unit. Character recognition processing is performed for the character recognition unit that generates data of the past setting value list, and setting items read from the generated past setting value list are detected from the current setting value list, If detected, a setting value comparison unit that extracts setting values corresponding to the setting item from the past setting value list and the current setting value list and compares them, and the setting value comparison unit A comparison result storage unit for storing a comparison result, and after the set value list generation unit generates the current set value list, the display control unit prints the sheet on which the past set value list is printed as the image reading unit. A message prompting the user to set the item is displayed on the display unit.

  According to the present invention, the image forming apparatus compares the setting values of the past setting value list printed on the paper medium with the setting values of the current setting value list, so that the user can visually check the comparison values. It is possible to reduce the labor of the work such as preventing leakage and shortening the comparison time, and the comparison can be easily performed.

1 is a block diagram illustrating an electrical configuration of an image forming apparatus. It is the flowchart which showed the flow of the setting value comparison process. It is the figure which showed an example of the setting value list. It is the figure which showed an example of the screen displayed on a display part. It is the figure which showed an example of the screen displayed on a display part. It is the figure which extracted and showed a part of example of the text data of the past and the present setting value list. It is the figure which showed an example of the screen displayed on a display part. It is the figure which showed the data structure of the setting item change log | history memory | storage part.

  Hereinafter, an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an internal configuration of an image forming apparatus 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention. In the present embodiment, the image forming apparatus 100 is described as a copier that reads an image of a document and prints it on a sheet of paper. However, in addition to this, a multifunction machine having a plurality of functions such as a facsimile function, a scanner function, and a copy function. Any device having the image reading function and the printing function may be used.

  The image forming apparatus 100 includes a control unit 1, an input operation unit 2, a display unit 3, an image reading unit 4, an image processing unit 5, an image forming unit 6, a storage unit 7, a network interface unit 8, and the like.

  The input operation unit 2 includes, for example, a menu button for calling a menu, and hard buttons such as a start button and a stop button for instructing execution of the operation, and receives an operation instruction from the user.

  The display unit 3 includes a liquid crystal display (LCD) or an organic EL (Organic Light-Emitting Diode) display, and is integrated with a touch panel, for example. The touch panel is a so-called resistive film type or capacitive type touch panel, and also functions as the input operation unit 2. The touch panel detects contact (touch) of a user's finger and the contact position.

  The image reading unit 4 reads an original and acquires an image. The image processing unit 5 performs image processing such as rotation processing, enlargement / reduction processing, and density change on the image read by the image reading unit 4. The image forming unit 6 prints an image read by the image reading unit 4, an image transmitted from an external device, an image subjected to image processing by the image processing unit 5, and the like on a sheet.

  The storage unit 7 stores programs and data necessary for the operation of the image forming apparatus 100. Furthermore, the storage unit 7 includes a comparison result storage unit 71 and a setting item change history storage unit 72. The comparison result storage unit 71 stores a comparison result when a set value comparison unit 15 described later compares the past and current set value lists. The setting item change history storage unit 72 stores a setting item change history indicating the operating environment of the image forming apparatus 100. Here, the setting item is a name indicating each function that can be executed by each operation mechanism provided in the image forming apparatus 100. The setting value is a parameter indicating an operation level for the function indicated by the setting item.

  The network interface unit 8 includes a communication module such as a LAN board, and transmits and receives various data to and from a computer on the network N connected to the network interface unit 8, the server 9, and the like.

  The control unit 1 includes a processor, a RAM (Random Access Memory), a ROM (Read Only Memory), and the like. The processor is a CPU (Central Processing Unit), MPU, ASIC, or the like. The control unit 1 includes a control unit 11, a display control unit 12, a set value list generation unit 13, a character recognition unit 14, and a set value by executing a control program stored in the ROM or the like on the processor. It functions as the comparison unit 15. In addition, each said part of the control unit 1 may be each comprised by the hard circuit irrespective of the operation | movement based on a control program.

  The control unit 11 governs overall operation control of the image forming apparatus 100. The display control unit 12 performs display control of the display unit 3.

  The setting value list generation unit 13 collects setting values of the image forming apparatus 100 for predetermined setting items, and generates a setting value list in which the installation items correspond to the setting values.

  The character recognition unit 14 extracts characters from the image read by the image reading unit 4 using an OCR (Optical Character Recognition) function, and converts the characters into text data.

  The set value comparison unit 15 compares the past and current set value lists. For example, the setting value comparison unit 15 detects the setting item read from the past setting value list generated by the character recognition unit 14 from the current setting value list generated by the setting value list generation unit 13 and detects the setting item. In this case, the setting value corresponding to the setting item is extracted from the past setting value list and the current setting value list and compared with each other. Further, for example, the set value comparison unit 15 compares the past and the current set value list, in which the image reading unit 4 reads a document on which the current and past set value lists are printed and the character recognition unit 14 converts the document into text data. .

  FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing a flow of set value comparison processing in the present embodiment. When a setting value list generation instruction is input by the user operating the input operation unit 2, the setting value list generation unit 13 collects the setting values of the image forming apparatus 100 for predetermined setting items at this time. The set value list generation unit 13 generates the collected set values as a current set value list. The control unit 11 causes the image forming unit 6 to print the current set value list on a sheet (S11). FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of the set value list. The image forming unit 6 prints the current setting value list 20 with the setting item 21 and the setting value 22 in parallel.

  Subsequently, the display control unit 12 causes the display unit 3 to display a message that prompts the user to scan the setting value list (S12). FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of the screen displayed on the display unit 3 at this time. Here, it is assumed that the user places the originals of the past and current set value lists on the placement table of the image reading unit 4. It is assumed that the user holds in advance as a document a sheet on which a past setting value list (for example, a list of color state setting values at the time of shipment) is printed.

  The user presses the “start” button 31 when the document of the past and the current set value list is placed on the placement table of the image reading unit 4. Based on the pressing, the control unit 11 receives a document reading execution instruction via the input operation unit 2. The user presses the “Cancel” button 32 when canceling the scan operation. Based on the pressing, the control unit 11 receives an instruction to cancel document reading via the input operation unit 2.

  Note that the image reading unit 4 may read either a flat bed method of reading a document placed on a mounting table or a method of reading using an automatic document feeder (ADF).

  When the “start” button 31 is pressed and the control unit 11 accepts a document reading execution instruction (S13; YES), the control unit 11 causes the image reading unit 4 to read each document placed on the placing table. The character recognition unit 14 extracts characters using the OCR function from the image of each original read by the image reading unit 4 and converts the image of each original into text data (S15). ).

  When the image reading unit 4 reads each document in the past and current setting value lists at a time using the flatbed method, the image processing unit 5 reads the acquired image in the past setting value list and the current setting value. The image is divided into a list and each image is generated.

  Also, the past and current set value lists can be read at a time using the flatbed method, and the acquired images can be divided, or the past and current set value lists can be read one by one using the ADF, and images can be acquired. , Which set value list is past and present is unknown. Therefore, it is assumed that a document on which a date or serial number is described is used as the document of the setting value list, and the character recognition unit 14 converts the image indicating the date or serial number into text data. Based on the text data, the control unit 11 determines whether an image indicating each document indicates a past or current set value list.

  In S11, the setting value list generation unit 13 only generates the current setting value list and does not perform printing. In S14, the image reading unit 4 reads only the document on which the past setting value list is printed. It is good. That is, the timing when the image reading unit 4 reads the document on which the past setting value list is printed is after the setting value list generation unit 13 generates the current setting value list. In S11, since the set value list generation unit 13 generates the current set value list and the data is acquired, if the data is used for the comparison process shown in S18 described later, the current set value list It is possible to eliminate the need for list printing and reading of the printed document.

  Then, the character recognition unit 14 determines whether or not the past setting value list and the current setting value list are in the same direction in the image read by the image reading unit 4 (S17). If the directions of the characters are opposite to each other (S17; NO), the display control unit 12 causes the display unit 3 to display a message that prompts the user to arrange the document in the same direction (S16). 11 shifts the processing to S14.

  FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of the screen displayed on the display unit 3 at this time. When placing an original on the mounting table, the user aligns the past and current setting value lists in the same direction and places them again, and when scanning using ADF, the user aligns the past and current setting value lists in the same direction and overlaps them. Set it at the document feeder.

  In the case where the direction of the characters in the past and the current set value list is opposite, the character recognition unit 14 recognizes the character after the image processing unit (an example of the image rotation unit) 5 rotates any image by 180 °. May be performed. However, since the image quality deteriorates due to the rotation process, and the accuracy of character recognition may be reduced, it is desirable that the orientation of the document is aligned at the stage of image reading.

  Next, the set value comparison unit 15 compares the past set value converted into text data by the character recognition unit 14 with the current set value list (S18).

  This will be specifically described. FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a part of an example of text data in the past and present setting value lists. The setting value comparison unit 15 first extracts a character string that is a setting item in the text data of the past setting value list 41 (hereinafter simply referred to as “past setting value list”).

  Whether the extracted character string is a category name or a setting item, the setting value comparison unit 15 determines whether there is a setting value (a numeric value, a word such as On or Off) arranged in parallel with the character string. Judge by. For example, when the set value comparison unit 15 first extracts a character string “Display Brightness”, a set value “3” (here, for example, an integer value of 1 to 10) is set in parallel with this character string. Therefore, “Display Brightness” is determined to be a setting item. Next, a character string search of “Display Brightness” is performed in the text data of the current set value list 42 (hereinafter simply referred to as “current set value list”). When the set value comparison unit 15 detects “Display Brightness” from the current set value list 42, the set value is extracted.

  Then, the setting value comparison unit 15 compares the setting value of “Display Brightness” extracted from the past setting value list 41 and the setting value of “Display Brightness” extracted from the current setting value list 42. In the case of FIG. 6, “Display Brightness” in the past setting value list 41 is “3”, but “Display Brightness” in the current setting value list 42 is “5”. When the setting values in the past and current setting value lists are different, the setting value comparison unit 15 stores “NG” in association with “Display Brightness” in the comparison result storage unit 71, and then stores the past and current settings. Each value is stored (S19). When the setting values are the same in the past and current setting value lists, the setting value comparison unit 15 stores “OK” in association with “Display Brightness” in the comparison result storage unit 71, and then stores the past and current settings. Each value is stored (S19).

  In this way, the set value comparison unit 15 compares the setting items of the past and current set value lists. When the comparison of all the setting items is completed, the display control unit 12 displays the comparison result stored in the comparison result storage unit 71 on the display unit 3 (S20).

  FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating an example of a comparison result displayed on the display unit 3. The display control unit 12 displays the comparison results stored in the comparison result storage unit 71 in the same order as the past set value list (or the current set value list). In addition, the display control unit 12 may display only setting items that have different setting values from the past and the current setting values (setting items that are “NG” in FIG. 7, and past and current setting values). In addition, priorities are added to the setting items in advance, and the display control unit 12 may display them side by side in descending order of the priorities.

  The set value list generation unit 13 collects set values in accordance with predetermined setting items. Here, the name of the setting item may change. For example, there may be a case where a setting item that has been in the past is currently deleted or a setting item is newly added. Although the setting items have the same contents, only the item name may be changed.

  For example, the setting item of the setting value list is changed when a system update of the image forming apparatus 100 is executed. Alternatively, setting items are added and deleted by remote operation from the external server 9 through the network N.

  For example, in the case of each setting value list shown in FIG. 6, the second setting item from the top in the category “1.2 Contrast” in the past setting value list 41 is “Send / Box”, but in the current setting value list 42. The second setting item from the top of the category “1.2 Contrast” is “Send”, and the setting item name is different.

  In this case, the setting value comparison unit 15 cannot detect from the current setting value list 42 a setting item that completely matches the setting item “Send / Box” read from the past setting value list 41. In the case where a completely matching setting item cannot be detected, in the present embodiment, in the comparison process of S18, the setting value comparison unit 15 (1) does not perform the comparison process, (2) extracts the setting item to be approximated ( 3) One of the three patterns of detecting a setting item with reference to the change history in the setting item change history storage unit 72 is performed. For example, the set value comparison unit 15 selectively executes any one of (1) to (3) in accordance with an instruction input by an operation of the input operation unit 2 by the user. Hereinafter, the contents (1) to (3) will be described.

(1) No comparison process is performed.
If the setting value comparison unit 15 cannot detect from the current setting value list 42 a setting item that completely matches the setting item read from the past setting value list 41, the setting value comparison unit 15 performs the comparison process. Not performed. The comparison result storage unit 71 stores setting items that could not be detected.

  In the case of FIG. 6, “Send / Box” in the category “1.2 Contrast” in the past setting value list 41 and “Copy_All” and “Copy_Text / Fine” in the category “1.3 Sharpness Adjustment” completely match each other. Is not in the current set value list 42. Accordingly, the set value comparison unit 15 does not perform the comparison process, and the comparison result storage unit 71 does not perform the comparison process, “Send / Box” in the category “1.2 Contrast” and “Copy_All” in the category “1.3 Sharpness Adjustment”. And “Copy_Text / Fine” are stored as items for which no comparison processing has been performed.

  When the set value comparison unit 15 finishes comparing all the setting items, the display control unit 12 does not perform the comparison process when displaying the comparison result stored in the comparison result storage unit 71 on the display unit 3. Display setting items.

(2) Extract setting items to be approximated.
If the setting value comparison unit 15 cannot detect from the current setting value list 42 a setting item that completely matches the setting item read from the past setting value list 41, the setting value comparison unit 15 cannot detect it. The category name including the set item is extracted, and the category is detected from the current set value list 42. Then, the setting value comparison unit 15 detects a setting item that approximates from the category of the current setting value list 42, and performs comparison processing when the setting item that approximates can be detected.

  In the case of FIG. 6, “Send / Box” in the category “1.2 Contrast” of the past setting value list 41 has no setting item that completely matches the current setting value list 42. Therefore, the setting value comparison unit 15 extracts each item included in the category “1.2 Contrast” from the current setting value list 42, and a character string that approximates “Send / Box” from the setting items, for example, “ Extract "Send". If the name of a setting item in the same category is changed from “Send / Box” to “Send”, the name of the setting item will not change even if the name of the setting item changes. There is. Therefore, the set value comparison unit 15 compares the set values of the setting items that are approximate.

  And the comparison result memory | storage part 71 memorize | stores it as additional information that it is not the comparison result of the setting items in which it corresponded completely but the comparison result of the setting items which approximated. When the set value comparison unit 15 finishes comparing all the setting items, the display control unit 12 displays the comparison result stored in the comparison result storage unit 71 on the display unit 3, and the comparison result between the set items to be approximated. Is displayed so that the user can understand.

  For example, using the setting value list comparison result screen shown in FIG. 7, the display control unit 12 displays “current setting item: Send” in the comparison result column of “Send / Box” in the category “1.2 Contrast”. Since there is no setting item that completely matches “Send / Box” in the current setting value list, this indicates that the result is a comparison result between the setting value associated with “Send”.

(3) A setting item is detected with reference to the change history in the setting item change history storage unit 72.
The setting item change history storage unit 72 stores a change history of setting item names. Then, the setting value comparison unit 15 determines whether or not the setting item change history read from the past setting value list 41 is stored in the setting item change history storage unit 72. When the change history of the setting item is stored in the setting item change history storage unit 72, the setting value comparison unit 15 extracts the setting item after the change, and the extracted setting item after the change is displayed in the current setting value list 42. Detect from.

  FIG. 8 is a diagram showing the data configuration of the setting item change history storage unit 72. FIG. 8 shows that “Send / Box” in the category “1.2 Contrast” has been changed to “Send”. Further, “Copy_All” in the category “1.3 Sharpness Adjustment” is changed to “Copy_All_Text / Fine”, and “Copy_Text / Fine” in the same category is also changed to “Copy_All_Text / Fine”.

  For example, when the set value comparison unit 15 reads “Send / Box” in the category “1.2 Contrast” of the past set value list 41, the set value comparison unit 15 next selects “Send / Box” in the category “1.2 Contrast”. "Is stored in the setting item change history storage unit 72. Since the setting item change history storage unit 72 stores that “Send / Box” has been changed to “Send”, the setting value comparison unit 15 extracts “Send”, which is the changed setting item, A new set value list 42 is searched using this set item “Send”.

  In addition, the contents of the setting item change history storage unit 72 are renamed to “Copy_All_Text / Fine” in the past “Set Sharpness Adjustment” category “Copy_All” and “Copy_Text / Fine” respectively. It shows that. This indicates that the contents of the two setting items “Copy_All” and “Copy_Text / Fine” in the past setting value list 41 are integrated into one setting item “Copy_All_Text / Fine”.

  In this case, the setting value comparison unit 15 compares the setting value of “Copy_All” in the past setting value list 41 with the setting value of “Copy_All_Text / Fine” in the current setting value list 42, and further sets the past setting value list. The setting value of “Copy_Text / Fine” 41 is compared with the setting value of “Copy_All_Text / Fine”. The comparison result storage unit 71 stores each comparison result.

  As described above, the image forming apparatus 100 compares the setting values of the past and current setting value lists printed on a paper medium, thereby preventing a check omission due to a user's visual comparison and preventing comparison time. It is possible to reduce the labor of the work such as shortening, and to easily compare.

  When the setting value comparison unit 15 cannot detect the setting item from the current setting value list, the setting value comparison unit 15 compares the setting item with an approximate setting item or refers to the change history stored in the setting item change history storage unit 72. Then, by detecting the setting item after the change from the current setting value list, the setting value can be compared even if the name of the setting item in the past setting value list has changed.

  In addition, the configuration and processing described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 8 in the above embodiment are only one embodiment of the present invention, and are not intended to limit the present invention to the configuration and processing.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 100 Image forming apparatus 1 Control unit 11 Control part 12 Display control part 13 Setting value list generation part 14 Character recognition part 15 Setting value comparison part 2 Input operation part 3 Display part 4 Image reading part 5 Image processing part 6 Image forming part 7 Memory | storage Unit 71 Comparison result storage unit 72 Setting item change history storage unit 8 Network interface unit N Network 9 Server

Claims (9)

An image reading unit that reads an original and obtains an image;
An image forming unit for printing an image on paper;
A display control unit that performs display control on the display unit;
A setting value list generation unit that collects setting values of the image forming apparatus for predetermined setting items and generates a current setting value list;
A character recognition unit that performs character recognition processing on an image acquired by reading the paper on which the image setting unit has printed a past setting value list, and generates data of the past setting value list;
The setting item read from the generated past setting value list is detected from the current setting value list, and if detected, the setting value corresponding to the setting item from the past setting value list and the current setting value list. A set value comparison unit that extracts and compares each
A comparison result storage unit for storing a comparison result by the set value comparison unit,
After the set value list generation unit generates the current set value list, the display control unit displays a message on the display unit that prompts the user to set a sheet on which the previous set value list is printed in the image reading unit. An image forming apparatus. After the setting value list generation unit generates a current setting value list, the image forming unit prints the current setting value list on paper,
The display control unit causes the display unit to display a message prompting the user to set a sheet on which the current setting value list is printed and a sheet on which the past setting value list is printed on the image reading unit;
The character recognition unit further generates data of the current setting value list by performing character recognition processing on an image acquired by reading the paper on which the image reading unit has printed the current setting value list,
2. The setting value comparison unit performs the comparison by detecting setting items read from the generated past setting value list from the current setting value list generated by the character recognition unit. The image forming apparatus described in 1.   The display control unit makes the orientations of the sheets the same when the orientations of the images of the current setting value list read and acquired by the image reading unit and the images of the past setting value list are different. The image forming apparatus according to claim 2, wherein a message prompting to execute image reading again is displayed on the display unit.   When the image of the current setting value list read and acquired by the image reading unit is different from the direction of the image of the past setting value list, the image of the current setting value list or the past setting value list The image forming apparatus according to claim 2, further comprising: an image rotation unit that rotates any one of the images to make the directions of the images the same. When the setting item read from the past setting value list is not detected from the current setting value list, the setting value comparison unit sets the setting item approximate to the setting item from the current setting value list. Detect from the set value list,
2. The setting value comparison unit extracts the setting values corresponding to the setting item read from the generated past setting value list and the detected setting item to be approximated, and performs the comparison. The image forming apparatus according to claim 4. The setting items included in the past setting value list and the current setting value list are classified for each category, and the setting item read from the past setting value list is not detected from the current setting value list The setting value comparison unit detects a setting item that approximates the setting item from other setting items in the category that includes the setting item in the current setting value list,
2. The setting value comparison unit extracts the setting values corresponding to the setting item read from the generated past setting value list and the detected setting item to be approximated, and performs the comparison. The image forming apparatus according to claim 4. A setting item change history storage unit for storing a change history of the name of the setting item;
When the setting item name read from the previous setting value list has been changed, the setting value comparison unit reads the name of the setting item after the change from the setting item change history storage unit, and the setting after the change An item is detected from the current set value list, and a set item read from the generated past set value list and each set value corresponding to the changed set item are extracted, and the comparison is performed. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the image forming apparatus is performed.   The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the display control unit displays contents of the comparison result storage unit on the display unit.   The image forming apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the display control unit sequentially displays setting items and setting values with high importance when displaying the contents of the comparison result storage unit on the display unit.