JP4317509B2 - Electronics - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an electronic apparatus including an image forming apparatus such as a facsimile apparatus, and more particularly to an electronic apparatus that can be easily operated by keys.

In an electronic device such as a facsimile machine, a plurality of keys are provided for specifying a transmission destination. In such an electronic device, a device capable of changing the mode according to the time of pressing a key is described in, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-147135 (Patent Document 1).
JP-A-2004-147135 (paragraph number 0010, etc.)

  A facsimile apparatus as an example of a conventional electronic device is configured as described above. FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a touch panel type operation unit in the conventional facsimile apparatus as described above. Referring to FIG. 6, when transmitting to a plurality of destinations, destination B, destination C and destination D are selected (indicated by dotted lines in the figure), and then a transmission key such as a STRAT key (not shown) is selected. Press to start transmission. That is, in an electronic device such as a facsimile machine, in order to designate and send a destination, at least two key operations of selecting a destination and starting transmission are required, and the operation is complicated. was there.

  The present invention has been made paying attention to the above-described problems, and an object thereof is to provide an electronic device capable of instructing execution of a condition or a function with a few key operations.

  The electronic device according to the present invention includes a display unit that displays a plurality of keys for selecting conditions or functions, and each of the plurality of keys is pressed for a predetermined time or longer than a predetermined time. A pressing time determining means for determining whether the key has been pressed, and a key pressed by the pressing time determining means for less than a predetermined time, it is determined that the key has been selected, and the key pressed for a predetermined time or more And the control means for determining that execution of the condition or function is instructed and controlling to execute all the conditions or functions selected so far.

  Preferably, in the plurality of keys, when the same key is continuously pressed, the control unit determines that the selection of the key is canceled.

  The electronic device may be a facsimile machine, and the plurality of keys may be keys indicating transmission destinations. The electronic device may be a copying machine, and the plurality of keys may be copy condition setting keys for copying. It may be.

  In this invention, according to the time of pressing each of a plurality of keys for selecting a condition or function, whether the key is selected or whether the key is selected and execution of the selected function is instructed. If the key is pressed for a predetermined time or longer, the pressed key is selected and all the functions selected so far are executed. No need to operate another key.

  As a result, it is possible to provide an electronic device that can instruct execution of a condition or function with a few key operations.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a facsimile apparatus 10 when an electronic apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention is applied to a facsimile apparatus. Referring to FIG. 1, the facsimile machine 10 functions as a control unit and a pressing time determination unit, and also includes a control unit 11 that controls the entire facsimile device 10, a DRAM 12, a FAX communication unit 13, a printing unit 15, A hard disk 16 for storing data, an image reading unit 17, and an operation unit 18 are included.

  The image reading unit 17 includes a CCD (not shown) as an example of a photoelectric conversion element, and can read image data for facsimile transmission.

  FIG. 2 is a diagram showing details of the operation unit 18. Referring to FIG. 2, operation unit 18 includes an input unit 19 and a display unit 20. Input unit 19 completely cancels a start key 191 for instructing a facsimile transmission start and a process being executed. A stop key 192 for interrupting, an interrupt key 193 for instructing execution / cancellation of an interrupt, a numeric key 194 for instructing a facsimile destination number, a setting key 195 for setting various information, and the like.

  The display unit 20 is composed of a liquid crystal panel, and can display information from the facsimile apparatus 10 to the user. This liquid crystal panel is a touch panel, and a plurality of transmission destinations are displayed as will be described later.

  The control unit 11 compresses and writes the data given from the image reading unit 17 and the data given from the FAX communication unit 13 to the DRAM 12, reads the data written to the DRAM 12, decompresses and decodes and outputs the data. The control unit 11 also performs control for communication by the FAX communication unit 13, control for printing by the printing unit 15, control for image reading by the image reading unit 17, and input unit 19 of the operation unit 18. Control for inputting data from the control unit 18 and control for displaying data on the display unit 20 of the operation unit 18 are performed.

  In FIG. 1, thick arrows indicate the flow of image data, and thin arrows indicate the flow of control signals or control data.

  Next, a procedure for facsimile transmission in the facsimile apparatus 10 will be described. 3 and 4 are diagrams showing examples of destinations displayed on the display unit 20, and FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a destination selection processing procedure.

  Referring to FIGS. 3 and 5, when the user transmits to destination A, the key indicating destination A is selected as indicated by solid line 25 in FIG. 3 (step S11, hereinafter, steps are omitted). . At this time, it is determined whether or not the key pressing time for displaying the destination A is long (for example, about 1 to 2 seconds or longer than a predetermined time) (S12). If it is long (YES in S12), the destination is selected (S14) and transmission is started (S15). That is, the destination selection and the transmission operation are completed with a single key operation.

  Next, the case of transmitting to a plurality of destinations will be described with reference to FIG. 4 and FIG. Here, a case where transmission is performed to four destinations A to D will be described. In this case, destinations B, C and D are first selected (indicated by dotted line 26 in FIG. 4), and finally destination A is selected (indicated by solid line A in FIG. 4). At this time, for the destinations B to D, the user presses down the key for a short time (less than 1 second, less than a predetermined time). That is, when the key indicating the destination B is depressed (S11), only the destination is selected because the depression time is short (NO in S12, S13). This process is repeated for destinations C and D.

  Finally, when the destination A key is depressed (S11), it is depressed for a long time (YES in S12). Then, the destination A is selected (S14), and transmission is started to all the selected destinations A to D (S15). Note that this order is merely an example, and the same processing is performed if the last key is pushed down no matter what order the key is pushed down.

  In addition, if the key input is wrong, setting is made such that if the wrong key is depressed again, the depression of the key is cancelled.

  As described above, the key operation for a plurality of destinations is sufficient only for the number of destination selections, and there is no need to separately press a start key for starting transmission as in the prior art.

  As a result, it is possible to provide a facsimile apparatus that can instruct transmission by a simple key operation.

  In the above-described embodiment, the facsimile apparatus is described as an example of the electronic apparatus. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the present invention may be applied to a copying machine. In this case, the display unit displays keys for specifying the copying conditions such as the number of copies and the magnification in the copying machine. The copying operation is started based on the selected condition.

  In addition to the copying machine, the present invention may be applied to a network scanner and other electronic devices. In this case, the same effect as described above can be obtained.

  In other electronic devices, the key may be a selection key for selecting a characteristic condition of the device or selecting a characteristic function. For example, in a radio cassette recorder with a CD drive, keys for instructing on / off of CD drive, radio and cassette recorder, and changing sound quality and rhythm may be used.

  As mentioned above, although embodiment of this invention was described with reference to drawings, this invention is not limited to the thing of embodiment shown in figure. Various modifications and variations can be made to the illustrated embodiment within the same range or equivalent range as the present invention.

1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a facsimile machine. It is a figure which shows the operation part of a facsimile apparatus. It is a figure which shows the example of a display of the display part of a facsimile apparatus. It is a figure which shows the example of a display of the display part of a facsimile apparatus. 3 is a flowchart showing the operation of the facsimile apparatus. It is a figure which shows the example of a display of the display part in the conventional facsimile apparatus.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Facsimile device, 11 Control part, 12 DRAM, 13 FAX communication part, 15 Printing part, 16 Hard disk, 17 Image reading part, 18 Operation part, 20 Display part.

Claims (4)

A display for displaying a plurality of keys for selecting conditions or functions;
A pressing time determining means for determining whether each of the plurality of keys has been pressed for a predetermined time or more than a predetermined time;
For the key pressed for a predetermined time by the pressing time determination means, it is determined that the key has been selected, and for the key pressed for a predetermined time or longer, the key is selected, Control means for determining that execution of the condition or function has been instructed and performing execution of all the conditions or functions selected so far;
The control means is pressed when it is determined that different keys among the plurality of keys are continuously pressed for less than a predetermined time, and thereafter there are different keys pressed for a predetermined time or more. An electronic device that selects all the keys and executes all the conditions or functions of the keys selected so far . The electronic device according to claim 1, wherein when the same key is continuously pressed among the plurality of keys, the control unit determines that the selection of the key is canceled. The electronic device according to claim 1, wherein the electronic device is a facsimile apparatus, and the plurality of keys are keys indicating transmission destinations. The electronic apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the electronic apparatus is a copying machine, and the plurality of keys are setting keys for copying conditions during copying.

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