JP6398441B2 - Image processing device - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention reproduces and displays an animation in response to a user operation, and displays an animation reproduction display in an image processing apparatus that performs an interrupt display corresponding to the event when an event requiring an interrupt display occurs during the animation reproduction display. It relates to the technology to control.

In recent years, in image forming apparatuses such as printers and copiers, those having an animation reproduction display function are widely used from the viewpoint of improving the display performance of the operation panel and improving the convenience of the user. It is becoming.
For example, when you select an operation button displayed on the operation panel and open the associated window, a small window pops up first near the operation button, so that the balloon inflates over time An animation playback display is performed in which a window that gradually increases and finally displays a corresponding operation screen is displayed on the operation panel.

As a result, the processing corresponding to the operation button selected by the user is executed.
It is possible to make the user visually aware through animation, and it is possible to improve the convenience of the user in confirming the processing operation corresponding to the operation button.
As another example, when the user causes the image forming apparatus to execute a specific process, for example, a file transfer process, an animation indicating the progress of the file transfer process (download) is displayed on the operation panel. Playback is displayed. Thereby, the user can easily check the progress of the download via the animation.

2011-175323 gazette

  However, in an image processing apparatus that can execute various functions other than the animation playback / display function, such as an image forming apparatus, other functions that are not related to the animation playback / display processing during the playback / display of the animation as described above. Processing (for example, image formation processing) is being performed in parallel, and some abnormality (for example, out of paper) occurs during execution of the other processing, and the animation playback display notifies the user of the occurrence of the abnormality In some cases, switching to the display of an interrupt image (hereinafter referred to as “interrupt display”) is required.

In such a case, when the measure to eliminate the abnormality is taken and the switching to the interrupt display is canceled, the animation playback display has already ended, and the animation that has been played back to the end is displayed. There is a problem that it cannot be viewed.
Even when the playback display has not ended, when the display is switched to the animation display, the playback display of the animation has already progressed to the end, and after the display is switched, the playback display ends immediately. This causes a problem that it is difficult for the user to recognize the contents of the animation.

Even after the occurrence of the abnormality, it may be possible to continue displaying the animation together with the interrupt display. For example, if the display space on the display screen is limited as in the operation panel of the image forming apparatus, the interrupt display and the animation are displayed. If both of these displays are displayed, there is a problem that it is difficult for the user to see the animation display.
The present invention has been made in view of the above-described problems, and even when there is an interrupt display during animation playback display, the user's convenience in viewing the animation after interrupt display cancellation is impaired. It is an object of the present invention to provide an image processing apparatus that can be prevented from being disturbed.

In order to achieve the above object, an image processing apparatus according to an aspect of the present invention reproduces and displays an animation on a display unit in response to a user operation, and displays an abnormality that is unrelated to the reproduction and display of the animation during the reproduction and display of the animation. An event processing unit for displaying an interrupt corresponding to the event on the display unit when an event requiring an interrupt display for notifying the occurrence has occurred, an event monitoring unit for monitoring the occurrence of the event, and a playback Animation monitoring means for monitoring the progress of the animation being displayed; stop means for stopping the reproduction display of the animation when the event occurs; acquisition means for acquiring the progress of the animation at the time of stop; A receiving means for receiving an instruction to cancel the interrupt display; and when there is the cancellation instruction, The frame that was played back and displayed at the time of stoppage is identified from the progress, and the playback display start frame is determined so that the playback display start frame that should start playback display does not follow the specified frame. and, e Bei and a reproduction display start control means for starting the playback presentation of the animation from a frame determined to cancel the interrupt display, the playback presentation start control means, the progress of the acquisition unit has acquired the When the threshold is exceeded, the playback display start frame is determined as the first frame, and when the threshold is not exceeded, the playback display start frame is determined as the frame that is played back when stopped Processing can be performed.
The image processing apparatus may include an image forming unit that forms an unfixed image based on image data on a recording sheet and thermally fixes the event, and the event may be an abnormality in the image forming unit. .

  In addition, there are a plurality of types of animations that are reproduced and displayed on the display unit in response to a user operation. The plurality of types of animations include a scroll animation that moves in response to a user scroll operation. If the scroll animation is being reproduced and displayed at the time of occurrence, the stop means suppresses the process of stopping the reproduction display of the scroll animation, and the reproduction display start control means starts reproduction display of the scroll animation. Execution of a determination process for determining a frame to be performed and a process for starting the reproduction display of the scroll animation can be suppressed.

  By providing the above configuration, when an event that requires an interrupt display occurs during the animation playback display, the playback display is stopped and the interrupt display is canceled so that the animation playback display does not proceed during the interrupt display. Thereafter, the frame position at which the animation reproduction display is to be started is determined so as not to exceed the frame position at the time when the animation is stopped, and the animation reproduction display is controlled from the determined frame position.

  Therefore, after canceling the interrupt display, the user can watch the animation without missing a part of the display content of the animation, and can grasp the content of the entire animation. As a result, when the animation progresses after the interrupt display and the interrupt display is canceled, the animation has already ended, or the animation has progressed to the end and the user has ended immediately. It is possible to prevent the situation where the contents of the entire animation cannot be grasped and the user's convenience in viewing the animation is impaired.

The image processing apparatus according to an aspect of the present invention reproduces and displays an animation on the display unit in response to a user operation, and notifies the occurrence of an abnormality unrelated to the reproduction and display of the animation during the reproduction and display of the animation. When an event that requires an interrupt display occurs, the image processing apparatus displays an interrupt corresponding to the event on the display unit, and includes an event monitoring means for monitoring the occurrence of the event, and an animation during playback display. Animation monitoring means for monitoring the degree of progress; stop means for stopping reproduction display of the animation when the event occurs; acquisition means for acquiring the progress of the animation at the time of stop; and The accepting means for accepting the release instruction, and when there is the release instruction, from the progress at the time of the stop, The playback display start frame is determined so that the playback display start frame to start playback display is determined so that the playback display start frame is not behind the specified frame. Replay display start control means for starting the replay display of the animation from the frame determined by canceling, and the animation is executed together with the replay display of the animation in the image processing device in response to the user operation A process monitoring unit for indicating a progress state of the predetermined process and monitoring a progress degree of the predetermined process, wherein the reproduction display start control unit is in progress when the release instruction is given; In this case, the playback display start frame is determined to be a frame that is played back and displayed at the time of the stop, and the determined frame is determined. Assuming that the animation playback display has started, the degree of progress of the predetermined process corresponding to the progress state indicated by the animation being played back is currently in progress until the predetermined process is completed. It is also possible to start the reproduction display of the animation from a frame determined at a reproduction display speed capable of reaching the degree of progress of the predetermined process.

As a result, the animation that is played back when an interrupt display event occurs is an animation that indicates the progress of a predetermined process that is executed together with the playback and display of the animation. When processing is in progress, it is assumed that the playback / display start frame is determined to be the frame that was played back when the playback / display of the animation was stopped, and that the playback / display of the animation started from the determined frame. In addition, the reproduction display in which the progress of the predetermined process corresponding to the progress state indicated by the animation being reproduced and displayed by the completion of the predetermined process can reach the progress of the predetermined process currently in progress. The reproduction display of the animation can be started from the frame determined by the speed.
As a result, due to the fact that the reproduction display of the animation is stopped, a state in which a mismatch occurs between the progress of the predetermined process corresponding to the progress state indicated by the animation and the actual progress of the process, This can be eliminated during the reproduction and display of the animation, and the convenience of the user in viewing the animation can be further improved.

The image processing apparatus according to an aspect of the present invention reproduces and displays an animation on the display unit in response to a user operation, and notifies the occurrence of an abnormality unrelated to the reproduction and display of the animation during the reproduction and display of the animation. When an event that requires an interrupt display occurs, the image processing apparatus displays an interrupt corresponding to the event on the display unit, and includes an event monitoring means for monitoring the occurrence of the event, and an animation during playback display. Animation monitoring means for monitoring the degree of progress; stop means for stopping reproduction display of the animation when the event occurs; acquisition means for acquiring the progress of the animation at the time of stop; and The accepting means for accepting the release instruction, and when there is the release instruction, from the progress at the time of the stop, The playback display start frame is determined so that the playback display start frame to start playback display is determined so that the playback display start frame is not behind the specified frame. Replay display start control means for starting the replay display of the animation from the frame determined by canceling, and when the predetermined processing is completed at the time of the cancel instruction, If the display start control means, the progress acquired by the acquisition unit is when it exceeds the threshold value, which determines the reproduction display start frame to the top frame, the progress does not exceed the threshold The playback display start frame is determined to be a frame that is played back and displayed at the time of stop, and is determined at a speed faster than the playback display speed until the stop. It may be reproduced displaying the animation from frame.

  As a result, the animation that is played back and displayed when the interrupt display event occurs is an animation indicating the progress of the predetermined process that is executed together with the display process of the animation, and the predetermined process is performed when there is an instruction to cancel the interrupt display. Since the animation is reproduced and displayed from a frame determined at a speed higher than the reproduction display speed up to the stop time, the user can display the contents of the animation reproduced and displayed after the release instruction. Viewing can be completed in a short time, and it can be quickly confirmed that the predetermined processing has been completed.

Here, there are multiple types of animations that are displayed in response to user operations.
The threshold value may be set for each type of animation to be displayed.
As a result, the playback display start frame can be appropriately determined according to the type of animation, and the convenience of viewing the animation after canceling the interrupt display on the user side can be further improved.

1 is a perspective view illustrating an appearance of an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment. 2 is a functional block diagram illustrating a configuration of the image forming apparatus 1. FIG. 3 is a functional block diagram showing a configuration of an operation panel control unit 104. FIG. A display example of “balloon animation” is shown. A display example of “progressive bar” is shown. It is a figure which shows the relationship between the interrupt display event monitoring part 8 and a monitoring object. 5 is a flowchart showing an operation of an animation reproduction display control process performed by an operation panel control unit 104. It is a flowchart which shows the operation | movement of an animation reproduction | regeneration display stop process. It is a flowchart which shows the operation | movement of an animation reproduction display start process.

(Embodiment)
Hereinafter, an embodiment of an image processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to an example in which the image processing apparatus is applied to a tandem image forming apparatus (hereinafter simply referred to as “image forming apparatus”).
[1] Configuration of Image Forming Apparatus FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an appearance of the image forming apparatus according to the present embodiment. Reference numeral 1 in the figure denotes an image forming apparatus, and reference numeral 6 denotes an operation panel. As shown in the figure, the operation panel 6 is provided on the front side of the image forming apparatus 1 as indicated by a dotted arrow A.

FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram illustrating the configuration of the image forming apparatus 1. The image forming apparatus 1 includes a control unit 10, an image process unit 3, a paper feeding unit 4, a fixing device 5, an operation panel 6, an image reading unit 7, an interrupt display event monitoring unit 8, and the like.
The control unit 10 is a so-called computer, and includes a CPU 100, a communication interface (I / F) unit 101, a ROM 102, a RAM 103, an operation panel control unit 104, a download execution unit 105, an image memory 106, a frame position specification table storage unit 107, The animation information storage unit 108 is configured to control the overall operation of the image forming apparatus 1.

  The communication I / F unit 101 is an interface for connecting to a LAN (Local Area Network) such as a LAN card or a LAN board. The ROM 102 executes a control program for controlling the image processing unit 3, the paper feeding unit 4, the fixing device 5, the operation panel 6, the image reading unit 7, the interrupt display event monitoring unit 8, and an animation display control process described later. A program or the like is stored. The RAM 103 is used as a work area when the CPU 100 executes a program.

  The operation panel control unit 104 controls display on the operation panel 6 such as animation display and interrupt display. FIG. 3 is a functional block diagram showing the configuration of the operation panel control unit 104. As shown in the figure, the operation panel control unit 104 includes an event occurrence notification receiving unit 1041, a download progress monitoring unit 1042, a display control unit 1043, an animation progress monitoring unit 1044, and an interrupt release instruction receiving unit 1045. .

  The event occurrence notification receiving unit 1041 receives an interrupt display event occurrence notification transmitted from the interrupt display event monitoring unit 8 when an interrupt display event occurs, and notifies the display control unit 1043 of the event occurrence notification. An interrupt display event occurrence notification is issued when a recording sheet out of paper, jam, out of toner in the developing machine, or the door of the image forming apparatus 1 is detected by various sensors described later. This notification is output from the display event monitoring unit 8 to display an interrupt display for notifying the display control unit 1043 that an abnormality has occurred.

The display control unit 1043 displays an interrupt indicating an interrupt display corresponding to the notified interrupt display event occurrence notification (for example, an image indicating that a sheet has run out, hereinafter collectively referred to as “interrupt image”). Image data is read from the image memory 106 and an interrupt display is displayed on the operation panel 6.
The download progress monitoring unit 1042 performs file transfer processing from the server when the execution of file transfer processing from the server connected to the image forming apparatus 1 via the LAN is instructed via the operation panel 6. Monitor the progress of (downloading). Specifically, among the total number of files instructed to transfer (N0), the number of files that have been downloaded to the image forming apparatus 1 (N) is monitored, and the number of files that have been downloaded relative to the total number of files (N0) (N ) Is calculated as a percentage, and the calculation result ((100N) / N0) is notified to the display control unit 1043 as the degree of download progress.

  The animation progress status monitoring unit 1044 monitors the progress of the animation display and notifies the display control unit 1043 of the progress. The degree of progress is measured, for example, by measuring the time from the start of animation playback display, and the time required for the animation display processing for the measured time (t) (from the start to the end of the animation playback display) It can be obtained by calculating a percentage with respect to time (t0)). That is, (100t) / t0 can be set as the above-mentioned progress degree.

Alternatively, the number of frames that have been reproduced and displayed after the animation reproduction and display has started is counted, and the ratio of the count value (f) to the total number of frames (f0) of the animation is obtained as a percentage. Can do. That is, (100f) / f0 can be set as the above-mentioned progress degree.
The interrupt release instruction receiving unit 1045 receives an interrupt release instruction output from the operation panel 6 when an interrupt release button superimposed on the interrupt display is selected by the user when an interrupt display is displayed on the operation panel 6. Receive and notify the display control unit 1043.

  The display control unit 1043 controls display of the operation panel 6 and controls display of animation reproduction display, interrupt display, interrupt release button, operation button, and the like. Here, as the animation, the display control unit 1043 reproduces and displays three types of animation of “balloon animation”, “slide animation”, and “progressive bar” in accordance with a user operation from the operation panel 6.

The above three types of animations are animations that are reproduced and displayed when the user selects an operation button displayed on the operation panel 6 and an animation reproduction display instruction is input.
“Balloon animation” is displayed when the user selects an operation button corresponding to the animation displayed on the operation panel 6 and transitions to the operation screen associated with the operation button. As shown in FIGS. 4A to 4F, a small window pops up in the vicinity of the operation button in response to the selection of the operation button so that the balloon inflates over time. It is an animation that gradually increases in size and finally displays the corresponding operation screen in a swelled window.

In FIGS. 4A to 4F, reference numeral 41 indicates the selected operation button, and reference numeral 42 indicates a pop-up display window.
“Slide animation” means that when the user selects an operation button corresponding to the animation displayed on the operation panel 6, the operation screen corresponding to the operation button is gradually slid horizontally. This is an animation in which the operation screen gradually appears on the display screen of the operation panel 6 and finally the entire operation screen is displayed on the display screen of the operation panel 6.
The “progressive bar” is an animation indicating a progress state of a predetermined process (here, for example, file transfer process), and an operation button for instructing the file transfer process displayed on the operation panel 6 by the user. This is an animation that is played back when is selected. In the animation, when the transfer process (download) of the file is started, a scale bar corresponding to the progress of the download of the file is reproduced and displayed as shown in FIGS. . Reference numeral 51 in FIGS. 5A to 5F denotes a reproduction display screen of the animation of “progressive bar”, and reference numeral 52 denotes a display of “scale bar”.
Frame image data of each frame constituting each animation is stored in the image memory 106. For “balloon animation” and “slide animation”, the display control unit 1043 receives an instruction to reproduce and display the animation from the image memory 106 when it is received from the user by an operation button selection operation displayed on the operation panel 6. The frame image of the instructed animation is read and reproduced and displayed on the operation panel 6 at a default frame rate.

  In the case of “progressive bar” playback display, the display control unit 1043 periodically acquires the download progress of the file from the download progress monitoring unit 1042, and the frame image data corresponding to the acquired progress. Is read from the image memory 106 and reproduced and displayed on the operation panel 6. In other words, the display processing speed of the playback display of “progressive bar” changes according to the file download speed. When “chasing playback display” to be described later is executed, the display processing speed is selected from a plurality of selectable frame rates.

  Specifically, a frame position specifying table indicating the correspondence between the degree of file download progress and the frame number of the frame image data of each frame constituting the animation of “progressive bar” is stored in the frame position specifying table storage unit 107. In addition, every time the display control unit 1043 acquires the download progress of the file from the download progress monitoring unit 1042 periodically (for example, in a cycle of 100 milliseconds), the display control unit 1043 is the amount that has progressed from the previous progress. The frame image data of the corresponding frame number is sequentially read out from the image memory 106 and reproduced and displayed on the operation panel 6.

For example, in the case where frame image data corresponding to the degree of progress is stored in increments of 1% in the image memory 106, when the degree of file download progresses from 25% to 27%, the display control unit 1043 Then, frame images having frame numbers corresponding to the progression degrees of 26% and 27% are sequentially read from the image memory 106 and reproduced and displayed on the operation panel 6.
Accordingly, the progress degree is displayed on the “scale bar” of the animation of “progressive bar” so as to follow the progress degree of downloading of the file.

  Also, if there is an interrupt display event occurrence notification during the animation playback display, the display control unit 1043 stops the animation playback display, displays the interrupt display corresponding to the notification on the operation panel 6, and the animation progress status The progress (P) of the animation playback display at the time of stop is acquired from the monitoring unit 1044, and the frame that is played back and displayed when the animation is stopped from the acquired progress (P) (hereinafter referred to as "stop frame"). The position of the stop frame (frame number of frame image data) is specified, and the position (hereinafter referred to as “stop frame position”) is held.

  Then, when there is an interrupt release instruction, the playback control unit 1043 hides the interrupt display, and in accordance with the acquired P, a frame (hereinafter referred to as “playback display start frame”) to start playback display of the stopped animation. However, the playback display start frame is determined from the frames constituting the animation so that the playback display order (hereinafter referred to as “playback display order”) does not follow the stop frame.

  Specifically, when the animation is “balloon animation” or “slide animation”, the display control unit 1043 determines that the acquired P is a threshold value of progress (here, 20%, for example). When the display control unit 1043 exceeds the threshold, the display control unit 1043 determines, as a playback display start frame, the first frame in the playback display order from among the frames constituting the animation. The stop frame is determined as the playback display start frame.

  If the animation is a “progressive bar”, the display control unit 1043 obtains the download progress from the download progress monitoring unit 1042 and determines whether the file is being downloaded. When the download is in progress, the stop frame is determined as the playback display start frame regardless of the progress (P) of the playback display of the acquired animation, and when the file download is complete, The playback display start frame is determined in the same manner as in the case of “balloon animation” and “slide animation”.

  When the file download is being executed, the playback control unit 1043 further displays the position of the animation frame to be played back and displayed corresponding to the progress of the file download being executed from the stop frame (frame image). The “progressive playback display” of the animation of “progressive bar” is executed until it reaches the data frame number).

  Specifically, the file download is completed based on the current progress (Q) of the file download and the elapsed time (ts) from the start of the file download to the current progress (Q). The estimated remaining time (tr = 100 / Q × ts) is calculated, and the number of remaining animation frames (Fr = (total number of animation frames) × (100−P) / 100) is calculated from the acquired P. From the calculated values, the progress status of the animation (the progress of the file download) can catch up with the progress of the download of the currently executing file (the progress of the file download) until the download is completed. The minimum possible display processing speed (Fr / tr) is calculated.

  Then, from the selectable display processing speed (frame rate), the minimum frame rate that is Fr / tr or higher is selected, and the animation frame to be played back and displayed is the progress of the file download that is currently in progress from the stop frame The “chasing playback display” is executed by executing the playback display of the animation at the selected frame rate until the position of the corresponding frame is reached.

The reason for selecting the minimum frame rate that is equal to or higher than Fr / tr is to make it easier for the user to grasp the contents of the animation when playing back and displaying. This is because the faster the frame rate of playback display, the faster the frames of animation are switched, making it difficult for the user to grasp the contents of the animation.
On the other hand, when the file transfer processing is completed, the playback control unit 1043 further executes “fast-forward playback display” of the animation of “progressive bar” from the determined playback display start frame to the last frame.

Specifically, an average display processing speed (Fav) until the playback display stop is calculated from the acquired P and the playback display time until the playback display stop of the animation, and a selectable display processing speed (frame rate). ) To select the minimum frame rate larger than Fav, and execute the animation reproduction display from the determined reproduction display start frame to the final frame at the selected frame rate, thereby executing “fast forward reproduction display”. The reason for selecting the minimum frame rate is the same as that for selecting the minimum frame rate that is equal to or higher than Fr / tr.
The animation display control process performed by the playback control unit 1043 will be described in detail in the description of the animation display control process described later.

Returning to the description of FIG. 2, when the download execution unit 105 receives a file transfer processing instruction from the user via the operation panel 6, the download execution unit 105 downloads the file instructed from the external server via the communication I / F unit 101. And stored in the image memory 106.
The image memory 106 includes image data for printing, frame image data of frames constituting each animation of “balloon animation”, “slide animation”, and “progressive bar”, and an interrupt image indicating an interrupt image corresponding to each interrupt occurrence notification. Stores data, files transferred from external servers, etc. The frame position specifying table storage unit 107 stores a frame position specifying table.

The animation information storage unit 108 stores attribute information regarding each animation of “balloon animation”, “slide animation”, and “progressive bar”. Specifically, the time (t0) required from the start to the end of reproduction display of each animation, the total number of frames (f0), and the like are stored.
The image processing unit 3 includes a photosensitive drum, a charger, a developing unit, an exposure unit, and the like (not shown). Based on image data for printing input from the control unit 10 or the image reading unit 7, the image processing unit 3 A printing process is executed by forming an image on a sheet as a supplied recording sheet. The paper feeding unit 4 supplies paper as a recording sheet to the image processing unit 3 in accordance with an instruction from the control unit 10. The fixing device 5 heat-fixes an image formed on a sheet as a recording sheet on the sheet in accordance with an instruction from the control unit 10.

  The operation panel 6 includes a plurality of input keys (not shown) and a liquid crystal display unit, and a touch panel is stacked on the surface of the liquid crystal display unit. By receiving user operations (touch input operation, key input operation) by touch input from the touch panel or key input from the input key, various instructions (for example, print processing execution instruction, animation playback display instruction, etc.) from the user ) And notify the control unit 10.

The image reading unit 7 is composed of an image input device such as a scanner (not shown), and reads information such as characters and figures described on a recording sheet such as paper to form image data.
The interrupt display event monitoring unit 8 displays an interrupt on the operation panel 6 to monitor the occurrence of an event (hereinafter referred to as an “interrupt display event”) that needs to notify the user of the occurrence of an abnormality. When an event occurs, an interrupt display event occurrence notification is transmitted to the operation panel control unit 104.

Here, as an “interrupt display event”, events such as recording sheet out of paper, jam, out of toner in the developing machine, and the door of the image forming apparatus 1 being opened are monitored.
Specifically, as shown in FIG. 6, the display event monitoring unit 8 monitors the occurrence of an interrupt display event using a paper empty sensor 81, a jam sensor 82, a toner empty sensor 83, and a door sensor 84.

  The paper empty sensor 81 is a sensor that is provided in the paper feed unit 4 and detects the presence or absence of a recording sheet accommodated in the paper feed unit 4. The jam sensor 82 is a sensor for detecting that the recording sheet is jammed in the conveyance path, and is provided at a plurality of locations in the conveyance path. The toner empty sensor 83 is a sensor for detecting the presence or absence of toner in the developing device. The door sensor 84 is a sensor for detecting opening / closing of the door of the image forming apparatus 1.

[2] Animation Playback Display Control Process FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing the operation of the animation playback display control process performed by the operation panel control unit 104. When an animation reproduction display instruction is input from the operation panel 6 (step S701), the operation panel control unit 104 sequentially reads out the frame image data of the corresponding animation frame from the image memory 106 in ascending order of the frame numbers. And display the animation to start the display process (step S702).

  When an interrupt display event occurs during playback and display of the animation and an interrupt display event occurrence notification is received from the interrupt display event monitoring unit 8 (step S703: YES, step S704: NO), the operation panel control unit 104 is described later. The animation playback display stop process is executed (step S705), and no interrupt display event occurs during the playback display (step S703: NO). If the playback display ends (step S704: YES), The animation playback display control process ends.

Next, when an interrupt release instruction is received from the operation panel 6 (step S706: YES), the operation panel control unit 104 executes an animation reproduction display start process described later (step S707).
FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing the operation of the animation reproduction display stop process. The operation panel control unit 104 sets an “interrupt display event occurrence flag” indicating whether or not an interrupt display event has occurred to “on” indicating that the event has occurred (step S801), and started in step S702. The reproduction display of the animation is stopped, the display process of the animation being executed is interrupted (step S802), and an “execution interrupting flag” indicating whether the animation display process is interrupted is being interrupted. It is set to “ON” indicating that it is present (step S803).

  Next, the operation panel control unit 104 calculates the progress (P) of the reproduction / display of the animation when the reproduction / display of the animation is stopped, identifies the stop frame from P, and holds the stop frame position (step In step S804, the interrupt image data corresponding to the received interrupt display event occurrence notification is read from the image memory 106 and displayed on the operation panel 6 (step S805).

FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing the operation of the animation reproduction display start process. The operation panel control unit 104 sets the “interrupt display event generation flag” to “off” indicating that the generation of the interrupt display event has been canceled (step S901), and hides the interrupt display being displayed (step S901). Step S902).
Next, the operation panel control unit 104 refers to the “execution suspended flag”, and when the flag is set to “on” and the animation display process is suspended (step S903: YES). ), It is determined whether or not the animation whose display processing is being interrupted is a “progressive bar” (step S904).

  If the interrupted animation is a “progressive bar” (step S904: YES), the operation panel control unit 104 determines the degree of file download progress to the present time (Q) in the file transfer process related to the animation. Is calculated and acquired (step S905), and whether or not the download is being executed is determined based on whether or not the acquired degree of progress (Q) is less than 100% (step S906).

Then, when Q is not less than 100% and the download is completed (step S906: NO), the operation panel control unit 104 determines that P calculated in step S804 is a threshold (here, for example, 20%). It is determined whether or not (step S907).
The threshold value is the value of the user's animation content even when the animation playback is started from the frame position (frame number of the frame image data) corresponding to the threshold value of the animation progress and the display process is performed up to the final frame. It is set to the upper limit of the progress of animation that does not hinder grasping. The threshold value is determined in advance by performing a test or the like on the manufacturer side of the image forming apparatus 1.

  When the determination result of step S907 is affirmative (step S907: YES), the operation panel control unit 104 sets the playback display start frame of the interrupted animation in the playback display order among the frames constituting the animation. If the determination result in step S907 is negative (step S907: NO), the playback display start frame is determined as a stop frame (step S909).

  Further, when the interrupted animation is a “progressive bar” (step S910: YES), the operation panel control unit 104 calculates an average display processing speed (Fav) until the reproduction display of the animation is stopped, A minimum frame rate larger than Fav is selected from the selectable frame rates (step S911), and “fast forward playback display” of the animation is executed from the determined playback display start frame to the last frame at the selected frame rate (step S911). Step S912).

On the other hand, when the interrupted animation is not “progressive bar” (step S910: NO), the operation panel control unit 104 plays the animation from the determined playback display start frame to the last frame at the default frame rate. Display is executed (step S913).
If Q is less than 100% and download is in progress (step S906: YES), the operation panel control unit 104 determines whether the current download degree (Q) of the file download and the start of the file download. On the basis of the elapsed time (ts) until reaching the degree of progress (Q), the estimated remaining time (tr) until the file download is completed is calculated, and the suspended animation is calculated from P calculated in step S804. The remaining number of frames (Fr) is calculated (step S914).

  Further, the operation panel control unit 104 starts the reproduction display of the animation whose display processing is interrupted, and the progress state (the progress degree of the file download) indicated by the animation is currently being executed until the file download is completed. From the selectable display processing speed (frame rate), a minimum frame rate equal to or higher than Fr / tr is selected so as to be able to catch up with the progress of downloading the file (in progress) (step S915). Then, playback and display of the animation is started from the stop frame at the selected frame rate, and “chase playback display” is executed (step S916).

  Then, the operation panel control unit 104 monitors the progress of the animation being played back and the progress of the file download, and refers to the frame position specification table for the position of the playback display frame of the animation (the frame of the frame image data). Number) has reached the position of the frame corresponding to the degree of download progress being monitored (hereinafter referred to as “download progress position”) (step S917). (Step S917: YES), playback display is executed up to the last frame at a frame rate corresponding to the download speed of the file being executed (step S918).

  As described above, in this embodiment, when an interrupt display event occurs during an animation playback display and the interrupt display is performed, the display process is stopped so that the animation display process does not proceed during the interrupt display. After the interrupt display is canceled, the playback display start frame is determined so that the playback display start frame does not follow the playback display order from the stop frame, and the animation playback display is started from the determined playback display start frame. Controlled to be started.

  Therefore, after canceling the interrupt display, the user can view the animation without missing a part of the display content of the animation, and can grasp the content of the entire animation. As a result, when the animation playback progresses after the interrupt display and the interrupt display is canceled, the playback display has already ended, or the animation playback display has progressed to the end and the playback is instantaneous. It is possible to prevent a situation in which the display ends and the user cannot grasp the contents of the entire animation and the user's convenience in viewing the animation is impaired.

  In addition, if the animation that is played back when an interrupt display event occurs is an animation that indicates the progress of the file download, such as a “progressive bar”, if the download is in progress when the interrupt display is canceled Follows the playback from the stop frame after canceling the interrupt display so that the progress indicated by the animation (the progress of the file download) can reach the progress of the download that is currently in progress until the download is completed. Since the display is executed, there is a discrepancy between the progress of the download and display of the animation and the actual progress of the download due to the provision of a stop period for playback and display of the animation. Until the download is complete, It is possible to further improve the convenience in viewing-user animation.

In addition, if the download is completed when the interrupt display is canceled, after the display is canceled, the animation of the “progressive bar” is displayed at a faster display speed than the display processing speed before the interruption. Therefore, the user can finish watching the content of the animation reproduced and displayed after canceling the interrupt display in a short time, and can quickly confirm that the download is completed.
(Modification)
As described above, the present invention has been described based on the embodiment. However, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and the following modifications can be implemented.

(1) In the animation display control process according to the present embodiment, the animation playback display stop process and the animation playback display start process are executed when an animation is being executed when an interrupt display event occurs. Depending on the type of animation, the execution of both processes may be suppressed.
For example, when the animation is a scroll animation that moves in response to the user's scroll operation, the user advances the playback display frame of the animation to a desired progress position (frame number of the frame image data) by the scroll operation. If the animation display start frame is determined according to the progress at the time of stopping playback of the animation after interrupt display is canceled, and the position of the determined display start frame is changed from the advanced position, the user's convenience This is because the nature is impaired.

(2) In this embodiment, three types of animations to be reproduced and displayed are “balloon animation”, “slide animation”, and “progressive bar”. However, animations to be reproduced and displayed are limited to the above three types. Of course, it is not done.
For example, the animation display control process of this embodiment may be applied to animation downloaded from an external server.

  In the present embodiment, the “progressive bar” indicates the progress of file download in the file transfer process as the progress of the predetermined process. However, the “predetermined process” is limited to the file transfer process. Any other process may be used as long as the process progresses with time. For example, the progress of the printing process may be indicated.

  Further, the animation indicating the progress of the predetermined process is not limited to the animation indicating the progress of the bar by the length of the bar, such as “progressive bar”, and the animation indicating the progress of the predetermined process in another form. There may be. For example, it may be an animation showing a progress state of a predetermined process in a pie chart, or an animation in which the display of an animation character gradually disappears as the predetermined process progresses.

  (3) In the animation display control process of the present embodiment, the threshold value for determining the playback display start frame is set to the same value regardless of the animation type. However, the threshold value may be set for each animation type. Good. This is because there may be a difference in the ease of grasping the content on the user side according to the progress of the animation depending on the type of animation. As a result, the playback display start frame can be appropriately determined according to the content of the animation, and the convenience of viewing the animation after canceling the interrupt display on the user side can be further improved.

  (4) In the animation display control process of the present embodiment, the playback display start frame when the threshold is exceeded is set as the first frame. However, the playback display start frame is an animation after the user cancels the interrupt display. As long as it is a frame (a frame in the range from the first frame to the frame whose progress is equivalent to the threshold), it is possible to maintain the ease of understanding the contents of the animation without missing a part of the display content. It is not limited to the frame.

For example, instead of the first frame, a frame corresponding to an animation progress of 20% may be determined as a playback display start frame. Further, it may be set so that the frame serving as the reproduction display start frame differs depending on the type of animation.
(5) In the present embodiment, the display processing speed of “chase playback display” is selected from the selectable display processing speeds (frame rates) to the minimum frame rate that is equal to or higher than Fr / tr. However, the frame rate is not limited to the minimum frame rate as long as it does not hinder the user's understanding of the content of the animation, and a frame rate higher than that may be selected.

Similarly, the display processing speed of “fast-forward playback display” is not limited to the minimum frame rate, and a frame rate higher than that may be selected.
(6) In the present embodiment, the case where the animation display control process is applied to the image forming apparatus has been described. However, the animation display control process has an animation reproduction display function and a function of displaying an interrupt when an interrupt display event occurs. Any image processing apparatus can be applied, and the applicable range is not limited to the image forming apparatus.

  The present invention reproduces and displays an animation in response to a user operation, and displays an animation reproduction display in an image processing apparatus that performs an interrupt display corresponding to the event when an event requiring an interrupt display occurs during the animation reproduction display. It can be used as a control technology.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Image forming apparatus 3 Image process part 4 Paper feed part 5 Fixing apparatus 6 Operation panel 7 Image reading part 8 Interrupt display event monitoring part 10 Control part 101 Communication I / F part 102 ROM
103 RAM
104 Operation Panel Control Unit 105 Download Execution Unit 106 Image Memory 107 Frame Position Specification Table Storage Unit 108 Animation Information Storage Unit

Claims (6)

When an event that requires an interrupt display to notify the occurrence of an abnormality unrelated to the animation playback display occurs during the playback display of the animation, the animation is displayed on the display unit in response to a user operation. An image processing apparatus for displaying an interrupt corresponding to the event in a section,
Event monitoring means for monitoring the occurrence of the event;
Animation monitoring means for monitoring the progress of animation during playback display;
Stop means for stopping reproduction display of the animation when the event occurs;
Acquisition means for acquiring the progress of the animation at the time of stop;
Receiving means for receiving an instruction to cancel the interrupt display;
When the cancellation instruction is given, the frame that is reproduced and displayed at the time of the stop is specified from the progress degree at the time of the stop, and the reproduction display start frame that should start the reproduction display has a reproduction display order that is higher than the specified frame. Replay display start control means for determining a replay display start frame so as not to become a back frame, releasing the interrupt display and starting replay display of the animation from the determined frame;
The reproduction display start control means determines the reproduction display start frame as a first frame when the progress degree acquired by the acquisition means exceeds a threshold value, and when the progress degree does not exceed the threshold value, An image processing apparatus that performs a determination process of determining a reproduction display start frame as a frame that is reproduced and displayed at the time of the stop. When an event that requires an interrupt display to notify the occurrence of an abnormality unrelated to the animation playback display occurs during the playback display of the animation, the animation is displayed on the display unit in response to a user operation. An image processing apparatus for displaying an interrupt corresponding to the event in a section,
Event monitoring means for monitoring the occurrence of the event;
Animation monitoring means for monitoring the progress of animation during playback display;
Stop means for stopping reproduction display of the animation when the event occurs;
Acquisition means for acquiring the progress of the animation at the time of stop;
Receiving means for receiving an instruction to cancel the interrupt display;
When the cancellation instruction is given, the frame that is reproduced and displayed at the time of the stop is specified from the progress degree at the time of the stop, and the reproduction display start frame that should start the reproduction display has a reproduction display order that is higher than the specified frame. Replay display start control means for determining a replay display start frame so as not to become a back frame, releasing the interrupt display and starting replay display of the animation from the determined frame;
The animation indicates a progress state of a predetermined process executed together with the reproduction display of the animation in the image processing device according to the user operation,
A process monitoring means for monitoring the progress of the predetermined process;
The playback display start control means determines the playback display start frame to be a frame that is played back and displayed at the time of stop when the predetermined processing is in progress when the release instruction is given, Assuming that the animation playback / display is started from a frame, the progress of the predetermined process corresponding to the progress state indicated by the animation being played back / displayed before the predetermined process is completed An image processing apparatus characterized by starting reproduction and display of the animation from a frame determined at a reproduction display speed capable of reaching the degree of progress of the predetermined process. At the time when the there is release instruction, when the predetermined process is completed, the reproduction display start control means, when the progress acquired by the acquisition unit exceeds the threshold value, The playback display start frame is determined to be the first frame, and when the progress does not exceed the threshold, the playback display start frame is determined to be a frame that is played back and displayed at the time of the stop,
The image processing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the animation is reproduced and displayed from a frame determined at a speed faster than the reproduction display speed until the stop. An image forming unit that forms an unfixed image based on image data on a recording sheet and thermally fixes the image;
The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the event is an abnormality in the image forming unit. There are multiple types of animations that are displayed in response to user operations.
The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the threshold is set for each type of animation to be displayed. When an event that requires an interrupt display to notify the occurrence of an abnormality unrelated to the animation playback display occurs during the playback display of the animation, the animation is displayed on the display unit in response to a user operation. An image processing apparatus for displaying an interrupt corresponding to the event in a section,
Event monitoring means for monitoring the occurrence of the event;
Animation monitoring means for monitoring the progress of animation during playback display;
Stop means for stopping reproduction display of the animation when the event occurs;
Acquisition means for acquiring the progress of the animation at the time of stop;
Receiving means for receiving an instruction to cancel the interrupt display;
When the cancellation instruction is given, the frame that is reproduced and displayed at the time of the stop is specified from the progress degree at the time of the stop, and the reproduction display start frame that should start the reproduction display has a reproduction display order that is higher than the specified frame. Replay display start control means for determining a replay display start frame so as not to become a back frame, releasing the interrupt display and starting replay display of the animation from the determined frame;
There are multiple types of animations that are played back and displayed on the display unit in response to user operations.
The plurality of types of animation include a scroll animation in which the animation moves in response to a user scroll operation,
If the scroll animation is being played and displayed when the event occurs,
The stop means suppresses the process of stopping the playback display of the scroll animation,
The image display apparatus, wherein the reproduction display start control means inhibits execution of a determination process for determining a frame to start reproduction display of the scroll animation and a process for starting reproduction display of the scroll animation.

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