JP6801051B2 - Information processing equipment, its control method, and programs - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to an information processing device having a touch panel display, a control method thereof, and a program.

In recent years, an image forming apparatus equipped with a touch panel has been generally used mainly for high-priced products. On the other hand, low-priced products such as small image forming devices mainly do not use a touch panel from the viewpoint of cost, and move the cursor with the cursor keys and select items with the enter key. Recently, with the progress of touch panels for various devices such as smartphones, touch panels for operation units are being considered even for low-priced image forming devices.

On the other hand, in a low-priced image forming apparatus, an operation unit having a small screen size is often adopted. When displaying the status of the image forming apparatus or the like on the operation unit having a small screen size, the number of characters that can be displayed at one time is also limited. "Flowing characters" are displayed as a method of notifying the user of a character string (message) that does not fit in the display area of the screen. The "flowing character" display is a method in which the character string is displayed up to the edge of the screen when the cursor is out of focus, and the entire character string can be checked by scrolling in the line direction when the cursor is in focus.

Patent Document 1 discloses a method in which a touch panel also has a function of moving a cursor in a specific area on the screen and operates as a substitute for a cursor key.

Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 5-173710

However, when a touch panel is used for an operation unit having a small screen size, the cursor does not exist, so that the conventional method of displaying flow characters cannot be applied.

The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and an object of the present invention is to enable an information processing device having a touch panel display to display flow characters of a specific item.

In order to solve the above problems, the present invention presents the plurality of items displayed in an information processing apparatus having a touch panel display capable of displaying at least a plurality of items including the first item and the second item side by side. Of the selection means for selecting the item displayed at the position where the touch is started by the user, and the item name of the first item selected according to the selection of the first item by the selection means. It has a display control means that starts scrolling and continues scrolling of the item name of the first item selected by the selection means while the first item is continuously selected, and is touched by the user. When the position is moved from the display area of the first item to the display area of the second item, the selection of the first item is canceled without selecting the second item. , The item name of the second item is not scrolled .

According to the present invention, even an information processing device having a touch panel display can display flow characters of a specific item.

It is a figure which shows the structure of the image forming apparatus in Example 1 of this invention. It is a figure which shows the operation part in Example 1 of this invention. It is a figure which shows the flow character processing at the time of touch panel operation in Example 1 of this invention. It is a figure which shows the flowchart in Example 1 of this invention. It is a figure which shows the setting screen of the scroll speed at the time of displaying the flow character in Example 2 of this invention. It is a figure which shows the flowchart in Example 2 of this invention. It is a figure which shows the flowchart in Example 2 of this invention.

Hereinafter, embodiments for carrying out the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

(Example 1)
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a hardware configuration of the image forming apparatus 100 in the first embodiment. Each block shows a module, and the arrows between the blocks show the flow of data or instructions.

The image forming apparatus 100 includes a printing unit 107, a reading unit 109, an operation unit 110, a line I / F 112, and a controller unit 101 that controls these.

The controller unit 101 includes a CPU 102, a RAM 103, a ROM 104, a printing unit I / F 106, a reading unit I / F 108, MODEM 111, USB-DI / F 115, network I / F 118, and USB-HI / F 122. Each block is connected to the system bus 105.

The CPU 102 comprehensively controls each of the above blocks according to various control programs. The various control programs are executed by reading the control programs stored in the program area of the ROM 104. Alternatively, it is executed by decompressing and decompressing the compressed data stored in the program area of the ROM 104 to the RAM 103. Further, the above-mentioned various control programs may be stored in a hard disk drive (HDD) (not shown) in a compressed state or an uncompressed state.

The network I / F 118 performs communication processing with the host computer 121 (referred to as a PC in the figure; hereinafter referred to as a PC) via a network (LAN) 120 or the like. The network I / F 118 and the network network 120 are connected by a communication cable such as a LAN cable 119, a wireless LAN, or the like. The PC 121 can also be connected by USB-DI / F 115 via the USB cable 116. The MODEM 111 connects to the public network 114 via the line I / F 112, and performs communication processing with other image forming devices, facsimile machines, telephones, etc. (not shown). The line I / F 112 and the public line network 114 are generally connected by a telephone line 113 or the like. The USB-HI / F 122 is directly connected to the external memory 123.

The printing unit I / F 106 is an interface that outputs an image signal to the printing unit 107 (printer engine). Further, the reading unit I / F 108 is an interface for inputting a read image signal from the reading unit 109 (scanner engine). The CPU 102 processes the image signal input from the reading unit I / F 108 and outputs it to the printing unit I / F 106 as a recorded image signal.

The operation unit 110 includes an input unit (not shown) and a display unit (not shown). The input unit receives a user operation, generates a control signal according to the operation, and supplies the control signal to the CPU 102. For example, the input unit has a touch panel as an input device that accepts user operations. The touch panel is, for example, an input device that outputs coordinate information according to a position in contact with an input unit configured in a plane. The CPU 102 controls each unit of the image forming apparatus 100 according to a program based on a control signal generated and supplied by the input unit in response to a user operation performed on the input device. As a result, the image forming apparatus 100 can be made to perform an operation according to the user operation.

The CPU 102 uses the font information stored in the font area of the ROM 104 to control the display of characters and symbols on the display unit of the operation unit 110, and receives instruction information from the input unit of the operation unit 110.

Further, in the data area of the ROM 104, the device information of the image forming apparatus 100, the telephone directory information of the user, the department management information, and the like are stored by the CPU 102, read out by the CPU 102 as necessary, and updated as needed. To.

In this block diagram, the reading unit 109 and the printing unit 107 are configured inside the image forming apparatus 100, but each or both of them may be externally configured.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an operation unit 110 of the image forming apparatus 100 in the first embodiment. The image forming apparatus 100 in this embodiment has a copy function using the above-mentioned reading unit 109 and the printing unit 107, a scanning function using the reading unit 109 and the USB I / F 115, and a facsimile function using the MODEM 111. It also has a function of printing (printing) instructed by the PC 121 via the image forming apparatus 100USB-D (Universal Social Bus) 116 or the network 120, and printing an image stored in the external memory 123.

The operation unit 110 will be described below. Reference numeral 201 denotes a touch panel display, which is a touch panel superimposed on an LCD device (display unit) capable of displaying a bitmap.

The CPU 102 can detect, for example, the following touch operations and states on the touch panel. Touching the touch panel with a finger or pen (hereinafter referred to as tap-in). Do not move while touching the touch panel with your finger or pen (hereinafter referred to as long tap). Moving while touching the touch panel with a finger or pen (hereinafter referred to as drag). The finger or pen that was touching the touch panel was released (hereinafter referred to as tap-out). These touch operations and position coordinates are periodically notified to the CPU 102 through the system bus 105, and the CPU 102 determines what kind of touch operation has been performed on the touch panel based on the notified information. The moving direction of the finger or pen moving on the touch panel can also be determined for each vertical component and horizontal component on the touch panel based on the change in the position coordinates.

As the touch panel, any of various touch panels such as a resistive film method, a capacitance method, a surface acoustic wave method, an infrared method, an electromagnetic induction method, an image recognition method, and an optical sensor method is used. Is also good.

Reference numeral 202 denotes a numeric keypad, which is used for inputting the number of copies and a telephone number in the facsimile function. 203 is a black and white start key, and 204 is a color start key, which is used as a key for instructing the start of copying, scanning, or facsimile. An image forming apparatus having a function of discriminating between a color document and a monochrome document when the document is read may not have an individual start key.

Reference numeral 205 denotes a stop key, which is used to give an instruction to stop the operation of each function such as printing. 206 is a back key and is used to instruct to cancel the previous settings and return to the original screen. Reference numeral 207 is a status confirmation / stop key, which is used to display the status confirmation screen of the process currently being performed by the image forming apparatus, select the process to be stopped from the screen, and stop the process.

FIG. 3A is a diagram showing an outline of the screen transition in the first embodiment.

Reference numeral 301 denotes a screen displaying list items that can be selected by the user regarding the "limitation of the transmission function" that can be set by the image forming apparatus 100. In this embodiment, the number of characters that can be displayed in each item is 12 Japanese double-byte characters. Here, the fourth item in the list is "Restrict transmission from fax driver", and since it exceeds 12 characters, it is not possible to display all the character strings at once. Therefore, in 301, the first 12 characters "from the fax driver" are displayed. In addition, "..." is displayed at the edge of the screen in the non-scrolling state to indicate that the entire character string is not displayed. As described above, in this embodiment, the character string exceeding 12 characters becomes the flow character target character string.

Here, the flow character display will be described in detail with reference to FIG. 3 (b).

As described above, in the character string "Restrict transmission from fax driver", the first displayable part is up to the first 12 characters (310). Since the remaining character strings 320 cannot be displayed at one time, the CPU 102 uses a flow character display method to display all the character strings on the display unit. The CPU 102 scrolls the character string from right to left and displays it as in 31 to 312. At the end, the character string is not displayed in the state 313. Therefore, as in 314, the display is started from the beginning of the character string, and so on. With these display controls, the user can grasp the contents of the entire character string.

Returning to the description of FIG. 3 (a). Reference numeral 302 denotes a screen when an item corresponding to the flow character target character string is touched (tapped in). When the item "From the fax driver ..." in 301 is touched, the item is focused and displayed (reversed), and the flow character of the character string is displayed. In 302, a state in which three characters are scrolled from the state shown in 301 is shown.

Reference numeral 303 denotes a screen after the user releases (taps out) the finger touched in order to select the item displayed in the flow character. In this embodiment, the CPU 102 is not regarded as selecting an item just by being tapped in, and the screen transition is not performed. When the CPU 102 is tapped out, it is regarded as an item selection, and the display transitions to the screen assigned to the item.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a flowchart of processing executed by the CPU 102 in the first embodiment.

The CPU 102 waits until the list item displayed on the display unit is pressed by the user (S401). Specifically, the CPU 102 determines whether or not the tap-in at the position where the list item is displayed is detected based on the information notified from the touch panel. When any of the items is tapped in, the CPU 102 focuses the item and initializes (No) the flow character determination flag ScrollLine (S402). Subsequently, the CPU 102 determines whether or not the tapped-in item is a flow character target character string (S403). Here, in the case of a character string having a number of characters larger than a predetermined number, it is determined that the character string is a flow character target character string. In this embodiment, in the case of a character string of 13 characters or more, it is determined that the character string is a flow character target character string. If the item is a flow character target character string, the CPU 102 sets the flow character determination flag ScrollLine to Yes (S404), and proceeds to S405. If it is determined in S403 that the character string is not the target character string for the flow character, the process proceeds to S405.

In S405, the CPU 102 confirms the flow character determination flag ScrollLine, and if the flag is Yes, starts displaying the flow character of the character string to be displayed on the display unit. If the flag is No, the flow character display is not performed and the process proceeds to S407.

In S407, the CPU 102 determines whether or not the position coordinates notified from the touch panel have changed. When it is determined in S407 that the position coordinates have not changed, the CPU 102 confirms whether or not the finger is still touching the touch panel (S409). When it is determined that the finger is touching, that is, the item is continuously pressed, the process returns to S405 and the CPU 102 continues the flow character display. On the other hand, in S409, when it is determined that the user has been tapped out, that is, the finger has been released from the item, the CPU 102 transitions to the next screen assigned to the item.

In S407, when the CPU 102 determines that the position coordinates have changed, it confirms whether or not the position coordinates are within the item (S408). If the position coordinates are within the item, the process proceeds to S409 and the above-described processing is performed. On the other hand, if it is determined in S408 that the position coordinates are outside the item, it is considered that the selection of the item has been canceled, and the process proceeds to S411. In S411, the CPU 102 confirms the flow character determination flag ScrollLine. If the flag is Yes, the CPU 102 ends the flow character display and the focus display (S412), and if the flag is No, the CPU 102 ends the focus display of the item and ends this flow.

As described above, according to the first embodiment, for a specific item corresponding to a character string larger than the number of characters that can be displayed at one time, a flow character is displayed while the user is touching. You can select after confirming what the item is. Further, as a result of the confirmation, when the item is not the target item of the user, it is possible to cancel the selection of the item by moving it out of the area of the item without releasing the finger from the touched position. Therefore, all the necessary character strings can be displayed without impairing the convenience of the touch panel.

(Example 2)
In the first embodiment, a case where the flow character is displayed while the item corresponding to the flow character target character string is touched has been described. In this embodiment, an example in which the scroll speed of the flow character display is changed by a drag operation will be described. Specifically, an example will be described in which the scroll speed is accelerated by dragging the finger touching the flow character target character string to the left, and the scroll speed is decelerated by dragging to the right.

FIG. 5 is a screen for setting a default value for the scroll speed of the flow characters. The scroll speed has three stages of "slow", "normal", and "fast". FIG. 5 shows that "normal" is set as the default. The internal state of the image forming apparatus is "slow" = 1, "normal" = 2, and "fast" = 3.

6 and 7 are diagrams showing a flowchart of the process executed by the CPU 102 in the second embodiment. Only the process when No is obtained in the determination of S608 is different from FIG. 4, and the other processes are the same as those in FIG. 4, so the difference will be mainly described.

If it is determined in S607 that the position coordinates notified from the touch panel have changed, and in S608 it is determined that the position coordinates after movement are within the item, does the CPU 102 in S701 exceed the threshold value for the amount of movement in the X direction? Check if it is not. Here, dx is the amount of movement in the X direction, and | dx | indicates the absolute value of the amount of movement. Tx is a threshold value of the amount of movement, and is assumed to be predetermined in the image forming apparatus. When the movement amount in the X direction is smaller than the threshold value in S701, the scroll speed is not changed and the process proceeds to S609.

In S701, when the movement amount in the X direction is larger than the threshold value, the CPU 102 determines whether the movement direction is left or right (S702). If the amount of movement in the X direction is negative, it means movement in the left direction, and if it is positive, it means movement in the right direction. When it is determined that the moving direction is left, the CPU 102 determines whether or not the current scroll speed is 3, that is, "fast" (S703). When the scroll speed is 3, the transition to S609 is performed without changing the scroll speed. When the scroll speed is other than 3, the CPU 102 increases the scroll speed by one step (S704) and transitions to S609. When the moving direction is determined to be right in S702, the CPU 102 determines whether or not the current scroll speed is 1, that is, "slow" (S705). When the scroll speed is 1, the transition to S609 is performed without changing the scroll speed. When the scroll speed is other than 1, the CPU 102 reduces the scroll speed by one step (S706) and transitions to S609.

After the processing shown in FIG. 7, if it is determined in S609 that the item is still touched, the process proceeds to S605 and S606, and the flow character is displayed at the changed scroll speed.

As described above, according to the second embodiment, the scroll speed at the time of displaying the flow character can be dynamically changed by moving the touching finger to the left or right. In the above description, the scroll speed is increased when dragged to the left, and the scroll speed is decreased when dragged to the right, but the reverse is also possible.

As described above, according to each of the above embodiments, in the touch panel display in which the number of characters that can be displayed at one time is limited, a character string is used while a specific item corresponding to the number of characters exceeding the limit is touched. Is displayed as a flow character. Also, if you want to select an item that is displayed as a flow character, you can tap out as it is, and if you find that the item is not the desired item, drag it to the position of another item while continuing to touch it. Just do it. Further, since the drag speed of the flow character display can be changed by performing the drag operation in the area of the touched item, the user can intuitively perform the speed change operation. Therefore, for example, even when a touch panel is used for an operation unit having a small screen size, it is possible to secure the same operability as when a conventional cursor is used without impairing the operability of the touch panel.

In each of the above embodiments, the flow character display was started when the tap-in to the item corresponding to the flow character target character string was detected, but the touch is continued for a predetermined time after the tap-in is detected. You may start the flow character display after confirming. That is, the flow character display may be started when the long tap is detected.

Further, in each of the above embodiments, if a flow character is displayed by touching a specific item and then tapped out within the specific item, it is regarded as a selection of the specific item and displayed on the next screen. However, other forms are also conceivable. For example, when the tap-out is detected after the flow character display is performed, the flow character display may be terminated without transitioning to the next screen. In addition, when a tapout is detected, a confirmation message "Do you want to decide?" Is displayed, and when the user gives a confirmation instruction, the selection of the item is decided and the next screen may be displayed. ..

Further, in the above embodiment, the image forming apparatus 100 having a plurality of functions such as a copy function and a scanner function has been described as an example, but the present invention can also be applied to an image processing apparatus having only a part of the functions. .. Further, it may be applied to other information processing devices such as personal computers, PDAs, mobile phones, fax machines, cameras, video cameras, and other image viewers.

The present invention is also realized by executing the following processing. That is, software (program) that realizes the functions of the above-described embodiment is supplied to the system or device via a network or various storage media, and the computer (or CPU, MPU, etc.) of the system or device reads the program code. This is the process to be executed. In this case, the computer program and the storage medium storing the computer program constitute the present invention.

Claims (21)

In an information processing device having a touch panel display capable of displaying at least a plurality of items including the first item and the second item side by side .
A selection means for selecting an item displayed at a position where the user has started touching from the plurality of items displayed on the touch panel display, and
According to the first item is selected by the selecting means, to start the scrolling of the item name of the first selected item, while the first item is continuously selected by said selection means It has a display control means that keeps scrolling the item name of the selected first item .
When the position touched by the user moves from the display area of the first item to the display area of the second item, the selection of the first item is performed without selecting the second item. Is released, and the item name of the second item is not scrolled . Wherein the display control unit, an information processing apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that appears in the display part of the item name of the first item prior to selection by said selection means it is performed on the touch panel display. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the selection means continues to select the first item while the touch to the display area of the first item is continued . When the position touched by the user moves from the display area of the first item to the display area of the second item, the display control means ends scrolling of the item name of the first item. The information processing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the information processing apparatus is characterized. The first item, according to what has been selected by the selection unit, the information processing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in item der Rukoto the item name is scrolled. Further having a determination means for determining whether or not the number of characters of the item name of the item selected by the selection means exceeds the number of characters that can be displayed at one time in the display area of the item.
Wherein the display control unit, when it is determined that the item name of the item selected does not exceed the number of characters that can be displayed at one time on the region, without scrolling the item name, is selected the item name the If it is determine constant when it exceeds a displayable characters at a time in the region, the information processing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the scrolling of the item name. Wherein the display control unit, regardless of the change in position being touched Ri by the user, according to claim 1, wherein the scrolling the item name of the first item in one direction to a predetermined The information processing device according to any one of the items. A screen is assigned to the first item.
Wherein the display control unit, according to the touch by a user in a state where the first item is selected is terminated, and wherein the displaying the first said screen assigned to the item of the touch panel display The information processing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 7. Wherein the display control unit, according to any of the items of the plurality of items are selected, according to claim 1 to 8, characterized in that display to distinguish between items that are not selected as the item that is selected The information processing device according to any one item. In an information processing device having a touch panel display capable of displaying a plurality of items side by side including at least a second item and a first item that cannot display the entire item name at a time .
A selection means for selecting an item displayed at a position where the user has started touching from the plurality of items displayed on the touch panel display, and
While the selection of the first item is continued, among the characters included in the item name of the first item, the characters that were not displayed before the selection of the first item are displayed on the touch panel display. It has a display control means for displaying.
When the position touched by the user moves from the display area of the first item to the display area of the second item, the selection of the first item is performed without selecting the second item. the information processing apparatus characterized by but is released. The second item, the information processing apparatus according to claim 1 0, characterized in that an item that can of displaying the entire item name at a time. Whether the item selected by said selecting means is an item that can be displayed entire item name at a time, further comprising a determination means based on the number of characters of the item name,
The information processing device according to claim 10 or 11 , wherein the display control means scrolls the item names of the items for which it is determined that the entire item names cannot be displayed at one time . Wherein the display control unit, if the item selected by said selecting means is an item that can display the entire item name at a time, to claim 1 2, characterized in that without scrolling the item name of the item The information processing device described. Wherein the display control unit, according to any of the items of the plurality of items are selected, according to claim 10 or 1 3, characterized in that Indicate the items that are not selected and the selected item The information processing device according to any one item. Wherein the display control unit, in any one of claims 10 to 1 4, characterized in that to start the scrolling of item name of the first item when the touch on the first item is started The information processing device described. Wherein the display control unit, regardless of the change in position being touched by the user, either of claims 10 to 1 5, characterized in that scrolling through the item name of the first item in one direction to a predetermined The information processing device according to item 1. When the position touched by the user moves from the display area of the first item to the display area of the second item, the display control means ends scrolling of the item name of the first item. The information processing apparatus according to any one of claims 10 to 16 , characterized in that . The screen is assigned to the first item,
The display control means is characterized in that the screen assigned to the first item is displayed on the touch panel display according to the end of touch by the user with the first item selected. The information processing apparatus according to any one of claims 10 to 17 . In the control method of an information processing device having a touch panel display,
A first display control step of displaying at least the item names of a plurality of items including the first item and the second item side by side on the touch panel display.
A selection step of selecting an item displayed at a position where the user has started touching from the plurality of items displayed in the first display control step, and a selection step.
According to the selection of the first item in the selection step, scrolling of the item name of the selected first item is started, and while the first item continues to be selected, in the selection step. It has a second display control step of continuing to scroll the item name of the selected first item.
When the position touched by the user is moved from the display area of the first item to the display area of the second item, the second item is not selected and the first item is displayed. A control method for an information processing device, wherein the selection is canceled and the character string of the second item is not scrolled. In the control method of an information processing device having a touch panel display,
A first display control step of displaying the item names of a plurality of items including at least the second item and the first item whose entire item name cannot be displayed at once on the touch panel side by side.
A selection step of selecting an item displayed at a position where the user has started touching from the plurality of items displayed in the first display control step, and a selection step.
While the selection of the first item is continued, among the characters included in the item name of the first item, the characters that were not displayed before the selection of the first item are displayed on the touch panel display. It has a second display control step for displaying.
When the position touched by the user moves from the display area of the first item to the display area of the second item, the selection of the first item is performed without selecting the second item. A control method for an information processing device, characterized in that A program for causing a computer to execute the control method of the information processing apparatus according to claim 19 or 20 .

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