Patent Application
20230305866
Embodiments described herein relate generally to an image forming apparatus and a control method.
An image forming apparatus has a function of providing guidance on various settings of the image forming apparatus. Regarding existing image forming apparatuses, sometimes guidance is uniformly provided for a user who already knows certain functions of an image forming apparatus or a user who does not know such functions at all, or the like. That is, it is hard to say that guidance is provided appropriately in the image forming apparatuses in the related art.
Provided is a technique capable of appropriately providing guidance on various settings of an image forming apparatus.
According to an embodiment, an image forming apparatus includes a display, a detector, and a controller. The display (or display unit) displays a setting screen related to function setting of the image forming apparatus. The detector (or detection unit) detects an operation of a user on the setting screen displayed by the display unit. The controller (or control unit) communicates an instruction (or guidance) related to the setting screen based on an operation detected by the detection unit when the number of operation times of a specific operation executed by the user on the setting screen related to the execution setting of at least one function (e.g., one function or more than one function) exceeds a first threshold and the number of execution times of the at least one function executed by the user in the past is less than a second threshold.
The image forming apparatus 100 forms an image on a sheet using a developer. The developer is, for example, a toner. In the following description, the developer will be described as a toner. The sheet is, for example, paper or label paper. The sheet may be any sheet as long as the image forming apparatus 100 can form an image on a surface thereof.
The display 110 is an image display device, such as a liquid crystal display or an organic electroluminescence (EL) display. The display 110 is an example of the display unit configured to display various information related to the image forming apparatus 100. The display 110 and the touch panel 150 are integrally formed. The hard key 160 includes a plurality of buttons. The touch panel 150 and the hard key 160 receive an operation of the user. The control panel 120 outputs a signal corresponding to the operation performed by the user to the control unit 400 of the image forming apparatus 100. The control panel 120 is an example of the detection unit configured to detect an operation of the user on the setting screen. The “operation of the user on the setting screen” indicates at least one of an operation of the user on the touch panel 150 and an operation of the user on the hard key 160.
The printing unit 130 prints an image on a sheet based on image information generated by the scanning unit 200 or image information received via a network. The printing unit 130 prints the image using the toner. The sheet printed with the image may be a sheet stored in the sheet storage unit 140 or a manually provided sheet. The sheet storage unit 140 stores sheets used for image formation in the printing unit 130.
The scanning unit 200 reads image information to be read as brightness and darkness of light. The scanning unit 200 records the read image information. The recorded image information may be transmitted to other information processing devices via the network. The recorded image information may become an image formed on a sheet by the printing unit 130.
The control unit 400 controls all the units connected via the system bus. The ROM 320 stores various control programs necessary for the operation of the image forming apparatus 100. The ROM 320 stores the programs for controlling an image forming operation and the like. The HDD 300 stores programs and data. The control unit 400 controls execution of each program stored in the ROM 320 and the HDD 300. The DRAM 310 is a buffer memory configured to temporarily store data generated when each program is executed. The speaker 170 is an example of an audio output unit (or an audio output transceiver). The speaker 170 outputs audio guidance related to the setting screen and outputs operation sounds (or operation audio signals), error sounds (or error audio signals), or the like in accordance with control of the control unit 400.
Next, a configuration and guidance processing of appropriately providing guidance on various settings of the image forming apparatus 100 will be described.
Among these, the user ID is data for uniquely identifying a user. Each of the functions is a function of the image forming apparatus, and as an example,
The threshold th1 of the number of operation times A refers to a threshold for comparison with the number of operation times of a specific operation performed by the user on the setting screen related to the execution setting of one function. The threshold th1 is an example of the first threshold. The specific operation refers to an operation of displaying a setting screen corresponding to each function. The number of operation times is counted for each function. For example, when a copy setting screen is displayed three times, the number of operation times is three, and when a scanner setting screen is displayed once, the number of operation times is one.
The threshold th2 of the number of execution times refers to a threshold for comparison with the number of execution times of each function as illustrated in
The threshold th4 of the undetected-operation time refers to a threshold for comparison with a time during which no operation is detected by the control panel 120. The threshold th4 is an example of a fourth threshold. The threshold th5 of the number of guidance requests refers to a threshold for comparison with the number of operation times of an operator (or interface) to be described later, which is provided on the setting screen for outputting audio guidance in response to an operation of the user. The threshold th5 is an example of a fifth threshold.
Next, an example of a setting screen will be described.
The auxiliary guidance button 501 is a button for displaying guidance related to the setting screen 500. The audio guidance button 502 is a button for providing audio guidance. When the audio guidance button 502 is operated, audio guidance related to the setting screen 500 is output.
The color-mode setting button group 503 includes buttons for setting color modes. The buttons for setting the color modes include “monochrome”, “two-color”, “full-color”, and “automatic”. The copy number setting button group 504 includes buttons for setting the number of copies to be printed. The copy number setting button group 504 includes a “+” button for increasing the number of copies and a “−” button for decreasing the number of copies. The Nin1 setting button group 505 includes buttons each for setting an aggregation number in aggregation. The Nin1 setting button group 505 includes buttons of “1”, “2”, “4”, and “8”. Each numerical value indicates an aggregation number.
Thresholds described in
The setting fields 521 and 522 include “+” buttons for increasing the threshold and “−” buttons for decreasing the threshold. In the setting field 521, when the “+” button is operated, the threshold increases from 3 (times) to 4 (times), and when the “−” button is operated, the threshold decreases from 3 (times) to 2 (times). In the setting field 522, when the “+” button is operated, the threshold increases from 60 (seconds) to 61 (seconds), and when the “−” button is operated, the threshold decreases from 60 (seconds) to 59 (seconds).
Next, processing of appropriately providing guidance on various settings of the image forming apparatus 100 will be described with reference to a flowchart.
In
If the detected operation is the specific operation (ACT 102: YES), the control unit 400 determines whether the number of operation times performed on the currently displayed setting screen exceeds the threshold th1 (ACT 103). If the number of operation times is equal to or smaller than the threshold th1 (ACT 103: NO), the control unit 400 returns to ACT 101.
If the number of operation times exceeds the threshold th1 (ACT 103: YES), the control unit 400 determines whether the user who is currently performing an operation is a guest user (ACT 104). If the user who is currently performing an operation is a guest user (ACT 104: YES), the control unit 400 outputs the guidance screen to the display 110 to display the guidance screen (ACT 107). As described above, if the user is a guest user, the guidance related to the setting screen is output regardless of the number of execution times of one function executed by the guest user in the past when the number of operation times exceeds the threshold th1. In this manner, according to the embodiment, the guidance screen can be flexibly displayed for the guest user as well.
In ACT 104, when the user who is currently performing an operation is not a guest user (ACT 104: NO), the control unit 400 refers to the user database and acquires the number of execution times of the function corresponding to a screen ID of the currently displayed screen. The control unit 400 determines whether the acquired number of execution times is smaller than the threshold th2 (ACT 105). If the acquired number of execution times is smaller than the threshold th2 (ACT 105: YES), the control unit 400 outputs the guidance screen to the display 110 to display the guidance screen (ACT 107).
As described above, based on the operation detected by the control panel 120, the control unit 400 outputs the guidance related to the setting screen when a following condition is satisfied with respect to the setting screen related to the execution setting of one function by the user. The condition refers to a condition that the number of operation times of a specific operation exceeds the threshold th1 and the number of execution times of one function executed by the user in the past is smaller than the threshold th2. In this manner, according to the embodiment, since the user who is familiar with the function is not provided with the guidance related to the setting, the user does not feel bothersome. Guidance on various settings can be appropriately provided. On the other hand, according to the embodiment, since a user who is not familiar with the function is provided with the guidance related to the setting, guidance on various settings can be appropriately provided.
In ACT 105, when the acquired number of execution times is equal to or greater than the threshold th2 (ACT 105: NO), the control unit 400 refers to the user database and acquires a last operation date of the function corresponding to the screen ID of the currently displayed screen. The control unit 400 determines whether half a year or more elapsed since the acquired last operation date (ACT 106). Here, as an example, a predetermined period is set as half a year since the last operation date and may be set for each user; when a function requires complicated operations (e.g., five or more operations necessary for the setting), the predetermined period may be set as a shorter period than that in a non-complicated operation.
If half a year or more did not elapse since the last operation date (ACT 106: NO), the control unit 400 returns to ACT 101. If half a year or more elapsed since the last operation date (ACT 106: YES), the control unit 400 displays the guidance screen by outputting the guidance screen to the display 110 (ACT 107).
As described above, even when the number of operation times exceeds the threshold th1 and the number of execution times of one function executed by the user in the past is equal to or greater than the threshold th2, the control unit 400 outputs the guidance related to the setting screen when the predetermined period elapsed since last execution of one function by the user. When a relatively long period elapsed since the last operation date, there is a high possibility that the user will forget the information related to the setting. Therefore, according to the embodiment, guidance on various settings can be appropriately provided.
After the guidance screen is displayed in ACT 107, the control unit 400 determines whether the number of operation times exceeds the threshold th3 (ACT 108). If the number of operation times does not exceed the threshold th3 (ACT 108: NO), the control unit 400 performs standard reproduction on audio guidance (ACT 110), and returns to ACT 101. On the other hand, if the number of operation times exceeds the threshold th3 (ACT 108: YES), the control unit 400 performs slow reproduction on the audio guidance (ACT 109), and returns to ACT 101.
As described above, when the number of operation times exceeds the threshold th3 greater than the threshold th1, the control unit 400 performs the following control. That is, the control unit 400 outputs guidance to the speaker 170 as sound at a slower speed (slow reproduction) as compared with a reading speed (standard reproduction) of sounds to be output when the number of operation times is greater than the threshold th1 and equal to or smaller than the threshold th3. A fact that the number of operation times exceeds the threshold th3 greater than the threshold th1 indicates that the user opens the same setting screen many times. Therefore, the user can hear the audio guidance more easily by performing slow audio reproduction. Therefore, according to the embodiment, guidance on various settings can be appropriately provided.
In ACT 101, when the operation is not detected (ACT 101: NO), the control unit 400 determines whether the undetected-operation time exceeds the threshold th4 (ACT 111). If the undetected-operation time does not exceed the threshold th4 (ACT 111: NO), the control unit 400 returns to ACT 101. On the other hand, if the undetected-operation time exceeds the threshold th4 (ACT 111: YES), the control unit 400 displays the guidance scree by outputting the guidance screen corresponding to the currently displayed setting screen to the display 110 (ACT 112). In addition, the control unit 400 outputs the audio guidance corresponding to the currently displayed setting screen to the speaker 170 (ACT 113), and returns to ACT 101.
When no operation is performed for a relatively long time in a state where the same screen is opened, there is a high possibility that the user is unfamiliar with the operation. Therefore, according to the embodiment, guidance on various settings can be appropriately provided.
In ACT 102, when the detected operation is not the specific operation (ACT 102: NO), the control unit 400 proceeds to ACT 201 in
If the number of operation times does not exceed the threshold th5 (ACT 203: NO), the control unit 400 performs standard reproduction of the audio guidance (ACT 110), and returns to ACT 101. On the other hand, if the number of operation times exceeds the threshold th5 (ACT 203: YES), the control unit 400 performs slow reproduction of the audio guidance (ACT 109), and returns to ACT 101.
As described above, when the number of operation times performed on the audio guidance button exceeds the threshold th5, the control unit 400 outputs the guidance as a sound at a slower speed as compared with the reading speed of sounds to be output when the number of operation times performed on the audio guidance button is equal to or smaller than the threshold th5.
A fact that the number of operation times exceeds the threshold th5 indicates that the user is listening to the same audio guidance many times. Therefore, the user can hear the audio guidance more easily by performing slow audio reproduction. Therefore, according to the embodiment, guidance on various settings can be appropriately provided.
If the detected operation is not the audio guidance button operation (ACT 201: NO), the control unit 400 determines whether the detected operation is a job execution operation (ACT 204). If the detected operation is the job execution operation (ACT 204: YES), it indicates that the setting is completed and the control unit 400 ends the guidance processing. On the other hand, if the detected operation is not the job execution operation (ACT 204: NO), the control unit 400 returns to ACT 101.
As described above, in the embodiment, guidance is output in accordance with the number of times the user displays the same setting screen or the number of times the user executes a function, so that the guidance can be appropriately provided. According to the embodiment, since the audio guidance is slowly reproduced, the user can hear the audio guidance more easily. When slow reproduction is performed, the control unit 400 may increase a volume.
As described above, according to the image forming apparatus 100 in the embodiment, a technique capable of appropriately providing guidance on various settings of the image forming apparatus 100 can be provided.
As contents to be particularly displayed on the guidance screen, contents related to unique names of the image forming apparatus 100 (e.g., names used only by a manufacturer of the image forming apparatus) are exemplified.
While certain embodiments have been described, these embodiments have been presented by way of example only, and are not intended to limit the scope of the inventions. These embodiments may be embodied in a variety of other forms. Furthermore, various omissions, substitutions, and changes may be made without departing from the spirit of the inventions. These embodiments and the modifications thereof fall within the scope and spirit of the invention and are included in the scope of the invention recited in the claims and the equivalent thereof.
