This application is based on and claims priority under 35 USC 119 from Japanese Patent Application No. 2016-131696 filed Jul. 1, 2016.
The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus, an image forming apparatus, and a non-transitory computer readable medium.
Some mobile phone terminals, such as smartphones, are designed such that multiple icons for activating application programs (hereinafter referred to as “applications”) are collectively storable and manageable within a single folder on a display screen thereof. In this case, when new incoming information items arrive for multiple icons, in some cases, a badge is displayed in the upper right corner of each icon to indicate the number of new incoming information items for the icon and a badge is further displayed in the upper right corner of the folder to indicate the sum total of new incoming information items for all the icons stored in the folder.
In other cases, on a menu screen of the apparatuses, icons associated with plural functions and a help icon moved to a help screen explaining the functions associated with the icons are displayed. When the help icon is selected and moved to the help screen, the help screen shows icons for displaying respective explanatory information on the functions.
When the technique described above for displaying a badge on a superior icon to indicate the total number of new incoming information items for subordinate icons is applied to the menu screen of the apparatuses described above, the number of new incoming information items for individual functions is displayed on or near the help icon.
According to an aspect of the invention, there is provided an information processing apparatus including a display, a receiver, and a controller. The display displays a first screen including plural first icons and a second icon. Each of the plural first icons is a graphical representation associated with one of plural functions. The second icon is associated with an explanatory function explaining the plural functions. The display displays a second screen in response to selection of the second icon on the first screen. The second screen includes plural third icons for providing explanatory information concerning at least some of the plural functions. The receiver receives explanatory information concerning the plural functions. In response to the receiver receiving a new explanatory information item, the controller controls the display to change a display style of a third icon related to the received new explanatory information item among the plural third icons on the second screen and not to change a display style of the second icon on the first screen.
Exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail based on the following figures, wherein:
Exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail hereinafter with reference to the drawings.
As illustrated in
The server apparatus 40 has a function of delivering help information to the image forming apparatus 10. The help information is explanatory information including operation methods for various functions such as scanning, printing, copying, and facsimile functions and various information common to the functions, such as registration/change of address information, error information, and frequently asked questions. It is to be understood that the explanatory information is not limited to help information.
When new help information is created, the new help information is registered in the server apparatus 40 and is delivered from the server apparatus 40 to the image forming apparatus 10 via the network 30. The delivery of help information involves not only the way in which the server apparatus 40 transmits the help information to the image forming apparatus 10 but also the way in which the image forming apparatus 10 periodically accesses the server apparatus 40 to check the presence of newly generated help information (new incoming information) and downloads the help information.
As illustrated in
The print engine 17 prints an image on a recording medium such as a printing sheet through steps such as charging, exposure, developing, transfer, and fixing.
The CPU 11 executes a predetermined process in accordance with a control program stored in the memory 12 or the storage device 13 to control the operation of the image forming apparatus 10. In this exemplary embodiment, the CPU 11 reads and executes a control program stored in the memory 12 or the storage device 13. Alternatively, a storage medium such as a compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM) that stores the control program described above may be provided to the CPU 11.
As illustrated in
The image output unit 37 executes a process of outputting an image on a recording medium such as a printing sheet. The image reading unit 38 executes a process of scanning a document to read a document image.
The control unit 34 performs various control such as controlling the operation of the image output unit 37 and the image reading unit 38 in accordance with operation information input from the operation unit 33 and displaying various information on the display unit 32.
In
The new incoming information receiving unit 31 receives from the server apparatus 40 explanatory information concerning multiple functions implemented by using either or both of the image output unit 37 and the image reading unit 38, such as the copying, scanning, and printing functions.
The new incoming information receiving unit 31 may access the server apparatus 40 at regular intervals, such as daily, to receive new help information as new incoming information or may access the server apparatus 40 in accordance with instructions input from the operation unit 33 to receive new help information as new incoming information.
The authentication unit 35 authenticates a user who is to use the image forming apparatus 10 by using an authentication method with an integrated-circuit (IC) card, for example, or by using any other method.
The apparatus information storage unit 36 stores apparatus information that is information concerning the specifications of the image forming apparatus 10 or the functions supported by the image forming apparatus 10. Specifically, the apparatus information storage unit 36 stores, as apparatus information, information on the shipping destination of the image forming apparatus 10, the model name of the image forming apparatus 10, and information concerning the functions of the image forming apparatus 10, such as the print speed, and the presence of an automatic document feeder. Specific examples of the apparatus information will be described below.
As illustrated in
When the help icon 51 is selected on the menu screen, as illustrated in
The term “icon”, as used herein, refers to a graphical representation displayed on a display screen and used to activate a specific application program or indicate an operation position moved to a specific screen. In some cases, the graphical representation includes not only a designed shape but also various characters such as alphabetic characters, hiragana, katakana, and kanji.
On the help screen illustrated in
For example, the badge 61 displayed on the icon 53 for the “Frequently Asked Questions” category shows the number “5” to indicate that five new incoming information items have been added.
Touching the icons 53 displayed on the help screen illustrated in
In
In this manner, when any one of the icons 53 on the help screen is selected, the control unit 34 displays on the display unit 32 a list of help information items for the function associated with the selected icon 53. Further, the control unit 34 controls the display unit 32 to display newly added help information items by adding the new arrival marks 71 and 72, which are indications indicating newly added help information, to the newly added help information items and to display the newly added help information items in such a manner that a viewed help information item and an unviewed help information item are displayed in different display styles.
In
Specifically, when a new incoming information item is viewed, the control unit 34 may control the display unit 32 to make the new incoming information item remain in an unviewed status if the new incoming information item, which has been viewed, has a high degree of importance and to set the new incoming information item to be in a viewed status if the new incoming information item, which has been viewed, has a low degree of importance.
The display unit 32 may be controlled only when the settings for changing the method for switching between new arrival marks in accordance with the degree of importance of the new incoming information item have been set in advance by an administrator or any other suitable person, or, for example, a switching button may be displayed to switch between new arrival marks at the desired timing.
In
When a new help information item is received by the new incoming information receiving unit 31, the control unit 34 controls the display unit 32 to change on the help screen the display style of the icon 53 associated with the new incoming information item among the multiple icons 53 on the help screen to provide a new arrival notification indicating addition of a new explanatory information item.
Specifically, as also described above, the control unit 34 controls the display unit 32 to display, as a badge 61 in the upper right corner of each of the icons 53 on the help screen, numerical information indicating the number of new help information items that have been added to provide a new arrival notification.
Note that the control unit 34 maintains, even if the newly added help information items have been viewed, the badge 61 on the icon 53 on the help screen for a preset period, for example, for one month.
Information concerning the display period may be received as information included in a new incoming information item, and the display period may be a period represented by the information. Alternatively, the display period may be a period determined in advance in accordance with the setting of the apparatus. If both a period represented by information and a period determined in accordance with the setting of the apparatus are present, a longer one (or shorter one) of the periods may be used or the average of the periods may be calculated (for example, if the display period for a new incoming information item, which is included in the new incoming information item, is one month and the display period for the new incoming information item, which is determined in accordance with the setting of the apparatus, is two months, a display period of 1.5 months is used), and a badge for the new incoming information item may be continuously displayed for this period.
The reason for this is as follows: since an apparatus such as a multifunction peripheral is typically used by many users, the deletion of the badges 61 only in response to viewing of new incoming information by the first user would make it difficult to inform other users of important help information.
The term “displaying a badge on an icon” or “displayed as a badge on an icon”, as used herein, refers to, as an example, additionally displaying, on an icon or near an icon, numerical information indicating the number of new explanatory information items that have been added or content information indicating the content of new explanatory information items, or displaying an icon in such a manner that part of the icon is visually modified. The term “displaying a badge on an icon” or “displayed as a badge on an icon” is used to include not only a display style in which a badge is displayed within an icon but also a display style in which the display area of an icon and the display area of a badge at least partially overlap. The term “displaying a badge on an icon” or “displayed as a badge on an icon” is used to also include a display style that allows the viewer to identify an icon and a badge as being associated with each other even if the icon and the badge do not overlap.
Even when a new help information item is received by the new incoming information receiving unit 31, the control unit 34 controls the display unit 32 not to change the display style of the help icon 51 on the menu screen so that a new arrival notification indicating addition of a new help information item is not provided.
A description will now be given of a reason that even when new help information items are received by the new incoming information receiving unit 31 and new incoming information items are added to the respective categories in a help function, the display style of the help icon 51 on the menu screen is not changed nor is a badge displayed.
As in the comparative example illustrated in
It is difficult for a user to identify the content of help information that has been added even though the user is able to understand the total number of new incoming information items. Thus, the total number of new incoming information items is not useful for a user who desires to refer to the help text for a specific function.
Additionally, a user who is to perform an operation such as copying, scanning, or facsimile transmission while viewing an operation panel of a printer might suffer from a condition that may leave them distracted by complex changes in the content displayed on the menu screen or by highlighted display of numerical information that is not understandable to keep them from concentrating on selecting an operation method or switching between operation methods.
In the foregoing description, to inform multiple users of the content of new help information items that have arrived, a badge indicating the number of new incoming information items is not changed even if the new incoming information items have been viewed. However, once a user is authenticated by the authentication unit 35, the number of new incoming information items that is displayed as a badge may be changed on a user-by-user basis.
In this case, when a new incoming information item is viewed by a user authenticated by the authentication unit 35, the control unit 34 displays a number as a badge on each of the icons 53 on a help screen presented to this user, the number being obtained by subtracting the number of viewed new incoming information items from the number of new incoming information items.
For example, on an example help screen illustrated in
In this manner, the numbers of unviewed new incoming information items are displayed as badges for each user. This allows each user to grasp the number of new incoming information items that have not been viewed by the user.
In this case, badges may be displayed in such a manner that allows the viewer to identify both the number of unviewed new incoming information items and the number of viewed new incoming information items.
Specifically, when a new incoming information item is viewed by a user authenticated by the authentication unit 35, as illustrated in
In
A description will now be given of an operation of the image forming apparatus 10 for selecting a new incoming information item concerning the image forming apparatus 10 from among new incoming information items received by the new incoming information receiving unit 31 from the server apparatus 40 in accordance with apparatus information stored in the apparatus information storage unit 36 and adding the selected new incoming information item to a list of help information items.
While a single image forming apparatus 10 is illustrated in
For an image forming apparatus 10 having no scanning function, a help information item concerning the scanning function is not useful and there is no need to add such a help information item to a list of help information items or to provide a new arrival notification.
Accordingly, when the new incoming information receiving unit 31 receives new incoming information items, the control unit 34 displays only the numbers of new incoming information items concerning the functions supported by the image forming apparatus 10 among the received new incoming information items as badges on the icons 53 on the help screen.
When the new incoming information receiving unit 31 receives new incoming information items, furthermore, the control unit 34 displays only the numbers of new incoming information items meeting the specifications of the image forming apparatus 10 among the received new incoming information items as badges on the icons 53 on the help screen.
A determination unit that determines whether or not there is any new incoming information item meeting the specifications of the image forming apparatus 10 may be included.
In the example apparatus information illustrated in
The description will be given with reference to the reception of new incoming information illustrated in
In the example new incoming information illustrated in
When the new incoming information items described above are received, the control unit 34 counts, for new incoming information items independent of the functions of the apparatus, the number of received new incoming information items as the number in the badge 61 attached to the corresponding icon on the help screen. Specifically, in
Then, the control unit 34 refers to the apparatus information illustrated in
For example, there are two types of new incoming information for the “Print” category, namely, new incoming information on a low-speed machine and new incoming information on a high-speed machine. Even in this case, the control unit 34 counts only the numbers of new incoming information items concerning printing with a low-speed machine if the image forming apparatus 10 is a low-speed machine. If a new incoming information item for the “Print” category is related to the printing of postcards using the manual feed slot, the control unit 34 confirms that the image forming apparatus 10 has the manual feed option by referring to the apparatus information illustrated in
In some cases, new incoming information includes display data for an explanatory screen for displaying the details of help information. When received help information is to be displayed, help information meeting the functions/specifications of the image forming apparatus 10 is displayed.
For example, an example in which different content is displayed depending on whether the image forming apparatus 10 is a high-speed machine or a low-speed machine will be described with reference to
In this exemplary embodiment, the present invention is applied to a help icon for referring to help information on the respective functions for multiple icons displayed on a menu screen. However, the present invention is not limited to the application to help information and is also applicable to the case where an icon for providing or referring to information concerning the multiple icons is displayed on the same screen as that of the multiple icons.
A second exemplary embodiment of the present invention will be described.
In the first exemplary embodiment described above, the present invention is applied to the image forming apparatus 10, such as a multifunction peripheral, by way of example. In the second exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the present invention is applied to a mobile phone apparatus 20, such as a smartphone illustrated in
The mobile phone apparatus 20 according to this exemplary embodiment includes a receiver that receives information such as electronic mails, and is configured to perform control to calculate the number of electronic mails (hereinafter referred to as emails) meeting a preset condition among the emails received by the receiver and to display the calculated number of emails as a badge on an icon for activating a program for referring to the received emails.
A description will be given of, as an example of the calculation of the number of emails meeting a preset condition, the counting of only the number of emails transmitted from senders whose address information is registered in address book data stored in the mobile phone apparatus 20. For instance, a determination unit that determines whether or not address information is registered in the address book data is included.
In
In contrast, example display screens on the mobile phone apparatus 20 according to this exemplary embodiment to which the techniques described above is applied will be described with reference to
In
In
A counting method for the mobile phone apparatus 20 to implement the process described above will be described with reference to a flowchart illustrated in
When the receiver of the mobile phone apparatus 20 receives a new email (step S101), the mobile phone apparatus 20 determines whether or not the address of the sender of the received email is one of the addresses registered in an address book (step S102).
If the address of the sender is one of the addresses registered in the address book, the mobile phone apparatus 20 adds 1 to the number of emails from the addresses registered in the address book (step S103).
The mobile phone apparatus 20 repeatedly performs the process described above to accumulate the number of emails from the addresses registered in the address book among received emails to display the accumulated number of emails. In order to count and display the total number of received emails in the manner illustrated in
As in this exemplary embodiment, not only the total number of received emails but also the number of emails transmitted from addresses registered in an address book is counted and displayed as a badge on an icon. This allows a user to observe the displayed badge to grasp the number of meaningful emails, rather than the number of unwanted or unsolicited emails, and may prevent the user from being distracted.
Exemplary Modifications
In the first exemplary embodiment described above, the present invention is applied to an image forming apparatus. However, the present invention is not limited to this exemplary embodiment and is also applicable to any other information processing apparatus such as a smartphone, a personal computer, or a tablet terminal apparatus.
The foregoing description of the exemplary embodiments of the present invention has been provided for the purposes of illustration and description. It is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise forms disclosed. Obviously, many modifications and variations will be apparent to practitioners skilled in the art. The embodiments were chosen and described in order to best explain the principles of the invention and its practical applications, thereby enabling others skilled in the art to understand the invention for various embodiments and with the various modifications as are suited to the particular use contemplated. It is intended that the scope of the invention be defined by the following claims and their equivalents.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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2016-131696 | Jul 2016 | JP | national |