Patent Application
20230305651
This application is based on and claims priority under 35 USC 119 from Japanese Patent Application No. 2022-045535 filed Mar. 22, 2022.
The present disclosure relates to an information processing apparatus, a non-transitory computer readable medium, and an information processing method.
To date, various information processing apparatuses including a touch panel are known.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2019-109637 discloses a non-contact input device enabling information to be input without a finger of a user directly touching the displaying surface of a display. The information is input in such a manner that a real image of the display formed in the air to serve as an areal image is displayed and that the user's finger on the detection plane corresponding to the image plane of the areal image is detected.
Conceivable ways of enabling a touch panel operation without directly touching a touch panel include using a touch sensor with a high detection sensitivity and setting a higher detection sensitivity on an existing touch sensor. However, the touch sensor with the high detection sensitivity is likely to wrongly detect a selection element different from a target selection element (for example, an icon) displayed on the touch panel, the selection element being located below a passage of a moving finger of a user.
Aspects of non-limiting embodiments of the present disclosure relate to enabling a target selection element to be selected in operating a touch panel.
Aspects of certain non-limiting embodiments of the present disclosure address the above advantages and/or other advantages not described above. However, aspects of the non-limiting embodiments are not required to address the advantages described above, and aspects of the non-limiting embodiments of the present disclosure may not address advantages described above.
According to an aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided an information processing apparatus including a processor configured to: detect a state in which a finger of a user stays in space above one of multiple selection elements for a predetermined time or longer, the state being detected by using a touch panel, the multiple selection elements being displayed on the touch panel; and perform control of the touch panel when the state is detected, the control being performed to turn the selection element into a selected display form, wherein the predetermined time is a period of time set to prevent the processor from turning a nontarget selection element of the selection elements into the selected display form when the finger of the user passes space above the nontarget selection element toward a target selection element of the selection elements.
Exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure will be described in detail based on the following figures, wherein:
Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments according to the present disclosure will be described in detail with reference to the attached drawings. The configurations described below are provided for exemplary purposes and may be appropriately changed according to the specifications and the like of an information processing apparatus. When the following description includes multiple exemplary embodiments, a modification, and the like, it is originally assumed that characteristic parts thereof are appropriately combined in using the characteristic parts. The same components are denoted by the same reference numerals throughout the drawings, and repeated description is omitted.
According to each exemplary embodiment according to the present disclosure, by using a touch panel including a touch sensor with a high detection sensitivity, a finger of a user may be detected in space above the touch panel, and the user operates the touch panel without touching the touch panel. The touch sensor detects the user's finger, for example, several millimeters above the surface of the touch panel. However, the touch sensor may detect the user's finger a longer distance away from the surface of the touch panel.
An information processing apparatus includes the touch panel integrated therein or separated therefrom. The information processing apparatus receives information input from the user through a touch panel operation by the user. The exemplary embodiment according to the present disclosure may be used for a known information processing apparatus including a touch panel. The information processing apparatus may be, for example, a smartphone, a tablet, a MFP, an ATM of a bank, a ticket machine, or a payment machine.
In the exemplary embodiment according to the present disclosure, a processor detects a finger stay state by using the touch panel. In the finger stay state, the user's finger stays in the space above one of selection elements displayed on the touch panel, for a predetermined time or longer. The processor performs control of the touch panel when the finger stay state is detected. The control is performed to cause the selection element below the user's finger to enter into a selected display state indicating that the selection element is selected. In a different exemplary embodiment according to the present disclosure, the processor may be configured to, in response to the detection of the finger stay state, consider that the selection element below the user's finger is definitively selected and receive an instruction for the selection element. The selection elements are, for example, icons 40 illustrated in
In the exemplary embodiment according to the present disclosure, the criterion for the finger stay state “predetermined time” is a period of time set to prevent the processor from wrongly causing a nontarget selection element to enter into the selected display state when the user's finger passes space above the nontarget selection element toward a target selection element. The target selection element is a selection element intended to be selected by the user, while the nontarget selection element is a selection element not intended to be selected by the user. The predetermined time may be, for example, about one to two seconds but is not limited to this period of time. The predetermined time may be set, for example, shorter for a young user who quickly moves a finger above the touch panel and longer for a user who moves a finger slowly, such as a handicapped person or an elderly person. Discrimination of a user as described above may be performed by using a reader (described later). The reader may read information regarding the age or the like of the user from a storage medium such as an IC card.
In the exemplary embodiment according to the present disclosure, the information processing apparatus may have both of a contact mode and a noncontact mode. As illustrated in
Selecting the contact mode or the noncontact mode may be performed by using a storage medium (such as an IC card). For example, as illustrated in
The storage medium is, for example, an IC card having a RF tag but is not limited to the IC card. The storage medium is an object recognizable by the reader when being held out over the reader. The storage medium may be an IC card storing user identification information or the like, an electronic tag, a smartphone, a smart watch, or the like. The IC card may be an ID card, a cash card of a bank, a credit card, a card storing electronic money (for example, an IC card railway ticket), or the like. The storage medium may be an object carried with the user.
The reader is equipment integrated into or connected to the information processing apparatus. The reader is, for example, a radio frequency identifier (RFID) reader but is not limited to the RFID reader. The reader is equipment that recognizes a storage medium when the storage medium is held out over the reader. For example, the reader communicates with a device such as a RF tag in the storage medium to thereby recognize that the storage medium is held out over the reader.
The information processing apparatus may perform user authentication in response to the reader reading user identification information in the storage medium. The user authentication is not necessarily required in the exemplary embodiments (described later) but enables, for example, the screen of the touch panel to be varied on a per-user basis (see
Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of an MFP taken as an example of the information processing apparatus will be described.
The IC card 12 is a storage medium including a RF tag, and the RF tag stores the user identification information. The IC card 12 is, for example, an ID card carried with the user.
The MFP 10 includes a controller 20, the touch panel 16, and the reader 14. The controller 20 includes a processor 24 and a memory 26. The processor 24 includes a CPU and performs information processing in accordance with a program 28 installed on the MFP 10 and control data 30. The processor 24 may be defined as a computer in a narrow sense.
The memory 26 is a ROM, a RAM, a flash memory, a hard disk, or the like. The memory 26 stores the program 28 and the control data 30. The program 28 and the control data 30 may be provided not only through a network such as the Internet as a matter of course but also in such a manner as to be stored in a computer readable recording medium such as an optical disk or a USB memory.
The touch panel 16 includes a touch sensor 17. The touch sensor 17 detects the user's finger brought into contact with the surface of the touch panel 16 or present in the space above the touch panel 16. The touch sensor 17 has a function by which the sensitivity (sensor level) for detecting the user's finger may be changed and is operable in the contact mode (sensor level: low (normal)) and in the noncontact mode (sensor level: high). In the contact mode, the touch sensor 17 is capable of detecting the user's finger in contact with the surface of the touch panel 16. In the noncontact mode, the touch sensor 17 is capable of detecting the user's finger not in contact with the surface of the touch panel 16 but present in the space above the touch panel 16.
The touch panel 16 and the reader 14 are connected to the controller 20 to enable communication therewith. By using the reader 14, the processor 24 of the controller 20 detects holding out of the IC card 12 over the reader 14 and the moving of the IC card 12 thereafter away from the reader 14. The processor 24 also receives information input by the user with the touch panel 16 and controls displaying on the touch panel 16. The processor 24 also controls the detection sensitivity (sensor level) of the touch sensor 17.
Selecting the contact mode or the noncontact mode will then be described.
In step S100, the processor 24 of the MFP 10 determines whether the IC card 12 is held out over the reader 14. If the result of step S100 is Yes (the IC card 12 is held out over the reader 14), the processor 24 proceeds to step S102. In step S102, the processor 24 performs user authentication by using the user identification information read from the IC card 12 by the reader 14.
In step S104, the processor 24 sets normal (for the contact mode) as the sensor level of the touch sensor 17. In step S106, the processor 24 performs control to display a menu for the contact mode on the touch panel 16. An example of touch panel displaying in the contact mode is schematically illustrated in the upper central part of
In step S108, the processor 24 determines whether the IC card 12 is held out for Y seconds or longer if the result of step S100 is Yes. If the result of step S108 is No (a period of time shorter than Y seconds), the processor 24 performs processing in the contact mode in step S116. In the processing in the contact mode, receiving of a user operation of the known touch panel 16 and displaying thereon are performed.
In contrast, if the result of step S108 is Yes (Y seconds or longer), the processor 24 proceeds to step S110. In step S110, the processor 24 sets high (for the noncontact mode) as the sensor level of the touch sensor 17. In step S112, the processor 24 performs control to display a menu for the noncontact mode on the touch panel 16. An example of the touch panel displaying in the noncontact mode is schematically illustrated in the lower central part of
The characteristics of the contact mode and the touch panel displaying in the noncontact mode will be described. As illustrated in the lower right part of
The processing in the noncontact mode will then be described.
The flowchart in
In step S204 in
In contrast, if the result of step S204 is Yes (the finger 11F leaves the selected icon), the processor 24 sets the selected icon in the definitively selected state 42SD in step S206.
In step S208 in
For example, if the icons A and B in the parts (a) to (e) in
In
According to the exemplary embodiment described above, in the noncontact mode, the target icon 40TG may be selected without the finger 11F of the user touching the surface of the touch panel 16.
Processing in Noncontact Mode according to Different Exemplary Embodiment
Processing in the noncontact mode according to a different exemplary embodiment will then be described.
In this exemplary embodiment, an avoidance area 50 (see
A flowchart in
In step S306 in
If the result of step S306 is No (the finger 11F is not detected above the avoidance area 50), the processor 24 causes, in step S308, the selected icon to enter into the definitively selected state 42SD at the time point of the elapse of the avoidance time TC as illustrated in a part (e-1) in
In contrast, if the result of step S306 is Yes (the finger 11F is detected above the avoidance area 50), the processor 24 cancels, in step S312, the selected state 42S of the icon 40TG as illustrated in a part (e-2) in
According to the exemplary embodiment described above, even if the user causes the icon 40 to enter into the selected state 42S by mistake, the definitive selection of the icon 40 may be avoided.
Processing in Noncontact Mode according to Modification
Processing in the noncontact mode according to a modification will then be described.
In the modification, the selected state 42S of the icon 40 is omitted, and the icon 40 is set in the definitively selected state 42SD if the detection of the finger 11F of the user above the area of one of the icons 40 lasts for the predetermined time T. Points other than the above are the same as those in the exemplary embodiment described above with reference to
The flowchart in
According to the modification described above, the target icon 40TG may also be selected in the noncontact mode without the finger 11F of the user touching the surface of the touch panel 16.
Customizing the touch panel displaying will then be described.
The MFP 10 performs user authentication in such a manner that the reader 14 reads the user identification information in the IC card 12 when the IC card 12 is held out over the reader 14. The user authentication is performed by checking the user information with the user identification information read from the IC card 12. In the user authentication, the processor 24 acquires, from the user information, the touch panel information related to the user identification information stored in the IC card 12 and performs control of the displaying of the touch panel 16 on the basis of the touch panel information.
The touch panel displaying may be changed (customized) on a per-user basis such as for the user A or the user B in
Each icon 40 to be displayed on the touch panel 16 is larger in the noncontact mode than in the contact mode, and a smaller number of icons 40 are displayed thereon. Accordingly, the touch panel information is set to display, for example, a frequently used icon as the icon 40 in the noncontact mode, depending on the user. In
Each user gives a printing instruction by operating a terminal apparatus such as a personal computer (PC), and a print job is thereby transmitted from the terminal apparatus to the MFP 10. The print job includes identification information regarding the user who has given the printing instruction. In one of modes of security printing, the MFP 10 receives a print job, user authentication is thereafter performed in such a manner that the user who has given the printing instruction holds out the IC card 12 over the reader 14, and thereby a print job related to the user identification information stored in the IC card 12 is displayed on the touch panel 16. In response to the user giving a printing execution instruction by designating a print job on the touch panel 16, the MFP 10 starts printing.
In the fields in the column of the noncontact mode (print job present) in
Note that in the user information stored in the MFP 10, the touch panel information is not necessarily to be related to every user, and touch panel information (default in
The MFP 10 serves as the information processing apparatus in the exemplary embodiments above, but other examples of the information processing apparatus include a smartphone, a tablet, an ATM of a bank, a ticket machine, and a payment machine. In the ATM of a bank, holding out a cash card serving as the storage medium over the reader enables selection of the contact mode or the noncontact mode. Reading information stored in the cash card with the reader also enables identification of a user who operates the touch panel. Note that the user identification is not limited to the identification of the user themselves and includes identification of an attribute such as the age or sex of the user.
In the railway ticket machine, holding out an IC card ticket serving as the storage medium over the reader enables selection of the contact mode or the noncontact mode. Reading information stored in the IC card ticket with the reader also enables identification of a user who operates the touch panel. By identifying the user, the information processing apparatus may vary the touch panel displaying and the predetermined time T serving as the criterion for the finger stay state described above, depending on the user.
In the embodiments above, the term “processor” refers to hardware in a broad sense. Examples of the processor include general processors (e.g., CPU: Central Processing Unit) and dedicated processors (e.g., GPU: Graphics Processing Unit, ASIC: Application Specific Integrated Circuit, FPGA: Field Programmable Gate Array, and programmable logic device).
In the embodiments above, the term “processor” is broad enough to encompass one processor or plural processors in collaboration which are located physically apart from each other but may work cooperatively. The order of operations of the processor is not limited to one described in the embodiments above, and may be changed.
The foregoing description of the exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure has been provided for the purposes of illustration and description. It is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the disclosure 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 disclosure and its practical applications, thereby enabling others skilled in the art to understand the disclosure for various embodiments and with the various modifications as are suited to the particular use contemplated. It is intended that the scope of the disclosure be defined by the following claims and their equivalents.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022-045535 | Mar 2022 | JP | national |
