JP7532289B2 - Multifunction printer, control method and program thereof - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a multifunction peripheral , a control method thereof, and a program therefor.

Recent multifunction peripherals (hereafter referred to as "MFPs") are equipped with touch panel display devices, and a home screen displaying application buttons for launching various applications is displayed on the screen of the display device. Some MFPs display application buttons that hold the settings of a job to be executed, and when the button is pressed, launch an application while reflecting the held settings. Furthermore, some MFPs not only hold settings, but also display an immediate execution button that executes a job by simply pressing a shortcut button.

In such multifunction devices, for example, when a document is placed on the scanner, a technique is known in which the display priority of application buttons related to the scan function on the home screen is increased, and the order of buttons on the home screen is automatically updated (see Patent Document 1). Also, although not a display on the home screen, a technique is known in which buttons for paper sizes that are candidates for selection are displayed in order of the most frequently used paper sizes based on the results of reading the document width (see Patent Document 2).

JP 2016-117158 A JP 2013-145946 A

When application buttons for sending faxes or e-mails include a destination (recipient), care must be taken to avoid sending by mistake. However, there is a risk that a user may press a button without realizing that the button they are operating includes a destination. In that case, data transmission to the destination included in the button they pressed will begin unintentionally.

In addition, as another problem, when the display of application buttons on the home screen is prioritized based on the number of times of use, the following problem occurs. That is, in a usage environment where jobs are often executed by changing only some conditions from the default settings, application buttons with only the changed conditions being different are preferentially displayed. For example, in a usage environment where only the number of copies is entered in a copy job and other settings are often executed with the default settings, application buttons with only the number of copies being different are preferentially displayed. As a result, operability is reduced when executing a job in which settings other than the number of copies are changed from the default settings. Also, in a usage environment where only the destination is set in a facsimile job and other settings are often executed with the default settings, application buttons with only the destination being different are preferentially displayed. As a result, as in the case of the copy job described above, operability is reduced when executing a job in which settings other than the destination are changed from the default settings. In this way, the original purpose of reducing the number of setting steps by displaying buttons with settings different from the default settings on the home screen and selecting (pressing) the displayed buttons cannot be achieved.

The object of the present invention is to provide a mechanism that displays a button on which settings of a job executed in the past are registered and which is used to execute a new job with those settings, and determines whether or not a specified input has been made by the user each time an instruction to execute a job is given, and if it is determined that the specified input has not been made by the user , does not control the display of the button on which the job settings are registered, and if it is determined that the user has made the specified input , controls the display of the button on which the job settings are registered without accepting the job settings from the user again.

The multifunction peripheral of the present invention is characterized in having an execution means for executing a job, a display means for displaying a button in which settings of a job previously executed by the execution means are registered and which is to be used to execute a new job with the settings, a determination means for determining whether a specified input has been made by the user each time an instruction to execute a job is given, and a control means for, when it is determined by the determination means that the specified input has not been made by the user, not controlling the display means to display the button in which the job settings are registered , and, when it is determined by the determination means that the specified input has been made by the user, controlling the display means to display the button in which the job settings are registered without accepting the job settings from the user again.

According to the present invention, a button on which settings of a job executed in the past are registered is displayed, and the button to be used for executing a new job with those settings is displayed, and a mechanism is provided for determining whether or not a specified input has been made by the user each time an instruction to execute a job is given. If it is determined that the specified input has not been made by the user , control is not performed to display the button on which the job settings are registered, and if it is determined that the specified input has been made by the user , control is performed to display the button on which the job settings are registered without accepting the job settings from the user again.

1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of an MFP according to an embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a home screen displayed on a display of the MFP. FIG. 11 is a diagram showing a definition table of default setting values for job types. FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram showing history data of setting values used when a job is executed. 10 is a diagram illustrating temporary data generated to obtain the display priority order of application buttons to be displayed on a home screen. FIG. This is a table in which each job of temporary data is arranged in descending order of occurrence frequency. 13 is a diagram showing an example of an automatic display selection menu for setting whether or not to automatically display application buttons including transmission destinations on a home screen. FIG. 13 is a flowchart of an automatic display process of an application button.

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the schematic configuration of an MFP 100 (multifunction peripheral) which is an example of an image processing device according to an embodiment of the present invention. The MFP 100 comprises a CPU 101, a ROM 102, a RAM 103, an operation unit controller 108, an operation panel 109, a display 111, a disk controller 112, a HDD 113, a printer 114, a scanner 115, a modem 116, and an NCU 117. These components of the MFP 100 are connected to each other via a system bus 121 so that they can communicate with each other.

The CPU 101 controls the overall operation of each part of the MFP 100 by expanding various programs stored (kept) in the ROM 102 or HDD 113 into the RAM 103. The ROM 102 stores various programs and data, such as an OS and drivers that control the operation of the MFP 100. The RAM 103 functions as the main memory and work area of the CPU 101. The operation unit controller 108 controls various operation buttons (not shown), an operation panel 109, and a display 111 equipped on the MFP 100. The operation panel 109 is specifically a touch panel that is superimposed on the display 111. The operation panel 109 and the display 111 are combined to form a display device.

The disk controller 112 controls the operation of the HDD 113. The HDD 113 stores various application software executed by the CPU 101, and is also used as a temporary storage means for image data generated by the scanner 115. Note that the HDD 113 is an example of a storage medium, and a flash memory or SSD may be used instead of the HDD 113, in which case the disk controller 112 is replaced with one corresponding to the installed storage medium.

The printer 114 forms an image on a sheet-like recording material (typically paper) by electrophotography. However, the image formation is not limited to electrophotography, and other methods such as ink jet printing may also be used. The scanner 115 optically reads the surface of the original document to generate image data. An automatic document reader (ADF) can be attached to the scanner 115 as an option.

The modem 116 demodulates modulated signals received from the outside via the exchange 131, and conversely modulates signals to be sent from the MFP 100 to the outside and sends them to the exchange 131. The NCU 117 is an interface between the CPU 101 and the modem 116, detects signals from the exchange 131 and transmits them to the modem 116, and also switches the connection of the communication line between the exchange 131 and the telephone 132.

Figure 2 is a diagram showing an example of a home screen 200 displayed on the display 111. The home screen 200 displays an application button 201, a scroll button 202, a menu button 203, and a status check button 204.

As described above, a touch panel serving as the operation panel 109 is superimposed on the display 111. A plurality of application buttons 201 are displayed on the home screen 200. Each application button 201 is assigned one or more setting values, and when an application button 201 is pressed, a job is executed with the setting values associated with the pressed application button 201.

The scroll button 202 is an operating means for scrolling the application buttons 201 displayed on the home screen 200. Scrolling the application buttons 201 is not limited to touching the scroll button 202, and may be performed, for example, by flicking the home screen 200 left or right or by pressing the left or right (<, >) of the scroll button 202. Note that in FIG. 2, three scroll buttons 202 are arranged on one screen, indicating that there are three pages on the home screen 200.

The menu button 203 is an operation means for displaying a menu screen (not shown), and various settings of the MFP 100 can be made through the menu screen. The status check button 204 is an operation means for opening a screen (not shown) for checking the job status and execution history.

Figure 3 is a diagram showing a definition table 300 of default setting values 302 for job types 301. Job types 301 represent the types of jobs that can be executed by MFP 100, and examples include copy, facsimile (hereinafter referred to as "FAX"), and email, but are not limited to these. Default setting values 302 are defined for each job type 301. The contents of the default setting values 302 shown in Figure 3 are merely examples.

The default settings are made up of multiple items for each job type. There are many items that can be set for each job type, but for example, typical items when the job type is copying are the number of copies to be printed, print color, single-sided/double-sided printing, automatic/manual paper selection, finishing specifications, and copy magnification. In this embodiment, the default settings for each item are 0 for the number of copies to be printed, black and white for print color, single-sided for single-sided/double-sided printing, automatic for automatic/manual paper selection, none for finishing specifications, and 100% (actual size) for copy magnification.

Figure 4 is a diagram showing the contents stored in a database that manages historical data on jobs executed in the past and the setting values used when the jobs were executed. The database is constructed (stored) in HDD 113. When a job is executed, an item number 401 (No.) is assigned, and for each item number 401, the job generation date 402, job type 403, and setting values 404 are stored as historical data.

In this embodiment, a maximum of 1000 pieces of history data can be registered for jobs executed in the past. When the number of registered pieces of history data exceeds 1000, the oldest pieces of history data are overwritten and registered in order. For example, the 1001st piece of history data is registered by overwriting the first piece of history data. This makes it possible to always register the most recent 1000 pieces of history data.

The occurrence date 402 indicates the date the job occurred (the date the job was executed), and although not shown, if multiple jobs were executed on the same day, they are registered in chronological order. The job type 403 indicates various jobs such as copy, fax, and email that can be executed by the MFP 100. The setting value 404 indicates all the setting values used when the job was actually executed for various items that can be set for the job from a menu screen, etc.

For the sake of convenience, in FIG. 4, the items that can be set for each job are the same as those shown in FIG. 3. Also, in FIG. 4, items whose values have been changed from the default settings are marked with an '*'. For example, in the copy job with item number 401 of '000', the settings for the number of copies to be printed, print color, and finish designation have been changed from the default settings.

Figure 5 is a schematic diagram showing temporary data (hereinafter referred to as "temporary data 500") generated to determine the priority (order) of application buttons 201 to be displayed on the home screen 200 from the history data stored in the database 400. The temporary data 500 is composed of a portion of data extracted from the history data stored in the database 400 according to a flowchart described below with reference to Figure 8. Therefore, the job type 501 and the setting value 502 are equivalent to the job type 403 and the setting value 404 in Figure 4, respectively.

Fig. 6 shows a frequency ranking table 600 in which the number of occurrences (number of uses) of each job extracted in Fig. 5 as temporary data is counted and the jobs are arranged in descending order of the count number. In the frequency ranking table 600, jobs for the maximum number (9 in this embodiment) of application buttons 201 displayed on the home screen 200 are obtained and registered according to the flowchart in Fig. 8 described below. Display order 601 indicates the display priority of the application buttons 201 on the home screen 200. Job type 602 and setting value 603 are the same as job type 501 and setting value 502 in Fig. 5, respectively. Usage count 604 indicates the number of times each job in job type 602 has been used.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of an automatic display selection menu 700 for setting for each job whether or not to automatically display the application button 201 of a job including a destination (address) on the home screen 200. The destination type 701 indicates the type of job with a destination, and here, FAX, I-FAX, Email, File, and Memory Box (BOX) are exemplified. The automatic display setting value 702 is a setting value for selecting whether or not to automatically display the application button 201 including the destination on the home screen 200. 'ON' is set to automatically display, and 'OFF' is set to not automatically display. The 'ON/OFF' setting in the automatic display selection menu 700 can be changed by the user operating the operation panel 109.

Figure 8 is a flowchart of the process of automatically displaying application buttons 201 on the home screen 200. Each process (step) indicated by an S number in the flowchart of Figure 8 is realized by the CPU 101 loading a specific program read from the ROM 102 or HDD 113 into the RAM 103 and controlling the operation unit controller 108 and the display 111.

In S801, CPU 101 executes a predetermined job in accordance with input from operation panel 109. In S802, CPU 101 ends the job executed in S801. In S803, CPU 101 adds (registers) the date of occurrence of the job in S801, the job type, and various setting values to history data (FIG. 4). In S804, CPU 101 clears temporary data (FIG. 5) for determining the display priority order of application buttons to be displayed on home screen 200. In S805, CPU 101 sets variable 'i' that determines the order of the history data registered in database 400, and also sets 'i=1'.

In S806, the CPU 101 compares the history data registered in the i-th database 400 with the definition table 300 and branches the process. Specifically, the CPU 101 counts how many items in the setting value 404 of the i-th history data have been changed from the default setting value 302 defined for the job type 301 that matches the job type 403. If the count of changed items is equal to or less than a specified number ('1' in this embodiment), it is determined that the setting value is close to the default setting value 302. If the CPU 101 determines that the setting value 404 of the history data is close to the default setting value 302 (YES in S806), the CPU 101 advances the process to S813. On the other hand, if the CPU 101 determines that the setting value 404 of the history data is not close to the default setting value 302 (NO in S806), the CPU 101 advances the process to S807.

Note that history data that is determined to be close to the default setting value 302 will skip the process of S812 (save process as temporary data 500) described below, and will not be used to determine the display priority of the application buttons. Also, if the process of S807 to S811 described below returns 'YES', the history data will skip the process of S812 (save process as temporary data 500), and will not be used to determine the display priority of the application buttons.

In S807, CPU 101 determines whether the condition that the i-th history data includes a fax destination and the automatic display setting value of the automatic display selection menu 700 is 'OFF' (hereinafter referred to as "Condition 1") is satisfied. If CPU 101 determines that Condition 1 is satisfied (YES in S807), it proceeds to S813, and if it determines that Condition 1 is not satisfied (NO in S807), it proceeds to S809. Note that if the job type 403 of the i-th history data is not fax transmission, the determination result in S807 will necessarily be 'NO', but this process may be skipped.

In S808, CPU 101 determines whether the condition that the i-th history data includes an I-FAX destination and the automatic display setting value of the automatic display selection menu 700 is 'OFF' (hereinafter referred to as "Condition 2") is satisfied. If CPU 101 determines that Condition 2 is satisfied (YES in S808), the process proceeds to S813, and if CPU 101 determines that Condition 2 is not satisfied (NO in S808), the process proceeds to S809. Note that if the job type 403 of the i-th history data is not I-FAX transmission, the determination result in S808 will necessarily be 'NO', but this process may be skipped.

In S809, CPU 101 determines whether the condition that the i-th history data includes an email destination and the automatic display setting value of the automatic display selection menu 700 is 'OFF' (hereinafter referred to as "Condition 3") is satisfied. If CPU 101 determines that Condition 3 is satisfied (YES in S809), the process proceeds to S813, and if CPU 101 determines that Condition 3 is not satisfied (NO in S809), the process proceeds to S810. Note that if the job type 403 of the i-th history data is not email transmission, the determination result in S809 will necessarily be 'NO', but this process may be skipped.

In S810, CPU 101 determines whether the condition that the i-th history data includes a file transmission destination and the automatic display setting value of the automatic display selection menu 700 is 'OFF' (hereinafter referred to as "Condition 4") is satisfied. If CPU 101 determines that Condition 4 is satisfied (YES in S810), the process proceeds to S813, and if CPU 101 determines that Condition 4 is not satisfied (NO in S810), the process proceeds to S811. Note that if the job type 403 of the i-th history data is not file transmission, the determination result in S810 will necessarily be 'NO', but this process may be skipped.

In S811, CPU 101 determines whether the condition that the i-th history data includes a memory box transmission destination and the automatic display setting value of the automatic display selection menu 700 is 'OFF' (hereinafter referred to as "Condition 5") is satisfied. If CPU 101 determines that Condition 5 is satisfied (YES in S811), it proceeds to S813, and if it determines that Condition 5 is not satisfied (NO in S811), it proceeds to S812. Note that if the job type 403 of the i-th history data is not memory box transmission, the determination result in S811 will necessarily be 'NO', but this process may be skipped.

In S812, the CPU 101 adds the i-th history data for which all the determinations in S806 to S811 are 'NO' to the temporary data 500. In S813, the CPU 101 determines whether or not the processing in S806 to S812 has been performed for all the history data stored in the database 400. If the CPU 101 determines that the processing in S806 to S812 has not been completed for all the history data (NO in S813), the processing proceeds to S814. In S814, the CPU 101 increments the value of i by 1, and then returns the processing to S806. This allows the processing in S806 to S812 to be performed for all the history data stored in the database 400. Then, if the CPU 101 determines in S813 that the processing in S806 to S812 has been completed for all the history data (YES in S813), the processing proceeds to S815. In this way, temporary data 500 is generated.

In S815, the CPU 101 counts whether there are any identical setting values 502 in the temporary data 500 created in S812, and detects a predetermined number of jobs with the highest count. The predetermined number here is the number of application buttons 201 to be displayed on the home screen 200, which is nine in this embodiment. Figure 6 above shows an example of the result of S815. In S816, the CPU 101 displays the detected top predetermined number of application buttons 201 on the home screen 200, thereby terminating this process.

As described above, according to this embodiment, the user can freely switch between prohibiting and allowing the automatic display on the home screen for each destination of application buttons, including destinations that may induce erroneous transmission. For example, by prohibiting the automatic display on the home screen of application buttons for jobs that are mainly sent externally, such as faxes, the risk of erroneous transmission can be reduced. On the other hand, for file transmissions that are often sent to the user's own PC or shared folders within the company, automatic display on the home screen of application buttons can be allowed, thereby improving user convenience.

It is also possible to prevent the home screen from being cluttered up with application buttons for copy jobs where only the number of copies differs from the default settings, or application buttons for fax jobs where only the destination differs from the default settings. In other words, by not displaying application buttons equivalent to simple application shortcut buttons on the home screen, it is possible to display application buttons that hold settings that have been changed to a certain extent from the default settings. This allows the user to quickly change settings even when further changing settings for a job to be executed. In other words, it is possible to provide high operability regardless of the MFP usage environment.

The present invention has been described above in detail based on preferred embodiments, but the present invention is not limited to these specific embodiments, and various forms within the scope of the gist of the invention are also included in the present invention. Furthermore, each of the above-mentioned embodiments merely represents one embodiment of the present invention, and each embodiment can be combined as appropriate.

For example, in the above embodiment, the temporary data 500 is updated each time the database 400 is updated, the number of uses 604 is detected, and the display of the application button is automatically updated. However, this is not limiting, and a method of detecting the number of uses 604 using the difference in the history data stored in the database 400 may also be adopted, which makes it possible to reduce the processing load on the CPU 101.

In the above embodiment, the display of application buttons on the home screen is automatically updated according to the number of times a job with a predetermined set value has been executed, based on the determination results of S806 to S811. The determination method of S806 to S811 is not limited to this, and can also be applied to functions such as a timeline display that displays a certain number of application buttons on the home screen in the order of executed jobs.

The present invention can also be realized by supplying a program that realizes one or more of the functions of the above-mentioned embodiments to a system or device via a network or storage medium, and having one or more processors in the computer of the system or device read and execute the program. It can also be realized by a circuit (e.g., an ASIC) that realizes one or more of the functions.

101 CPU
109 Operation panel 111 Display 114 Printer 115 Scanner 200 Home screen 201 Application button 301 Job type 302 Default setting value 601 Display order 602 Job type 603 Setting value 604 Number of uses

Claims (14)

A multifunction printer,
An execution means for executing a job;
a display means for displaying a button in which settings of a job previously executed by said execution means are registered, said button being used to execute a new job using said settings;
a determination unit for determining whether a predetermined input has been made by a user each time an instruction to execute a job is issued;
a control means for, when the determination means determines that the user has not made a specified input , not performing control to cause the display means to display a button on which the job settings are registered, and, when the determination means determines that the user has made the specified input, performing control to cause the display means to display a button on which the job settings are registered without accepting the job settings from the user again. Further comprising an operation unit,
2. The multifunction machine according to claim 1 , wherein the predetermined input is an input via the operation unit . 3. The multifunction machine according to claim 1, wherein the display means is capable of displaying a screen in which only three buttons are displayed at the same time, the three buttons being buttons in which settings of jobs previously executed by the execution means are registered and which are used to execute a new job with the settings. The multifunction device according to claim 1, characterized in that the button includes information indicating that the button is a button for a copy job. The multifunction device according to claim 4, characterized in that the button includes information indicating at least a part of the settings of the copy job. 5. The multifunction machine according to claim 4, wherein the display means is capable of displaying other buttons, which are buttons to which settings of previously executed transmission jobs are registered and which are used to execute a new transmission job using the registered settings . The multifunction device according to claim 6, characterized in that the other button includes information indicating that the other button is a button for a transmission job. The multifunction device according to claim 7, characterized in that the button includes information indicating that the button is a button for a copy job, which is different from information indicating that the other button is a button for a transmission job. The multifunction device according to any one of claims 6 to 8, characterized in that the button includes a first icon, and the other button includes a second icon different from the first icon. The multifunction device according to any one of claims 1 to 9, characterized in that it has a scanner for reading documents and a printer for printing on sheets. 11. The multifunction peripheral according to claim 1, wherein the predetermined input is an input of a destination used in the previously executed job. 11. The multifunction peripheral according to claim 1, wherein the predetermined input is an input of the number of copies used in the previously executed job. A control method for a multifunction peripheral, comprising:
an execution step that executes the job;
a display step of displaying a button in which settings of a job previously executed by the execution step are registered, the button being used to execute a new job with the settings;
a determination step of determining whether or not a predetermined input has been made by a user every time an instruction to execute a job is issued;
a control step of not controlling the display step to display the button on which the job settings are registered when it is determined in the determination step that the user has not made a specified input, and a control step of controlling the display step to display the button on which the job settings are registered without accepting the job settings from the user again when it is determined in the determination step that the user has made the specified input . A program for causing a computer to execute the control method for a multifunction machine according to claim 13 .

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