Notification program and notification device

Abstract

A notification program and a notification device are provided that can prevent a user from having to perform complicated operations when viewing content that cannot be viewed within a display screen. [Solution] The notification program is a notification program for notifying a user of a display device that displays content, and causes a computer to execute an acquisition process that acquires user operation information on the content, and a notification process that notifies the user, based on the operation information, to prompt them to perform a printing process regarding the display of the content.

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a notification program and a notification device. [Background technology]

[0002] Conventionally, there are known configurations for prompting a user to execute printing. For example, Patent Document 1 discloses a configuration for determining the timing for issuing a notification prompting a user to execute printing based on user information, etc., and issuing the notification to the user at the determined timing. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0003] [Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Publication No. 2021-135778 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] Incidentally, when content (e.g., a website, a document file, etc.) is displayed on a display device such as a personal computer or a smartphone, it may be easier for a user to view the content by printing it out rather than viewing it on the display screen.

[0005] However, in order for the user to view the content on the display screen, the user must repeatedly perform operations such as pinching out and scrolling, which may make the overall operation cumbersome.

[0006] An object of the present invention is to provide a notification program and a notification device that can prevent the user from having to perform complicated operations when viewing content that cannot be viewed within a display screen. [Means for solving the problem]

[0007] The notification program according to the present invention comprises: A notification program for notifying a user of a display device that displays content, On the computer, an acquisition process for acquiring operation information of the user in the content; a notification process for notifying the user to prompt the user to perform a print process related to the display of the content based on the operation information; Execute the following.

[0008] The notification device according to the present invention comprises: A notification device for notifying a user of a display device that displays content, an acquisition processing unit that acquires operation information of the user in the content; a notification processing unit that notifies the user to prompt the user to perform a print process related to the display of the content based on the operation information; Equipped with. [Effects of the Invention]

[0009] According to the present invention, it is possible to prevent the user from having to perform complicated operations when viewing content that cannot be viewed within the display screen. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0010] [Figure 1] 1 is a diagram illustrating a notification device according to an embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 2] FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a control unit of the notification device according to the present embodiment. [Figure 3] FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of text information displayed simultaneously with content on a display screen. [Figure 4] 10 is a flowchart illustrating an example of the operation of a process performed by a control unit of the notification device. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0011] DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. Fig. 1 is a diagram showing a notification device 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[0012] 1, notification device 1 is a device (e.g., a personal computer, smartphone, tablet terminal, etc.) that can view content such as websites and document files, and is connected to image forming device 2 via a communication network, etc. Notification device 1 has a communication unit 11, a display unit 12, an operation unit 13, and a control unit 14.

[0013] The communication unit 11 includes a LAN (Local Area Network) adapter, a modem, a TA (Terminal Adapter), and the like, and controls data transmission and reception with each device (such as the image forming device 2) connected to the communication network N.

[0014] The display unit 12 has a display screen capable of displaying content such as websites, document files, etc. for viewing. The display unit 12 corresponds to the "display device" of the present invention.

[0015] The operation unit 13 is configured to be operable by a user and may be, for example, a keyboard and a pointing device such as a mouse, or may be a touch panel or the like provided on a display screen.

[0016] For example, when a user performs an operation to open content via operation unit 13, display unit 12 displays the details of the content on the display screen. Furthermore, when the user performs an operation to execute a print process on image forming device 2 via operation unit 13 while the content is open, communication unit 11 transmits the content data to image forming device 2. When image forming device 2 receives the content data, it executes a print process on the data.

[0017] The control unit 14 includes a CPU (Central Processing Unit), a ROM (Read Only Memory), a RAM (Random Access Memory), etc. The CPU reads a program corresponding to the processing content from the ROM, loads it into the RAM, and works with the loaded program to centrally control the operation of each block of the notification device 1. The program may be installed and executed on a computer related to the notification device 1. The program may also be installed as an extension of another application, or may be a program corresponding to an application that monitors user operations in the background.

[0018] Furthermore, the control unit 14 performs control so as to issue a notification prompting a print process for the displayed content when content to be viewed by the user is displayed on the display unit 12. As shown in FIG. 2, the control unit 14 includes an acquisition processing unit 141 and a notification processing unit 142.

[0019] The acquisition processing unit 141 acquires user operation information on content from the operation unit 13. The user operation information includes information indicating an operation to enlarge content opened on the display unit 12 (a pinch-out operation), and information indicating an operation to scroll the content in at least one of the vertical and horizontal directions.

[0020] The notification processing unit 142 notifies the user to perform print processing related to the displayed content based on the operation information.

[0021] The notification prompting the user to perform printing processing for the displayed content is a notification to prompt the user to print the content onto a recording medium and view it if the user cannot view the content within the content display frame on the display screen of the display unit 12.

[0022] The content display frame is the area within the display screen where the content is displayed. For example, if the content is displayed over the entire display screen, the display frame is the display screen, and if the content is displayed within a frame of a portion of the display screen, the display frame is the frame of that portion.

[0023] Furthermore, "users cannot view content" means that users cannot smoothly read the content when the content is displayed when it is opened. "users cannot view content" includes not only the fact that users cannot view the content, but also the fact that users have difficulty viewing the content.

[0024] Specifically, the notification processing unit 142 determines whether the user can view the content displayed on the display unit 12. More specifically, the notification processing unit 142 determines whether the content will protrude from the display frame based on the user's operation information. If the notification processing unit 142 determines in this determination process (first process) that the content will protrude from the display frame, it determines that the user cannot view the content.

[0025] That is, when the user performs an operation to enlarge the content or an operation to scroll the content, the notification processing unit 142 determines that the content is outside the display frame.

[0026] The criterion for determining whether an operation to enlarge content will cause content to overflow from the display frame may be, for example, whether the size of the content has become n times or more the size of the display frame. Also, the criterion for determining whether an operation to scroll content will cause content to overflow from the display frame may be, for example, whether the size of the content is n times or more the size of the display frame. n is a number greater than 1, for example, 4.

[0027] For example, if the text information within the content display frame is set to be relatively small, the user may enlarge the content to view it. However, when the content is enlarged, the content may extend beyond the display frame, making it difficult for the user to view the entire content. In this case, the user must perform a scroll operation in addition to the enlargement operation to view the portion of the content that extends beyond the frame.

[0028] In addition, there are cases where the content extends beyond the display frame from the beginning, and in this case, the user cannot view the entire content, so they must perform a scroll operation to view the portion of the content that extends beyond the display frame. After the scroll operation, the portion that did not extend beyond the display frame before the operation will now extend beyond the display frame, so if the user wants to view that portion again, they must perform a scroll operation to return the display to its original state.

[0029] In this way, if the content is too large to fit within the display frame, when the user performs zooming or scrolling, another operation is required. In other words, if the content cannot be viewed on the display screen, the operations required for the user to view the content become complicated.

[0030] Therefore, in this embodiment, when the notification processing unit 142 determines that the user cannot view the content, the notification processing unit 142 notifies the user to perform a print process related to the displayed content. The notification to prompt the user to perform a print process may be, for example, text information that is displayed on the display screen together with the content.

[0031] For example, Fig. 3 shows an example in which a frame 142A containing the text information is displayed superimposed on the content. Fig. 3 shows an example in which the text information is "We recommend that you print it out and view it rather than viewing it on the screen."

[0032] The display related to the notification may also include a print button 142B that executes printing processing in response to a user operation. The print button 142B is a button that executes printing processing of the content when pressed by the user via the operation unit 13, for example.

[0033] The display related to the notification may also include a cancel button 142C that can be operated by the user to cancel the execution of the printing process. The cancel button 142C is a button that can be pressed by the user via the operation unit 13 to remove the notification frame 142A from the display screen without executing the printing process.

[0034] 3 shows an example in which a frame with the word "PRINT" written on it is displayed in notification frame 142A as print button 142B. Also, an example in which a frame with the word "CANCEL" written on it is displayed in notification frame 142A as cancel button 142C is shown.

[0035] Here, when print button 142B is pressed by a user operation, control unit 14 outputs a command to print the display screen of display unit 12 to image forming device 2 via communication unit 11. Upon receiving the command to print, image forming device 2 executes print processing of the content displayed on display unit 12 of notification device 1.

[0036] Furthermore, when the cancel button 142C is pressed by the user, the control unit 14 erases the frame 142A of the text information displayed superimposed on the frame of the content from the display screen.

[0037] Next, a description will be given of the flow of processing by the control unit 14 of the notification device 1. Fig. 4 is a flowchart showing an example of the operation of processing by the control unit 14 of the notification device 1. This processing is executed as appropriate when content is displayed on the display unit 12 of the notification device 1, for example.

[0038] 4, the control unit 14 determines whether or not user operation information has been acquired (step S101). If the determination result shows that user operation information has not been acquired (step S101, NO), the control unit 14 determines whether or not browsing of the content has ended (step S102).

[0039] If the result of the determination is that the viewing of the content has ended (step S102, YES), this control ends. On the other hand, if the viewing of the content has not ended (step S102, NO), the process returns to step S101.

[0040] Returning to the determination in step S101, if the user operation information is acquired (step S101, YES), the control unit 14 determines whether the content on the display screen is a display that the user cannot view (step S103).

[0041] If the determination result shows that the content is not in a display that the user cannot view (step S103, NO), the process proceeds to step S102. On the other hand, if the content is in a display that the user cannot view (step S103, YES), the control unit 14 issues a notification urging the user to perform printing (step S104).

[0042] After step S104, the control unit 14 determines whether or not the printing process has been executed (step S105). If the result of the determination is that the printing process has not been executed (step S105, NO), the process proceeds to step S102. Note that if the printing process has not been executed in step S105, this control may end.

[0043] On the other hand, if the printing process has been executed (YES in step S105), this control ends. After the printing process has been executed in step S105, the process may return to step S101.

[0044] According to the present embodiment configured as described above, a notification is sent to the user prompting the user to perform a print process related to the displayed content based on information about the user's operation on the content. As a result, when viewing content that cannot be viewed within the display frame, the user is prevented from repeatedly scrolling the displayed content. In other words, the user is prevented from having to perform complicated operations when viewing content that cannot be viewed within the display frame.

[0045] Furthermore, the system determines whether the user can view the content displayed on the display unit 12, and if it determines that the user cannot view the content, it issues a notification. That is, a notification is issued when the user cannot view the content, and no notification is issued when the user can view the content. Therefore, since notifications are issued only when necessary, it is possible to prevent frequent notifications.

[0046] In the above embodiment, whether or not the user can view the content is determined by determining whether or not the content extends beyond the display screen based on the operation information, but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, the notification processing unit 142 may determine whether or not the user can view the content by determining whether or not the content has been switched from a content for a small-size screen to a content for a large-size screen based on the operation information.

[0047] The small-size screen is, for example, a screen corresponding to the size of a display screen of a relatively small mobile device such as a smartphone, and the large-size screen is, for example, a screen corresponding to the size of a display screen of a relatively large display such as a personal computer.

[0048] In this case, the operation information may be, for example, information indicating an operation by the user to switch the display mode of the display screen.

[0049] For example, suppose that while viewing content on a smartphone, the user switches the display mode from a display for a smartphone to a display for a personal computer.

[0050] In this case, the content displayed changes from content suitable for a small screen to content suitable for a large screen, so the information displayed on the display screen becomes smaller than before the change, and as a result, the content becomes unviewable to the user.

[0051] In such a case, the notification processing unit 142 determines that the content for the small size screen has been switched to the content for the large size screen. If the notification processing unit 142 determines in this determination process (second process) that the content for the small size screen has been switched to the content for the large size screen, it determines that the user cannot view the content.

[0052] Furthermore, for example, the notification processing unit 142 may determine whether the user can view the content by determining whether the character size in the content displayed on the display screen based on the operation information is smaller than a predetermined size.

[0053] In this case, the operation information may be information indicating an operation by a user to open content (for example, a document file or a website). The predetermined size can be set appropriately based on the balance between the size of the frame when the content is opened and the size of the characters, and may be, for example, 10 points. The character size information may be determined based on the character size information in the document file and the character size information set for display on the website.

[0054] For example, when a document file is opened, one page of the document file may be displayed in the entire frame. In this case, if the character size is smaller than a predetermined size, the user may find the characters difficult to read, which may lead to operations such as enlarging the document file.

[0055] In such a case, the notification processing unit 142 determines whether the character size is smaller than the predetermined size. If the notification processing unit 142 determines in this determination process (third process) that the character size is smaller than the predetermined size, it determines that the user cannot view the content.

[0056] Furthermore, when the user performs an operation to open content, the notification processing unit 142 may perform a notification based on information about the size of the display screen of the display device.

[0057] For example, even for personal computers, there are display devices with relatively small display screens, such as those smaller than 13 inches. When a user opens a document file related to content on such a display device, the frame of the document file may be too small for the user to view.

[0058] In such a case, the notification processing unit 142 issues a notification urging the user to perform a print process related to the content display.

[0059] Furthermore, it may be possible to set conditions for issuing a notification prompting printing processing. Such conditions may be that the content exceeds the display screen, that the display of the content is switched from a small screen to a large screen, that the character size on the display screen is smaller than a predetermined size, that the display screen is a small screen, etc.

[0060] In this case, the control unit 14 issues a notification urging the user to perform printing processing based on operation information according to the set conditions.

[0061] This allows the user to perform the operation after understanding the operation that will cause the notification to be processed, so the notification processing can be displayed at the timing desired by the user. Also, if an operation that has not been set is performed, the notification processing will not be performed, so it is possible to prevent the notification processing from being performed too frequently. Note that the set conditions may be changeable as appropriate.

[0062] In a case where multiple conditions are set as operation information, if the user performs an operation based on one of the conditions and receives a notification prompting the user to perform printing, the user may press the cancel button 142C in the notification, which will clear the notification frame 142A. However, the user may then perform an operation based on another of the multiple conditions.

[0063] In this case, the display related to the notification may be displayed again on the display screen. That is, after the cancel button 142C is operated, the control unit 14 may perform processing to display the display related to the notification again on the display screen based on the operation information of the user.

[0064] In this way, when each of the operations based on the multiple viewing-disabled conditions is performed, a notification prompting the user to perform printing can be reliably displayed.

[0065] Furthermore, after notification processing is performed based on user operation information, printing processing may or may not be performed depending on the user's behavior. If printing processing is performed, there is no need to print the content again. If printing processing is not performed, it is possible that the user does not want to print the content.

[0066] In such a case, it is considered that there is no need to perform notification processing again for the content. Therefore, after the notification processing based on the user's operation information has been performed, the control unit 14 may prohibit the re-execution of notification processing for the already notified content.

[0067] In this way, it is possible to prevent the notification process from being performed multiple times for content that has already been notified.

[0068] Furthermore, after the prohibition process is performed, content different from the notified content may be displayed. In this case, since the newly displayed content has not been printed or processed, if the prohibition process remains in effect, the user may continue to be unable to view the content.

[0069] Therefore, the control unit 14 may cancel the prohibition process when content different from the notified content is displayed.

[0070] In this way, a notification urging the user to perform printing is sent even for newly displayed content, so that a notification urging the user to perform printing can be reliably sent for content that cannot be viewed.

[0071] Furthermore, in the above embodiment, the display unit 12 of the notification device 1 is exemplified as a display device, but the present invention is not limited to this, and the notification device and the display device may be separate devices.

[0072] Furthermore, in the above embodiment, the notification prompting the printing process was given by text information displayed on the display screen, but the present invention is not limited to this, and the notification may also be given by audio information output from a display device, etc.

[0073] In the above embodiment, the display related to the notification prompting the printing process includes a print button (print operation section) and a cancel button (cancel operation section), but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, the display related to the notification prompting the printing process may not include a print operation section and a cancel operation section.

[0074] Furthermore, in the above embodiment, the notification device and the image forming device are separate entities, but the present invention is not limited to this, and the function of the notification device may be incorporated into the image forming device.

[0075] Furthermore, the above-described embodiments are merely examples of specific embodiments for carrying out the present invention, and the technical scope of the present invention should not be construed as being limited by these embodiments. In other words, the present invention can be carried out in various forms without departing from the gist or main features thereof. [Explanation of symbols]

[0076] 1 Notification device 2. Image forming device 11 Communications Department 12 Display section 13 Control section 14 Control Unit 141 Acquisition processing unit 142 Notification processing section

Claims

1. A notification program for notifying a user of a display device that displays content, On the computer, an acquisition process for acquiring operation information of the user in the content; a notification process for notifying the user to prompt the user to perform a print process related to the display of the content based on the operation information; Execute Notification program.

2. The notification process includes: a process of determining whether the content displayed on the display device is viewable by the user; a process of notifying the user when it is determined that the user cannot view the content; having The notification program according to claim 1 .

3. the determining process includes a first process of determining whether the content extends beyond the display screen based on the operation information; In the determining process, if it is determined in the first process that the content will extend beyond the display screen, it is determined that the user cannot view the content. The notification program according to claim 2 .

4. the operation information is information indicating an operation by the user to enlarge the content on the display screen or an operation to scroll the content on the display screen. The notification program according to claim 3 .

5. the determining process includes a second process of determining whether or not content for a small-size screen has been switched to content for a large-size screen based on the operation information, In the determining process, if it is determined that the content for the small-size screen has been switched to the content for the large-size screen in the second process, it is determined that the user cannot view the content. The notification program according to claim 2 .

6. the operation information is information indicating an operation by the user to switch a display mode of the display screen; The notification program according to claim 5.

7. the determining process includes a third process of determining whether a character size in the content displayed on the display screen based on the operation information is equal to or larger than a predetermined size, In the determining process, if it is determined in the third process that the character size is smaller than the predetermined size, it is determined that the user cannot view the content. The notification program according to claim 2 .

8. the operation information is information indicating an operation by the user to open the content; The notification program according to claim 7.

9. the notification process includes a process of performing the notification based on information about a size of a display screen of the display device when the user performs an operation to open the content. The notification program according to claim 1 .

10. the notification process includes a process of displaying a display related to the notification on a display screen of the display device. The notification program according to claim 1 .

11. the display related to the notification includes a print operation unit that executes a print process in response to an operation by the user; The notification program according to claim 10.

12. the display related to the notification further includes a cancel operation section for canceling execution of the printing process by an action of the user; the notification process further includes a process of re-displaying a display related to the notification on the display screen based on operation information of the user after the cancel operation unit is operated. The notification program according to claim 11.

13. The computer, After the notification process is performed based on the user's operation information, a prohibition process is executed to prohibit the notification process from being performed on the notified content. The notification program according to claim 1 .

14. The computer, When content different from the notified content is displayed, a cancellation process is executed to cancel the prohibition process. The notification program according to claim 13.

15. A notification device for notifying a user of a display device that displays content, an acquisition processing unit that acquires operation information of the user in the content; a notification processing unit that notifies the user to prompt the user to perform a print process related to the display of the content based on the operation information; A notification device comprising:

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