Display input device and image forming device

Abstract

To make it possible to move a plurality of icons from a certain page to another page and display the icons with a simple operation.SOLUTION: In an image forming apparatus 10, a control unit 31 causes a display 21 to switch and display a plurality of pages on which icons are arranged, when, in a state in which the control unit causes the display 21 to display any one of the pages, the plurality of icons on the page displayed on the display 21 are selected through an operation on a touch panel 23 and when grouping of the selected icons is instructed, creates a group by collecting the icons, and when movement of the group from the page displayed on the display 21 to another page is instructed through an operation on the touch panel 23, moves the group to the another page and displays the group.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 2

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a display / input device that displays icons on a display unit and inputs operations on the icons from an operation unit, and an image forming apparatus equipped with the same, and in particular to a technique for moving and displaying an icon from one page to another page. [Background technology]

[0002] The display input device has a display unit and an operation unit (e.g., a touch panel provided on the screen of the display unit) that is operated by the user, and when an icon displayed on the screen of the display unit is designated by a touch operation, the position of this touch operation is detected by the touch panel, and the designated icon is determined based on the position of this touch operation.

[0003] In addition, in the electronic device described in Patent Document 1, an edit mode is executed in response to a first touch (long touch) on an icon displayed on one page of the home screen, and a second touch moves to another page of the home screen. If the first touch is continued during the movement to the other page, the icon continues to be displayed, and when the first touch on the icon is released, the position of the icon moves to another page, thereby enabling convenient and intuitive icon moving operations. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0004] [Patent Document 1] JP 2017-188139 A Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0005] In Patent Document 1, an icon can be moved from one page to another by simultaneously performing a first touch on the icon and a second touch to instruct the page to be moved. However, when moving multiple icons from one page to another, the first touch and the second touch must be repeated for each icon, making the operation complicated.

[0006] The present invention has been made in consideration of the above circumstances, and has an object to make it possible to move and display a plurality of icons from one page to another page with a simple operation. [Means for solving the problem]

[0007] A display input device according to one aspect of the present invention comprises a display unit that displays icons, an operation unit that is operated by a user to input operations for the icons displayed on the display unit, and a control unit that switches between and displays on the display unit a plurality of pages on which each icon is arranged, and when one of the pages is displayed on the display unit, a plurality of icons on a page displayed on the display unit is selected by operation of the operation unit and an instruction is given to group the selected icons, a group is created by grouping the icons, and when an instruction is given to move the group from the page displayed on the display unit to another page by operation of the operation unit, the control unit moves the group to the other page.

[0008] An image forming apparatus according to one aspect of the present invention includes the display input device of the present invention and an image forming section that forms an image on a recording sheet. Effect of the Invention

[0009] According to the present invention, a plurality of icons can be moved from one page to another page and displayed by a simple operation. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0010] [Figure 1] 1 is a cross-sectional view showing an image forming apparatus to which a display input device according to an embodiment of the present invention is applied. [Diagram 2] 1 is a block diagram showing a main internal configuration of an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention; [Diagram 3] 1A, 1B, and 1C are diagrams illustrating examples of pages displayed on a display unit of an image forming apparatus. [Figure 4A] 13 is a flowchart showing a control procedure for collectively moving a plurality of icons from one page to another page. [Figure 4B] 4B is a flowchart showing a control procedure subsequent to FIG. 4A. [Diagram 5] 13A, 13B, and 13C are diagrams showing the process of an operation for grouping a plurality of icons into one group icon on the screen of a display unit. [Figure 6] 13(A) and 13(B) are diagrams showing the process of operations for moving a group icon from one page to the next page on the screen of the display unit. [Figure 7] 13A and 13B are diagrams showing the process of operations for expanding a group icon to display a plurality of icons. [Figure 8] 13A and 13B are diagrams showing another example of the process of an operation for expanding a group icon to display a plurality of icons. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0011] A display input device and an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view showing an image forming apparatus to which a display input device according to an embodiment of the present invention is applied. As shown in FIG. 1, an image forming apparatus 10 according to this embodiment is an MFP (multi-function peripheral) having multiple functions such as a copy function, a printer function, and a facsimile function. The image forming apparatus 10 includes an image reading unit 11 and an image forming unit 12.

[0012] The image reading unit 11 has an image pickup element that optically reads an image of a document, and an analog output of the image pickup element is converted into a digital signal to generate image data representing the image of the document.

[0013] The image forming section 12 forms an image of the document on a recording sheet, and includes a magenta image forming unit 3M, a cyan image forming unit 3C, a yellow image forming unit 3Y, and a black image forming unit 3Bk. In each of the image forming units 3M, 3C, 3Y, and 3Bk, the surface of the photosensitive drum 4 is uniformly charged, the surface of the photosensitive drum 4 is exposed to light, an electrostatic latent image is formed on the surface of the photosensitive drum 4, the electrostatic latent image on the surface of the photosensitive drum 4 is developed into a toner image, and the toner image on the surface of the photosensitive drum 4 is primarily transferred to the intermediate transfer belt 5. As a result, a color toner image is formed on the intermediate transfer belt 5. This color toner image is secondarily transferred to the recording sheet P transported from the paper feed section 14 through the transport path 8 in the nip area N between the intermediate transfer belt 5 and the secondary transfer roller 6.

[0014] Thereafter, the recording paper P is heated and pressed by the fixing device 15, the toner image on the recording paper P is fixed by thermocompression, and the recording paper P is then discharged onto a paper discharge tray 17 via discharge rollers 16.

[0015] Fig. 2 is a block diagram showing the main internal configuration of the image forming apparatus 10 of this embodiment. As shown in Fig. 2, the image forming apparatus 10 includes an image reading unit 11, an image forming unit 12, a display unit 21, an operation unit 22, a touch panel 23, a storage unit 28, and a control unit 29. These components are capable of transmitting and receiving data or signals to and from each other via a bus.

[0016] The display unit 21 is configured with a liquid crystal display (LCD), an organic light-emitting diode (OLED) display, etc. The operation unit 22 includes physical keys such as a numeric keypad, a decision key, and a start key.

[0017] A touch panel 23 is disposed on the screen of the display unit 21. The touch panel 23 is a so-called resistive film type or capacitive type touch panel, which detects contact (touch) of a user's finger or the like on the touch panel 23 together with the contact position, and outputs a detection signal indicating the coordinates of the contact position to a control unit 31 (to be described later) of the control unit 29. The touch panel 23 serves as an operation unit into which user operations on the screen of the display unit 21 are input.

[0018] The storage unit 28 is a large-capacity storage device such as a solid state drive (SSD) or a hard disk drive (HDD), and stores various application programs and various data.

[0019] The control unit 29 is composed of a processor, a RAM (Random Access Memory), a ROM (Read Only Memory), etc. The processor is, for example, a CPU (Central Processing Unit), an ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit), or an MPU (Micro Processing Unit), etc. The control unit 29 functions as a control unit 31 by the processor executing a control program stored in the ROM or the storage unit 28.

[0020] The control unit 31 comprehensively controls the image forming apparatus 10. The control unit 29 is connected to the image reading unit 11, the image forming unit 12, the display unit 21, the operation unit 22, the touch panel 23, the storage unit 28, etc. The control unit 31 controls the operation of these components and transmits and receives signals or data between these components.

[0021] The control unit 31 serves as a processing unit that executes various processes necessary for image formation by the image forming apparatus 10. The control unit 31 also accepts operation instructions input by a user based on a detection signal output from the touch panel 23 or an operation of a physical key of the operation unit 22. The control unit 31 also has a function of controlling the display operation of the display unit 21.

[0022] In the image forming device 10 configured as above, the user selects the copy function by operating the operation unit 22 or the touch panel 23. As a result, an instruction to execute copying is input to the operation unit 22 or the touch panel 23. In response to the instruction to execute copying, the control unit 31 causes the image reading unit 11 to read the image of the document, and causes the image forming unit 12 to record the image of the document on recording paper.

[0023] In addition, in the image forming apparatus 10, as the image forming apparatus 10 becomes more multifunctional, a plurality of functions are selectively executed. The control unit 31 switches and displays a plurality of pages (such as a page of a home menu screen) on which icons corresponding to the respective functions are arranged in order to activate the respective functions on the display unit 21. When the control unit 31 detects a touch operation on any of the icons through the touch panel 23, it executes the function associated with the icon. For example, the control unit 31 switches and displays a plurality of pages P1, P2, P3, ... as shown in Figs. 3(A), (B), and (C) on the display unit 21. On these pages P1, P2, P3, ..., respective icons IC1, IC2, ... are arranged and displayed, and when an icon is touched by the user, the touch operation on the icon is detected through the touch panel 23, and the control unit 31 executes the function associated with the icon.

[0024] Here, the user may wish to change the icons displayed on each page. In this case, when the user performs a drag operation on the icon to move the icon from the page on which it is displayed to another page, the control unit 31 detects the drag operation on the icon through the touch panel 23, and performs control corresponding to the drag operation to move the icon from the page being displayed on the screen of the display unit 21 to another page and display it. However, it is cumbersome to perform the drag operation for each icon in order to move multiple icons from one page to another page.

[0025] Therefore, in this embodiment, touch panel 23 accepts input of an instruction to select multiple icons displayed on a page in response to a user's operation on the screen of display unit 21. Subsequently, when a grouping instruction to group the multiple icons selected by the user's operation is detected through touch panel 23, control unit 31 creates a group icon (approximately a folder in which multiple icons are stored) that groups the multiple selected icons in accordance with the grouping instruction.

[0026] When the user performs a drag operation on the group icon to move it from the page on which the group icon is displayed to another page, the control unit 31 detects the drag operation on the icon through the touch panel 23 as an instruction to move the group icon from the page on which the group icon is displayed to another page and display it, and performs control corresponding to this instruction to move the group icon from the page on which the group icon is displayed to another page and display it. Furthermore, when the user performs an operation on the screen of the display unit 21 to instruct the group icon to be expanded, the control unit 31 detects the operation through the touch panel 23 as an instruction to expand the group icon, expands the group icon according to the instruction, and displays each icon grouped as the group icon individually on another page in a state where it is not grouped as an icon. Therefore, the user's operation when moving multiple icons to another page at once is simplified.

[0027] Next, a control procedure for collectively moving and displaying a plurality of icons from one page to another page will be described in detail with reference to the flowcharts shown in FIGS. 4A and 4B.

[0028] First, the control unit 31 is assumed to be displaying page P1 shown in Fig. 5(A) on the screen of the display unit 21 (S101). When the user performs a drag-and-drop operation, for example, on icon IC6 to another icon IC5, the control unit 31 detects the drag-and-drop operation via the touch panel 23 (S102 "Yes"), and in response to the drag-and-drop operation, moves and displays icon IC6 until it overlaps with other icon IC5, and further generates a group icon G by grouping icon IC6 and icon IC5 as shown in Fig. 5(B) as an example, and displays this group icon G on page P1 (S103).

[0029] When an icon is dragged and dropped to an empty space in a page and the operation is detected by control unit 31 via touch panel 23, control unit 31 simply moves the icon to the empty space and displays it, but does not generate a group icon. Furthermore, when control unit 31 detects a touch operation on an icon via touch panel 23, it executes a function associated with that icon.

[0030] Next, the user performs a drag-and-drop operation on another icon to the group icon G, or performs a drag operation on the group icon G. For example, when the control unit 31 detects a drag-and-drop operation on another icon IC7 performed by the user to the group icon G via the touch panel 23 (S104 "Yes"), the control unit 31 further adds the other icon IC7 to the group consisting of the icons IC5 and IC6, updates the group icon G, and displays the updated group icon G on the page P1 (S105). Similarly, thereafter, every time the control unit 31 detects a drag-and-drop operation on another icon (e.g., icon IC4) to the group icon G, the control unit 31 adds the other icon to the group of the group icon G, and updates the group icon G. For example, as shown in FIG. 5(C), the control unit 31 generates a group consisting of icons IC4, IC5, IC6, and IC7, and displays the group icon G representing this group. Furthermore, when the control unit 31 detects a drag-and-drop operation on different icons to overlap each other, the control unit 31 generates and displays a group icon G consisting of the group of these different icons.

[0031] Then, when the user performs a drag operation (touch operation to move the position of the touch operation) on the group icon G, and the control unit 31 detects the drag operation on the group icon G through the touch panel 23 (S104 "No", S106 "Yes"), the control unit 31 moves and displays the group icon G within the page P1 following the drag operation as shown in Fig. 6(A) (S107). At this time, when the control unit 31 detects through the touch panel 23 that the user's drag operation on the group icon G has reached the right edge of the screen of the display unit 21 (a position spanning between pages) (S108 (Yes)), the control unit 31 displays the next page P2 on the screen of the display unit 21, and moves and displays the group icon G to the next page P2 (S109), as shown in the example of Fig. 6(B).

[0032] Furthermore, when the control unit 31 detects through the touch panel 23 that the above-mentioned drag operation on the group icon G by the user has been performed to the left edge of the screen of the display unit 21 (the position spanning between pages) (S108 (Yes)), it displays the previous page on the screen of the display unit 21 and moves and displays the group icon G to the previous page P (S109). Note that if the answer is No in S108, the control unit 31 moves and displays the group icon G to the position on the screen of the display unit 21 where the above-mentioned drag operation on the group icon G by the user ended, and then the process proceeds to S110.

[0033] Similarly, when the control unit 31 detects via the touch panel 23 that the user's drag operation on the group icon G has reached the right or left end of the screen of the display unit 21, it causes the next or previous page to be displayed on the screen of the display unit 21, and moves and displays the group icon G to the next or previous page P that was displayed.

[0034] This allows the user to move and arrange the group icon G on a desired page across pages by performing a drag and drop operation (drag-and-drop operation) on the group icon G.

[0035] Then, after the user moves the group icon G to a desired page by a drag operation, or when the group icon G is displayed on the original page, the user performs a touch operation on the group icon G, and the control unit 31 detects the touch operation on the group icon G through the touch panel 23 (S110 "Yes"), the control unit 31 displays a pop-up screen PU on the screen of the display unit 21 (S112) as shown in Fig. 7(A) as an example. On this pop-up screen PU, a message M prompting the user to expand the group icon G, a "Yes" key K1, and a "No" key K2 are displayed. If the answer is No in S110, the process returns to S107.

[0036] For example, when the user sees message M and touches the “No” key K2, the control unit 31 detects the touch operation on the “No” key K2 through the touch panel 23 (S113 “No”), maintains the display and position of the group icon G on page P2 as shown in FIG. 6(B), and ends the control of FIGS. 4A and 4B.

[0037] Furthermore, when the user touches the "Yes" key K1 and the control unit 31 detects the touch operation on the "Yes" key K1 through the touch panel 23 (S113 "Yes"), the control unit 31 determines whether or not there is enough free space on the page displayed on the display unit 21 to expand each icon of the group icon G and align and display each icon individually (S114).

[0038] When the control unit 31 determines that the necessary free space is available on the page displayed on the display unit 21 (S114 "Yes"), it unfolds the group icon G, displays each icon of the group icon G individually aligned on page P2 (S115), and erases the group icon G from the screen of the display unit 21 (S116), as shown in the example of Fig. 7(B). Then, the control of Figs. 4A and 4B ends.

[0039] Furthermore, when the control unit 31 determines that there is not enough free space (S114 "No"), it determines the number of icons that can be aligned and displayed in the free space on the page displayed on the display unit 21 (S117), selects icons that satisfy a preset condition from among the icons of the group icon G, a number equal to or less than the determined number, and displays the selected icons individually aligned in the free space (S118) as shown in Fig. 8(B), and updates the group icon G, the example of which is shown in Fig. 8(A), to include only the unselected icons (S119).Then, the control of Figs. 4A and 4B ends.

[0040] The above-mentioned preset condition is, for example, the priority of each icon, and a table in which the priorities are registered is generated in advance and stored in the memory unit 28. The control unit 31 refers to this table and sequentially selects icons from among the icons of the group icon G according to their priority.

[0041] The above-mentioned preset condition is, for example, a specific function of each icon, and a table in which the specific functions are registered is generated in advance and stored in the storage unit 28, and the control unit 31 refers to this table and selects an icon associated with the specific function from among the icons of the group icon G. Note that, instead of this, the control unit 31 may (i) select an icon other than the icon associated with the specific function from among the icons of the group icon G, or (ii) select the icon associated with the specific function or the other icons, whichever has a larger number or the smaller number, with the further condition that the number is equal to or less than the determined number.

[0042] Alternatively, the above-mentioned preset condition may be the manufacturer of the function (application program) of each icon, and a table in which the manufacturers are registered may be generated in advance and stored in the storage unit 28, and the control unit 31 may refer to this table and select an icon associated with the manufacturer from among the icons of the group icon G. Alternatively, the control unit 31 may select from among the icons of the group icon G an icon that corresponds to the manufacturer (iii). An icon other than the icon associated with the particular manufacturer may be selected, or (iV) between the icons associated with the particular manufacturer and the other icons, the greater or lesser number may be selected, with the further condition that the number is equal to or less than the number determined above.

[0043] In addition, when the number of icons that can be aligned and displayed in the available space is 0, the control unit 31 does not expand or update the group icon G, but maintains the display and position of the group icon G on page P2 as shown in Figure 6 (B), and terminates the control of Figures 4A and 4B.

[0044] In this manner, in this embodiment, a group icon indicating a group made up of multiple icons is generated, the group icon is moved from one page to another page for display, and each icon of the group icon is expanded and displayed individually, thereby simplifying user operations when moving multiple icons from one page to another page for display.

[0045] In the above embodiment, when an icon is moved from one page to another page and displayed, the control unit 31 expands the group icon G when there is an operation from the user. However, instead, when the group icon G is moved from one page to another page and displayed, the group icon G may be immediately expanded and each icon may be displayed individually on another page, regardless of whether there is an operation from the user.

[0046] Furthermore, the control unit 31 may move and display the group icon G from one page to another page in response to an operation other than the drag-and-drop operation.

[0047] In addition, in the above embodiment, an image forming apparatus to which a display input device according to one embodiment of the present invention is applied is exemplified, but the display input device according to the present invention can also be applied to other electronic devices such as personal computers, mobile phones, and mobile telephones.

[0048] Moreover, the configuration and processing of the embodiment described above with reference to FIGS. 1 to 7 are merely one embodiment of the present invention, and it is not intended that the present invention be limited to these configurations and processing. [Explanation of symbols]

[0049] 10 Image forming device 11 Image reading unit 12 Image forming section 21 Display section 22 Control section 23 Touch Panel 28 Memory section 29 Control Unit 31 Control Unit

Claims

1. A display unit for displaying icons; an operation unit that is operated by a user to input an operation for an icon displayed on the display unit; a control unit which switches between and displays a plurality of pages, each having an icon arranged thereon, on the display unit, and when a plurality of icons on a page displayed on the display unit are selected by operation of the operation unit while any one of the pages is displayed on the display unit and an instruction is given to group the selected icons, creates a group of the icons, and when an instruction is given to move the group from the page displayed on the display unit to another page by operation of the operation unit, moves the group to the other page and displays it, The control unit is if there is enough free space on the other page to expand and individually align and display all of the icons of the group, then all of the icons of the group are individually aligned and displayed on the other page; if the required free space is not available on the other page, determining the number of icons that can be aligned and displayed in the free space on the other page; if the number of icons that can be aligned and displayed is not 0, selecting icons from each icon of the group in descending order of priority in accordance with a predetermined priority of each icon, up to a number equal to or less than the determined number, and individually aligning and displaying the selected icons in the empty space; A display input device which does not expand the group when the number of icons which can be aligned and displayed is 0.

2. A display unit for displaying an icon; an operation unit that is operated by a user to input an operation for an icon displayed on the display unit; a control unit which switches between and displays a plurality of pages, each having an icon arranged thereon, on the display unit, and when a plurality of icons on a page displayed on the display unit are selected by operation of the operation unit while any one of the pages is displayed on the display unit and an instruction is given to group the selected icons, creates a group of the icons, and when an instruction is given to move the group from the page displayed on the display unit to another page by operation of the operation unit, moves the group to the other page and displays it, the control unit selects each icon of the group based on a preset condition, expands the group on the other page, and displays only the selected icons on the other page; A display input device in which, when displaying only the selected icons on the other page, the control unit causes the display unit to create a group that includes only the unselected icons instead of the group and display the group on the other page.

3. A display input device according to claim 1 or 2; An image forming apparatus comprising: an image forming unit that forms an image on a recording sheet.

Images