Display-Limited Image Forming With Mobile Feature-Image Selection
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing image forming apparatuses lack the ability to select and output document sheet data based on feature images, as they often do not have display capabilities to showcase thumbnail images or other feature indicators, limiting user selection options.
Innovation Solution
An image forming system that includes an acquisition processing portion to generate feature images, an acceptance processing portion to display these images on a mobile terminal, and an output processing portion to output the corresponding document sheet data based on user selection on the mobile terminal.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If the image forming apparatus does not have display capabilities, then the device complexity is reduced, but the user selection options are limited
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a mobile terminal as an intermediary device between the user and the image forming apparatus. The mobile terminal displays feature images and receives user selections, while the image forming apparatus simply processes and outputs the selected document sheet data. This mediator approach allows users to interact with the system through their smartphones without requiring the image forming apparatus to have display capabilities.
Solution Approach 2:
The system creates a copy of the document sheet data in the form of feature images (thumbnails) that are displayed on the mobile terminal. These feature images serve as representations of the actual document sheets, allowing users to browse and select documents without needing to physically handle or visually inspect the original documents on a display device connected to the image forming apparatus.
2Ease of operation
If feature images are displayed on a mobile terminal, then the ease of operation is improved, but the loss of time in data transmission increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system pre-processes and extracts feature images from document sheet data before the user needs to select anything. The feature images are generated in advance and made available for display on the mobile terminal, so when the user opens the application, they can immediately browse and select from pre-prepared thumbnails without waiting for real-time processing or image generation during the selection process.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent extracts only the essential visual features from the document sheet data to create compact feature images (thumbnails). By taking out only the necessary visual information and discarding the full document data during transmission, the system minimizes the amount of data that needs to be transmitted between the image forming apparatus and mobile terminal, thereby reducing transmission time while still providing sufficient visual information for user selection.
Data Source
AI summary
An image forming system includes an acquisition processing portion, an acceptance processing portion, and an output processing portion. The acquisition processing portion acquires feature images indicating features of respective pieces of document sheet data stored in a predetermined storage portion, the feature images corresponding to the respective pieces of document sheet data. The acceptance processing portion causes one or a plurality of the feature images acquired by the acquisition processing portion to be displayed on a predetermined mobile terminal, and accepts a selection operation for selecting the feature image on the mobile terminal. The output processing portion outputs the document sheet data corresponding to the feature image selected by the selection operation.