Icon Positioning on Display for Finishing Settings
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current image forming apparatuses require multiple button presses and complex hierarchies to set finishing options like stapling or hole-punching, making it difficult for users to understand and perform these operations, especially for infrequent users.
Innovation Solution
A user interface that displays icons for stapling and hole-punching on the same screen as a preview image, allowing users to intuitively select and set finishing options by moving icons to specific areas, reducing the number of operations required and providing an intuitive understanding of the process.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If a hierarchical setting screen is used to organize finishing options, then the setting can be structured and organized, but the number of button operations increases and the hierarchy becomes deep
Solution Approach 1:
The setting screen is segmented into distinct functional areas: a preview image display area showing the actual sheet layout, and separate setting area images corresponding to different finishing positions. This segmentation allows users to directly associate finishing options with their visual positions on the document without navigating deep hierarchies.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent creates a visual copy of the actual sheet layout as a preview image, and places setting area images that replicate the document's visual structure. Users interact with these visual copies to set finishing positions, eliminating the need to navigate through abstract hierarchical menus and reducing the number of operations required.
2Ease of operation
If a traditional button-based setting screen is used, then the setting can be performed systematically, but users who do not perform finishing daily find it difficult to understand
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs visual differentiation through color and graphical representation. The preview image displays the actual sheet layout with finishing positions visually indicated, and setting area images use graphical representations that change or highlight based on selection. This visual coding makes the setting process intuitive for all users, eliminating the need to memorize hierarchical structures.
Solution Approach 2:
The preview image and setting area images serve as intermediaries between the user and the finishing settings. Instead of directly interacting with abstract menu options, users interact with visual representations of the document layout, which automatically translates their selections into the correct finishing positions. This intermediary layer makes the system accessible to users with varying levels of technical knowledge.
3Ease of operation
If finishing settings are placed in a specific hierarchy, then the settings can be organized, but users must memorize which hierarchy contains the finishing setting
Solution Approach 1:
The patent transitions from a one-dimensional hierarchical menu structure to a two-dimensional visual layout that mirrors the actual document structure. The preview image displays the sheet layout horizontally, and setting area images are positioned to correspond with specific regions of the document. This spatial reorganization eliminates the need for users to memorize hierarchical locations, as finishing settings are immediately visible and accessible in their contextual positions.
Data Source
AI summary
According to one embodiment, a print setting apparatus includes an input section, a display section configured to display, on a same screen, an icon showing a tool to perform a process of binding sheets, a preview image showing a state of a sheet after printing, and one or plural area images displayed on the preview image, and a control section configured to change, when detecting that a specified coordinate from the input section is moved from a display area of the icon to a display area of the area image, the area image to an image showing a state after the process of binding the sheets is performed.