Image-Forming Apparatus User Detection via Portable Terminal Distance
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional image-forming apparatuses inefficiently detect user movement, leading to unnecessary behavior changes due to incorrect identification of users' intentions, especially based on installation location and desk position.
Innovation Solution
An image-forming apparatus equipped with a controller and communicator that detects distance information from portable terminal devices using communication, differentiates between approach and leaving actions of predetermined users, and adjusts its behavior accordingly, preventing unnecessary changes by managing distance information only for target users.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If the image-forming apparatus detects movement of any portable terminal device, then the apparatus can respond to user presence, but it causes unnecessary behavior changes when users who do not intend to use the apparatus approach or leave
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the detection scope by identifying and managing distance information only for specific portable terminal devices associated with predetermined users who are likely to use the apparatus. This segmentation filters out irrelevant detections from other users, resolving the contradiction between general presence detection and accurate intention-based detection.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies local quality by differentiating the detection behavior for different users. Instead of uniform detection for all portable terminal devices, it selectively manages distance information for specific users based on their predetermined association with the apparatus, thereby improving detection accuracy for relevant users while ignoring irrelevant ones.
2Adaptability or versatility
If the apparatus manages distance information for all portable terminal devices, then it can detect all user movements, but it increases complexity in determining which users are relevant
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts and manages distance information only for portable terminal devices associated with predetermined users, separating relevant detections from irrelevant ones. This extraction simplifies the overall logic by focusing computational resources only on identifying and tracking users who are likely to use the apparatus, rather than managing all possible users.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent performs preliminary action by pre-identifying and storing distance information for predetermined users before actual detection occurs. This preliminary setup establishes a reference framework that simplifies real-time detection, as the apparatus only needs to compare current detections against the pre-established user profiles rather than evaluating all possible users from scratch.
Data Source
AI summary
An image-forming apparatus comprising a controller and a communicator, wherein the controller is configured to perform to detect distance information of the image-forming apparatus with respect to a portable terminal device possessed by a user based on communication with the portable terminal device using the communicator, detect, based on the detected distance information, approach or leaving of specific portable terminal devices possessed by at least one or more predetermined users to or from the image-forming apparatus, and change a behavior of the image-forming apparatus when the controller detects the approach or the leaving of the specific portable terminal device to or from the image-forming apparatus.