Image Forming Apparatus Multi-Touch Guidance via Visual Icons
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Solution Overview
Problem
Image forming apparatuses face challenges in providing operation guidance to users unfamiliar with multi-touch operations, especially when the service center's terminal lacks multi-touch functionality, limiting the ability to respond to user inquiries effectively.
Innovation Solution
The image forming apparatus is designed to transmit inquiry signals about operation methods to terminals, receive guidance information, and convert it into formats compatible with its touch panel, allowing users to perform operations through icons, character input, or voice recognition, even if the terminal does not support multi-touch inputs.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If the service center uses a terminal without multi-touch functionality to provide operation guidance, then cost is reduced and device complexity is lowered, but the ability to guide users on multi-touch operations is lost
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates a visual copy of the multi-touch operation by displaying graphical icons (such as hand icons, finger icons, or animated gestures) on the terminal screen that replicate the appearance and motion of actual multi-touch gestures. This allows users to understand multi-touch operations through visual representation without requiring the terminal itself to support multi-touch input
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces graphical icons as an intermediary between the terminal (which lacks multi-touch capability) and the user (who needs to perform multi-touch operations). These icons serve as a visual mediator that translates the concept of multi-touch gestures into understandable visual cues that can be displayed on any terminal type
2Adaptability or versatility
If the operation panel displays multiple screens requiring multi-touch operations, then functionality and versatility are improved, but ease of operation deteriorates for users unfamiliar with multi-touch
Solution Approach 1:
The patent displays graphical icons in advance that show users how to perform multi-touch operations before they actually need to execute them. The icons are pre-positioned on the screen to indicate the required gesture (such as pinch-to-zoom, swipe, or rotate), allowing users to understand the operation method beforehand and perform it confidently
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces the need for physical demonstration or verbal explanation of multi-touch gestures with visual graphical icons displayed on the screen. This substitution transforms the mechanical act of teaching gestures into a visual information display system that can be processed and understood more easily by users
3Ease of operation
If graphical icons are displayed on the operation panel to guide multi-touch operations, then ease of operation is improved for unfamiliar users, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent designs graphical icons that can be displayed on any terminal type (whether with or without multi-touch capability) using standard display functions. The icon system is universally compatible with different terminal hardware configurations, allowing the same guidance mechanism to work across diverse devices without requiring specialized components
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses lightweight graphical icons that are rendered software-based rather than requiring physical hardware components. These icons are essentially digital graphics that can be created, modified, and displayed without adding substantial hardware complexity to the device
Data Source
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AI summary
An image forming apparatus (100) includes a touch panel (101) connected to a network (110), for displaying an icon (102) accepting an inquiry about an operation and a control unit for controlling an operation. The control unit is configured to transmit an inquiry about an operation to a terminal (120) through the network (110), to receive an answer based on the inquiry from the terminal (120), and to display on the touch panel (101), an operation instruction based on operation method instruction information indicating the answer.