Mapscroller Interface for Multifunction Peripheral Function Key Grouping
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Solution Overview
Problem
Multifunction peripherals (MFPs) face challenges in displaying all function settings on a limited operation panel screen, leading to complexity in recognizing already-set or not-set functions, especially when settings influence other functions or have complex content, necessitating a way to easily list and differentiate these settings.
Innovation Solution
An image processor with a mapscroller screen featuring a function key display region and an icon display region, where already-set and not-set function keys and icons are grouped and displayed upon user instruction, allowing easy identification and management of function settings without switching screens.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If all function keys are displayed on the mapscroller screen, then the user can access all functions, but the screen becomes cluttered and the user cannot easily recognize already-set or not-set functions
Solution Approach 1:
The function keys are segmented into two distinct groups: already-set function keys and not-set function keys. This segmentation allows the user to easily distinguish which functions have been configured and which remain pending, resolving the recognition difficulty while maintaining full function accessibility through the same mapscroller interface.
2Productivity
If the MFP automatically sets other functions when one function is set, then the operation is streamlined, but the user does not recognize that other functions are automatically set
Solution Approach 1:
The system provides visual feedback by displaying all automatically set functions in the already-set function key group on the mapscroller screen. This feedback mechanism ensures users are aware of automatic settings while maintaining the streamlined operation, as the grouped display clearly shows which functions have been configured through automatic or manual means.
3Ease of operation
If the screen size is increased to display all function settings at once, then the user can recognize all settings, but the operation panel becomes more complex and expensive
Solution Approach 1:
The mapscroller screen dynamically reorganizes function keys into grouped displays based on their setting status. This dynamic reconfiguration allows all settings to be visible and recognizable on the existing screen size without requiring physical screen expansion, maintaining cost-effectiveness while improving setting visibility through intelligent layout adjustment.
Data Source
AI summary
An image processor displays a mapscroller screen including a function key display region and an icon display region. The function key display region displays a plurality of function keys arrayed in first direction while being scrollable in the first direction, the plurality of function keys receiving a setting of a function related to image processing, and the icon display region displays a plurality of icons arrayed in the first direction in an order identical to that of the plurality of function keys displayed in the function key display region, the plurality of icons corresponding to the plurality of function keys displayed in the function key display region. The image processor groups and displays, on the mapscroller screen, the function key and icon corresponding to the function, in which the setting is received when a grouping instruction is received with the settings of the plurality of functions received.