Touch Panel Interface for Intuitive Image Processing Settings
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Solution Overview
Problem
Users of multifunctional image processing devices face difficulties in intuitively configuring settings for various functions, such as image forming and reading, due to complex and non-intuitive interfaces.
Innovation Solution
The integration of a touch panel with a display and touch sensor, allowing users to perform simultaneous operations on function and setting selection icons to preview and configure settings, enabling seamless execution of desired image processing tasks without transitioning between multiple screens.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If a touch panel with display and touch sensor is integrated for intuitive settings, then ease of operation is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines multiple functions (display, touch sensing, setting configuration, and function execution) into a single integrated touch panel interface. This merging eliminates the need for separate physical controls and multiple configuration screens, allowing users to perform all settings operations through one unified interface, thereby improving ease of operation without proportionally increasing device complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The touch panel serves multiple functions simultaneously: it displays information, detects user input through touch, presents setting options, previews processing results, and executes function selections. This multi-functionality consolidates what would traditionally require separate components into a single universal interface, resolving the contradiction between operational simplicity and device complexity.
2Adaptability or versatility
If multiple screens are used for different settings, then adaptability is improved, but loss of time increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges multiple setting screens into a single comprehensive touch panel display. All function selections, detailed settings, and preview areas are simultaneously accessible on one screen or seamlessly transitionable within the same interface context, eliminating the time required to navigate between separate physical screens while preserving full configuration flexibility.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs preliminary actions by displaying all available settings and options on the touch panel before user selection is finalized. The preview area shows processing results in advance, allowing users to make informed decisions without navigating through multiple screens, thus reducing configuration time while maintaining adaptability.
3Device complexity
If detailed settings are separated from function selection, then device complexity is reduced, but ease of operation worsens
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges function selection and detailed settings into a unified touch panel interface where both are accessible simultaneously. Users can select functions and adjust detailed settings without transitioning between separate interfaces, making the operation more intuitive and easier to understand while the integrated digital structure maintains manageable complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The touch panel interface applies local quality by organizing different types of information (function selections, detailed settings, previews) in distinct but integrated zones. Each area has its own characteristics and interaction mode, yet all are accessible within the same interface, resolving the contradiction between structural simplicity and operational ease.
4Ease of operation
If preview area is added to show processed image, then ease of operation is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the preview functionality with the main display area of the touch panel. The preview of processed images is integrated into the same display structure that shows settings and options, eliminating the need for separate preview devices or additional physical screens. This integration improves ease of operation by providing immediate visual feedback while avoiding proportional increases in device complexity.
Data Source
AI summary
An image processing device includes a touch sensor and a controller. When an operation in which two icons including a function selection icon and a detailed setting selection icon are simultaneously pressed is received in a reception screen, the controller sequentially switches a setting value of a detailed setting corresponding to the pressed detailed setting selection icon at regular predetermined intervals and changes an image displayed in a preview area to a processed image on which the function has been executed at the switched-to setting value, while the simultaneous pressing operation is continued on the two icons.