Operation console, electronic device and image processing apparatus provided with the operation console, and method of displaying information on the operation console
AssigneeSharp Kabushiki Kaisha
InventorsTakeshi Tani, Minami Sensu
Life of this patent
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Abstract
On a touch-panel display of an image forming apparatus, which is divided to five areas, that is, a system area, a function selection area, a preview area, an action panel area and a task trigger area, pieces of information are displayed. Even if an operational mode is switched, the same or similar information is always displayed in the area arranged at the same position. In the task trigger area, software buttons operated by the user for actually operating the image forming apparatus are displayed.
Claims11
An operation console provided on an image processing apparatus operating in one operational mode selected by a user from a plurality of operational modes, comprising:
- a display displaying information corresponding to said selected operational mode;
- a touch panel, arranged on said display, for detecting a request of the user based on a position touched by a finger tip of the user;
- and
- a display controller comprising a processor configured to execute a program stored in a memory to divide said display to a plurality of areas and to display pieces of information while maintaining arrangement of divided areas even when said selected operational mode is changed;
- wherein
- said display controller displays a plurality of information items allowing the user to input, using said touch panel, a request related to a process executed by said image processing apparatus, at the same first area of said divided plurality of areas in each operational mode, and displays a document image read by said image processing apparatus on the same second area, different from said first area, of said divided plurality of areas in each operational mode;
- and
- said plurality of information items include at least one of a first software button for inputting an image formation request or an image transmission request, a second software button for inputting an image capture request, and a third software button for cancelling contents set for image processing.
A method of displaying information in an operation console provided on an image processing apparatus operating in one operational mode selected by a user from a plurality of operational modes, comprising:
- the display step of displaying information corresponding to said selected operational mode on a display panel;
- the detecting step of detecting a user request based on a position touched by a finger tip of the user, on a touch panel arranged on said display panel;
- and
- the display control step of dividing said display panel to a plurality of areas and displaying pieces of information while maintaining arrangement of divided areas even when said selected operational mode is changed;
- wherein
- said display control step includes the step of displaying a plurality of information items allowing the user to input, through said touch panel, a request related to a process executed by said image processing apparatus, at the same first area of said divided plurality of areas in each operational mode, and the step of displaying a document image read by said image processing apparatus on the same second area, different from said first area, of said divided plurality of areas in each operational mode;
- and
- said plurality of information items include at least one of a first software button for inputting an image formation request or an image transmission request, a second software button for inputting an image capture request, and a third software button for cancelling contents set for image processing.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.