JP2007058456A - Message display device, electronic equipment and image processor - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To simplify and make smooth the management of a message to be displayed at a display part, and to facilitate the change of display content or display format at the display part. <P>SOLUTION: This message display device is provided with a user interface part 3 for displaying a message such as an operation instruction to a user; a message management part 5 for managing a message to be displayed at the user interface display part 3 and a storage part 2 for storing a master message and a plurality of slave messages with different display quantity and identical meaning content by associating them. When changing the display format or display content of the message at the user interface display part 3 according to the instruction from the user, the message management part 5 selects and displays the message with the display quantity settled in the display frame at the user interface display part 3 from the plurality of slave messages stored in the storage part 2 with the same meaning content. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a technique for displaying various messages.

For example, in a complex type image processing apparatus equipped with a copy function and a fax function, various push buttons and control names for executing a print control program on a user interface display screen such as a touch panel or a display are always displayed in the same language. There is known a technique for displaying the message as a unified message (see, for example, Patent Document 1).
In addition, it is possible to easily display character information in each language without preparing a large-capacity memory in an electronic device, and refer to language set data in which a message translated into each language is associated with an ID. There is a technique for configuring a program for displaying a message on an electronic device by specifying a language and a message ID, and displaying a message with a specified ID in a specified language by executing the program (for example, Patent Documents). 2).

JP 2004-38650 A JP 2004-192330 A

By the way, in an image processing apparatus used by a large number of users, there is an increasing need for not only a language display message for only one country but also a message for supporting a plurality of language displays at a time.
In this case, since it is necessary to prepare a plurality of languages for each application to be executed, the memory capacity for storing the languages is insufficient, and the message management becomes complicated.
Moreover, even if the messages have the same meaning, due to the limitation of the display frame on the user interface, it is necessary to create another message, or even the same message cannot be judged as the same. There is. Further, when correcting a message, it is necessary to individually correct the message. However, if the message is changed after the correction, the subsequent message cannot be searched. For this reason, this inappropriate message remains as it is or it must be corrected while searching for the inappropriate message one by one, which is extremely time-consuming.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and can simplify and facilitate the management of messages displayed on the display means, and can facilitate the change of display contents and display format on the display means. It is an object to provide a display device, an electronic device, and an image processing device.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a display means for displaying a message such as an operation instruction for a user, a storage means for storing messages having different display amounts as messages having the same meaning content, and the display means. A change receiving unit that receives a change in the display method or display content of the message in the message, and when a change is received in the change receiving unit, from a plurality of messages in the group having the same meaning content stored in the storage unit, Management means for managing messages to be displayed on the display means by selecting a display amount message that fits in a display frame in the display means.

A message display device is provided.

  According to this message display device, even when the change accepting unit accepts the change and the size of the display frame on the display unit changes or the content of the message to be displayed changes, the managing unit can display the display frame on the display unit. Since a message having a display amount that falls within the range is selected, it is possible to reliably display the message on the display means. That is, the management of messages displayed on the display means can be simplified and facilitated, and the display contents and display format on the display means can be easily changed.

The message display apparatus according to the present invention is characterized in that, as a preferred mode thereof, the management means includes a style adjustment means for adjusting a style including a font size or a display pitch of the selected message.
Thus, by using the style adjusting means, it is possible to more reliably and smoothly display the message on the display means.

In a preferred embodiment of the message display device of the present invention, the storage means stores a plurality of messages having the same meaning content in association with various languages, and the management means When a change is accepted, a message of a language to be changed is determined as a message to be displayed on the display means from information on messages for each language stored in the storage means.
Thereby, the language displayed on the display means can be changed very easily and reliably.

As a preferred mode of the message display device of the present invention, the management means displays a message in a preset language with a high priority on the display means when there is no message to be changed. It is determined as a message.
In other words, even if there is no message in the language to be changed, a message in a language such as English having a high priority can be displayed, so that the user can reliably grasp the message.

In a preferred embodiment of the message display device according to the present invention, the management means starts from the longest message in the changed language that is sibling to the parent message that consists of the longest message in the original language before the change. And a child message having the same meaning content shorter than the parent message is determined as a message to be displayed on the display means.
As a result, mistranslation due to translation by a simple translation engine is minimized, and messages in other languages can be displayed with high accuracy.
Furthermore, as a preferred mode of the message display device of the present invention, the management means translates a parent message in another language using a translation function when there is no message in the language to be changed, and translates it as a parent message. The usage priority order of the word is increased, and the child message is translated and determined as a message to be displayed on the display means.
Thereby, even when there is no message of the language to change, the message of another language can be displayed.
Furthermore, in a preferred mode of the message display device of the present invention, the management unit has a message with a large display amount when there are a plurality of display amount messages that fit in the display frame written in the display frame storage unit. It is characterized by selecting.
This makes it possible to display a message by effectively using the display frame of the display means.

  According to the message display device of the present invention, the management of messages displayed on the display means can be simplified and facilitated, and the display contents and display format on the display means can be easily changed.

Hereinafter, an embodiment of an image processing apparatus including a message display device according to the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an image processing apparatus 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention.
As shown in the figure, the image processing apparatus 100 of the present embodiment includes an editing unit 1, a storage unit 2, a user interface display unit (UI) 3, a printing unit 4, a message management unit 5, and a language recognition unit. 6 and an image input unit 7.

The editing unit 1 performs image processing on the image data based on an instruction from the user in the user interface display unit 3, and causes the printing unit 4 to print or fax the image.
The storage unit 2 stores language data of messages to be displayed on the user interface display unit 3, programs used for printing, and the like.
The user interface display unit 3 includes, for example, a touch panel that displays an operation screen, displays an operation instruction for the user, and receives an instruction from the user to instruct image processing or image formation.

The printing unit 4 includes a photoconductor, an exposure unit, a development unit, a transfer unit, a fixing unit, and the like (not shown), forms a toner image based on image data, and fixes the toner image on a sheet of recording material.
The message management unit 5 performs message management such as determination and change of a message to be displayed on the user interface display unit 3.
The language recognizing unit 6 determines whether or not there is language information in the selected service.
The image input unit 7 scans an image of a document placed on a reading surface (not shown) and outputs it as image data.

  Here, the language data stored in the storage unit 2 includes the longest original message used in the main language help, manual, etc. or a nuance sentence explaining the message as the parent message of the resource ID, the original message, etc. Is stored as a child message. For other languages, the longest original message or the like is a parent message that is a sibling of the parent message of the main language, and its abbreviation is stored as a child message. Regardless of the relationship between the parent message and the child message, the same message is managed as a common message, thereby suppressing the storage area in the storage unit 2 from being occupied.

As shown in FIG. 2, these messages are managed in a tree structure including messages in each language for each application, and this message tree is associated with a resource ID of a message to be described later.
Here, FIG. 3 shows an example of message management in Japanese. The longest original message “message to close the door that can be opened and closed in front of the MF machine” is a parent message. The long message “Please close the front cover door”, the middle message “Please close the front door” and the short message “Close” are managed as child messages.

  FIG. 4 shows the configuration of resource IDs in each message. As shown in the figure, each message is composed of <service> indicating a service executed by the image processing apparatus 100, and a parent message ID < The parent message>, <locale (language)> indicating the language of the message, and <style> indicating the font and point of the message.

  Next, switching of message display in the user interface display unit of the image processing apparatus 100 according to the embodiment will be described.

(Display message decision processing)
First, the case where the display content or display format in the user interface display unit 3 is changed will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.
The situation when changing the display content or display format on the display unit 3 is that if the user of the image processing apparatus 100 is weakly sighted, the user wants to enlarge the message text on the display unit 3, but simply If only is increased, the message will protrude from the display frame and cannot be read at once.
Alternatively, the touch panel type display unit includes a display unit that displays instruction contents (for example, “start”, “copy”, etc.) in the button unit. For the same reason, when the characters in the button part are enlarged in order to make the user grasp the display contents, the message protrudes from the display frame of the button part.
In such a situation, when the user issues a user interface (UI) display change instruction (for example, reduced display) via the touch panel of the user interface display unit 3 (step S01), the message management unit 5 instructs the user to Accordingly, the display width of the frame for displaying the message is set (step S02).

For example, by instructing to change the display format shown in FIG. 6 (a) to the display format shown in FIG. 6 (b), a long message (see FIG. 3) consisting of “Please close the front cover door” is displayed. The message display frame 21 is changed to one having a small display width.
Next, a message to be displayed in the message display frame 21 is acquired by the message management unit 5 (step S03).
Then, the message management unit 5 determines whether or not the acquired message matches the display width of the new message display frame 21 after the change (step S04).

Here, when the acquired message does not fit in the message display frame 21 after the change, the message management unit 5 acquires another child message whose parent message is the same as the acquired message (step S05).
For example, if the acquired message is a long message consisting of “Please close the door of the front cover”, the parent message of this long message “message to close the door that can be opened and closed in front of the MF machine” is set as the parent message. From the child message, obtain a middle message “Please close the front door” whose character string is shorter than the long message.

When messages to be displayed in all the message display frames 21 to be changed are acquired (step S06), the message management unit 5 sets the font size and display pitch of the acquired messages in order to adapt to the message display frame 21 after the change. The style is changed (step S07). Note that the style change may be either the font size or the display pitch.
When the message management unit 5 determines a message that fits the message display frame 21 as described above, the user interface display unit 3 changes the determined message to the message display frame 21 after the change as shown in FIG. (Step S08).

  Note that, as a result of determining whether or not the acquired message matches the display width of the new message display frame 21 after the change (step S04), the message management unit 5 determines that the acquired message is the message display frame after the change. If it falls within 21, the acquired message is displayed as it is in the changed message display frame 21 (step S08).

(Translation message decision processing)
Next, determination of a translation message for translating a message into another language for display will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.
When the translation message determination instruction is given, the language recognizing unit 6 determines whether display language information corresponding to the service selected by the copy or scan to be translated is stored in the storage unit 2 (Step S1). S11).

When the display language information to be translated is stored in the storage unit 2, the message management unit 5 extracts the translation message of the original message from the display language information as the first priority language information, and displays the extracted translation message. The message is determined (step S21).
When the display language information to be translated is not stored in the storage unit 2, that is, when there is no translation message of the first priority language that is the translation language, the message management unit 5 selects the second priority language for the original message. Display language information is acquired (step S12).

Next, the message management unit 5 develops the second priority display language in the acquired second priority language information (step S13), and further holds the display language and the selected service has the same display language. Is acquired (step S14).
Further, the message manager 5 compares the same possessed language next message (step S15).

Next, the message management unit 5 determines whether or not they have the same parent message (step S16), and registers the display language information corresponding to the matched other language as the display language information of the selected service (step S17). .
When the above comparison is made for all messages (step S18), other services are selected (step S19), the processing from steps S14 to S20 is performed for all services, the translation message is determined, and this processing is performed. The process ends (step S21).

  And after performing said translation message determination process, in order to display on the message display frame 21 about these determined translation messages, the display message determination process (steps S01-S08) mentioned above is performed.

  As described above, according to the image processing apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment, the size of the message display frame 21 in the user interface display unit 3 is changed or the content of the message to be displayed is changed according to an instruction from the user. Even if it has changed, the message management unit 5 selects a message having a display amount that fits in the message display frame 21 in the user interface display unit 3. Thereby, the message can be reliably displayed on the user interface display unit 3. That is, the management of messages displayed on the user interface display unit 3 can be simplified and facilitated, and the display contents and display format on the user interface display unit 3 can be easily changed.

  Further, even if there is no message in the language to be changed, a message in a language such as English having a high priority can be displayed, and the user can surely grasp the message.

Next, a specific example of the translation message determination process will be described.
FIGS. 8A and 8B show an example in which a message displayed in English is translated into Japanese and displayed. In this example, “COPY” is the first priority language. In this example, there is a translation message composed of a Japanese “copy”, but there is no Japanese translation message for “SCAN”.
That is, for the English message consisting of the original message “COPY”, the message management unit 5 extracts the translation message consisting of the Japanese “copy” which is the first priority language stored as the display language information, and translates the translated message. Display message determination processing is performed for this “copy” and displayed in the message display frame 21.

On the other hand, for “SCAN” in which there is no translation message, the message management unit 5 determines the English message “SCAN” from the second priority language information (here, the same language information in English as the language of the original message). Is determined as a translation message, display message determination processing is performed for this “SCAN”, and the message is displayed in the message display frame 21.
That is, the changed user interface display unit 3 displays “copy” in Japanese as the first priority display language as a message display corresponding to the original message consisting of “COPY”, and also includes “SCAN”. As a message display corresponding to the original message, English “SCAN” which is the second priority display language is displayed.

Next, an example will be described in which a message displayed in Japanese is translated into English and displayed. In this example, as shown in FIG. 9A, the original message of “close” in Japanese is changed to an English translation message.
If there is no English (first priority language) translation message for the original message “close”, the message management unit 5 sends the parent message “MF machine” for “close” in Japanese (second priority language). "Make a message to close the door that can be opened and closed" is retrieved from the parent message ID of the resource ID.

Further, the message management unit 5 obtains an English parent message “I do a message to close the door which I can open and close before MF machine” which is a sibling of this Japanese parent message.
Then, the message manager 5 derives a short message “close” which is a child message of the English parent message.

In this way, when the translation message consisting of “close” is determined by the translation message determination process, the message management unit 5 performs the display message determination process and displays it in the message display frame 21 as shown in FIG. 9B. Let
Here, if “close” is simply translated into English by translation software, for example, there will be a plurality of translation candidates such as “close” or “shut”.
However, as described above, by acquiring the parent message and deriving the translation message from the child message of the parent message, it is possible to perform appropriate translation as the message.

  In the above embodiment, a plurality of child messages are stored in advance in the storage unit 2 with respect to the parent message. However, by translating the parent message with a translation function and summarizing the translation, the child message May be derived.

  Further, a configuration may be adopted in which a plurality of child messages for the parent message are stored in an external database, and the child message is retrieved by accessing the external database when the display is changed. The storage capacity of the storage unit 2 can be given a margin.

  In the above-described embodiment, the case where the user changes the display content or the display format on the user interface display unit 3 has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the manufacturing is performed by assembling the user interface display unit 3 to the main body of the image processing apparatus 100. The display message determination process may be performed in a process or an exchange process for exchanging the user interface display unit 3. In this case, when the user interface display unit 3 is connected to the main body, the size of the display frame 21 may be read from the user interface display unit 3, or an operator (user) may input the size manually. .

  Further, the “UI display change instruction” in step S01 in FIG. 5 is that the user gives an instruction to change the user interface (UI) display (for example, reduced display) via the touch panel of the user interface display unit 3. To be executed. The present invention is not limited to this, and a “UI display change instruction” may be automatically performed in the manufacturing process of the image processing apparatus 100, the replacement process of the display unit 3, and the like.

  In the above embodiment, the message display device according to the present invention is used in the image processing apparatus 100. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and other display units such as a mobile phone having a main display unit and a sub display unit are provided. Of course, it may be applied to electronic equipment.

1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of an image processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is a figure which shows the management structure of the language for every application. It is a figure which shows the example of the message management in Japanese. It is a figure which shows the structure of resource ID in each message. It is a flowchart explaining the flow of a display message determination process. It is a figure which shows the user interface display part explaining the change of a display format. It is a flowchart explaining the flow of a translation message determination process. It is a figure which shows the user interface display part explaining the specific example of a translation message determination process. It is a figure which shows the user interface display part explaining the other specific example of a translation message determination process.

Explanation of symbols

  2 ... storage unit, 3 ... user interface display unit, 5 ... message management unit, 21 ... message display frame, 100 ... image processing apparatus.

Claims (9)

Display means for displaying a message such as an operation instruction to the user;
Storage means for grouping and storing messages with different display amounts as messages of the same meaning,
Change accepting means for accepting a change in the display method or display content of the message in the display means;
When a change is received in the change receiving unit, by selecting a message with a display amount that fits in a display frame in the display unit from a plurality of messages in the group having the same meaning content stored in the storage unit, Management means for managing messages to be displayed on the display means. The message display device according to claim 1, wherein the management unit includes a style adjustment unit that adjusts a style including a font size or a display pitch of the selected message. In the storage means, a plurality of messages representing the same meaning content are grouped and stored for each language,
When the change is accepted by the change accepting unit, the managing unit determines a message of the language to be changed as a message to be displayed on the display unit from information on a message for each language stored in the storage unit. The message display device according to claim 1, wherein the message display device is a message display device. 4. The message according to claim 3, wherein, when there is no message of a language to be changed, the management unit determines a preset language message having a high priority as a message to be displayed on the display unit. 5. Display device. The management means obtains a parent message consisting of the longest message in the changed language that is sibling to the parent message consisting of the longest message in the original language before the change, and has the same meaning content shorter than this parent message The message display device according to claim 3, wherein the child message is determined as a message to be displayed on the display unit. When there is no message in the language to be changed, the management means translates a parent message in another language by using a translation function, raises the use priority of words translated in the parent message, and translates a child message. The message display device according to claim 3, wherein the message is determined as a message to be displayed on the display unit. 2. The message display according to claim 1, wherein the management unit selects a message with a large display amount when there are a plurality of messages having a display amount that can fit in the display frame written in the display frame storage unit. apparatus. An electronic apparatus comprising the message display device according to claim 1. An image processing apparatus comprising the message display device according to claim 1.

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