JPS58200330A - Sentence display - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To display much information on operation guidance, etc., in less display space, by storing plural pieces of display information ordered in correspondence to display information and selecting low-order digit display information at need with a switch. CONSTITUTION:The state of a copying machine is read by the CPU41 of a display controlling part 40 through a copying machine controlling part 20 to decide the number of a sentence to be displayed at a display part 15. The CPU14 reads a character code string stored in a corresponding address of a sentence ROM60 to store it in a display RAM47, and displaying a display sentence corresponding to storage contents at the display part 15. The ROM60 is stored with the sentence number of a primary display sentence, the sentence number of an assist sentence for representing the contents of the primary display sentence, a correspondence table of addresses, and character code strings of display sentences corresponding to respective sentence numbers. To know the details of the primary display sentence after it is displayed, its assits sentence is displayed by operating the assist switch 35, thereby making an adequate judgement of operation.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a text display device for providing and displaying information necessary for operations performed by an operator on a copying machine, printer, facsimile, or other equipment.

Equipment such as conventional copying machines and printers (hereinafter referred to as "copying machines, etc.")
The display device was constructed so that a predetermined character or code was displayed on a certain panel by transmitting light using a light emitting means, or a certain dial was selectively presented. Therefore, the number of characters and types of sentences that can be displayed are limited due to the limitations imposed by the layout area of the panel, etc., and furthermore, the display is troublesome in terms of visual recognition.

Furthermore, in the past, when an abnormality occurred in the equipment itself, such as a copying machine, an appropriate status code was displayed on the set number of sheets display to notify the operator of the situation, so the operator must read the status code correspondence table each time. I had to refer to it, learn the details of the above abnormality, and take countermeasures. Moreover, since such a display device can provide only a small amount of information, it is easy to cause erroneous judgments and erroneous operations on the part of the operator.

Additionally, in order to resolve the above-mentioned inconveniences, the introduction of devices capable of displaying text on scales has been proposed and is being put into practical use, but it is still not able to meet the needs of users in terms of operability and amount of information. There wasn't.

This invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned circumstances, and provides a text display device that can effectively provide and display a wealth of information regarding operation guidance and maintenance of a copying machine, etc., using a minimum display space. The purpose is to

In other words, the present invention provides a memory for storing a plurality of pieces of display information that are mutually ordered in accordance with the display information to be displayed, and allows lower display information to be selectively displayed by operating a switch as necessary. ing.

For example, in a copying machine, if a predetermined display is displayed but the operator is inexperienced and cannot respond to it, he or she can press the above-mentioned switch according to the present invention to display a lower display than the one currently displayed. For example, a display explaining the meaning of the display is displayed so that even an operator who is inexperienced in handling a copying machine can perform appropriate processing.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The text display device according to the present invention will be described in detail below according to embodiments shown in the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 shows the structure of an embodiment in which the present invention is applied to copying, and first, its general structure and operation will be explained.

1- As is well known, the copying machine main body 100 includes an exposure lamp 7 and an optical scanning device 8, which are arranged to project an optical image of a document (not shown) placed on a platen glass 9 onto a photoreceptor 1;
In addition, a series of copy processing steps (charging, exposure, image transfer, static elimination) are carried out by a charger 2, a developing device @ 3, a transfer device 4, a static eliminating device 5, etc., which are arranged sequentially along the rotational direction of the photoreceptor 1. perform such operations. At this time, the copy paper 11 in the paper tray 10 is sequentially conveyed by a paper feeding mechanism (not shown), and after the image on the photoreceptor 1 is transferred by the transfer device 4, the copy paper 11 is fixed by the fixing device 6 and transferred to the output tray 12. Can be saved. Further, as shown in FIG. 2, the operation section 30 includes, for example, a group of copy number setting switches 31, a start switch 32, an interrupt switch 33, an assist switch 35, etc., and the number of copies is determined based on the operation of each of the switches. Forms appropriate command signals indicating the number of copies to be made, assist commands, etc., and makes one copy! ! It operates to transmit the information to the control unit 20. Furthermore, condition monitoring sensors such as a toner (developer) shortage detection sensor 13 and a fixing temperature monitoring sensor 14 are provided inside the copying machine 100, and the detected contents (status information) are constantly sent to the copying machine control section 20. There is. Here, the toner shortage detection sensor 13 is disposed in the toner storage section of the developing device 3,
It detects when the amount of toner is below a predetermined amount and sends appropriate status information indicating this to the copying machine control section 20. The fixing temperature monitoring sensor 14 is disposed in the heating section of the fixing device 6. When the temperature of the fixing device @6 falls below or above a predetermined temperature range, this is detected and appropriate status information indicating this fact is sent to the copying machine control section 20. The copying machine control section 20 includes an operation section 30. Based on the command signals transmitted from the copying machine 100, a drive circuit (not shown) that drives each device inside the copying machine 100 is appropriately controlled to control operations related to a series of copying processes. Based on various status information sent from status monitoring sensors such as the toner shortage detection sensor 13, appropriate equipment status information representing the status of each device within the copying machine is formed and sent to the display circuit 25.

4- Note that the device status information is a bit string coded according to various device statuses, such as the amount of toner and the fixing temperature. The display circuit 25 decodes the device status information received from the copying machine control unit 20 and controls the display unit 15 to display text indicating operating procedures corresponding to the status of the copying machine.

Next, a specific configuration of the display circuit 25 that displays text corresponding to the state of the copying machine 100 on the display unit 15 will be described with reference to FIG. This display circuit is roughly divided into a display control section 40 that receives the equipment status information from the copier control section 20 and selects a predetermined display text as appropriate, and a display drive section 50 that displays the selected content. Ru. Display control section 40
is a circuit controlled by a central processing unit (hereinafter referred to as CPU) 41, and this CPU 41, ROM 42, and RAM
43, I10 port 44, buffer circuit 45, and interface circuit 46 are connected to a predetermined bus so that information can be exchanged with each other. Of these, ROM42
In this step, there is a procedure for determining the text number of the text to be displayed on the display unit 15, and the text RO is displayed according to the text number determined by this.
A procedure for reading out the character code string of the corresponding sentence from M60 via the buffer circuit 45 and transferring it to the display RAM 47, which will be described later, as well as other necessary programs such as overall operation management and time management, are stored in advance. R.A.
Device state information indicating the internal state of the copying machine 100 and an assist signal generated based on the input of the assist switch are temporarily stored in the M43 via the I10 boat 44.

Note that the text ROM 60, which will be described later, appropriately stores character code strings for displaying texts corresponding to various states of the copying machine 100.

Also, depending on how the assist switch 35 is turned on, the
The first sentence displayed in response to various states of 1100 (
It is possible to decide whether this is the primary display text (hereinafter referred to as the primary display text) or the assist text that makes the second display text easier to understand and allows the operator to follow it in more detail. The correspondence between the above-next display text and the assist text will be described later.

Further, in this embodiment, the assist switch 35 displays the assist text only while the switch 35 is turned on. Of course, this aspect is optional;
In addition, for example, a timer circuit is provided and this assist switch 3 is
The assist command signal based on the input of the switch 35 may be held for a certain period of time, and after the switch 35 is turned on and the assist sentence is displayed for a certain period of time, the display returns to the above-mentioned - next display sentence.

Next, ■, the 10 boat 44 is the I10 of the copying machine control unit 20.
Information is exchanged with the port 21, and the device status information that informs the status of the copying machine 100 and the assist command signal are input.

Furthermore, the buffer circuit 45 is connected to the aforementioned text ROM 60 and operates to exchange signals with the text ROM 60 in response to requests from the CPU 41.

Further, the interface circuit 46 includes a display RAM 47,
It is connected to the character generating section 48 via a predetermined bus, and the data shown in Table 1. This function is for smoothly inputting a character code string to the RAM 47. Display RAM47
The character code string read out from the text ROM 60 is stored, and corresponding character data is output from the character generation section 48 in accordance with this character code string.

The display RAM 47 is connected to an interface circuit 49, and outputs a character code string to a character generator 48 according to the output thereof, and character data output from the character generator 48 is input to the interface circuit 49.

On the other hand, the display drive section 50 includes a display section 15 composed of a liquid crystal, a light emitting diode, a fluorescent display tube, etc., an X driver 55 that drives the display section in the X direction, and an X driver 55 that drives the display section in the Y direction. Of these, the timing pulse output from the timing circuit 53 is inputted to the X driver 55 after being converted into a predetermined signal by the decoder 54. The address of the display section 15 in the X direction is designated and driven.

Further, the output information of the shift register 52 is inputted to the Y driver 56, so that the address of the display section 15 in the Y direction is designated and driven. Furthermore, an interface circuit 51 to which these shift registers 52 and timing circuits 53 are connected
operates in cooperation with the interface circuit 49 so that signals can be smoothly exchanged between the display control section 40 and the display drive section 50.

That is, an address or column in the X direction of the display section 15 is designated by the X driver 55 in accordance with a timing pulse generated by the timing circuit 53, and this timing pulse is transferred to the display RAM 47 via the interface circuits 51 and 49, respectively. The specified character code to be displayed at the Y address corresponding to the X address is input to the character generator 48, and the corresponding character data is generated and outputted here to the interface circuit 49.51.
, are input as dot signals to the Y driver 56 via the shift register 52, thereby displaying character dots corresponding to the designated column.

The above operation is performed for each address in the X direction, and the display RA
The sentence stored as a character code string in M47 will be displayed on the display section 15.

Next, the aforementioned text ROM 60 will be explained in detail.

FIG. 4 schematically shows the storage contents of the text ROM 60. As shown in the figure, the ROM 60 has an address correspondence table 61 and storage areas 62 to 69. The address correspondence table 61 is a text ROM 6 in which text numbers and specific texts designated by these numbers are stored.
For example, in the first line, the text with text number @1 is in the storage area 62 with address "0".
The second line is the sentence number 2.
This indicates that the sentence is stored in the storage area 63 at address "1". The same applies to the third and subsequent lines. Further, the storage area 62 stores a character code string corresponding to a primary display sentence, for example, "Omachikudasai", and the storage area 63 stores a character code string corresponding to a primary display sentence, for example, "Toner wo ho kyu shi teku dasai". Suppose that is stored. Storage area 64 and storage area 6
The same applies to 5. Further, the memory area 66 stores character code strings corresponding to assist sentences that assist the memory contents stored in the memory area 62, for example, "Hyuzakanechuudes", and the memory area 67 stores character code strings that are stored in the memory area 63. For example, a character code string corresponding to an assist sentence that assists the memory contents that have been stored is stored. Similarly, the memory area 68 stores character code strings corresponding to assist sentences that assist the memory contents of the memory area 64, and the memory area 69 stores characters corresponding to assist sentences that assist the memory contents of the memory area 65. Code strings are stored.

C according to the procedure stored in the ROM 42 mentioned above.
The PU 41 determines the text number of the primary display text corresponding to the state of the copying machine 100, and when the assist switch 35 is turned on, determines the text number that will assist the stored content of the corresponding -next display text.・The sentences corresponding to these sentences are as described above, and the copy machine 10
It is predetermined to correspond to the 0 state.

For example, the following table shows the correspondence between the primary display text initially displayed at 11- and the assist text displayed by operating the assist switch.

12- Next, the overall operation of the above embodiment will be explained with reference to FIGS.
The explanation will be given with reference to FIG. 5 in addition to the drawings.

FIG. 5 is a schematic flowchart showing the text display procedure, and since it is a part of the entire operation of the copying machine 100, the start and end are not shown.

First, the operator places a document on the platen glass 9 and operates the switches 31 to 33 as appropriate to make a copy (see FIGS. 1 and 2). Copying machine 10 during this copying operation
The state of 0 is detected by various state monitoring sensors, and the detected contents are determined by the ! of the copying machine control section 20. The text is read by the CPU 41 via the I10 port 21 and the I10 port 44 of the display control unit 40, and the corresponding text number is determined (see Figure 3).
. This determined text number is transmitted to the text ROM 60, the corresponding address is called from the address correspondence table 61, and furthermore, the character code string stored in the address is read out and stored in the display RAM 47. A display sentence corresponding to the stored content is displayed on the display section 15. Note that the text displayed at this time is the primary display text such as "Omachikudasai" and "Toner is safe" (see table and FIG. 4). Next, the CPU 41 switches to the assist switch 3.
It is determined whether or not 5 is inserted.

When the assist switch 35 is turned on, the CPU 4
1 determines the text number of the storage area that stores the assist text corresponding to the text number by determining the text number of the currently displayed primary display text. The text number of the determined assist text is transmitted to the text ROM 60, the corresponding address is read out from the address correspondence table 61, and furthermore, the character code string stored in the address is read out and stored in the display RAM 47. After that, an assist sentence corresponding to the stored content is displayed on the display section 15.

For example, when the copying machine 100 is in a toner shortage state, text number 2 in the text ROM 60 is first determined (the fifth
(see figure), and furthermore, in the address correspondence table 61 of the ROM 60,
The character code string stored in the storage area 63 at address "1" is stored in the display RAM 47 (see FIG. 4).
. The storage contents of this display-signature D-RAM 47 are stored in the display drive unit 50 as described above.
displayed by. In other words, the display unit 15 (see FIG. 3) displays the katakana characters "Toner removal", which prompts the operator to select the copying machine 10.
0 recognizes that it is in a state of toner shortage. At this time, if the operator does not know how to replenish toner in the toner shortage state, for example, he turns on the assist switch 35. When the CPtJ41 recognizes that the switch has been turned on, it determines the text number 32 as the assist text by determining that the text number 2 above is displayed as the current-next display text (see Figure 5). Address correspondence table 61 of the ROM 60
Based on this, the character code string stored in the storage area 67 at address "31" is stored in the display RAM 47 (see FIG. 4). The contents stored in the display RAM 47 are displayed on the display drive section 50 as described above. In other words, the display section 15 (third
(See the figure) displays an assist message in katakana characters that reads ``Place the platen in place.'' This prompts the operator to replenish the toner and continue the copying operation according to the above guidance. I'm going to go. In this way, even an operator who is not familiar with the internal structure and operating procedures of a copying machine can easily perform a copying operation by turning on the assist switch.

Note that the content to be stored in the text ROM E is arbitrary in terms of its type or specific expression, and is not necessarily limited to the above embodiment, and other circuit configurations may have similar functions. If so, it is optional.

Further, the number of assist sentences corresponding to the second display sentence is arbitrary, and is not limited to one as shown in the above embodiment. For example, a configuration may be adopted in which a plurality of assist sentences are prepared for one primary display sentence, and the assist sentences are sequentially read out by appropriate operations of the assist switch.

Furthermore, in the above-mentioned embodiments, the primary display text was shown using Japanese (Katakana), but other words such as English, French, German, etc., and even in Japanese, the primary display text was shown using Hiragana or Kanji Kanji, etc. Text and assist text may be used.

Furthermore, although the above embodiments have been described with reference to the case where the present invention is applied to a copying machine, the present invention may be applied to any device such as a facsimile machine or a printer.

As explained above, according to the text display device according to the present invention, it is possible to accurately display from 0 to 70% in a minimum space, thereby eliminating misjudgments and erroneous operations by operators and maintainers, and This has the excellent effect of enabling economical and smooth operation.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration when this invention is applied to a copying machine, FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of the arrangement of each operation switch in the operation section shown in FIG. 1, and FIG. A block diagram showing the configuration of an embodiment of such a text display device, FIG.
“Explanatory diagram schematically showing the data structure of the text ROM, No. 5
The figure is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the text display device according to the present invention. 15...Display unit, 20...Copy machine control unit, 25...
- Display circuit, 30... Operation unit, 35... Assist switch, 40... Display control unit, 50... Display drive unit, 60... Text ROM, 100... Copying machine.

Claims (1)

[Claims] a memory for storing a plurality of display information related to one state and mutually ordered, a switch, a selection means for sequentially selecting the display information according to the order each time the switch is operated, and a selection by the selection means. and display means for displaying displayed information.