DISPLAY CONTROL APPARATUS, IMAGE PROCESSING APPARATUS, AND DISPLAY CONTROL METHOD

• US 20070247643A1
• Filed: 04/18/2007
• Published: 10/25/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 04/20/2006
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba (Toshiba Corporation), Toshiba Tec Corporation (Toshiba Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba (Toshiba Corporation), Toshiba Tec Corporation (Toshiba Corporation)
• Inventors: Sato, Maki, Sasaki, Yasutsugu, Motegi, Tsunehiro, Nakamura, Mahina, Okuma, Yumiko
• Application Number:
  US11/736,701
• Publication Number:
  US 20070247643A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 358/1.100
• CPC Class Codes: G03G 15/502 relating to the structure of the control menu, e.g. pop-up menus, help screens
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04817 using icons graphical or visual programming using iconic symbols G06F8/34
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00411 the display also being used for user input, e.g. touch screen
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00413 using menus, i.e. presenting the user with a plurality of selectable options H04N1/00464 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00424 using a list of graphical elements, e.g. icons or icon bar
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00474 outputting a plurality of functional options, e.g. scan, copy or print
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00482 outputting a plurality of job set-up options, e.g. number of copies, paper size or resolution
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00517 involving favourite or frequently used settings
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/4413 involving the use of passwords, ID codes or the like, e.g. PIN
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/4433 to an apparatus, part of an apparatus or an apparatus function
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/0094 Multifunctional device, i.e. a device capable of all of reading, reproducing, copying, facsimile transception, file transception

Abstract

There is provided a technique capable of appropriately arranging a plurality of objects to be displayed such as icons on a screen so as to contribute to an improvement of convenience for each user.

A display controller for controlling display of a plurality of objects to be displayed, comprises: an importance information acquisition section 203 that acquires information concerning the importance levels in the screen display which are associated with respective objects to be displayed; and a control section 206 that displays objects to be displayed, based on the information acquired by the importance information acquisition section 203, in the display area constituted by the first to n-th (n is an integer number more than 1) substantially ring-like areas, in which an (x−1)th (x is an integer from 2 to n) area is located inside an x-th area, such that objects to be displayed having higher importance than those to be displayed in the x-th area are displayed in the (x−1)th area.

Claims

1. A display controller for controlling display of a plurality of objects to be displayed, comprising:

an importance information acquisition section that acquires information concerning the importance levels in the screen display which are associated with respective objects to be displayed; and

a control section that displays objects to be displayed, based on the information acquired by the importance information acquisition section, in the display area constituted by the first to n-th (n is an integer number more than

     1) substantially ring-like areas, in which an (x−

1)th (x is an integer from 2 to n) area is located inside an x-th area, such that objects to be displayed having higher importance than those to be displayed in the x-th area are displayed in the (x−

1)th area.

2. The display controller according to claim 1, wherein

the control section arranges a plurality of objects to be displayed in the substantially ring-like area such that an object to be displayed having the highest importance is located at a predetermined uppermost position which is positioned above the center of the substantially ring-like area and, starting from the uppermost position, residual objects to be displayed are arranged clockwise in the order of their importance.

3. The display controller according to claim 1, wherein

the importance information acquisition section acquires information concerning the selection history of the objects to be displayed at the time of display of the objects to be displayed on the screen,

the display controller comprises an importance determination section that determines, based on the information acquired by the importance information acquisition section, that the higher the selection frequency of a given object to be displayed, the higher the importance thereof is, and

the control section displays objects to be displayed, based on the importance determined by the importance determination section, in the display area constituted by the first to n-th (n is an integer number more than 1) substantially ring-like areas, in which an (x−

1)th (x is an integer from 2 to n) area is located inside an x-th area, such that objects to be displayed having higher importance than those to be displayed in the x-th area are displayed in the (x−

1)th area.

4. The display controller according to claim 3, comprising:

an identification information acquisition section that acquires identification information of a user, wherein

the importance information acquisition section acquires information concerning the selection history of the user corresponding to the identification information acquired by the identification information acquisition section, and

at the login time of a given user corresponding to the identification information acquired by the identification information acquisition section, the control section displays objects to be displayed, based on the importance levels that the importance determination section has determined using the selection history of the user corresponding to the identification information, in the display area constituted by the first to n-th (n is an integer number more than

     1) substantially ring-like areas, in which an (x−

1)th (x is an integer from 2 to n) area is located inside an x-th area, such that objects to be displayed having higher importance than those to be displayed in the x-th area are displayed in the (x−

1)th area.

5. The display controller according to claim 1, wherein

the object to be displayed belongs to any one of groups associated with the respective substantially ring-like areas,

the importance information acquisition section acquires information concerning the group to which the object to be displayed belongs, and

based on the information acquired by the importance information acquisition section, the control section displays the objects to be displayed belonging to the groups associated with respective substantially ring-like areas such that the objects to be displayed belonging to a group having higher importance level are displayed in the more inner ring-like area.

6. The display controller according to claim 5, wherein

the importance information acquisition section acquires information concerning the selection history of the objects to be displayed at the time of display thereof on the screen, and

the display controller comprises a group management section that relocates, based on the information acquired by the importance information acquisition section, an object to be displayed whose selection frequency has exceeded a predetermined threshold value to a group associated with a substantially ring-like area more inner than an area with which a group to which the object to be displayed has originally belonged is associated.

7. The display controller according to claim 1, wherein

the substantially ring-like area is a substantially circular ring-like area.

8. The display controller according to claim 5, wherein

the substantially ring-like area is a ring-like area having a polygonal outline, and

the control section arranges objects to be displayed by associating their belonging groups and side portions located between the corners of the substantially ring-like area.

9. The display controller according to claim 1, wherein

the substantially ring-like area is a ring-like area having a polygonal outline, and

the control section arranges a previously set predetermined object to be displayed at the corner of the substantially ring-like area.

10. The display controller according to claim 1, comprising:

a display setting section that sets a display position in the substantially ring-like area of a given object to be displayed, wherein

the control section displays the objects to be displayed whose display positions have been set by the display setting section at the set positions in the substantially ring-like area.

11. The display controller according to claim 1, wherein

the control section locates the display area on the left side or upper side relative to the center position of the entire screen.

12. The display controller according to claim 1, wherein

the objects to be displayed include characters or icons.

13. An image processing apparatus comprising:

the display controller according to claim 1;

an operation input section that receives a user'"'"'s input operation made based on the content displayed by the display controller; and

an image processing section that performs predetermined image processing based on the input received by the input operation section.

14. A display control method for controlling display of a plurality of objects to be displayed, comprising:

an importance information acquisition step that acquires information concerning the importance levels in the screen display which are associated with respective objects to be displayed; and

a control step that displays objects to be displayed, based on the information acquired by the importance information acquisition step, in the display area constituted by the first to n-th (n is an integer number more than

     1) substantially ring-like areas, in which an (x−

1)th (x is an integer from 2 to n) area is located inside an x-th area, such that objects to be displayed having higher importance than those to be displayed in the x-th area are displayed in the (x−

1)th area.

15. The display control method according to claim 14, wherein

the control step arranges a plurality of objects to be displayed in the substantially ring-like area such that an object to be displayed having the highest importance is located at a predetermined uppermost position which is positioned above the center of the substantially ring-like area and, starting from the uppermost position, residual objects to be displayed are arranged clockwise in the order of their importance.

16. The display control method according to claim 14, wherein

the importance information acquisition step acquires information concerning the selection history of the objects to be displayed at the time of display of the objects to be displayed on the screen,

the display control method comprises an importance determination step that determines, based on the information acquired by the importance information acquisition step, that the higher the selection frequency of a given object to be displayed, the higher the importance thereof is, and

the control step displays objects to be displayed, based on the importance determined by the importance determination step, in the display area constituted by the first to n-th (n is an integer number more than 1) substantially ring-like areas, in which an (x−

1)th (x is an integer from 2 to n) area is located inside an x-th area, such that objects to be displayed having higher importance than those to be displayed in the x-th area are displayed in the (x−

1)th area.

17. The display control method according to claim 16, comprising:

an identification information acquisition step that acquires identification information of a user, wherein

the importance information acquisition step acquires information concerning the selection history of the user corresponding to the identification information acquired by the identification information acquisition step, and

at the login time of a given user corresponding to the identification information acquired by the identification information acquisition step, the control step displays objects to be displayed, based on the importance levels that the importance determination step has determined using the selection history of the user corresponding to the identification information, in the display area constituted by the first to n-th (n is an integer number more than

     1) substantially ring-like areas, in which an (x−

1)th (x is an integer from 2 to n) area is located inside an x-th area, such that objects to be displayed having higher importance than those to be displayed in the x-th area are displayed in the (x−

1)th area.

18. The display control method according to claim 14, wherein

the object to be displayed belongs to any one of groups associated with the respective substantially ring-like areas,

the importance information acquisition step acquires information concerning the group to which the object to be displayed belongs, and

based on the information acquired by the importance information acquisition step, the control step displays the objects to be displayed belonging to the groups associated with respective substantially ring-like areas such that the objects to be displayed belonging to a group having higher importance level are displayed in the more inner ring-like area.

19. The display control method according to claim 18, wherein

the importance information acquisition step acquires information concerning the selection history of the objects to be displayed at the time of display thereof on the screen, and

the display control method comprises a group management step that relocates, based on the information acquired by the importance information acquisition step, an object to be displayed whose selection frequency has exceeded a predetermined threshold value to a group associated with a substantially ring-like area more inner than an area with which a group to which the object to be displayed has originally belonged is associated.