JP-7856684-B2 - Image forming apparatus

JP7856684B2JP 7856684 B2JP7856684 B2JP 7856684B2JP-7856684-B2

Inventors

福士研司

Assignees

キヤノン株式会社

Dates

Publication Date: 20260511
Application Date: 20240130

Claims (14)

An image forming apparatus that authenticates a mobile terminal via short-range wireless communication with the mobile terminal and performs Wi-Fi communication with the authenticated mobile terminal, An image forming unit that forms an image on paper, The device includes a display panel that displays a settings screen on which settings related to image formation can be made, and an antenna electrode that is wired such that at least a portion of it overlaps with the display panel when viewed along a vertical direction perpendicular to the surface of the display panel, and which performs short-range wireless communication with the mobile terminal, and an operation unit that accepts touch operations from the operator, A human presence sensor that detects workers, Equipped with, The display panel lights up when the motion sensor detects a worker while it is off, and displays a guidance screen instructing the worker to hold the mobile terminal over the display panel. When Wi-Fi communication is established between the image forming apparatus and the mobile terminal, the display on the aforementioned display panel switches from the guidance screen to a notification screen indicating that Wi-Fi communication has been established. The display panel turns off if Wi-Fi communication is not established within a predetermined time after the mobile terminal is held over the display panel on the guidance screen , and maintains the display of the guidance screen if the predetermined time has not elapsed. An image forming apparatus characterized by the following features.
The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that the antenna electrode is provided on the display surface side of the display panel in the vertical direction.
The image forming apparatus according to claim 2, characterized in that the antenna electrode has transparency that allows the display on the display panel to pass through.
The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that the display panel and the antenna electrode are integrally formed.
The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that, when the display panel is viewed along the aforementioned vertical direction, the antenna electrodes are wired to form one or more loops.
The image forming apparatus according to claim 5, characterized in that the antenna electrodes are wired such that, when viewed along the vertical direction, at least half of the area of the loop formed by the antenna electrodes overlaps the display panel.
The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that the antenna electrode is wired such that, when viewed along the vertical direction, the entire area of the antenna electrode overlaps the display panel.
The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that the display panel displays a mark that serves as a guide for the operator to hold the mobile terminal over the guidance screen.
The image forming apparatus according to claim 8, characterized in that the display panel displays the mark such that it overlaps with the antenna electrode when viewed along the vertical direction.
The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that the operating section has a hard key section that the operator presses to input information into the image forming apparatus.
The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that the display panel can display a login icon on the guidance screen for accepting manual login by an operator without using the short-range wireless communication.
The image forming apparatus is capable of switching between a normal mode and a power-saving mode that consumes less power than the normal mode. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that the display panel displays the guidance screen based on the fact that the image forming apparatus has transitioned from the power-saving mode to the normal mode.
The image forming apparatus can switch between a normal mode and a power-saving mode that consumes less power than the normal mode. When the motion sensor detects a person, the image forming apparatus switches from the power-saving mode to the normal mode and displays the guidance screen. The image forming apparatus according to feature 1.
The image forming apparatus according to claim 13, characterized in that, if the time during which the human presence sensor detects a person is shorter than a first time, it maintains the power-saving mode, and if the time during which the human presence sensor detects a person is longer than or equal to the first time (a second time), it transitions from the power-saving mode to the normal mode.

Description

This invention relates to an image forming apparatus, such as a copier or printer, capable of short-range wireless communication with a mobile terminal. Some image forming machines utilize short-range wireless communication, such as NFC (Near Field Communication). In recent years, many mobile devices, including smartphones and tablets, are equipped with NFC readers/writers. Technologies that allow for various authentication processes and even print output operations from these mobile devices are becoming increasingly widespread. The image forming apparatus disclosed in Patent Document 1 has an NFC detection unit located on the outside of the touch panel (display panel) that receives input from users, service technicians, and other operators. An antenna coil for NFC communication is installed in the detection unit. Furthermore, a cross mark is printed on the detection unit to serve as a target for scanning a mobile device. The image forming apparatus authenticates the operator when they scan the detection unit using the cross mark as a guide. Japanese Patent Publication No. 2017-196747 Schematic diagram of an image forming apparatus.A schematic diagram of the right side of the image forming apparatus.A diagram illustrating the hardware configuration of an image forming apparatus.A diagram illustrating the hardware configuration of the NFC tag section.A diagram illustrating the hardware configuration of a mobile device.A diagram illustrating the hardware configuration of the NFC_R/W section.A diagram illustrating the mechanism by which an image forming apparatus communicates with a mobile terminal via NFC and Wi-Fi.A diagram illustrating applications used on mobile devices for NFC communication.An example of information regarding image formation displayed on the display panel.A diagram illustrating the configuration of the control panel.A diagram illustrating the screens displayed on the display panel.This diagram illustrates the flow from the display of the target mark and the start and end of Wi-Fi communication.A diagram illustrating the positional relationship between the display panel and the loop coil.A diagram illustrating the positional relationship between the target mark and the loop coil.A diagram illustrating the login icons displayed on the display panel.A diagram illustrating the personal information input screen.A diagram illustrating the positional relationship between the target mark and the login icon. The embodiments for carrying out the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. Note that the dimensions, materials, shapes, and relative arrangements of the components described below are not intended to limit the scope of this invention to those specific components unless otherwise stated. <Example 1> (Image forming apparatus) Figure 1 is an overall view of the image forming apparatus 1 in this embodiment. The image forming apparatus 1 is a multifunction device equipped with various functions such as a copy function, a reading function, and a printing function. However, the image forming apparatus for carrying out the present invention is not limited to a multifunction device; for example, it may be a printer that does not have an image reading device 152. In Figure 1, the image forming apparatus 1 comprises an image forming apparatus 1 that forms an image on a sheet such as recording paper to be recorded, and an image reading device 152 positioned vertically above the image forming apparatus 1 and reading the image on the sheet such as a document to be read. Furthermore, the image forming apparatus 1 includes an operation unit 2 into which operators such as users and service personnel input information. The operation unit 2 has a display panel 73 (described later) and a hard key unit 72 (described later). Here, in this embodiment, the operation unit 2 has a display panel 73 and a hard key unit 72, but it may also be a so-called keyless configuration without a hard key unit 72. In such a configuration, the operation unit 2 has only a display panel 73. The display panel 73 is a touch panel, and operators input information by touching or flicking. The display panel 73 can also display information related to image formation to the operator. For example, when an operator prints paper, information such as the size and number of sheets is displayed on the display panel 73. The display panel 73 also indicates that the image forming apparatus 1 is in the process of forming an image. For example, messages such as "Printing..." fall into this category. This information, related to image formation processes, is collectively referred to as "image formation information." As will be explained in more detail later, when the operator holds the mobile terminal 6 over the display panel 73 for authentication, the display panel 73 displays information related to image formation. For example, suppose the operator selects an image file to print on the mobile terminal 6. When the ope