Patent ID: 8184306

Claim:
A multifunction peripheral device having a plurality of operational functions and configured to be operated in one of a plurality of switchable operational modes, which correspond to the operational functions respectively, comprising: a reader unit including a light source configured to emit light onto an original document and a light receiving element configured to receive the light reflected on the original document to generate image data which corresponds to an image formed on the original document; a plurality of operation receiving members, through which a user's instructions to operate the multifunction peripheral device are received; a valid instruction storage unit configured to store valid instruction information, which defines correspondence between valid instructions and valid instruction receiving members, each of the valid instructions being an operation received by the multifunction peripheral device in a specific one of the operational modes to trigger the light source to be switched on, each of the valid instruction receiving members being one of the plurality of operation receiving members to be operated for one of the valid instructions to be received; a processing unit; and memory having machine readable instructions stored thereon that, when executed by the processing unit, cause the multifunctional peripheral device to operate as a judging unit to determine whether an operation received through one of the plurality of operation receiving members is one of the valid instructions based on the valid instruction information and a current operational mode in which the multifunction peripheral device is operated; and a switching unit to switch the light source on when the judging unit determines that the received operation is one of the valid instructions, wherein the operational modes include a facsimile mode, in which the image data generated by the reader unit is able to be output to a receiver machine through a telephone line, a scanner mode, in which the image data is able to be one of stored in a memory medium and output to an external device, and a copier mode, in which the image data is able to be output to be printed on a recording medium, wherein the operational modes are switched from one to another by a predetermined one of the plurality of operation receiving members, and wherein an instruction to configure the reader unit to read the image on the original document and an instruction to configure output settings of the image data are defined to be ones of the valid instructions on an operational mode basis.