Patent ID: 7665029

Claim:
A device for assisting in developing a user application for an image forming device which includes an operation panel, an image input unit, and an image output unit, the device, comprising: a processor; a storage unit for storing a program; a display unit; and an input unit, wherein the storage unit, the display unit, and the input unit are connected to the processor; the operation panel, which simultaneously displays: an icon; an icon area; a display panel design area; a source code area; and a program design area; the program, further comprising: an image input module; an image output module; and an operation panel control module which manages display of a button on the operation panel and detection of pressing of the button by placing a button icon on the display panel design area, wherein the program (a) directs the display unit, by placing image input and output icons in the icon area, to display the icons therein, corresponding to the image input module which operates the image input unit installed on the image forming device to acquire image data and the image output module which provides the image data the image output unit installed on the image forming device, respectively, (b) directs the display unit to display the button icon which corresponds to the operation panel control, (c) drag-and-drops the button icon into the display panel design area, according to operation at the input unit, (d) drag-and-drops a selected image input icon or output icon, according to operation at the input unit, from the icon area to the program design area to associate the image input icon and the image output icon placed in the program design area, (e) creates a user application program for an image forming device, based on the button icon and the associated image input and image output icons, and (f) output icons have associated combo boxes for use in supplying specific destination parameters, and are configured to accent input from another input device.