JP2000278484A - Image forming device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent waste of paper and to improve efficiency in copy management by performing control, so as to start an image forming process concerning the next page by skipping a correspondent image forming process, when it is decided the amount of image data per page is less than a reference value. SOLUTION: It is decided whether or not the amount of image data per page is less than the reference value and when it is decided the amount is less than the reference value, the image forming process concerning the next page is started by skipping the image forming processing corresponding to the page. As a copy C1 corresponding to a front image F1 and a rear image r1 on a first original E1, for example, f1 is formed as a front image and r1 is formed as a rear image. As a copy C2 from a second original E2, f2 is formed as a front image. A rear image R2 of the original E2, which is a blank BL, is not formed on the copy C2 as white paper but the reproduced image of a front image F3 on a third original E3 is formed as the rear image r2 of the copy C2.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a copying machine, a printer,
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus such as a facsimile, and more particularly, to an image forming apparatus that reads an image of a document, converts the image into an electric signal, and forms an image based on image data obtained from the converted electric signal.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In general, a digital image forming apparatus transports a plurality of documents one by one to a reading position by an automatic document feeder, and forms an image based on image data obtained by reading. When copying a two-sided document having images on both sides, after the document is transported to the reading position for reading the image on the front surface, the document is turned upside down and transported to the reading position again to read the back image. . Further, there has been proposed a reading system which includes a front surface reading unit and a back surface reading unit, and reads the front surface and the back surface of the document by one conveyance.

[0003]

The relationship between the reading of a two-sided original and the image formed on the recording paper based on the image data obtained by the reading will be described below.

As shown in FIG. 1, a front side image of a double-sided original E is indicated by F, a rear side image is indicated by R, and a copy corresponding to the original E is indicated by C.
, The front image of copy C is indicated by f, and the back image is indicated by r. In the figure, the lower copy C shown by the arrow is made to correspond to the original E shown in the upper row, and a page having no image is represented by BL.

[0005] 1 sheet each image F ₁ is the front and back surfaces of the original E _1, has R _1, the second sheet document E ₂ of the surface there is an image F ₂ but substantially image the image R ₂ of the back surface Is a blank paper BL that does not exist. Front side image F ₁ and back side image R of original E ₁
Surface image f ₁ is a copy C ₁ corresponding to _1, to form an image of the back side image r _1. Similarly copy C ₂ of the surface image corresponding to the surface image F ₂ of document E ₂ is a f _2, document E ₂
Backside backside image r ₂ of the image R ₂ copies C ₂ for a blank BL naturally blank BL next is the same for a copy C ₃ with respect to the original E ₃ of the third sheet.

As described above, in the conventional image forming apparatus, when a double-sided original is read while originals are fed one by one by an automatic original feeder to form a corresponding copy, and when there is a blank page in the original image, The corresponding copy image is also blank.

[0007] The fact that a blank sheet without an image is produced in a copy in this way wastes recording paper, which is not desirable from the viewpoint of resource saving. In addition, there is a problem in managing the copy due to an increase in the amount of copy.

Further, by placing the two-sided document containing the one-sided blank as shown in Figure 2 on the paper feed tray, the surface, when taking a one-sided copy corresponding to each rear surface, the first sheet of the original E ₁ is wherein Similarly surface image f ₁ corresponding to the surface image F ₁ of the document E ₁ as the copy C ₁ is formed, the surface image f is because it is one-sided copy to copy C ₂ corresponding to the rear surface image R ₁ of the document E _{1 2} is formed. Front image F of second original E _2
Although the front side image f ₃ is formed on the copy C ₃ corresponding to No. ₂ , the back side image R ₂ of the original E ₂ is a blank sheet BL, so that a blank copy C ₄ is output.

As described above, even when a double-sided document is copied onto one side of a recording paper, a blank copy can be made, and there is a problem in waste of recording paper and copy management.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problems in the prior art, and to provide an image forming apparatus capable of preventing waste of paper and increasing the efficiency of copy management. is there.

[0011]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide an image forming means for forming an image on a recording sheet based on image data.
Determining means for determining whether the amount of image data per page is smaller than a reference value, and when the determining means determines that the amount of image data is smaller than the reference value, the amount of the image data is smaller. This is achieved by an image forming apparatus having control means for performing control for skipping an image forming step corresponding to a page and entering an image forming step for the next page.

[0012]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The operation of an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention is as follows. When a double-sided document is placed on a paper feed tray, conveyed to a reading position, read and copied, An image forming process in which a copy image corresponding to a single-sided blank original included in the original is not blanked, that is, for a blank original, recording paper is fed and an image is formed based on blank image data. Is skipped to enter the next image forming step and form an image corresponding to the image on the front side of the next original.

The operation of this embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. F ₁ as the surface image as a copy C ₁ corresponding to the surface image F ₁ and the back image R ₁ of the first document E ₁ as shown in FIG. 3, r ₁ is formed as a back-side image. Further, as the surface image of the copy C ₂ from the second original E _2, f
₂ is formed. Back side image R _{2 of} original E ₂ which is blank page BL
Copy C without formation as blank sheet _2, third sheet of the back image r ₂ copies C ₂ a reproduced image of the surface image F ₃ of the original E ₃ is
Form as FIG. 3 shows an example in which the back image R _{2 of the second} document E _{2 and} the back image R 3 of the _third document E ₃ are blank paper BL. In this case, as shown in FIG. The back side images R ₂ and R ₃ of the document are not formed as copies, but only the pages of the document where the document has substantial images are formed as copies. Then, each image is sequentially packed and arranged, and a copy that does not include blank paper is obtained as a whole, which is beneficial from the viewpoint of resource saving and copy management.

Further, as shown in FIG. 4, has a substantially image only on the original E ₁ and the surface having a substantially images on both sides, one side copy back side image is formed from the original E ₂ is blank BL on one side If took, the surface image f _1, f _2, and a copy C ₁ of three consisting of f _3, C _2, C _3.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of a control system according to the embodiment of the present invention. A control unit 10 as a control unit for controlling the entire image forming apparatus includes an automatic document feeder 11 as a document conveying unit for conveying a large number of documents one by one to a reading position,
A scanner section 12 as reading means for reading an original conveyed to the reading position; an image processing section 13 for processing image data output from the scanner section 12; and image data output from the image processing section 13 stored in a memory 15. Based on the image data read from the memory and the memory control unit 14 that controls reading, the image forming unit 17 as an image forming unit that forms an image by an electrophotographic method is controlled to form an image. Note that the memory control unit 14 is provided with a determination unit that performs blank page determination processing of image data.

The operation panel 16 exchanges signals with the entire control unit 10 to set image forming conditions and perform various displays. The operation panel 16 is provided with a setting unit for setting a skip mode for performing image formation shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 and a normal mode for performing image formation shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. This is setting means for making settings.

Next, control in the control system shown in FIG. 5 will be described with reference to FIGS.

FIGS. 6 and 7 are flowcharts of control performed in the control system shown in FIG. FIG. 6 shows a flow from reading an original to storage in the memory 15, and FIG. 7 shows a flow from reading image data from the memory 15 to completion of image formation.

In FIG. 6, after reading an original image, it is determined whether the skip mode is set or not (F1). This determination is performed by the control unit 10. If not set, the normal image mode is executed. In the execution of the normal image mode, the image data obtained by the reading is processed, the image data is stored in the memory 15, the image data stored in the memory 15 is read, and the image is formed on the recording paper by the image forming unit 17. This includes the execution of the steps until The normal image mode executed in step F2 is a normal mode in which the image formation shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 is performed. When the skip mode for performing image formation shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 is set, the read image data is stored in the memory 15 (F1, F3). This image data is stored in the memory 15 for each page of the document. And
The memory control means 14 compares the amount of the image data, that is, the image data amount G of one page of the document with the reference value Z (blank sheet discrimination processing). Judgment is made, and a blank sign (information) indicating blank is given to the image data (F6), and the blank sign is stored in the memory 15. The reference value Z is a threshold value for determining whether or not the document can be treated as a blank sheet,
Various values can be set by setting on the operation panel 16. The reference value Z can be set according to the image quality of the document, the paper quality, the processing system of the image data, and the like. This setting can be made from the operation panel 16.

When the image data amount G per page of the document is equal to or larger than the reference value Z, normal processing management is performed (F
5). Steps F3 to F5 or F6 are performed until reading of each page of the document is completed, and image data of the page of the document having a substantial image is stored in the memory 15. In the flow shown in FIG. 6, the entire control is performed by the control unit 10, but the control from step F3 to F6 is performed by the memory control unit 14.

FIG. 7 shows a flow from the reading of image data from the memory 15 to the completion of image formation. This control is performed by the control unit 10.

It is determined whether or not the image data per page of the original read out from the memory 15 and expanded (F10) is marked with a blank symbol (F11). If the blank symbol is attached, no image formation is performed (F12),
If no blank sheet symbol is attached, the image forming section 17 is driven to form an image (F13). Step F1
The process from 0 to F12 or F13 is performed on the image data, and an image is formed on a recording sheet. When the image formation for all the image data is completed, it is next determined whether the output image should be formed on both sides of the recording paper or on one side. If the two-sided copy mode for forming images on both sides of the recording paper is set, YES is determined in step F15, and if the one-sided copy mode for forming an image on one side of the recording paper is set, NO Is determined.

In the case of the single-sided copy mode, the process is terminated as it is. In the case of the double-sided copy mode, it is determined whether the number of output images, that is, whether the number of pages of the copy is odd or even (F16). In the case of an even number, since an image is always formed on both sides of the copy, the process is terminated. However, in the case of an odd number, an image is formed on the front surface of the final copy, but the back surface is blank. Therefore, when the number of output sheets is an odd number, blank paper processing for forming an image on the last page of the copy (the back side of the last copy) using blank image data is performed (F17). In steps F16 and F17, the processing for the last page in the duplex copy mode for forming images on both sides of the recording paper is performed.

In the embodiment described above, the image forming apparatus forms an image on a recording sheet based on image data obtained by reading by the scanner unit 12. However, the present invention is limited to such an image forming apparatus. Instead, the present invention can be used for an image forming apparatus such as a printer that forms an image based on image data from an image information output apparatus such as a computer.

When copying from a two-sided document including a blank page by the above-described control, no waste of recording paper is used, waste of recording paper is prevented, and copy management can be performed efficiently. .

[0026]

By eliminating unnecessary blank sheets for copying, waste of recording paper is prevented, which is effective for resource saving. Further, unnecessary blank sheets are eliminated as described above, which is effective for efficient copy management.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of correspondence between a document and a copy when a copy is made by a conventional image forming apparatus.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing another example of correspondence between a document and a copy when a copy is made by a conventional image forming apparatus.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of correspondence between a document and a copy when a copy is made by the image forming apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating another example of correspondence between a document and a copy when a copy is made by the image forming apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of a control system according to the embodiment of the present invention.

6 is a flowchart of image reading control of the control system shown in FIG.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart of image forming control of the control system shown in FIG. 6;

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Control part 11 Automatic document feeder 12 Scanner part 13 Image processing part 14 Memory control part 15 Memory 16 Operation panel 17 Image formation part

──────────────────────────────────────────────────の Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification symbol FI Theme coat ゛ (Reference) H04N 1/00 B41J 3/00 S 9A001 (72) Inventor Soma Umin 2970 Ishikawacho, Hachioji-shi, Tokyo Konica shares In-house F term (reference) 2C062 RA06 2C087 AA03 AA09 BB10 BD10 CB12 2H027 DB00 FA13 5C062 AA02 AA05 AB17 AB20 AB22 AC04 AC09 AC58 AF00 BA00 5C072 AA05 BA20 TA10 XA01 9A001 JJ35 KK42

Claims (5)

[Claims] An image forming unit that forms an image on a recording sheet based on image data; a determining unit that determines whether an amount of image data per page is smaller than a reference value; When it is determined that the amount of the image data is smaller than the reference value, a control unit that performs control to skip an image forming step corresponding to a page having a small amount of image data and to enter an image forming step for a next page. An image forming apparatus comprising: 2. An image according to claim 1, further comprising reading means for reading the front and back surfaces of the document, and forming an image on a recording sheet based on said image data obtained from said reading means. Forming equipment. 3. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a skip mode for skipping an image forming step and a normal mode for executing the image forming step even when the amount of the image data is smaller than the reference value. 3. The image forming apparatus according to 2. 4. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising setting means for setting the reference value to various values.
Item 10. The image forming apparatus according to item 1. 5. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said image forming means forms an image on both sides of the recording paper.
Item 10. The image forming apparatus according to item 1.