JP2002264444A - Printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To obtain a printer being connected with a plurality of personal computers in which the owner of each personal computer can take out one's own printed matter easily and selectively from printed matters discharged to sheet discharge trays. SOLUTION: In the printer 1 where print data is inputted from a plurality of personal computers through a network and printed matters can be discharged selectively to a plurality of sheet discharge trays 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12, an arbitrary one of the plurality of sheet discharge trays 8, 9 and 10 is assigned to the same owner recognized at a print queue state monitoring section 3 based on print queue information held in the print queue state monitoring section 3 and tray monitor information from a tray monitoring section 15 so that printed matters of the same owner are discharged to the same sheet discharge tray.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention [0002] The present invention relates to a printing apparatus to which print data is transmitted via a network.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a printing apparatus for transmitting print data via a network has been proposed. For example, as shown in FIG. 7, this type of printing apparatus is connected to a plurality of personal computers 51 via a network transmission line 52, and prints print data transmitted from each personal computer 51 by the printing apparatus 50. The system is configured to perform In such a printing system, the owner who uses each personal computer 51 shares and uses the printing device 50, and each owner prints each printed matter 53 with the printing device 5.
I try to get to zero.

[0003]

Incidentally, in the printing apparatus 50 used in the above-described printing system, there are cases where printed matter 53 from a plurality of owners is collectively discharged to a discharge tray 50a. Many. In such a case, the owner of each personal computer 51 must select his or her own printed matter and that of another person from the printed matter 53 discharged to the paper discharge tray 50a, which is very complicated. Work will be forced.

In particular, when printing a plurality of prints 53, it is very difficult for the owner of each personal computer 51 to take the prints 53 to the printing apparatus 50 every time the printing of each print 53 is completed. Since it is troublesome, when the printing of the plurality of printed materials 53 is completed, the plurality of printed materials 53 are often collected and returned to the printing apparatus 50. Therefore, in the printing system as described above, a large amount of printed matter 53 tends to be accumulated in the paper discharge tray 50a of the printing apparatus 50.
It is extremely complicated for the owner to select and remove his own printed matter.

[0005] The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned conventional circumstances, and each owner of a plurality of personal computers connected to the printing apparatus is capable of printing printed matter discharged to a paper discharge tray. It is an object of the present invention to provide a printing apparatus that allows the user to easily take out his or her own printed matter from within.

[0006]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, print data is input via a network, and a printed material obtained by a printing process is selectively output to a plurality of discharge trays by an operation of a sort selection operation unit. A print device capable of discharging the print data, and associating the correspondence between the owner information of the input print data and the discharge tray from which the printed material is to be discharged,
The printing apparatus further includes a control unit that controls the operation of the sort selection operation unit so as to discharge a print according to the input print data to a discharge tray associated with the owner information.

In the printing apparatus according to the first aspect, the control section associates the correspondence between the owner information and the discharge tray, and controls the operation of the sort selection operation section accordingly.
Printed materials are distributed to the respective discharge trays and discharged for each identical owner information.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided the printing apparatus according to the first aspect, wherein a print queue state monitoring unit that monitors owner information of the print data in the print queue state, A tray monitoring unit that detects whether or not the printed matter is placed, and monitors owner information of the placed printed matter, wherein the control unit includes the print queue state monitoring unit and the tray monitoring unit. The correspondence between the owner information of the input print data and the paper ejection tray from which the printed matter is to be ejected is associated based on the owner information monitored in (1).

In the printing apparatus according to the second aspect, the discharge trays are sorted in consideration of not only the use state of the discharge tray but also the print queue state.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the printing apparatus according to the second aspect, when the tray monitoring unit detects that the printed matter has been removed from each of the paper discharge trays, the control unit includes the control unit. Is characterized in that the association between the paper discharge tray and the owner information is released.

In the printing apparatus according to the third aspect, when the printed material is removed from the paper output tray, the association between the paper ejection tray from which the printed material has been removed and the owner information is released. Another owner information can be associated with the tray.

The invention described in claim 4 is the first to third aspects of the present invention.
The printing apparatus according to any one of the above, wherein a part of the plurality of discharge trays is a common tray, and the control unit is configured such that all discharge trays other than the common tray are associated with specific owner information. In this case, the correspondence between the other owner information and the common tray is associated.

In the printing apparatus according to the fourth aspect, even when the specific owner information is all associated with the plurality of output trays, the printed matter of the owner information that is not associated with the output tray is shared by the common tray. , It is not necessary to stop the printing process.

[0014] The invention according to claim 5 provides the invention according to claims 1 to 4.
Wherein the control unit outputs information on a discharge tray to which a printed material corresponding to the print data is to be output to a transmission source of the print data. It is characterized by.

In the printing apparatus according to the fifth aspect, since information on which paper output tray the printed material is to be output to is output to the transmission source of the print data, the owner can print his or her own printed material. The discharged paper tray to be printed can be easily known from the transmission source of the print data.

[0016]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS One embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

1 to 6 show one embodiment of the present invention.
1 is a circuit block diagram of a main part of the printing apparatus, FIG. 2 is a flowchart of a tray allocating process, FIG. 3 is a schematic configuration diagram of a paper discharge unit, FIG. FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a display message on the personal computer side, and FIG. 6 is a diagram for explaining a specific example of tray allocation processing.

In FIG. 1, a printing apparatus 1 is connected to a plurality of personal computers (not shown) via a network transmission line, and receives print data addressed to the printing apparatus 1 transmitted from each personal computer. It has become so.

The printing apparatus 1 has a memory 2 and a print queue status monitor 3 so that print data transmitted from a personal computer is supplied to the memory 2 and the print queue status monitor 3. Has become. The memory 2 stores the print data under the control of the control unit 4,
The stored print data is output to the print execution unit 6 under the control of the control unit 4. The print queue state monitoring unit 3 captures, for example, information such as an owner name, a file name, and a paper size, which are job information of print data, and the number of owners (owner name), the number of jobs (queue number), Monitor the owner name of each job. The details of this monitoring will be described in detail below. That is, the print queue state monitoring unit 3 includes an owner information recognizing unit that recognizes information about the owner of the print data. In this embodiment, the print queue state monitoring unit 3 determines whether the owner information is the same based on the owner name itself. Note that the owner information is information transmitted along with the print data to the printing apparatus, such as an owner name, a domain name, a group name, and a computer name of the print data transmission source, and contributes to the identification of the print data transmission source. Any type of information may be used.

The printing apparatus 1 also includes a paper supply unit 5 for supplying print paper, a print execution unit 6 for printing on the print paper supplied from the paper supply unit 5, and a print P obtained by the print processing. And a paper discharge unit 7 for discharging paper. Paper output unit 7
As shown in FIG. 3, four output trays, a first output tray 8, a second output tray 9, a third output tray 10, and a common tray 11, and the printed matter P obtained by the printing process are output by four.
Sort plate 1 that can selectively output paper to one output tray
2, and the sort plate 12 is operated by the sort selection operation section 13. This sort selection operation unit 13 is controlled by the control unit 4
The sort plate 12 is arranged so that the printed matter P is sorted to the discharge tray selected for the job to be printed.
Activate

The printing apparatus 1 has a tray monitor 15. The tray monitoring unit 15 determines whether the printed matter P is placed on each of the four discharge trays of the first discharge tray 8, the second discharge tray 9, the third discharge tray 10, and the common tray 11. If there is a printed matter P in the paper discharge tray by the detection of the paper residual detection means, it is determined which owner is using the paper discharge tray. Monitoring. The details of this monitoring will be described in detail below.

Next, a tray allocation process for print data transmitted from a personal computer (not shown) will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

When print data is transmitted from one or more personal computers (step S1), the print data is stored in the memory 2 and the print queue status monitor 3
Obtains the job information added to each print data,
The existing job information (the number of owners, the number of jobs, the name of the job owner) is updated in consideration of the acquired job information (step S2).

Next, by comparing the input job owner name with the owner name held by the print queue status monitor 3 (the job name input before the job), the job name having the same owner name is determined. It is checked whether or not there is a job (step S3). If there is a previous job having the same owner name, the same discharge tray as the previous job is selected as a discharge tray and discharged (step S4). If there is no previous job of the same owner, a comparison is made between the owner name of the job and the owner names of the first to third trays 8, 9, and 10 of the tray monitoring unit 15 to determine whether there is a job having the same owner name. Is checked (step S5). If there is one having the same owner name, one of the first to third trays 8, 9, and 10 to which the owner name is assigned is selected as a paper discharge tray, and paper is discharged (step S6). When the printed matter P of the job is discharged in steps S4 and S6, as shown in FIG. 4, the printed matter P is discharged onto the discharge tray at a position slightly shifted from the printed matter P of the previous job. Is preferably performed. This makes it easy to distinguish between the newly ejected printed matter P and the printed matter P of the previous job.

If the owner name of the job is not included in the owner names of the first to third trays 8, 9, and 10 of the tray monitoring unit 15, the first to third trays 8, 9, and 10
It is checked whether or not there is an empty space (step S7).
If there is a vacancy in the first to third trays 8, 9, and 10, one of the vacant discharge trays 8, 9, and 10 is selected as a new owner as a discharge tray, and paper is discharged (step S8).
Then, the tray monitor 15 registers and updates the owner name of the tray to the new owner name. On the other hand,
If there is no empty space in the third trays 8, 9, and 10, the common tray 11 is selected as a paper discharge tray and paper is discharged (step S).
9). Then, the print material P of the job in step S9
As shown in FIG. 4, it is preferable that the printed matter P is discharged to the common tray 11 at a position slightly shifted from the printed matter P of the previous job. In particular, since there is a high possibility that printed materials with a plurality of owner names are mixed in the common tray 11, if the printed materials P are discharged to positions slightly shifted for each job, the target printed materials P It is easier to find out.

When the discharge tray of the printed matter P is determined in this way, the printing apparatus 1 determines which discharge tray the printed matter P is discharged to the personal computer that has transmitted the print data of the job. Output information. As a result, the paper discharge information is displayed as a message on the display unit 20 of the personal computer as shown in FIG. 5 (steps S4, S6, S8, S9).

When the discharge trays 8, 9, 10, and 11 to which the printed matter P of the job is discharged are determined as described above, the job information of the print queue status monitor 3 is deleted. That is, the number of jobs held by the print queue state monitoring unit 3 is reduced by one, and the number of owners (owner name) is deleted if the same owner name is not included in another job information held by the print queue state monitoring unit 3. (Step 10).

Then, such a discharge tray allocation is executed for all the input jobs. More specifically, such a process of allocating the output tray is performed until the number of jobs (the number of print queues) of the selected print queue state monitoring unit 3 becomes zero, and new print data is input. When the number of jobs (the number of print queues) becomes 1 or more (a natural number), the above-described discharge tray allocation processing is restarted.

While the series of processes described above are being performed, whether or not the printed matter P has been removed from the first to third trays 8, 9, and 10 is constantly monitored by the tray monitoring unit 15. I have. Then, the first to third trays 8, 9, 10
If the printed matter P is removed from the
5, the owner information of the discharge tray is deleted.

Next, a specific example of tray allocation processing of print data transmitted from a plurality of personal computers (not shown) will be described with reference to FIG.

Now, the four discharge trays 8, 9, 10, 11
It is assumed that no printed matter P is placed on the print queue, and the print queue state monitoring unit 3 does not have any print queue information.

In this state, as shown in FIG. 6, it is assumed that five print data files 1 to 5 are continuously spooled. Then, first, since the print queue status monitoring unit 3 and the tray monitoring unit 15 do not have the same owner name for the owner of the file 1, one of the first to third trays 8, 9, and 10 is selected and selected. The paper is discharged to the discharged paper tray. For the sake of simplicity, the following description will be made on the assumption that the first tray 8 has been selected. Then, the job information of the file 1 in the print queue status monitor 3 is deleted, and “user 1” is registered as the owner name of the first tray 8 in the tray monitor 15.

Next, since the print queue status monitor 3 and the tray monitor 15 cannot have the same owner for the owner of the file 2, either the second tray 9 or the third tray 10 is selected. The paper is discharged to the selected paper discharge tray. For the sake of simplicity, the following description will be made on the assumption that the second tray 9 has been selected. Then, the job information of the file 2 in the print queue status monitor 3 is deleted, and the second
“User 2” is registered as the owner name of the tray 9.

Next, regarding the owner of the file 3,
Since the file 1 has the same owner name, the first tray 8 is selected and discharged to the first tray 8 because the same owner name is held in either the print queue status monitor 3 or the tray monitor 15. Will be. Then, the job information of the file 3 in the print queue state monitoring unit 3 is deleted.

Next, since the owner of the file 4 has the same owner name as that of the file 1, the first tray 8 has the same owner name in either the print queue status monitor 3 or the tray monitor 15, so that the first tray 8 The paper is selected and discharged. Then, the job information of the file 4 in the print queue state monitoring unit 3 is deleted.

Next, since the print queue status monitor 3 and the tray monitor 15 cannot have the same owner name for the owner of the file 5, the third tray 10 is selected and discharged to the third tray 10. Will be. And
The job information of the file 5 in the print queue status monitoring unit 3 is deleted, and “user 3” is registered as the owner name of the third tray 10 in the tray monitoring unit 15.

When a new file 6 is transmitted after the input of the files 1 to 5, the information of the print queue status in the print queue status monitor 3 is allocated to the trays of the files 1 to 5 as described above. When the processing is completed, all of them are deleted, but before the tray allocation processing for file 1 to file 5 is not completed,
Regardless of whether the new print data (file 6) has an owner name other than user 1 to user 3 regardless of whether the tray allocation process is completed, the print data is discharged to the common tray 11. If the owner name of the new print data (file 6) is any one of the users 1 to 3, whether the new print data is the same as the owner name held by the print queue status monitor 3 or the tray monitor 15 Since the owners are the same as the owners of the first to third trays 8, 9, and 10, the first to third trays 8, 9, and 10 assigned to the owner are held.
Is discharged to one of the

As described above, in the printing apparatus 1 to which the present invention is applied, an arbitrary output tray is assigned from the plurality of output trays 8, 9, and 10 to the same owner name, and the same owner name is assigned. Since the printed matter P is discharged to the same discharge tray, the printed matter P is distributed to the plurality of discharge trays 8, 9, and 10 for the same owner name and discharged. For this reason, each owner can easily take out his or her own printed matter P from the printed matter P discharged to each of the discharge trays 8, 8, and 10.

In the above embodiment, the print queue status monitoring unit 3 for monitoring the status of the print queue, the detection of whether or not the print P is placed on the plurality of discharge trays 8, 9, and 10, and the printing A tray monitor 15 for monitoring the name of the owner in use of the discharge tray on which the P is placed, and print queue information held by the print queue status monitor 3 and tray monitor information of the tray monitor 15 Select the output tray to be assigned to the same owner information based on the
The output trays can be sorted taking into account not only the use status of the output tray but also the job in the print queue state earlier than the job, so that it is possible to quickly respond to a case where print data is continuously spooled. .

In the above embodiment, the tray monitor 1
5 detects the presence or absence of paper remaining in each of the paper discharge trays 8, 9, 10, and 11, and releases the owner information assigned to the paper discharge tray when the printed matter P is removed. When the printed matter P is removed, another owner information can be assigned to the removed paper output tray. Therefore, there is no need to secure a paper discharge tray for owner information that is not needed for the time being, and it is possible to handle a large number of owner information with a minimum necessary paper discharge tray.

In the above embodiment, one of the plurality of paper discharge trays 8, 9, 10, 11 is used as the common tray 11, and all the paper discharge trays 8, 9, 10 other than the common tray 11 are provided for each owner information. If it is assigned, the output tray 8,
Printed material P of owner information for which 9 and 10 were not allocated
Is discharged to the common tray 11, so that even if the owner information is assigned to all of the plurality of discharge trays 8, 9, and 10, it is not necessary to stop the printing process. For this reason, quick print processing becomes possible.

In the above embodiment, since the owner information that the owner information recognizing means recognizes as the same is the owner name itself, the plurality of paper discharge trays 8, 9, 1
Since the printed matter P assigned to each owner name is discharged to 0, this is effective when searching for printed matter P by owner name.

In the above-described embodiment, since the information on the output trays 8, 9, 10, and 11 on which the printed matter P has been discharged is output to the personal computer that transmits the print data, the owner can print his or her own printed matter P. Can be easily known from the installation position of the personal computer.

In this embodiment, the printing apparatus 1 is provided with four paper output trays 8, 9, 10, and 11, but the number of paper output trays may be two or more. However, when a common tray is provided, the number is three or more. Further, a plurality of common trays may be provided.

[0045]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, an arbitrary paper output tray is assigned from the plurality of paper output trays for each same owner information, and the printed matter having the same owner information is the same paper output tray. Therefore, each owner can easily take out his / her own printed matter from the printed matter discharged to each of the paper discharge trays.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, a paper discharge tray to be assigned to the same owner information is selected based on the owner information monitored by the print queue state monitoring unit and the tray monitoring unit. In this case, the paper discharge trays are sorted in consideration of not only the use status of the print data but also the print queue status, and it is possible to quickly respond to a case where print data is continuously spooled.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, when it is detected that the printed matter has been removed from each of the discharge trays, the association between the corresponding discharge tray and the owner information is released. Another owner information can be assigned to the output tray from which printed matter has been removed, eliminating the need to secure output trays for owner information that is not needed for the time being, while reducing the number of output trays. A large number of owner information can be handled.

According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, even when a plurality of discharge trays are all associated with specific owner information, the printed matter of the other owner information is discharged to the common tray. Therefore, it is not necessary to stop the printing process, and the printing process can be performed quickly.

According to the fifth aspect of the present invention, the information as to which discharge tray the printed material is to be output to is output to the transmission source of the print data. The discharged paper tray to be printed can be easily known from the transmission source of the print data.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a main part of a printing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating tray allocation processing according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a schematic configuration diagram of a paper discharge unit according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an embodiment of the present invention, in which printed materials of respective jobs are sorted and stacked.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a display message on the personal computer side according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an embodiment of the present invention and describing a specific example of tray allocation processing.

FIG. 7 is a configuration diagram of a system using a conventional printing apparatus.

[Explanation of symbols]

 REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 1 printing device 2 memory 3 print queue status monitoring unit (owner information recognition unit) 4 control unit 8 first tray (discharge tray) 9 second tray (discharge tray) 10 third tray (discharge tray) 11 common tray (Discharge tray) 12 Sort plate 13 Sort selection operation unit 15 Tray monitoring unit (paper remaining detection unit) 20 Display unit P Printed matter

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A printing apparatus which receives print data via a network and selectively discharges a printed material obtained by a printing process to a plurality of discharge trays by an operation of a sort selection operation unit. The sorting is performed so that the correspondence between the owner information of the print data and the paper discharge tray from which the printed material is to be discharged is output, and the printed material corresponding to the input print data is discharged to the paper discharge tray associated with the owner information. A printing apparatus, comprising: a control unit that controls an operation of a selection operation unit. A print queue status monitoring unit that monitors owner information of the print data in a print queue status, and detects whether or not a printed material is placed on each of the paper discharge trays, and detects the printed material. A tray monitoring unit that monitors owner information of the printed matter, wherein the control unit is based on the owner information monitored by the print queue state monitoring unit and the tray monitoring unit, based on the owner information of the input print data and The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a correspondence with a discharge tray from which printed matter is to be discharged is associated. 3. When the tray monitoring unit detects that printed matter has been removed from each paper discharge tray, the control unit cancels the association between the paper discharge tray and owner information. The printing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein 4. A method according to claim 1, wherein a part of said plurality of discharge trays is a common tray, and said control unit, when all discharge trays other than said common tray are associated with specific owner information, 4. The association between the owner information other than the common tray and the common tray.
The printing device according to any one of the above. 5. The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the control unit outputs information on a discharge tray to which a printed material corresponding to the print data is to be output to a transmission source of the print data. 5. The printing device according to any one of claims 1 to 4.