JP2008173841A - Image forming apparatus and image forming system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an image forming apparatus which surely ensures confidentiality on the occurrence of a paper jam by a simple constitution, and to provide an image forming system. <P>SOLUTION: The image forming apparatus includes a control portion 9 which determines whether or not a print job accepted by a printer controller 1 includes confidential information, and which controls a printing portion 7 so that the printing portion 7 can start print processing based on the reserved print job, without making the print processing continue into print processing based on the print job performed by the printing portion 7, when the control portion determines that the reserved print job includes the confidential information. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus and an image forming system.

Conventionally, a confidential mode for printing a confidential document and a normal mode for printing a non-confidential normal document are provided. When a paper jam occurs during printing in the confidential mode, it is opened for paper jam processing. There is known an image forming apparatus provided with an authentication function so that only a person who gives an instruction to print the confidential document can lock the door and release the locked door (for example, Patent Document 1).
Further, when a sheet printed in the confidential mode is discharged to the tray, there is also known a configuration in which the sheet is discharged with the image-formed side of the sheet facing down (for example, Patent Document 2). .
Further, when a print job is reserved in the image forming apparatus, if the reserved print job (hereinafter referred to as a reserved job) is a job to be printed in the confidential mode, the reserved job has already been reserved. There is also known one in which the priority is set higher than that of the reserved job in the normal mode (for example, Patent Document 3).
JP 2005-319735 A JP 2004-208238 A JP 2004-101572 A

However, in Patent Document 1, a mechanism that locks a door that is opened for a paper jam processing and an authentication function must be provided so that only the person who instructed the printing of the confidential document can perform the unlocking. There is a problem that the mechanism, control, operability, and the like are complicated and complicated.
Patent Documents 2 and 3 do not describe a case where a paper jam occurs during printing in the confidential mode, and the above problem cannot be solved.

  SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide an image forming apparatus and an image forming system that reliably ensure confidentiality when a paper jam occurs with a simpler configuration.

The invention according to claim 1 is a controller for receiving a print job from the outside;
A print unit that performs print processing based on a print job received by the controller;
Determining whether the print job received by the controller includes confidential information;
A controller for reserving a reserved print job capable of starting a print process in succession to a print process based on an ongoing print job by the print unit;
With
When the control unit determines that the reserved print job includes confidential information, the control unit starts the print process based on the reserved print job without continuing the print process based on the print job being executed by the print unit. The printing unit is controlled as described above.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the image forming apparatus according to the first aspect,
The control unit determines that the reserved print job does not include the confidential information, and determines that the ongoing print job includes the confidential information, and determines that the reserved print job includes the confidential information. The printing unit is controlled to start the printing process based on the reserved print job without continuing the printing process based on the printing process.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the image forming apparatus according to the first or second aspect,
The control unit continues the print process based on the reserved print job to the print process based on the currently executed print job when it is determined that both the currently executed print job and the reserved print job include the confidential information. The printing unit is controlled so as to be started.

The invention according to claim 4 is an image forming apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3,
A post-processing device including a confidential tray that accommodates a recording medium that has been printed by the printing unit based on the print job including the confidential information;
It is characterized by having.

  According to the first aspect of the present invention, in the print processing of a print job including confidential information without providing a mechanism for locking a door to be opened for paper jam processing, an authentication function for a person who performs unlocking, and the like. Even if a paper jam occurs, the print processing of the print job prior to the print job has been completed, and a person other than the person who instructed printing of the print job including confidential information clears the paper jam. This can be prevented, and confidentiality can be reliably ensured with a simpler configuration.

  According to the second aspect of the present invention, the same effect as that of the first aspect of the invention can be obtained, in particular, a mechanism for locking a door that is opened for paper jam processing, and the unlocking. Even if there is no authentication function or the like of the person who performs the operation, even when continuous printing is possible and the previous print job includes confidential information, even if a paper jam occurs in the print processing based on the previous print job, Since the print processing of the subsequent print job has not started, it is possible to prevent a person other than the person who instructed the print job including confidential information from releasing the paper jam. It can be surely secured.

  According to the invention described in claim 3, the same effect as that of the invention described in claim 1 or 2 can be obtained. In particular, the print processing between print jobs including confidential information is continued. Thus, the printing process can be performed more efficiently and with confidentiality secured.

  According to the invention described in claim 4, the same effect as that of any one of claims 1 to 3 can be obtained. can do.

  Hereinafter, the best mode of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. However, the scope of the invention is not limited to the illustrated examples. In addition, there are cases where the expression is limited, but this is not a limitation.

  An image forming system 1000 according to the present invention includes, for example, an image forming apparatus 100 connected to an external device such as a PC 200 via a network (not shown) as shown in FIG. The post-processing device 300 is connected via a line (not shown) or the like.

  For example, as shown in FIG. 1, the image forming apparatus 100 includes a printer controller (controller) 1, an image formation control unit 2, and the like.

  For example, as shown in FIG. 1, the printer controller 1 includes a LANIF (Local Area Network Interface) 1A, a controller control unit 1B, and the like, and includes an image forming apparatus 100 and a PC 200 on a network (not shown). And an external device (not shown) such as the PC 200 are communicably connected, and a print job transmitted from the external device such as the PC 200 is received.

  As shown in FIG. 1, for example, the image formation control unit 2 includes an external I / F unit 3, a scanner unit 4, an operation display unit 5, an image memory 6, a print unit 7, a communication unit 8, a control unit 9, and the like. Configured.

  The external I / F unit 3 is an interface that receives image data input from the printer controller 1, for example. Specifically, the external I / F unit 3 receives a print job transmitted from the printer controller 1, for example.

  For example, the scanner unit 4 irradiates light on a document and captures reflected light with a photoelectric conversion device such as a CCD (Charged Coupled Device) or a CMOS (Complementary Metal-Oxide Semiconductor), and from the captured analog electric signal. A document is read by converting it into a digital signal (image signal) by an A / D converter (not shown).

The operation display unit 5 includes, for example, a display unit (not shown), an infrared or electrostatic touch panel (not shown), and various operation keys (not shown). The operation signal is output to the control unit 9.
The display unit of the operation display unit 5 is, for example, a display composed of a CRT (Cathode Ray Tube), or an FPD (Flat Display Panel) composed of a TFT (Thin Film Transistor) element, an organic EL (Electro Luminescent) element, or the like. ) And the like. Then, the display unit of the operation display unit 5 is based on a display signal output from the control unit 9, a sentence or a word representing various guidance including an operation message of the image forming apparatus 100, and an operation screen used for the operation ( (Not shown) is displayed. Moreover, the display part of the operation display part 5 is comprised integrally with the touch panel, for example, and the user gives an input instruction by pressing various buttons on the operation screen displayed on the display part. .

  For example, the image memory 6 temporarily stores a print job received by the external I / F unit 3 as a reserved job. Specifically, the image data included in the print job and subjected to the compression processing is stored, and the compressed image data to be printed before printing is temporarily stored. Here, the print job includes, for example, confidential information indicating confidentiality in addition to the image data.

  The print unit 7 includes a known image forming mechanism that performs various image formations by, for example, an electrophotographic process. The print unit 7 is not limited to this, and various image forming mechanisms such as an ink discharge method and a heat sensitive method can be applied. The print unit 7 performs print processing based on the print job, for example, by forming an image on a recording medium in accordance with a control signal input from the control unit 9.

  The communication unit 8 is connected to a communication network such as a serial line, for example, and performs communication between the image forming apparatus 100 and the post-processing apparatus 300.

  The control unit 9 includes, for example, a CPU (Central Processing Unit; not shown), a RAM (Random Access Memory; not shown), a ROM (Read Only Memory; not shown), and the like, and a processing program stored in the ROM Etc. are read out, developed in the RAM, and executed to control the entire image forming apparatus 100.

Specifically, for example, the control unit 9 stores in the image memory 6 a reserved print job that can start the print process continuously after the print process based on the print job being executed by the print unit 7. Make a reservation. More specifically, the control unit 9 determines, for example, whether or not the print processing based on the print job being executed has reached a predetermined stage, and when determining that the predetermined level has been reached, the printer controller 1 It is determined whether or not a reserved print job has been received. If the printer controller 1 determines that a reserved print job has been received, the reserved print job is stored in the image memory and reserved.
Here, the predetermined stage may be any timing such as a stage where a paper feed request for the final page is output, a stage where image forming processing for the final page is completed, or a stage where fixing processing for the final page is completed. .

  For example, the control unit 9 determines whether the print job received by the printer controller 1 and received by the external I / F unit 3 includes confidential information indicating that it is confidential.

Further, for example, when the control unit 9 determines that the reserved print job includes confidential information indicating that it is confidential, the control unit 9 does not continue the print processing based on the print job being executed by the print unit 7, The printing unit 7 is controlled to start the printing process based on the above.
In addition, for example, when the control unit 9 determines that the reserved print job does not include confidential information and determines that the ongoing print job includes confidential information, the print unit 7 performs print processing based on the ongoing print job. The printing unit 7 is controlled so as to start the print processing based on the reserved print job.
For example, when the control unit 9 determines that both the print job being executed and the reserved print job include confidential information, the control unit 9 causes the print process based on the reserved print job to continue to the print process based on the print job being executed. The printing unit 7 is controlled to start.
Here, “continuing the print process” means starting the print process of the next reserved print job before the print process of the print job being executed is completed.
The end of the printing process is, for example, a stage where the processing of the post-processing apparatus 300 for the final page in the printing process is completed, a stage where the final processing apparatus 300 processes the final page, and the final page to the post-processing apparatus 300 It may be at any timing such as a stage where the paper is conveyed or a stage where the last page is discharged from the image forming apparatus 100.
The start of the print process may be, for example, the start of paper feed, the start of image formation, or the start of image processing of image data included in the print job.

  As shown in FIG. 1, for example, the post-processing apparatus 300 includes a communication unit 10, a binding mechanism 11, a folding mechanism 12, a punch mechanism 13, a transport unit 14, a control unit 15, a paper discharge tray 16, and the like. Yes.

  The communication unit 10 is connected to a communication network such as a serial line, for example, and performs communication between the post-processing apparatus 300 and the image forming apparatus 100.

  The binding mechanism 11 includes, for example, a stack base (not shown), a stapler (not shown), and the like. Do.

  The folding mechanism 12 performs a folding process such as a half-folding process, a three-folding process, and a Z-folding process on the recording medium conveyed to the folding mechanism 12.

  For example, the punch mechanism 13 performs a punching process in which the recording medium conveyed to the punch mechanism 13 is width-aligned and punch holes are formed at predetermined positions.

  The transport unit 14 includes, for example, a plurality of rollers (not shown), a motor (not shown) that rotates the rollers, and the like. The transport unit 14 folds the recording medium transported from the image forming apparatus 100 into the binding mechanism 11 and the folding mechanism 11. After being conveyed to each part such as the mechanism 12 and the punch mechanism 13, it is conveyed to the paper discharge tray 16. Specifically, according to a control signal input from the control unit 15, the transport unit 14 discharges a recording medium on which a print process based on a print job including confidential information is discharged to a confidential tray 16 </ b> A (described later). A recording medium on which a print process based on a print job not including information is performed is discharged to a normal tray 16B (described later).

  The control unit 15 includes, for example, a CPU (not shown), a RAM (not shown), a ROM (not shown), and the like, reads a processing program stored in the ROM, develops it in the RAM, and executes it. As a result, the entire post-processing apparatus 300 is controlled.

  For example, as shown in FIG. 1, the paper discharge tray 16 includes a confidential tray 16A, a normal tray 16B, and the like. The confidential tray 16A accommodates, for example, a recording medium on which a print process based on a print job including confidential information has been performed. The normal tray 16B accommodates, for example, a recording medium that has been subjected to print processing based on a print job that does not include confidential information.

Next, an example of the continuous printing operation in the image forming apparatus 100 of the image forming system 1000 according to the present embodiment having the above-described configuration will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.
First, in the image forming apparatus 100, the control unit 9 determines whether or not the printing process based on the print job being executed by the printing unit 7 has reached a predetermined stage (step S1).

If the control unit 9 determines in step S1 that the predetermined stage has not been reached (step S1; No), the control unit 9 repeats the process of step S1.
When the control unit 9 determines in step S1 that the predetermined stage has been reached (step S1; Yes), the control unit 9 determines whether or not a reserved print job is received by the printer controller 1. (Step S2).

If the control unit 9 determines in step S2 that the reserved print job (reserved job) has not been received by the printer controller 1 (step S2; No), the process ends.
If the controller 9 determines in step S2 that the reserved print job (reserved job) has been received by the printer controller 1 (step S2; Yes), the controller 9 determines that the reserved print job is confidential. It is determined whether or not confidential information indicating the presence is included (step S3).

  If the control unit 9 determines in step S3 that the reserved print job includes confidential information (step S3; Yes), the control unit 9 determines whether the print job being executed (previous job) includes confidential information. Is determined (step S4).

In step S4, when the control unit 9 determines that the print job being executed (previous job) does not include confidential information (step S4; No), the process proceeds to step S8.
In step S4, when the control unit 9 determines that the print job being executed (previous job) includes confidential information (step S4; Yes), the control unit 9 is executing print processing based on the reserved print job. The printing unit 7 is controlled so as to start the printing process based on the print job continuously (step S5).

  When the control unit 9 determines in step S3 that the reserved print job does not include confidential information (step S3; No), the control unit 9 determines whether the print job being executed (previous job) includes confidential information. It is determined whether or not (step S6).

  In step S6, when the control unit 9 determines that the print job being executed (previous job) does not include confidential information (step S6; No), the control unit 9 executes print processing based on the reserved print job. The printing unit 7 is controlled so as to start the printing process based on the middle print job continuously (step S7).

  In step S6, when the control unit 9 determines that the print job being executed (previous job) includes confidential information (step S6; Yes), the control unit 9 is based on the print job being executed by the print unit 7. It is determined whether or not the print process has been completed (step S8).

In step S8, when the control unit 9 determines that the printing process based on the print job being executed by the printing unit 7 is not completed (step S8; No), the control unit 9 repeats the process of step S8. .
In step S8, when the control unit 9 determines that the print process based on the print job being executed by the print unit 7 has ended (step S8; Yes), the control unit 9 performs the print process based on the reserved print job. The printing unit 7 is controlled to start (step S9), and this process is terminated.

  According to the image forming system 1000 and the image forming apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment described above, a print job is received from the outside by the printer controller 1, the print unit 7 is controlled by the control unit 9, and the printer Print processing is performed based on the print job received by the controller 1, and the control unit 9 determines whether or not the print job received by the printer controller 1 includes confidential information indicating that it is confidential. When the control unit 9 determines that the reserved print job includes confidential information indicating that the print job is confidential, the control unit 9 does not continue the print process based on the print job being executed by the print unit 7 but performs the print process based on the reserved print job. Since the printing unit 7 is controlled to start the Even if a paper jam occurs in the print processing of a print job that includes confidential information without providing a mechanism that locks the door that opens for jamming, or an authentication function for the person who performs the unlocking, the print job can be printed. The print processing of the print job prior to the processing has been completed, and it is possible to prevent a person other than the person who instructed the print job including confidential information from releasing the paper jam. Can be ensured.

  In addition, when the control unit 9 determines that the reserved print job does not include confidential information and determines that the ongoing print job includes confidential information, the print unit 7 performs print processing based on the ongoing print job. The printing unit 7 is controlled so as to start the printing process based on the reserved print job without continuing the process, so that the mechanism that locks the door that is opened for the paper jam processing, the authentication function of the person who performs the unlocking, etc. Even if a continuous print is possible and the previous print job includes confidential information, even if a paper jam occurs in the print processing based on the previous print job, the print processing of the subsequent print job Has not started, and a paper jam has occurred by someone other than the person who instructed the print job that contains the confidential information. Can be prevented to perform removal, with a simpler configuration, it is possible to reliably ensure confidentiality.

  In addition, when the control unit 9 determines that both the print job being executed and the reserved print job include confidential information, the print processing based on the reserved print job is started continuously with the print processing based on the print job being executed. Since the print unit 7 is controlled so that the print processing is performed, print processing between print jobs including confidential information is continued, and the print processing can be performed more efficiently and with confidentiality secured. .

  Further, since the confidential tray 16A accommodates the recording medium that has been printed by the printing unit 7 based on the print job including the confidential information, the confidentiality after the paper discharge can be ensured.

If the print job contains personal identification information and a paper jam occurs during print processing based on the print job containing confidential information, the door that is opened when the paper jam is handled is locked, and personal identification information is input. The door may be unlocked when the input password information matches the password information included in the print job.
The printer controller 1 is provided in the image forming apparatus 100, but may be provided independently of the image forming apparatus 100.
Further, the user information is configured to be included in the print job, and when the control unit 9 determines that both the print job being executed and the reserved print job include confidential information, the user of the print job being executed and the reserved print job It is determined whether or not the information matches, and only when the information matches, the printing unit 7 is controlled so that the print processing based on the print job in progress and the print processing based on the reserved print job are continuously executed. You may comprise.

1 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a configuration of an image forming system according to the present invention. 5 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a continuous printing operation in the image forming apparatus according to the present invention.

Explanation of symbols

1 Printer controller (controller)
7 Print section 9 Control section 16A Confidential tray 100 Image forming apparatus 1000 Image forming system

Claims (4)

A controller that accepts print jobs from outside,
A print unit that performs print processing based on a print job received by the controller;
Determining whether the print job received by the controller includes confidential information;
A controller for reserving a reserved print job capable of starting a print process in succession to a print process based on an ongoing print job by the print unit;
With
When the control unit determines that the reserved print job includes confidential information, the control unit starts the print process based on the reserved print job without continuing the print process based on the print job being executed by the print unit. In this way, the image forming apparatus controls the print unit.   The control unit determines that the reserved print job does not include the confidential information, and determines that the ongoing print job includes the confidential information, and determines that the reserved print job includes the confidential information. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the print unit is controlled to start a print process based on the reserved print job without continuing the print process based on the print process.   The control unit continues the print process based on the reserved print job to the print process based on the currently executed print job when it is determined that both the currently executed print job and the reserved print job include the confidential information. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the printing unit is controlled so as to be started. An image forming apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3,
A post-processing device including a confidential tray that accommodates a recording medium that has been printed by the printing unit based on the print job including the confidential information;
An image forming system comprising:

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