JP2010069822A - Image forming apparatus, image forming system and image forming method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an image forming apparatus which is improved in input efficiency of an input item depending on a writing form and reduced in input miss even if the writing form for printing on a sheet material is different. <P>SOLUTION: While a format information is stored in paper supplying parts 19a, 19b, an RFID apparatus 17 having a function for sending the format information sets an added sheet material B. A receiving part 9 receives the format information from the RFID apparatus 17 of the sheet material B supplied from the paper supplying parts 19a, 19b. An input part 7 receives an input of an identification information. A printing part 11 prints on the sheet material B supplied. A print control part 31 distinguishes the writing form relating to the format information received at the receiving part 9, displays a related information corresponding to the distinguished writing form that is the related information relating to its distinguished information, to make a printing data, and controls the printing part 11 as to image form the printing data on the sheet material B. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus, an image forming system, and an image forming method. For example, an image forming apparatus such as a printer, a copier, a facsimile machine, and a multi-function peripheral (MFP), an image forming system using the same, and an image The present invention relates to an improvement of the forming method.

  In recent years, IC cards and radio frequency IC tags, that is, RFID (radio frequency identification) devices configured such that various information related to products and users can be read and written in a non-contact manner have come to be used in IC chips.

  In the image forming apparatus, it is considered that the convenience of the image forming apparatus can be improved by storing various image control information in the RFID apparatus and attaching it to the sheet material.

  For example, the printing control apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2005-169645 (Patent Document 1) is of this type.

  That is, in Patent Document 1, in a printing apparatus, an ID number corresponding to a type of printing paper is read from a paper tag attached to printing paper by a paper tag reader, and based on form information of a printing form specified from the ID number. Guidance is given to the user about the input of print information to be printed on the printing paper, and the user can easily set the printing information by this guidance, and the printing set in the guidance for the printing paper for which the printing form has been determined in advance. The information can be printed on a predetermined printing form.

  In addition, a recording medium disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2000-296653 (Patent Document 2) has also been proposed.

  In this Patent Document 2, an IC chip into which information on paper type and paper size is input is provided on a recording medium, and information on the recording medium sent to a printer before printing is collated with information in the IC chip. The size is discriminated to prevent setting errors of recording media of different types and sizes.

  Further, an image forming apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2007-38545 (Patent Document 3) has also been proposed.

This patent document 3 reads out and stores form data, which is electronic data of the form image, from an IC tag provided on the sheet on which the form image is printed, and supplies the form data to the sheet used to execute the designated print job. It is determined whether or not a form image is printed, and in accordance with the determination result, control is performed to acquire a printed material in which the form image corresponding to the print job and the print image based on the print job are formed on the paper material. Even if the recording material on which the form image is printed is cut, the stored form data can be used to obtain a printed material in which the form image and the printed image are formed on the recording material. It is what I did.
JP 2005-169645 A JP 2000-296653 A JP 2007-38545 A

  However, in Patent Document 1 described above, the print form specified based on the ID number read from the paper tag can be automatically printed, but it is necessary for the user to input items to be described in the print form every time according to the guidance. In addition, human input errors are likely to occur, and every time input work is complicated.

  Further, in Patent Document 2, an IC chip is used to prevent setting mistakes of recording media of different types and sizes, and input work of printing contents to be printed on the set recording medium is not taken into consideration.

  Furthermore, Cited Document 3 enables printing using stored form data even when the recording material on which the form image is printed runs out, and allows the input of display contents to be displayed on the printed matter. It was not intended to improve accuracy or increase efficiency.

  The present invention has been made to solve such a problem. An image forming apparatus, an image forming system, and an image forming apparatus capable of improving input efficiency of input items to different form forms and reducing input errors. The purpose is to provide a method.

  In order to solve such a problem, an image forming apparatus according to claim 1 of the present invention is set with a sheet material to which format information is stored and an RFID device having a function of transmitting the format information is attached. A sheet feeding unit, a receiving unit that receives format information from the RFID device in the course of conveying the sheet material fed from the sheet feeding unit, an input unit that receives input of identification information, and a sheet material that is fed The print unit for forming an image and the format form related to the format information received by the receiving unit are discriminated, and the related information corresponding to the identification information is displayed and the related information corresponding to the discriminated format form is displayed. And a printing control unit that controls the printing unit to form an image of the print data on the sheet material.

  In the image forming apparatus according to claim 2 of the present invention, the print control unit displays the related information taken in via the network from the external storage unit that stores the related information related to the identification information in advance, and displays the print data. It has a configuration to create.

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the image forming apparatus of the present invention, the print control unit displays related information related to the identification information received from the outside via the input unit via the network and creates the print data. It has a configuration.

  In the image forming apparatus according to a fourth aspect of the present invention, the related information is history information related to the identification information, and the print control unit displays the history information corresponding to the determined form and displays the print data. It has the structure which produces.

  An image forming system according to claim 5 of the present invention stores the image forming apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 4 and format information for image formation by the image forming apparatus, and stores the format information. And the sheet material to which the RFID device having a function of transmitting is attached.

  According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image forming method comprising: an input process for receiving input of identification information; and a sheet material to which an RFID device having a function of storing format information and transmitting the format information is attached. A conveying step of feeding and conveying the sheet material from the set paper feeding unit, a receiving step of receiving the format information from the RFID device in the conveying step by the receiving unit, and a receiving unit receiving the format information The format form related to the format information is discriminated, and the related information corresponding to the discriminated format form is read out from the storage unit storing the related information related to the identification information in advance, and the related information corresponding to the format form is read out to the corresponding location. A print data creation process for displaying and creating print data, a print process for forming and printing an image on a fed sheet material, and an image format for the print data on the sheet material Printing a control step of controlling the printing unit to and comprises a.

  In the image forming method according to the seventh aspect of the present invention, the print control step corresponds to the determined format form, and the history is stored from the storage unit that previously stores the history information related to the identification information as related information related to the identification information. It has a configuration in which information is read out and displayed at a corresponding location to generate the print data.

  In such an image forming apparatus according to the first aspect of the present invention, the receiving unit receives the format information from the RFID device in the process of transporting the sheet material fed from the paper feeding unit, and the input unit receives the identification information. The printing control unit discriminates the format form related to the received and received format information, displays the relevant information corresponding to the format form determined in accordance with the identification information, creates print data, and prints the print data Because the printing section is controlled to form an image, even if the format form to be printed on the sheet material is different, if the minimum necessary information such as identification information is input, the input efficiency of the input items on the format form can be improved. It is possible to improve and reduce input mistakes.

  In the image forming apparatus according to claim 2 of the present invention, the print control unit has a configuration for displaying the related information fetched from the external storage unit via the network and creating the print data. It can be implemented by storing related information in a storage unit in the apparatus.

  In the image forming apparatus according to claim 3 of the present invention, the print control unit has a configuration for generating print data by displaying related information based on identification information received from the outside. This can be done by inputting identification information.

  In the image forming apparatus according to claim 4 of the present invention, the related information is used as history information, and the print control unit displays the history information and generates the print data. It is possible to display and print various information.

  In the image forming system according to claim 5 of the present invention, the image forming apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 4 and format information for image formation by the image forming apparatus are stored and the format information is stored. Since the RFID device having the function of transmitting is provided with the sheet material attached, it is possible to obtain the same effect as the above-described image forming apparatus.

  Embodiments of an image forming apparatus, an image forming system, and an image forming method according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. The image forming apparatus and the image forming method according to the present invention will be described by taking medical-related forms as an example in the course of describing the image forming system of the present invention.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the image forming system of the present invention includes an image forming apparatus A and a sheet material B used therefor. The image forming apparatus A will be described.

  The image forming apparatus A includes an image reading unit 3, a storage unit 5, an operation panel unit 7, a receiving unit 9, a printing unit 11, and a transmission / reception unit 13 with the main control unit 1 as the center. It is composed. Note that the image forming apparatus A has a configuration other than this, but since it is not the gist of the present invention, description and illustration are omitted.

  The image reading unit 3 is a known scanner that optically reads an image from, for example, a printed document having a plurality of pages under the control of the main control unit 1 and generates electronic print data by performing a filtering process or the like. 2 is arranged above the main body case 15 in FIG. 2 and is controlled so as to store image data for each page in the storage unit 5.

  The storage unit 5 in FIG. 1 stores read print data from the image reading unit 3, received print data to be described later from the transmission / reception unit 13, format forms to be described later, related information relating to identification information, for example, history information, For example, it is a readable / writable hard disk storing an operation program of the control unit 1.

  For example, as shown in FIG. 3A, the format form is a first format form that simply displays the examination date, name, prescribed medicine, next examination date and fee, as shown in FIG. A second format form in which “examination content” is added to the first format form and displayed in detail, and a third format form in which a plurality of past examination contents are displayed as shown in FIG. 3A to 3C are shown as printed by the printing unit 11.

  The first form is printed for, for example, a normal patient with mild symptoms, the second form is printed for a patient who needs detailed examination contents, for example, an infant, and the third form is for a patient. It is printed when details are required by request or when it is desired to confirm the contents of past examinations.

  For example, as shown in FIG. 4, the history information (related information) is assigned with a “management number” such as a medical examination ticket number in the A column, “name” in the B column, and “name” in the C column. “Address”, “Gender” in D column, “Age” in E column, “Examination date” in F column, “Consultation contents” in G column, “Prescription medicine” in H column, “Next consultation date” in I column Is a medical related information database in which is automatically input and updated separately every time a case occurs.

  Display items displayed in the format forms of FIGS. 3A to 3C, that is, the examination date, name, prescribed medicine, next examination date, examination contents, and past examination contents are column B to I in the history information in FIG. It corresponds to the link from “Name” to “Next consultation date”.

  Then, as will be described later, the contents of “name” to “next examination date” in columns B to I in the history information of FIG. 4 corresponding to the input management information are shown in the format forms of FIGS. Displayed in the display item and printed.

  The operation panel unit 7 in FIG. 1 is arranged on the upper part of the main body case 15 in FIG. 2, and is a known liquid crystal display panel as a display unit capable of displaying various operating states under the control of the main control unit 1. It has a function as an input unit that accepts an operation by touching a place where an image related to the operation of the apparatus is displayed.

  For example, as shown in FIG. 5, the operation panel unit 7 is used for various operations such as printing (copying) processing, printing processing, scanner processing, facsimile transmission / reception processing, etc. In addition to the well-known numeric keypad 7b and start key 7c for inputting setting information of the setting items and identification information (management number, for example, examination ticket number) for identifying the user, the display panel unit 7d for displaying the operation status of the apparatus is included. Has a touch keyboard. The input information is output to the main control unit 1, and a format error described later is displayed on the display panel unit 7d.

  The receiving unit 9 in FIG. 1 transmits a high-frequency signal under the control of the main control unit 1 to request the RFID device 17 attached to the sheet material B to transmit format information, and the high-frequency signal from the RFID device 17. It has a function of receiving and decoding and decoding signals, acquiring format information indicating the format forms of FIGS. 3A to 3C described above, and outputting the format information to the main control unit 1.

  The RFID device 17 is a chip-like device disposed on the sheet material B, and as shown in FIG. 6, a high-frequency signal emitted from the receiving unit 9 and received by the antenna unit 17a is demodulated and rectified by the communication unit 17b. When the operation is controlled and the high frequency signal is received, the format information is read out from the storage unit 17d storing the format information indicating the format form to be printed on the sheet material B attached to the RFID device 17, and the control unit In 17c, the format information is formed into a predetermined format signal, and the format signal has a function of modulating the high-frequency signal by the communication unit 17b and emitting it from the antenna unit 17a.

  The sheet material B is a conventionally known paper printing paper of A4 size or B4 size, and the RFID device 17 is attached to the front or back surface or embedded and attached.

  As shown in FIG. 2 described above, the printing unit 11 includes a plurality of sheet feeding units 19a and 19b on which sheet materials B having different sizes arranged at the lower portion of the main body case 15 are set, and a print image image from the print data. A transfer unit 21 that develops the data and develops toner with toner from a toner cassette (not shown) to transfer the toner image onto the sheet material B, and a fixing unit 23 that fixes the transferred image on the transferred sheet material B. And a color or monochrome print engine having a paper discharge unit 25 for discharging the fixed sheet material B.

  The receiving unit 9 described above is directed toward the sheet material B on the conveyance path of the sheet material B primarily fed from the sheet feeding units 19a and 19b and in front of the transfer unit 21, that is, in the vicinity of a registration roller (not shown). Has been placed.

  Returning to FIG. 1, the transmission / reception unit 13 is an interface unit that transmits / receives various information, for example, print data, to / from an information processing device 29 such as a computer via a network 27 according to a predetermined protocol.

  The main control unit 1 is formed with a CPU and a ROM that stores an operation program for the CPU. The main control unit 1 includes the image reading unit 3, the storage unit 5, the operation panel unit 7, the receiving unit 9, the printing unit 11, and the like described above. While controlling the transmission / reception part 13 etc., the element part which is not illustrated of a multifunctional machine is controlled.

  In addition to controlling the printing unit 11, the main control unit 1 starts the printing operation, the sheet material B is primarily fed, and the format information is acquired from the receiving unit 9 from the RFID device 17 of the sheet material B. It has a function as a print control unit 31 that discriminates a format form related to information and controls the printing operation of the printing unit 11.

  The print control unit 31 determines the format form related to the format information received by the receiving unit 9 and reads out the corresponding format form from the storage unit 5, while storing the storage unit 5 based on the identification information input from the operation panel unit 7. The printing unit 11 searches for items corresponding to the determined format form from the history information in the print data, creates print data that is displayed, and outputs the print data to the printing unit 11 to form an image on the sheet material B. It has a function to control.

  That is, the storage items for the display items displayed in the first to third format forms in FIGS. 3A to 3C described above, that is, the examination date, the name, the prescribed medicine, the next examination date, the examination contents, and the past examination contents. 3, the items corresponding to the management number are searched from “name” to “next examination date” in columns B to I in the history information of FIG. 3 stored in FIG. 3, and the corresponding “name” to “next examination date”. Is generated in the corresponding display item in the first to third format forms, and is output to the printing unit 11.

  Next, the operation of the image forming system of the present invention will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

  When the program is started, the sheet material B set in the paper feeding units 19a and 19b of the printing unit 11 is detected in step S1, and the management number input is received from the operation panel unit 7 in step S2. In step S <b> 3, the printing unit 11 starts a printing process, primarily feeds the sheet material B from the paper feeding units 19 a and 19 b, and performs a conveyance process.

  In step S4, the receiving unit 9 reads and processes the format information from the RFID device 17. In step S5, the print control unit 31 accesses the database (history information) in the storage unit 5, and in step S6, the print control unit. It is determined whether or not there is a corresponding format form 31.

  If the corresponding format form is detected and step S6 is YES, the print control unit 31 extracts the corresponding format form and necessary history information from the storage unit 5 in step S7, and the corresponding part of the detected format form. The history information is displayed, print data is created, output to the printing unit 11, and printed.

  If the corresponding form is not detected and step S6 is NO, the print control unit 31 displays a format error on the display panel unit 7d of the operation panel unit 7 in step S8 (see FIG. 5).

  Subsequently, it is determined whether or not all the printing processes designated in step S9 are completed. If the printing process is not completed and step S9 is NO, steps S2 to S9 are repeated until step S9 becomes YES. To finish.

  Note that these processes correspond to the image forming method according to the present invention.

  As described above, the image forming apparatus A according to the present invention includes the sheet feeding units 19a and 19b on which the sheet material B to which the RFID device 17 having a function of storing the format information and transmitting the format information is attached is set. A receiving unit 9 that receives format information from the RFID device 17 in the course of conveying the sheet material B fed from the sheet feeding units 19a and 19b, and an operation panel unit (input unit) 7 that receives input of identification information. A storage unit 5 that stores history information as related information related to the identification information in advance, a printing unit 11 that forms an image on the fed sheet material B, and a format form related to the format information received by the receiving unit 9 Display the history information corresponding to the identified form and display the history information corresponding to the identification information, create print data, and image the print data on the sheet material. And it includes a print control unit 31 for controlling the printing unit 11, a.

  Therefore, the format information is read from the RFID device 17 embedded in the sheet material B, and the necessary information is displayed on the format form corresponding to the format information simply by inputting the necessary minimum information such as a management number, for example, a medical ticket number. Even if the format form to be printed on the sheet material B is different, it is possible to display and print necessary history information depending on the corresponding format form.

  Therefore, as shown in FIGS. 3A and 3B described above, the first format form may be printed for a normal patient with mild symptoms, and the second format form may be printed for a patient who needs detailed examination contents. It is possible to input such medical history information, so that it is possible to improve the input efficiency of input items to the form and reduce input errors such as erroneous input and input omission. The same applies to the image forming system of the present invention.

  Moreover, since the related information is set as history information, and the print control unit displays the history information and creates print data, for example, as shown in FIG. 3C, the time series of the patient corresponding to the medical ticket number It is also possible to print the third form form displaying the medical treatment contents.

  In the image forming apparatus A of the present invention described above, the format form and the history information are stored in the built-in storage unit 5 and the identification information is input from the installed operation panel unit 7, but the present invention is not limited thereto. For example, the information processing device 29 in FIG. 1 can be used.

  That is, in FIG. 1, the above-described format form and history information are stored in the storage unit 29a as an external storage unit disposed in the information processing apparatus 29 connected to the transmission / reception unit 13 of the image forming apparatus A via the network 27. It is possible to configure so that identification information can be input to the information processing device 29 from a keyboard 29b as an input unit.

  Then, the identification information is input from the keyboard 29 b and input to the image forming apparatus A from the information processing apparatus 29 via the transmission / reception unit 13, and the format information is input from the print control unit 31 of the image forming apparatus A via the transmission / reception unit 13. Instructing the information processing device 29 to search for the corresponding format form and the history information corresponding thereto, and inputting the format form and the history information to be displayed on the format form from the information processing device 29 to the print control unit 31. What is necessary is just to comprise the main control part 1, the printing control part 31, the transmission / reception part 13, and the information processing apparatus 29. FIG. Thus, the transmission / reception unit 13 also functions as an input unit for identification information.

  Although the information processing apparatus 29 has various configurations other than this configuration, the description thereof is omitted because it is not a main part of the present invention.

  In such a configuration, identification information can be input from the external information processing device 29, or related information (history information) can be stored in the external storage unit 29a.

  And in this structure, it is not limited to the structure which performs both the input of identification information, and the memory | storage of a form and related information on the information processing apparatus 29 side, Either implementation is also possible.

  In the present invention, in the above-described configuration, history information, particularly medical-related medical history information is taken as an example of related information related to the form and identification information. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and identification information is not limited to this. In addition to the examination ticket number, the identification information to be input can be implemented with a name, an employee number, and other codes that can identify a user and a user.

  Further, in the configuration described above, the RFID device 17 attached to the sheet material B stores format information, and the corresponding format form is stored in the storage units 5 and 29a. However, in the present invention, the RFID device 17 It is also possible to store the form itself as form information.

  By the way, referring to the image forming method according to the present invention, the image forming method according to the present invention includes an input process for receiving input of identification information, and an RFID device having a function of storing format information and transmitting the format information. A sheet feeding process for feeding and conveying the sheet material B from the sheet feeding unit 19a, 19b in which the sheet material B to which the sheet 17 is attached is set, and format information is received from the RFID device 17 in the conveying process. The receiving process received by the unit 9 and the format form related to the format information received by the receiving unit 9 are discriminated, and the related information related to the identification information is stored from the storage unit storing the related information related to the identification information in advance. The print data creation step for reading the relevant information corresponding to the format form determined in the above and displaying it at the corresponding location to create the print data, and the image on the fed sheet material B Since it has a printing process for forming and printing, and a printing control process for controlling the printing unit 11 to form an image of the print data on the sheet material B, the same effects as those of the image forming apparatus described above are obtained. It is possible.

  Moreover, in the image forming method of the present invention, the print control step corresponds to the determined format form, and the history information is stored from the storage units 5 and 29a in which history information related to the identification information is stored in advance as related information related to the identification information. The same effect can be obtained in a configuration in which the print data is read out and displayed at the corresponding location to generate the print data.

1 is a schematic block diagram showing an outline of an image forming system according to the present invention. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram illustrating an internal configuration of an image forming apparatus according to the present invention. It is a figure explaining the format form example in the image forming system which concerns on this invention. It is a figure explaining the example of the relevant information in the image forming system which concerns on this invention. It is a figure which shows the operation panel part in this invention. It is a block diagram explaining the RFID apparatus in this invention. 3 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the image forming system of the present invention.

Explanation of symbols

1 Main Control Unit 3 Image Reading Unit 5 Storage Unit 7 Operation Panel Unit (Input Unit)
7a selection key 7b numeric keypad 7c start key 7d display panel section 9 receiving section 11 printing section 13 transmitting / receiving section (input section)
15 Main unit case 17 RFID device 17a Antenna unit 17b Communication unit 17c Control unit 17d Storage units 19a and 19b Paper supply unit (printing unit)
21 Transfer section (printing section)
23 Fixing part (printing part)
25 Paper discharge unit (printing unit)
27 Network 29 Information processing device (computer)
29a External storage unit 29c Keyboard (external input unit)
31 Print Control Unit A Image Forming Device (Multifunction Device)
B sheet material

Claims (7)

A sheet feeding unit in which a sheet material to which an RFID device having a function of transmitting the format information and storing the format information is attached is set;
A receiving unit that receives the format information from the RFID device in the course of conveying the sheet material fed from the paper feeding unit;
An input unit that receives input of identification information;
A printing unit for forming an image on the fed sheet material;
Determine the format form related to the format information received by the receiving unit, display the related information corresponding to the format form determined as related information related to the identification information, and create print data, A print control unit that controls the printing unit to form an image of print data on the sheet material;
An image forming apparatus comprising: The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the print control unit generates the print data by displaying the related information captured via a network from an external storage unit that stores the related information related to the identification information in advance. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the print control unit creates the print data by displaying the related information related to the identification information received from the outside via the input unit via the network. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the related information is history information related to the identification information, and the print control unit generates the print data by displaying the history information corresponding to the determined form. The sheet to which the image forming apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 4 and the RFID apparatus having a function of storing the format information for forming an image by the image forming apparatus and transmitting the format information are attached. And an image forming system. An input process for receiving input of identification information;
A conveying step of feeding and conveying the sheet material from a sheet feeding unit in which the sheet material attached with an RFID device having a function of transmitting the format information and storing the format information is set;
A receiving step of receiving the format information from the RFID device in the conveying step by a receiving unit;
The format form related to the format information received by the receiving unit is determined, and corresponds to the format form determined as the related information related to the identification information from the storage unit that stores the related information related to the identification information in advance. A print data creation step of reading out the related information and displaying it in a corresponding location to create print data;
A printing process for forming and printing an image on the fed sheet material;
A print control step for controlling the printing unit to image the print data on the sheet material;
An image forming method comprising: The printing control step corresponds to the determined format form, reads the history information from a storage unit that previously stores the history information related to the identification information as related information related to the identification information, displays the history information in a corresponding place, and The image forming method according to claim 6, wherein print data is created.

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