JPH11355546A - Image forming device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an image forming device with which paper sheets can be prevented from being wasted by printing out blank images and further, the blank image can be printed cut and remained even when that image is erroneously decided. SOLUTION: It is decided whether received image data are blank images or not (S2) and when they are blank images, these received images are printed just on one side (S8) but when the received image data of the preceding page are nonblank images and the next received image data are judged ass blank images (S2→S5), printing is performed on both sides by printing the received image of the preceding page on the front side of paper and printing the received blank images on the rear side (S9). When inputted image data are blank images for its upper or lower half, printing is performed on both the sides by printing the pat of nonblank images on the front side of paper sized by half in respect to an original output paper size and printing the part of blank images on the rear side.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to a digital copying machine,
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus such as a facsimile apparatus, and more particularly, to an image forming apparatus that uses a double-sided printing function to suppress waste of paper due to output of a blank image.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in an image forming apparatus for externally inputting an image and printing it on paper, a blank image is included in a case where the input image is a blank image or an image input for a plurality of pages. Even in this case, since the printing operation is performed as usual and the blank image is output, there is a problem that the paper is wasted by the amount used for outputting the blank image. Therefore, the image forming apparatus described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 7-264363 is provided with a blank sheet determination circuit that determines a blank image in an input image, and when it is determined that the input image is a blank image, Print output is not performed. According to the image forming apparatus described in this publication, the output of a blank image is automatically prohibited, so that it is possible to reduce the labor of an operator who does not output a blank image.

[0003]

However, in the image forming apparatus described in the above publication, a blank image is automatically determined by a blank page determination circuit, and as a result, if the blank image is determined, the image is not printed out. Therefore, when an error occurs in determining whether or not the input image is a blank image, the image is lost. Even if such an erroneous determination occurs, if the input image is an image read by the original reading device, it is possible to print out by re-reading a page that was not printed out due to the erroneous determination. If the received image is erroneously determined to be a blank image, it cannot be printed out unless the received image data remains in the memory, and there is a risk that the erroneously determined image may be completely missing. Therefore, the output prohibition function of a blank image in the image forming apparatus described in the above publication is difficult to apply to a facsimile machine. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the problems of the conventional technology as described above, and can eliminate waste of paper caused by printing and outputting a blank image, and erroneously determines that an input image is a blank image. It is an object of the present invention to provide an image forming apparatus capable of printing and outputting an image even when the determination is made.

[0004]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image forming apparatus, comprising: an image input unit for inputting image data; an image input unit for inputting image data; Printing means capable of selectively printing out one or both sides of a sheet, and determining means for determining whether or not the input image data is that of a blank image. If it is determined that the image is a blank image, the image corresponding to the image data is
It is characterized in that an image corresponding to another image data is printed out on the back side of the paper on which the printout is performed.
In the image forming apparatus according to the second aspect of the present invention, an image input unit for inputting image data and an image corresponding to the input image data can be selectively printed out on one side or both sides of a sheet. Possible printing means, and determining means for determining whether the input image data is an upper half or a lower half of a blank image, and wherein the input image data is an upper half or a lower half of a blank image If it is determined that the non-blank image is the original, the two-sided printing is performed on a half size of the original output paper size, with the non-blank image portion as the front side and the blank image portion as the back side. . As described above, according to the first aspect of the invention, when the input image data is that of a blank image, the image data of the blank image is output as another image based on the image data of the non-blank image. Since the printout is performed on the back side of the paper, the waste of paper due to the printout of the blank image can be eliminated, and even if the non-blank image is erroneously determined to be a blank image, the non-blank image is printed on the paper. Since the image is printed out on the back side, it is possible to prevent the image from being lost due to erroneous determination. According to the second aspect of the present invention, when the input image data has an upper half or a lower half of a blank image, a non-blank image portion is placed on a half size of the original output paper size. Since the front side and the blank image part are printed on both sides with the back side printed, it is possible to eliminate waste of paper by printing and using only the upper half or lower half area of the paper. Even if the image is erroneously determined to be a blank image, the portion determined to be a blank image is printed out on the back side of the sheet, so that the image can be prevented from being lost due to the erroneous determination.

[0005]

Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram of a digital multifunction peripheral showing an example of an embodiment of the present invention. This digital multifunction peripheral has a facsimile communication unit (input device) 1 for transmitting and receiving image data through a communication line, and an optical system for transmitting an original image. A document reading unit (input device) 2 that reads the image data, converts it into image data, and inputs the image data; an image memory 3 that temporarily stores image data input from the facsimile communication unit 1 and the document reading unit 2 and output image data An image storage memory 4 for storing various types of document information in a large-capacity external storage device such as an HDD or an optical disk; image data input from a facsimile communication unit 1 or a document reading unit 2; A single-sided / double-sided printing unit 5 capable of selectively printing out an image corresponding to image data on one side or both sides of a sheet; Made from the system control unit 6, etc. with a CPU that integrally controls the operation of each section. The system control unit 6 includes a CPU, a ROM in which a program executed by the CPU is written, a RAM used as a work area when the CPU performs various processes, and the like. Various processes are performed in accordance with signals from sensors and the like arranged at various places. In particular, in this embodiment, the system control unit 6 determines whether the image data input from the input device such as the facsimile communication unit 1 and the document reading unit 2 is a blank image, and the determination unit. According to the result, it functions as a print control unit for controlling the print output form by the single-sided / double-sided printing unit 5, that is, whether to print the image on the front side or the back side of the paper. The determination as to whether or not the input image data is that of a blank image is made based on the Y signal of the input image data (a signal indicating the luminance of each pixel).
It is performed based on. That is, if the Y signal is less than the predetermined value, the pixel is determined to be a black pixel, and if the Y signal is greater than the predetermined value, the pixel is determined to be a white pixel. Is smaller than the predetermined value, it is determined that the image data is that of a blank image.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described. FIG. 2 shows an example of the operation of the digital multifunction peripheral at the time of facsimile reception. When one page of image data is received (S1), it is determined whether or not the received image data is a blank image. Perform (S2). As a result, if the received image data is a blank image (S2: Yes), the received image is printed on one side (S8), and the operation is terminated. It is checked whether the data belongs to the page, that is, whether there is image data for the next page (S
3). As a result, if it is the last page (S3 Yes), the received image is printed on one side (S8) and the operation is terminated. If it is not the last page (S3 No), the image data of the next page is copied. The received image data is received (S4), and it is determined whether or not the received image data is a blank image (S5). At this time, the received image data (non-monochrome image data) of the previous page received in step S1 is stored in the memory. As a result, if it is not the last page (S6: No), the received image data of the previous page is read from the memory and printed on one side (S7), and the image data of the next page is received (S4). Then, it is determined whether or not the received image data of the next page is a blank image (S5). If it is determined that the received image data is of a blank image (Yes in S5), the received image data of the previous page is stored in a memory. Then, the received image of the previous page is printed on the front side of the paper and the received image of the current page determined to be a blank image is printed on the back side (S9).

Then, it is checked whether the received image printed on the back side of the sheet is of the last page (S10). If the received image is of the last page (S10 Yes), this operation is terminated. If not (S6 No), the operation from step S4 is performed again. As described above, if the received image data of the previous page is that of a non-blank image (S2 No) and the next received image data is that of a blank image (S5 Yes), the reception of the previous page is performed. By printing the image on the front side of the sheet and duplex printing with the received image of the blank image on the back side (S9), it is possible to reduce waste of the paper caused by printing out the blank image, and to erroneously print the non-blank image. Even when it is determined that the image is a blank image, the non-blank image is printed out on the back side of the sheet, so that the image is prevented from being lost due to erroneous determination. In the above description, when image data determined to be a blank image is continuously transmitted, the blank image is printed on one side and a double-sided blank sheet is output. Since it is rarely sent, the effect of reducing waste of paper is not impaired. Further, the above-described embodiment aims at the wasteful effect of the paper when the entire blank image data is sent, but when the received image data is an upper half or a lower half of a blank image, On paper of half the original output paper size,
By configuring two-sided printing with the non-blank paper image part on the front side and the blank paper image part on the back side, it is possible to eliminate waste of paper by printing and using only the upper half or lower half of the paper. it can.

In the above example, the case where the image data received by facsimile is printed out is described.
The same applies to the case where image data read by the document reading unit 2 is printed out. In other words, if the processing of steps S2 and S4 in the flow of FIG. 2 is replaced with reading processing of one page of image data, and the received image data is read image data, a plurality of originals are read and printed out. Also, it is possible to eliminate waste of paper due to printing out a blank image, and even if a non-blank image is mistakenly determined to be a blank image, the non-blank image is printed out on the back side of the paper. Missing images due to erroneous determination can be prevented. Also, in the above example, a digital multifunction peripheral having a facsimile communication unit 1 and a document reading unit 2 as an image input unit has been described as an example, but the present invention includes one of the facsimile communication unit 1 and the document reading unit 2 The present invention can also be effectively applied to an image forming apparatus which is not used, for example, a dedicated facsimile machine or a dedicated copy machine.

[0009]

As described above, according to the present invention, the following excellent effects can be exhibited. According to the first aspect of the invention, when the input image data is that of a blank image, the image data of the blank image is printed on the back surface of a sheet on which another image based on the image data of the non-blank image is printed out. Since the printout is performed, waste of the paper due to the printout of the blank image can be omitted.Moreover, even if the non-blank image is erroneously determined as the blank image, the non-blank image is printed out on the back side of the paper. Therefore, it is possible to prevent image dropout due to erroneous determination. According to the second aspect of the present invention, when the input image data has an upper half or a lower half of a blank image, the non-blank image portion is placed on a half size of the original output paper size. Since the front side and the blank image part are printed on both sides with the back side printed, it is possible to eliminate waste of paper by printing and using only the upper half or lower half area of the paper. Even if the image is erroneously determined to be a blank image, the portion determined to be a blank image is printed out on the back side of the sheet, so that the image is prevented from being lost due to the erroneous determination.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram of a digital multifunction peripheral showing an example of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an operation flowchart of the digital multifunction peripheral shown in FIG. 1 at the time of facsimile reception.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 facsimile communication unit (image input unit), 2 document reading unit (image input unit), 3 image memory, 6 system control unit (judgment unit)

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. An image input means for inputting image data,
A printing unit capable of selectively printing out an image corresponding to the input image data on one or both sides of a sheet,
Determining means for determining whether or not the input image data is that of a blank image; if it is determined that the input image data is of a blank image, an image corresponding to the image data; An image forming apparatus configured to print out an image corresponding to other image data on the back side of a sheet on which the image is printed out. 2. An image input means for inputting image data,
A printing unit capable of selectively printing out an image corresponding to the input image data on one or both sides of a sheet,
Determining means for determining whether the input image data is an upper half or a lower half of a blank image; and determining that the input image data is an upper half or a lower half of a blank image. An image forming apparatus configured to perform double-sided printing on a sheet of half the original output sheet size with the non-blank image portion on the front side and the blank image portion on the back side.