JP2000115433A - Image-forming system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an image-forming system with which a plurality of image- forming devices share the formation of an image, corresponding properly to the occurrence of a transfer error. SOLUTION: Image data, of an original read by a master image forming device M in this image forming system, are transferred from an interface terminal t1 provided to a memory unit 24 of the master image-forming device M to a slave image-forming device S, and the print of the original is shared by the master image-forming device M and the slave image forming device S. On the occurrence of a transfer error in the transfer of the image from the interface terminal t1 of the memory unit 24 of the master image-forming device M to the slave image-forming device S, the data of the original being an object of the transfer error are re-transferred by a command from a system controller 23 just after the detection of the transfer error or after the end of reading of all originals, and the printing of the original is conducted efficiently by changing a point of time of re-transfer, according to the finish condition of the original or a print acquisition condition.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a master image forming apparatus in which image data of a document read by document reading means of a master image forming apparatus is transferred to a slave image forming apparatus, and a print of the document is transferred to the master image forming apparatus and a slave image forming apparatus. The present invention relates to an image forming system in which the printing means of a plurality of image forming apparatuses are configured to share and execute.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art An image forming apparatus such as a copying machine is required to form a large number of images in a reduced image forming operation time.
Japanese Patent No. 4575 discloses a method in which a plurality of digital copying machines are used, and original image data read by a master machine is transferred to a slave machine to perform image formation in a shared manner.

[0003]

In the method according to the above-mentioned disclosure, when a plurality of sets of a plurality of originals are shared by a plurality of image forming apparatuses to form an image, transfer of the original image data is performed. When an error occurs, the reading of the original is interrupted, and the original on the page where the transfer error has occurred has been retransmitted. However, in this method, if it takes time to recover from a transfer error, the time required to complete the entire image formation of the document is delayed, and there is a problem in the case of image formation of a document requiring urgent processing. Occurs.

[0004] The present invention has been made in view of the current state of the conventional image forming system as described above, and its object is to provide a plurality of image forming apparatuses capable of properly coping with the occurrence of a transfer error. It is an object of the present invention to provide an image forming system capable of sharing image formation.

[0005]

In order to achieve the above object, according to the present invention, the image data of a document read by the document reading means of the master image forming apparatus is transferred to the transfer means of the master image forming apparatus. The image forming system is configured to transfer the original to a slave image forming apparatus, and perform printing of the original by sharing the printing with a plurality of image forming apparatuses including the master image forming apparatus and the slave image forming apparatus. A transfer error detecting means for detecting a transfer error of the means, and when a transfer error is detected by the transfer error detecting means, re-transfer of the transfer error target document to the transfer means after reading of all the originals is completed. Control means for performing the operation.

Similarly, in order to achieve the above object, the invention according to claim 2 is characterized in that an error display means for displaying the occurrence of the transfer error is provided in the invention according to claim 1. It is assumed that.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in order to achieve the above-mentioned object, a re-transfer of the transfer means under the control of the control means may be performed at the time of occurrence of a transfer error. The re-transfer changing means for changing the number of re-transfers is provided.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, the image data of the original read by the original reading means of the master image forming apparatus is transmitted to the slave image by the transfer means of the master image forming apparatus. An image forming system which is transferred to a forming apparatus and prints the document by sharing the printing means of a plurality of image forming apparatuses including the master image forming apparatus and the slave image forming apparatus. Transfer error detection means for detecting a transfer error, and when a transfer error is detected by the transfer error detection means, a printing operation is performed so that printing of the original after the occurrence of the transfer error is performed only by the master image forming apparatus. And print control means for controlling the printing.

Similarly, in order to achieve the above object, a fifth aspect of the present invention is directed to a printing system in which a display of printing execution only by the printing means of the master image forming apparatus is provided. A display means is provided.

[0010]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Prior to the description of each embodiment,
An image forming apparatus on which the present invention is based will be described with reference to FIGS. 9 is an explanatory diagram showing the configuration of the image forming apparatus which is the basis of the present invention, FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram showing the configuration of the operation unit of FIG. 9, and FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram showing the configuration of the liquid crystal touch panel of FIG. .

As shown in FIG. 9, an ADF 1 for automatically supplying a document is provided at an upper portion of a housing C of the image forming apparatus. A reading unit 50 for reading a document and a writing unit 57 for writing a document image on the photoreceptor 15 are provided between the ADF 1 and the image forming unit PM. In the body C, a sheet feeding unit PS is provided below the image forming unit PM. Further, in the image forming apparatus,
An operation unit 30 as shown in FIG.
The liquid crystal touch panel 31 is configured as shown in FIG.

When a bundle of originals is placed on the original platen 2 of the ADF 1 with the image surface facing upward and the start key 34 of the operation unit 30 is operated, the original located at the lowest position becomes the feed roller 3 and the feed belt 4. Is fed onto the contact glass 6, and the reading unit 50 reads a document image. The original that has been read is fed to the feed belt 4 and the discharge roller 5.
And the original set sensor 7 outputs the original
When it is detected that the next original is present, reading of the original is continued in the same manner.

On the other hand, the first tray 8, the second tray 9, the third tray
The transfer papers stacked on the tray 10 are supplied to the first paper supply unit 11, the second paper supply unit 12, and the third paper supply unit 1 respectively.
3 and is transported by the vertical transport unit 14 to a position where it contacts the photoconductor 15. At this time, the image data read by the reading unit 50 is written on the photoconductor 15 by the laser from the writing unit 57,
By passing through the developing unit 27, a toner image is formed. The transfer paper is conveyed by the conveyance belt 16 at the same speed as the rotation of the photoconductor 15,
Then, the transfer sheet on which the image is fixed by the fixing unit 17 is discharged to the finisher 100 of the post-processing device by the discharge unit 18.

The finisher 100 of the post-processing apparatus can guide the transfer paper conveyed by the paper discharge roller 19 of the main body toward the normal paper discharge roller 102 and the stable processing section. By switching the switching plate 101 upward, the transfer paper is discharged to the normal paper discharge tray 104 via the transport roller 103. Further, by switching the switching plate 101 downward, the transfer paper is transported by the transport rollers 10.
It is conveyed to the stable table 108 via 5 and 107.

Each time one sheet of the transfer paper stacked on the stable table 108 is ejected, the paper end faces are aligned by a jogger 109 for paper alignment, and are stapled by the stapler 106 upon completion of a series of copies. , Stapler 1
The plurality of transfer sheets bound at 06 are stored in the staple completed sheet discharge tray 110 by their own weight. On the other hand, the normal paper output tray 104 is movable back and forth,
It moves back and forth for each document or every time a series of copies is completed to align the discharged transfer paper.

When forming an original image on both sides of the transfer paper, the transfer paper fed from the paper feed trays 8 to 10 and having the original image formed thereon is set with the branching claw 112 for switching the path upward. To set the duplex paper feed unit 1 once.
Stocked at 11. Then, the two-sided paper feeding unit 11
The transfer paper stocked in No. 1 is transferred to the double-sided paper feed unit 111 in order to transfer the toner image formed on the photoconductor 15 again.
The transfer paper re-fed from the paper tray and having an image formed on the back side is set on the lower side of the branch claw 112 so that the discharge tray 104
It is led to.

Incidentally, the photosensitive member 15, the transport belt 16,
Fixing unit 17, paper discharging unit 18, developing unit 2
7 is driven by a main motor, and each of the paper feed units 11 to 13 is driven by the drive of the main motor being transmitted by a respective paper feed clutch. The vertical transport unit 14 is driven by the drive of the main motor being transmitted by an intermediate clutch.

As shown in FIG. 10, the operation unit 30 is provided with a liquid crystal touch panel 31, a numeric keypad 32, a clear / stop key 33, a print key 34, and a mode clear key 35. As shown in FIG. 11, various function keys, the number of copies, and various messages during operation are displayed.

When the operator touches the key displayed on the liquid crystal touch panel 31, the key indicating the selected function is highlighted in black, and the specification of the function details (for example, the variable value in the case of variable magnification) is changed. If necessary, by touching the corresponding key, a detailed function setting screen is displayed. As described above, since the liquid crystal touch panel uses the dot display device, it is possible to graphically perform an optimal display at that time.

In FIG. 11, a message area for displaying a message such as "Ready to copy" or "Please wait" is provided on the upper left, and a copy number display section for displaying the set number is provided on the right thereof. There is an automatic density key to set the automatic adjustment of the image density, an automatic paper selection key to set the automatic selection of the transfer paper, a sort key to set the sort operation to align the copied transfer paper in page order, and a page to the copied transfer paper. A stack key for setting the stack operation for sorting each sheet, a staple key for setting the stable operation for binding the sorted transfer paper, a double-side key for setting the duplex mode, an erase / move key for setting the binding margin mode, and digital copying. Mode key to set the linking operation to divide a large number of print operations into a plurality of printouts via the machine network There has been arranged. Among these keys, the keys that are selected and set are shaded.

The reading unit 50 includes a contact glass 6 on which a document is placed and an optical scanning system. The optical scanning system includes an exposure lamp 51, a first mirror 52, a lens 53, a CCD image sensor 54, and the like. It is configured. The exposure lamp 51 and the first mirror 52 are connected to a first mirror (not shown).
The second mirror 55 and the third mirror 56 are fixed on a carriage, and are fixed on a second carriage (not shown).

When reading an original image, the first carriage and the second carriage are driven by a scanner drive motor and mechanically scanned at a relative speed of 2: 1 so that the optical path length does not change.

The original image is read by the CCD image sensor 54, photoelectrically converted and processed. In FIG. 9, the lens 53 and the CCD image sensor 54 are
The designated image magnification is set by moving the image to the left or right. The writing unit 57 includes the laser output unit 5
8. The laser output unit 58 includes a laser diode as a laser light source, and a rotating polygon mirror (polygon mirror) rotated at high speed by a motor.

The laser beam emitted from the laser output unit 58 is polarized by a polygon mirror that rotates at a constant speed, passes through an imaging lens 59, is turned back by a mirror 60, and
Is condensed and imaged on the peripheral surface of. The polarized laser light is exposed and scanned in a main scanning direction orthogonal to the rotation direction of the photoconductor 15, and the recording of the image signal output from the selector of the image processing unit in units of lines is performed. By repeating the main scanning at a predetermined cycle corresponding to the rotation speed and the recording density of the photoconductor 15, an electrostatic latent image is formed on the photoconductor surface. Although not shown, a beam sensor for generating a main scanning synchronization signal is disposed at a laser beam irradiation position near one end of the photoconductor 15, and based on the main scanning synchronization signal, control of image recording start timing in the main scanning direction; A control signal for input / output of image signals is generated.

Based on the image forming apparatus described above,
Hereinafter, each embodiment will be described. [First Embodiment] A first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a main part of the embodiment, FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an image processing system of the embodiment, and FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a configuration of a memory controller and an image memory portion of FIG. FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of transfer data of the present embodiment, FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the operation of the present embodiment, FIG. 6 is a signal waveform diagram showing the operation of the present embodiment, and FIG. It is explanatory drawing which shows operation | movement of embodiment.

In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 1, a system controller 23 for controlling the entire operation is provided. The system controller 23 includes an operation unit 25 on which various operations are performed by an operator, and a human body. The power is turned on upon detecting the approach of the human body, the human body detector 27 detects that the human body has left the apparatus after the image forming operation is completed, and shuts off the power supply. The usage limiter 26 to be released is connected.

A reading unit 50 for reading a document image, a writing unit 57 for writing a read document image, and storing document image data are stored in the system controller 23 via a system bus CB. A memory unit 24, a clock 29 for measuring time, and a remote management system (CSS) 28 are connected via a telephone network. Further, the reading unit 50, the writing unit 57 and the memory unit 24 are interconnected via an image data bus DB, and the reading unit 50, the writing unit 5
7. The control of the memory unit 24, the CSS 28, and the clock 29 is configured to be performed by the CPU of the system controller 23.

In this embodiment, the CPU of the system controller 23 controls the CPU to select whether to supply the image data read by the reading unit 50 to the writing unit 57 or to store it in the memory unit 24. ,
The image data read from the memory unit 24 is transferred to the external image forming apparatus, and when a transfer error occurs, the transfer error occurs by selecting either the end of all transfer or the time of occurrence of the transfer error. Transfer control means for performing re-transfer to the external image forming apparatus is provided.

The memory unit 24 has a DRAM block 2 in which image data from the reading unit 50 is stored.
4a, MH, MR, MMR, etc.
High-speed, large-volume data exchange with an external image forming apparatus via a compression block 24c for compressing image data stored in the M block 24a and an interface terminal t1 provided in the memory unit 24. A DMA block 24b is provided. Memory unit 24
Has a function of rotating an image by changing the reading order and direction of address data when reading data from the reading unit 50.

The image processing system according to the present embodiment has a configuration as shown in FIG. 2. In the reading unit 50, reflected light from the original surface of the irradiation light from the exposure lamp 51 (see FIG. 9) is generated. , The light is received by the CCD 54, photoelectrically converted by the A / D converter 61, and converted by the A / D converter 61 into a shading correction circuit 6.
In 2, the shading correction for correcting the sensitivity unevenness is performed, and the MTF / γ correction circuit corrects the image quality characteristic and the photosensitive characteristic.

An image processing section 30 is provided in the system controller 23. The image processing section 30 performs a print synthesizing process by a print synthesizing circuit 72 on an output signal of the reading unit 50, and performs conversion by selecting a selector 64. A process of supplying the data to the writing unit 57 via the circuit 71 or supplying the data to the memory unit 24 is performed.

The memory unit 24 is provided with a memory controller 65 for performing an interface operation with the selector 64 and controlling the storage of the image signal supplied from the selector 64 and the transfer to the external image forming apparatus. The memory controller 65 has a C that controls the entire operation.
PU 68, ROM 69 for storing programs, RAM 70 for writing and reading data during control operations, image memory 66 for storing image data, SCSI driver 80 connected to an external image forming apparatus, and, for example, an external computer An I / O port 67 for exchanging information with the I / O port is connected.

The memory controller 65 and the image memory 66 in FIG. 2 are configured as shown in FIG. 3, and the memory controller 65 includes an input data selector 101, an image synthesizing circuit 102, a primary compression / decompression circuit 103, an output A data selector 104, a secondary compression / decompression circuit 105,
The control data to the memory controller 65 is
Supplied from

The image memory 66 includes the primary storage device 1
06 and the secondary storage device 107
A memory that can be accessed at high speed, such as a DRAM, is used as the memory 6 so that data can be written and read at high speed almost in synchronization with the transfer speed of input image data. Further, the primary storage device 106 is configured to have an interface function capable of simultaneously executing input / output of image data by dividing the image data into a plurality of areas according to the size of image data to be processed. In this case, two sets of address and data lines for reading and writing are provided in the interface section with the memory controller in order to enable the input and output of image data to and from each of the divided areas in parallel. .

The secondary storage device 107 is a large-capacity memory for storing data for synthesizing and sorting input image data.
As the secondary storage device 107, a high-capacity recording medium with a low manufacturing cost is used although the access speed is not so high. The image memory 66 is configured as described above, and is capable of performing processing such as input / output, storage, and processing of a large amount of image data.

In the present embodiment, the image signal for one page processed by the selector 64 of FIG.
(B) shows a frame gate signal (FGATE) indicating an effective period of one page of image data in the sub-scanning direction, and (a) shows a one-line image signal which becomes valid at a predetermined clock after the rising edge thereof. Main scan valid signal (LS
YNC), these signals are synchronized with the pixel synchronization signal (VCLK) shown in FIG. 4D, and the image data shown in FIG. Is output.

Here, the operation of the memory controller 65 will be described. When the image data is stored in the primary storage device 106 of the image memory 66, the input data selector 101
Image data to be written is selected from a plurality of input image data, and the selected image data is stored in the image synthesizing circuit 1.
02, after the necessary image synthesis processing is performed, the primary compression /
The data is compressed by the decompression circuit 103 and stored in the primary storage device 106. The image data stored in the primary storage device 106 is stored in the secondary storage device 107 after being compressed by the secondary compression / decompression circuit 105 as necessary.

On the other hand, when reading image data, if the image data to be output is stored in the primary storage device 106, the primary storage device 106 expanded by the primary compression / decompression circuit 103. Then, the image data or the image data obtained by combining the image data by the image synthesis circuit 102 and the input image data is selectively output by the output data selector 104. The image synthesizing circuit 102 includes the primary storage device 10
And a function of performing an image synthesizing process including phase adjustment with the data of No. 6 and outputting the synthesized data and selecting an operation such as write-back to the primary storage device 106.

The image data to be output is stored in the primary storage device 1
06 is not stored in the secondary storage device 107
The image data to be output stored in
The data decompressed by the decompression circuit 105 is stored in the primary storage device 106, and the output operation is performed as described above.

In the present embodiment, for example, as shown in FIG. 7, the master image forming apparatus M and the slave image forming apparatus S perform the image formation of six copies of the original image read by the master image forming apparatus M. The image forming apparatus M and the slave image forming apparatus S share the processing. Master image forming apparatus M
When the original D is read, the read image data is stored in the image memory 66, the first copy is printed, and the read image data is transferred to the image memory 66 of the slave image forming apparatus S at the same time. The second and third copies are printed by reading image data from the image memory 66.
The slave image forming apparatus S reads out the image data transferred and stored in the image memory 66 and prints the first to third copies.

In the master image forming apparatus M and the slave image forming apparatus S, the RS2 used for exchanging signals of setting state information of the apparatus, information on the number of documents, information on the number of copies, and communication error information.
In addition to a serial interface such as 32C, as shown in FIG. 4, a dedicated serial interface is used for transferring 9-bit data obtained by adding 1-bit identification bit between data and an error detection code to 8-bit data. Interface is used.

When transferring image data of one page, the master image forming apparatus calculates the sum of 8-bit data and detects the communication error so that the sum of the communication error detection code becomes "0". A communication code is calculated, and the calculated communication error detection code is transmitted at the end of the data of one page.
In the slave image forming apparatus, the sum of the received data is calculated. If the sum of the sum and the communication error detection code is 0, it is determined that the data has been correctly received. Otherwise, it is determined that a communication error has occurred. Then, the occurrence of an error is notified to the master image forming apparatus M.

For example, when a communication error occurs on the second document in the slave image forming apparatus S, an error is reported to the master image forming apparatus M, and the master image forming apparatus retry after reading the document. When the mode is set, the fact that a transfer error has occurred on the second sheet is stored in the memory, the third document is subsequently read, and after the reading of the document is completed, the second document stored in the image memory 66 is read. Is read out and retransferred to the slave image forming apparatus S.

The operation of this embodiment will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. If it is confirmed in step S1 that the continuous mode is set in the master image forming apparatus M, and if it is confirmed in step S31 that the continuous mode is set in the slave image forming apparatus S, in step S2, The information on the number of documents and the number of copies is transmitted from the master image forming apparatus M to the slave image forming apparatus S,
In step S32, these pieces of information are received by the slave image forming apparatus S.

In step S3, the original image is read by the master image forming apparatus M, and the process proceeds to step S4.
One page of image data and a communication error detection code are transmitted to the slave image forming apparatus S, and the image data and the detection code are received by the slave image forming apparatus S in step S33. Then, the slave image forming apparatus S determines whether or not a communication error has occurred, and the communication error result is transmitted to the master image forming apparatus M in step S34. Further, the master image forming apparatus M receives the reception error result in step S5, proceeds to step S6, and determines whether or not a communication error has occurred.

If it is determined in step S6 that a communication error has not occurred, the master image forming apparatus M proceeds to step S12 and repeats steps S3 through S6 until it is determined that reading of the document has been completed. Are repeated, and in the slave image forming apparatus S, step S3
Steps S33 and S34 are repeated until it is determined in S5 that the transmission of the original from master image forming apparatus M has been completed, and in step S35, the transmission of the original from master image forming apparatus M has been completed. If it is determined, the process proceeds to step S36, and printing of the designated number of copies is executed.

In the master image forming apparatus M, step S1
If it is determined in Step 2 that the reading of the document has been completed, the process proceeds to Step S13, and it is determined whether the retry mode has been set after reading the document. If the retry mode has not been set, the process proceeds to Step S19, where Is executed. If the retry mode is set in step S13, the process proceeds to step S14 to determine whether a communication error has occurred. In this case, since no communication error has occurred, Similarly, step S19
The printing is performed for the designated number of copies.

On the other hand, if it is determined in step S6 that a communication error has occurred, the flow advances to step S7 to display the occurrence of a communication error, and the flow advances to step S8 to determine whether a retry mode has been set after reading the original. It is determined whether or not the retry mode has been set.
Proceeding to 12, it is determined whether the reading of the document has been completed. In this case, since the determination in step S13 is YES, the process proceeds to step S14 to determine whether a communication error has occurred. In this case, the determination in step S14 is YE
It becomes S. Then, the process proceeds to step S15, where the master image forming apparatus M transmits the image data of the page where the communication error has occurred and the communication error detection code to the slave image forming apparatus S.

In the slave image forming apparatus S, step S
At step 33, the image data and the communication error detection code are received, and the result of the reception error is determined.
Then, the reception error result is transmitted from the slave image forming apparatus S to the master image forming apparatus, and the master image forming apparatus M receives the reception error result in step S16. Then, in step S17, the presence or absence of a communication error is determined by the master image forming apparatus, and if it is determined that a communication error has occurred, the process returns to step S15.
The same process is repeated until it is determined that no communication error has occurred.

If it is determined in step S17 that no communication error has occurred, the flow advances to step S18 to determine whether or not all transfer of the read original data has been completed, and all transfer has been completed. If not, step S
In step S1, the next document is transferred.
5, the same process is repeated. Step S1
In step S8, when it is determined that all the transfer of the document data has been completed, the process proceeds to step S19, and the designated number of copies are printed.

On the other hand, if it is determined in step S8 that the retry mode has not been set after reading the original, the process proceeds to step S9, where the image data of the page where the communication error has occurred and the communication error detection code are immediately transmitted. Is transmitted to the slave image forming apparatus S. In the slave image forming apparatus S, the image data and the communication error detection code are received in step S33, and the reception error result is determined. In step S34, the reception error result is transmitted from the slave image forming apparatus S to the master image forming apparatus. Is transmitted, and the master image forming apparatus M receives the reception error result in step S10. Then, in step S11, the presence or absence of a communication error is determined by the master image forming apparatus, and when it is determined that a communication error has occurred, step S9 is performed.
And the same process is repeated until it is determined that no communication error has occurred.

If it is determined in step S11 that no communication error has occurred, the flow advances to step S12 to determine whether or not reading of the document has been completed. Returning to step S3, the same processing is repeated. If it is determined in step S12 that the reading of the document has been completed, the process proceeds to step S13 to determine whether the retry mode has been set after reading the document.
In this case, the determination in step S13 is NO, and
Proceeding to 19, printing of the designated number of copies is executed.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, the image data of the document read by master image forming apparatus M is transferred from master image forming apparatus M to slave image forming apparatus S, and the print of the document is transferred to master image forming apparatus M. The transfer is performed by the forming apparatus M and the slave image forming apparatus S in a shared manner. When an image data transfer error from the master image apparatus M to the slave image forming apparatus S occurs, immediately after the transfer error detection,
Whether to re-transfer the original document subject to the transfer error or to re-transfer the original document subject to the transfer error after reading all the original documents, the conditions for leaving the original document and obtaining the print And the document can be printed efficiently.

[Second Embodiment] A second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 8 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a main part of the present embodiment.

In the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 8, the read unit 50A, the write unit 57A and the memory unit 24A are different from the first embodiment already described with reference to FIG. CPU 57d, CP respectively
U50d and CPU 24d are provided independently. The configuration of the other parts of the present embodiment is the same as that of the first embodiment already described, and therefore, will not be described repeatedly.

According to the present embodiment, the reading unit 5
0A, writing unit 57A and memory unit 24A
Are the CPU 57d, the CPU 50d, and the CPU 24, respectively.
d, the system controller 2
By the command of 3, it becomes possible to cause the reading unit 50A, the writing unit 57A, and the memory unit 24A to perform finer control.

Other effects and operations of this embodiment are as follows.
Since it is the same as the first embodiment already described, a duplicate description will not be made.

[Third Embodiment] A third embodiment of the present invention will be described. In the present embodiment, unlike the first embodiment described above, the CPU of the system controller 23 transfers the image data read from the memory unit 24 to the external image forming apparatus, and when a transfer error occurs, There is no transfer control means for selecting any time after the end of all transfer or when a transfer error occurs and re-transferring to the external image forming apparatus in which the transfer error has occurred. In the present embodiment, instead of this, when a transfer error occurs, the system controller is provided with an image forming control unit that causes only the master image forming apparatus to print a document after the transfer error occurs. . The configuration of the other parts of the present embodiment is the same as that of the first embodiment already described, and therefore, will not be described repeatedly.

According to the present embodiment, when a transfer error occurs, the operation of the slave image forming apparatus S is stopped at the time of occurrence of the transfer error, and the printing operation of the original after the occurrence of the error is performed by the master image forming apparatus M. Since the printing is continuously performed with only the original, it is possible to quickly obtain a print of the original without errors.

Other operations and effects of this embodiment are as follows.
Since it is the same as the first embodiment already described, a duplicate description will not be made.

[0061]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, the image data of the document read by the document reading means of the master image forming apparatus is transferred to the slave image forming apparatus by the transfer means of the master image forming apparatus, and Printing is performed in a shared manner by the printing means of a plurality of image forming apparatuses including a master image forming apparatus and a slave image forming apparatus. When the transfer error of the transfer means is detected by the transfer error detecting means, the printing of the control means is performed. By the control, after the reading of all the originals is completed, the originals subject to the transfer error by the transfer means are re-transferred, so that the user can quickly release the originals and print the originals efficiently. Will be possible.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, in addition to the effect obtained by the first aspect of the present invention, the display of the occurrence of the transfer error is performed by the error display means, so that the user can accurately determine the occurrence of the transfer error. It becomes possible to grasp.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, in addition to the effect obtained by the first aspect of the present invention, the retransfer changing means for changing the retransfer of the transfer means under the control of the control means to the time when a transfer error occurs. Is provided, it is possible for the user to cause the re-transfer of a document subject to a transfer error to be performed when a transfer error occurs, in accordance with the print conditions of the document.

According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, the image data of the document read by the document reading means of the master image forming apparatus is transferred to the slave image forming apparatus by the transfer means of the master image forming apparatus, and the print of the document is performed. The transfer is performed by a printing unit of a plurality of image forming apparatuses including a master image forming apparatus and a slave image forming apparatus, but when a transfer error of a transfer unit is detected by a transfer error detection unit, the print control unit Since the printing operation is controlled so that only the master image forming apparatus prints the document after the transfer error occurs, it is possible to quickly obtain all prints of the document without waiting for recovery from the transfer error. Will be possible.

According to the fifth aspect of the present invention, in addition to the effect obtained by the fourth aspect of the present invention, when printing is performed only by the printing means of the master image forming apparatus, this is indicated on the print status display means. Is displayed, the user can accurately grasp the situation of the printing operation.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a main part of a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of an image processing system according to the embodiment;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a memory controller and an image memory part of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of transfer data according to the embodiment;

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing an operation of the embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a signal waveform diagram showing an operation of the embodiment.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram showing an operation of the embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a main part according to a second embodiment of this invention.

FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a configuration of an image forming apparatus that is a basis of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a configuration of an operation unit in FIG. 9;

FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram showing a configuration of the liquid crystal touch panel of FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 23 System Controller 24 Memory Unit 28 CSS 30 Image Processing Unit 50 Reading Unit 57 Writing Unit

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page F term (reference) 2H027 EJ15 EK00 GB05 HA19 ZA07 5C062 AA05 AB17 AB23 AB38 AB53 AC35 AC41 AC43 AC58 BA04 5C075 CA14 CD25 CE04 CE09

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. An image data of a document read by a document reading device of a master image forming device is transferred to a slave image forming device by a transfer device of the master image forming device.
An image forming system, wherein printing of the document is shared by printing means of a plurality of image forming apparatuses including the master image forming apparatus and the slave image forming apparatus, and a transfer error detection for detecting a transfer error of the transfer means And control means for causing the transfer means to re-transfer the document subject to the transfer error after reading of all the documents has been completed when the transfer error detection means detects a transfer error. Image forming system. 2. An image forming system according to claim 1, further comprising an error display unit for displaying the occurrence of the transfer error. 3. The image forming system according to claim 1, further comprising a retransfer changing unit for changing the retransfer of the transfer unit under the control of the control unit to a point of time when a transfer error occurs. Characteristic image forming system. 4. Image data of a document read by document reading means of a master image forming apparatus is transferred to a slave image forming apparatus by a transfer means of said master image forming apparatus.
An image forming system, wherein printing of the document is shared by printing means of a plurality of image forming apparatuses including the master image forming apparatus and the slave image forming apparatus, and a transfer error detection for detecting a transfer error of the transfer means Means for controlling the printing operation so that, when a transfer error is detected by the transfer error detecting means, printing of the document after the occurrence of the transfer error is performed only by the master image forming apparatus. An image forming system comprising: 5. The image forming system according to claim 4, further comprising print status display means for displaying print execution by only the print means of said master image forming apparatus. system.