JP2000159392A - Medium processing device and its medium conveying method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To improve the processing speed of a medium by providing a medium conveyance control means controlling a medium feeding means so that the medium is fed to a position where it can be conveyed by a medium conveying means. SOLUTION: A printer device 100 is connected to a host device 101, e.g. a personal computer or a server device, via a network such as LAN or a printer cable and transfers printing information to a controller 102. Upon receiving a printing request from the host device 101, the controller 102 converts the transferred printing information into printing dot data and deploys the data on a RAM 104 in pages. An engine controller 103 receives the paper feed instruction signal for feeding paper and the paper conveyance instruction signal for printing the fed paper. The engine controller 103 controls a paper feed section 105, a printing section 106, a fixing section 107 and a discharge section 108 according to the instruction of the controller 102.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a medium processing apparatus and a medium transporting method thereof, and more particularly to a medium processing apparatus for performing processing by supplying a medium from a medium storage unit to processing means and a medium transporting method thereof. In recent years, in particular, in a printer connected to a computer, as the speed of a computer system has increased, a printer as an output device has also been required to have a higher print processing speed. In addition, the capacity of the paper feed cassette has been increased to handle a large amount of data, and the number of paper feed cassettes has been increasing to handle various types of paper sizes. For this reason, the feeding distance is increased and the feeding time is also increased. As a factor for increasing the printing processing speed of the printer, it is desired to reduce the paper feeding time.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a conventional paper feed control of a printer, a paper feed operation for a next sheet is started at the same time as printing on a previous sheet is started. FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a conventional example. In FIG. 1, a conventional printer device 200 includes:
Controller control unit 2 for processing a print request from a host device
02, an engine control unit 203 that operates based on an instruction from the controller control unit 202, a RAM 204 that temporarily expands print data, a paper feed unit 205 that supplies paper for printing, and a print unit 206 that transfers an image to paper. , A fixing unit 207 for fixing the sheet on which the image is transferred, and a sheet discharging unit 208 for discharging the sheet on which the image has been fixed, and is connected to the host 201 of the higher-level device.

FIG. 2 is a timing chart of one example of a conventional interface signal. In FIG. 2, an interface signal between the controller control unit 201 and the engine control unit 203 is shown.
(B) is a sheet feeding operation signal S2, and (C) is a sheet feeding completion signal S.
3, (D) shows the sheet transport command signal S4, and (E) shows the on or off state of the print transport signal S5.

As shown in FIG. 2, when the sheet feeding operation is started at time t1 by turning on / off the sheet feeding command signal S1, a sheet feeding operation signal S2 indicating that the sheet feeding operation is being performed is turned on at time t2, which is delayed by a predetermined time. At time t3, the paper feeding operation ends, that is, the paper feeding operation signal S2 turns off, and the paper feeding completion signal S3 turns on / off. At time t4, which is a predetermined time delay from time t3, the sheet is started to be delivered by turning on / off the sheet transport command signal S4. At time t5, which is delayed by the predetermined time, printing is being performed, that is, the print transport signal S5 is turned on. On the other hand, according to the ON / OFF signal of the sheet transport command signal S4, the process waits for the next sheet feed command signal S1. Normally, after the controller control unit 202 of FIG. 1 develops the print data of the next page in the RAM 204 of FIG. 1, a next paper feed command signal S1 is transmitted. Thereafter, the same operation as described above is performed.

FIGS. 1 and 2 illustrate the sheet feeding operation of a conventional printer. From the host 201 to the printer 2
The print information is transferred to the controller control unit 202 inside the 00. In the controller control unit 202, the host 201
Print dot data per page based on information from
Deploy on AM204. RAM for one page of data
At the same time, the paper feed command signal S1 is output to the engine control unit 203 for printing. When the engine control unit 203 receives the paper feed command signal S1, the paper feed unit 2
05, a sheet is fed, and the sheet feeding operation signal S2 is turned on (during the sheet feeding operation). The engine control unit 203 notifies the controller control unit 202 of the completion of the sheet feeding with the sheet feeding completion signal S3 at the same time that the sheet feeding operation signal S2 is turned off (end of the sheet feeding operation).
The control waits for a sheet transport command signal S4 from S02. The controller control unit 202 outputs the sheet conveyance command signal S4 to the engine control unit 203 and transfers the print dot information on the RAM 204 to the engine control unit 203. Printing unit 205
Is in operation, and the print transport signal S5 is turned on. In the meantime, the controller control unit 202 develops the print data for the next page on another RAM 204 during that time. When the print data of the next page is prepared, the paper feed command symbol S1 for the next print is output to the engine control unit 203. The engine control unit 203 receives the paper feed command signal S1 from the controller control unit 202 and starts the paper feed operation again in the paper feed unit.

Next, the case where the paper feed time is long, that is, the case where the paper feed unit on which the papers are stacked is distant will be described. FIG. 3 is a timing chart of an interface signal in a case where the paper feeding time is long in a conventional example. In FIG. 3, the controller control unit 201 and the engine control unit 2
(A) is a sheet feeding command S1, (B) is a sheet feeding operation S2, (C) is a sheet feeding completion S3,
(D) shows the sheet transport command S4, and (E) shows the ON or OFF state of the signal of the print transport S5.

As shown in FIG. 2, as shown in FIG. 3, the sheet feeding operation is started by turning on / off the sheet feeding command signal S1 at time s1, and the sheet feeding operation signal indicating that the sheet feeding operation is being performed at time s2 delayed by a predetermined time. S
2 turns on. At time s3, the paper feeding operation is completed, that is, the paper feeding operation signal S2 is turned off, and the paper feeding is completed when the paper feeding completion signal S3 is turned on / off. At a time s4 delayed by a predetermined time from the time s3, the sheet starts to be delivered by turning on / off the sheet transport command signal S4.
That is, the print transport signal S5 is turned on. On the other hand, according to the ON / OFF signal of the sheet transport command signal S4, the process waits for the next sheet feed command signal S1. Normally, the controller control unit 202 of FIG. 1 stores the print data of the next page in the RAM 204 of FIG.
After that, the next sheet feed command signal S1 is transmitted. Thereafter, the same operation as described above is performed.

The difference from FIG. 2 is that a long time is required for sheet feeding because the sheet feeding unit is far. The time required for paper feeding, for example, the time (s9-s8) 211 in FIG.
t8) It is longer than the time 201. Therefore, the time required to complete the next sheet feeding is also long, that is, (s9-
s3) Time 212 is longer than (t9-t8) time 202 in FIG.

Therefore, the longer the sheet feeding distance, the longer the time until the next printing in the conventional sheet feeding control method.

[0010]

Problems of the above-mentioned conventional printing apparatus will be described with reference to FIG. As shown in FIG. 3, the engine control unit 203 does not start the sheet feeding operation until receiving the sheet feeding command S1 from the controller control unit 202. When the sheet feeding operation is performed after receiving the sheet feeding command S1, if the time until the sheet feeding completion S3 is long, the time 212 from the sheet feeding completion of the previous page to the sheet feeding completion of the next page is also long. Therefore,
The controller control unit 202 waits for issuing the sheet transport command S4, and the time from the output of the sheet transport command S4 of the previous page is delayed, and the time from the previous sheet transport command S4 to the next sheet transport command S4 is also reduced. Had been delayed. For this reason,
The longer the paper transport distance is, the longer the printing time of one sheet is delayed, causing a problem that the printing processing speed of the printer is reduced.

An object of the present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a medium processing apparatus capable of improving the processing speed of a medium and a method of transporting the medium.

[0012]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and has the following features. In the invention according to claim 1, for example,
Processing means for processing a conveyed medium, such as a printer for transferring printing paper and images, medium storage means for storing the medium, and processing of the medium by the processing means from the medium storage means A medium supply device that supplies a medium to a possible position; and a medium conveyance device that conveys the medium supplied by the medium supply device for processing by the processing unit. A medium conveyance detection unit for detecting that the medium has been conveyed by the processing unit, and supplying the medium to a position where the medium can be conveyed by the medium conveyance unit when the medium conveyance detection unit detects that the medium has been conveyed. Having a medium transport control means for controlling the medium supply means so that, for example, without waiting for the next print processing instruction from the printer device,
During the printing process, the next sheet can be supplied and put on standby, so that the printing process can be started at any time.

[0013] According to the second and third aspects of the present invention,
The medium transport control unit includes a process detection unit that detects an execution instruction instructing a process to the processing unit. When the execution instruction is not detected by the process detection unit for a predetermined time, the medium is stored in the medium. By controlling the medium supply unit so as to return to the storage unit, for example, when printing is not performed even after a certain period of time on the printing paper and the printer device, the printer waits for printing. The paper can be returned to the paper feed unit on which the paper is stacked.

[0014]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 4 is a block diagram of an embodiment of the present invention. Referring to FIG.
Is a controller control unit 102 that processes a print request from a host device, an engine control unit 103 that operates based on an instruction from the controller control unit 102, a RAM 104 that temporarily expands print data, and a paper supply for printing paper. Paper unit 105, printing unit 106 for transferring an image to paper,
The fixing unit 107 includes a fixing unit 107 for fixing the sheet on which the image is transferred, and a sheet discharging unit 108 for discharging the sheet on which the image is fixed.
It is connected to the host 101 of the host device.

The printer device 100 is connected to a host 101 as a host device, for example, a personal computer or a server device via a network such as a LAN or a printer cable, and transfers print information to a controller control unit 102. The controller control device 102 that has received the print request from the host device converts the transferred print information into print dot data and develops the print dot data in the RAM 104 in page units. In addition, a paper feed command signal is output to the engine control unit 103 to supply paper, and a paper transport command signal is output to print on the supplied paper. Engine control unit 1
Reference numeral 03 denotes a sheet feeding unit 105, a printing unit 106, a fixing unit 107, and a discharging unit 108 according to an instruction from the controller control unit 102.
Control.

FIG. 5 is an internal configuration diagram of the printer device according to one embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 5, the internal configuration of the printer apparatus 100 of the present invention includes a paper feed unit 3, a print unit 4, an optical unit 5, a transfer unit 6, a fixing unit 8, a stacker 11, a registration roller 13, a first paper discharge roller 14, Two paper discharge rollers 15, registration sensor 1
7, a pick roller 31, a feed roller 32, a photosensitive drum 41, a heating roller 81, and a pressure roller 82.

When printing on paper with a printer device,
The paper stacked in the paper feeding unit 3 is picked up by a pick roller 31.
, One by one. This paper is feed roller 3
2 is transported upward. As shown in FIG. 5, a plurality of paper feed units 3 are stacked on the lower part of the main body including the printer unit 4, the stacker 11, and the like. This paper feed unit 3 may be provided with the number of stages required by the user, such as for each type of paper. In the case of the embodiment shown in FIG. 5, the paper feed unit is a four-stage unit that is stacked in four stages, and when performing double-sided printing on the uppermost stage, a duplex unit 20 that conveys a sheet that is inverted for backside printing. Further, there are three levels of paper feed cassettes for storing paper, for example, for each type. As the number of stages of the paper feed unit increases, the transport distance of the paper fed from the lower stage increases.

If the transport distance is longer than the paper length during the transport operation, the trailing edge of the first paper passes through the position of the pick roller 31, but the pick roller 31 continues to rotate. The pick roller 31 has a structure in which a part of the arc of the roller is missing. When the pick roller 31 is fed by the pick roller 31 alone, the feeding speed is not constant, and the sheet is repeatedly fed and stopped. The distance between the rear end of the previous page and the front end of the next page is automatically opened by the combination of the pick roller 31 and the feed roller 32, and the distance is maintained even when the pick roller 31 and the feed roller 32 are continuously rotated. It is transported as it is.

The sheet conveyed by the pick roller 31 and the feed roller 32 is detected by the registration sensor 17 and stopped by the registration roller 13 to complete the sheet feeding. The printer unit 4 is provided with a photosensitive drum, a developing unit, a cleaner unit, a static elimination unit, and a charger, which are necessary for forming a toner image to be transferred onto a sheet, and these units are replaceable units.

The toner image formed by the print unit 4 is transferred to a sheet. The sheet on which the toner image has been transferred is conveyed to the fixing unit 8, and the toner image is fixed on the sheet by heat and pressure. The fixed sheet is conveyed by first and second discharge rollers 14 and 15 and discharged to the stacker 11. The photosensitive drum 41 is driven at a constant speed by a drive motor (not shown). The surface of the photosensitive drum 41 uniformly charged by the charger is irradiated with light by the optical unit 5 to form a latent image. The visible image is formed by developing the latent image on the photosensitive drum 41 by the developing device. The fixing unit 8 is driven by a motor for driving the photosensitive drum 41 to reduce the cost of the apparatus.

The transfer unit 6 transfers the toner image formed on the surface of the photosensitive drum 41 to a sheet. When the sheet reaches the transfer position by the registration roller 13, the power is turned on, and the transfer is enabled. This transfer unit 6
The photosensitive drum 41 is opposed to the photosensitive drum 41 across a conveyance path through which the sheet passes. When the paper arrives at the transfer position, the toner image on the surface of the photosensitive drum 41 is attracted to the printing surface of the paper by the voltage applied to the wire from the surface opposite to the printing surface of the paper, and the toner image is transferred by attaching the toner image. I do.

The sheet on which the toner image has been transferred by the transfer unit 6 is further conveyed by the registration roller 13 and is fixed by the fixing unit 8.
Transported to The fixing unit 8 includes a heating roller 81 and a pressure roller 82. The heating roller 81 has a heat source inside and is rotated by a drive motor (not shown). Further, the pressure roller 82 is
The rotation shaft is erected by an elastic member such as a coil spring, and is pressed at a predetermined pressure by using the tension. The pressure roller 82 is a driven roller that rotates with the rotation of the heating roller 81. A sheet is sandwiched between the heating roller 81 and the pressure roller 82, and the toner is softened by heating and pressing to fix the toner image on the sheet.

The sheet fixed by the fixing unit 8 is further conveyed, and conveyed to the stacker 11 by the first discharge roller 14 and the second discharge roller 15. Next, the paper feed control operation of the printer of the present invention will be described. First, the operation of the controller control unit 102 will be described. FIG. 6 is a flowchart of the controller control unit according to the embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 6, controller controller 102
In step S401 of receiving print data from the host 101, step S402 of developing print dot data, step S403 of determining completion of print data development, step S403 of sending a paper feed command,
Step S405 of receiving a notification of completion of sheet feeding, Step S406 of sending a sheet conveyance command, Step S407 of determining completion of sending of one page, Step S408 of determining whether there is data of the next page, Step of completing processing And S409.

Step S401 for receiving print data
Receives print data from the host 101 and the controller control unit 102 is activated. In step S402 for developing print dot data, the controller control unit 102 converts the received print data into print dot data and develops the print data on the RAM 104 in page units.

Step S40 for judging print data development
No. 3 determines whether or not all the print data has been expanded in the RAM 104. If the data has been expanded, the process proceeds to the next step S404. If data to be expanded still remains, the process returns to step S402 in order to expand the remaining data in the RAM 104. In step S404 of sending a sheet feeding command, a sheet feeding command signal is sent to the engine control unit 103 to supply sheets for printing.

Step S4 for judging receipt of a paper feed completion notification
In step 05, when the paper supply completion signal from the engine control unit 103 is received, the process proceeds to the next step S406, and when it is not received, the paper supply completion signal is awaited. In step S406 for sending a sheet conveyance command, a sheet conveyance command signal is sent to the engine control unit 103 to start printing on the supplied sheet, and transmission of one page of data is started.

In step S407 for judging the completion of the transmission of one page, the engine control unit 10
3 is determined. If the data of one page has been transmitted, the process proceeds to the next step S408, otherwise, it waits until the transmission is completed. In step S408 of determining whether there is data of the next page, it is determined whether there is data of the next page. If there is, the process proceeds to step S404, and the same process is repeated until there are no more pages to be printed. If there is no next page, the process ends, and the process moves to the next step S409.

In step S409, in which the process is completed, the process of the controller control unit 102 is completed. Next, the sheet feeding operation of the engine control unit 103 will be described with reference to FIGS. 7 and 8 are flowcharts of the engine control unit according to one embodiment of the present invention.

7 and 8, the engine control unit 10
Step S501 of receiving a sheet feed command, step S502 of driving the pick roller and feed roller by forward rotation, step S503 of determining whether the sheet reaches the registration sensor, stopping of the pick roller and feed roller, and completion of sheet feeding. Transmitting step S504, receiving a sheet transport command step S505, driving the registration roller to drive the pick roller and the feed roller in the forward rotation step S506, confirming the passage of the registration sensor S507, stopping the registration roller S508, Step S509 of driving the pick roller and the feed roller in the forward rotation, step S510 of determining whether the pick roller and the feed roller have been reached, step S511 of stopping the pick roller and the feed roller,
Step S512 for determining whether or not to return the sheet, step S513 for receiving a sheet feeding command, step S514 for sending completion of sheet feeding, and step S51 for receiving a sheet conveying command.
5. Step S5 of driving the feed roller in reverse rotation
Step S517 to wait for a paper feed command.

Step S501 of receiving a paper feed command is as follows.
Receiving a feed command signal from the controller control unit 102,
The paper feed operation starts. In step S502 in which the pick roller and the feed roller are driven by the forward rotation, the pick roller 31 and the feed roller 32 shown in FIG. 5 are driven by the forward rotation to feed out the stacked sheets from the sheet feeding unit 3 one by one.

In step S503 of judging whether or not the sheet has reached the registration sensor, it is determined whether or not the leading sheet has reached the registration sensor 17 in FIG. Registration sensor 17
If the paper arrival signal has been received from
Move to 504. If there is still no signal from the registration sensor 17, the pick roller 31 and the feed roller 32
The process proceeds to step S502 in order to continue rotating.

Step S504 of stopping the pick roller and the feed roller and transmitting the completion of paper feeding is performed by stopping the pick roller 31 and the feed roller 32 in FIG. 5, transmitting a paper completion signal to the controller 102, and Wait for a paper transport instruction from the controller control unit to start printing. Step S5 of receiving and receiving a paper transport command
In step 05, when the sheet transport command signal from the controller control unit 102 is received, the process proceeds to the next step S506, and if not, the process waits for reception.

Step S50 of driving the registration roller and driving the pick roller and the feed roller by forward rotation
Reference numeral 6 denotes a registration roller 1 in FIG. 5 for starting printing.
3 is driven. On the other hand, in order to supply the next sheet from the supply unit 3, the pick roller 31 and the feed roller 32 are used.
Is driven in a forward rotation. In step S507 of confirming the passage of the registration sensor, it is confirmed whether the previous page has passed the registration sensor 17 in FIG. Registration sensor 17
If the signal of the sheet passing of the above is received, the process proceeds to the next step S508, and if not, it waits for the incoming.

Step S50 for stopping the registration roller
8, since the previous sheet passed the registration sensor 17,
The registration roller 13 is stopped. Step S509 of driving the pick roller and the feed roller by forward rotation
In order to supply the next sheet to the registration sensor 17 in FIG. 5, the pick roller 31 and the feed roller 32 continue to be driven in the forward rotation.

In step S510, it is determined whether the next sheet has reached the registration sensor 17 in FIG. Registration sensor 17
When a signal of paper arrival arrives from step S51, the next step S51
Move to 1. If there is no incoming call, step S50
Move to 9. In step S511 for stopping the pick roller and the feed roller, the pick roller 31 and the feed roller 32 are stopped because the next sheet reaches the registration sensor 17 and is ready for printing.

Step S51 for determining whether to return the paper
2 determines whether or not the sheet waiting by the registration sensor 17 is returned to the sheet feeding unit 3. Details of the determination process will be described later. If the paper is to be returned, the process proceeds to step S516, and if it is in the standby state, step S513 is performed. In step S513 of receiving a sheet feeding command, it is determined whether a sheet feeding command signal from the controller control unit 102 has been received. If receiving, the next step S
Move to 514. If not, step S51
Move to 2.

Step S514 for transmitting the completion of sheet feeding is as follows.
Since the next sheet has already been supplied for printing, a signal indicating the completion of sheet feeding is transmitted to the controller control unit 102. In step S515 of receiving the sheet transport command, it is determined whether a sheet transport command has been received from the controller control unit 102. If so, the process proceeds to step 506 to start printing and to supply the next sheet. If it has not been received, it waits for a paper transport command to be received.

In step S516 of driving the feed roller in the reverse rotation, the feed roller 32 in FIG. 5 is rotated in the reverse direction, and the sheet waiting by the registration roller 13 is returned to the sheet feeding unit 3. In step S517 of waiting for a paper feed command, the engine control unit 103 waits for reception of the next paper feed command, and repeats the above operation from step S501 simultaneously with the reception.

Next, an operation of returning the sheet waiting by the registration roller 13 to the sheet feeding unit 3 will be described. FIG. 9 is a flowchart of the determination of returning the sheet according to the embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 9, the returning process of the sheet is performed in step S70 in which it is determined whether or not xx time has elapsed after reaching the registration sensor.
1. Step S702 to judge whether a command to return the sheet has been received from the controller control unit, Step S703 to judge whether a sheet feed port switching command has been received from the controller control unit, Step S70 to do not return the sheet S70
4. Step S705 for returning the paper.

The step S701 for determining whether or not xx time has elapsed after reaching the registration sensor is performed by the engine control unit 10
3 measures the time after the sheet arrives at the registration sensor 17 in FIG. 5, and if the predetermined reference time has elapsed, the process proceeds to step S705; if not, the process proceeds to step S705. The next step S702 is performed. In step S702, it is determined whether a command to return the sheet has been received from the controller control unit. If the command to return the sheet has been received from the controller control unit 102, the process proceeds to step S705. Step S703 is performed.

Step S703 for judging whether or not a paper feed port switching command is received from the controller control unit is performed. If a paper feed port switching command is received from the controller control unit 102, the process proceeds to step S705. If not, the next step S704 is performed. In step S704 of performing the process of not returning the sheet, a process of not returning the sheet is performed because the waiting sheet is to be printed. It moves to step S513.

Step S705 for returning the paper
Shifts to step S516 to return the waiting sheet to the sheet feeding unit 3. Next, the controller control unit 10
An interface signal relating to paper feed control between the engine control unit 2 and the engine control unit 103 will be described with reference to the timing chart of FIG. 10 together with FIG. 4 and FIG.

FIG. 10 is a timing chart of an interface signal according to one embodiment of the present invention. From FIG.
(A) is a paper feed command signal S1, and (B) is a paper feed operation signal S.
2, (C) shows a paper feed completion signal S3, (D) shows a paper transport command signal S4, and (E) shows an on or off state of the print transport signal S5.

At time t51, the engine control unit 103 receives the paper feed command signal S1 from the controller control unit 102.
Causes the sheet feeding unit 105 to start the sheet feeding operation at a time t52 delayed by a predetermined time, that is, the sheet feeding operation signal S2 is turned on. The paper supply unit 105 transports the paper from the paper supply unit 3 to the registration roller 13 by rotating the pick roller 31 and the feed roller 32 in the forward direction.

At time t53, the sheet feeding operation is stopped when the sheet passes the registration sensor 17, that is, the sheet feeding operation signal S2 is turned off, and the engine control unit 103 transmits a sheet feeding completion signal S3 to the controller control unit 102. . Waiting for the paper transport command S4 from the controller control unit 102, and receiving the command at a time t54 delayed by a predetermined time from the time t53, the registration roller 13 starts the paper transport for a printing operation at a time t55 delayed by a predetermined time. Is activated, that is, the print transport signal S5 is turned on.

On the other hand, at time t55, the registration rollers 13
Pick roller 31 and feed roller 3
2 is also started, and the conveyance of the paper in the paper feeding conveyance path is restarted, that is, the paper feeding operation signal S2 is turned on. Time t5
6, printing is completed, that is, when the print transport signal S5 is turned off, the controller control unit 102 transmits a paper feed command signal S1 to the engine control unit 103 to supply the next paper at a time t57 delayed by a predetermined time.

When the trailing edge of the sheet of the previous page has passed through the registration sensor 17 due to the printing conveyance, the sheet of the next page has already been conveyed to the vicinity of the registration sensor 17 with a certain distance interval. At time t58, which is a time delay, the paper feed completion signal S3 is immediately transmitted from the engine control unit 103. Thereafter, the sheet transport command signal S4 is sequentially transmitted from the controller control unit 102, printing is started by the engine control unit 103, and the next sheet is transported to the registration rollers 13 during printing transport, and waits.

As described above, since the next page is always kept on standby by the registration roller 13, the paper feeding time can be reduced and the printing processing speed can be improved. Further, the present invention can be applied to output by a facsimile apparatus, a copying apparatus, or the like in addition to the printer apparatus. Or a printer, fax
The present invention can also be applied to a device in which a device, a copying device, and the like are combined.

[0050]

As described above, according to the present invention, for example, in the case of a printer for transferring an image, when the printing process is started, the roller for feeding the sheet to a position where the printing process can be performed is rotated. Then, the next sheet is fed, and when the sheet is detected at a position where print processing can be performed, that is, when the sheet feeding is completed, the rotating sheet feeding roller is stopped, Supply paper without waiting for the next print processing command,
Since the print processing can be performed immediately together with the print processing command, the print processing can be shortened, and the print processing speed can be improved.

Further, according to the present invention, if there is no command to start printing even after a predetermined time has elapsed for the waiting paper just before the printing process, the paper feed roller is rotated in the reverse direction. Therefore, the paper remaining in the transport path can be returned to the paper feed unit, and the paper waste can be prevented.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a conventional example.

FIG. 2 is a timing chart of an example of a conventional interface signal.

FIG. 3 is a timing chart of an interface signal when a paper feeding time is long in a conventional example.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is an internal configuration diagram of the printer device according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart of a controller control unit according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart of an engine control unit according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart of an engine control unit according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart illustrating a process of returning a sheet according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a timing chart of an interface signal according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 3 paper feed unit 4 print unit 5 optical unit 6 transfer unit 8 fixing unit 11 stacker 13 registration roller 14 first paper discharge roller 13 second paper discharge roller 17 registration sensor 20 double-sided unit 31 pick roller 32 feed roller 41 photosensitive drum 81 heating roller 82 Pressure roller 100 Printer device 101 Host 102 Controller control unit 103 Engine control unit 104 RAM 105 Paper feed unit 106 Printing unit 107 Fixing unit 108 Paper discharge unit

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuing on the front page (72) Inventor Katsue Asano 4-1-1, Kamidadanaka, Nakahara-ku, Kawasaki-shi, Kanagawa Prefecture Inside Fujitsu Limited (72) Inventor Fumihiro Ito 4-1-1 Kamiodanaka, Nakahara-ku, Kawasaki-shi, Kanagawa Prefecture No. 1 F-term in Fujitsu Limited (reference) 2C058 AB08 AC08 AD01 AE02 AE09 GA14 GB14 GB30 GE24 2C059 AA05 AA12 AA22 AA26 AA35 2C061 AP01 AQ06 HH09 HJ03 HK06 HK23 HN05 HN17 3F048 AA05 AB01 DA05 CB03 DA03 CB06 EA23 EA29 LA07 LB03

Claims (9)

[Claims] Processing means for processing a medium to be conveyed;
Medium storage means for storing the medium, medium supply means for supplying the medium of the medium storage means to the processing means side, and medium for transporting the medium supplied by the medium supply means for processing by the processing means In a medium processing apparatus having a transport unit, a medium transport detection unit that detects that the medium has been transported by the processing unit by the media transport unit, and a transport detection unit that detects that the medium has been transported. A medium transport control unit that controls the medium supply unit so that the medium is supplied to a position where the medium can be transported by the medium transport unit when the medium is transported. 2. A process detecting means for detecting an execution instruction for instructing the processing means to perform a process, wherein the medium transport control means removes the medium when the process detecting means does not detect the execution instruction. 2. The medium processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the medium supply unit is controlled to return to the medium storage unit. 3. The medium processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a plurality of the medium transport control units are stacked. 4. The medium processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the processing unit is an image forming unit that forms an image on the medium. 5. A medium transport method for supplying a medium stored in a medium storage unit to a processing unit that performs a predetermined process on the medium, and transporting the supplied medium while processing the medium by the processing unit. A medium conveyance detection procedure for detecting that the medium has been conveyed by the processing means, and when the medium conveyance detection procedure detects that the medium has been conveyed, the medium is supplied to a position at which the medium can be processed by the processing means. And a medium supply procedure. 6. A process detection procedure for detecting an execution instruction for instructing the processing means to perform a process, and when the execution command is not detected in the process detection procedure, a medium reverse transport returning the medium to the medium storage means. 6. The method according to claim 5, further comprising the steps of: 7. A medium transport method according to claim 5, further comprising a medium reverse transport procedure for returning said medium to said medium storage means when said execution command is not detected for a predetermined time by said process detection procedure. . 8. The medium transport method according to claim 5, wherein the processing unit forms an image on the medium. 9. A medium supply means for processing a medium to be transported, and a medium transport means for transporting a medium for processing in the processing unit, wherein a medium is supplied from the medium storage unit to a medium storage unit storing the medium. A medium that has been supplied by the means, is transported by the medium transport means, and the medium is processed by the processing means. The medium is transported by the processing means by the medium transport means. And a medium transport detecting means for detecting that the medium has been transported by the medium transport means by the medium transport detecting means so that the medium is supplied to a transportable position by the medium transport means. Medium transport control means for instructing the medium supply means to supply a medium,
A medium processing apparatus comprising: