JP2000168173A - Image forming apparatus and initial setting method thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an image forming apparatus for setting a set item high in use frequency at a time of initial setting and an initial setting method thereof. SOLUTION: An image forming apparatus 100 is constituted of a CPU 1, an operation panel 2, an RAM 3, an ROM 4 and a printer engine 5. When a system condition and a printing condition (various set items) desired by a user are inputted by the operation panel 2, the CPU 1 counts the use frequencies of various set items of a set printing condition on the basis of the control program stored in the ROM 4 to store the same in the RAM 3 at every set items. By setting as the initial setting the set item highest in use frequency among the use frequencies at every set items stored in the RAM 3, the set item high in use frequency can be set when a power supply is closed or after printing processing due to other set item is completed.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention [0002] The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus for performing initial setting of various setting items when performing a printing process, and an initial setting method thereof.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Initial settings of a conventional image forming apparatus are such that, immediately after the power of the image forming apparatus is turned on, various settings such as a resolution, a paper feed tray, and emulation are selected in system conditions and printing conditions. It has been known.
These settings or changes have been made by the operator inputting system conditions or printing conditions (various setting items) from the operation panel, such as program registration.

[0003]

However, the image forming apparatus shown in the above-mentioned conventional example has the following problems.

As a first problem, in order to change various settings such as the above-described printing conditions and system conditions, a key input is performed from an operation panel, or a model without an operation panel is separately provided. There was a problem that it had to be changed by the tool.

As a second problem, it is preferable that the above-mentioned various settings are basically used most frequently. However, since the settings are different for each user, they are used uniformly. There was a problem that it was not possible to keep high quality settings.

A third problem is that, in consideration of user's convenience, it is necessary to minimize the key input operation from the operation panel as much as possible.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems of the prior art, and an image forming apparatus in which various frequently used setting items are set when the power is turned on, and an initial state thereof. The purpose is to provide a setting method.

[0008]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image forming apparatus comprising: an input unit for inputting at least one or more setting items in print data; Counting means for counting the frequency of use of one or more setting items; storage means for storing the frequency of use counted by the counting means for each setting item; and the most frequently used frequency among the frequency of use stored by the storage means. It is characterized by comprising a determining means for determining a setting item having a high frequency, and a setting means for setting the setting item having the highest frequency of use determined by the determining means as an initial setting item.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a storage device for storing the setting item having the highest frequency of use determined by the determining device.

[0010] The third aspect of the present invention is the first or second aspect.
In the invention described above, when print processing is performed with a setting item different from the setting item with the highest frequency of use, setting is performed by the setting unit after the end of the printing processing.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided an input step of inputting at least one or more setting items in print data, and a counting step of counting the frequency of use of at least one or more setting items input in the input step. And a storing step of storing, for each setting item, the frequency of use counted in the counting step, and of the frequency of use stored in the storing step,
A determining step of determining a setting item having the highest frequency of use;
Setting a setting item with the highest frequency of use determined in the determining step as an initial setting item.

A fifth aspect of the present invention is characterized in that, in the fourth aspect of the present invention, a storage step of storing the setting item having the highest frequency of use determined in the determining step is provided.

The invention according to claim 6 is the invention according to claim 4 or 5.
In the invention described above, when print processing is performed on a setting item different from the setting item with the highest frequency of use, setting is performed by a setting step after the printing process is completed.

[0014]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Next, an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention and an initial setting method thereof will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 to FIG. 3 show an embodiment of an image forming apparatus and an initial setting method of the present invention.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of an image forming apparatus 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention. 1, an image forming apparatus 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention is illustrated.
Are a CPU 1, an operation panel 2, a RAM 3, and a ROM
4 and a printer engine 5.

The CPU 1 controls the entire image forming apparatus 100 based on a control program stored in the ROM 4. The operation panel 2 includes an input unit (not shown) for inputting setting and change of desired processing conditions (various setting items) in the print data, and a display unit (not shown) for displaying set processing conditions (various setting items) and the like. And
For example, it can be configured by a liquid crystal touch panel or the like.

The RAM 3 is a nonvolatile storage device for storing information on the frequency of use of the various setting items described above. The ROM 4 is an area for storing a control program for performing control by the CPU 1. Note that the counting process, the determination process, and the like performed in the present invention are performed based on a control program stored in the ROM 4.

The printer engine 5 forms an electrostatic latent image on a photoreceptor (not shown) according to desired processing conditions (various setting items) set by a user from the operation panel 2, develops the electrostatic latent image, and selects a selected paper feed. The transfer paper is fed from the copy unit, transferred and fixed, and the printing process is executed.

The processing conditions (various setting items) used here indicate system condition data or printing condition data in the image forming apparatus 100 such as a paper feed tray, resolution, emulation, and the like.

FIG. 2 is a first flowchart showing an operation example of the image forming apparatus 100 according to the embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 2, when a print command including a processing condition (setting item) is input from the operation panel 2 by the user, the CPU 1 of the image forming apparatus 100 receives the print command (step S21), and receives the current image forming apparatus. Check the status of various setting items according to the system conditions or printing conditions set in step 100 (step S2).
2).

In step S22, the counter value of the frequency of use stored in the RAM 3 as the use history of each setting item in the various setting items according to the system conditions or printing conditions in the checked current image forming apparatus 100 is set to "1". Is incremented (step S23).

FIG. 3 is a second flowchart showing an operation example of the image forming apparatus 100 according to the embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 3, a print command including a desired processing condition (setting item) is input from the operation panel 2 by the user, and when the image forming apparatus 100 completes each process illustrated in FIG. 2, based on the input print command. Printer engine 5
Print processing is performed.

When the printing process is performed by the printer engine 5, counter values (frequency of use) of various setting items set as system conditions or printing conditions are read from the RAM 3 (step S32).

In step S32, the setting item with the largest counter value among the counter values (frequency of use) of the various setting items read from the RAM 3 is determined as the setting item with the highest frequency of use (step S33).

The setting item having the largest counter value (frequency of use) determined in step S33 is set as an initial setting of various setting conditions when the image forming apparatus 100 is powered on next time (step S34). In addition, any program No. stored in the nonvolatile RAM 3 (Step S35).

The setting item having the largest counter value (frequency of use) determined in step S33 is
The print condition is reflected in the current processing state of the image forming apparatus 100 (step S36), a print command under a condition different from that of the setting item with a high frequency of use is received, and after the printing operation is completed, the setting item with a high frequency of use is restored. Control to switch.

[0027]

As is apparent from the above description, according to the image forming apparatus of the present invention and the method of initializing the same, the memory includes the counting section and the determining section, and the initial setting of the system conditions and the printing conditions is performed. Since the value can be set to the one that has the highest frequency of use for each item, easy-to-use system conditions and printing conditions can be called immediately after the power is turned on. In addition, since there is no need to provide a key input from the operation panel or provide a separate tool for setting the initial setting value, the convenience for the operator can be improved.

Further, according to the image forming apparatus of the present invention and the method of initializing the same, the setting contents having the highest frequency of use of each item of the system condition and the printing condition are set to an arbitrary program No. Therefore, the image forming apparatus can be easily used, and the operation of registering the program from the operation panel is not required, so that the convenience for the user can be improved.

Further, according to the image forming apparatus of the present invention and the method of initializing the same, printing is performed with settings different from those in a state where the most frequently used setting is selected. Even in such a case, after the printing is completed, the setting item having the highest frequency of use is returned to the selected state, so that the state of the image forming apparatus can always be maintained with the setting item frequently used by the operator. .

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a schematic configuration of an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a first flowchart illustrating an operation example of the image forming apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a second flowchart illustrating an operation example of the image forming apparatus according to the exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 CPU 2 Operation panel 3 RAM 4 ROM 5 Printer engine 100 Image forming apparatus

Claims (6)

[Claims] An input unit for inputting at least one or more setting items in the print data; a counting unit for counting a frequency of use of the at least one or more setting items input by the input unit; Storage means for storing the number of use frequencies counted by the means for each setting item, among the use frequency numbers stored by the storage means,
A determination unit for determining a setting item with the highest frequency of use; and a setting unit for setting the setting item with the highest frequency of use determined by the determination unit as an initial setting item. Forming equipment. 2. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a storage unit configured to store the setting item having the highest frequency of use determined by the determination unit. 3. The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein, when the print processing is performed with a setting item different from the setting item having the highest frequency of use, the setting is performed by the setting unit after the printing process is completed. Image forming apparatus. 4. An inputting step of inputting at least one or more setting items in the print data; a counting step of counting the frequency of use of the at least one or more setting items input in the inputting step; A storing step of storing the number of use frequencies counted by the process for each setting item; and, of the number of use frequencies stored by the storing step,
An initial setting method for an image forming apparatus, comprising: a determining step of determining a setting item having the highest frequency of use; and a setting step of setting the setting item determined in the determining step as an initial setting. 5. An initial setting method for an image forming apparatus according to claim 4, further comprising a storage step of storing the setting item having the highest frequency of use determined in said determining step. 6. The printing apparatus according to claim 4, wherein, when printing is performed with a setting item different from the setting item having the highest frequency of use, the setting process is performed after the printing process is completed. Initial setting method of the image forming apparatus.