JP2000207162A - Printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To surely report the ejection of a printed matter to the distribution destination without complicating a system. SOLUTION: For this printer, a data processor 100 to be used for the distribution destination assigned to plural paper ejection bins 203 is registered by a register means 201, and it is confirmed by a confirming means 201 whether or not a designated paper ejection bin is the paper ejection bin assigned to the distribution destination of the registered data processor. When printing is executed, the paper ejection information of the printed matter is transmitted to the data processor of the distribution destination by a transmission means 201.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a printing apparatus, and more particularly, to an apparatus capable of reliably notifying a distribution destination that a printed matter has been discharged to a discharge bin.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Recently, there has been proposed a printing system in which a plurality of host computers and a printer are connected via a network line, and when one of the host computers transmits a print job signal to the printer, the printer executes printing. ing.

For example, there is a system in which a plurality of users share a single printer in a network environment (see, for example, JP-A-8-2790, JP-A-8-2792). In such a system, if the printer is provided with a plurality of output bins, each output bin can be used as each mailbox by assigning each output bin to each user, so that sorting can be reduced, and confidentiality can be maintained. There is an advantage.

However, in such a printing system, when one user wants to distribute a hard copy to another user,
Even if you specify the appropriate output bin and execute printing, unless the user verbally informs the user of the distribution destination, or unless each user frequently visits his or her own output bin, Printed material remains in the output bin, and not only does the necessary information not arrive in real time, but also unnecessary prints accumulate in the output bin, causing the output bin to fail and causing the printer to stop. There is.

On the other hand, when distributing a printed matter to another person, a system in which a print job signal is transmitted to a printer owned by the distribution destination and connected to the same network, and at the same time, a notice is sent to the other party. Kaihei 8-
After the printed matter is discharged to a lockable paper discharge bin and left to stand for a certain period of time, the print job is stopped.
There has been proposed a system (see Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 7-230370) for notifying the transmission source of the b signal that the user has forgotten.

[0006]

However, of the above-mentioned conventional publications, the former system (Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. Hei 8-123641) requires a function of notifying the recipient of the fact that printing has been performed on the host computer side. Not only is the configuration complicated, but the notification timing cannot be set freely.

The latter system (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 7-230)
No. 370), the source of the print job is notified, so that the user is verbally notified to the user of the distribution destination, or each user frequently goes to the output bin owned by the user. There is a need.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-described problems, and has been made to be able to reliably notify a distribution destination that a printed matter has been discharged to a discharge bin without inducing a complicated system. It is an object to provide a device.

[0009]

Therefore, a printing apparatus according to the present invention has a plurality of paper discharge bins, is connected to a plurality of data processing apparatuses via a line, and has a print job signal transmitted from the data processing apparatus. Registering means for registering a data processing device used by a distribution destination assigned to a plurality of output bins in a printing apparatus configured to execute printing based on and to discharge to a specified output bin; Confirmation means for confirming whether or not the designated discharge bin is a discharge bin assigned to the data processing device stored in the registration means; and distribution destination data processing confirmed when printing is executed. The apparatus is provided with a transmission unit for transmitting discharge information of the printed matter to the apparatus.

One of the features of the present invention is that, in a printing apparatus provided with a plurality of paper output bins, when a printed material is discharged to the paper output bin, the data processing apparatus registered in relation to the paper output bin receives the printed matter. On the other hand, the fact that the printed matter has been discharged is automatically notified. As a result, the distribution destination can reliably and responsively know that the printed matter has been discharged, and the printed matter does not accumulate unnecessarily in the discharge bin.

Another feature of the present invention resides in that the printing apparatus monitors the discharge of the printed matter and notifies the distribution destination when the printed matter is discharged. Thus, since it is not necessary to use a special transmission tool, the notification can be made without depending on the environment of the data processing device, and the system does not become complicated.

The data processing device processes the signal to print jo
If you can output the b signal and display the notification from the printing device,
Any type may be used, but generally a host computer is used. In addition, the number of printing devices may be one or more. The data processing device and the printing device may be connected by any line, for example, by a network line.

The paper discharge information of the printed matter may be any information as long as it can notify the delivery destination of the paper discharge, but it is preferable that at least the print source, the print time, the print Job name, and the number of printed pages are included.

It is convenient if a message from a transmission source can be transmitted to the distribution destination data processing apparatus in addition to the discharge information of the printed matter. Therefore, it is preferable that the data processing apparatus has a function of transmitting the message data together with the print job signal, and the transmitting unit transmits the message data to the distribution destination data processing apparatus together with the discharge information of the printed matter.

The notification of the discharge information of the printed matter may be performed at any timing, for example, when the print job signal is received, when the discharge of the first page printed matter is completed, when the discharge of all the printed matter is completed, and the like. Can be adopted, but it is convenient to be able to select according to the user's request. Accordingly, the transmitting means may be configured to receive one or more of the following when receiving the print job signal, when completing the discharge of the printed matter of the first page, when completing the discharge of all printed matter, or when an error such as a paper shortage occurs during printing. It is preferable to have a function that can be set as the transmission timing of the paper ejection information.

It is important that the print job signal includes, in addition to the print data and the print control signal, information indicating a transmission source and information for specifying a discharge bin to discharge a printed material.

[0017]

According to the present invention, printed matter can be distributed to another person by switching only the paper discharge destination by the same means as a normal print job for oneself. It also monitors printing and automatically notifies the recipients when printing, so that the recipients can be notified reliably and responsively, and printed matter remains in the output bin unnecessarily. There is no. Further, since there is no need to use a special transmission tool, the notification function can be realized without depending on the environment of the data processing device.

[0018]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described below in detail with reference to specific examples shown in the drawings. 1 to 10 show a preferred embodiment of a printing apparatus according to the present invention. FIG. 1 shows a configuration of a printing system including the printing apparatus of the present embodiment. 1, in the printing system of this example, a plurality of host computer units (data processing devices) 100... And a printer unit (printing device) 100 are connected via a network line. However, a print job signal can be transmitted to the printer unit 200 for printing.

The host computer unit 100 includes an application unit 101 and a printer driver unit 102. The application unit 101 transmits print data to the printer driver unit 102 and also transmits the file name of the print data.
The print driver unit 102 is an application unit 101
Is converted into a language that can be interpreted by the controller unit 201 of the printer unit 200, the total number of pages to be printed is calculated, and then the discharge bin command, print job name, and sender name set by the printer driver unit 102 Is transmitted to the printer unit 200 together with the request. When message data can be further set on the screen of the printer driver unit 102, the message data is transmitted together with the print Job signal.

The printer unit 200 includes the controller unit 20
1, an engine unit 202 and five paper discharge bins 203, and each paper discharge bin 203 is assigned a bin number 1 to 5. The controller unit 201 is a printer driver unit 1
Interpretation of the data received from the designated paper discharge bin 203 and discharge of the printed matter to the designated paper discharge bin 203, and communication with the engine unit 202 to check the paper discharge status to the designated paper discharge bin 203, error information, and the like. Further, based on the address (host address) designation of the distribution destination host computer 100 registered in the corresponding bin in advance and the notification timing designation, the print job name, sender name, total The number of pages (total number of sheets), message data, and self-managed time information are transmitted. The engine unit 202 performs a sheet conveyance process, prints the print data sent from the controller, and discharges the sheet to the designated discharge bin 203, and notifies the controller unit 201 of the state of the discharge destination, an error state, and the like. It has become.

FIG. 2 shows a distribution destination host computer section 100.
2 shows an example of a host address registration screen. In this example, the destination host address can be set by the IP address for the bin numbers 1 to 5 of the discharge bins. The settings are made on the keyboard and printer unit 2 of the host computer unit 100.
The setting information is stored in the storage unit of the printer unit 200. In the figure, bin 1: 170.16.15
0.1, bin 2: 170.16.150.2, bin 3: 170.16.150.3, bin 4: 170.1
60.150.4, bottle 5: 170.16.150.
4 shows an example in which 4 is set.

FIG. 3 shows the distribution destination host computer section 100.
5 shows another example of the host address registration screen. In this example, the distribution destination host address can be set by the E-mail address for the bin numbers 1 to 5 of the discharge bins. The setting can be performed using the keyboard of the host computer unit 100 or the operation panel of the controller unit 202 of the printer unit 200.
0 is stored in the storage means. In the figure, bin 1: Suzukik @ aa
aa.co.jp, Bin 2: Satou@aaaa.co.jp, Bin 3: Name1 @
aaaa.co.jp, bin 4: Name2@aaaa.co.jp, bin 5: Name
An example in which 3@aaaa.co.jp is set is shown.

FIG. 4 shows an example of a transmission timing registration screen to the distribution destination host computer 100. In this example, one or more notification sending timings can be set from among data reception, one-page discharge completion, all-page discharge completion, and error occurrence. Host computer unit 10
0 keyboard and controller unit 2 of the printer unit 200
02, and the setting information is stored in the storage unit of the printer unit 200. The figure shows an example in which notification is set to be transmitted when data is received, when all pages have been discharged, and when an error occurs.

FIG. 5 shows an example of a driver setting screen in the printer driver unit 102. In this example, the number of copies, paper size, paper discharge destination, job name, message, and sender name can be set. The setting can be performed using the keyboard of the host computer unit 100.
In the figure, the number of copies is “1”, the paper size is “A4”, the discharge destination is “Bin3”, the job name is “meeting material”, and the message is:
An example is shown in which “reference materials are distributed for reference” and the sender name is “Suzuki”.

FIG. 8 shows a flowchart of a control process in the printer driver unit 102 of the host computer unit 100. When the processing is started, the application unit 1
01 (step S100), the number of copies, paper size setting information and paper discharge destination information are added to the print data, and converted into a language that can be interpreted by the controller unit 201 of the printer unit 200 (step S100). S101), and after calculating the total number of pages together (step S101)
101), 102), the data is transmitted to the printer unit 200 (step S102), and the process ends.

FIGS. 9 and 10 show a flowchart of a control process of the controller unit 201 of the printer unit 200. FIG.
When the processing is started, data from the printer driver unit 102 is received (step S200), and among the received data, the job name, the sender name, and the message data are stored in the memory L.
(Step S201), and stores the total number of pages in the memory M
(Step S202), the i-value is set to 1 (step S203), and the i-th page (the first page) of the received print data is converted into bitmap data, and an output destination is specified. To the engine unit 202 (step S
204), 1 is added to the i value, and the same process is performed for the second page, and the bitmap data for the second page is transmitted to the engine unit 202 (steps S204 to S206). The same process is repeated until the number is reached.

The following processing is performed in parallel with the conversion into bitmap data and the transmission to the engine unit 201. That is, first, it is determined whether the printing is double-sided printing (step S).
207) On the other hand, if not double-sided printing, M is set in the memory N (step S208), and if double-sided printing is set, M / 2 (rounded up below the decimal point) is set in the memory N (step S209), and j The value is set to 0 (step S210), and the designated paper discharge destination is checked by communicating with the engine unit 202 (step S211), and it is determined whether or not an error has occurred (step S212).

If no error has occurred, it is determined whether or not the paper discharge has been completed (step S215). If not, it communicates with the engine unit 202 to check the designated paper discharge destination and It is determined whether or not an error has occurred (steps S211 and S212). When the discharge is completed, it is determined whether or not the j value becomes N in addition to the j value (step S217). If it is not N, j is 1, and when the discharge of one page is completed, the setting for transmission to the distribution destination is turned on (step S218), and the information stored in the memory L, that is, the job name, transmission The name and message data are transmitted to the designated distribution destination together with the current time information (step S219).

When an error has occurred, the information stored in the memory L is transmitted to the designated distribution destination together with the current time information as error information (step S213), and waits until printing is resumed (step S214). When printing is resumed, it is determined whether or not an error has occurred (step S212), and the process returns to normal processing.

When the above-described processing is repeated and the j value becomes N, the information stored in the memory L is transmitted to the designated distribution destination as print completion information together with the current time information (step S220), and the processing is performed. finish.

FIG. 6 shows an example of a notification message when printing is completed. In this example, in addition to the notification, a sender, a print time, a job name, the number of pages, and a message are displayed. In the figure, a message ““ Printed matter has been ejected to the owning bin ””, sender: “Suzuki”, print time: “February 22, 1998, 16:30”, jo
The example in which the b name: “meeting materials”, the number of pages: “6 pages”, and the message: “We will distribute reference materials for meetings.” is shown.

FIG. 7 shows an example of a notification message when an error occurs. In this example, in addition to the notification, the sender,
The print time, job name, error occurrence and error content are displayed. In the picture, the message "An error occurred while printing your document" was sent by:
"Suzuki", printing time: "February 22, 1998 16
20 minutes ", job name:" conference material ", error occurred:
An example in which “page 3/6” and error content: “paper jam” is displayed is shown.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of a printing system including a preferred embodiment of a printing apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of a distribution destination host address registration screen in the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing another example of a distribution destination host address registration screen in the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a distribution destination host sending timing registration screen in the embodiment.

FIG. 5 shows a driver setting screen 1 in the embodiment.
It is a figure showing an example.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of a notification message in the embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing another example of the notification message in the embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating a flowchart of a control process of a printer driver unit of the host computer unit in the embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating a half part of a flowchart of a control process of a controller unit of the printer unit in the embodiment.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing another half of the flowchart of FIG. 9;

[Explanation of symbols]

REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 100 host computer unit (data processing device) 101 application unit 102 printer driver unit 200 printer (printing device) 201 controller (registration unit, confirmation unit, transmission unit) 202 engine unit (printing unit)

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A printer having a plurality of paper discharge bins, connected to a plurality of data processing devices through a line, and performing printing based on a print job signal transmitted from the data processing device.
In a printing apparatus configured to discharge to a specified discharge bin, a registration unit for registering a data processing device used by a distribution destination assigned to a plurality of discharge bins; Confirmation means for confirming whether or not the output bin is assigned to the distribution destination of the data processing apparatus registered in the registration means; and discharge of the printed matter to the distribution destination data processing apparatus confirmed when the printing is executed. A printing apparatus comprising: a transmitting unit that transmits information. 2. The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the discharge information of the print includes at least a print source, a print time, a print Job name, and the number of pages to be printed. 3. The data processing device according to claim 1, wherein the data processing device has a function of transmitting message data together with a print job signal, and the transmitting means transmits the message data to the distribution destination data processing device together with the discharge information of the printed matter. Item 6. The printing device according to Item 1. 4. The transmission means receives one of a print job signal, a completion of discharge of a printed matter of the first page, a completion of discharge of all printed matter, and a time of occurrence of an error such as running out of paper during printing. The printing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a function capable of setting a plurality of times as transmission timings of discharge information of the printed matter.