JP2002254779A - Image forming apparatus, image forming method, image forming system, program and storage medium - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an image forming apparatus in which, when the apparatus receives page data from a host computer and stores the data into an image server, a process continues regardless of errors detected during data conversion into print job data without error skip. SOLUTION: When printing out the print job data page by page (S19), a program determines a print-out method designated by a user (S21), if page information has errors. If 'print out all pages' is chosen as a print-out method, a printing process is executed (S22), neglecting error pages in the page information. If 'print out excluding error pages' is chosen, bit-map data of the pages are not printed out. If 'print out up to an error page' is chosen, the printing process halts at the step.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus, an image forming method, an image forming system, a program, and a storage medium.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, an image forming system uses a group of page data collected from an external device such as a host computer as one print job unit, receives the print job data, and develops it into bitmap data or the like in page units. And an image forming apparatus for performing print output.

In such an image forming system, it is possible to temporarily store image data by mounting a large-capacity storage device such as a hard disk. Less than,
A large-capacity storage device that stores such print output data (image data) is called an image server. The user can cause the image server to print out the designated image data as desired.

In the course of this print output, the image forming apparatus creates bitmap data for each page and a page attribute for storing the page information based on the received print job data. In this page attribute, information such as paper designation and paper feed stage designation at the time of printing is stored. Further, various errors may occur during the print output process.

[0005] For example, if a work memory for processing or a memory for registering a character pattern becomes insufficient during bitmap development of print job data received from an external device, "system work memory full", "download memory" Errors such as "full" occur. At this time, the error is displayed on a user interface unit such as an operation unit that is easily visible to the user.

During printing, if the paper is out of paper, jammed, or paper of a designated size is not prepared in a paper feed port of a cassette or the like, "paper replenishment", "paper jam", "paper jam" At the same time when an error such as “replacement” occurs, the display is performed on the user interface unit.

As described above, when "system work memory full", "download memory full", or the like occurs, a problem occurs such that characters to be registered are not printed. Therefore, an output result as expected by the user is obtained. Can not do. In such a case, usually, when the image data is stored in the image server, the operation unit of the image forming system is notified of the occurrence of the error, and then the system is suspended to wait for an instruction from the user.

The user can select, via the operation unit, whether to cancel the storage in the image server by the reset operation or to continue the process ignoring the error. Here, ignoring the error and continuing the processing is called error skip.

[0009]

However, in the above-mentioned conventional image forming system, the error is not skipped.
When trying to store print job data on the image server of the image forming system, if an error such as memory full is detected during data expansion, whether to stop storing the image data on the image server or ignore the error and store it Had to choose. Even if "store" is selected, an error page is printed when the print job data is printed out, and the printing paper is wasted.

On the other hand, if an error occurs during reception / decompression of print job data from the host computer, the reception / development process is temporarily interrupted, and other print job data can be received from the host computer. could not.

In recent years, when a plurality of host computers are connected in an image forming system due to the progress of a network environment, there is a possibility that a print job cannot be transferred from another host computer to the image forming apparatus. there were.

[0012] Further, once stored in the image server, it has not been possible to confirm on which page of the print job an error has occurred.

In view of the above, according to the present invention, when page data is received from an external device such as a host computer and stored in an image server, the processing is stopped even when an error is detected when the data is expanded into print job data without skipping an error. It is an object of the present invention to provide an image forming apparatus, an image forming method, an image forming system, a program, and a storage medium that do not allow the user to make an image forming.

According to the present invention, there is provided an image forming apparatus, an image forming method, an image forming system, which does not waste printing paper when printing print job data including an error page.
It is another object to provide a program and a storage medium.

Further, the present invention provides an image forming apparatus and an image forming method by which a user can confirm whether print job data stored in an image server includes an error page or which page has an error. ,
It is an object to provide an image forming system, a program, and a storage medium.

[0016]

In order to achieve the above object, an image forming apparatus according to the present invention comprises: a bitmap developing means for developing print job data into bitmap data in page units; An image forming apparatus comprising: a printing unit that prints map data; an error detection unit that detects whether an error has occurred in the expanded bitmap data; and Selecting means for selecting an output method of a page including an error, wherein the printing means prints the bitmap data according to the selected output method.

According to the image forming method of the present invention, in the image forming method of printing a print job transmitted from an information processing apparatus using an image forming apparatus, the transmitted print job data is converted into bitmap data in page units. Expanding, and detecting whether an error has occurred in the expanded bitmap data, and, when the occurrence of the error is detected, selecting an output method of a page including the error, Printing the expanded bitmap data in accordance with the selected output method.

An image forming system according to the present invention is an image forming system for printing a print job transmitted from an information processing apparatus using an image forming apparatus, wherein the data of the transmitted print job is converted into bitmap data in page units. Bitmap expanding means for expanding, an error detecting means for detecting whether or not an error has occurred in the expanded bitmap data, and a method for outputting a page including the error when the error is detected. The image processing apparatus further comprises a selection unit for selecting, and a printing unit for printing the developed bitmap data in accordance with the selected output method.

[0019]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Embodiments of an image forming apparatus, an image forming method, an image forming system, a program and a storage medium according to the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

[First Embodiment] FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an entire configuration of an image forming system according to a first embodiment.
The image forming system includes an image forming apparatus 100, a host computer 401, and a personal computer (PC).
402 has a configuration connected to a network (LAN) 400.

The image forming apparatus 100 includes a control unit (controller unit) 100, a reader unit (image input device) 200,
Printer unit (image output device) 300 and operation unit 500
Having.

The reader section 200 optically reads a document image and converts it into image data. The reader unit 200 includes a scanner unit 210 having a function of reading a document, and a document feeding unit 250 having a function of conveying document sheets.

The printer section 300 conveys a recording sheet, prints image data thereon as a visible image, and discharges the sheet outside the apparatus. The printer unit 300 includes a paper feed unit 310 having a plurality of types of recording paper cassettes, and a marking unit 32 having a function of transferring and fixing image data on recording paper.
0, and a paper discharge unit 330 having a function of sorting, stapling, and punching printed recording paper and outputting it outside the apparatus.

The control device 110 is electrically connected to the reader unit 200 and the printer unit 300, and is further connected to a host computer 401 and a personal computer (PC) 402 via a network 400. The control device 110 provides a copy function of reading a document by converting the reader unit 200 to convert the converted image data into image data, and controlling the printer unit 300 to output the converted image data to recording paper. I do. Further, the control device 110 converts the image data acquired from the reader unit 200 into code data and transmits the code data to the host computer 401 via the network 400, and the scanner (OCR) function from the host computer 401 via the network 400. A printer function is provided that converts the received code data into image data and outputs it to the printer unit 300.

The operation unit 500 includes a liquid crystal touch panel connected to the control device 110, and provides a user interface (I / F) for operating the image forming system.

FIG. 2 shows a reader unit 200 and a printer unit 3.
It is sectional drawing which shows the structure of 00. The document feeding unit 250 of the reader unit 200 feeds a document one by one on the platen glass 211 in the order of the head, and discharges the document on the platen glass 211 after the reading operation of the document is completed.

A document is placed on the platen glass 211 or
Alternatively, when a document is conveyed by the document feeding unit 250, the lamp 212 is turned on, the movement of the optical unit 213 is started, and the document is exposed and scanned. At this time, the reflected light from the document passes through a mirror 214, 215, 216 and a lens 217 to a CCD image sensor (hereinafter referred to as CC).
D) 218. The image of the document thus scanned is read by the CCD 218. CC
The image data output from D218 is subjected to predetermined processing, and is then transferred to control device 110.

Laser driver 321 of printer unit 300
Drives the laser light emitting unit 322, and causes the laser light emitting unit 322 to emit laser light corresponding to the image data output from the control device 110. The laser beam is applied to the photosensitive drum 323, and a latent image corresponding to the laser beam is formed on the photosensitive drum 323.

In the portion of the latent image on the photosensitive drum 323,
The developer is attached by the developing device 324. Then, at a timing synchronized with the start of laser beam irradiation, the cassette 3
The recording paper is fed from one of the cassette 11 and the cassette 312 and is conveyed to the transfer unit 325 to transfer the developer attached to the photosensitive drum 323 to the recording paper.

The recording paper to which the developer has been applied is fixed to the fixing section 326.
The developer is fixed to the recording paper by the heat and pressure of the fixing unit 326. The recording paper that has passed through the fixing unit 326 is discharged to a discharge unit 330 by a discharge roller 327. The paper discharge unit 330 bundles and sorts the recording paper discharged to the sorting unit, staples the recording paper sorted by the stapling unit 332, and punches a punched hole in the recording paper by the punch unit 333.

When double-sided recording is set, the recording sheet is conveyed to the discharge roller 327, the rotation direction of the discharge roller 327 is reversed, and the recording paper is guided to the re-feed conveyance path 329 by the flapper 328. Refeeding conveyance path 329
The recording paper guided to is transferred to the transfer unit 32 at the above-described timing.
5 is fed.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the control device 110. The control device 110 includes a CPU 101, a ROM
120, RAM 148, hard disk 150, network interface (I / F) 104, scanner I / F
F102, printer unit I / F103 and operation unit I / F
105 is connected to the system bus 145.

The network I / F 104 is connected to an external host computer 401 via a network 400 such as a LAN, and the control device 110 performs a predetermined printing process in accordance with print job data sent from the host computer 401. Execute

The CPU 101 controls access to various devices connected to the system bus 145 based on a program read from the ROM 120. The print job data described in PDL (page description language) code received from the host computer 401 is stored in the reception buffer 111 which is an input data storage area.

The data stored in the reception buffer 111 is sequentially interpreted by the CPU 101 and developed into bitmap data. The process of generating the bitmap data is performed by the drawing object generating unit 131 and the drawing object drawing unit 132. The drawing object generating unit 131 and the drawing object drawing unit 132 are used as a part of the program executed by the CPU 101. It is configured.

More specifically, first, the drawing object generating unit 131 analyzes PDL code data (character print command, image drawing command, graphic drawing command, etc.), and converts an intermediate data format object suitable for drawing into one page. After the generation, the drawing object drawing unit 132 generates bitmap data based on the drawing object.

Here, the drawing object generating section 131 and the drawing object drawing section 132 generate various errors such as memory full and operator calls such as paper exchange, etc., as needed during the analysis of the print job data. It is configured.

The expanded bitmap data is stored in the hard disk 150 as a large-capacity storage device or the output buffer 112 as an output data storage area. The print job data described in the page description language is generated in advance as a file in the hard disk 411 of the host computer by a printer driver that converts a print instruction from application software on the host computer 401 into the page description language. Shall be.

The RAM 148 includes a work memory 113 used when the CPU 101 operates, a receiving buffer 111 for storing print job data received from the host computer 401, an output buffer 112 for storing drawing objects converted into bitmap data, and the like. Used for

The operation unit I / F 105 is connected to the operation unit 500. The operation unit 500 includes a liquid crystal display unit, a touch panel input device attached on the liquid crystal display unit, and a plurality of hardware keys. The signal input by touch panel input device or hardware key is
The information is transmitted to the CPU 101 via the operation unit I / F 105. The liquid crystal display unit displays image data sent from the operation unit I / F 105, and displays a function display, image data, and the like in the operation of the image forming system.

The scanner I / F 102 includes a reader unit 200
A function of performing an optimal binarization process on an image received from the reader unit 200 in accordance with the content of a process in a subsequent process, and performing a scaling process of main scanning and sub scanning, and It has a function of outputting a control signal generated based on the video control signal sent from the reader unit 200 to the system bus 145.

The printer unit I / F 103 includes the printer unit 3
00, which performs smoothing processing on the image data stored in the output buffer 112 or the image data temporarily stored in the hard disk 150 via the system bus 145, and outputs the image data to the printer unit 300. The control signal generated based on the function and the video control signal transmitted from the printer unit 300 is transmitted to the system bus 14.
5 is provided.

The printing process of the image forming system having the above configuration will be described. The printing process of the present embodiment is a printing process in which even if an error occurs during the printing process, the process is ignored and the process is continued, that is, so-called error skip is not performed.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the processing procedure from the conversion of print job data received from the host computer 401 into drawing objects and storage of the drawing objects in the hard disk 150. This processing program is stored in the ROM 120 in the control device 110,
It is executed by 101.

In the image forming system, first, when print job data is received from the host computer 401, the print job data is sequentially stored in the reception buffer 111 (step S).
1). It is determined whether or not the capacity of the reception buffer 111 is full (step S2). If the capacity of the reception buffer 111 is full and cannot be further stored, an error "reception buffer full" is returned to the host computer 401, and the print job data is transmitted again or the printing process is stopped. The selection by any of the users is received (step S3).

When the print job data is transmitted again in step S3, the process returns to step S1.
On the other hand, if the printing process is to be stopped in step S3, the process ends.

On the other hand, in step S2, the reception buffer 1
When print job data is received when 11 is not full, the drawing object generation unit 131 reads and analyzes print job data in the reception buffer 111 (step S4). At this time, the print job data is read out in the order stored in the reception buffer 111.

In the analysis processing of step S4, it is checked whether or not the print job data is a drawing command. If the printing job data is a drawing command, the parameters of the print job data in PDL (page description language) are checked. To generate a corresponding drawing object.

On the other hand, if the print job data is a character print command, outline data corresponding to character information (font specification, size, character code, rotation angle, etc.) specified in the print job data is stored in a font ROM.
140, a dot pattern (drawing object) is generated based on this (step S4). After the processing of steps S5 and S6 described later, position information to be printed, width / height of the dot pattern, drawing logic, etc. The drawing object is stored on the hard disk 150 together with the page information necessary for drawing the band raster (step S
7). If the data is graphic data or image data other than characters, similarly, intermediate data (drawing object) corresponding to each print command is generated (step S4), and after the processing of steps S5 and S6 described later, printing is performed. The drawing object is stored in the hard disk 150 together with the page information such as the position information to be obtained and the dot pattern width / height / drawing logic (step S7).

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing the configuration of a drawing object. The drawing object includes bitmap data and page information for each page. The drawing object does not necessarily have to have the configuration shown in FIG.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a structure of a portion of the hard disk 150 where a drawing object is stored. The image server table has a structure indicating information on a print job existing in print job units (hereinafter, referred to as print job information) and a starting address of a group of drawing objects.

When storing the print job in the hard disk 150, the information about the print job is stored in the print job information portion in the hard disk 150. The print job information stores information such as the name of the print job and the print job reception time.

During the interpretation of the drawing command in step S4, it is detected whether or not an error that can be continued, such as insufficient memory, has occurred (step S5). If an error that can be continued occurs, the error information is stored in the page information (step S
6) The process proceeds to step S7, where the drawing object is stored in the hard disk 150 together with the page information. On the other hand, if no error that can be continued has occurred, the process directly proceeds to step S7.

It is determined whether the print job data received from the host computer 401 has been received up to the last page (step S8). If not received, the process returns to step S4. Is terminated.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure until print output of print job data stored in the hard disk 150 which is a mass storage device. This processing program is stored in the ROM 1 in the controller 110.
20 and is executed by the CPU 101. When the user selects a button for outputting from the hard disk (image server) 150 on the operation unit 500, the print output processing of the drawing object stored in the hard disk 150 is started.

First, the user searches the print job table in the hard disk 150 and displays it on the liquid crystal display unit in the operation unit 500 (step S11). FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a screen of the image server information displayed on the liquid crystal display unit in the operation unit 500. It is determined whether the user has selected desired data (print job) in the hard disk (image server) 150 displayed on the liquid crystal display unit in the operation unit 500 (step S12). If the print job is not selected and canceled, the process ends. On the other hand, when a print job is selected, in the case of the present embodiment in which error skip is not performed, page information of corresponding data in the hard disk 150 is sequentially searched.

Then, it is determined whether or not error information exists in the page information (step S13). If no error information exists, the process proceeds to step S17. On the other hand, if there is error information, that fact is displayed on the liquid crystal display unit (step S14). FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a print output selection screen when error information exists in page information. The display on the liquid crystal display unit in FIGS. 8 and 9 is an example, and the present invention is not limited to this.

Waiting for an instruction from the user, it is determined whether or not the user has selected to print out the print data including the error information (step S15). When canceling the print output process, the user presses a cancel button 502 to end the process and stop the print output process. By pressing the detailed information button 503, it is also possible to see the details of the error page displayed in FIG. FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a screen of error page information.

On the other hand, when the print button 501 is pressed to perform the print output process, the user is inquired of an error page output method (step S16). FIG. 11 is a view showing a print output selection screen for selecting an error page output method.

In FIG. 11, selections such as "output all pages", "output except error pages", and "output up to error pages" can be made. Note that FIG. 11 shows only an example of a print output method of print data including an error page, and the display method is not limited to this.

Then, the image forming system transfers the drawing object data in the hard disk 150 to the output buffer 112 without paying particular attention to the error page (step S17).

The printer unit 300 includes an output buffer 112
Is obtained (step S18), and print output is performed in page units (step S19). And
It is determined whether or not there is an error in the page information (step S20). If there is an error, the output method specified by the user in step S16 is determined (step S21). On the other hand, if there is no error, print output processing is performed (step S22).

If "output all pages" is selected as the output method in step S21, the print output process is performed without considering the error page of the page information (step S22). In this case, it goes without saying that the printing result of the error page is not guaranteed. Then, it is determined whether or not the last page is printed (step S).
23) If the last page is not printed, step S
Returning to the processing of step 19, if the last page is printed,
This processing ends.

On the other hand, if "output without error page" is selected as the output method in step S21,
The process directly proceeds to step S23. That is, when actually printing out a page, the page information is checked, and if there is error information, the bitmap data of the page is not printed.

On the other hand, if "output up to the error page" is selected as the output method in step S21, this processing ends. In other words, when actually printing out a page, check the page information, and if there is error information, do not print the bitmap data of that page,
At that point, the print output process is stopped.

As described above, in the present embodiment, when print job data is received from the host computer 401 and stored in the hard disk 150 and printout is performed without error skipping, an error is detected when the print job data is expanded. Also, it is possible to prevent the processing of the image forming system from being stopped.

Further, when printing print job data including an error page, it is not necessary to waste printing paper. Further, whether the print job data stored in the hard disk 150 includes an error page,
Alternatively, the user can check which page has the error.

[Second Embodiment] In the first embodiment, when an error occurs during the creation of a drawing object, the error information is stored in the page information, and the error information is printed at the time of printout. Although the case where the output method is selected has been described, in the second embodiment, when the page information in the hard disk (image server) is viewed at the time of print output, only necessary drawing objects are transmitted to the output buffer and printed. Is shown.

The configuration of the image forming system according to the second embodiment is the same as that of the first embodiment. Since the procedure for storing the image data in the image server is the same as the procedure described in the first embodiment, only the method for acquiring a print job from the hard disk (image server) and performing print output processing is described here. explain.

FIG. 12 is a flowchart showing a print output processing procedure according to the second embodiment. This processing program is stored in the ROM 120 in the control device 110 and is executed by the CPU 101. As in the first embodiment, the user first selects a button (not shown) for outputting from the hard disk (image server) 150 on the operation unit 500,
A list of print jobs stored on the hard disk 150 is displayed.

First, the print job table in the hard disk 150 is searched, and as shown in FIG.
00 is displayed on the liquid crystal display section (step S31). It is determined whether the user has selected desired data (print job) in the hard disk (image server) 150 displayed on the liquid crystal display unit in the operation unit 500 (step S32). If the print job is not selected and canceled, the process ends. On the other hand, when a print job is selected, if error skip is not performed, page information of corresponding data in the hard disk 150 is sequentially searched.

Then, it is determined whether or not error information exists in the page information (step S33). If no error information exists, the process proceeds to step S37. On the other hand, when the error information exists, the fact is displayed on the liquid crystal display unit as shown in FIG. 9 (step S3).
4). By pressing the detailed information button 503, it is also possible to see the details of the error page displayed in FIG.

Waiting for an instruction from the user, it is determined whether or not the user has selected to print out the print data including the error information (step S35). When canceling the print output process, the cancel button 50 in FIG.
By pressing 2, the process ends, and the print output process is stopped. On the other hand, when the print button 501 is pressed to perform the print output process, a print output selection screen shown in FIG. 11 is displayed, and the user is inquired about an error page output method (step S36). In FIG.
The user can select “output all pages”, “output without error pages”, “output up to the error page”, and the like.

In the image forming system, the hard disk 1
Output drawing data 112 in the output buffer 112
At the time of transfer, the error information of the drawing object is detected, and only the drawing object specified by the user is transferred to the output buffer 112.

For example, when "output all pages" is selected as the output method, the drawing objects of all pages are transferred to the output buffer 112 without regard to the error page of the page information (step S37). In this case, it goes without saying that the printing result of the error page is not guaranteed. On the other hand, if “output without error page” is selected as the output method, only the drawing objects other than the error page are actually output to the output buffer 1.
12 (step S38). On the other hand, if "output up to the error page" is selected as the output method, the transfer to the output buffer 112 is stopped when the error page is actually detected (step S39).

The printer unit 300 includes an output buffer 112
Then, the drawing object is obtained from, and the obtained drawing object is printed for each page (step S40), and the process is ended. Here, the drawing object acquired by the printer unit 300 is data according to the print output method specified by the user.

As described above, the same effects as those of the first embodiment can be obtained in the second embodiment.

[Third Embodiment] In the first and second embodiments, the case where an error occurred during the creation of a drawing object is stored in the page information is described. In the form, when an error that occurred while creating a drawing object is stored in the hard disk (image server), the hard disk (image server)
The case where the error information is stored in the print job information created as each print job data in FIG.
The configuration of the image forming system according to the third embodiment is the same as that of the first embodiment.

FIG. 13 is a flowchart showing the processing procedure from the conversion of print job data received from the host computer 401 to drawing objects in the third embodiment and the storage of the print objects in the hard disk 150. This processing program is stored in the ROM 120 in the control device 110 and is executed by the CPU 101.

As in the first and second embodiments, upon receiving print job data from the host computer 401, the image forming system sequentially stores the print job data in the reception buffer 111 (step S41). Receive buffer 1
11 is determined to be full (step S).
42). If the capacity of the reception buffer 111 is full and cannot be further stored, the host computer 4
In step S43, an error “reception buffer full” is returned to the user, and the user's selection of whether to send print job data again or to stop the print processing is accepted. If the print job data is to be transmitted again in step S43, the process returns to step S41. On the other hand, when the printing process is stopped in step S43, the process ends.

On the other hand, in step S42, the reception buffer 11
If the print job data is received when the capacity of No. 1 is not full, the drawing object generation unit 131 reads and analyzes the print job data in the reception buffer 111 as in the first embodiment (step S4).
4). At this time, the read print job data is read out in the order stored in the reception buffer 111.

In the analysis process of step S44, it is checked whether or not the print job data is a drawing command. If the printing job data is a drawing command, the parameters of the print job data in PDL (page description language) are checked. To generate a corresponding drawing object. on the other hand,
If the print job data is a character print command, outline data corresponding to the character information (font specification, size, character code, rotation angle, etc.) specified in the print job data is read from the font ROM 140 and a dot pattern (drawing object ), Then
The information is stored in the hard disk 150 together with page information necessary for drawing on the band raster, such as position information to be printed, dot pattern width / height, drawing logic, and the like. On the other hand, if the data is graphic data or image data other than characters, the intermediate data (drawing object) corresponding to each print command is similarly generated, and the position information to be printed, the width / height of the dot pattern, the drawing logic Is stored in the hard disk 150 together with page information such as The drawing object composed of bitmap data and page information for each page has the configuration shown in FIG. 5, but does not necessarily have to have this configuration.

The structure of the portion for storing the drawing objects in the hard disk 150 is the same as that of the first embodiment shown in FIG. The image server table stores information on print jobs that exist in print job units (hereinafter referred to as print job information).
And the head address of the drawing object group.

When storing the print job in the hard disk 150, the information about the print job is stored in the print job information portion in the hard disk 150. The print job information stores information such as the name of the print job and the print job reception time.

During the interpretation of the drawing command in step S44, it is detected whether or not an error that can be continued, such as insufficient memory, has occurred (step S45). If an error that can be continued occurs, the error information is stored in the error information in the print job information (step S46), and the hard disk 150
(Step S47). On the other hand, if no error that can be continued has occurred in step S45, the process directly proceeds to step S47.

Thereafter, it is determined whether or not the print job data received from the host computer 401 has been received up to the last page (step S48). If not, the process returns to step S44, and on the other hand, up to the last page. If received, the information regarding the print job is stored in the print information portion in the hard disk 150 (step S49), and the storage processing to the hard disk ends.
The print job information includes the name of the print job,
Information such as a print job reception time and error information when an error occurs is stored.

FIG. 14 is a flowchart showing a print output processing procedure in the third embodiment. This processing program is stored in the ROM 120 in the control device 110 and is executed by the CPU 101. The first
As in the first embodiment, first, the user selects a button (not shown) for performing output from the hard disk (image server) 150 on the operation unit 500, so that the print job stored in the hard disk 150 is A list is shown.

First, the print job table in the hard disk 150 is searched, and as shown in FIG.
00 is displayed on the liquid crystal display section (step S51). It is determined whether the user has selected desired data (print job) in the hard disk (image server) 150 displayed on the liquid crystal display unit in the operation unit 500 (step S52). If the print job is not selected and canceled, the process ends. On the other hand, when a print job is selected, when printing is performed without error skipping, it is determined whether or not error information exists in the print job information in the hard disk 150 (step S).
53) If there is no error information, step S57
Move to the processing of. On the other hand, when the error information exists, the fact is displayed on the liquid crystal display unit as shown in FIG. 9 (step S54). By pressing the detailed information button 503, it is also possible to see the details of the error page as shown in FIG.

Waiting for an instruction from the user, it is determined whether or not the user has selected to print out the print data containing the error information (step S55). When canceling the print output process, the user presses a cancel button 502 to end the process and stop the print output process. On the other hand, when the print button 501 is pressed to perform the print output process, the user is inquired of an error page output method as shown in FIG. 11 (step S5).
6).

In FIG. 11, selections such as "output all pages", "output except error pages", and "output up to the error page" can be made.

In the image forming system, the hard disk 1
Output drawing data 112 in the output buffer 112
In this case, the error information of the drawing object is detected, and only the object specified by the user is transferred to the output buffer 112.

For example, when "output all pages" is selected as the output method, the drawing objects of all pages are transferred to the output buffer 112 without regard to the error page of the page information (step S57). In this case, it goes without saying that the printing result of the error page is not guaranteed. On the other hand, if “output without error page” is selected as the output method, only the drawing objects other than the error page are actually output to the output buffer 1.
12 (step S58). On the other hand, when "output up to the error page" is selected as the output method, the transfer to the output buffer 112 is stopped when the error page is actually detected (step S59).

Then, the printer unit 300 acquires the output data from the output buffer 112, prints the drawing object in page units (step S60), and ends the processing. Here, the drawing object acquired by the printer unit 300 is data according to the print output method specified by the user.

As described above, also in the third embodiment,
The same effects as in the first and second embodiments can be obtained.

The above is an explanation of the embodiments of the present invention. However, the present invention is not limited to the configurations of the embodiments, and the functions described in the claims or the configurations of the embodiments are not limited to the embodiments. Any configuration can be applied as long as it has a function that can be achieved.

For example, in the third embodiment, when the drawing object is transferred to the output buffer, the drawing object is transferred according to the output method selected by the user. However, as in the first embodiment, When printing, printing may be performed according to the output method selected by the user.

The present invention can also be applied to a case where the present invention is achieved by supplying a program to a system or an apparatus using a recording medium storing software program codes for realizing the functions of the above-described embodiments. Needless to say. In this case, the program code itself read from the storage medium implements the novel function of the present invention, and the program itself and the storage medium storing the program constitute the present invention.

In the above embodiment, FIG. 4, FIG. 7, FIG.
The program codes shown in the flowcharts of FIGS. 13 and 14 are stored in a ROM serving as a storage medium. As a storage medium for supplying the program code, for example, a floppy (registered trademark) disk, a hard disk, a CD-RO
M, CD-R, DVD, magnetic tape, nonvolatile memory card, and the like can be used.

[0099]

According to the present invention, when page data is received from an external device such as a host computer and stored in an image server, if an error is detected during the expansion of print job data without error skipping, the image data can be stored in the image server. The processing of the forming system can be prevented from being stopped.

Further, when printing print job data including an error page, it is not necessary to waste printing paper.

Further, the user can confirm whether the print job data stored in the image server includes an error page or which page has an error.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an overall configuration of an image forming system according to a first embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a configuration of a reader unit 200 and a printer unit 300.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a control device 110.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a procedure for converting print job data received from a host computer 401 into drawing objects and storing the drawing objects in a hard disk 150.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a drawing object.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a structure of a portion of the hard disk 150 in which a drawing object is stored.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure until print output of print job data stored in a hard disk 150 which is a mass storage device.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a screen of image server information displayed on a liquid crystal display unit in the operation unit 500.

FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating a print output selection screen when error information exists in page information.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a screen of error page information.

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing a print output selection screen for selecting an error page output method.

FIG. 12 is a flowchart illustrating a print output processing procedure according to the second embodiment.

FIG. 13 is a flowchart illustrating a procedure for converting print job data received from a host computer 401 into a drawing object and storing the drawing object in a hard disk 150 according to the third embodiment.

FIG. 14 is a flowchart illustrating a print output processing procedure according to the third embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 100 image forming apparatus 110 control device 200 reader unit 300 printer unit 400 network (LAN) 401 host computer 402 personal computer (PC) 500 operation unit

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page F term (reference) 2C061 AP01 AQ06 HH03 HJ06 HJ08 HK11 HN04 HN15 HN24 HQ17 HV06 HV09 HV11 HV12 HV13 HV33 HV36 HV44 HV50 2C087 AB05 AC08 BB01 BC05 BC14 CB02 2CB18 A02 DD07

Claims (17)

[Claims] 1. An image forming apparatus comprising: a bitmap developing unit configured to develop print job data into bitmap data in page units; and a printing unit configured to print the developed bitmap data. Error detecting means for detecting whether or not an error has occurred in the bitmap data; and selecting means for selecting an output method of a page including the error when the occurrence of the error is detected, wherein the printing means comprises An image forming apparatus that prints the bitmap data according to the selected output method. 2. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the selection unit selects the page output method when printing the bitmap data. 3. A data transfer unit for transferring the bitmap data to an output buffer before printing, wherein the selection unit selects the page output method when transferring the bitmap, and the data transfer. 2. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the unit transfers the bitmap data according to a method of outputting the selected page. 4. When developing into the bitmap data,
4. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: a page information storage unit configured to store the error in page information storing information on the page when the error is detected. 5. . 5. When developing into the bitmap data,
4. The print job information storage device according to claim 1, further comprising a print job information storage unit that stores the error in print job information in which information on the print job is stored when the error is detected. Image forming device. 6. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the selection unit selects an output method of the page specified by a user. 7. A print information storage unit for storing the detected error information together with the print job, and a display unit for displaying the stored error information, wherein the selection unit includes the display unit. 7. The method according to claim 6, wherein the output method of the page is selected based on information.
The image forming apparatus as described in the above. 8. An image forming method for printing a print job transmitted from an information processing apparatus using an image forming apparatus, wherein the data of the transmitted print job is expanded into bitmap data in page units. A step of detecting whether or not an error has occurred in the expanded bitmap data; a step of selecting a method of outputting a page including the error when the occurrence of the error is detected; And printing the developed bitmap data according to the following. 9. The image forming method according to claim 8, wherein in the selecting step, when printing the bitmap data, the method of outputting the page is selected. 10. The method according to claim 1, further comprising the step of: transferring the bitmap data to an output buffer before printing; selecting the output method of the page when transferring the bitmap; 9. The image forming method according to claim 8, wherein in the step, the bitmap data is transferred according to a method of outputting the selected page. 11. The method according to claim 8, further comprising a step of storing the error in page information in which information on the page is stored when the error is detected when the bitmap data is expanded. 12. The image forming method according to any one of 11. 12. The method according to claim 1, further comprising the step of storing the error in print job information in which information on the print job is stored, when the error is detected when developing the bit map data. 12. The image forming method according to any one of items 8 to 11. 13. The image forming method according to claim 8, wherein in the selecting step, an output method of the page specified by a user is selected. 14. The method according to claim 14, further comprising: storing the detected error information together with the print job; and displaying the stored error information. 14. The image forming method according to claim 13, wherein the output method of the page is selected based on the output method. 15. An image forming system for printing a print job transmitted from an information processing apparatus using an image forming apparatus, wherein bitmap developing means for developing the data of the transmitted print job into bitmap data in page units. Error detection means for detecting whether or not an error has occurred in the expanded bitmap data; and, when the occurrence of the error is detected, a selection means for selecting a method of outputting a page including the error, Printing means for printing the developed bitmap data in accordance with the selected output method. 16. A program having a program code for realizing the image forming method according to claim 8. Description: 17. A storage medium storing a program code for realizing the image forming method according to claim 8.