JP2002316766A - Post-processing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To solve problems in a post-processing device having a mail box wherein each number of loaded sheets is small to easily cause overflow. SOLUTION: A user registers his/her own mail box and a mail box of another user as a substitutional mail box, discharges paper to the substitutional mail box when the own mail box overflows, informs each user of the fact, thereby discharging more printed matters than the prior art while keeping secrecy.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a post-processing device having a plurality of bins and using the bins as mailboxes, and more particularly to a process in a case where a bin loading amount exceeds an allowable amount and overflows. About the method.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art There are conventional image forming apparatuses such as copying machines, printers, and facsimile machines, and multifunction apparatuses having these functions and having only one discharge tray. In recent years, networking has progressed and multiple PCs can be connected to one image forming apparatus.
It is becoming more and more common to connect and share. In such an image forming apparatus, when a plurality of prints are made by a plurality of users, it is necessary to sort them because they are output to one tray. In addition, a printed matter having secret contents or a printed matter that is not desired to be seen by others is exposed to the public by such an image forming apparatus having only one discharge tray.

Therefore, there is a post-processing apparatus having a plurality of bins and using the bins as mailboxes. This is P
To print out from C, specify your own mailbox and discharge it there, or use the confidential function of facsimile to send it to a specific recipient by facsimile by specifying the mailbox of that recipient Is what you do.

[0004]

However, since such a post-processing apparatus has a plurality of bins, the permissible loading capacity of each bin is small. For this reason, when the capacity of the bins is exceeded, it is common to output to a public paper output tray. In this case, however, the confidentiality is not kept and the image forming apparatus is the same as an image forming apparatus having only one tray. There is also a technology to store in the memory when the capacity of the bin is exceeded,
In this case, a large image memory is required and the cost is increased. Furthermore, there is a technology for notifying that a user has forgotten to remove a printed matter in a mailbox, as in the technology described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2000-86079. For example, when printing is performed on the paper, the allowable amount of the bin is exceeded.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a post-processing apparatus having a plurality of bins and using the bins as mailboxes, and which can perform printing while keeping confidential even when the number of bins exceeds an allowable amount. With the goal.

[0006]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a post-processing apparatus having a plurality of bins and using the bins as a mailbox of a specific user. Overflow detection means for detecting that paper has been discharged beyond the permissible stacking capacity of each mailbox bin, and, if a mailbox overflows, discharges it to a substitute mailbox and the user of the overflowed mailbox And a notifying unit for notifying the user of the substitute mailbox that the printed matter of the overflowed mailbox has been discharged to the substitute mailbox.

The second invention uses the post-processing apparatus according to the first invention, wherein the substitute mailbox is registered in advance.

[0008]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, even if the printed matter in the mailbox overflows, the printed matter is discharged to the substitute mailbox, so that the printing can be performed even if the permissible loading capacity of the bin is small. Further, since this is notified to the mailbox user who has overflowed and the user of the substitute mailbox, the user of each mailbox is not confused by a shortage of prints or a print that is unknown.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, confusion can be further reduced by registering a mailbox for receiving a printed material on behalf of a proxy.

[0010]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A post-processing apparatus and an image forming apparatus employing the present invention will be described with reference to the block diagram of FIG.

The image forming apparatus 1 is a multifunction peripheral, having functions of a copier, a facsimile, and a printer.
1, scanner unit 102, bitmap memory 103, printer unit 104, printer controller unit 105, communication control unit 106, CODEC 107, image memory 108,
Network interface 109, operation display unit 110
Etc.

More specifically, the control unit 101 controls each component of the image forming apparatus, and includes a ROM 1011 storing various programs and a RAM storing setting data and the like.
1012.

The scanner unit 102 irradiates a document one by one with a halogen lamp, reads the reflected light with a CCD sensor, converts this analog signal into a digital signal by A / D conversion, and performs image processing. It is developed in the bit map memory 103 at the subsequent stage.

The bitmap memory 103 stores the image data from the scanner unit 102, the coded image data transferred from the PC, the image data sent via the printer control unit 105 and the CODEC 107, and the facsimile of the other party. From the public line 4, the communication control means 106, and the CODEC 107. The image data is developed and held as full bitmap image data.

The printer unit 104 includes a sheet feeding and conveying unit 10.
41, an image forming unit 1042, a fixing unit 1043, and the like. A sheet fed from a sheet cassette is transferred with a toner image by the image forming unit 1042, and the toner image is transferred between the heat roller and the pressure roller of the fixing unit 1043. The toner image is fixed by being nipped and heated by the nip. The surface temperature of the heat roller of the fixing means 1043 is detected by a temperature sensor, and based on the result, when the temperature is lower than a set temperature, a halogen lamp is turned on to warm the halogen lamp.
When the temperature is higher than the set temperature, the halogen lamp is turned off so that the set temperature is maintained. The fixed sheet is discharged to a post-processing device 2 described later.

The printer controller 105 is connected to a PC (PC1 to PC1) connected via the network cable 3.
7) for outputting the image data transferred from the printer unit 104 to the printer unit 104. The printer unit 104 has a function of decompressing font data and coded data. Is provided).

The communication control means 106 receives image data sent from the destination facsimile via the public line 4, and performs a series of operations such as line connection and protocol exchange. The facsimile data transmitted as confidential data is also decrypted here and subjected to predetermined processing.

The CODEC 107 expands the compressed data because the image data is usually compressed and sent. In addition, the image read by the scanner unit 102 and the processed data obtained by rotating, enlarging, or reducing the image are compressed and stored in the image memory 108.

The image memory 108 is for storing image data when receiving a memory in a memory copy mode or a facsimile mode. As described above, the image data is stored as compressed image data to increase the memory efficiency.

The operation unit 109 is used by a user to operate the image forming apparatus, and is provided with a print button, numeric keys, other exposure adjustment keys, a paper selection key, a mode setting key, and the like.

Next, the post-processing device 2 will be described.
The post-processing device 2 includes a post-processing device control unit 21, a main paper discharge tray 22, and first to sixth mailboxes 23 (23
1-236), the overflow detection means 24 (241-241)
246) and the branching means 25 (251 to 256).

More specifically, the main discharge tray 22 is for discharging the printed matter delivered from the image forming apparatus 1 as it is. If there is no instruction for a specific mailbox, or a printed matter received by facsimile without an instruction for confidentiality is discharged here.

Mailbox 23 (231 to 236)
Is assigned to each user who receives multiple bins. There is a limit to the amount of each printed matter in each mailbox (231 to 236). This is because a plurality of bins are provided for a limited space, and the permissible stacking number of each is about 50 to 100.

Each mailbox is provided with overflow detecting means 24 (241 to 246). The overflow detecting means 24 (241 to 246)
It is detected that the number of allowed bins has been exceeded. The height of the stacked sheets may be simply detected using a photo sensor, or a counter for counting the number of printed sheets discharged to each bin may be used.

The branching means 25 (251 to 256) are provided in the middle of the transport path to distribute the paper received from the image forming apparatus 1 to each mailbox.

Next, the processing flow of the image forming apparatus according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. First, it is determined whether a print command has been received (S101). This is when the original is set and the print key is pressed in the copy mode. In the printer mode, the application data is sent from the PC, and the driver processes the data and issues a printout instruction. And, in the case of the facsimile mode, when facsimile data is received from the destination facsimile machine. Next, it is determined whether or not the print command specifies a mailbox (S102). In the case of the copy mode, it is rare that a mailbox is specified, but it can be specified from the operation display unit 110. In the printer mode, a printout command from a specific user may be assigned to a specific mailbox and registered, or a printout command from a specific PC may be registered in a specific mailbox. May be registered so as to be discharged to the printer. If there is confidential information in the facsimile mode, the mailbox of this specific user is specified. Here, if a mailbox is specified, the post-processing apparatus 2 is instructed to discharge paper to a specific mailbox (S103). Instructs to do paper (S10
4). Subsequently, it is determined whether or not the memory mode is set (S10).
5). This is because, even when the user wants to print on paper, the printer may automatically shift to the memory mode if there is no paper or toner, or if the printer unit 104 or the post-processing device 2 is out of order. . In the case of the memory mode in S105, the data is sequentially stored in the image memory 108 (S106, S107), and the process ends when it ends. If the mode is not the memory mode, printing is sequentially performed on paper (S108, S109), and the process ends.

A processing flow of the post-processing apparatus 2 which is performed in parallel with the processing of the image forming apparatus 1 will be described with reference to FIG. First, it is determined whether there is any paper ejection from the printer unit 104 (S201). Subsequently, it is determined whether or not the paper discharge specifies the paper discharge to the mailbox (S20).
2) If there is no designation in the mailbox, the sheets are sequentially discharged to the main discharge tray 22 as they are (S203), and the process ends. If a mailbox is specified, it is determined whether the mailbox has overflowed (S204). If not, one sheet is discharged to the specified mailbox and the next page is present. (S206) returns to S204, and if not, the process ends. If the mailbox specified in S204 has overflown, it is determined whether or not the proxy mailbox has overflowed in order to confirm whether or not the paper can be discharged to the proxy mailbox (S20).
7) If no overflow occurs, one sheet is discharged to this substitute mailbox (S208). If there is a next page, the process returns to S207. If there is no next page, the designated mailbox user and substitute mail are used. This is notified to the user of the box (S210), and the process ends. As a notification method, a pop-up is displayed on the PC screen on which the print command has been issued, or an e-mail is transmitted to the user. If the substitute mailbox has overflowed in S207, the image forming apparatus 1 is instructed to store it in the image memory (S211), and the process ends. In this case, the image forming apparatus 1 automatically shifts to the memory mode. If there is a virtual mailbox in the image memory 108, it may be stored here. If the image memory 108 has no free space and overflows, the processing may be terminated as an error.

It is necessary to register a mailbox for a proxy of the processing flow of the above-described post-processing apparatus 2 in advance, but if it has not been registered, it may directly enter from S204 to S211. If a substitute mailbox cannot be used in S207, the process may be terminated as an error.

As shown in FIG. 1, the post-processing device 2 of this embodiment has six mailboxes 23, so that
Each user can be assigned a mailbox. Also, a proxy mailbox which is a feature of the present invention can be registered.

[0030]

[Table 1]

[0031]

[Table 2]

Table 1 shows that mailboxes 23 (231 to 236) are assigned to six persons (users A to F) and registered. An ID number for collation at the time of discharging paper to each mailbox is also given. Here, as in the second invention, the users A, B, C, and D also register the proxy mailboxes. Users E and F have not registered any substitute mailboxes. The registration data is stored in the RAM of the image forming apparatus 1.
Stored and held in 1012, it can be changed at any time.
In recent years, there are many workplaces where one PC is assigned to each person, and as shown in Table 2, one PC and one mailbox are used.
May be supported. In this case, when a print command is issued from the PC1, the paper is automatically discharged to the mailbox 231 of the PC1 requested to print.

To make the present invention easier to understand, an example of job processing when a mailbox is designated will be described. Here, the processing when the user A prints out 70 sheets and overflows during the printout will be described again with reference to FIGS.

When the user A receives the image forming apparatus 1 from the PC 1
In the following, a case where printing is performed by designating a mailbox will be described. First, the user designates an ID number from the PC screen or designates discharge to his / her first mailbox 231. The image forming apparatus 1 performs the processing of S101, S102, and S103 from the PC 1 via the network cable 3. Here, the control unit 101 of the image forming apparatus 1 informs the post-processing apparatus control unit 21 that the paper is to be discharged, and then the mailbox 231 is specified. After receiving this, the post-processing apparatus 2 performs the processing of S201 and S202, and
In step 4, the overflow of the first mailbox 231 is confirmed, and the branching unit 25 is set to discharge the paper to the first mailbox 231. Each time one sheet is discharged from the printer unit 104, the processing from S204 to S206 is performed. The allowable number of sheets of the first mailbox 231 is 50
If it is a sheet, after this process is repeated 50 times, S204
Overflows. If overflow, S
The second registered as a proxy mailbox at 207
It is confirmed whether or not the paper can be discharged to the mailbox 232 of the second, and the remaining 20 papers are sequentially discharged to the second mailbox 232 which is a substitute mailbox.

When all the sheets have been discharged, in step S210, the user is notified that the printed matter has been discharged to the user A as the user of the first mailbox and the user B as the user of the second mailbox. As a result,
User A can know that the rest of the printed matter has been discharged to the second mailbox, and user B can know that the printed matter of his mailbox has been discharged by user A.

[0036]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, even if the printed matter in the mailbox overflows, the printed matter is output to the substitute mailbox, so that the printing can be performed even if the permissible loading capacity of the bin is small. Further, since this is notified to the mailbox user who has overflowed and the user of the substitute mailbox, the user of each mailbox is not confused by lack of the printed matter or the presence of the unknown printed matter.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, since a mailbox for receiving a printed material is registered in advance as a substitute, the user knows in advance where the paper is to be discharged as a substitute, so that confusion can be further reduced. it can.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an image forming apparatus employing the present invention, a post-processing, and peripheral devices thereof.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart of a process of the image forming apparatus employing the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart of a process of a post-processing device employing the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1; Image forming apparatus 101; Control unit 102; Scanner unit 103; Bitmap memory 104; Printer unit 105; Printer controller unit 106; Communication control unit 107; CODEC 108; Image memory 109; Post-processing device 21; Post-processing device control unit 22; Main paper output tray 23; Mailbox 24; Overflow detecting means 25; Branching means 3: Network cable 4: Public line

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification symbol FI Theme coat ゛ (Reference) G03G 21/00 388 G03G 21/00 388 5C075 G06F 3/12 G06F 3/12 M H04N 1/00 108 H04N 1 / 00 108M 1/32 1/32 Z F term (for reference) 2C061 AP01 AP03 AP04 AS02 HJ04 HK15 HN18 HX10 2H027 DA32 DA42 DC09 DE04 DE07 DE09 EC10 EC18 ED22 EE07 EE08 EE10 EF09 EJ15 EK01 EK09 FA23 FB02 GA09 GA07 CA06 CA08 LA02 LA05 LA07 LB03 5B021 AA01 DD13 EE01 5C062 AA05 AA35 AB35 AB38 AC15 AC35 AC65 AF00 BA02 BC06 5C075 AB90 CA90 CE02 CE13 CE14 CF01 FF90

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A post-processing apparatus having a plurality of bins and using the bins as mailboxes of a specific user, wherein it is detected that the paper is discharged exceeding the permissible loading capacity of the bins of each mailbox. The overflow detection means and, when the mailbox overflows, the paper is discharged to the substitute mailbox, and the overflowed mailbox user and the substitute mailbox user are notified of the overflowed mailbox by the substitute mailbox. And a notifying unit for notifying that the sheet has been ejected. 2. The post-processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said proxy mailbox is registered in advance.