JP2002331712A - Imaging apparatus and imaging system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To inform a user of the state of an imaging apparatus and the progress of print operation by sound information. SOLUTION: An information processor comprises a plurality of sound data files provided previously while being associated with information related to a print request or included therein, and means for transmitting data being printed to an imaging apparatus connected on a network while adding sound information including the data of a sound data file related to the print request upon receiving the print request. The imaging apparatus comprises a sound reproducing means, and a data processing means for receiving data from the network, sectioning sound data from the received data and transmitting the sectioned sound data to the sound reproducing means. When the information processor transmits the data being printed while adding the sound information, the data processing means controls start/end of an operation for reproducing the sound data included in the transmitted sound information through the sound reproducing means.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus and an image forming system, and more particularly, to an image forming apparatus and an image forming system that receive sound information and reproduce sound.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, an image forming apparatus such as a printer has a status display means such as a liquid crystal display or an LED as means for notifying a user of an image forming state or an error state.

On the other hand, in order to actively notify the user of the status of each device connected to a computer system such as a printer, a data file for storing a sound message indicating information content of device-specific information is stored in each data file. A technology that prepares for each device, each device determines its own state, sends voice data from a data file to a voice output device through a communication line based on the determined information, and reproduces voice,
It is disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 04-030615.

[0004]

However, in order to actively notify the user of the status of the printer to the user, the printer sends voice data to the voice output device via a communication line in accordance with the status of the printer. In the conventional method of reproducing sound, since sound data is fixed to a printer and sound reproduction is fixed to a sound output device, (1) it is difficult to reproduce a document name or a user name for forming an image as sound. (2) sound is reproduced even when the user does not want it; (3) it is difficult to reproduce the sound under the condition desired by the user; (4) the sound is reproduced in a plurality of languages. There are drawbacks in that it is difficult to reproduce sound, and (5) it is difficult to reproduce music or the like desired by the user during execution of the image forming process.

The present invention has been made in view of such a problem, and an object of the present invention is to provide an image capable of avoiding the above-described disadvantages by receiving sound information and reproducing sound. A host computer, which has a large capacity storage device in an image forming system at a relatively low cost and is capable of high-speed processing, has sound information including sound data, and is provided with sound information including sound data. It is an object of the present invention to provide an image forming system including an image forming apparatus that receives information and controls sound reproduction.

[0006]

According to the present invention, in order to achieve the above object, the invention according to claim 1 receives image forming data and generates image data from the image forming data. In an image forming apparatus that forms an image based on the image data, the image forming apparatus includes a sound reproducing unit, and when sound information is included in the image forming data, or when received data is For sound data,
The sound data can be reproduced by the sound reproducing means.

[0007] The invention described in claim 2 is the first invention.
Wherein the sound information includes data reproduced by the sound reproducing unit and data representing reproduction conditions of the data or data associated with various errors of the image processing apparatus. It is characterized by the following.

[0008] Further, the invention described in claim 3 is based on claim 2.
In the image forming apparatus according to the above, in the sound information, the data reproduced by the sound reproducing unit, based on the correspondence between data representing the reproduction conditions of the data and various states of the image forming apparatus, Alternatively, the start or end of the reproduction is controlled based on the correspondence between data associated with various errors of the image processing apparatus and the type of error generated in the image forming apparatus.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image forming system in which an information processing apparatus and an image forming apparatus are connected via a network, wherein the information processing apparatus relates to or A plurality of sound data files provided in advance in association with information included in the print request, and data of the sound data file related to the print request are added to data to be printed when the print request is input. Transmission means for adding sound information including and transmitting to the image forming apparatus connected on the network,
The image forming apparatus includes: a sound reproducing unit; and a data processing unit that receives the data transmitted by the transmitting unit, separates the sound data from the received data, and sends the divided sound data to the sound reproducing unit. In the information processing apparatus, when sound information is added to data to be printed and transmitted, the data processing unit starts the operation of reproducing the sound data included in the transmitted sound information by the sound reproducing unit. / End is controlled.

The invention described in claim 5 is the same as the invention in claim 4.
4. The image forming system according to claim 1, wherein the sound information includes data reproduced by the sound reproducing unit and data representing reproduction conditions of the data or data associated with various errors of the image processing apparatus. It is characterized by the following.

The invention described in claim 6 is the same as the invention in claim 5
In the image forming system according to the above, in the sound information, the data reproduced by the sound reproducing unit, based on the correspondence between the data representing the reproduction conditions of the data and various states of the image forming apparatus, Alternatively, the start or end of the reproduction is controlled based on the correspondence between data associated with various errors of the image processing apparatus and the type of error generated in the image forming apparatus.

The invention described in claim 7 is the same as the invention described in claim 5.
Or the image forming system according to 6, wherein the image forming apparatus receives a detection unit that detects an error state of the image forming apparatus itself, and receives sound information associated with the error state detected by the detection unit. Analysis means for analyzing whether or has been received and stored, and if the analysis result in the analysis means is received and stored,
Control means for reproducing the sound data of the corresponding sound information and controlling to end the reproduction when the error state is eliminated.

[0013] The invention described in claim 8 is the invention according to claim 7.
3. The image forming system according to claim 1, wherein the data representing the reproduction condition is a point in time at which reception of sound information including the data is completed.
Starting point of generation of image data for each page, completion of generation of image data for each page, starting point of image formation for each page,
One of the following: a point in time when image formation for each page is completed, a point in time when processing of forming apparatus data is completed, a point in time when discharge of all pages of data to be printed is completed, and a point in time when a failure occurs in the image forming apparatus. It is a feature.

According to a ninth aspect of the present invention, there is provided the seventh aspect of the present invention.
In the image forming system according to the above, the data representing the reproduction condition includes information about the volume at the time of sound data reproduction,
The volume level at the time of reproducing the sound data is controlled according to the volume information.

According to a tenth aspect of the present invention, in the image forming system according to the seventh aspect, one of the sound data is sound data relating to a document name of data to be printed. It is a feature.

According to an eleventh aspect of the present invention, there is provided the image forming system according to the seventh aspect, wherein one of the sound information relates to a name of a user who has executed printing on the print target data. It is characterized by sound data.

According to a twelfth aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image forming system in which an information processing apparatus and an image forming apparatus are connected via a network.
A print request input unit for inputting a print request for a document generated by an application; a plurality of sound data files provided in advance in association with the print request or associated with information included in the print request; Image formation data generation for generating data for image formation including a printer control command for controlling an image forming apparatus based on the characters and image information of the document according to a print request input by a request input unit Means,
Sending means for sending data generated by the image forming data generating means to the image forming apparatus, wherein the print request inputting means selects the data generated by the image forming data generating means from the sound data file Receiving the request to add the at least one sound data, and the transmission unit adds sound information including the sound data received by the print request input unit to the data for image formation generated by the image formation data generation unit. And transmitting the data.

According to a thirteenth aspect of the present invention, in the image forming system according to the twelfth aspect, the sound information includes the sound data, data representing a reproduction condition of the sound data, or the sound data. It is characterized by including data for associating data with various errors of the image processing apparatus.

[0019]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows an image forming system to which the present invention is applied, and is a representative diagram showing the configuration of a host computer as an image forming system and the configuration of an image forming apparatus.

Reference numeral 100 denotes a host computer, which transmits image forming apparatus data to the image forming apparatus 300 via the network 200, and uses the status received from the image forming apparatus 300 to inform the user of the state of the image forming apparatus. Notify. Reference numeral 101 denotes an operating system, which is a host computer 10 which is an information processing device.
0, the application 102, the printer driver unit 103, the printer management unit 104, the status
Monitor unit 105, network interface 10
6 is managed and controlled.

Reference numeral 102 denotes an application, such as a word processor, which can be used to create a document including characters, images, and the like. When the image formation is started, information on the created document is passed to the printer driver unit 103.

The printer driver unit 103 generates image forming apparatus data including a printer control command for controlling the image forming apparatus based on characters and image information of a document received from an application, and performs printer management. It has a function to pass to the unit 104.

The printer management section 104 converts the image forming apparatus data passed from the printer driver section 103 into the address of the stored image forming apparatus on the network, transmits the converted address to the network 200, and transmits the converted data to the network 200. The image forming apparatus status information and the like received from the printer driver 103 and the status monitor 105
Has the function of passing to

The status monitor unit 105 has a function of displaying the image forming apparatus status information and function information received from the printer management unit 104 on a display and notifying the user of the status of each image forming apparatus. ing.

The network interface 106,
And 302 are hosted over network 200
An interface unit for controlling communication between the computer 100 and the image forming apparatus. Network 2
00, the information from the external devices sent to the respective devices is sent to each unit in each device, and the other devices including these devices connected to the same network are controlled by the printer management. And information from the operating system unit 101.

Data processing unit 303 of image forming apparatus 300
Transmits packetized image forming apparatus data to the network 200 and analyzes and processes the packet received from the network addressed to itself. Also,
When a packet addressed to the user received from the network has a command for requesting a reply, a function of transmitting a packet having the requested content via the network interface 302 to the network is provided. The image forming unit 304 inside the image forming apparatus drives the internal apparatus based on the image forming apparatus data received from the data processing unit 303, prints the data on recording paper, and indicates the current state of the image forming apparatus main body to the data processing unit. Notify 303.

In FIG. 1, the printer driver unit 103 and the printer management unit 104 are a series.
Both may be arranged in parallel, and the operation of the printer driver may be managed by the printer management unit. That is, the information passed from the application 102 to the printer driver is received by the printer management unit 104 at the same time, and the output of the printer driver is performed to the image forming apparatus at the address on the network specified by the printer management unit. It is also possible.

In the present embodiment, as shown in the figure, a host computer 1 is used for a conventional device in the above-described range.
A sound file storage device 107 is added to 00, and a sound reproducing unit 305 is added to the image forming device.

Therefore, the host computer 100
The operating system unit 101 controls the sound file storage device 107 as described later, and sends the sound file data stored therein to the image forming device 300 via the network 200. The sound file data transmitted from the host computer is transmitted to the image forming apparatus 30.
The sound reproduction unit 305 is analyzed by the data processing unit 303 within the
To be played. That is, information is transmitted to the user by sound from a speaker provided in the image forming apparatus.

(First Embodiment) First, the first embodiment of the image forming apparatus of the present invention shown in FIG. 1 will be described in more detail. An image forming apparatus according to the present invention includes a network interface 302 for receiving data transmitted from a host via a network 200, and data for analyzing and processing image forming apparatus data from the network interface to generate image data and sound data. A processing unit 303, an image forming unit 304 for forming an image on a sheet based on the image data processed by the data processing unit, and a sound reproducing unit 305 for receiving sound data output from the data processing unit 303 and reproducing sound. Be composed.

Reference numeral 201 in the image forming apparatus 300 is a data transfer path for transferring image forming apparatus data received by the network interface 302 to the data processing unit 303, and reference numeral 202 is generated in the data processing unit 303. Image data to the image forming unit 30
4, an image data bus through a data transfer path for transferring
Reference numeral 203 denotes a data transfer path for transferring the sound data generated by the data processing unit 303 to the sound reproducing unit 305.

FIG. 2 is a view showing a part of a dialogue screen with a user displayed on a host computer for transmitting image forming apparatus data to the image forming apparatus 300. In FIG. 2, reference numeral 20 denotes an interactive screen, reference numeral 21 denotes a document name of the image forming apparatus data, reference numeral 22 denotes a document name change button for changing the document name of the image forming apparatus data, and reference numeral 2
Reference numeral 3 denotes a user name display of the image forming apparatus data, and reference numeral 24 denotes a user name change button for changing the user name of the image forming data.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart of the control program executed by the data processing unit 303 of the image forming apparatus 300.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart of a sound reproduction program executed in the data processing unit 303 of the image forming apparatus 300.

The embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS.

In general, when a document is printed by a printer, an application for editing the document is started on a host computer used by a user to open the document, and the printer is called a printer driver suitable for a printer to be printed from the application. A method is used in which an application issues a drawing command to a program for generating a page description language, and a printer driver that receives the command converts the drawing command into data in a page description language to generate data for an image forming apparatus.

The printer driver has a user dialogue screen for designating printing conditions such as the number of copies to be printed and the paper size. FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of the host shown in FIG.
Computer display screen (not shown)
It is part of the interactive screen displayed above.

When the user instructs printing, a dialogue screen of the printer driver is displayed, and one of the dialogue screens shown in FIG. 2 is used to set sound information.

Voice data or specific music is registered as a file on the host computer, and this voice data or specific music can be selected on this interactive screen.

The field indicated by reference numeral 21 displays the name of the sound data file for the selected document name in the area where "document name" is displayed, and when the document name change button 22 is pressed, another sound data file is displayed. -It is possible to select a file.

In the field indicated by reference numeral 23, the name of the selected user name sound data file is displayed in the area where "user name" is displayed, and the user name change button 23 is pressed. It is possible to select another sound data file.

Through these operations, the user specifies sound data to be reproduced in the image forming apparatus 300.

After the designation is completed, the user issues a print execution instruction. When a print execution instruction is given, the printer driver receives a document drawing command from the application, generates page description language data, and generates a page description language data using the sound data file name for the document name specified on the interactive screen of FIG. The specified sound data and the sound data specified by the sound data / file name for the user name are added to the data of the page description language, and the data is transmitted to the image forming apparatus 300 via the network 200 as the image forming apparatus data. Send.

The image forming apparatus data transmitted from the host computer 100 is received by the network interface 302 of the image forming apparatus 300 via the network 200. The image forming apparatus data received by the network interface 302 is transferred to the data processing unit 303 via the internal bus 201. The data processing unit 303 processes the received image forming apparatus data.

Hereinafter, control in the data processing unit 303 will be described with reference to FIG.

When the image forming apparatus 300 is started, FIG.
Step S200 of the flowchart shown in FIG. 7 is executed, and the control program starts operating. Step S201 is a step of receiving the data for the image forming apparatus from the network interface 302, and the step S201 is repeated until the data for the image forming apparatus is transferred from the network interface 302. When the reception of the image forming apparatus data is completed in step S201, the process proceeds to step S202, and the reproduction start processing is executed. This is processing for instructing the sound reproduction processing control program shown in FIG. 4 to start reproduction processing. Next, the process proceeds to step S203, and print processing is executed. This process
Interpret the page description language data included in the data for the image forming apparatus, generate data representing an image for forming an image in the image forming unit 304, and record the image by controlling the image forming in the image forming unit 304. This is a process for forming on paper. When the printing process in step S203 is completed, the process proceeds to step S204, and a sound reproduction end process is executed. This is a process for instructing the sound reproduction control program shown in FIG. 4 to end the sound reproduction process.

Next, the start control is received in step S202 of FIG. 3 and the end control is received in step S204 of FIG.
The sound reproduction control program shown in FIG.

The sound reproduction control program shown in FIG.
The image forming apparatus 300 is started in the same manner as the control program shown in FIG. In step S206, the state of the sound reproduction start flag set in step S202 of the control program is checked. Step S206 is repeated until the reproduction start flag is set in step S202 of the control program.

When the reproduction start flag is set in step S202 of the control program, the process proceeds from step S206 to step S207, in which it is determined whether the data for the image forming apparatus received in step S207 includes sound data for a document name. If it is included, the process proceeds to step S208 to execute data transfer of the document name sound data to the sound reproducing unit, and otherwise proceeds to step S209. Upon receiving the document name data transferred in step S208,
The sound reproduction unit 305 reproduces a document name sound. Upon completion of the transfer and the reproduction of the document name sound, the flow advances to step S209.

In step S209, it is determined whether or not the received image forming apparatus data includes user name sound data. If the data is included, the flow advances to step S210 to the user name sound data sound reproducing unit. Is performed, and if not, the process proceeds to step S211. Upon receiving the user name sound data transferred in step S210, the sound reproducing unit 305 reproduces the user name sound data.
Upon completion of the transfer and the reproduction of the user name tone, step S
Proceed to 211.

In step S211, step S206
Check the sound reproduction start flag to be checked. If the end of reproduction is instructed in step S204 of the control program, the process returns from step S211 to step S206.
Returning to 207, the above processing is repeated.

By controlling in this manner, if the received data for the image forming apparatus includes the sound data for the document name, the sound data for the document name and the sound data for the user name are included. In this case, the user name sound data can be repeatedly reproduced from the sound reproducing unit provided in the image forming apparatus from the start to the end of printing.

Thus, a person near the installed image forming apparatus can easily recognize the document name and the user name of the document currently being printed by listening to the sound guide.

(Second Embodiment) An image processing system according to a second embodiment of the present invention will be described.

In this embodiment, since only the behavior of the printer driver in the host computer and the flow of the control program in the image forming apparatus are different, this part will be described.

In the printer driver, it is possible on the interactive screen to determine what settings are used when printing by the user. Among these settings, there are settings such as the type and size of the paper to be printed. There are items.

The type of paper is, for example, plain paper, OHP
Paper, and the like. The paper size is A4, B4,
Postcards, etc.

Here, the above-mentioned OHP sheet will be described. 2. Description of the Related Art In a digital full-color image forming apparatus and the like that has been rapidly spreading in recent years, it is necessary to change image forming conditions or fixing conditions of an OHP sheet from those of plain paper due to differences in image transparency and fixing conditions. In recent years, a special sheet has been used for the OHP sheet itself. In this case, for example, an image can be formed only on the front surface and the back surface, and an image can be formed on both the front and back surfaces. Even if the formation is possible, there is a case where various conditions must be changed on the front and back. For this reason, there is a printer having a function of automatically determining an OHP sheet. In such a device, lever-type sensors and transmission-type sensors are generally arranged in parallel by utilizing the fact that a transmission-type sensor cannot detect a transparent portion of an OHP sheet. The automatic detection of the OHP sheet is performed by a method of discriminating the case where the transmission type sensor does not detect an OHP sheet when the detection is performed, or by detecting a mark on the OHP sheet by a transmission type or reflection type sensor. Further, when there is a front and back of the OHP sheet, a mark for confirming the front and back is attached to the OHP sheet, and the transmission type or the reflection type sensor detects the mark, whereby the OHP sheet is detected.
The front and back of the HP sheet are detected. Thus, O
2. Description of the Related Art It has become widespread that an image is formed by automatically determining whether the sheet is an HP sheet or the front and back of the OHP sheet and changing various settings inside the image forming apparatus in accordance with the determination result.

A plurality of types of paper sizes can be selected. Normally, a type in which a cassette is mounted in a housing of an image forming apparatus is used in accordance with a moving position of a partition (not shown) in the cassette. A size detection mechanism for electrically detecting the size of the printing paper is provided, and a detection mechanism for detecting the presence or absence of paper in that portion is provided. Further, the paper feed unit of the image forming apparatus detects the presence or absence of each paper feed port of a cassette, a manual feed, an optional cassette, and an envelope feeder.

The image forming apparatus operates with the information on the recording paper as described above.

While the type and size of such paper are very important for printing, the number of paper trays or cassettes of the image forming apparatus is limited, so that various sizes and types of paper can be used for the image forming apparatus. It is difficult to set the paper in advance in the image forming apparatus, so if you specify paper other than the paper that is set in the image forming apparatus in advance, until the user sets the appropriate type and size of paper in the image forming apparatus. In some cases, printing cannot be started and the image forming apparatus cannot be used efficiently in a network printer shared by a plurality of users.

The present embodiment is to solve such a situation quickly and to provide a system capable of efficiently using the image forming apparatus.

The block diagram of the image forming apparatus to which the second embodiment is applied is the same as that of the image forming system of the first embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a flow chart showing a portion of the printer driver in the second embodiment for selecting sound data to be added to page description language data in the printer driver.
Two examples are shown. FIG. 6 shows a flow chart of the image forming and sound data program of the control program executed in the data processing unit 303 of the image forming apparatus 300.

The second embodiment will be described below with reference to FIGS.

The printer driver according to the present embodiment operates, for example, as shown in FIG.

First, when the user starts an operation for starting image formation on an application on the host computer, the process proceeds from step S250 to step S205. In step S251, the user completes the setting of the print function including the paper size and the paper type for the printer driver, and the image based on the character and image information received from the application based on the set contents. The page description language data is generated for formation, and the generated page description language data is sent to the image forming apparatus 300 via the network.
Then, the process proceeds to step S252.

In step S252, it is determined whether or not the type of paper used for printing in the previous step is set to OHP. If OHP is set, step S253 is executed; otherwise, step S253 is executed. S25
Proceed to 4. In step S253, "data of OHP sheet request message sound file" for requesting the user to set OHP sheets in the image forming apparatus, which is stored in the sound file storage device inside the host computer 100. (Data relating to the paper type) is sent to the image forming apparatus 300 in a form added to the data in the page description language sent to the image forming apparatus 300. Then, the process proceeds to step S254.

In step S254, the specified
The “paper request message sound file data” of the paper size to be used for printing stored in the sound file storage device inside the host computer 100 is added to the data of the page description language actually used for printing. Or, following the data sent in step S253,
Send to image forming apparatus.

For example, if it is specified in step S251 that A4-size OHP paper has been designated, "O
"HP paper request message sound data" and "paper request message sound data requesting A4 size paper" are added to the data in the page description language.

In this embodiment, the sound data described above is assumed to have an error in the image forming apparatus.
This is added to the page description language data in advance. Therefore, the data is not always reproduced in the image forming apparatus as in the first embodiment. This distinction can be conveyed to the image forming apparatus by attaching data representing the reproduction condition to the sound data. In this case, a code associated with the error code identified by the image forming apparatus can be included in the data representing the reproduction condition.

As described above, page description language data to which sound data is added in the printer driver is generated on the host computer side. The generated data for the image forming apparatus is transmitted to the image forming apparatus 300 via the network 200.

The image forming apparatus 300 processes the data including the page description language received from the host computer 100 according to the procedure shown in FIG.

Hereinafter, the processing inside the image forming apparatus 300 will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

When the image forming apparatus 300 is started, the process starts from step S260 as shown in FIG. 6, and the control program shown in the flowchart starts operation. After the start, in step S261, the control program receives the data including the transmitted page description language data. If there is no data to be received, the process is continued until the data is received. When the data is received, in step S262, image data is generated based on the received page description language data and printing is started.
The actual operation in steps S261 and S262 is executed, for example, as follows. When executed by the host computer as described with reference to FIG. 5, two pieces of sound data follow the data in the page description language. At this time, step S262 can be executed after the reception of the page description language data is completed. In this case, the operation of step S262 and the operation of step S261 are time-division-processed by the normal bus arbiter, and the sound data following the data of the page description language is received and stored in a specific area by a predetermined method. . The stored data also includes data representing reproduction conditions and corresponding error codes.

After starting printing in step S262,
In step S263, it is checked whether printing cannot be started due to some error or printing has been interrupted. If no error has occurred, step S269
To check whether printing is completed. If the printing is not completed, the process returns to step S263, and the check for occurrence of an error is repeated. If printing is completed in step S269, the process returns to step S261.

If an error in which printing is not performed is detected in step S263, the flow advances to step S264. For example, the size of the recording paper to be printed is A4, and the type is O.
If it is HP and no OHP A4 size paper is set in the image forming apparatus 300, the process proceeds to step S2.
At 64, error analysis and received data analysis are performed. At this point, if the reception is not completed, wait until the reception is completed and the sound data is stored in the specific area, and check the playback conditions and the data associated with the error code included in the received sound data. Then, the corresponding relationship with the analyzed error content is checked. Then, the process proceeds to step S265.

In step S265, it is determined whether sound data corresponding to the error that has occurred has been added to the received page description language data. If it has been added, the process proceeds to step S266, and the process proceeds to step S266.
The sound data corresponding to the error analyzed in H.264 is specified,
The reproduction of the sound data is started, and if not, the process proceeds to step S267.

In step S266, the sound reproducing unit 305 reproduces the sound data added to the received page description language data corresponding to the currently occurring error.

If no A4-size OHP paper is set, the printer driver adds (1) OHP request message sound data to the page description language data and (2) A4-size paper. , And the paper request message sound data requesting the same is continuously reproduced. When the reproduction of the error message is started in step S266, the process proceeds to step S267, where it is checked whether the error has been cleared. If the error has not been cleared, the process returns to step S266, and the error
Message playback continues. If it is confirmed in step S267 that the error has been cleared, the process proceeds to step S267.
The flow advances to step 268, where the reproduction end control is executed for the message being reproduced, the error message is stopped, and the flow returns to step S263.

For example, when an A4 OHP sheet is designated and an A4 OHP sheet is set by a user, the image forming apparatus detects this and cancels the error.

When the error is released and the process returns to step S263, it is determined in step S269 whether printing is completed. If completed, the process returns to step S261; otherwise, steps S263 to S269 are repeated.

Here, when sound data is added to page description language data, for example, when the host computer is set to send page description language data to the image forming apparatus for each page In addition, sound data is added after the data of the page description language of the first page,
When data for all pages is set to be sent collectively, it is desirable to send data before page description language data. In this case, as described above, when the OHP is not set as a sheet that can be used by the image forming apparatus, and also when the image forming apparatus cannot receive data of all pages, an error message is output. I can tell the user. Even when the data for all pages is set to be sent collectively, if the data size is small and the sound data can be received, there is no need to send the data in the page description language prior to the data. This order is desirably set to an optimal order in relation to the receivable capacity of the image forming apparatus and the data capacity of the page description language generated by the host computer.

As described above, when the A4-size OHP is specified by the host computer and the specified paper is not set to be usable in the image forming apparatus, the A4-size OHP is set. The message is reproduced repeatedly until the sound is set. When the message is set, this is automatically detected and the reproduction of the message is stopped. Therefore, when the A4-size OHP paper is not set in the image forming apparatus, the user can quickly know that, and the A4-size OHP paper is set in the image forming apparatus.
By setting the HP paper, desired printing can be performed smoothly.

As described above, according to the second embodiment, when an error that cannot start printing occurs and the sound data of the message corresponding to the error is added to the page description language data By reproducing the message in the image forming apparatus, it is possible to notify the user that an operation for eliminating the error is necessary, and as a result, it is possible to reduce the time during which printing cannot be performed. It is.

In the second embodiment, the message relating to the paper size and the paper type has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to these,
By preparing a message corresponding to various errors such as no toner or other mechanical failure, it is possible to reproduce the message in almost all states of the image forming apparatus.

As described above, the present invention is applied to the first embodiment and the second embodiment.
Although the embodiment has been described as an example, the present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, and the first and second embodiments can be appropriately combined. In particular, it is easy to change to the following form.

1. In the first embodiment, the sound data is reproduced from the time when the image forming apparatus receives the sound data until the print processing is completed. However, it is easy to change the time point at which the sound data is reproduced. For example, the start or end of image data generation for each page, the completion of data processing as an image forming apparatus, the start or end of image formation for each page, or the completion of paper discharge can be considered. It is also conceivable that printing of all pages is completed (to be exact, data processing completed, image formation completed, and paper discharge completed).

2. Although the two types of sound data have been described as the sound data for the document name and the user name sound data, the sound data may be made to be identifiable only by the user, or may be made to be understandable to ordinary people.

3. The sound data for the document name and the user sound data have been described with two types of sound data.
Sound data that informs the user of the state of the image forming apparatus, particularly the start or completion of the printing process, may be used.

In particular, in an image forming apparatus connected to a network, printing may concentrate on one image forming apparatus. In such a case, even if the printing is executed, there is a case where the user waits, and when the user is in a hurry, he or she goes to see the output of the image forming apparatus many times. However, by causing the user to execute the sound reproduction in the first embodiment at the time when printing of all pages is completed, or more precisely, at the timing when the user starts to go to get the printed paper, The user can know the completion point of his / her own at his / her seat away from the image forming apparatus.

In such a case, prior to the execution of the printing, the user selects, for example, a content such as "printing completed" as the sound data, and sets the reproduction time setting to the printing end. Will be. In addition, since this message alone does not know who has completed the printing process, unique sound data is assigned to each user as sound data to be reproduced later, and a sound that specifies the user name is reproduced instead of sound. You may do it. In this case, the inconvenience that the person near the image forming apparatus is placed feels,
It is possible to reduce noise.

4. Further, the paper is usually out of paper in the image forming apparatus. In such a case, it is inefficient to add the data to the page description language data every time as in the second embodiment described above. In such a case, the out-of-paper status information is transmitted from the image forming apparatus to the host computer, and the sound data corresponding to the out-of-paper state is transmitted from the host computer to the image forming apparatus with the reproduction condition set to ineffective. Easy. In this case, when the sound data is sent, the sound data is reproduced until the paper is replenished, and a person near the image forming apparatus can replenish the paper. Normally, when the paper runs out, printing is stopped only by blinking a small LED on the surface of the image forming apparatus, but such a situation can be minimized.

5. In the above description, the present invention has been described by a combination of the host computer having the sound data file and the image forming apparatus having the sound reproducing unit. However, the host computer usually has various files including the sound data. In contrast, the image forming apparatus has a sound reproducing unit,
Usually not.

Therefore, the image forming apparatus is provided with a sound reproducing unit, and it is determined whether the received data is sound data or data for image formation. It is important to have a function to send and play sound.

6. Although the time point (timing) has been described as the reproduction condition in the above description, the volume level at the time of reproduction can also be set on the host computer side,
On the image forming apparatus side, reproduction may be performed based on the set value.

[0098]

As described above, according to the present invention, an image forming apparatus which receives image forming data, generates image data, and forms an image based on the image data is provided with a sound reproducing means. When the sound information is included in the image forming data, or when the received data is sound data, the sound data can be reproduced by the sound reproducing means, so that the user name, the document name, It is possible to notify the user of the status of the image forming apparatus and the progress of printing by various sound information such as an error notification message.

Also, a plurality of sound data files are provided in the information processing apparatus connected to the image forming apparatus via a network, and sound data is selected in association with information related to the print request or information included in the print request. The image data is sent to the image forming apparatus, so that it can be realized at a low cost in view of the recent situation of personal computers having high-speed processing and a large-capacity storage device.

Further, it is possible to generate an error notification message in various languages or an arbitrary error notification message desired by the user only by changing the sound data of the message held in the host computer.

Further, since the error notification message is held in the host computer, it is possible to use a common error notification message for a plurality of image forming apparatuses.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of an image forming system according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a view exemplifying a screen for setting sound information in a user setting input of a printer driver in the first embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating a control program of the image forming apparatus according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating details of a sound reproduction control program shown in FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating processing on the host computer side according to the second embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of a control program on the image forming apparatus side according to the second embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 100 information processing device (host computer) 101 operating system unit 102 application 103 printer driver 104 printer management unit 105 status monitor 106 network interface 107 sound file device 200 network 300 image forming device 302 network interface 303 data processing unit 304 Image forming unit 305 Sound reproducing unit

──────────────────────────────────────────────────の Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification symbol FI Theme coat ゛ (Reference) G10K 15/04 302 G10K 15/04 302F G10L 13/00 G10L 3/00 Q F term (Reference) 2C061 AP01 AS02 AS13 CQ32 CQ36 CQ41 2C087 AB05 BA03 BA05 BA06 BA14 BD01 BD46 BD49 DA11 5B021 AA01 NN16 QQ07 5D045 DB10 5D108 CA02 CA07 CA30

Claims (13)

[Claims] 1. An image forming apparatus that receives image forming data, generates image data from the image forming data, and forms an image based on the image data, wherein the image forming apparatus includes a sound reproducing unit. When sound information is included in the image forming data,
Alternatively, when the received data is sound data, the sound data can be reproduced by the sound reproducing means. 2. The sound information includes data reproduced by the sound reproducing means and data representing reproduction conditions of the data or data associated with various errors of the image processing apparatus. Item 2. The image forming apparatus according to Item 1. 3. The data reproduced by the sound reproducing means in the sound information, based on correspondence between data representing reproduction conditions of the data and various states of the image forming apparatus.
3. The apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the start or end of the reproduction is controlled based on a correspondence between data associated with various errors of the image processing apparatus and types of errors generated in the image forming apparatus. Image forming apparatus. 4. An image forming system in which an information processing apparatus and an image forming apparatus are connected via a network, wherein the information processing apparatus is associated with a print request or information included in the print request. A plurality of sound data files provided in advance, and when the print request is input, sound information including data of the sound data file related to the print request is added to data to be printed, and A transmitting unit for transmitting to the image forming apparatus connected above, the image forming apparatus receives the data transmitted by the transmitting unit, and separates the sound data from the received data, Data processing means for sending the divided sound data to the sound reproducing means, wherein the information processing apparatus adds sound information to the data to be printed. Upon signal, said data processing means, the image forming and controlling the start / end of the operation of reproducing the sound data included in the transmitted sound information by the sound reproducing unit system. 5. The sound information includes data reproduced by the sound reproducing means, data representing reproduction conditions of the data, or data associated with various errors of the image processing apparatus. Item 5. The image forming system according to Item 4. 6. The data reproduced by the sound reproducing means in the sound information, based on correspondence between data representing reproduction conditions of the data and various states of the image forming apparatus.
6. The method according to claim 5, wherein the start or end of reproduction is controlled based on a correspondence between data associated with various errors of the image processing apparatus and types of errors generated in the image forming apparatus. Image forming system. 7. An image forming apparatus, comprising: detecting means for detecting an error state of the image forming apparatus; and receiving or storing sound information associated with the error state detected by the detecting means. Analysis means for analyzing whether or not the analysis result has been received; and if the analysis result by the analysis means has been received and stored, the sound data of the corresponding sound information is reproduced, and the reproduction is performed when the error state is eliminated. 7. The image forming system according to claim 5, further comprising: a control unit configured to perform control so as to end the process. 8. 8. The data representing the reproduction condition includes: when reception of sound information including the data is completed, when image data generation for each page is started, when image data generation for each page is completed,
Start of image formation for each page, completion of image formation for each page, completion of processing of forming apparatus data, completion of discharge of all pages of print target data, time of failure of the image forming apparatus The image forming system according to claim 7, wherein the image forming system is any one of the following. 9. The apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the data representing the reproduction condition includes information on a volume at the time of reproducing the sound data, and controls a volume level at the time of reproducing the sound data according to the volume information. Image forming system. 10. The image forming system according to claim 7, wherein one of the sound data is sound data relating to a document name of data to be printed. 11. The image forming system according to claim 7, wherein one of the sound information is sound data relating to a name of a user who has performed printing on the print target data. 12. An image forming system in which an information processing apparatus and an image forming apparatus are connected via a network, the information processing apparatus comprising: a print request input unit for inputting a print request of a document generated by an application; A plurality of sound data files provided in advance in association with the print request or in association with information included in the print request; and characters of the original according to the print request input by the print request input unit. Image forming data generating means for generating data for image formation including a printer control command for controlling an image forming apparatus based on image information and image information; and Transmitting means for sending to the forming apparatus, wherein the print request inputting means includes A request for adding at least one sound data selected from the sound data file to the data generated in the step (a), and the transmitting unit transmits sound information including the sound data received by the print request input unit to the image. An image forming system characterized in that data is added to data for image formation generated by a formation data generating means and transmitted. 13. The sound information includes data indicating the sound data and a reproduction condition of the sound data, or data relating the sound data to various errors of the image processing apparatus. 3. The image forming system according to 1.