JP2003063119A - Perfecting printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To solve the problem of a perfecting printer that although sheets printable on both sides are ordinary set in hoppers, resource saving is required by performing other printing on the unprinted side of a sheet when the sheet printed on one side becomes unnecessary. SOLUTION: The perfecting printer comprises hoppers 14 and 15 for containing print media, a perfecting print unit 13, a print control section 12 for controlling the perfecting print unit 13 and each hopper mechanically, a controller 11 for controlling the operation of the print control section 12, and an operator panel 10 connected with the controller 11 wherein the controller 11 comprises a data storage section. The controller 11 stores one of a plurality of hoppers designated through operation on the operator panel 10 in the data storage section under a state capable of only single side printing, delivers an alarm that both side printing is impossible if it is designated from a specified hopper when a user tries both side printing, and can make a selection among switching to single side printing, canceling of print, and both side printing from other hopper.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a double-sided printing apparatus, and more particularly, to a double-sided printing apparatus installed on an operator panel or a personal computer (hereinafter abbreviated as a personal computer) connected for printing. , Specify the specific hopper of the printing device to the software for controlling the printer (hereinafter called printer driver), and suck the print medium (hereinafter called paper) from the specified hopper (hereinafter called pick). In such a case, only one-sided printing is performed, and it is possible to select whether to realize two-sided printing in another hopper, switch to one-sided printing, or cancel the printing. Paper that can only be printed on one side without checking the set paper and the specified status of the hopper About double-sided printing apparatus which enables selectively using the paper that can be two-sided printing easily.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A double-sided printing apparatus to which the present invention relates is designed so that a user can specify a hopper or check a paper contained in the hopper for a user who uses a print medium which should not be printed on both sides. It is configured so that double-sided printing and single-sided printing can be easily used separately without performing the above.

As a conventional example of this type of double-sided printing device, for example, there is a "printer system" disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2000-305745.

The technique disclosed in the above-mentioned Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2000-30574 is capable of double-sided printing on both front and back sides of a recording paper, and a recording paper on which both sides are not printed and a recording paper on which only one side is printed. A printer system that includes a printer device that includes a paper feeding device that can feed paper respectively, and a printer driver that transmits a print command to the printer device. It is possible to send and receive data, and the mutual transmission and reception allows the printer driver to grasp the printing conditions and printing conditions set in the printer device at a location remote from the printer device. Since the situation can be grasped close to the user, the print result desired by the user can be grasped more accurately. It is obtained by way.

[0005] In such a printing apparatus, it is usual that a double-sided printable paper is set in a hopper, but in recent years, a single-sided printed paper is reused when it becomes unnecessary. , It is required to print differently on the non-printing side to save resources.

Further, although a printing medium that can withstand single-sided printing but has a possibility of causing image troubles and running troubles when double-sided printing is put into practical use, only single-sided printing is possible for cost reduction. There is also a desire to use it.

[0007]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned conventional circumstances and has been made in order to realize the above-mentioned demands existing in the conventional art. Therefore, the main object of the present invention is as follows. In response to the user's request, it is easy for the user to selectively use double-sided printing and single-sided printing without specifying the hopper by double-sided printing or single-sided printing before printing and checking the paper stored in the hopper. It is to provide a new double-sided printing device that enables the printing.

[0008]

In order to achieve the above object, a double-sided printing apparatus according to the present invention comprises a plurality of hoppers for accommodating print media, a double-sided printing unit, the double-sided printing unit and each of the hoppers. And a print control unit for mechanically controlling the control unit, a controller for controlling the operation of the print control unit, and an operator panel connected to the controller, the controller including a data storage unit, and the controller, Of the plurality of hoppers, one hopper designated by an operation from the operator panel is stored in the data storage unit in a state in which only single-sided printing is possible, and when the user tries to perform double-sided printing, the designated hopper is designated. If you have specified double-sided printing from the hopper, you can issue a warning that printing is not possible, and switch to single-sided printing or cancel printing. It is characterized by or has from another hopper to select whether to perform duplex printing.

A data editing unit connected to the data storage unit is provided in the controller, and when a print request is issued from an externally arranged personal computer, the data editing unit prints the data according to an operation flow from the personal computer. The feature is that the print processing is performed by determining the form.

The double-sided printing apparatus according to the present invention also includes a plurality of hoppers for containing print media, a double-sided printing unit,
It has a print control means for mechanically controlling the double-sided printing unit and each of the hoppers, and a controller for controlling the operation of the print control means, and the controller controls the hopper designated by the operation of the printer control software. Only one-sided printing can be stored, and when the user tries to perform two-sided printing, when the user has specified double-sided printing from the designated hopper, a warning that printing cannot be performed is issued, and one-sided printing is performed. It is characterized in that it is possible to select whether to switch to printing, cancel printing, or perform double-sided printing from another hopper.

A data editing unit is provided in the controller,
A personal computer that holds printer control software installed via a storage medium such as a CD-ROM is provided outside, and print data is received from the personal computer to perform printing.

[0012]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Next, a preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows a first embodiment of the present invention.
It is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the.

[0014]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring to FIG. 1, a first embodiment of a double-sided printing apparatus according to the present invention is an operator panel 10.
Have. One example of the operator panel 10 is shown in FIG. Operate this operator panel 10,
In the first embodiment of the double-sided printing apparatus 1, the data storage unit 112 of the controller 11 stores the settings of the hopper capable of only single-sided printing.

When there is a print request from the personal computer 2 for the one-sided printing only hopper set on the operator panel 10, the data editing section 111 of the controller 11 is used.
Processes the print form according to the flowchart of FIG.

FIG. 2 shows a second embodiment of the present invention.
It is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the.

Referring to FIG. 2, the double-sided printing apparatus 1 of FIG.
The second embodiment of is configured as follows. That is,
The second embodiment of the double-sided printing device 1 is a printing device for carrying out double-sided printing by receiving a print data from the personal computer 2 that holds a printer driver installed via a storage medium such as a CD-ROM 3 and the personal computer 2. Is.

The personal computer 2 sets the hopper capable of only single-sided printing in the printer driver on the setting screen as shown in the embodiment of FIG. Prior to printing, the personal computer 2 transmits to the double-sided printing device 1 the hopper designation information that allows only single-sided printing, and the controller 11 causes the data editing unit 111 to determine the printing mode according to the flowchart of FIG. And process.

The flow chart of FIG. 3 explains the specific operation of the block configuration of the first embodiment shown in FIG.

The flow chart of FIG. 4 describes specific operations for the block configuration of the second embodiment shown in FIG.

The block diagram shown in FIG. 5 is a first embodiment including the block configuration shown in FIG. 1 and the flow chart of FIG. 3, and a second embodiment including the block configuration of FIG. 2 and the flow chart of FIG. 3 shows a configuration when the embodiment of FIG. Since this configuration is generally well known, detailed description thereof will be omitted.

The block diagram of FIG. 6 shows an embodiment of the operator panel 10.

In FIG. 6, when the menu switch 105 is pressed, various settings of the double-sided printing device 1 are entered. NE
Use the XT switch 104 to send setting items in sequence and
The item content is displayed on 101. Here, hopper A
The single-sided printing fixed setting screen for 14 is displayed. The change status is changed with the change switch 103. Currently, "O
It is set to N ”, and it is switched to“ OFF ”by pressing the change switch 103 once. When it is pressed again, it returns to“ ON. ”When the setting is determined, the execution switch 102 is pressed. The setting that allows only single-sided printing of A14 is completed.

The block diagram of FIG. 7 shows an example of a screen displayed by the printer driver on the display of the personal computer 2. The selection screen of the hopper to be fixed to single-sided printing is displayed, and the hopper A14 or the hopper B15 that can only perform single-sided printing is clicked and selected. Then, the hopper is fixed on one side for printing. The current display status is hopper A.
Only 14 is in a single-sided printing fixed state. When the OK button is clicked in this state, only the hopper A14 is fixed to single-sided printing and the printer driver stores the setting. Click the Cancel button to return to the state before this screen was displayed.

[0025]

Next, the operation of the embodiment according to the present invention will be described.

First, a first embodiment of the double-sided printing operation will be described with reference to the block diagram of FIG. 1 and the flowchart of FIG.

After the power is turned on, it is determined in step S1 whether or not double-sided printing of the hopper has been set on the operator panel 10. As an example, the switch state of the hopper A14 is confirmed, and if the switch is "OFF", print control that is the same as usual is performed in step S2.

If the result of determination in step S1 is that the switch is "ON", the hopper A14 is then used.
In step S3, only one-sided printing is possible.

When the print data is transmitted from the personal computer 2, it is confirmed whether or not the information accompanying the data includes the information designated by the hopper A14 (step S5).

As a result of the determination in step S5, the hopper A14
If it is not designated (in the case of NO), the paper feed unit of the hopper B15 is selected, and it is determined in step S6 whether double-sided printing is performed.

If the result of determination in step S6 is double-sided printing, double-sided printing is performed in step S10.
If it is single-sided printing, in step S15, the hopper B15
Print on one side.

If the result of determination in step S5 is YES, that is, if the hopper A14 has been selected, it is determined in step S7 whether or not the data is double-sided printing data.

If the result of determination in step S7 is not double-sided printing, the paper feed section of hopper A14 is selected, and single-sided printing is performed in step S13.

If the result of determination in step S7 is double-sided printing (in the case of YES), the hopper A14 is set to single-sided printing fixed, and therefore the hopper B15 is automatically fed to the paper feeding unit in step S8. To determine whether to switch. For example, if the same paper size is set in the hoppers A14 and B15 and the paper is capable of double-sided printing, the paper feed unit is automatically switched to the hopper B15 (step S9) and double-sided printing is performed.

On the other hand, when it is not possible to automatically change the paper feed unit, such as when the hopper A14 is designated to perform printing or when the paper size of the hopper B15 is different from that of the hopper A14. Displays on the operator panel 10 that double-sided printing is impossible.

After being displayed on the operator panel 10,
When the user cancels the printing, the cancel switch 103 is pressed. As a result, the printing apparatus 1
The data held in is lost, and it is possible to change the print settings again and try again.

Further, when it is desired to change the double-sided printing to the single-sided printing and press the execution switch 102, the original data of the double-sided printing is pressed, but the single-sided printing from the hopper A14 is switched to the printing. To execute.

On the other hand, a double-sided printing apparatus according to the second embodiment of the present invention which does not have the operator panel 10 is shown in FIG.
It is executed according to the flowchart of.

That is, referring to FIGS. 2 and 4, the printer driver, which is software for controlling the printer, installed in the personal computer 2 stores the setting as to whether the hopper A14 can perform double-sided printing. , That information is sent to the printer as a command. When printing is to be executed according to the above command, the printer controller 11 determines in step S21 that the hopper A14
Is selected or whether double-sided printing is selected. The subsequent steps are the same as the description of the flow chart of the first embodiment shown in FIG. That is, steps S2 to S15 are executed after step S21.

[0040]

The present invention is constructed and operates as described above, and according to the present invention, the following effects can be obtained.

By the operator panel, it is possible to specify the printing from a specific hopper to be valid only for single-sided printing, so that when a sheet that cannot be printed on both sides is set, double-sided printing is erroneously executed, Saving resources by not having to check the situation,
It is possible to realize user-friendliness.

Furthermore, in the second embodiment according to the present invention, it is possible to provide a structure capable of realizing the functions according to the present invention without providing an operator panel.

In each of the above embodiments, the controller of the double-sided printing device functions and makes a judgment, but this judgment may be made by the printer driver.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a first example of an embodiment according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block configuration diagram showing a second example of one embodiment according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing an operation flow of the first embodiment according to the present invention shown in FIG.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing an operation flow of the second embodiment according to the present invention shown in FIG.

FIG. 5 is a schematic configuration diagram showing an appearance when an embodiment (first and second examples) according to the present invention is realized.

FIG. 6 is a configuration diagram showing an embodiment of an operator panel used in the first embodiment according to the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of a screen displayed by a printer driver on a display of a personal computer.

[Explanation of symbols]

1-sided printing device 2 ... PC (personal computer) 3 ... CD-ROM 10 ... Operator panel 11 ... Controller 12 ... Print control unit 13-sided printing unit 14 ... Hopper A 15 ... Hopper B 101 ... LCD 102 ... Execution key 103 ... Change / Cancel key 104 ... NEXT key 105 ... Menu key 111 ... Data editor 112 ... Data storage unit

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A plurality of hoppers for accommodating print media,
A double-sided printing unit, a print control unit for mechanically controlling the double-sided printing unit and each of the hoppers, a controller for controlling the operation of the print control unit, and an operator panel connected to the controller, The controller is provided with a data storage unit, and the controller stores one hopper designated by an operation from an operator panel among the plurality of hoppers in the data storage unit in a state in which only one-sided printing is possible, so that the user can perform both-side printing. When printing is attempted, a warning that printing cannot be performed when double-sided printing from the specified hopper has been specified can be issued, and switching to single-sided printing, canceling printing, or another A double-sided printing device characterized in that it is possible to select whether to perform double-sided printing from a hopper. 2. The data editing unit connected to the data storage unit is provided in the controller, and the data editing unit follows the operation flow from the personal computer when a print request is made from a personal computer arranged outside. The double-sided printing device according to claim 1, further comprising determining a printing form and performing a printing process. 3. A plurality of hoppers for accommodating print media,
It has a double-sided printing unit, a print control unit for mechanically controlling the double-sided printing unit and each of the hoppers, and a controller for controlling the operation of the print control unit, and the controller is operated by printer control software. The specified hopper is stored in a state where only single-sided printing is possible, and when the user tries to perform double-sided printing, a warning that printing cannot be performed when double-sided printing from the specified hopper is specified A double-sided printing device, which is configured so that it can be output, and whether to switch to single-sided printing, cancel printing, or perform double-sided printing from another hopper can be selected. 4. A data editing unit is provided in the controller, and a personal computer that holds printer control software installed via a storage medium such as a CD-ROM is provided outside, and print data is received from the personal computer. The double-sided printing device according to claim 3, further comprising printing.