JP2003259064A - Image forming apparatus and program - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent a decrease in efficiency due to occurrence of mechanical troubles in an image forming apparatus. <P>SOLUTION: A control unit 2 in the image forming apparatus 1 monitors operations of a document feeder 3a and a transfer unit 5. When a trouble such as a printer jam or a scanner jam occurs, the control unit 2 cancels the operations (a document reading operation or a printing output operation) only of the faulty portions to be responded (an image reader 3 and the document feeder 3a, or an image forming unit 4 and the transfer unit 5), and instructs the other portions to continue the normal operations. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2003,JPO

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 a program, and more particularly to an image forming apparatus and a program for printing out image data such as photographs.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, while image data read by an image reading device such as a scanner is sequentially stored in a recording medium such as an HD (Hard Disk), the image data stored in the recording medium is sequentially read out and printed out. 2. Description of the Related Art Image forming apparatuses that read out image data designated by an operation unit or the like from a recording medium and print it out are widely used.

[0003]

However, when a mechanical trouble occurs in a part of the operation of the above-mentioned image forming apparatus, it is necessary to stop all the operations of the image forming apparatus. Specifically, for example, in the image data printout operation, even if the image data reading operation by the image reading device is normally performed when a paper jam trouble occurs, this reading operation is performed as a printout operation. It was necessary to stop with. Further, in this image forming apparatus, in the operation of reading image data by the image reading apparatus, even if the print output operation is normally performed when a trouble such as a document jam occurs in the document transport mechanism, the print output operation is performed. Had to be stopped together with the document reading operation.

As described above, in the conventional image forming apparatus, when a trouble such as a document jam or a paper jam occurs, the operation of the entire apparatus is stopped, so that there is a problem that the processing is delayed. In addition, during this time, it was necessary to manually reset the original, discharge the jammed paper, and restart printing. Also, when restarting printing,
It was inefficient because the manuscript was used to determine which manuscript to reprint.

An object of the present invention is to provide an image forming apparatus,
It is to suppress the decrease in efficiency due to the occurrence of mechanical trouble.

[0006]

The present invention has the following features in order to solve the above problems.

According to a first aspect of the present invention, an original document conveying means for conveying the set original document, an image reading means for reading an image from the original document conveyed by the original document conveying means, and an image read by the image reading means. In an image forming apparatus including a storage unit that stores the image data of each document for each document and a print output unit that prints out the image data stored in the storage unit, an operation by the document transport unit or the print output unit is performed. Based on the determination means for determining whether or not an abnormality has occurred, and the determination result by the determination means,
The control device further includes control means for stopping an operation in which an abnormality has occurred and continuing normal operation, and state storage means for storing an operation state when the operation is stopped by the control means. The means is characterized in that, when the generated abnormality is resolved, the stopped operation is restarted based on the operation state stored in the state storage means.

According to the first aspect of the present invention, when an abnormality occurs in the document reading operation or the print output operation, only the operation in which the abnormality occurs is stopped, the normal operation is continued, and the operation is stored at the time of stop. The operation is restarted based on the operation state. Therefore, when a trouble occurs, it is not necessary to stop the entire device, and the user can perform recovery work to eliminate the trouble while continuing normal operation. It is possible to reduce the loss of and to quickly perform the process after the trouble is resolved.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the image forming apparatus according to the first aspect, a designating unit that designates the number of output sheets of the image data, and a count that counts the number of outputs printed out by the printout unit. The control means stores the number in the storage means based on the number of output sheets designated by the designating means and the number of outputs counted by the counting means when restarting the stopped operation. The read image data is read out and the image data is printed out by the print output means.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, the image data to be printed out (that is, not printed out) can be specified based on the number of printed outputs and the designated number of output sheets. Therefore, it is possible to easily restart the process and print out the specified image data again after the trouble that occurred is eliminated. For this reason, it is not necessary to manually specify the image data to be reprinted, and the processing efficiency is improved.

[0011]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Hereinafter, an embodiment of an image forming apparatus 1 to which the present invention is applied will be described in detail with reference to FIGS.

First, the structure will be described. Referring to FIG.
The internal configuration of the image forming apparatus 1 will be described in detail. Figure 1
3 is a block diagram showing a functional configuration of the image forming apparatus 1. FIG.
As shown in FIG. 1, the image forming apparatus 1 includes a control unit 2, a document conveying unit 3a, an image reading unit 3, an image forming unit 4, a transfer unit 5,
The display unit 8 includes a RAM 6, a storage unit 7, and an operation input unit 9, and each unit is connected by a bus.

The control unit 2 includes a CPU (Central Process
g unit) and the like, and a program specified from the system program stored in the storage unit 7 and various application programs related to image formation is expanded in a work area (not shown) in the RAM 6, and the operation input unit 9 and the like are provided. Each processing according to the program is executed according to the data input from each component of the
Stored in the storage unit 7 and displayed on the display unit 8.
Save it in a predetermined area.

The control unit 2 also executes a printing process (see FIG. 2) described later, and receives the output condition of the image data input from the operation input unit 9. Here, the output condition is
It includes all the conditions for handling image data, and specifically includes a method of storing image data read from a document (for example, a format of data stored in the storage unit 7) and image formation based on the image data. Method (for example,
Image quality such as density, contrast and color balance, number of output sheets, scaling factor such as enlargement / reduction, setting of double-sided printing, etc.) are included.

Then, the control section 2 carries out a document reading operation by the document conveying section 3a and the image reading section 3 and a print output operation by the image forming section 4 and the transfer section 5 based on the output conditions. At this time, the control unit 2 counts the number of print sheets output from the paper output unit (transfer unit 5) when the print output is normally performed, using a counter (not shown). That is, the counter (not shown) has a function as counting means.

Further, the control unit 2 determines whether the transfer unit 5 is operating normally, and the transfer unit 5 is not operating normally due to factors such as printing paper left in the transfer unit 5. That is, when a printer jam (abnormality) occurs, a control signal is output to the image forming unit 4 and the transfer unit 5,
Stop the print output operation.

Then, the control unit 2 keeps the image forming unit 4 and the transfer unit 5 in a stopped state until the generated printer jam is eliminated (for example, until the print paper left in the transfer unit 5 is discharged). Let it stand by. During this time, the control unit 2
Causes the document feeding unit 3a and the image reading unit 3 to continue the document reading operation, and the image data read from the document is RA.
Store in M6.

The control unit 2 also determines whether or not the document feeding unit 3a is operating normally, and the set document is not fed normally by the document feeding unit 3a, that is, a scanner jam (abnormal). If the error occurs, a control signal is output to the document feeding unit 3a and the image reading unit 3 to stop the document reading operation.
Remember.

Then, the control unit 2 adjusts the set position of the document until the generated scanner jam is eliminated (for example, the document to be read by the image reading unit 3 is normally conveyed by the document conveying unit 3a). The document transport unit 3a and the image reading unit 3 are made to stand by in a stopped state. During this period, if the normal image data already read by the image reading unit 3 is stored in the RAM 6, the control unit 2 causes the image forming unit 4 and the transfer unit 5 to continue the printout operation of the image data.

Further, when the cause of the scanner jam that has occurred is eliminated, the control section 2 stops the original feeding section 3a and the image reading section 3 based on the original reading operation state at the time of stop stored in the RAM 6. The document reading operation is restarted. When the cause of the printer jam that has occurred is eliminated, the control unit 2 compares the count value of the counter with the output condition (the number of output sheets) and extracts the image data that has not been printed out from the RAM 6, With respect to this image data, the print output operation by the image forming unit 4 and the transfer unit 5 is restarted. That is, the control unit 2 has a function as a determination unit and a control unit. The RAM 6 also has a function as a storage unit and a state storage unit.

The document feeding section 3a sequentially feeds the set documents to the document reading surface of the contact glass by a paper feeding mechanism (not shown). In other words, the document transport section 3a is
It has a function as a document conveying means.

The image reading section 3 comprises a document reading surface of the contact glass and a scanner below the contact glass, and reads the image data of the document conveyed by the document conveying section 3a. The scanner has a light source, a lens,
A CCD (Charge Coupled Device) or the like is used, and the reflected light of the light illuminated and scanned from the light source to the original is imaged and photoelectrically converted to read the original image, and the read image data is read for each original of a predetermined size in the RAM 6 To store. Here, the image data is not limited to image data such as graphics and photographs, but also includes text data such as characters and symbols. That is, the image reading unit 3 has a function as an image reading unit.

The image forming section 4 performs image processing such as enlargement / reduction, rotation, and position change on the image data of each original stored in the RAM 6 in accordance with the input instruction from the operation input section 9, and The image-processed image is output to the transfer unit 5.

The transfer section 5 comprises a photosensitive drum, toner, a paper discharge section, a paper feed section, etc., and prints in the size and orientation specified by the operation input section 9 in accordance with the print instruction from the control section 2. The paper is conveyed from the paper feeding unit, and the image forming unit 4
The electrostatic latent image of the image input from is exposed on the printing paper by the photosensitive drum. Further, the transfer unit 5 transfers the toner onto the exposed printing paper to fix it, and then ejects the printing paper from the paper ejection unit. That is, the image forming unit 4 and the transfer unit 5
Has a function as a print output unit.

A RAM (Random Access Memory) 6 is
In various processes executed and controlled by the control unit 2, a temporary storage area for the program, input or output data read from the storage unit 7, parameters, etc. is formed. Specifically, the image data of the document read by the image reading unit 3 is stored for each document of a predetermined size.

The storage unit 7 is an EEPROM (Electrically
A system program configured by a non-volatile semiconductor memory such as an Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory) and executable by the image forming apparatus 1, various processing programs corresponding to the system, and data processed by the various processing programs are stored. To do. The program is stored in the form of a computer-readable program code, and the control unit 2 executes an operation according to the program code.

Display unit 8, LCD (Liquid Crystal Disp.
play) and the like, and displays various operation buttons and image states on the screen in accordance with the instructions of the display signal input from the control unit 2.

The display section 8 is integrally formed with an operation input section 9. The operation input unit 9 is composed of a pressure-sensitive (resistive film pressure) touch panel or the like in which transparent electrodes are arranged in a grid pattern, but it is preferable that the operation input unit 9 has a high light transmittance from the viewpoint of visibility. The operation input unit 9 detects the XY coordinates of the force point pressed by a finger or a dedicated touch pen with a voltage value, and outputs the detected position signal to the control unit 2 as an operation signal. The operation input unit 9 also includes various operation buttons such as numeric buttons and function buttons for switching various settings.

Further, when the operation input section 9 receives the operation input of the output condition of the image data by the user in the printing process, the operation section 9 outputs an operation signal according to the operation input instruction.
Output to. That is, the operation input unit 9 has a function as a specifying unit.

Next, the operation will be described. FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing the flow of the printing process executed by the control unit 2 of the image forming apparatus 1.

In FIG. 2, the control unit 2 includes an operation input unit 9
The output condition of the image data input from is received (step S1), and based on the output condition, the document conveying section 3a
Also, the document reading operation by the image reading unit 3 and the print output operation by the image forming unit 4 and the transfer unit 5 are performed (step S
2).

Next, the control section 2 determines whether or not the original feeding section 3a and the transfer section 5 are operating normally (step S3), and if they are operating normally (step S3).
3; NO), the number of output sheets of printing paper discharged from the paper discharge unit (transfer unit 5) is counted by a counter (not shown) (step S4), and the process returns to step S2.

The control unit 2 also operates when the transfer unit 5 is not operating normally due to factors such as printing paper left in the transfer unit 5, that is, when a printer jam (abnormality) occurs (step S3). ; YES → step S5; printer jam), a control signal is output to the image forming section 4 and the transfer section 5, and the print output operation is stopped (step S6).

At this time, the control unit 2 displays an error message indicating that a printer jam has occurred and a method for coping with the printer jam on the display unit 8 (step S7). At this time, the control unit 2 continues the document reading operation by the document feeding unit 3a and the image reading unit 3, and stores the image data read from the document in the RAM 6 (step S).
8).

Then, the control section 2 determines whether or not the cause of the generated printer jam has been resolved (step S
9) If the cause of the printer jam has not been eliminated (step S9; NO), the process returns to step S7. Also,
If the cause of the printer jam is eliminated by discharging the printing paper left behind in the transfer unit 5 (step S9; YES), the control unit 2 outputs the count value of the counter (not shown) and the output condition (output). Number of sheets)
(Step S10), the image data that has not been printed out is extracted from the RAM 6, and the printout operation is restarted in the order in which the image data was read (step S11).

Further, the control section 2 detects that the document to be read by the image reading section 3 is not normally conveyed by the document conveying section 3a, that is, if a scanner jam occurs (step S3; YES → step S5; scanner jam). )
Outputs a control signal to the document conveying section 3a and the image reading section 3 to stop the document reading operation, and stores the original reading operation state at the time of stop in the RAM 6 (step S12).

At this time, the control unit 2 displays on the display unit 8 an error message indicating that a scanner jam has occurred and how to deal with the scanner jam (step S13).
At this time, if the normal image data already read by the image reading unit 3 is stored in the RAM 6, the control unit 2 continues the print output operation of the image data by the image forming unit 4 and the transfer unit 5. Then, the counter (not shown) counts the number of print sheets output from the paper output unit (transfer unit 5) (Step S1).
5).

Then, the control section 2 determines whether or not the cause of the generated scanner jam is eliminated (step S1).
6) If the cause of the scanner jam has not been eliminated (step S16; NO), the process returns to step S13. Further, the control unit 2 may, for example, ensure that the document to be read by the image reading unit 3 is normally conveyed by the document conveying unit 3a.
If the cause of the scanner jam is eliminated by adjusting the document setting position (step S16; YES),
Based on the original reading operation state at the time of stop stored in the RAM 6, the stopped original reading operation by the original feeding unit 3a and the image reading unit 3 is restarted (step S17), the process returns to step S2, and the process is continued.

As described above, the control unit 2 of the image forming apparatus 1
Monitors the operations of the original document transport unit 3a and the transfer unit 5, and when a trouble such as a printer jam or a scanner jam occurs, the trouble portion (the original document transport unit 3a and the image reading unit 3 or the image forming unit) to be dealt with. 4 and the transfer unit 5) only (the document reading operation or the print output operation) is stopped, and other operations are continued.

Further, the control section 2 of the image forming apparatus 1 counts the number of output sheets of print paper discharged from the paper discharge section (transfer section 5) by a counter (not shown) when printout is normally performed. . Then, when the generated printer jam is eliminated, the output condition (the number of output sheets) designated in advance by the operation input unit 9 is compared with the count value of the counter to extract the image data which is not printed out. The print output operation by the image forming unit 4 and the transfer unit 5 is restarted for this image data.

Further, the control unit 2 of the image forming apparatus 1 stops the document reading operation when a scanner jam occurs, and stores the document reading operation state at the time of the stop in the RAM 6.
When the cause of the scanner jam is eliminated, RA
Based on the document reading operation state at the time of stop stored in M6,
The original reading operation by the stopped original conveying unit 3a and the image reading unit 3 is restarted.

Therefore, in the image forming apparatus 1, when a mechanical trouble occurs in a part of the operation, the control section 2 stops the part of the operation in which the trouble occurs and continues other normal operations. Let And in the meantime,
It is possible to make the user perform a recovery work to solve the trouble. As a result, a decrease in efficiency (loss of time) due to the occurrence of a trouble can be suppressed, and the processing after the trouble is solved can be quickly performed.

When it is necessary to reprint the print output due to the occurrence of the printer jam, the print output should be performed based on the count value of the counter and the output condition (the number of output sheets) (that is, the print output). Image data (which was not performed) can be specified. Therefore, it is possible to easily restart the processing and reprint the specified image data after the trouble that occurred is eliminated. For this reason,
The user does not need to specify the image data to be reprinted and output, and the processing efficiency is improved.

Further, when the generated scanner jam is eliminated, based on the original reading operation state at the time of stop stored in the RAM 6, the stopped original feeding operation by the original feeding section 3a and the image reading section 3 is restarted. Therefore, it is possible to quickly perform the process after the trouble is resolved.

In the present embodiment, the document transport section 3
Although the image forming apparatus including the a, the image reading unit 3, the image forming unit 4, and the transfer unit 5 has been described, the present invention is not limited to this, and a document reading operation and a print output such as a photo printing device, a copy, and a facsimile can be performed. Any device can be supported as long as the operations are linked to each other.

Further, in the present embodiment, the number of output sheets of printing paper ejected from the paper ejecting section (transfer section 5) is counted by a counter (not shown) and compared with a predesignated number of printing sheets to find the shortage. RA for image data that is not printed out
However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, the back print data is added to each document to print out, and the print sheet finally discharged from the paper discharge unit (transfer unit 5). When the back print data of (1) is input, the subsequent image data may be extracted from the RAM 6 and printed out.

Further, the present invention is not limited to the contents of the above-mentioned embodiment, and can be appropriately modified without departing from the gist of the present invention.

[0048]

According to the invention described in claim 1 or 3, when trouble occurs, it is not necessary to stop the entire apparatus, and a recovery work for eliminating the trouble while continuing normal operation. Since it is possible to allow the user to do so, it is possible to reduce the time loss due to the occurrence of the trouble and to quickly perform the processing after the trouble is solved.

According to the invention of claim 2 or 4,
After the trouble that has occurred is resolved, it is possible to automatically restart the processing and print out the specified image data again. For this reason, it is not necessary to manually specify the image data to be reprinted, and the processing efficiency is improved.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a functional configuration of an image forming apparatus 1.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing a flow of print processing.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Image forming device 2 control unit 3a Document transport section 3 Image reading section 4 Image forming section 5 Transfer part 6 RAM 7 memory 8 Display 9 Operation input section

   ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued front page    F term (reference) 2C061 CQ23 CQ41 HK15 HV09 HV33                       HV34 HV44                 2H027 DA46 DB07 DB08 DC14 EK01                       EK03 EK09 FA01 FD08 ZA07                 5C062 AA05 AB17 AB22 AB42 AC22                       AC65 AE15 AF07 BA00

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. An original conveying means for conveying a set original, an image reading means for reading an image from the original conveyed by the original conveying means, and image data of an image read by the image reading means for each original. In an image forming apparatus including a storage unit that stores the image data stored in the storage unit and a print output unit that prints out the image data stored in the storage unit, whether an abnormality has occurred in the operation of the document conveying unit or the print output unit. Determining means for determining whether or not, based on the determination result by the determining means, a control means for stopping an operation in which an abnormality has occurred and continuing normal operation, and a stop operation when the operation is stopped by the control means State storage means for storing the operating state at the time, and the control means stores in the state storage means when the generated abnormality is resolved. An image forming apparatus characterized in that the stopped operation is restarted based on the determined operation state. 2. The image forming apparatus further comprises: designating means for designating an output number of the image data; and counting means for counting the number of outputs printed out by the printout means. When resuming, the image data stored in the storage means is read out based on the number of outputs designated by the designation means and the number of outputs counted by the counting means, and the image data is printed by the print output means. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the image forming apparatus outputs the image. 3. An original conveying function for conveying a set original, an image reading function for reading an image from the original conveyed by the original conveying function, and image data of an image read by the image reading function for each original. A computer that controls an image forming apparatus having a storage function of storing the image data stored in the storage function and a print output function of printing out the image data stored by the storage function. A determination function for determining whether or not it has occurred, a control function for stopping the operation in which an abnormality has occurred and continuing normal operation based on the determination result by the determination function, and an operation stopped by the control function In this case, a state storage function that stores the operating state at the time of stop, and a state storage function that stores the state when the abnormality that occurred is eliminated A program that realizes an operation resuming function for resuming an operation that has been stopped based on the specified operation state. 4. A specification function for specifying the number of output sheets of the image data, a count function for counting the number of outputs printed by the print output function, and a restart function of the stopped operation. A print resuming function for reading the stored image data based on the number of outputs designated by the designating function and the number of outputs counted by the counting function, and printing out the image data by the printout function; The program according to claim 3, further comprising: