JP2003312098A - Imaging apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an imaging apparatus in which the work for taking out a target sheet instantaneously upon discharge thereof or the work for removing accumulated sheets entirely is facilitated by lowering the sheet discharge speed. <P>SOLUTION: The imaging apparatus capable of printing on a plurality of sheets continuously comprises an operating panel 101 accepting a key input for delaying the operation by lowering the sheet discharge speed, and a set contents managing section 105 for holding the set contents thereof. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,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 such as a printer, a copying machine and a facsimile, and more particularly to an image forming apparatus for continuously ejecting paper sheets.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In printers and copying machines, there is a known technique for temporarily stopping printing by key input.

[0003]

In an image forming apparatus such as a printer or a copier, the number of printed sheets per minute is 60.
With a high-speed type that exceeds the number of sheets, it is important to take out a specific sheet of paper while the sheets are being output continuously to the output tray, or to move the output result stacked on the output tray, It's an obstacle and not easy. When one printer is shared by many people like a network printer, jobs other than one's own are often sent continuously, and waiting for the completion of the paper ejection operation is not complete There is.

As described above, the function of stopping printing by the stop button has already been provided, but in the above high-speed apparatus, since a plurality of sheets are moving at the same time in the conveying path, it is not possible to stop at the target sheet. Not exclusively. Further, even if the sheet is stopped too early and restarted, a plurality of sheets of paper will be fed immediately, so it is difficult to just stop the sheet of interest.

In order to solve the above problems, the present invention reduces the paper discharge speed when the user gives an instruction by pressing a button on the operation panel or the like so that the target paper is discharged at the moment the paper is discharged. An object of the present invention is to provide an image forming apparatus that facilitates the work of taking out and removing all accumulated paper.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the invention according to claim 1 is to reduce the paper discharge speed and perform delay processing in an image forming apparatus capable of continuously printing a plurality of sheets. The most main feature is an image forming apparatus including an operation panel that receives the key input of, and a setting content management unit that holds the setting content.

A second aspect of the invention is characterized in that, in the image forming apparatus according to the first aspect, the image forming apparatus has a variable discharge speed by an operation from an operation panel.

The invention according to claim 3 is the invention according to claim 1 or 2.
The main feature of the image forming apparatus is the image forming apparatus that returns the discharge speed to the original value after a predetermined time has elapsed or when a predetermined number of sheets have been discharged after the discharge speed is slowed.

The invention according to claim 4 is the invention according to claim 1 or 2.
The main feature of the image forming apparatus is the image forming apparatus that restores the paper discharge speed by switching to the next job after slowing the paper discharge speed.

The invention according to claim 5 is the invention according to claim 1 or 2.
The main feature of the image forming apparatus is the image forming apparatus that allows a long discharge interval between jobs.

The invention according to claim 6 is the invention according to claim 1 or 2.
The main feature of the image forming apparatus is an image forming apparatus that allows a long discharge interval between jobs.

[0012]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram of a printer as an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.
This printer has the following functional modules.

The operation panel 101 has an information display section such as an LCD or LED and an input key, and confirms the setting contents such as printing conditions and gives an instruction to change the setting. In addition, a status display such as an alert is displayed by displaying a message on the LCD or turning on the LED. The storage device 102 is a nonvolatile memory such as an HDD or NVRAM, and stores initial values of various setting contents and current setting values.

The engine 103 indicates an image forming unit, a paper feeding / discharging tray, and a paper conveying unit. The screen control unit 104 controls the contents displayed on the operation panel 101 and the lighting of the LEDs, and transmits the key input to the setting contents management unit 105. The setting content management unit 105 determines the current setting content based on the various setting contents read from the storage device 102, the key input received from the screen control unit 104, and the engine information received through the engine I / F 106. Notify through 104 and engine I / F 106. In addition, the storage device 102 stores the data.

The engine I / F 106 outputs engine information such as the size of paper set in the paper feed tray to the engine 10.
3 and passes it to the setting content management unit 105. Also,
The video data is transmitted to the engine 103. The data receiving unit 107 receives data from the host computer 120. The data processing unit 108 processes the received data, and expands up to the page break process in the page buffer for one page. Further, the data expanded in the page buffer is stored in the large-capacity storage device 110 for each job.

The video processing unit 109 transmits the page buffer as video data to the engine 103 via the engine I / F 106. The mass storage device 110 is an HDD
The data expanded in the page buffer by a non-volatile memory such as the above is accumulated in units of jobs.

The outline from the data reception to the printing output by the printer will be described below. 1. It receives data from the host computer 120. 2. Sequential expansion processing is performed according to the received data content. 3. When the page buffer for one page is created, it is sent to the engine 103 and printed. 4. In the case of a storage type job, storage in the mass storage device 110 is also performed. 5. If the received data still remains, 2. Repeat the above.

Next, the invention of claim 1 will be described. When the user designates the delay process by pressing a button on the operation panel 101 or the like in order to reduce the discharge speed, the setting is held in the setting content management unit 105. As a method of reducing the paper discharge speed, a method of slowing down the linear velocity of the engine, a method of providing a waiting time in the middle of the printing process, etc. can be considered.
In the following description, a method of shifting the paper feed timing is given as an example.

The operation will be described below with reference to the flowchart of FIG. The data is received (S101) and expanded in the page buffer (S102). It is determined whether delay processing is designated (S103), and if not designated, the sheet is immediately fed (S106) and one page is printed (S107). When the delay process is designated, the sheet is fed with a delay until the next sheet feeding is designated in S105. If the data continues in S108, the process is repeated. If the data is completed, the process ends. By the above operation, when the delay process is designated, it is possible to set a discharge interval with respect to the sheet discharged immediately before.

The invention of claim 2 will be described. The points added to the invention of claim 1 will be described below. Similar to the printing conditions and the like set by the user from the panel or the like, a setting item for the discharge speed is added so that the operation panel 101, the storage device 102, the screen control unit 104, and the setting content management unit 105 can set the items in advance. . The setting content may be selected from a plurality of setting values, or an arbitrary paper discharge interval may be specified in seconds.

The paper discharge speed set here is referred to in step S104 of the flowchart of FIG. 3 to determine the delay time in step S105. By the above operation, the sheet can be discharged at the sheet discharging speed set by the user.

The invention of claim 3 will be described. Here, an example in which the passage of a certain period of time is used as a condition for returning the paper discharge speed to the original condition will be described. Additional points to the inventions of claims 1 and 2 will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

The timer is started at the time of printing the first sheet immediately after the delay process is designated (S205), and the sheet is fed and printed while the delay process (S207) is performed until the set time elapses. The set time here may be a fixed time, which can be arbitrarily set by the user similarly to the discharge speed of the invention of claim 2. When the set time has elapsed in S206, the designation of the delay process is canceled and the timer is reset (S208).

By the above operation, the timer is started from the printing of the first sheet after the delay processing is designated and the designation of the delay processing is canceled after the elapse of the set time, so that the discharge speed is restored. The processing other than the above steps is as shown in the figure.

The invention of claim 4 will be described. Differences from the invention of claim 3 will be described below. S205 of FIG.
And S206 are replaced with S206 'in FIG. When the delay processing is designated, it is determined in S206 ′ whether or not the page is the head of the job. If the page is the head of the job, the designation of the delay processing is canceled in S208.

Known methods of determining the beginning of a job include a method of distinguishing by the job start command and a method of determining by the elapsed time from the last data reception. By the above operation, when a new job is switched to in the state where the delay process is designated, the designation of the delay process is canceled, and the discharge speed is restored.

The invention of claim 5 will be described. Here, an additional point will be described with reference to FIG. 6 regarding an embodiment combined with the invention of claim 3. In S307, it is determined whether or not it is the beginning of the job. If it is the beginning of the job, the delay time set in S304 is further extended in S309. The extension time may be fixed or arbitrarily set.

By the above operation, the time until the first page of the job is discharged is further delayed as compared with the other pages, so that the interval between the jobs can be extended at the boundary between the jobs. The processing other than the above steps is as shown in the figure.

The invention of claim 6 will be described. Differences from the invention of claim 5 will be described below. S307 of FIG.
By changing the subsequent processing to S310 and S311 as shown in FIG. 7 so that the delay processing is executed only for the first page of the job, it is possible to leave the paper discharge interval only at the boundary between the jobs.

[0030]

As described above, in the image forming apparatus according to the first aspect of the present invention, the sheets to be ejected are spaced from each other even when printing a job of a plurality of pages according to a user's instruction such as pressing a button. Since the paper ejection speed is slowed,
Even during continuous output on a high-speed machine, it is easy to take out a specific sheet of paper that has been ejected and check the print result, or remove the output result that has accumulated in the paper ejection tray.

In the image forming apparatus according to the second aspect of the invention, the paper discharge speed is variable to the speed desired by the user. Therefore, by setting the paper discharge speed according to the user's purpose, the productivity of the apparatus is lowered. Can be suppressed.

In the image forming apparatus according to the third aspect of the invention, since the paper discharge speed is returned to the original value after the paper discharge speed is slowed down and a fixed time elapses, or a predetermined number of papers are discharged, the user slows the paper discharge speed. Even if you forget to return to the original after doing, it will automatically return, and it is possible to suppress the decrease in the productivity of the device.

In the image forming apparatus according to the fourth aspect, when the job is switched to a new job while the paper ejection speed is slowed, the paper ejection speed is returned to the original value, so that a plurality of users can share it like a network printer. Even if the paper discharge speed is slowed by the printer, the paper discharge speed is automatically returned when printing a job of another user, and the productivity of the apparatus can be prevented from decreasing.

In the image forming apparatus according to the fifth aspect of the present invention, the sheet discharge interval between jobs is set particularly long, so that the reduction of the productivity of the apparatus is suppressed and the output collected in the sheet discharge tray in units of copies. The result removing operation can be further facilitated.

In the image forming apparatus according to the sixth aspect of the present invention, only the sheet discharge interval between jobs is set long, so that the apparatus can be easily extracted and the output results accumulated in the sheet discharge tray can be easily removed. It is possible to minimize the decrease in productivity of

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram of a printer as an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart of a first control example.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart of a second control example.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart of a third control example.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart of a fourth control example.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart of a fifth control example.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart of a sixth control example.

[Explanation of symbols]

101 Operation panel 105 Setting contents management section

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Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. In an image forming apparatus capable of continuously printing a plurality of sheets, an operation panel that accepts a key input for reducing a sheet discharge speed and performing a delay process, and a setting content management unit that holds the setting content thereof. An image forming apparatus comprising: 2. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the discharge speed is variable by an operation from an operation panel. 3. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the discharge speed is returned to the original value after the discharge speed is slowed and a predetermined time has elapsed or a predetermined number of sheets have been discharged. 4. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the sheet discharging speed is reduced and then the sheet discharging speed is restored by switching to the next job. 5. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a sheet discharge interval between jobs is set to be particularly long. 6. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein only the sheet discharge interval at the boundary between jobs is long.