JP2005178109A - Image forming device and control method therefor - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To facilitate the setting of similar jobs to be repeated immediately and prevent a setting error by allowing a user to select similarly set jobs from a list displayed and set while referring to jobs selected by permitting the reading and displaying of a series of jobs set immediately before from a booked job file. <P>SOLUTION: The image forming device provides a past job file recording jobs performed in the past and a booked job file recording booked jobs that booked and are being performed or are waiting for performance in a storage means, reads the past job file or the booked job file from the storage means and displays the detail of the file on a display means and has a control means to control the new jobs set by a user by the operating means so as to register them in the booked job file. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine, a scanner, a printer, and a facsimile.

  In recent offices, high-speed and multifunctional image forming apparatuses are frequently used together with small and simple image forming apparatuses. Generally, this high-speed and multifunctional image forming apparatus is used as an apparatus shared by many people.

  In order to improve the operating rate of the image forming apparatus used jointly, even when a certain job is being executed, a job to be performed by the next user is received in advance, and the received jobs are arranged in order and executed. In many cases, the next job is automatically started as soon as the middle job is completed. Note that the job here refers to a process executed by the image forming apparatus in accordance with a set condition.

  By using such a function, many users have set a job for executing an operation intended by the user during the operation of the image forming apparatus. However, with the increase in the number of functions of the image forming apparatus, it is possible to cause the image forming apparatus to execute various operations, and the job setting operation for executing these functions fully is also complicated. The harmful effects are getting bigger.

  When job setting work becomes complicated, it takes a long time to set the job, and moreover, missetting and forgetting to set items often occur. In order to cope with such a problem, when the job executed in the past image forming work is stored and the job is set, the stored job information is read and the setting condition is left as it is or There is also a proposal to change and set a part (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

  However, how much jobs that have already been executed are stored and in what order they should be displayed vary greatly depending on how the image forming apparatus is used. To solve this problem, as in the above proposal, the past job is stored, read out at the time of job setting, a new job setting is performed, and the use frequency of the past job used at this time is stored. There is also a proposal to configure and read from a frequently used job (see, for example, Patent Document 2).

In this proposal as well, when many jobs with simple settings have been executed in the past, the read priority of the job to be referred to has dropped when setting a job that requires complicated settings. There is a problem that it takes.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 63-90956 (first page, FIGS. 6-1 and 6-2) JP 2001-83844 A (page 1-2, FIG. 3)

  An object of the present invention is to prevent the above-described problems from becoming more serious in an image forming apparatus that is becoming increasingly sophisticated with the advancement of digital technology, and records jobs executed in the past. In addition to the reserved job file, a reserved job file that records reserved jobs is provided so that a series of jobs set most recently can be read and displayed from the reserved job list, and the user performs job setting. In addition, by selecting a job with a similar setting from these lists and making it possible to set a new job by referring to the selected job content, it is possible to easily set a similar job that is repeated most recently, The purpose is to prevent setting errors.

  This object is achieved by the following means.

(1) An operation unit for setting a job and a display unit are provided.
An image forming apparatus that sequentially executes a plurality of jobs set by the operation unit and the display unit,
A past job file that records jobs executed in the past,
A reserved job file that records a reserved job that has been set and is currently being executed or is waiting to be executed is provided in the storage means.
An image forming apparatus comprising: a control unit that reads the past job file or the reserved job file from the storage unit and displays the contents of the file on the display unit in accordance with an instruction operation by the operation unit of a user. .

  (2) The past job file includes a file of a job in which an original is read and an image is formed, and a file of a job in which an original is read and an image is transferred. Image forming apparatus.

(3) An operation unit for setting a job and a display unit are provided.
An image forming apparatus that sequentially executes a plurality of jobs set by the operation unit and the display unit,
A past job file that records jobs executed in the past,
A reserved job file that records a reserved job that has been set and is currently being executed or is waiting to be executed is provided in the storage means.
A control method for an image forming apparatus, comprising: reading out the past job file or the reserved job file from the storage unit according to an instruction operation by the operation unit of a user; and displaying the contents of the file on the display unit.

  According to the first or third aspect of the present invention, setting for reserving a job in an image forming apparatus having high speed and multiple functions is facilitated, time required for setting is saved, and errors are reduced. The Also, jobs that have been set for reservation but not yet executed are displayed, so that the job setting for performing similar jobs in succession is made more efficient.

  According to the second aspect of the present invention, the displayed jobs are displayed separately for each job type, whereby a predetermined similar job can be easily found.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a diagram schematically showing a peripheral device connected to the image forming apparatus A. As shown in FIG.

  The image forming apparatus A includes, as peripheral devices, an automatic document feeder ADF at the top, a large-capacity paper feed tray LCT on the right side, and a post-processing device FIN on the left side.

  The automatic document feeder ADF separates the documents d placed on the document table 210 one by one, sends them to the document conveyance path 201, winds them on the conveyance drum 202, and conveys them. The document d being conveyed is read by the document reading unit 1 at the document reading position 11 below the conveyance drum 202. The document d that has been read is discharged to a document discharge tray 205 by a first document transport guide 203 having a switching mechanism and a document discharge roller 204.

  When reading images on both sides of the document d, the document d on which the document image on the first surface is read is sent out in the direction of the arrow a by the first document conveyance guide 203 and the reverse roller 206, and the rear end is reversed. It stops once in a state of being pinched by the roller 206. Thereafter, when the reversing roller 206 starts reversing, the document d once stopped is switched to the first document conveying guide 203 with the trailing edge as the leading edge of the document d and the front and back being reversed. It is guided to a second document conveyance guide 207 having a mechanism and sent again to the document conveyance path. The document d sent out is scanned on the second side of the document image, and is discharged to the document discharge tray 205 by the first document transport guide 203 and the document discharge roller 204.

  The image forming apparatus A includes an original reading unit 1, an image writing unit 2, an image forming unit 3, a fixing unit 4, a reversing unit 5, a refeed unit 6, a sheet feeding unit 7, an operation display unit 8, a control unit C1, and the like. It is configured.

  The document reading means 1 irradiates the document surface of the document d conveyed by the automatic document feeder ADF at the document reading position 11 with the exposure lamp 12 and reflects the reflected light to the first mirror unit 13 and the second mirror. The original image is read by forming an image on the light receiving surface of the image sensor CCD by the unit 14 and the imaging lens 15.

  The image signal output from the image pickup device CCD is A / D converted by the input image processing means 16 and subjected to processing such as shading correction and compression, and is sent to the control means C1 as document image information, and is stored in the storage means M. Is remembered.

  The stored document image information is used as image information sent to the network via the communication means T1 when the scanner mode for reading the document and transferring the obtained information to another device is set in the image forming apparatus. When a print mode for creating a hard copy from an original is set, it is used as image information for creating a hard copy.

  The image writing unit 2 forms a latent image by scanning the surface of the photosensitive drum 31 of the rotating image forming unit 3 with a laser beam using the image information read from the storage unit M of the control unit C1. It is a well-known one composed of a semiconductor laser, a polygon mirror, a cylindrical lens, a plane mirror and the like.

  The image forming unit 3 includes a charging unit 32, a developing unit 33, a transfer separating unit 34, and a cleaning unit 35 arranged around the photosensitive drum 31. The photosensitive drum 31 whose peripheral surface is uniformly charged by the charging unit 32 is formed with a latent image by the writing unit 2 and then developed by the developing unit 33. A toner image is formed on the peripheral surface of the developed photosensitive drum 31, and is transferred onto the paper P fed from the paper feeding unit 7 by the transfer separation unit 34. The sheet P carrying the toner image is sent to the fixing unit 4, and the toner remaining on the surface of the photoreceptor drum 31 after the transfer of the toner image is removed by the cleaning unit 35 and is used for the next image formation.

  The fixing unit 4 conveys the paper P sent from the image forming unit 3 by the heating roller 41 and the pressure roller 42 arranged to face each other while being heated under pressure. To settle.

  The reversing unit 5 sends the paper P sent from the fixing unit 4 to the post-processing device FIN by the reversing guide 51 and the paper discharge roller 54.

  When the paper P is reversed and sent out, the reverse guide 51 is switched to the dotted line position in the figure, the paper P is guided downward, and then the first reverse roller 52 and the second reverse roller 53 are reversed, and the paper The rear end of P is changed to the front end and sent to the paper discharge roller 54.

  In addition, when performing so-called double-sided copying work in which image formation is performed on both sides of a sheet, the sheet P that has been fixed on the first side is guided downward by the reversing guide 51 and the trailing edge is secondly reversed. After being sandwiched between the rollers 53, this is reversed and sent out to the re-feeding means 6.

  The sheet refeeding unit 6 sends the paper P sent from the reversing unit 5 back to the sheet feeding / conveying unit 74 of the sheet feeding unit 7 to be used for image formation on the second surface.

  The paper feeding means 7 includes paper feeding trays 71, 72, 73 for storing the paper P, a plurality of rollers for taking out the paper P one by one from these trays and transporting the paper P to the paper feeding roller 75, a guide member, A sheet feeding / conveying means 74 and a sheet feeding roller 75 are configured. In the present embodiment, a large-capacity paper feed tray LCT capable of stacking a large amount of paper P is connected to the image forming apparatus A. The paper P fed from here is sent to the paper feed roller 75 by the paper feed / conveying means 74 in the same manner as when fed from another paper feed tray.

  The paper feed roller 75 feeds the fed paper P in accordance with the toner image position on the photosensitive drum 31 after correcting the conveyance curve.

  The operation display means 8 is a combination of a display means for displaying characters and images and an operation means for a user to input an instruction operation, and is configured by a touch panel and push buttons.

  The post-processing apparatus FIN has a sheet mounting table 310, 311 on which various insertion sheets P2 are mounted, and a plurality of rollers and guides for sending the insertion sheet P2 from the sheet mounting table 310, 311 to each processing unit. A part of the sheet feeding means 300 made up of members and a paper discharge tray 390 for stacking a small amount of discharged paper P are arranged, and below these are the sheet feeding means 300, the punching means 320, and the shift means. 330, an intermediate stacker 360, a stapler 340, a folding means 350, discharge trays 391 and 392 for stacking a large amount of paper P that has been subjected to predetermined post-processing and output, and a control means C3 for controlling these means. Has been.

  The punching means 320 is used for filing on the sheet P formed and output by the image forming apparatus A and the insertion sheet P2 fed by the sheet feeding means 300 from the sheet placing tables 310 and 311 of the post-processing apparatus FIN. According to the conditions set by the operation display means of the image forming apparatus A or the operation display means of the post-processing apparatus F, the punching process is performed at a position corresponding to the size of the paper P and the insertion sheet. Do.

  The shift unit 330 is a processing unit that discharges the paper P and the insertion sheet P2 in the transport width direction by changing the paper discharge position for each part composed of a predetermined number of originals. This is determined by information sent from the control means C1 of the image forming apparatus A or information set by the operation display means 370 of the post-processing apparatus FIN.

  The stapler 340 is a binding unit that binds a bundle of sheets P and insertion sheets P2 stacked on the intermediate stacker 360 with a needle. The processing conditions such as the number of sheets to be bound, the binding position (for example, binding the vertical side portion or the horizontal side portion), and the number of bindings are displayed on the operation display unit 8 of the image forming apparatus A or the operation display of the post-processing apparatus F. It is determined by the conditions set by the means 370. The sheet P and the insertion sheet P2 after the binding process are finished are pushed up by the intermediate stacker 360, the end portions are nipped by the sheet discharge rollers 97, and then discharged onto the sheet discharge tray 391.

  The folding means 350 performs a folding process on the paper P accumulated on the intermediate stacker 360 and the insertion sheet P2, and discharges the paper P to the paper discharge tray 392 by the transport belt.

  As described above, the post-processing device F is provided with a plurality of placing means for placing sheets according to the purpose.

  The sheet placement tables 310 and 311 use the insertion sheet P2 prepared for addition to the paper P discharged from the image forming apparatus A or the post-processing apparatus F alone in an off-line state with respect to the image processing apparatus A. In this case, it is a placing means for placing various sheets. In this example, the post-processing apparatus F has two sheet placement tables, but may be provided with one or more than three sheet placement tables.

  A paper discharge tray 390 is a small capacity that receives paper P that has been discharged from the image forming apparatus A and processed by the post-processing apparatus F, and paper that has been processed from the sheet placement tables 310 and 311 and processed. It is a mounting means.

  The paper discharge tray 391 is a large-capacity placing means for receiving the paper P processed and discharged by the shift means 330 or the stapler 340 and the insertion sheet P2, and the paper discharge tray 392 is folded by the folding means 350. It is a placing means for receiving the sheet P and the insertion sheet P2.

  FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating the control relationship between the image forming apparatus A and peripheral devices. Note that blocks not related to the description of the present invention are not shown in the figure.

  The control unit C1 of the image forming apparatus A is a computer system including a storage unit M, an image processing chip, an input / output interface, and the like with a CPU (CPU1) as a center. The control units C2, C3, and C4 of the automatic document feeder ADF, the post-processing device FIN, and the large-capacity paper feed tray LCT, which are peripheral devices, are also configured in a similar manner although they are small in scale. , T4. In this example, serial communication means is employed as the communication means.

  FIG. 3 conceptually illustrates a job file created in the storage unit M of the image forming apparatus A, and a file that records jobs executed in the past in the order of execution (referred to as a past job file). These are divided into files for recording reserved jobs in the order of reservation acceptance (referred to as reservation job files). Further, the past job file is a file for recording a job for forming an image by the image forming apparatus (referred to as a print job file), and only the original is read without image formation, and the image data is transmitted. The files are divided into files for recording jobs (referred to as scanner job files).

  FIG. 4 shows items of data constituting one print job filed in the reserved job file. There are two types of jobs: the above-mentioned print job and scanner job. In the case of a scanner job, the data structure is different from that of the print job including the reference column of the transmission destination file. In order to avoid repetition, a diagram showing data items similar to those of a print job and description thereof are omitted.

  FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a display surface of the operation display means 8. The surface of the image operation unit is a touch panel, and the user performs an instruction operation by pressing the displayed button unit. In this figure, a reserved job button is pressed, and a list of reserved jobs is displayed from the reserved job file.

  When the past job button is pressed, jobs executed in the past are displayed as a list in order from the newest job with the latest job at the top. In addition, a print job button and a scanner job button are newly displayed at the positions where the reserved job button and the past job button are displayed, respectively. By pressing these buttons, the displayed job is changed to a print job, Alternatively, only the scanner jobs can be displayed as a list in the new order.

  FIG. 6 is a display example displayed when a user selects a job for reference from the list of reserved jobs displayed as shown in FIG. The user changes the setting using the control buttons a to q if necessary while referring to the display contents. When the OK button is pressed after completing the predetermined setting, the job is registered in the reserved job file as a new job.

  FIG. 7 is a flowchart for explaining the flow of reading a job reserved from the reserved job file or a job executed in the past from the past job file to the operation display means 8 and displaying it as a list.

  When the user presses the reserved job button, a list of reserved jobs as shown in FIG. 5 is displayed on the operation display means 8 (S1, S2). If the job to be referred to is not found in the list, the past job button is pressed to display the job executed in the past (S3, S4). If necessary, the print job button or the scanner is displayed. A job button is pushed to make it easier to find similar jobs (S5-8).

  FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing a procedure for the user to set a new job in the reserved job file with reference to the displayed job list.

  When there is a job to be referred to in the job list, when a predetermined job is selected with the job selection button, a display as shown in FIG. 6 appears (S12 to 14). The contents are changed (S15, S16), and after the change is completed, the reservation button is pressed, and the setting contents are registered in the reservation job file (S18).

  FIG. 9 is a flowchart illustrating a procedure in which the image forming apparatus sequentially executes a job with reference to a reserved job file, and records the job contents as a history in a past job file when the execution of the job is completed. .

  The control unit C1 reads jobs from the reserved job file created in the storage unit M in the order of reservation, and controls each unit of the image forming apparatus A and the peripheral device in accordance with the set contents. Are executed (S21, S22). When the job is completed, the setting contents of the executed job are registered in the print job file or scanner job file provided in the past job file corresponding to the job contents.

  As described above, in the job setting work of an image forming apparatus that has advanced functions and capabilities, it is possible to refer not only to jobs executed in the past but also to reserved jobs. Job setting is facilitated, and particularly when similar work continues, drastic improvement in work efficiency and reduction in setting errors are realized.

1 is a diagram schematically illustrating an image forming apparatus and a peripheral device. FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a control relationship between an image forming apparatus and peripheral devices. It is a conceptual diagram of a job file. FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a data structure of a print job. It is a figure which shows the example of a display of a reservation job. It is a figure which shows the example of a content display of a job. It is a flowchart which shows the procedure which displays a job list. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a procedure for registering a new job in a reserved job file. It is a flowchart which shows the procedure which records the job of completion of execution in the past job file.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Document reading means 2 Image writing means 3 Image forming means 4 Fixing means 5 Reversing means 6 Refeed means 7 Paper feed means 8 Operation display means A Image forming apparatus M Storage means C1, C2, C3, C4 Control means T1, T2 , T3, T4 Communication means ADF Automatic document feeder FIN Post-processing device LCT Large capacity tray

Claims (3)

An operation means for setting a job, and a display means;
An image forming apparatus that sequentially executes a plurality of jobs set by the operation unit and the display unit,
A past job file that records jobs executed in the past,
A reservation job file in which a reservation job is set and a reservation job that is currently being executed or is waiting to be executed is recorded in the storage means.
An image forming apparatus comprising: a control unit that reads out the past job file or the reserved job file from the storage unit and displays the contents of the file on the display unit in accordance with an instruction operation performed by the user through the operation unit. . 2. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the past job file includes a file of a job that has read a document and formed an image and a file of a job that has read the document and transferred an image. . An operation means for setting a job, and a display means;
An image forming apparatus that sequentially executes a plurality of jobs set by the operation unit and the display unit,
A past job file that records jobs executed in the past,
A reserved job file that records a reserved job that has been set and is currently being executed or is waiting to be executed is provided in the storage means.
A control method for an image forming apparatus, comprising: reading out the past job file or the reserved job file from the storage unit according to an instruction operation by the operation unit of a user; and displaying the contents of the file on the display unit.

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