JP2005319638A - Image forming apparatus and control program - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an image forming apparatus capable of minimizing useless printing when canceling a print job. <P>SOLUTION: The image forming apparatus comprises a means for specifying a print job to be canceled according to designation from a user, a means for acquiring the state of a print job under processing, a means for making a decision whether such conditions as a sheet not yet printed with the state of a print job to be canceled acquired by the state acquiring means is already fed out and a print job following to the print job to be canceled exists are satisfied or not, and a control means for canceling the print job to be canceled if the conditions are satisfied and printing the data of the following print job onto the not yet printed sheet which has been fed out already. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus having a print job cancel function.

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there is known an image forming apparatus that can cancel a print job that is already being transmitted from a client computer to the image forming apparatus. As an image forming apparatus capable of promptly executing printing of a succeeding job by promptly executing job cancel processing, those described in Patent Literature 1, Patent Literature 2, and the like are known.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2002-200245 JP 2003-266881 A

  However, the apparatuses shown in Patent Documents 1 and 2 focus on whether to cancel a print job that is a cancel target efficiently without waste, and when canceling a print job that is being printed. In addition, there is a problem that the printing operation is continued even for a print job to be canceled for a paper that has already been fed and for which the carrying operation cannot be stopped. There is a problem that the number of sheets on which unnecessary printing is performed increases because the number of sheets fed into the image forming apparatus increases as the speed of the high-speed machine increases.

  The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and an object thereof is to provide an image forming apparatus and a control program capable of minimizing unnecessary printing when canceling a print job.

  According to the first aspect of the present invention, job specifying means for specifying a print job to be canceled according to a user instruction, status acquisition means for acquiring the status of a print job being processed, and acquisition by the status acquisition means Determining means for determining whether or not there is a paper sheet that has been unprinted and the status of the print job to be canceled satisfies a condition that there is a print job subsequent to the print job to be canceled; and A controller that cancels the print job to be canceled and prints data of the subsequent print job on the unprinted paper when the determination unit determines that the condition is satisfied; It is provided with.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, printing is performed only when the unprinted fed sheet and the sheet of the subsequent print job are the same.

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, job acquisition processing for specifying a print job to be canceled according to a user instruction, status acquisition processing for acquiring the status of the print job being processed, and acquisition by the status acquisition processing A determination process for determining whether or not there is a paper sheet that has been unprinted and the status of the print job to be canceled satisfies a condition that a print job subsequent to the print job to be canceled exists, A control process for canceling the print job to be canceled and printing the data of the subsequent print job on the unprinted paper sheet when the determination process determines that the condition is satisfied; It is characterized by having a computer perform.

According to the present invention, a print job to be canceled is specified in accordance with a user instruction, the state of the print job to be canceled includes unprinted paper that has been fed, and follows the print job to be canceled. When it is determined that the conditions for the existence of a print job are satisfied, the print job to be canceled is canceled and the data for the subsequent print job is printed on unprinted paper. Printing can be minimized, and the print job can be canceled quickly.
Further, by printing on the same sheet, an effect that the printed matter intended by the user can be surely obtained is also obtained.

  Hereinafter, an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of an image forming apparatus according to the embodiment. In this figure, reference numeral 1 denotes an image forming apparatus that prints image data, text data, and the like. Reference numeral 2 denotes a host computer that creates image data and text data to be printed in the image forming apparatus 1 and transmits print data obtained from the created data to the image forming apparatus 1, and includes a personal computer or the like. The image forming apparatus 1 and the host computer 2 are connected by a computer network or the like. Reference numeral 11 denotes a host buffer that receives print data in PDL (Printer Description Language) format transmitted from the host computer 2 and temporarily stores the received print data. The capacity of the host buffer 11 has at least a capacity capable of absorbing at least the difference between the communication speed and the printing speed, but the user can increase it as necessary. Reference numeral 12 denotes a data analysis unit that reads print data stored in the host buffer 11 and analyzes the print data. Reference numeral 13 denotes a print buffer that stores print data in units of pages that have been analyzed by the data analysis unit 12. Reference numeral 14 denotes an image data conversion unit that converts print data for each page into bitmap image data to be printed and outputs the image data. Reference numeral 15 denotes a printing unit that prints the image data output from the image data conversion unit 14 on the fed printing paper. Reference numeral 16 denotes a paper feeding unit that feeds printing paper from the paper feed tray to the printing unit 15. Reference numeral 17 denotes a control unit that performs overall control of the operation of the image forming apparatus 1. The control unit 17 issues a printing instruction to the printing unit 15 and the paper feeding unit 16 at the timing when one page of data is stored in the print buffer 13, whereby the paper feeding unit 16 starts the paper feeding operation. In addition to transporting the paper, the image data conversion unit 14 interprets the intermediate language or decompresses the compressed data in order from the top of the print data stored in the print buffer 13 in synchronization with the paper transport timing. One page is printed by developing as bitmap data on the memory provided in the section 15.

  Reference numeral 21 denotes an application such as word processor software for creating document data. Reference numeral 22 denotes a printer driver that generates and outputs print data for the image forming apparatus 1 from document data.

  Next, the printing operation of the host computer 2 and the image forming apparatus 1 will be described with reference to FIG. First, when a user creates data to be printed using the application 21 and performs a print instruction operation, the application 21 outputs print data for printing to the printer driver 22. At this time, the application 21 gives the print data the file name of the data that is the basis of the print data as the header information of the print data. In response to this, the printer driver 22 converts the print data into print data interpretable by the image forming apparatus 1 and outputs the print data to the image forming apparatus 1.

  This print data is stored in the host buffer 11. Subsequently, the data analysis unit 12 reads the print data stored in the host buffer 11, sequentially analyzes the read print data, and after the analysis for one page is completed, the intermediate language format or compression format data is obtained. Store in the print buffer 13. These types of data are smaller in size than the bitmap data, and this is the print queue data. At this time, when the print data read from the host buffer 11 is header information, the data analysis unit 12 notifies the control unit 17 of the header information. The control unit 17 holds this header information in the control unit 17 and deletes it when the print job is completed. Therefore, the control unit 17 holds the header information of the print job currently being processed.

Subsequently, in response to storing one page of print data in the print buffer 13, the control unit 17 transmits the print data to the image data conversion unit 14, and in parallel with this, the printing unit 15 and the supply unit 15. Requests the paper section 16 to start a printing operation. In response to the print operation start instruction, the paper supply unit 16 starts the paper supply operation. In synchronization with the timing of the paper transport operation, the image data conversion unit 14 sequentially interprets the print data stored in the print buffer 13 from the top and develops it as bitmap data on the memory managed by the printing unit 15. . The printing unit 15 sequentially reads the bitmap data developed on the memory and prints it on a sheet of paper, thereby printing one page. Since the host buffer 11 stores a print job for the capacity of the host buffer 11, the printing operation is executed in the order received.
By such an operation, data created by the application 21 is printed by the image forming apparatus 1.

Next, an operation in which the host computer 2 and the image forming apparatus 1 shown in FIG. 1 cancel the print job will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing an operation of canceling the print job in the image forming apparatus 1 shown in FIG.
First, the user performs an operation of canceling a print job from the host computer 2 after operating a print instruction from the host computer 2. At this time, the user identifies and selects the print job to be canceled based on the print job header information (the file name of the data file that is the basis of the print data). In response to this, the application 21 transmits a print job cancel request including header information to the image forming apparatus 1.

  This print job cancel request is received by the control unit 17 via the host buffer 11 (step S1). In response to this, the control unit 17 extracts header information included in the received print job cancel request, and obtains information for specifying the print job to be canceled (step S2).

  Next, the control unit 17 acquires information indicating the current state of the identified print job (step S3). This status information is information based on the current status of each of the host buffer 11, the print buffer 13, the printing unit 15, and the paper feeding unit 16. Subsequently, the control unit 17 determines whether there is a sheet fed to execute the print job to be canceled based on the acquired job status information (step S4). As a result of this determination, if there is no paper being fed, that is, if the job to be canceled is waiting for a printing operation, the control unit 17 deletes the print data of the print job to be canceled on the print buffer 13. (Step S5). Then, as a response to the print job cancel request, the control unit 17 transmits a cancel end notification to the host computer 2 (step S6).

  Next, when there is a sheet being fed, the control unit 17 determines whether there is a sheet that has already been fed and an unprinted sheet (step S7). If there is no unprinted paper as a result of this determination, the control unit 17 deletes the print data of the print job to be canceled from the print buffer 13, stops the printing operation during printing, and removes this paper. The paper is discharged (step S8). Then, as a response to the print job cancel request, the control unit 17 transmits a cancel end notification to the host computer 2 (step S6).

  Next, when there is an unprinted sheet, the control unit 17 determines whether or not a subsequent print job is on the print buffer 13 (step S9). If there is no subsequent print job as a result of this determination, the control unit 17 deletes the print data of the print job to be canceled on the print buffer 13 and discharges the fed paper (step S10). . Then, as a response to the print job cancel request, the control unit 17 transmits a cancel end notification to the host computer 2 (step S6). The paper discharged here is a paper that can be reused because it is not printed.

  On the other hand, if there is a subsequent print job, the control unit 17 skips the print data of the print job to be canceled (step S11), and sends a cancel completion notification to the host computer 2 as a response to the print job cancel request. Transmit (step S6). Then, the control unit 17 prints the print data of the subsequent print job on the fed paper (step S12).

Here, with reference to FIG. 3, the operation | movement of step S11, S12 shown in FIG. 2 is demonstrated. Here, as an example, the first print job is a job for printing images “A”, “B”, and “C” on three sheets of paper, and the second print job is “1”, “ It is assumed that the image “2” is a job for printing on two sheets of paper.
As described above, when there are two print jobs, image data is generated in the print buffer 13 in the order of printing, and sheets are sequentially fed from the sheet feeding tray by the sheet feeding unit 16. Then, since the image data in the print buffer 13 is printed by the printing unit 15 in order from the top image data, the “A” image of the first print job is printed. At this time, if there is a request for canceling the first print job from the host computer 2, the controller 17 has unprinted sheets (second and third sheets in FIG. 3), and It is determined whether there is a subsequent print job (second print job). If this condition is satisfied, the control unit 17 skips the second print data (“B” image) and the third print data (“C” image) of the first print job, The print data for the first and second sheets of the second print job are printed on the already fed sheets (second and third sheets in FIG. 3). As a result, the first print data (“A” image) of the first print job and the first and second print data (“1” and “2” images) of the second print job are obtained. It is printed and discharged.

  When the image forming apparatus 1 includes a plurality of paper feed trays, the print data of the subsequent print job is already fed only when the paper size and direction of the fed paper match the subsequent print job. You may make it print on this paper. In this case, the determination in step S9 shown in FIG. 2 is replaced with a determination that “there is a subsequent print job and the size and direction of the print paper of the subsequent print job are the same as the fed paper”. That's fine.

  In the above description, the print job cancel operation based on the data transmitted from the host computer 2 has been described. However, the same operation as that described above is performed on the print job of the image read by the scanner or the like. Thus, the present invention can be applied to a print job based on data transmitted from another device.

  In this way, the print job to be canceled is specified according to the user's instruction, the print job in which the cancel target print job status is unprinted, and the print job follows the print job to be canceled When it is determined that the condition exists, the print job to be canceled is canceled and the data of the subsequent print job is printed on unprinted paper. Can be minimized, and the print job can be canceled quickly.

  Note that a print job canceling process is performed by recording a program for realizing the functions of the processing unit in FIG. 1 on a computer-readable recording medium, causing the computer system to read and execute the program recorded on the recording medium. May be performed. Here, the “computer system” includes an OS and hardware such as peripheral devices. The “computer-readable recording medium” refers to a storage device such as a flexible medium, a magneto-optical disk, a portable medium such as a ROM and a CD-ROM, and a hard disk incorporated in a computer system. Further, the “computer-readable recording medium” refers to a volatile memory (RAM) in a computer system that becomes a server or a client when a program is transmitted via a network such as the Internet or a communication line such as a telephone line. In addition, those holding programs for a certain period of time are also included.

  The program may be transmitted from a computer system storing the program in a storage device or the like to another computer system via a transmission medium or by a transmission wave in the transmission medium. Here, the “transmission medium” for transmitting the program refers to a medium having a function of transmitting information, such as a network (communication network) such as the Internet or a communication line (communication line) such as a telephone line. The program may be for realizing a part of the functions described above. Furthermore, what can implement | achieve the function mentioned above in combination with the program already recorded on the computer system, what is called a difference file (difference program) may be sufficient.

It is a block diagram which shows the structure of one Embodiment of this invention. 3 is a flowchart showing an operation of the image forming apparatus 1 shown in FIG. FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a print job cancel operation.

Explanation of symbols

1 Image forming apparatus,
11: Host buffer,
12: Data analysis unit,
13: Print buffer,
14: Image data conversion unit,
15 ... Printing section,
16: paper feeding unit,
17 ... control unit,
2 ... Host computer,
21 ... Application,
22 ... Printer driver

Claims (3)

Job specifying means for specifying a print job to be canceled in accordance with a user instruction;
Status acquisition means for acquiring the status of the print job being processed;
It is determined whether or not the cancel target print job acquired by the status acquisition unit satisfies a condition that there is an unprinted fed paper and a print job subsequent to the cancel target print job exists. Determination means to perform,
When the determination unit determines that the condition is satisfied, the control unit cancels the print job to be canceled and prints data of the subsequent print job on the unprinted paper that has been fed. An image forming apparatus comprising:   The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein printing is performed only when the unprinted fed sheet and the sheet of the subsequent print job are the same. Job identification processing for identifying a print job to be canceled according to a user instruction;
Status acquisition processing to acquire the status of the print job being processed;
It is determined whether or not the cancel target print job acquired by the status acquisition process satisfies a condition that there is an unprinted fed paper and a print job subsequent to the cancel target print job exists. A determination process to
A control process for canceling the print job to be canceled and printing the data of the subsequent print job on the unprinted fed paper when the determination process determines that the condition is satisfied A control program characterized by causing a computer to perform.

Images