JP2006074120A - Image forming apparatus and image forming method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To avoid paper sheet sides from being unarranged and rear sides of the paper sheets from being arranged in the descending order of originals when the paper sheets are printed, cut off and thereafter piled up. <P>SOLUTION: Originals inputted by a scanner are stored in an image memory in the order of page numbers as input image data. A control section prints out the input image data on print paper and receives instruction data for indicating a center line of the print paper and a cut-off side at cutting from an entry section. The control section stores addresses wherein the input image data are stored to an array A, and an image processing section rearranges addresses stored in the first half or the latter half of the array A such that the page numbers are in the descending order on the basis of the instruction data as above. The image processing section alternately arranges the rearranged addresses stored in the first half or the latter half of the array A and the un-rearranged addresses stored in the first half or the latter half of the array A and stores the resulting addresses to an array B. A print processing section prints the input image in the order stored in the array B on both sides of the print paper sheets and obtains a print result shown in Figure. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine, a printer, and a multifunction machine having these functions.

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine or a printer, for the purpose of improving printing efficiency, two pages of a document are printed on one sheet of printing paper having a size corresponding to two pages of the document, and the center line of the printed sheet is followed. It is common to cut and use. Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-151867 discloses a method of taking a binding hole or a binding margin on a sheet when a printed sheet is cut along a center line of the sheet and overlapped for bookbinding. Further, Patent Document 2 discloses an image forming method in which, in an apparatus that does not perform bookbinding processing, printed sheets can be stacked in the ascending order of pages by stacking them in the cutting order.
JP 2002-68577 A JP 2002-281278 A

However, the invention of Patent Document 1 relates to an apparatus including a bookbinding process and cannot be applied to a case where many bookbinding processes are not required. Further, when the print image forming method according to the invention of Patent Document 2 described above is performed, as shown in FIG. 2, two pages of the document are collected and printed on the same surface of one sheet of paper. The cut edges of the printed paper are different. For this reason, when the printed sheets are stacked, the sheets become uneven and the convenience is poor.
The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and avoids papers becoming uneven and arranged in descending order of page numbers when printed sheets are stacked after printing and cutting. It is an object of the present invention to provide a convenient image forming apparatus and an image forming method.

  In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the invention of claim 1 includes a data writing means for storing a plurality of inputted page-unit image data in the first storage means, and a cutting position indication data inputted by a user. An array generation means for generating a data array in the second storage means by arranging identification data indicating storage positions of the respective image data in the first storage means in a predetermined order, and the array generation means An image forming apparatus comprising: a printing unit that reads out the image data from the first storage unit and prints it on a sheet based on the data array generated by the first step.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the invention, the array generation unit generates the first array by storing the identification data in the second storage unit in ascending order of page numbers, and is generated by a user. When the input cutting position instruction data indicates left side cutting, the first half of the first array is displayed in the first half, and when the right side cutting is specified, the second half of the first array is displayed in descending order. The second storage unit generates a second array by rearranging and storing in the second storage unit, and alternately arranges the identification data of the first half part and the second half part of the second array. The data array is generated by storing the data array.

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the first or second aspect of the present invention, the perforation for perforating two or more holes on one side, a total of four or more holes, at a position symmetrical to the center line of the paper subjected to the printing process It has the means.

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, a plurality of input page-by-page image data is stored in the first storage means, and identification data indicating a storage position of each image data is stored in the second storage means. The first array is generated by storing in ascending order, and when the cutting position instruction data input by the user indicates left side cutting, the first half of the first array is instructed to cut the right side. When the second array of the first array is rearranged so that the page numbers are in descending order and stored in the second storage means, a second array is generated, and the first half and the second half of the second array are generated. A third array is generated by alternately arranging the pieces of identification data of the portions and storing them in the second storage means, and the image data is read out from the first storage means on the sheet based on the third array. To do printing The image forming method according to symptoms.

  According to the first aspect of the present invention, printing processing can be performed on printing paper regardless of the input order of document images input to the image forming apparatus with a scanner or the like. It becomes possible to print with changed.

  According to the second and fourth aspects of the present invention, since one page of the document image can be printed on the front and back of the two pages of the document, when the user cuts the sheets along the center line and stacks the sheets, It is possible to stack the sheets in the order of page numbers.

  According to the third aspect of the present invention, since the original image for one page is printed on the front and back sides of the paper for two pages of the original and the paper cut by the center line is obtained, It is possible to stack the sheets in the order of page numbers.

  The image forming apparatus of the present invention is an image forming apparatus that performs image processing such as reduction, enlargement, and layout on image data captured from a host computer while connected to a scanner or network. And multi-function machines.

  Hereinafter, an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of a copying machine of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the embodiment. Reference numeral 1 denotes a control unit that performs overall control of processing operations of the image forming apparatus. An input unit 2 includes a touch panel, function keys, numeric keys, a keyboard, and the like. Reference numeral 3 denotes a display unit composed of a liquid crystal display or the like. 4. When using the image forming apparatus as a copying machine, whether or not a document has a document setting table for storing a plurality of documents and a read document tray for storing a plurality of read documents, and a document is currently set This is a scanner having a function of detecting the image and a function of reading out the document set on the document setting table as image data. Reference numeral 5 denotes a document transport unit that transports a document that has been read by the scanner 4 from a document placement table to a scanned document tray. An image memory 6 stores image data read by the scanner 4 and the number of originals when the image forming apparatus is used in a copying machine. 7 includes a paper feed tray for storing a plurality of unprocessed printing papers and a printed paper tray for storing a plurality of printed printing papers, which are stored in the image memory 6. The print processing unit prints the image data on the printing paper. 8, when the image forming apparatus is used as a copying machine, unprocessed printing paper is fed from the paper feed tray to the printing processing unit 7, and printed printing paper is printed from the printing processing unit 7. It is a printing paper transport unit for discharging paper to a tray. An image processing unit 9 performs image processing such as reduction, enlargement, and layout change on the image data stored in the image memory 6.

Next, the operation of the image forming apparatus shown in FIG. 3 will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.
First, the user places a plurality of documents on the document placement table of the scanner 4. An instruction to start copying a document is input from the input unit 2 to the image forming apparatus. On the other hand, the control unit 1 of the image forming apparatus causes the display unit 3 to display a display for inquiring which of the left and right sides of the printed and trimmed paper is the trimming side with respect to the image arrangement at the time of copying. . The display for inquiry here means, for example, a print result as shown in FIG. 5 when the number of originals is 50 and the left side is a cut side, and when the number of originals is 50 and the right side is a cut side as shown in FIG. Is displayed on the display unit 3, and a selection screen is further displayed (step S1).

  The user inputs a response to step S1 from the input unit 2. The control unit 1 of the image forming apparatus temporarily stores response data from the user in the storage area, and issues an image reading instruction to the scanner 4. A document counter for counting the number of documents is created and its initial value is set to zero. The scanner 4 reads the first document placed on the document placement table, and stores the input image data in the image memory 6. The control unit 1 generates an empty pointer array A that can store the address of each input image data on the image memory 6, and arranges the start address of the image data of the first document stored in the image memory 6. Point to A (0) (step S2), and add 1 to the document counter (step S3). Next, the control unit 1 causes the document transport unit 5 to transport the first document that has been read to the scanned document tray of the scanner 4. Thereafter, the scanner 4 determines whether or not there is a next original (step S4). If there is a next original, the image forming apparatus returns to step S2 and repeats the process, and thereafter repeats the process until all the originals placed on the original setting table are exhausted. Finally, the array A stores the addresses of the input image data in the input order as shown in FIG.

  Next, the control unit 1 transmits an image processing request to the image processing unit 9 together with the response data obtained in step S1. The image processing unit 9 determines whether the transmitted response data is an instruction to set the left or right side as a cutting side in the printed / cut sheet (step S5). Next, the image processing unit 9 divides the array A into the first half and the second half. At this time, if the number of originals is an odd number, the first half of the arrangement may be divided by one more arrangement, or vice versa. Next, when the response data is an instruction to cut the left side of the original paper, the image processing unit 9 rearranges the first half of the arrangement in the reverse order, that is, the descending order of the pages (step S6a). At this time, if the response data is an instruction to set the right side of the printing paper as the cutting side, the second half of the array is rearranged in reverse order, that is, the page descending order (step S6b). Thereafter, the array B is generated, and the addresses stored in the first half of the array A and the addresses stored in the second half are alternately stored (step S7). For example, in the case where the number of documents is 50 and the response data from the control unit 1 is an instruction to set the right side as the cutting edge in the printed / cut sheet, an example of rearranging the arrangement in steps S6b to S7 is shown in FIG. Shown in Next, the image processing unit 9 notifies the control unit 1 that the processing has been completed.

  Next, the control unit 1 instructs the printing paper transport unit 8 to feed printing paper. In addition, a print counter for counting the number of printed sheets is created, and its initial value is set to zero. The printing paper transport unit 8 feeds one printing paper from the paper feed tray to the printing processing unit 7 (step S8), and notifies the control unit 1 of the end of paper feeding. In response to this, the control unit 1 issues a print instruction to the print processing unit 7. The print processing unit 7 prints the first image data in the array B on the printing paper, and notifies the control unit 1 that the processing is completed. In response to this, the control unit 1 adds 1 to the print counter (step S9), compares the values of the print counter and the document counter (step S10), and processes if the value of the print counter is equal to or greater than the value of the document counter. Exit. On the other hand, when the value of the print counter is less than the value of the document counter, the control unit 1 causes the printing paper transport unit 8 to turn over the printing paper on which one side has been printed in step S9 (step S11).

  Next, the control unit 1 causes the print processing unit 7 to print the next data in the array B, and adds 1 to the print counter (step S12). Next, the values of the print counter and the original counter are compared (step S13). On the other hand, when the value of the print counter is less than the value of the document counter, the control unit 1 performs processing from step S8. Thereafter, the processes in steps S8 to S13 are repeated until printing of all data in array B is completed.

  The resulting printed sheets are stacked, cut at the center line of the sheet, and the sheet is cut when the first sheet bundle on the first half of the page is stacked on the other sheet bundle on the second half of the page. Since the sheets can be stacked so that the sides are aligned on all pages and the page numbers of the print sheets are already in ascending order, the sheet rearrangement process is eliminated, and convenience is improved.

  The above-described embodiment can also be applied to a copying machine having a mechanism for punching a binding hole. The invention of Patent Document 1 is an invention of a post-processing device that punches punched holes in printed paper, and FIG. 8 shows a punching processing result image displayed on the display unit of the image forming apparatus to notify the user. It is a top view. In the prior art, when the printed sheets are stacked, there is a possibility that the cutting edges of the sheets are not uniform. According to the present invention, the display unit 3 of the image forming apparatus shown in FIG. As shown in the plan view of the binding hole perforation result image, when the printed sheets with the binding holes are stacked, the cut edges of the sheets can be aligned.

  In the above-described embodiment, it has been described that a person installs a manuscript paper on a manuscript placement table. However, the image forming apparatus is used as a printer, the apparatus is installed on a network, and image data is transmitted from a user terminal. It is also possible.

  As mentioned above, although one embodiment of this invention has been described in detail with reference to the drawings, the specific configuration is not limited to this embodiment, and design and the like within the scope not departing from the gist of this invention are included. .

FIG. 6 is a plan view showing a relationship between a printed page and a cutting edge when the number of originals is 50 and the right side is the back side according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 10 is a plan view showing the relationship between a printed page and a cutting edge when the number of documents is 50 and the right side is the back side when Patent Document 2 is implemented. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of one Embodiment of this invention. 3 is a flowchart showing an image forming operation in the embodiment. FIG. 6 is a plan view showing a relationship between a printed page and a cutting edge when the number of documents is 50 and the left side is the back side according to the embodiment. FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram showing a state in which an array A stores an address of image data in the same embodiment. FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram illustrating an operation of an image processing unit processing image data in the embodiment. FIG. 11 is a plan view showing a binding hole perforation result image displayed by the display unit of the image forming apparatus when Patent Document 1 is implemented. It is a top view which shows the binding hole punching result image which the display part of the image forming apparatus displays according to one Embodiment of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Control part 2 ... Input part 3 ... Display part 4 ... Scanner 5 ... Original conveyance part 6 ... Image memory 7 ... Print processing part 8 ... Printing paper conveyance part 9 ... Image processing part

Claims (4)

Data writing means for storing a plurality of input page-by-page image data in the first storage means;
Based on the cutting position instruction data input by the user, a data array is generated in the second storage means by arranging identification data indicating the storage position of each image data in the first storage means in a predetermined order. Array generation means for
Printing means for reading out the image data from the first storage means based on the data array generated by the array generation means and printing it on paper;
An image forming apparatus comprising: The sequence generation means includes
Generating the first array by storing the identification data in the second storage means in ascending order of page numbers;
When the cutting position instruction data input by the user indicates the left side cutting, the first half of the first array is displayed. When the right side cutting is specified, the second half of the first array is the page number. Are arranged in descending order and stored in the second storage means to generate a second array,
2. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the data array is generated by alternately arranging the identification data of the first half part and the second half part of the second array and storing them in the second storage means. .   3. The punching means according to claim 1, further comprising punching means for punching two holes on one side, a total of four holes or more, at positions symmetrical to the center line of the paper subjected to the printing process. Image forming apparatus. A plurality of input page-by-page image data is stored in the first storage means,
A first array is generated by storing identification data indicating the storage position of each image data in the ascending order of page numbers in the second storage means,
When the cutting position instruction data input by the user indicates the left side cutting, the page number indicates the first half of the first array, and when the right side cutting indicates the right side cutting, the page number indicates the latter half of the first array. A second array is generated by rearranging and storing in the second storage means in descending order,
Generating a third array by alternately arranging the identification data of the first half and the second half of the second array and storing them in the second storage means;
An image forming method comprising: reading out the image data from the first storage unit based on the third arrangement and printing the image data on a sheet.

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