JP2006088337A - Printing system, printing controller, printer driver, and printer - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent printing with sheets not intended by a user at the time when a sheet lack occurs in a predetermined sheet feeder in a printing system equipped with a plurality of sheet feeders. <P>SOLUTION: The printing system includes both a printer equipped with the plurality of sheet feeders and a printing controller. One paper feeder among the plurality of sheet feeders is a sheet feeder exclusive for sheets of a specific kind, and is equipped with a printing indication receiving means which receives an indication of printing with the sheets of the specific kind, and a control means which interrupts printing if the sheet lack occurs in the middle of printing by sheet feeding from the sheet feeder exclusive for the sheets of the specific kind, and notifies the user of the fact that the feeder lacks the sheets of the specific kind. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a printing system, and more particularly, to sheet feeding control in a printing system including a plurality of sheet feeding apparatuses.

  Many printing apparatuses developed for office use are equipped with a plurality of automatic paper feeders (auto sheet feeders) in order to perform a large amount of printing or to cope with a plurality of sizes of printing paper. In such a printing apparatus, in general, sheets of different sizes are set in a plurality of automatic paper feeding apparatuses, or sheets of a high printing frequency such as A4 are set in a plurality of automatic paper feeding apparatuses. You can also leave.

  When the same size is set in multiple automatic paper feeders, even if one of the automatic paper feeders runs out of paper, the paper is fed from the other automatic paper feeder and printing is automatically performed. It has been continued.

  On the other hand, printers developed for personal use and home use are mainly equipped with only one automatic paper feeder due to the demand for miniaturization.

  In recent years, printing image quality has been improved, and printing apparatuses developed for personal use and home use are also used for so-called photographic printing purposes. In such photographic printing, photographic paper dedicated to photographic printing is often used instead of plain paper for general printing.

  In this case, the user must change the paper set in the automatic paper feeder according to the printing purpose. In order to save this effort, a printing apparatus has been proposed in which a plurality of paper feeding devices are provided, one of which is dedicated to plain paper and the other of which can feed various paper such as plain paper and photographic paper.

  In such a printing apparatus, when the paper runs out during printing by feeding plain paper from a paper feeding device dedicated to plain paper, the other paper feeding apparatus automatically starts as usual. Undesirable situations can occur if printing continues with paper feeding.

  That is, when photographic paper is set in the other paper feeding device instead of plain paper, it is printed on photographic paper although it was intended to be printed on plain paper. In general, photographic paper is more expensive than plain paper, so this situation should be avoided.

  SUMMARY An advantage of some aspects of the invention is that, in a printing system including a plurality of paper feeders, when a predetermined paper feeder runs out of paper, printing on paper unintended by the user is prevented.

A printing system according to a first aspect of the present invention for solving the above problems is
A printing system having a printing device having a plurality of paper feeding devices and a printing control device,
One of the plurality of paper feeding devices is a paper feeding device dedicated to a specific type of paper,
Print instruction accepting means for accepting a print instruction on the specific type of paper;
Control means for interrupting printing and notifying the user that the specific type of paper has run out when paper runs out during printing by paper feeding from the paper feeder dedicated to the specific type of paper. It is characterized by that.

  According to the present invention, when a paper out occurs in a specific paper feeding device, printing by paper feeding from another paper feeding device is not automatically continued. Can prevent printing.

A printing control apparatus according to a second aspect of the present invention for solving the above-described problem is
A plurality of sheet feeding devices, and one of the plurality of sheet feeding devices is a printing control device that controls a printing device that is a sheet feeding device dedicated to a specific type of paper;
Print instruction accepting means for accepting a print instruction on the specific type of paper;
When the printing device notifies that the paper has run out during printing by feeding from the paper feeding device dedicated to the specific type of paper, the printing is interrupted, and the user is notified that the specific type of paper has run out. And a control means for notifying to.

A printer driver according to a third aspect of the present invention for solving the above problem is
The printer driver includes a plurality of paper feeding devices, and one of the plurality of paper feeding devices is a printer driver that causes a computer to function as a printing control device that controls a printing device that is a paper feeding device dedicated to a specific type of paper. And
Print instruction accepting means for accepting a print instruction on the specific type of paper;
When the printing device notifies that the paper has run out during printing by feeding from the paper feeding device dedicated to the specific type of paper, the printing is interrupted, and the user confirms that the specific type of paper has run out. The computer is made to function as a control means for notifying the user.

Here, the control means notifies the user that the specific type of paper has run out, and receives an instruction as to whether or not to resume printing by paper feeding from another paper feeding device,
When an instruction not to resume printing due to paper feeding from another paper feeding device is received, printing can be resumed by paper feeding from a paper feeding device dedicated to the specific type of paper.

A printing apparatus according to a fourth aspect of the present invention for solving the above-described problem is
A printing device having a plurality of paper feeding devices,
One of the plurality of paper feeding devices is a paper feeding device dedicated to a specific type of paper,
Print instruction accepting means for accepting a print instruction on the specific type of paper;
Control means for interrupting printing and outputting information indicating that the specific type of paper has been exhausted when a paper shortage occurs during printing by paper feeding from the paper feeder dedicated to the specific type of paper. It is characterized by that.

Here, there is a paper discharge port on the front of the housing,
The specific type of paper is plain paper, the paper feed device dedicated to the specific type of paper is provided on the front surface of the housing, and the other paper feed devices of the plurality of paper feed devices are on the rear surface of the housing Can be provided.

  In addition, when the control unit outputs information indicating that the specific type of paper has run out, and the print instruction receiving unit receives an instruction to resume printing by paper feeding from another paper feeding device, Printing is resumed by feeding from one paper feeding device, and when an instruction not to resume printing by feeding from another paper feeding device is received, paper feeding from the paper feeding device dedicated to the specific type of paper is It is desirable to resume printing.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a block diagram for explaining an outline of a hardware configuration of a printing system to which the present invention is applied.

  As shown in the figure, the printing system includes a computer 30 for realizing various processes using application software, a printing process using a printer driver, and the like, and a multifunction machine 10 connected to the computer 30. The multifunction machine 10 is a printer device having an image reading function (scanner function).

  In the present embodiment, the computer 30 functions as a print control apparatus that generates print data and transmits the print data to the multifunction machine 10. The multifunction device 10 functions as a printing apparatus that performs printing based on the received print data.

  A printer driver, which is a computer program for causing the computer 30 to function as a printing control apparatus, is generally developed for the multifunction device 10 by the manufacturer of the multifunction device 10, and is recorded on a recording medium such as a CD-ROM and distributed. Distributed through a computer network. The configuration of the printing system is not limited to this.

  The computer 30 includes a CPU (Central Processing Unit) that executes various programs, a RAM (Random Access Memory) that temporarily stores data and programs, and various data and various programs for controlling the computer 30 in advance. And a control unit 31 having a ROM (Read Only Memory) and the like, and an input / output interface unit 32 that controls transmission / reception of data to / from a connected peripheral device.

  The computer 30 includes a display device 21 such as a color display, an input device 22 such as a mouse and a keyboard, a media reading device 23 that reads data from a recording medium such as a CD-ROM, an auxiliary storage device 24, and a computer network such as the Internet. A communication control device 25 or the like for connecting to is connected. However, the configuration of the computer 30 is not limited to this.

  The multifunction machine 10 includes a CPU, a RAM, a ROM, and the like, and controls each process of the multifunction machine 10; a scanner unit 12 that reads reflected light from a document placed on a document table and converts it into image data; A printer unit 13 that performs printing based on image data, an input / output interface unit 14 that communicates with the computer 30, and a user interface unit that receives instructions from the user and displays the state of the multifunction machine 10 and the like. 15. However, the configuration of the multifunction machine 10 is not limited to this.

  The multifunction machine 10 can print the document read by the scanner unit 12 by the printer unit 13 and can also print by the printer unit 13 based on the print data sent from the computer 30.

  The scanner unit 12 includes a reading engine unit 12a including a light source, a lens, a scanning motor, a CCD (Charge Coupled Devic) sensor, and the like, and an A / D conversion unit 12b. The reading engine unit 12a scans the original while illuminating the original, and performs a process of guiding the reflected light to a CCD sensor with red (R), green (G), and blue (B) filters. The A / D conversion unit 12b converts the grayscale analog information read by the CCD sensor into digital signals (RGB signals) and outputs them as image data.

  The printer unit 13 can be an inkjet color printer. An ink-jet color printer includes a plurality of ink cartridges filled with ink in a casing, and performs printing by spraying the ink from a plurality of nozzles provided in a print head onto a print medium such as a print sheet. However, a laser printer may be used as the printer unit 13.

  The printer unit 13 includes an image processing unit 13a and a print engine unit 13b.

  The image processing unit 13 a generates image data that can be used by the print engine unit 13 b based on the image data acquired by the scanner unit 12, or generates image data based on the print data sent from the computer 30. .

  The print engine unit 13b includes a printing mechanism, a paper supply / discharge mechanism, and the like, and performs printing on a printing medium set in the multifunction machine 10 based on the image data. In the present embodiment, the print engine unit 13b includes two automatic paper feeders as paper feeding mechanisms. As will be described later, the sheet feeding devices are provided on the rear and front surfaces of the housing of the multi-function peripheral 10 and are referred to as a rear sheet feeding port 105 and a front sheet feeding port 106, respectively. Which of these sheet feeding apparatuses is used for sheet feeding is based on an instruction from the control unit 11.

  The user interface unit 15 can be configured using, for example, a display panel including operation buttons and a liquid crystal display device.

  FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a functional configuration of the computer 30 to which the present invention is applied.

  As shown in the figure, the computer 30 includes an application unit 310, an operating system (OS) unit 320, and a printer driver unit 330.

  The application unit 310 has a function for causing the computer 30 to perform processing such as a word processor and graphics, and is constructed on the computer 30 when the control unit 31 executes the application program. The application unit 310 stores a document 311 to be printed in this embodiment.

  The operating system unit 320 outputs a print control unit 321 that manages the operation of the printer driver unit 330, and print data including a print command to the multi-function device 10 or an I / O that inputs information from the multi-function device 10. Part 322.

  The printer driver unit 330 includes a spooler 331 that stores drawing commands related to the document 311 in the spool file 332, and a print command generation unit that generates a print command that can be interpreted by the MFP 10 based on the drawing commands stored in the spool file 332. 333, a user interface (UI) control unit 335 that controls the display device 21 and the input device 22, and printing that manages printing conditions sent from the user interface control unit 335 and acquires the status of the MFP 10 And a condition management unit 334.

  The printer driver unit 330 is constructed on the computer 30 when the control unit 31 of the computer 30 executes a printer driver program developed by the manufacturer of the multifunction machine 10 or the like. The printer driver program can be distributed in the market by recording on a recording medium such as a CD-ROM. It can also be distributed to the market via a computer network such as the Internet.

  FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram for explaining a schematic cross section of the multifunction machine 10. As shown in the figure, the multifunction machine 10 includes two paper feeding devices, a rear paper feeding port 105 and a front paper feeding port 106, in which a printing paper 110a and a printing paper 110b are set, respectively.

  The printing paper 110 fed from the rear paper feeding port 105 or the front paper feeding port 106 by a plurality of rollers 108 is applied to the printing surface by ink droplets ejected from the print head provided in the carriage 103 on which the ink cartridge is mounted. An image is formed. The printed printing paper is discharged from a paper discharge port 107 by a plurality of rollers 108.

  When it is detected that the printing paper 110 cannot be pulled in during the paper feeding operation in both the rear paper feeding port 105 and the front paper feeding port 106, the control unit 11 has run out of paper in the automatic paper feeding device. Judge.

  The scanner unit 12 includes a document table 101 and a line sensor 102 that scans the document, and the user interface unit 15 includes an operation panel 104.

  FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining the sheet feeding mechanism of the multifunction machine 10. As shown in this figure, in the present embodiment, the printing paper 110a set in the rear paper supply port 105 is fed in the direction of the carriage 103 in a large arc as shown by R1. On the other hand, the printing paper 110b set in the front paper feeding port 106 is fed in the direction of the carriage 103 while drawing a relatively small arc as indicated by R2.

  In general, when performing photographic printing or the like, it is better not to cause warping of the printing paper as much as possible in order to improve the quality of the printed finish. For this reason, in a structure such as the multifunction machine 10 in which a paper discharge port is provided on the front surface, it can be said that it is preferable to use the rear paper supply port 105 for special paper such as photographic paper. On the other hand, a sheet that is relatively inexpensive, such as plain paper, and that is used for general printing does not cause a problem in either the front sheet feeding port 106 or the rear sheet feeding port 105.

  Therefore, in the present embodiment, the front sheet feeding port 106 of the multifunction machine 10 is limited to plain paper feeding purposes, and the rear sheet feeding port 105 feeds either plain paper or special paper (including photographic paper). The specification should be possible. That is, the front paper feed port 106 is a plain paper dedicated paper feeder, and the rear paper feed port 105 is a general-purpose paper feeder.

  Next, processing of the printer driver unit 330 when printing on plain paper in the present embodiment will be described.

  For example, the user interface control unit 335 of the printer driver unit 330 causes the display device 21 to display a basic setting screen 500 as shown in FIG.

  The user can specify a print medium to be used for printing in the paper type selection field 501 of the basic setting screen 500. As the printing medium, plain paper, glossy paper, postcard, etc. can be selected. In this embodiment, it is assumed that plain paper is selected.

  Further, the user interface control unit 335 of the printer driver unit 330 causes the display device 21 to display a paper setting screen 520 as shown in FIG. 6 by a menu operation from the user, for example.

  The user can specify a paper feeding method in the multifunction machine 10 in the paper feeding method selection field 521 of the paper setting screen 520. As a paper feeding method, in addition to “automatic paper feeding selection” “rear auto sheet feeder (rear paper feeding port 105)” using an automatic paper feeding device, “manual feeding (standard paper) which feeds paper from a manual paper feeding port. ) ”Can be selected. In this embodiment, it is assumed that “automatic paper feed selection” is selected.

  Also, as shown in FIG. 7, the user can specify the paper size of the print medium in the paper size selection field 522 of the paper setting screen 520. The paper size can be selected from A4, B4, B5, and the like. In the present embodiment, A4 is selected.

  As described above, the printer driver unit 330 can recognize that the printing paper is A4 plain paper based on the setting from the user.

  Upon receiving a print execution instruction, the printer driver unit 330 generates a print command for printing the document 311 and transmits the print command to the multi function device 10 as print data. At this time, information indicating that the paper feeding method is “automatic paper feeding selection” and that the printing paper is A4 plain paper is included in the printing data.

  Next, the paper feed process of the multifunction machine 10 when performing plain paper printing will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

  First, the input / output interface unit 14 of the multifunction device 10 receives print data sent from the computer 30 (S101). The control unit 11 interprets the print data and determines that the paper feed method is “automatic paper feed selection” and that the print paper is A4 plain paper.

  When “automatic paper feed selection” is designated as the paper feed method when printing on plain paper, the multifunction machine 10 feeds plain paper from the front paper feed port 106 which is a plain paper dedicated paper feeder. To start printing (S102).

  Each time a sheet is fed, it is determined whether or not a sheet has run out at the front feed slot 106 (S103). If no sheet has run out (S103: N), the front feed is performed until the final page is printed. Printing by feeding paper from the port 106 is continued (S104).

  On the other hand, if a paper out occurs at the front paper feed slot 106 during printing (S103: Y), printing is interrupted (S105).

  Here, there is no guarantee that plain paper is set in the rear paper feed port 105 and paper is not fed from the rear paper feed port 105 to continue printing, and special paper such as photographic paper is loaded. Because there is a possibility that. As a result, it is possible to prevent printing on paper unintended by the user.

  Then, the printer driver unit 330 is notified that the paper has run out at the front paper feed slot 106 (S106).

  Receiving this report, the user interface control unit 335 of the printer driver unit 330 causes the display device 21 to display a paper out notification screen 540 as shown in FIG.

  As shown in the figure, the out-of-paper notification screen 540 displays that the front paper feeder has run out of paper. In addition, an instruction as to whether or not to continue printing by feeding from the rear sheet feeder is prompted, and a “Yes” button 541 and a “No” button 542 for receiving the instruction are displayed. Further, when the paper feed from the front paper feed slot is continued without feeding from the rear paper feed slot, a message is displayed indicating that the paper is set in the front paper feed slot and the “No” button is pressed. .

  The user also sets plain paper in the rear paper feed slot 105 and can click the “Yes” button 541 on this screen 540 to continue printing by feeding paper from the rear paper feed slot 105. it can.

  On the other hand, when special paper such as photographic paper is set in the rear paper feed port 105 and paper is not fed from the rear paper feed port 105 and printing is continued by feeding from the front paper feed port 106. The user can set plain paper in the front paper feed slot 106 where the paper has run out and click the “No” button 542 on this screen 540.

  When the multifunction device 10 is notified from the printer driver 330 that the “Yes” button 541 has been clicked on the out-of-paper notification screen 540 (S107: Y), the multifunction device 10 feeds paper from the rear paper feed port 105 and performs printing. It resumes (S109).

  On the other hand, when the printer driver unit 330 notifies that the “No” button 542 has been clicked on the out-of-paper notification screen 540 (S107: N), paper is fed from the front paper feed port 106, and printing is resumed (S107). S108).

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, in a printing system including a plurality of paper feeding devices, printing on paper unintended by the user can be prevented when a predetermined paper feeding device runs out of paper. . However, the present embodiment is an example for explaining the present invention, and is not intended to limit the scope of the present invention only to the embodiment. Those skilled in the art can implement the present invention in various other modes without departing from the gist of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram for explaining an outline of a hardware configuration of a printing system. 2 is a block diagram showing a functional configuration of a computer 30. FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram for explaining a schematic cross section of the multifunction machine 10. FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining a sheet feeding mechanism of the multifunction machine 10. FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of a basic setting screen 500. FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of a paper feed method selection field on a paper setting screen. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of a paper size selection field on a paper setting screen 520. FIG. FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a paper feed process of the multifunction machine 10 when performing plain paper printing. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of a paper out notification screen 540. FIG.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... MFP, 11 ... Control part, 12 ... Scanner part, 12a ... Reading engine part, 12b ... A / D conversion part, 13 ... Printer part, 13a ... Image processing part, 13b ... Print engine part, 14 ... Input / output Interface unit, 15 ... user interface unit, 21 ... display device, 22 ... input device, 23 ... media reading device, 23 ... input device, 24 ... auxiliary storage device, 25 ... communication control device, 30 ... computer, 31 ... control unit 32, I / O interface unit, 101 ... Document table, 102 ... Line sensor, 103 ... Carriage, 104 ... Operation panel, 105 ... Rear feed port, 106 ... Front feed port, 107 ... Discharge port, 108 ... Roller 110 ... printing paper, 310 ... application section, 311 ... document, 320 ... operating system section, 321 ... print control section, 3 2 ... I / O unit, 330 ... printer driver unit, 331 ... spooler, 332 ... spool file 333 ... print command creation unit, 334 ... printing condition management unit, 335 ... User interface control unit

Claims (10)

A printing system having a printing device having a plurality of paper feeding devices and a printing control device,
One of the plurality of paper feeding devices is a paper feeding device dedicated to a specific type of paper,
Print instruction accepting means for accepting a print instruction on the specific type of paper;
Control means for interrupting printing and notifying the user that the specific type of paper has run out when paper runs out during printing by paper feeding from the paper feeder dedicated to the specific type of paper. A printing system characterized by that. A plurality of paper feeding devices, and one of the plurality of paper feeding devices is a printing control device that controls a printing device that is a paper feeding device dedicated to a specific type of paper;
Print instruction accepting means for accepting a print instruction on the specific type of paper;
When the printing device notifies that the paper has run out during printing by feeding from the paper feeding device dedicated to the specific type of paper, the printing is interrupted, and the user confirms that the specific type of paper has run out. A printing control apparatus comprising: a control means for notifying the printer. The printer driver includes a plurality of paper feeding devices, and one of the plurality of paper feeding devices is a printer driver that causes a computer to function as a printing control device that controls a printing device that is a paper feeding device dedicated to a specific type of paper. And
Print instruction accepting means for accepting a print instruction on the specific type of paper;
When the printing device notifies that the paper has run out during printing by feeding from the paper feeding device dedicated to the specific type of paper, the printing is interrupted, and the user confirms that the specific type of paper has run out. A printer driver characterized by causing a computer to function as control means for notifying a printer. A printer driver according to claim 3,
A printer driver characterized in that the control means notifies the user that the specific type of paper has run out and receives an instruction as to whether or not to resume printing by paper feeding from another paper feeding device. The printer driver according to claim 4,
When the control unit receives an instruction not to resume printing by feeding from another sheet feeding device, printing is resumed by feeding from the sheet feeding device dedicated to the specific type of sheet. Printer driver. A printing device having a plurality of paper feeding devices,
One of the plurality of paper feeding devices is a paper feeding device dedicated to a specific type of paper,
Print instruction accepting means for accepting a print instruction on the specific type of paper;
Control means for interrupting printing and outputting information indicating that the specific type of paper has been exhausted when a paper shortage occurs during printing by paper feeding from the paper feeder dedicated to the specific type of paper. A printing apparatus characterized by that. The printing apparatus according to claim 6,
Has a paper exit on the front of the housing,
The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the specific type of paper is plain paper, and a paper feeding device dedicated to the specific type of paper is provided on a front surface of the housing. The printing apparatus according to claim 7, wherein
Another sheet feeding device of the plurality of sheet feeding devices is provided on a back surface of the casing. The printing apparatus according to claim 6,
The control means includes
After outputting the information indicating that the specific type of paper has run out, when the print instruction receiving unit receives an instruction to resume printing by paper feeding from another paper feeding device, the paper feeding from the other paper feeding device is performed. A printing apparatus, wherein printing is resumed with paper. The printing apparatus according to claim 6,
The control means includes
After outputting the information indicating that the specific type of paper has run out, if the print instruction receiving unit receives an instruction not to resume printing by paper feeding from another paper feeding device, A printing apparatus, wherein printing is resumed by paper feeding from a paper apparatus.

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