JP2006187925A - Image forming apparatus and image formation method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an image forming apparatus which can perform suitable processing desired by a user if tray selection cannot be carried out normally. <P>SOLUTION: When the user executes printing (01), it is judged by a condition judging means whether a tray selection condition is present, and it is passed to a condition deciding means (02) when the condition is present. The condition deciding means decides whether the tray selection condition is a handleable condition, and displays a message at a display part and an external host device when the condition is not handleable (03 and 04). When receiving the display, if the user requests (05) to select a condition near the tray selection condition not handleable, the condition deciding means requests a printing processing part to select the condition near the condition not handleable and to carry out printing (08). <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus and an image forming method capable of performing a process requested by a user even when a tray cannot be normally selected in response to a user request.

Conventionally, in an image forming apparatus such as a printer, a technique for automatically selecting a paper feed tray that matches a paper size designated by a predetermined command has been proposed.
However, even when a paper size that cannot be handled by the printer is specified, searching and printing on an unintended size paper and paper are often wasted.
Therefore, the following techniques have been proposed as countermeasures against such inconvenience.
JP 2003-276288 A

  By the way, according to the technique disclosed in Patent Document 1, although measures are taken only for paper sizes that cannot be handled by the printing press, tray selection conditions including paper types and trays that cannot be handled by the printing press (printer). I want to process In addition, the processing when the paper size is not manageable is not limited to either canceling the job of the received page data or performing automatic tray selection processing, and other processing needs to be supported.

Accordingly, a first object of the present invention is to determine whether or not a tray can be normally selected under a tray selection condition designated by the user, to shorten the paper feed tray search processing time and to eliminate wasteful printing. It is an object to provide an image forming apparatus and an image forming method.
A second object of the present invention is to provide an image forming apparatus and an image forming method for recognizing by a display that a user cannot normally select a tray.
A third object of the present invention is to provide an image forming apparatus and an image forming method capable of performing an appropriate process requested by a user when a tray cannot be normally selected.

According to the first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a controller that has a plurality of paper feed trays corresponding to each paper, receives a command designating selection of a paper feed tray, and searches the paper feed tray according to the command. In the image forming apparatus, a condition determination unit that determines a tray selection condition based on a parameter specified by the command, and a condition determination unit that determines whether or not the tray selection condition determined by the condition determination unit is a processable condition. By providing the controller, the first object is achieved.
According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the invention, when it is determined that the tray selection condition is not processable by the condition determination unit, the display unit includes a display unit that displays a message to that effect. The second object is achieved.
In the invention of claim 3, in the invention of claim 1, when it is determined that the condition determination means is not a tray selection condition that can be processed, by providing a host contact means for contacting the external host device to that effect, The second object is achieved.
According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the second or third aspect of the present invention, when it is determined that the tray selection condition is not processable by the condition determination unit, the received page data is cancelled, or automatic tray selection processing is performed. And a tray selection process that ignores tray specification conditions that cannot be handled, or selects a condition that is close to a tray specification condition that cannot be handled, and performs tray selection processing. Achieve the purpose of 3.

According to the fifth aspect of the present invention, in an image forming apparatus having a plurality of paper feed trays corresponding to each paper, a first step for receiving a command designating a paper feed tray selection condition, and reception in the first step When searching for a paper feed tray according to the command, the second step of determining the tray selection condition by the command specified parameter, and whether or not the tray selection condition determined in the second step can be handled The first object is achieved by an image forming method comprising:
According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, in the fifth aspect of the present invention, when the tray selection condition is not a processable tray selection condition based on the determination in the third step, a message to that effect is displayed on the display unit. By providing the steps, the second object is achieved.
According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, in the fifth aspect of the present invention, if the tray selection condition is not a processable tray selection condition based on the determination in the third step, the fifth step of notifying the external host device to that effect. With the above, the second object is achieved.
In the invention according to claim 8, in the invention according to claim 6 or 7, whether the received page data is to be canceled if the tray selection condition is not a processable tray selection condition by the determination in the third step. A sixth step of selecting whether to perform automatic tray selection processing, ignore tray designation conditions that cannot be handled, perform tray selection processing, or select conditions close to tray designation conditions that cannot be handled and perform tray selection processing By providing, the third object is achieved.

According to the first and fifth aspects of the present invention, it can be determined whether or not the tray can be normally selected under the tray selection condition designated by the user, the paper feed tray search processing time can be shortened, and unnecessary printing can be performed. Can be eliminated.
According to the second and sixth aspects of the present invention, it can be recognized by the display that the user cannot normally select the tray.
According to the third and seventh aspects of the present invention, it can be recognized from the display that the external host device cannot normally select the tray.
According to the fourth and eighth aspects of the present invention, when the tray cannot be selected normally, the process requested by the user can be performed.

Hereinafter, a preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to FIGS.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of the image forming apparatus according to the present exemplary embodiment. The image forming apparatus 10 includes a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 11, a RAM (Random Access Memory) 12 that is a work memory, an NVRAM (Nonvolatile Memory) 13, a ROM (Read Only Memory) 14, a display. A unit 15, a host interface (I / F) 16, and a printing unit 17 are provided.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing a procedure of tray selection processing in the present embodiment.
First, it is determined whether or not there is data in the reception buffer (step 10). If data exists (step 10; Y), command analysis and processing are performed (step 11). As a result, if the tray selection condition is specified (step 12; Y), it is checked whether the condition can be handled by the printer (step 13). If it can be handled (step 13; Y), normal tray selection processing is performed (step 20).
On the other hand, if it cannot be handled by the printer (step 13; N), a message to that effect is displayed on the display unit 15 (step 14).

On the other hand, when the user designates job cancel (step 15; Y), job cancel execution processing is performed (step 21).
On the other hand, if the user designates continuation of printing without designating job cancellation (step 15; N) (step 16; Y), tray selection processing is performed (step 22).
Further, if the continuation of printing is not specified (step 16; N), and deletion of a condition that cannot be handled by the user is specified (step 17; Y), the condition is deleted and tray selection processing is performed (step 23).
If it is specified that a condition close to a condition that cannot be handled by the user is selected (step 18; Y), the close condition is selected and a tray selection process is performed (step 24).

  FIG. 3 is an example of the message displayed in step 14. Example 1 is an example in the case where the paper type cannot be handled in the tray selection information. Example 2 is an example of the case where the paper size and paper type cannot be handled in the tray selection information.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a processing procedure when it is selected to delete a condition that cannot be handled in step 17.
When the user executes printing (01), the condition determining means determines whether there is a tray selection condition. Then, if there is, it is passed to the condition determining means (02). Next, the condition determination means determines whether the tray selection condition can be handled, and if not, displays a message on the display unit and the external host device (03, 04).
Here, when the user requests to delete a tray selection condition that cannot be handled when the display is received (05), the condition determination unit deletes the condition that cannot be handled and requests printing (06).

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a processing procedure when it is selected in step 18 to select a close condition.
When the user executes printing (01), the condition determining unit determines whether there is a tray selection condition, and if there is, passes it to the condition determining unit (02). Next, the condition determination means determines whether the tray selection condition can be handled, and if not, displays a message on the display unit and the external host device (03, 04). When the user requests to select a condition close to the tray selection condition that cannot be handled when receiving the display (05), the condition determining means requests the print processing unit to set the tray (06).
Then, the print processing unit presents the actual tray setting to the condition determining means (07). The condition determination means compares the presented tray setting with the tray selection condition, selects a condition close to the unusable condition, and requests printing (08).

FIG. 6 is also a diagram showing a processing procedure when selecting to select a close condition.
In this case, the condition determination means does not select a close condition, but the print processing unit selects a close condition and performs print processing.
When the user executes printing (01), the condition determining unit determines whether there is a tray selection condition, and if there is, passes it to the condition determining unit (02). The condition determining means determines whether the tray selection condition can be handled, and if not, displays a message on the display unit and the external host device (03, 04). When the user requests to select a condition close to the tray selection condition that cannot be handled when the display is received (05), the condition determination means requests the print processing unit to select and print a condition close to the condition that cannot be handled ( 08).

Table 1 shown in FIG. 7 is an example in the case where the tray selection condition that cannot be handled is changed to a close condition.
In this case, a close condition is selected so that the paper size is preferentially checked. As a processing flow, first, the tray selection conditions are compared with the conditions that can be handled, and the conditions that cannot be handled are clarified. Next, a clear condition that cannot be handled and an actual tray setting are compared to determine a close condition to be selected.

1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment. It is the flowchart which showed the procedure of the tray selection process in a present Example. It is the figure which showed the example of the message to display. It is the figure which showed the process sequence at the time of selecting deleting the condition which cannot be handled. It is the figure which showed the process sequence at the time of selecting selecting near conditions. It is the figure which showed the process sequence at the time of selecting selecting near conditions. It is the figure which showed the example in the case of changing the tray selection conditions which cannot be handled into the near conditions.

Explanation of symbols

11 CPU (Central Processing Unit)
12 RAM
13 NVRAM
14 ROM
15 Display unit 16 Host interface 17 Printing unit

Claims (8)

In an image forming apparatus including a controller that has a plurality of paper feed trays corresponding to each paper, receives a command for selecting a paper feed tray, and searches for a paper feed tray according to the command.
Condition determining means for determining a tray selection condition with parameters specified by the command;
An image forming apparatus comprising: the controller; and a condition determining unit that determines whether or not the tray selection condition determined by the condition determining unit is a condition that can be processed. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a display unit configured to display a message to that effect on the display unit when it is determined that the tray selection condition is not processable by the condition determination unit. 2. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising host contact means for notifying the external host device of the fact that the condition determination means determines that the tray selection condition is not applicable. If it is determined that the condition determination means does not satisfy the tray selection condition, whether the received page data is canceled, the automatic tray selection process is performed, the tray specification condition that cannot be handled is ignored, or the tray selection process is performed, 4. The image forming apparatus according to claim 2, further comprising a selection unit that selects a condition close to a tray designation condition that cannot be handled and performs tray selection processing. In an image forming apparatus having a plurality of paper feed trays corresponding to each paper,
A first step of receiving a command specifying a paper feed tray selection condition;
A second step of determining a tray selection condition based on a command specification parameter when searching for a paper feed tray according to the command received in the first step;
An image forming method comprising: a third step of determining whether or not the tray selection condition determined in the second step is a tray selection condition that can be handled. If the tray selection condition is not a processable tray selection condition based on the determination in the third step,
6. The image forming method according to claim 5, further comprising a fourth step of displaying a message to that effect on the display unit. If the tray selection condition is not a processable tray selection condition based on the determination in the third step,
6. The image forming method according to claim 5, further comprising a fifth step of notifying the external host device to that effect. If the tray selection condition is not a processable tray selection condition based on the determination in the third step,
Cancel the received page data job, perform automatic tray selection processing, ignore tray specification conditions that cannot be handled, perform tray selection processing, or select conditions close to tray specification conditions that cannot be handled and perform tray selection processing 8. The image forming method according to claim 6, further comprising a sixth step of selecting whether or not.

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