JP2007050992A - Image forming device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To discriminate the mounted state of printing paper set in a manual feed tray by utilizing a difference in a detection level when detecting an IC tag buried in the printing paper by using two detecting antennas provided near a paper feed port. <P>SOLUTION: A printer 10 discriminates the longitudinal or cross direction of the printing paper 20 or the direction of the front or reverse side of the paper whose printing face is specified, from information on a paper size and a tag-buried position after reading the IC tag 30 in the printing paper 20 mounted on the hand tray 17 from a memory for the IC tag 30 by using two IC tag reading antennas 151, 152 provided near the paper feed port 17, or information on a combination of a previously detected antenna and a detection level at that time when increasing the detection level from zero to adjust a communication distance from the IC tag 30. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus that prints an image on a printing paper in which an IC tag is embedded, and in particular, determines the mounting state of a printing paper set in a paper feeding mechanism that does not have a sensor that determines the mounting state of paper to be fed. Related to technology.

  As an example in which an IC tag is embedded in a printing paper, “printing paper in which a non-contact type tag member is embedded” disclosed in Patent Document 1 is disclosed.

  Also, “printing paper with paper quality ID” described in Patent Document 2 is disclosed as a technique for recording the size and type of printing paper in the memory section of the IC tag.

Further, when recording information indicating the paper quality of the printing paper on the ID tag and printing, “Printing device with automatic paper quality judgment function” described in Patent Document 3 is a technique for performing printing control according to the paper quality. is there.
JP 2002-298118 A. JP2003-064598A. JP2003-054075A.

  When using the manual feed tray to feed printing paper, unlike the paper tray that loads multiple printing papers with the same paper size and loading direction, the printing paper size, paper quality, and printing paper loading status (printing The printing device cannot detect the longitudinal direction, the short direction, and the front and back sides of the paper whose printing surface is designated, and it is left to the user to judge.

  Therefore, if there is a mistake in the size and direction of the paper to be loaded, the error is detected before feeding, prompting the user to correct the loading status, and performing print control according to the loading status. Could not do.

  When paper is fed and printed in a state that is not suitable for the size of the image to be printed, the longitudinal direction of the image, and the lateral direction of the image, the fixing unit is soiled and printing paper is wasted due to a printing mistake.

  In order to solve this problem, it is possible to attach a sensor for detecting the position of the side guide to the manual feed tray and detect the loading state of the paper, but it is difficult to provide a sensor at the position of the end guide. Long / short judgments could not be made.

In addition, when a plurality of sheets having different sizes are set, it cannot be handled.

  In addition, mounting these sensors on the printing apparatus has a problem of increasing the manufacturing cost and the product cost.

  Therefore, the present invention has a manual paper feed mechanism, and in an image forming apparatus capable of printing on a printing paper in which an IC tag is embedded, information recorded in the memory of the IC tag and paper feed of the manual tray An object of the present invention is to provide an image forming apparatus capable of determining the mounting state of a printing paper set on a manual feed tray by reading control using two IC tag reading antennas installed near the mouth.

  In order to achieve the above object, the invention according to claim 1 is provided at each of both ends of the paper feed port in an image forming apparatus that performs printing by feeding print paper in which an IC tag is embedded from the paper feed port. Antenna, tag information reading means for reading tag information of IC tag by antenna, detection means for detecting detection level of antenna that has read tag information by tag information reading means, and tag information and detection read by tag information reading means And determining means for determining the size of the printing paper and the orientation of the printing paper based on the detection level of the means.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the invention, the IC tag is embedded in one of the four corners of the printing paper, and the tag information includes the size information of the printing paper and the embedded position of the IC tag. And determining means for determining the size of the printing paper based on the size information of the printing paper, and printing the printing paper in the traveling direction of the printing paper based on the size information and position information of the printing paper and the detection level of the detection means. It is characterized by discriminating the direction and back and front of the paper.

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the first or second aspect of the present invention, the detection means sequentially increases the detection level of the antenna, and determines the detection level when the tag information can be read when the detection level increases. It is characterized by detecting.

  Further, the invention of claim 4 notifies that in the invention of any one of claims 1 to 3, when the size of the printing paper determined by the discrimination means and the orientation of the printing paper do not match the print settings. The information processing device further includes notification means.

  According to the image forming apparatus of the present invention, it is possible to determine and notify the loading state of the manually fed printing paper using the information stored in the IC tag memory embedded in the printing paper and the two IC tag reading antennas. Since it did in this way, since a paper loading mistake is detected and notified, a printing mistake can be reduced.

  Embodiments of an image forming apparatus according to the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a control configuration of the image forming apparatus of the present invention.

  In FIG. 1, the printer 10 performs a printing process using the printing paper 20 in which the IC tag 30 is embedded.

  Further, the printer 10 feeds paper at a position where the center of the manual feed tray 17 and the center of the loaded print paper 20 coincide with each other by adjusting to the width of the print paper 20 loaded on the manual feed tray 17. A side guide 16 is provided.

  The IC tag 30 embedded in the printing paper 20 has a memory unit (not shown) for recording the size, quality, and position information of the embedded IC tag 30, and the IC tag reading device A 141. The reading process is performed by the antenna A151 connected to the terminal (similarly, the antenna B152 connected to the IC tag reading device B142).

  Hereinafter, when referred to as an IC tag reading device, the two IC tag reading devices A141 and IC tag reading device B142 are collectively referred to, or the IC tag reading device A141 that performs data reading control of the IC tag 30 and the IC tag Any one of the reading devices B142 is indicated.

  Similarly, when referred to as a tag reading antenna, both the antenna A151 and the antenna B152 or either the antenna A151 or the antenna B152 operating by detecting the IC tag 30 are assumed.

  Note that the IC tag 30 of the printing paper 20 is a passive IC tag, and operates with power by induction of radiated electromagnetic waves, and transmits data stored in the memory to the tag reading device 14.

  Accordingly, the printer controller 11 fixes the image in the print engine 13 in consideration of the mounting state (longitudinal direction, short side direction, orientation of the printing surface (front and back)), paper size, and paper quality of the printing paper 20 to be printed. To control.

  The printer 10 sequentially increases the output level (hereinafter referred to as “detection level”) of the signal to which power is supplied from the antenna A 151 or the antenna B 152 from 0, and the IC tag 30 increases when the detection level increases. The mounting state of the printing paper 20 is determined based on the detection level at the time when the memory can be read, the paper size read from the memory, and the position information indicating the embedded position of the IC tag 30.

  The printer 10 urges the user to perform an operation to interrupt the printing process and correctly mount the printing paper 20 when the printing paper 20 is improperly mounted in the size, the longitudinal direction, and the short direction of the image to be printed. Is displayed on the operation display unit 18.

 The controller storage unit 12 indicates the mounting state of the printing paper 20, the detection level of the IC tag reading antenna when the IC tag 30 is detected, the paper size read from the IC tag 30, the paper type, and the embedded position of the IC tag 30. Is created for each combination of the paper size that can be handled by the printer 10 and the type of position at which the IC tag 30 is embedded in the printing paper 20. The discriminated discrimination table is stored.

  FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the type of embedded position of the IC tag 30.

  The IC tag 30 is embedded in one of the four corners (the shaded portion in the figure) of the printing paper 20, and the embedded position is determined by one of the types shown in FIGS. 2A and 2B. Is done. Here, the two types are used because there are cases in which the front and back sides are distinguished depending on the paper, and in the case of general paper or the like that does not distinguish the front and back sides of the paper, FIG. 2A and FIG. The tag embedding type (B) can be unified with one pattern without distinction.

  In each of the tag embedding types shown in FIGS. 2A and 2B, the position where the IC tag 30 is embedded depends on each state assumed to be mounted on the manual feed tray 17 shown in FIGS. When the detection level by A151 or antenna B152 and the output of both IC tag reading antennas are gradually increased from 0, either one of the antennas detects first, and the antenna for supplying power when detected (see FIG. (Not shown), the detection level is preliminarily positioned so that a difference is generated for each sheet loading state.

  FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a mounting pattern when the first embedded type printing paper 20 shown in FIG. 2 (A) is used.

Information obtained by rotating the printing paper 20 by 90 degrees counterclockwise from FIG. 3A is shown in FIG. 3B, FIG. 3C, and FIG. 3D, and FIG. From FIG. 3E, the state rotated 90 degrees clockwise is shown in order as FIG. 3F, FIG. 3G, and FIG. 3H.

  Similarly, FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a mounting pattern when the second embedded type printing paper 20 shown in FIG. 2B is used.

  FIG. 5 is a diagram showing detection images by the IC tag reading antenna for each mounting state of the printing paper 20 shown in FIG.

  5A to 5H shown in FIG. 5, among the IC tag reading antennas, the black-painted antenna detected that the IC tag 30 was detected, and was shown above it. “L1”, “L2”, “L3”, and “L4” indicate detection levels at the time of detection, and the magnitude relationship between the levels indicates that L1 <L2 <L3 <L4.

  In FIG. 5, for example, FIG. 5A shows that the antenna A151 first detects the IC tag 30, and the detection level of the antenna at that time is L2.

  Thereafter, similarly, in FIG. 5 (B),..., FIG. 5 (H), the combination of the identification information of the antenna detected earlier and its detection level, and any of the embedded types shown in FIG. An example of the information discrimination table is shown in FIG.

  FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of a plurality of determination tables determined by the embedded type of the IC tag 30 and the paper size.

  “Embedding type” and “paper size” are information acquired in the IC tag 30 reading process of the printing paper 20 by the IC tag reading device, and the printer controller 11 determines whether to use the determination process based on this state. Determine the table.

  The information recorded in the discrimination table includes a “detection antenna” that indicates the identifier of the antenna detected earlier, the detection level increased from 0, and a “detection level” that indicates the reference value of the detected power supply antenna. ”And“ mounting state ”indicating the state of the printing paper 20 determined as a result, and all combinations of mounting states are recorded.

For example, when the detected antenna is “A1” and the “detection level” is “L1”, the paper feed traveling direction of the printing paper 20 matches the “short direction” of the printing paper 20 and printing When the sides are distinguished, it indicates that the (printing side) is set to face down (the direction in which an image is printed on the back side when fed and printed).
Next, the printer 10 is determined by the detection of the IC tag 30 by the IC tag reading antenna described above, the reading result of the memory part of the IC tag 30, the size of the printing paper 20, and the embedded type of the IC tag 30. The operation of the mounting state determination process using the determination table will be described.

  FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing an operation example of the mounting state determination process.

  When detecting the occurrence of a print event designating feeding from the manual feed tray 17, the printer controller 11 detects the IC tag 30 of the maximum size printing paper 20 that can be mounted on the manual feed tray 17 with respect to the IC tag reading device. At a possible level, a multi-read signal to be transmitted to an unspecified IC tag 30 is output, and reading control of the IC tag 30 mounted on the printing paper 20 is performed (S101).

  Here, the reading process of the IC tag 30 shown in step S101 may be performed by any one of the IC tag reading device A141, the IC tag reading device B142, and the two used in setting the control parameters of the printer 10. The IC tag reading device to be determined is determined, and detection control and reading control of the IC tag 30 are performed.

  When the IC tag 30 is detected (YES in S102), it is determined whether there are a plurality of detected IC tags 30 (S103).

  When a single IC tag 30 is detected (NO in S103), the printer controller 11 performs a mounting state determination process (details will be described later) when a single sheet is set on the manual feed tray 17 (S109).

  On the other hand, when a plurality of IC tags 30 are detected (S103 YES), the printer controller 11 individually reads the detected IC tags 30 of each paper, and in all the printing papers 20 on which the paper size and the embedded type are mounted. , It is determined whether they match (S104).

  If a plurality of paper sizes are mixed (NO in S104), a message prompting the user to check the paper size is displayed on the operation display unit 18 (S105).

  If all the paper sizes match (S104 YES) and there are a plurality of tag embedding types (S106 NO), a message prompting the user to confirm the type of the print paper 20 is displayed on the operation display unit 18 (S107). .

  On the other hand, when the paper size and the embedded type of the IC tag 30 match in all the printing papers 20 mounted (S106 YES), the printer controller 11 is loaded when a plurality of printing papers 20 are loaded on the manual feed tray 17. A discrimination process (details will be described later) is performed (S108).

  Next, a description will be given of the mounting state determination process when one sheet of printing paper 20 is set on the manual feed tray 17 shown in step S109 of FIG.

  FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating an operation example of the loading state determination process when one print sheet 20 is loaded on the manual feed tray 17.

  The printer controller 11 reads “paper size” and “embedding type” from the IC tag 30 with the IC tag reading device (S201), and uses a discrimination table to be used based on the read “paper size” and “embedding type”. It is determined and read in the storage unit 12 (S202).

  The printer controller 11 controls the IC tag reader to make the detection level 0 (S203), and controls the IC tag reader to sequentially increase the detection level (S204).

  When either the antenna A151 or the antenna B152 detects the IC tag 30 first (YES in S205), the printer controller 11 is notified of the detected IC tag reading antenna identifier and detection level from the IC tag reading device. (S207).

  From the discrimination table determined and read in step S202, the mounting state of the printing paper 20 corresponding to the antenna identifier and detection level detected in step S207 is specified and read (S208).

  The printer controller 11 determines the size of the image to be printed, the length and length of the image to be printed, and the length and width of the paper when the image is fed and printed based on the read mounting state. Check the consistency with the paper size.

  Returning to the process of step S206 again, if the IC tag 30 is not detected from any antenna as a result of sequentially increasing the detection level of the IC tag reading antenna to the predetermined maximum level (S206 YES), the detection error is operated. Displayed on the display unit 18 ends abnormally (S209).

  Next, a determination process when a plurality of print sheets 20 shown in step S108 of the flowchart of FIG. 7 is set on the manual feed tray 17 will be described with reference to FIG.

  The printer controller 11 reads the paper size determined in step S104 in FIG. 7 and the embedded type of the IC tag 30 specified in step S105 from the controller storage unit 12 (S301).

  From the read data of the memory part of each IC tag 30 temporarily stored in the controller storage unit 12 by the process of step S101 in FIG. 7, the read data corresponding to the identifier of the IC tag 30 that has not been subjected to the mounting state determination process is obtained. Read one by one (S302).

  The printer controller 11 performs the mounting state determination process based on the detection level shown in FIG. 8 on the determination table specified in step S301 and the IC tag having the identifier specified in step S302 (S303). The mounting state determined in association with the identifier of one IC tag 30 to be determined read in S302 is recorded in the controller storage unit 12 (S304).

  If there is a sheet (IC tag 30) whose mounting state has been determined among the plurality of detected IC tags 30 (YES in S305), whether the mounting state determined in step S303 matches the determined mounting state. Whether or not the IC tag 30 that has been discriminated is recorded in the controller storage unit 12 is compared and collated (S306).

  When the determined mounting state of the printing paper 20 does not match the determined mounting state (NO in S306), the printer controller 11 displays a message prompting the user to confirm the orientation of the printing paper 20 set on the manual feed tray 17. 18 (S311).

  When the printing paper 20 is used in the state in which the longitudinal direction and the short direction of the printing paper 20 match in all detected IC tags (YES in S305) and the printing paper 20 having the designated printing surface is used (YES in S307), the printer controller. No. 11 determines whether an image is printed on the designated paper surface when the paper is conveyed in accordance with the paper feed mechanism of the printer 10 (S308).

  If the print side of the image is not set in the correct orientation (NO in S308), the printer controller 11 displays a message on the operation display unit 18 that allows the user to confirm the orientation of the print side (S309).

  When the longitudinal and short directions of the printing papers 20 whose mounting states have already been identified all match and the printing surface orientations are all set correctly (YES in S308), it is determined whether or not the unidentified IC tag 30 remains. Then, the presence or absence of the discrimination result recorded in the controller storage unit 12 is checked for confirmation. If there is an unidentified IC tag 30 (S310 YES), the process returns to step S302 to return to the next unprocessed IC tag 30 to be discriminated. Is determined in the controller storage unit 12, and the mounting state confirmation processing and the mounting state consistency confirmation processing after S303 are performed.

  In addition, in the printing process when a plurality of printing papers 20 described above are mounted, when there are a plurality of images to be printed in one print job, the size of the page image, the long side, and the short side direction are The explanation is based on the assumption that the pages are the same.However, if you want to control the printing of multiple pages with different image sizes, long sides, short sides, and positions for each printed page, check the consistency check result. It is recorded in the controller storage unit 12, and a process for confirming whether or not the recorded mounting state matches the page image to be printed is performed for each page.

  The above is the description of the paper loading state determination processing to which the image forming apparatus of the present invention is applied.

  In addition, although the example which discriminate | determines a mounting state was demonstrated and demonstrated with the detection level of the reading antenna which became able to read previously by increasing the detection level of two reading antennas simultaneously, The maximum detection level that matches the maximum paper size that can be mounted is reduced, and the mounting state may be specified at the detection level immediately before both readings are impossible.

  Also, increase the detection levels of both antennas individually, compare the detection levels of the antennas that can be read, and identify the antenna detected earlier to identify the mounting state. May be.

  The image forming apparatus of the present invention can be used in an image forming apparatus that prints an image on a printing paper in which an IC tag is embedded, and in particular, can be used in an image forming apparatus having a paper feed mechanism using a manual feed tray.

1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an image forming apparatus of the present invention. The figure which shows the example of the embedding type of an IC tag. The figure which showed the mounting pattern of the printing paper in the 1st embedding type of IC tag shown in FIG. The figure which showed the mounting pattern of the printing paper in the 2nd embedding type of IC tag shown in FIG. The figure which shows the example of the detection antenna and detection level which detected the IC tag in each state in which the printing paper was mounted. The figure which shows the example of the determination table of the mounting state memorize | stored in a controller memory | storage part. The flowchart which shows the operation example of an installation state discrimination | determination process. 9 is a flowchart illustrating an operation example of a loading state determination process when one sheet of printing paper is loaded on the manual feed tray. 9 is a flowchart illustrating an operation example of a loading state determination process when a plurality of printing sheets are loaded on a manual feed tray.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Printer 11 Printer controller 12 Controller memory | storage part 13 Print engine 141 IC tag reader A
142 IC tag reader B
151 Antenna A
152 Antenna B
16 Side guide 17 Manual feed tray 18 Operation display section 20 Printing paper 30 IC tag

Claims (4)

In an image forming apparatus that performs printing by feeding a printing sheet in which an IC tag is embedded from a sheet feeding port,
Antennas respectively provided at both ends of the paper feed port;
Tag information reading means for reading tag information of the IC tag by the antenna;
Detecting means for detecting a detection level of the antenna that has read the tag information by the tag information reading means;
An image forming apparatus comprising: a discriminating unit that discriminates a size of the printing paper and a direction of the printing paper based on the tag information read by the tag information reading unit and a detection level of the detection unit. The IC tag is
Embedded in one of the four corners of the printing paper,
The tag information includes
Including size information of the printing paper and position information indicating an embedded position of the IC tag,
The discrimination means includes
The size of the printing paper is determined based on the size information of the printing paper, the direction of the printing paper and the front and back of the printing paper with respect to the running direction of the printing paper based on the size information of the printing paper, the position information, and the detection level of the detection means The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein: The detection means includes
The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the detection level of the antenna is sequentially increased, and the detection level at the time when the tag information becomes readable can be detected when the detection level increases. 4. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising notification means for notifying the fact that the size of the printing paper determined by the determination means and the orientation of the printing paper do not match the print settings. The image forming apparatus described in 1.

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