JP2007065141A - Image forming apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an image forming apparatus capable of forming annotations at the same position on a sheet, at whatever image forming processing conducted. <P>SOLUTION: Regarding the image forming apparatus 10, including an original reading part 11 for reading each original constituting a bundle of originals constituted of a plurality of originals, and an image forming part 12 for forming the copied image of the original read by the original reading part on the sheet, the original reading part 11 has a function of reading each original constituting the bundle of originals with the coexistence of originals of plural sizes, and the image forming part 12 includes an annotation control part 15 for forming annotation in the same position on the sheet with the copied image formed, regardless of the original size. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus that forms a copy image of a document read by a document reading unit on a sheet.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there is known a double-sided image forming apparatus capable of reading each original constituting a bundle of originals composed of a plurality of originals and copying the read original on both sides of a sheet. Many conventional double-sided image forming apparatuses are equipped with an automatic document feeder. However, when copying a large number of documents continuously, the user determines whether the document image is on only one side or both sides in advance. After confirmation, copying is started by specifying either the single-sided mode or the double-sided mode. Therefore, when copying a document having both sides of a single-sided image by using such a double-sided image forming apparatus, it is necessary to classify the document into a single-sided document and a double-sided document in advance, and to start copying after designating separate copy modes. There is not efficient.

  Therefore, in a double-sided image forming apparatus that reads a plurality of originals mixed with single-sided originals and double-sided originals and outputs a copy, the document feeding means and discrimination for determining whether the original is single-sided printing or double-sided printing Means to read a mixed document as it is, and specify the copy mode to be output in single-sided copy mode, double-sided copy mode, or single-sided and double-sided mixed copy mode, so that a desired copy can be output. A double-sided image forming apparatus is disclosed (for example, see Patent Document 1).

Also, in a conventional image forming apparatus, for example, a function of printing a stamp such as “secret”, “circulation”, “urgent”, or so-called annotation (annotation) on the upper right, lower right, or lower center of a sheet An image forming apparatus having a copy image is known, and a large size paper on which a copy image is formed is folded in a Z-shape in accordance with a small size paper on which a copy image is formed, after the image forming unit. An image forming apparatus incorporating a post-processing device such as a Z-folding device that outputs the image at a time, or a stapler device that staples one end of a bundle of sheets after a copy image is formed is also widely used.
JP 05-333642 A (page 1-2, FIG. 1)

  However, when the conventional image forming apparatus prints, for example, a mixed document of A4 portrait and A3 landscape in the duplex printing mode and performs Z-fold processing on the printed paper, the following problems may occur. .

  That is, in the above example, of the A4 portrait document and the A3 landscape document, the A4 portrait document is printed as it is, but the A3 landscape document is printed according to the user setting or based on the automatic setting function by the image forming apparatus. It is possible to set to create a print of an A3 landscape image on one side of A3 landscape paper, or to create a print of an image reduced from A3 to A4 on one side of A4 portrait paper. is there.

  Here, when the user makes a setting such that the page number is printed as an annotation, for example, at a position below the center of the page of each print, the following print output is obtained.

  FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of a print output with an annotation by a conventional image forming apparatus.

  FIG. 4 shows six originals 90 including three A4 vertical originals, one A3 horizontal original, and two A4 vertical originals, a print 91 when an A3 horizontal original is output in its original size, and an A3 horizontal original. A print 92 is shown when the image is output after being reduced to A4.

  As shown in FIG. 4, in the conventional image forming apparatus, an annotation is formed on the image image. Therefore, in the print 91, a full-size image is formed on one side of A3 landscape paper on the surface of the third print. The page number “(4)” is printed at a position below the center of the full-size image.

  In this example, a Z-folding process is further performed by the post-processing device.

  FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a sheet that has been Z-folded.

  As shown in FIG. 5, when the sheet is Z-folded, a first fold 93 is formed at the center in the sheet conveyance direction, and a second fold is formed at the center between the first fold 93 and the sheet conveyance direction front end 94. 95 is formed.

  Accordingly, since the page number “(4)” is printed at the position of the first fold 93 on the third sheet of the print 91 shown in FIG. 4, the page number “(( 4) "is hidden and the effect as an annotation is lost.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 4, in the print 92, a print of the A3 reduced image 97 is formed on the surface of the third print, and the annotation 96 (page reduced together with the image image) is formed on the image 97. The number “(4)”) is printed, and the character size is smaller than the page number printed on other prints, so that it is difficult to identify and the viewer is uncomfortable.

  In view of the above circumstances, an object of the present invention is to provide an image forming apparatus capable of forming an annotation at the same position on a sheet no matter what image forming processing is performed.

An image forming apparatus of the present invention that solves the above problems is as follows.
An image forming apparatus comprising: a document reading unit that reads each document constituting a document bundle composed of a plurality of documents; and an image forming unit that forms a copy image of the document read by the document reading unit on a sheet.
The document reading unit has a function of reading each document constituting a document bundle in which a plurality of sizes of documents are mixed;
This image forming apparatus is characterized in that the image forming unit includes an annotation control unit that forms an annotation at the same position on the paper on which the copy image is formed regardless of the size of the original.

  According to the image forming apparatus of the present invention, the annotation control unit controls the image forming unit so that the annotation is formed at the same position on the paper regardless of what image forming process is performed. Easy to print.

  Here, the image forming unit has a function of forming an enlarged or reduced copy image of the read original, and even when the image forming unit forms an enlarged or reduced copy image, the annotation control unit The image forming unit may form an annotation at the same position on the paper.

  When the image forming apparatus of the present invention is configured as described above, an annotation of the same size is formed at the same position on the paper even when a copy image obtained by enlarging or reducing the original is formed. Since the annotation control unit controls the image forming unit, a print that can be easily identified can be obtained.

Further, the image forming unit forms a copy image on a plurality of sizes of paper according to the size of the document read by the document reading unit,
A post-processing unit that folds a large-size sheet on which a copy image is formed, in accordance with a small-size sheet on which a copy image is formed, is provided at a stage after the image forming unit,
The annotation control unit causes the image forming unit to form an annotation at the same position as the annotation on the small size paper after being folded by the post-processing unit for the large size paper. May be.

  When the image forming apparatus of the present invention is configured as described above, an annotation of the same size is formed at the same position on the paper even when folding processing is performed on the paper after the copy image is formed. Since the annotation control unit controls the image forming unit, a print that can be easily identified can be obtained.

  As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to realize an image forming apparatus capable of forming an annotation at the same position on a sheet regardless of what image forming process is performed.

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

  FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of an image forming apparatus of the present invention.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the image forming apparatus 10 includes a document reading unit 11 that reads each document constituting a document bundle made up of a plurality of documents, and a copy image of the document read by the document reading unit on a sheet. An image forming unit 12 to be formed, and a post-processing unit 13 provided at a later stage than the image forming unit 12 to fold a large-size sheet on which a copy image is formed in accordance with a small-size sheet on which the copy image is formed A controller 14 that controls the overall operation of the image forming apparatus 10 and a user interface 16 that gives instructions to the controller 14 in response to user operations are provided.

  In the image forming apparatus 10, the document reading unit 11 has a function of reading each document constituting a document bundle in which a plurality of sizes of documents are mixed.

  Further, the image forming apparatus 10 includes an annotation control unit 15 that causes the image forming unit 12 to form an annotation at the same position on the paper on which the copy image is formed, regardless of the size of the document. In the present embodiment, the annotation control unit 15 is formed inside the controller 14. The operation of the annotation control unit 15 will be described later.

  In this image forming apparatus 10, the image forming unit 12 has a function of forming an enlarged or reduced copy image of the read original, and the image forming unit 12 forms an enlarged or reduced copy image. Even in such a case, the annotation control unit 15 is configured to cause the image forming unit 12 to form an annotation at the same position on the paper.

  Further, in this image forming apparatus 10, the image forming unit 12 forms a copy image on a plurality of sizes of paper according to the size of the document read by the document reading unit 11, and the annotation control unit 15 The image forming unit 12 is configured to form an annotation on a large size sheet at the same position as the annotation on the small size sheet after being folded by the post-processing unit 13.

  Next, a control system of the image forming apparatus 10 will be described.

  FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a control system of the image forming apparatus shown in FIG.

  As shown in FIG. 2, when the image forming apparatus is turned on, the controller 14 gives the image forming unit 12 an image forming function, an annotation forming function, an image enlarging / reducing function, a single side, -Inquire about the double-sided image forming function (step S01). Further, the paper feed tray 17 incorporated in the image forming unit 12 is inquired about the paper feed function of the paper feed tray 17 (step S02). Further, the post-processing unit 13 is inquired about the annotation function and the like of the post-processing unit 13 (step S03).

  Each unit that has received an inquiry from the controller 14 notifies the controller 14 of information relating to the function that each unit has (steps S04, S05, S06). The controller 14 notifies the user interface 16 of the information notified from these units (step S07).

  The user interface 16 displays information notified from the controller 14 on a predetermined display device, and sets a print condition, an annotation condition, a post-processing condition, etc. to be executed by the image forming apparatus 10 from now on according to a user operation. Then, the controller 14 is notified of information related to them (step S08).

  When the controller 14 receives information from the user interface 16, the annotation control unit 15 built in the controller 14 is based on the information received from the user interface 16, and the same on the paper that is finally output from the image forming apparatus. The image forming operation condition by the image forming unit 12 is set so as to form an annotation at the position of (2), and an instruction is given to the image forming unit 12 (step S09). The image forming unit 12 gives an instruction to the paper feed tray 17 based on an instruction from the controller 14 (step S10). Further, the image forming unit 12 gives an instruction to the post-processing unit 13 based on an instruction from the controller 14 (step S12).

  In response to an instruction from the image forming unit 12, the paper feed tray 17 prepares to convey the paper and notifies the image forming unit 12 of the result (step S <b> 11).

  Thus, when the image forming unit 12 receives notification from the paper feed tray 17 that preparation for conveyance has been performed, image formation is started. When the image is formed and the post-processing is completed, the post-processing unit 13 notifies the image forming unit 12 that paper output has been performed (step S13). When the image forming unit 12 receives a notification from the post-processing unit 13 that the sheet is output, the image forming unit 12 starts the next image formation.

  Next, annotation setting items in the image forming apparatus of this embodiment will be described.

  Table 1 is a table showing annotation setting items in the image forming apparatus of the present embodiment.

  As shown in Table 1, in the present embodiment, the three items of annotation setting items “page”, “stamp”, and “replication management” have “registration pattern”, “registration type”, “print” as shown in the figure. “Page designation”, “position change”, “size change”, “sheet position (LE / TE)”, and “printing direction” can be set.

  Next, examples of the image forming apparatus according to this embodiment will be described.

  FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of print output by the image forming apparatus of the present embodiment.

  Here, a case will be described in which, for example, a mixed document 20 of A4 portrait and A3 landscape is printed in the duplex printing mode and the Z-folding process is performed.

  As shown in FIG. 3, in this example, an A4 portrait document is printed in its original size, but an A3 landscape document is printed on an A3 landscape sheet according to a user setting or based on an automatic setting function by an image forming apparatus. A print of an A3 landscape image can be created on one side, or a print of an image reduced from A3 to A4 can be created on one side of A4 portrait paper.

  Here, when the user makes a setting so that the page number is formed at a position below the center of the page of the print to be created, a print with the page number printed at the position below the center of each page is obtained.

  Here, according to the user's instruction, when the A3 landscape document is set to create an A3 landscape image print on one side of the A3 landscape paper, the print 21 shown in FIG. 3 is obtained. The third print of the print 21 is subjected to the Z-folding process. The lower part of the center of the portion sandwiched between the second fold 25 of the third print and the front end portion 24 in the paper transport direction is used. An annotation 26 (page number “(4)”) is printed at the position.

  Further, when it is set by the user's instruction to create a print of an image reduced from A3 to A4 on one side of A4 portrait paper for an A3 landscape document, the print 22 shown in FIG. 3 is obtained. . An image 27 reduced from A3 to A4 is formed on the third print of the print 22, and the annotation 26 (page number “(4)”) of the third print is displayed at the bottom center of the print. Is printed at the position.

  As described above, according to the image forming apparatus of the present embodiment, an annotation can be formed at the same position on the paper after the image formation, regardless of what kind of image forming processing is performed.

1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of an image forming apparatus of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a control system of the image forming apparatus illustrated in FIG. 1. FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of print output by the image forming apparatus of the present embodiment. It is a figure which shows the example of a print output with an annotation by the conventional image forming apparatus. It is a figure which shows the paper by which Z folding process was carried out.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Image forming apparatus 11 Image reading part 12 Image forming part 13 Post-processing part 14 Controller 15 Annotation control part 16 User interface 17 Paper feed tray 20 Mixed document 21, 22 Print 24 Front end part 25 Fold 90 Mixed document 91, 92 Print 93, 95 Crease 94 Tip

Claims (3)

An image forming apparatus comprising: a document reading unit that reads each document constituting a document bundle composed of a plurality of documents; and an image forming unit that forms a copy image of the document read by the document reading unit on a sheet.
The document reading unit has a function of reading each document constituting a document bundle in which a plurality of sizes of documents are mixed;
The image forming apparatus includes an annotation control unit that causes the image forming unit to form an annotation at the same position on the paper on which the copy image is formed regardless of the size of the document. Forming equipment.   The image forming unit has a function of forming an enlarged or reduced copy image of the read document. Even when the image forming unit forms an enlarged or reduced copy image, the annotation control unit The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the image forming unit causes the annotation to be formed at the same position on the sheet. The image forming unit forms a copy image on a plurality of sizes of paper according to the size of the document read by the document reading unit;
A post-processing unit that folds a large-size sheet on which a copy image is formed in accordance with a small-size sheet on which a copy image is formed, after the image forming unit,
The annotation control unit causes the image forming unit to form an annotation at the same position as the annotation on the small size paper after being folded by the post-processing unit for the large size paper. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1.

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