JP2007076191A - Image forming device, printing method, and printing program - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an image forming device, a printing method, and a printing program capable of properly discriminating a plurality of printed matters. <P>SOLUTION: In the image forming device outputting printed matters according to a printing requirement, the problem is solved by outputting a slip sheet to the printed matter so that a state after the output becomes longer than at least one side of the printed matter every time when outputting the printed matter according to the printing requirement. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus, a printing method, and a printing program, and more particularly to an image forming apparatus, a printing method, and a printing program that output a printed material in response to a printing request.

  In an image forming apparatus connected to a network, a plurality of people perform printing. At this time, the printed materials of a plurality of people overlap and be discharged on the paper discharge tray, which may make it difficult to identify the printed materials of each person. Therefore, there is a problem that it takes time to select an appropriate printed material, or an appropriate printed material cannot be selected unless a person who knows the output contents is well known.

Therefore, for example, in Patent Document 1, a printed matter is printed on the opposite side of the printing surface after printing the printed matter one sheet at a time or for each job, and a mark for identifying the printer is printed. Techniques have been proposed for discharging with the opposite side upside down. Also, in Patent Document 1, a printed matter corresponding to the name of the printer can be easily selected by curling the printed matter so that the printed surface is on the inner side and the back side on which the printed name is printed. Techniques to do so have been proposed.
JP 2004-018211 A

  However, according to the technique described in Patent Document 1, when taking a printed matter, the paper is disturbed and the consistency is lost, or printing on the back side of the printed matter is not intended by the printer, Problems such as curling unintended by the printer may occur on the paper. Further, since a complicated mechanism is required as compared with a normal paper discharge tray, there may be problems such as failure of the image forming apparatus and increase in cost.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and an object thereof is to provide an image forming apparatus, a printing method, and a printing program that can appropriately identify a plurality of printed materials.

  Accordingly, in order to solve the above-described problem, the present invention provides an image forming apparatus that outputs a printed matter in response to a print request, and each time the printed matter is output in response to the print request, the output state is at least the printed matter A slip sheet is output on the printed material so as to be longer than one side.

  In such an image forming apparatus, since the slip sheet is output so as to protrude from the printed material, a plurality of printed materials can be appropriately identified.

  In order to solve the above problems, the present invention may be a printing method in the image forming apparatus and a printing program for causing the printing apparatus to execute the printing method.

  According to the present invention, since the slip sheet is output so as to protrude from the printed material, a plurality of printed materials can be appropriately identified.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  First, the concept of an image forming apparatus (hereinafter referred to as “multifunction machine”) 1 according to the present embodiment will be described. FIG. 1 is a network diagram for explaining a network environment surrounding the MFP 1 according to the present embodiment, and FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a hardware configuration of the MFP 1 shown in FIG. FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram for explaining a relationship between software and hardware of the multifunction machine 1 shown in FIG.

  As shown in FIG. 1, with the recent progress of networking, devices such as personal computers (PCs) provided in offices are connected to a network such as a LAN (Local Area Network) and can communicate with each other. it can. For example, as shown in the figure, a client PC, an SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) server, an FTP (File Transfer Protocol) server, a server PC, etc. are connected to a network such as a LAN to send and receive e-mails and files. A distribution server that can transfer and that is connected to a modem can communicate with a fax machine outside the office.

  With the progress of such networking, the multifunction device 1 is also connected to the network and can communicate with devices such as a PC, and by incorporating a storage device such as a hard disk, a so-called network multifunction device can be obtained. It has evolved to meet various user needs.

  Specifically, in addition to the normal copy function, the multi function device 1 is connected to the server PC by a printer function for printing document data and the like by a print request from the client PC, and by a fax request from the client PC. It has a fax function that sends it to a fax machine in another office via a modem, and a storage function that stores received fax documents and copy documents on a hard disk with a built-in function. In order to realize such many functions, the software installed in the multifunction machine 1 has become larger and more complicated.

  FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a hardware configuration of the multifunction machine 1. As shown in the figure, the multifunction machine 1 has a configuration in which a controller 10 and an engine unit (Engine) 60 are connected by a PCI (Peripheral Component Interconnect) bus. The controller 10 is a controller that controls the entire MFP 1 and controls drawing, communication, and input from the operation panel. The engine unit 60 is a printer engine that can be connected to a PCI bus, and is, for example, a monochrome plotter, a one-drum color plotter, a four-drum color plotter, a scanner, or a fax unit. The engine unit 60 includes an image processing part such as error diffusion and gamma conversion in addition to a so-called engine part such as a plotter.

  The controller 10 includes a CPU 11, a north bridge (NB) 13, a system memory (MEM-P) 12, a south bridge (SB) 14, a local memory (MEM-C) 17, and an ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit). 16 and a hard disk drive (HDD) 18, and the north bridge (NB) 13 and the ASIC 16 are connected by an AGP (Accelerated Graphics Port) bus 15. The MEM-P 12 further includes a ROM (Read Only Memory) 12a and a RAM (Random Access Memory).

  The CPU 11 performs overall control of the multifunction machine 1 and includes a chip set including the NB 13, the MEM-P 12, and the SB 14, and is connected to other devices via the chip set.

  The NB 13 is a bridge for connecting the CPU 11 to the MEM-P 12, SB 14, and AGP 15, and includes a memory controller that controls reading and writing to the MEM-P 12, a PCI master, and an AGP target.

  The MEM-P 12 is a system memory used as a memory for storing programs and data, a memory for developing programs and data, a memory for drawing a printer, and the like, and includes a ROM 12a and a RAM 12b. The ROM 12a is a read-only memory used as a memory for storing programs and data, and the RAM 12b is a writable and readable memory used as a program / data development memory, a printer drawing memory, and the like.

  The SB 14 is a bridge for connecting the NB 13 to a PCI device and peripheral devices. The SB 14 is connected to the NB 13 via a PCI bus, and a network interface (I / F) unit and the like are also connected to the PCI bus.

  The ASIC 16 is an IC (Integrated Circuit) for image processing applications having hardware elements for image processing, and has a role of a bridge for connecting the AGP 15, PCI bus, HDD 18 and MEM-C 17. The ASIC 16 includes a PCI target and an AGP master, an arbiter (ARB) that is the core of the ASIC 16, a memory controller that controls the MEM-C 17, and a plurality of DMACs (Direct Memory) that perform rotation of image data by hardware logic. Access Controller) and a PCI unit that performs data transfer between the engine unit 60 via the PCI bus. An FCU (Fax Control Unit) 30, a USB (Universal Serial Bus) 40, and an IEEE 1394 (the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers 1394) interface 50 are connected to the ASIC 16 via a PCI bus.

  The MEM-C 17 is a local memory used as an image buffer for copying and a code buffer, and an HDD (Hard Disk Drive) 18 is a storage for storing image data, programs, font data, and forms. It is.

  The AGP 15 is a bus interface for a graphics accelerator card proposed for speeding up graphics processing. The AGP 15 speeds up the graphics accelerator card by directly accessing the MEM-P 12 with high throughput. .

  FIG. 3 is a conceptual diagram showing the hardware and software configurations of the multi-function device 1, and shows the hierarchical relationship between the integrated application 110, the software 100, and the hardware 200. As shown in the figure, the hardware 200 includes a hardware resource 201. The hardware resource 201 includes a scanner 201a, a plotter 201b, an HDD (Hard Disk Drive) 201c, a network 201d, and other resources 201e. . The other resource 201e is a hardware resource 201 other than 201a to 201d, and indicates an input / output device such as an operation panel, for example.

  The software 100 installed in the hardware 200 is hierarchized, and a service layer 102 is constructed above the operating system 103, and an application layer 103 is constructed above the service layer 102. The service layer 102 corresponds to a driver that controls each hardware resource (201a to 201e). The scanner control unit 102a, plotter control unit 102b, storage control unit 102c, distribution / mail transmission / reception control unit 102d, FAX transmission / reception It has a control unit 102e, a network communication control unit 102f, and another control unit 102g.

  FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram for explaining an operation panel of the multifunction machine. As shown in the figure, the operation panel 400 includes an initial setting key 401, a copy key 402, a copy server key 403, a printer key 404, a transmission key 405, a ten key 406, a clear / stop key 407, a start key 408, a preheat. A key 409, a reset key 410, and a liquid crystal touch panel 420 are provided.

  When the initial setting key 401 is touched, a menu for initial setting is displayed on the liquid crystal touch panel 420, and in this menu, a paper size to be stored can be set. Also, if you want to copy, copy key 402, if you want to store the copy result in the multifunction device 1, copy server key 403, if you want to perform operations related to the printer, press the printer key 404, fax or store. When the user wants to transmit an image or the like, touch the transmission key 405 to display a menu corresponding to the liquid crystal touch panel 420.

  FIG. 5 shows an example of a menu displayed on the liquid crystal touch panel 420 when the copy server key 403 shown in FIG. 4 is touched. As shown in FIG. 5, the liquid crystal touch panel 420 displays a document reading button 421, buttons such as a delete from list button 422, a print condition button 423, and a list of stored documents.

  Then, when it is desired to store the original, the original is set at a predetermined location and the original reading button 421 is touched. When it is desired to delete the stored document, for example, the stored document 425 with the user ID DEF is touched, the display of the stored document is inverted, and then the delete button 422 is touched from the list. If the user wants to change the print condition of the stored document, for example, touch the stored document 425 whose user ID is ABC, invert the display of the stored document, and touch the print condition button 423 to print the print condition menu. Is displayed.

  By changing the printing conditions in such a menu, the printing conditions of the selected accumulated document 425 can be changed. If the number of stored documents is large and the operation target document is not displayed in the display area, the operation target document can be displayed by touching the forward button and the backward button. .

  Hereinafter, a processing procedure of the multifunction machine 1 in the present embodiment will be described. FIG. 6 is a first activity diagram for explaining a slip sheet output procedure in the multifunction machine according to the embodiment of the present invention. The process of FIG. 6 is executed by the CPU 11 processing a program recorded in the ROM 12a.

  First, the multifunction device 1 accepts input of print information (S101). Here, the print information means image data to be printed, character data, print format, printer information, etc., information on the target print itself, information for controlling the print, print conditions, and information representing the attributes of the print. To do. The printing conditions include the paper direction. Subsequently, it is determined how to print the target print (print mode) based on the information for controlling printing and the state of the device (S102), and an image of the target print is generated (S103).

  In parallel with the generation of the target printed matter (S103), the processing from step S104 to step S106 is executed. First, an appropriate slip sheet is selected (S104). In the present embodiment, an appropriate slip sheet is a slip sheet in which the output state of the slip sheet is longer than at least one side of the printed material. For example, when using a slip sheet having the same paper size as that of the printed material, a slip sheet output in a paper direction different from the paper direction of the printed material corresponds. Specifically, when the paper size and paper direction of the printed material are A4 portrait, the slip sheet is A4 landscape. On the other hand, when the printed material is A4 landscape, the slip sheet is A4 portrait. Therefore, in this step, the paper size and paper direction of the slip sheet are determined. As will be described later, the color of the printing paper of the printed material and the color of the slip sheet may be the same.

  Subsequently, based on the paper size and paper direction of the slip sheet determined in step S104 and the paper size and paper direction of the printed matter, the printed matter is output in the slip sheet region when the slip sheet is output on the printed matter. An area that does not overlap the area is calculated, and a layout for printing information such as the name of the printer and the name of the printed material is determined in the area (S105). Subsequently, image data (hereinafter referred to as “interleaf print image”) of information such as the name of the printer and the name of the printed material is generated with the layout determined in step S105 (S106).

  When step S103 and step S106 are completed, the process proceeds to step S107, where the image of the target print is printed on the printing paper, and the printing paper is discharged (S108). Subsequently, an interleaf print image is printed on the interleaf paper in the paper size and paper direction determined in step S104 (S109), and the interleaf paper is discharged (S110).

  By repeating the processing of FIG. 6 for each print request or print job, printed matter and slip sheets are output to the paper discharge tray of the multifunction machine 1 as shown in FIG.

  FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating an output example of printed matter and slip sheets. In FIG. 7, A1 and A2 are printed matter and slip sheets that are output based on the print request A. Similarly, B1 and B2, and C1 and C2 are printed matter and slip sheets that are output based on the print request B or the print request C.

  Thus, according to the multifunction device 1 in the present embodiment, the slip sheet is output so as to protrude from the end of the printed matter. Therefore, even if the color of the interleaving paper is the same as the color of the printing paper of the printed material, the boundary between the printed materials becomes visually clear, and the user can easily separate the printed materials by placing a finger on the interleaving paper Can do. Further, since the identification information of the printer and the printed material is printed on the slip sheet, the printed material can be specified only by looking at the slip sheet. Therefore, it becomes easy to identify a specific printed material from among a plurality of printed materials.

  In addition, even if slip sheets are inserted, there is no influence on the printed matter itself that changes not intended by the printer are added.

  Furthermore, since it is not necessary to provide a special paper discharge mechanism for inserting slip sheets, and it can be realized by software control, it is possible to suppress an increase in the cost of the multifunction device 1.

  In FIG. 7, when the paper direction of the printed material B1 is different from that of the printed material A1 (when the paper directions of the printed materials based on the continuous print requests are different), the interleaf paper A2 and the printed material B1 overlap, and the interleaf paper A2 is overlapped. There is a possibility that it will become impossible to identify. In order to avoid such a possibility, the process in FIG. 6 may be changed as shown in FIG.

  FIG. 8 is a second activity diagram for explaining the output procedure of the slip sheet in the multifunction machine according to the embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 8, the same steps as those in FIG. 6 are denoted by the same step numbers, and the description thereof is omitted.

  In FIG. 8, the following processes (S201 to S203) are added before step S104.

  Information (paper direction information) for identifying the paper direction of the printed material in the previous printing is extracted from a predetermined storage area such as the RAM 12b (S201), and the paper direction information of the printed material in the current printing is stored in the RAM 12b or the like. (S202). That is, the paper orientation information taken out in step S201 is the one saved in step S202 at the time of the previous printing. Subsequently, the previous paper orientation information is compared with the current paper orientation information. If the paper orientation of the previous printed matter is different from the paper orientation of the current printed matter, the paper orientation of the same as the previous printed matter. The slip sheet (second slip sheet) is discharged (S203).

  With the above processing, the boundary between the previous printed material and the current printed material can be identified by the second slip sheet. The second slip sheet may be a blank sheet.

  In the above description, as a specific example of the appropriate slip sheet, the slip sheet having a paper direction different from the paper direction of the printed material has been described. However, it is not always necessary to change the paper direction. For example, slip sheets having a size larger than that of the printed material may be used even in the same paper direction as the printed material. That is, the paper size and direction are not limited to predetermined ones as long as the output state is a slip sheet that is longer than at least one side of the printed matter.

  As mentioned above, although the Example of this invention was explained in full detail, this invention is not limited to the specific embodiment which concerns, In the range of the summary of this invention described in the claim, various deformation | transformation * It can be changed.

1 is a network diagram showing a network environment surrounding a multifunction peripheral. FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram for explaining hardware of a multifunction peripheral. FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram for explaining a hierarchical structure of hardware and software in a multifunction peripheral. FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram for explaining an operation panel of the multifunction machine. It is explanatory drawing for demonstrating the example of a menu displayed on a liquid crystal touch panel. FIG. 6 is a first activity diagram for explaining a slip sheet output procedure in the multifunction peripheral according to the embodiment of the present invention; It is a figure which shows the output example of printed matter and a slip sheet. FIG. 10 is a second activity diagram for explaining a slip sheet output procedure in the multifunction peripheral according to the embodiment of the present invention.

Explanation of symbols

1 Image forming device (multifunction machine)
10 Controller 11 CPU
12 MEM-P
12a ROM
12b RAM
13 NB
14 SB
15 AGP
16 ASIC
17 MEM-C
18 HDD
20 Keyboard (Operation panel)
30 FCU
40 USB
50 IEEE1394
60 Engine
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 100 Software 101 Application layer 102 Service layer 102a Scanner control part 102b Plotter control part 102c Accumulation control part 102d Delivery / mail transmission / reception control part 102e FAX transmission / reception control part 102f Network communication control part 102g Other control part 103 Operating system 110 Integrated application 200 Hardware Hardware 201 Hardware resource 201a Scanner 201b Plotter 201c HDD
201d Network 201e Other resources 400 Operation panel 401 Initial setting key 402 Copy key 403 Copy server key 404 Printer key 405 Transmission key 406 Numeric keypad 407 Clear / stop key 408 Start key 409 Preheating key 410 Reset key 420 Touch panel 421 Document reading button 422 List Delete button 423 Print condition button 424 Document list example 1
425 Document List Example 2

Claims (7)

An image forming apparatus that outputs printed matter in response to a print request,
An image forming apparatus that outputs a slip sheet on the printed material every time a printed material corresponding to the print request is output so that a state after the output becomes longer than at least one side of the printed material. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the slip sheet is output in a paper direction different from a paper direction of the printed matter. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein information for identifying at least one of the printed matter and a printer is printed on the slip sheet. The image forming apparatus according to claim 3, wherein information for identifying at least one of the printed material and a printer is printed in an area that does not overlap the printed material. If the paper orientations of the respective printed materials based on the successive print requests are different, before the output of the printed materials based on the subsequent print requests, the second paper orientation of the same paper orientation as that of the printed materials based on the previous print requests is set. The image forming apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the image forming apparatus outputs paper. A printing method in an image forming apparatus that outputs printed matter in response to a print request,
Each time a printed material corresponding to the print request is output, a slip sheet is output on the printed material so that a state after output is longer than at least one side of the printed material. In the image forming device that outputs printed matter in response to a print request,
A printing program for executing a slip sheet output procedure for outputting slip sheets on the printed material so that a state after the output becomes longer than at least one side of the printed material every time the printed material corresponding to the print request is output.

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