JP2007098847A - Image forming device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To solve a problem that a user erroneously and repeatedly issues the same jog to generate a useless printing output because the output of the last job takes a long time and a succeeding job is not outputted. <P>SOLUTION: When receiving a new printing job, the content or the attribute of the job is compared to that of a printing job already stored, and one of the printing jobs is eliminated or a user is asked whether one of the printing jobs is eliminated, when at least a part of the attributes is the same. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus that is connected to an image forming apparatus via a network or the like and executes and outputs a received print job.

  Conventionally, an image forming apparatus uses a group of page data grouped from an external device such as a host computer as one print job unit, receives this print job data, develops the print job into bitmap data for each page, and outputs a printout. Do. Since this expansion process takes time depending on the complexity of the page, the image forming apparatus is equipped with a large-capacity storage device such as a hard disk so as not to delay input from the external device during that time. A plurality of print jobs can be stored as a queue. Here, the print job stored in the queue could not be output immediately.

  When printing to bitmap data is required before printing, but a heavy print job that takes a long time is received by the image forming apparatus and another print job is sent New print The job remains in the queue and has to wait for a heavy print job.

  In addition, when an error occurred in the preceding job, printing was not immediately performed. For example, if there is not enough memory to register the work memory or character pattern for processing during bitmap expansion of print job data received from an external device, "System work memory full", "Download memory full", etc. Error occurs.

  In addition, in the case of out of paper and paper jam during print output, errors such as “paper replenishment” and “paper jam” occur, respectively, and subsequent print job processing is delayed.

For example, Patent Document 1 can be cited as a conventional example.
JP-A-6-214921

  As described above, when a print job is concentrated on a certain printing apparatus, or when a sheet runs out or a paper jam occurs, the subsequent print job processing is delayed.

  The problem will be described with reference to FIG. In FIG. 4, an image forming apparatus 106 receives a mint job from the print server 103 on the network and develops it into bitmap data and outputs it. Reference numerals 102 and 104 denote PCs operated by the user A 102 and the user B 105, respectively, connected to the print server 103 via the network and transferring print jobs.

  First, as (1), the user B 105 issues a print job that takes time for the image forming apparatus 106. Next, as (2), the user A 101 issues another print job. In the image forming apparatus 106, print jobs are transmitted to and stored in the image forming apparatus 106 via the print server 103 in the order of Mr. B's job A's job. During the period (3) during which Mr. B's job is being processed, even if Mr. A checks the status of the print server 103 via the PC 102, no information is available because Mr. A's job does not remain in the print server 103. Is not obtained, and even if the image forming apparatus 106 is visually observed, it does not seem to operate, so it is suspicious whether or not the previous job is actually issued, and the same job may be repeatedly issued as (4).

  As a result, unnecessary output was finally made. In the above example, there is a preceding job that takes time to process, but the same problem occurs when the preceding job causes some error state. In other words, the subsequent job was issued twice because of some error condition, and the printing of the same job might be repeated after the error was cleared.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention has means for comparing contents or attributes thereof with at least one print job already stored when a new print job is received,
A means for deleting one of the print jobs when at least some of the attributes are equal or a means for inquiring the user A 101 to delete one of the print jobs is provided.

  As described above, according to the present invention, the output of the preceding job is time-consuming, and even when the user accidentally throws a plurality of the same jobs, it can be detected to prevent useless print output. It becomes.

  FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining the configuration of a network to which an image forming apparatus embodying the present invention is connected and the flow of data on the network. In the figure, reference numeral 106 denotes an image forming apparatus embodying the present invention. When a mint job is received from the print server 103 on the network, it is expanded into bitmap data and output. Reference numerals 102 and 104 denote PCs operated by the user A 101 and the user B 105, respectively, connected to the print server 103 via the network and transferring print jobs.

  FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view showing the configuration of the image forming apparatus 106. The document feeding unit 250 of the reader unit 200 feeds documents one by one on the platen glass 211 in order from the top, and discharges the documents on the platen glass 211 after the document reading operation is completed.

  When a document is placed on the platen glass 211 or the document is conveyed by the document feeding unit 250, the lamp 212 is turned on, the movement of the optical unit 213 is started, and the document is exposed and scanned. At this time, the reflected light from the document is guided to a CCD image sensor (hereinafter referred to as CCD) 218 through mirrors 214, 215, and 216 and a lens 217. The image of the original scanned in this way is read by the CCD 218. Image data output from the CCD 218 is transferred to a control device 110 (not shown) after being subjected to predetermined processing.

  The laser driver 321 of the printer unit 300 drives the laser light emitting unit 322, and causes the laser light emitting unit 322 to emit laser light corresponding to the image data output from the control device 110. The laser beam is irradiated onto the photosensitive drum 323, and a latent image corresponding to the laser beam is formed on the photosensitive drum 323.

  A developer is attached to the latent image portion of the photosensitive drum 323 by a developing device 324. Then, at the timing synchronized with the start of laser light irradiation, the recording paper is fed from either the cassette 311 or the cassette 312 and conveyed to the transfer unit 325, and the developer attached to the photosensitive drum 323 is transferred to the recording paper. To do.

  The recording paper to which the developer is attached is conveyed to the fixing unit 326, and the developer is fixed on the recording paper by the heat and pressure of the fixing unit 326. The recording paper that has passed through the fixing unit 326 is discharged to the paper discharge unit 330 by the discharge roller 327. In the paper discharge unit 330, the recording sheets discharged to the sorting unit are bundled and sorted, and the recording sheets sorted by the stapling unit 332 are stapled, or the punching unit 333 punches the recording paper.

  If double-sided recording is set, the recording paper is conveyed to the discharge roller 327, and then the rotation direction of the discharge roller 327 is reversed and guided to the refeed conveyance path 329 by the flapper 328. The recording sheet guided to the refeed conveyance path 329 is fed to the transfer unit 325 at the timing described above.

  FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of the control device 110 in the image forming apparatus 106. The control device 110 has a configuration in which a CPU 101, a ROM 120, a RAM 148, a hard disk 150, a network interface (I / F) 104, a scanner I / F 102, a printer unit I / F 103, and an operation unit I / F 105 are connected to a system bus 145. .

  The network I / F 104 is connected to an external host computer 401 via a network 400 such as a LAN, and the control device 110 executes predetermined print processing according to print job data sent from the host computer 401. .

  The CPU 101 comprehensively controls access of various devices connected to the system bus 145 based on a program read from the ROM 120. Also, print job data described in PDL (Page Description Language) code received from the host computer 401 is stored in the reception buffer 111 which is an input data storage area.

  Data stored in the reception buffer 111 is sequentially interpreted by the CPU 101 and developed into bitmap data. The process of generating the bitmap data is performed by the drawing object generation unit 131 and the drawing object drawing unit 132. The drawing object generation unit 131 and the drawing object drawing unit 132 are part of a program executed by the CPU 101. It is configured.

  Specifically, the drawing object generation unit 131 first analyzes the PDL code data (character printing command, image drawing command, graphic drawing command, etc.), and generates an intermediate data format object suitable for drawing for one page. The drawing object drawing unit 132 generates bitmap data based on the drawing object.

  Here, the drawing object generation unit 131 and the drawing object drawing unit 132 are configured to generate various errors such as memory full and operator calls such as paper replacement as necessary during the analysis of the print job data. Yes.

  The expanded bitmap data is stored in the hard disk 150 which is a mass storage device and the output buffer 112 which is an output data storage area. Note that the print job data described in the page description language is generated in advance as a file in the hard disk 411 of the host computer by a printer driver that converts the print instruction from the application software on the host computer 401 into the page description language. Shall.

  The RAM 148 is used as a work memory 113 used when the CPU 101 operates, a reception buffer 111 that stores print job data received from the host computer 401, an output buffer 112 that stores drawing objects converted into bitmap data, and the like. .

  The operation unit I / F 105 is connected to the operation unit 500. The operation unit 500 includes a liquid crystal display unit, a touch panel input device attached on the liquid crystal display unit, and a plurality of hardware keys. A signal input from the touch panel input device or a hardware key is transmitted to the CPU 101 via the operation unit I / F 105. The liquid crystal display unit displays image data sent from the operation unit I / F 105, and displays function display, image data, and the like in the operation of the image forming system.

  The scanner I / F 102 is connected to the reader unit 200. The scanner I / F 102 performs an optimal binarization process on the image received from the reader unit 200 according to the content of the process in the subsequent process, or performs main scanning / sub scanning. And a function of outputting a control signal generated based on the video control signal sent from the reader unit 200 to the system bus 145.

  The printer unit I / F 103 is connected to the printer unit 300 and performs smoothing processing on image data stored in the output buffer 112 via the system bus 145 or image data temporarily stored in the hard disk 150. And a function for outputting to the system bus 145 a control signal generated based on a video control signal sent from the printer unit 300.

  The printing process of the image forming system having the above configuration will be described. The printing process of the present embodiment is a printing process that does not perform so-called error skip, in which even if an error occurs during the printing process, the error is ignored and the process is continued.

  The operation flow of the image forming apparatus embodying the present invention in the system configured as described above will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

  This flow is started as step S301 when a print job is received, and the contents of the print job are analyzed as step S302. Next, one job in the queue stored in the image forming apparatus 106 is compared with its contents in step S304. If there is no match, the process proceeds to step S309, and the comparison with all jobs is completed until step S303 to step S309. Is repeated. As the contents of the comparison performed in step S304, it is preferable to compare all the attributes of the print job. However, in order to reduce the comparison process, for example, only a part of the attributes may be compared with the user ID, document name, and approximate data amount. There will be an effect of the present invention.

  If a match is found in step S304, the process proceeds to step S305. Here, the number of copies of the two jobs is checked, and if the old job is one copy and the new job is two copies or more, it is determined that the new job is an additional print intended by the user A 101 and the subsequent processing is skipped. If the number of copies matches, a job deletion proposal is made to user A101 in step S306. That is, it communicates with the PC 102 operated by the user A 101 via the network to display an inquiry window as shown in FIG. Subsequently, the instructed job is deleted according to the instruction of the user A101 (step S308) or skipped as it is (step S307 to N), and the process proceeds to step S309.

It is a figure explaining the operation | movement flow of the image forming apparatus which implemented this invention. 1 is a cross-sectional view illustrating an image forming apparatus embodying the present invention. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a control device 110 in the image forming apparatus implemented in the present invention. FIG. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a network configuration to which an image forming apparatus embodying the present invention is connected and a data flow on the network. It is a figure which shows the job deletion inquiry screen displayed on PC of user A101 in step S306.

Claims (2)

An image forming apparatus capable of storing a plurality of print jobs,
Having a means to compare the contents with at least one print job already stored when a new print job is received,
An image forming apparatus having means for deleting one of the print jobs when at least some attributes are equal. An image forming apparatus capable of storing a plurality of print jobs,
Having a means to compare the contents with at least one print job already stored when a new print job is received,
An image forming apparatus having means for inquiring of a user whether or not to delete one of print jobs when at least some attributes are equal.

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