JP2007136815A - Image forming apparatus and its control method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an image forming apparatus capable of preventing a user from erroneously printing management information on an expensive printing medium, and its control method. <P>SOLUTION: When printing of management information is restricted corresponding to a unit price of a printing medium, if the unit price of the printing medium used for the printing of the management information is higher than a unit threshold value, the image forming apparatus temporarily restricts the printing of the management information and displays a warning message urging replacement of the printing medium (S5). When a printing medium having a unit price lower than the unit threshold value is loaded into the image forming apparatus, after the alarming message is displayed, printing of the management information is restarted. If the user instructs the apparatus to forcibly print the management information without replacing the printing medium, the management information is forcedly printed without the replacement of the printing medium. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus that prints image data, and more particularly to a function of an image forming apparatus that prints management information.

  Conventionally, a function of printing management information in an image forming apparatus is known (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

Management information printing includes status printing for printing a setting state unique to the image forming apparatus, and log printing for printing an operation history of the image forming apparatus. These pieces of management information are effective for the user to manage the image forming apparatus. However, since the amount of information is large for viewing by the operation unit of the image forming apparatus, the management information is operated by an operation from the operation unit of the image forming apparatus. A method of printing on paper is employed.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 09-179699 (FIG. 3)

  However, in recent years, image forming apparatuses handle a wide variety of print media in order to meet user expectations. Some of these print media are very expensive. In particular, there is an expensive medium that is supposed to be used only for printing work data, such as a print medium related to art.

  In a conventional image forming apparatus, when an expensive print medium is loaded in the image forming apparatus, when the user instructs printing of management information, the image forming apparatus interprets that printing is instructed with the currently loaded print medium. However, there is a problem that the management information is printed as it is.

SUMMARY An advantage of some aspects of the invention is that it provides an image forming apparatus and a control method for the image forming apparatus that can prevent a user from erroneously printing management information on an expensive print medium.

The present invention sets whether or not to restrict management information printing according to the unit price of the print medium,
When printing management information according to the unit price of the printing medium, if the unit price of the printing medium used for printing the management information is higher than the unit price threshold, printing of the management information is temporarily restricted and the printing medium is replaced. Display a warning message,
After displaying the warning message, if a print medium having a unit price equal to or lower than the unit price threshold is loaded in the image forming apparatus, printing of management information is resumed,
When the user instructs to print the management information without replacing the print medium when the warning message is displayed, the image forming apparatus forcibly prints the management information without replacing the print medium. is there.

According to the present invention, it is possible to prevent the management information from being erroneously printed on an expensive print medium when the user prints the management information.

  The best mode for carrying out the invention is the following embodiment.

  FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a system using an image forming apparatus 100 that is Embodiment 1 of the present invention.

  The image forming apparatus 100 is a large-format ink jet printer, and is connected to a host PC 200 via a LAN network NW.

  Note that the image forming apparatus 100 is an ink jet large format printer, but the printing method may be configured by means other than the ink jet method such as an electrophotographic method or a thermal sublimation method. Further, the image forming apparatus 100 may be a desktop cassette paper feed or manual paper feed printer, or a complex copying machine having a plurality of paper feed stages, instead of a large format printer.

  The image forming apparatus 100 of the present invention includes a network connection unit as an external I / F unit. However, a printer server may be set up and connected to this server via USB, IEEE 1394, or the like.

  FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating the image forming apparatus 100 according to the first embodiment.

  The image forming apparatus 100 includes a CPU 1, a ROM 2, a RAM 3, a nonvolatile memory 4, an operation unit 5, an external I / F unit 6, an image processing unit 7, an engine control unit 8, and a head control unit 9. And a printer head 10. Further, the image forming apparatus 10 includes a mechanical control unit 11, a head driving unit 12, a paper feed / discharge control unit 13, and a cutter control unit 14.

  The CPU 1 analyzes the control of the image forming apparatus 100 and commands from the outside, and executes the analysis result. The ROM 2 stores a program, and the CPU 1 performs control by executing the program read from the ROM 2.

  When the CPU 1 and the ROM 2 limit the printing of management information according to the unit price of the printing medium, if the unit price of the printing medium used for printing the management information is higher than the unit price threshold, printing of the management information is temporarily limited. It is an example of a means for displaying a warning message for prompting replacement of a medium.

  The CPU 1 and the ROM 2 are examples of management information printing restarting means for restarting printing of management information if a print medium having a unit price equal to or lower than the unit price threshold is loaded in the image forming apparatus after displaying a warning message.

  When the CPU 1 and the ROM 2 display a warning message and the user instructs to print the management information without replacing the print medium, the CPU 1 and the ROM 2 print the management information without replacing the print medium. It is an example of the management information printing forced means to perform.

  The RAM 3 has an image memory area for storing image data received from the outside and a work memory area for the CPU 1 to execute a program, and is secured on the RAM 3 independently of each other.

  The nonvolatile memory 4 is composed of a Flash ROM or an EEPROM, and is read and written by the CPU 1. In the nonvolatile memory 4, various setting information including the unit price information of each print medium currently set in the image forming apparatus 100 and a unit price threshold described later are stored in a nonvolatile manner independently from the power supply.

  The operation unit 5 displays a message from the CPU 1 to the user via an LCD or LED, and an instruction from the user input via a key input device provided in the operation unit 5 is input to the CPU. The external I / F unit 6 can transmit and receive using a network connection protocol such as the IP protocol.

  The image processing unit 7 stores image data received by the external I / F unit in an image memory area on the RAM 3 based on an instruction from the CPU 1 and develops the image data so that an engine control block (to be described later) can execute printing. Execute processing to change to data.

  The engine control unit 8 controls each unit of the image forming apparatus 100 and executes a printing operation. The head controller 9 controls the printer head 10 to draw each pixel.

  The mechanical control unit 11 controls the head drive unit 12, the paper supply / discharge control unit 13, and the cutter control unit 14 to execute printing of drawing data.

  FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of a data structure of the unit price information 20 of the print medium according to the first embodiment.

  The print medium unit price information 20 includes a print medium type 21 and a unit price 22 per unit area A4.

  In the example shown in FIG. 3, the unit of the unit price 22 per unit area A4 is a circle. For example, the unit price of plain paper is 1 yen, but the unit price of canvas paper is 120 yen. Note that the unit of unit price information and the size of the unit area of the print medium shown in FIG. 3 are examples, and the first embodiment can be applied even if these unit prices change.

  FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of a screen of the operation unit 5 which is a setting unit of the price warning function in the first embodiment.

  When the user operates the operation unit 5 to display a menu screen, and an item for price warning setting is selected by an item selection key (not shown) provided on the operation unit 5. The screen shown in FIG. 4 is displayed on the LCD panel.

  The operation screen is an LCD panel having 16 characters and 2 lines as shown in FIG. 4. In the following description, an example of the LCD of the operation screen is an LCD having 16 characters and 2 lines as shown in FIG. It is a panel.

  In FIG. 4, a screen 31 in which the operation screen indicates the setting of price warning and a screen 32 that indicates whether or not to set the price warning are displayed. The screen 32 indicating selection indicates YES, that is, affirmation, and represents a state in which the user selects setting of price warning. By a left / right key (not shown), the screen 32 indicating selection can be changed to a state of selecting NO, that is, negative.

  After selecting YES or NO, pressing an OK key (not shown) determines whether to issue a price warning. The user's selection result for the confirmed price warning function is stored in the nonvolatile memory 4 from the operation unit 5 via the CPU.

  FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of an operation screen for inputting a unit price threshold in the first embodiment.

  The user operates the operation unit 5 to display a menu screen, selects a menu item with the up / down / left / right item selection keys (not shown) provided on the operation unit 5, and sets a price warning limit value. When the item is selected, the screen shown in FIG. 5 is displayed on the LCD panel in the operation unit 5.

  The operation screen of FIG. 5 displays a screen 41 for setting a unit price threshold value for price warning and a unit price threshold value 42 for price warning.

  In the example shown in FIG. 5, the unit price threshold 42 of the price warning is 5, that is, the unit price is 5 yen. The number of the unit price threshold 42, that is, the unit price threshold can be changed by a left / right key (not shown). After the price is selected, a unit price threshold for price warning is determined by pressing an OK key (not shown). The determined unit price threshold value is stored in the nonvolatile memory 4 from the operation unit 5 via the CPU 1.

  Next, in the first embodiment, an operation for displaying a warning message for prompting replacement of the print medium if the unit price of the print medium is higher than the threshold unit price when printing the management information will be described.

  FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of displaying a warning message for prompting replacement of the print medium if the unit price of the print medium is higher than the threshold unit price during management information printing in the first embodiment.

  The control operation shown in FIG. 6 is executed by the CPU 1 during printing. In S1, it is determined whether the content of printing is printing of management information or normal image data printing. If the printing is management information printing, the process proceeds to S2, and if not, the process proceeds to S8. In S2, it is determined whether or not the user has set the price warning. If it is set to execute the price warning, the process proceeds to S3, and if not, the process proceeds to S8.

  In S3, the unit price threshold of the price warning set by the user is compared with the unit price of the print medium on which the management information is printed. The unit price of the print medium can be obtained by searching the unit price information data of the print medium stored in the nonvolatile memory 4 by the type of the print medium on which the management information is printed.

  If the unit price of the print medium on which the management information is printed is higher than the unit price threshold of the price warning, the process proceeds to S4, and if not, the process proceeds to S8. In S4, execution of the print job for management information printing is temporarily stopped, and the process proceeds to S5. In S <b> 5, a warning message as shown in FIG. 7 is displayed on the LCD panel of the operation unit 5.

  FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating an example of a warning message of the price warning function according to the first embodiment.

  The warning message of the price warning function shown in FIG. 7 includes a screen 51 that displays a warning message, and a screen 52 that indicates whether or not the user is forced to perform printing.

  On the screen 52, if NO is switched to YES by a left / right key (not shown) and then confirmed by an OK key (not shown), the process proceeds to S8, the price warning is canceled, and printing is performed forcibly using the current print medium. be able to. As a result, the user can execute management information printing even in a situation where there is no inexpensive paper on hand. If the OK key is pressed while the screen 52 is NO, a paper replacement determination is made in S7.

  In the flowchart shown in FIG. 6, in S7, it is determined whether or not the sheet has been replaced. When the paper is replaced, the process proceeds to S3, and the unit price of the new print medium is determined. On the other hand, if the paper is not exchanged, the process proceeds to S6, and the print pause and the warning message of the price warning are continued. That is, when the warning message shown in FIG. 7 is displayed, the user can select whether to replace the paper and set a new print medium, or cancel the warning message and perform forced printing.

  Although not shown in the flowchart of FIG. 6, the print job itself of the management information can be canceled by using the job cancel function in response to a STOP key depression interrupt provided in the operation unit 5.

  In S8, a print job is executed and each printing is executed.

  According to the first embodiment, by comparing the unit price of the print medium with a threshold set by the user, it is possible to prevent the user from accidentally printing management information on an expensive print medium.

  FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating an example of an operation screen that is a unit for changing unit price information of the price warning function according to the first embodiment.

  A user operates the operation unit 5 to display a menu screen, and a menu item is selected with an item selection key (not shown) provided on the operation unit 5 to select a price setting item. As a result, the screen shown in FIG. 8 is displayed on the LCD panel in the operation unit 5.

  The operation screen, which is a unit for changing the unit price information of the price warning function, includes a screen 61 indicating that the price is set and a screen 62 indicating the type of the print medium.

  The user operates a left / right key (not shown) to select the type of print medium whose unit price information is to be changed, and presses an OK key (not shown) to determine the type of the target print medium. When the target print medium is determined, the screen transitions to the screen shown in FIG.

  FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating a screen for changing the unit price of the print medium in the first embodiment.

  The screen for changing the unit price of the print medium includes a screen 71 indicating the type of the print medium whose unit price is to be changed, and a screen 72 indicating the unit price.

  In FIG. 9, a screen 72 showing the unit price represents 1, that is, a unit price of 1 yen. The number on the screen 72 showing the unit price, that is, the unit price can be changed by a left / right key (not shown). After setting the unit price, the unit price of the target print medium is determined by an OK key (not shown) and stored in the nonvolatile memory 4.

  In the first embodiment, a unit price setting of less than 1 yen, that is, a decimal point may be set.

  Further, the unit price of the print medium may be changed via a network.

  According to the first embodiment, the user can set the unit price of the print medium to be used.

  FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of an operation screen instructing to print a unit price list in the first embodiment.

  An operation screen for instructing printing of the unit price list is performed by the user operating the menu screen of the operation unit 5, selecting a menu item using an item selection key (not shown), and selecting a unit price list print item. Displayed on the LCD panel.

  The operation screen for instructing the printing of the unit price list includes a screen 81 indicating that the unit price list is printed and a screen 82 indicating whether the unit price list is printed.

  With the left and right keys (not shown) of the operation unit 5, YES or NO can be selected as the display content of the screen 82. When an OK key (not shown) is pressed while the screen 82 is YES, the unit price list is printed in the same manner as other management information prints. If the OK key (not shown) is pressed in a state where the screen 82 is NO, or if the display of the setting screen for instructing the printing of the unit price list is stopped by the up key or the STOP key, the setting screen is displayed without executing the list printing Exit.

  FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating an example of a screen showing a unit price list in the first embodiment.

  The unit price list screen is a title 91 indicating that it is a unit price list, the type of each print medium, the unit price 92, a display 93 indicating whether a price warning is currently set, and a price warning. The unit price threshold 94 is set.

  The CPU 1 replaces information read from the nonvolatile memory 4 with fonts, thereby converting the information into image data of a predetermined format, and display contents 91 to 94 are printed.

  According to the first embodiment, it is possible to print the unit price of the print medium as a list and print it as a kind of management information print, and support the management of the unit price and the unit price threshold value.

  Further, according to the first embodiment, since the unit price of the print medium is compared with the threshold set by the user, it is possible to prevent the user from erroneously printing management information on an expensive print medium.

  Furthermore, according to the first embodiment, since the unit price of each print medium is changed according to the user's will, it is possible to cope with the fluctuation of the unit price of each print medium due to market trends.

According to the first embodiment, as a kind of management information printing function, the unit price list of the printing medium registered in the image forming apparatus 100 is printed, so that the user supports the management of the printing medium of the image forming apparatus 100. be able to.

1 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a system using an image forming apparatus 100 that is Embodiment 1 of the present invention. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an image forming apparatus 100 in Embodiment 1. FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of a data structure of unit price information 20 of a print medium in Embodiment 1. FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of a screen of an operation unit 5 which is a setting unit of a price warning function in Embodiment 1. FIG. In Example 1, it is a figure which shows the example of the operation screen which inputs a unit price threshold value. 7 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of displaying a warning message for prompting replacement of a print medium if the unit price of the print medium is higher than a threshold unit price when printing management information in the first embodiment. It is a figure which shows the example of the warning message of the price warning function in Example 1. FIG. It is a figure which shows the example of the operation screen which is a change means of the unit price information of the price warning function in Example 1. FIG. In Example 1, it is a figure which shows the screen which changes the unit price of a printing medium. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of an operation screen for instructing printing of a unit price list in Embodiment 1. FIG. In Example 1, it is a figure which shows the example of the screen which shows a unit price list.

Explanation of symbols

100: Image forming apparatus,
1 ... CPU,
2 ... ROM,
3 ... RAM,
4 ... Non-volatile memory,
5 ... operation part,
6 ... External I / F part,
7: Image processing unit,
8 ... Engine control unit,
9: Head controller,
10: Printer head,
11 ... Mechanical control unit,
12 ... Head drive unit,
13: Feed / discharge control unit,
14: Cutter control unit.

Claims (4)

Print medium unit price storage means for storing the unit price of the print medium;
Unit price threshold setting means for setting a unit price threshold for the print medium;
Management information printing restriction setting means for setting whether to restrict printing of management information according to the unit price of the printing medium;
When printing management information according to the unit price of the printing medium, if the unit price of the printing medium used for printing the management information is higher than the unit price threshold, printing of the management information is temporarily limited. Warning message display means for displaying a warning message prompting replacement;
Management information printing restarting means for restarting printing of management information if a print medium having a unit price equal to or lower than the unit price threshold is loaded in the image forming apparatus after displaying the warning message;
If the user instructs to print the management information without replacing the print medium while the warning message is displayed, the management information print is forced to print the management information without replacing the print medium. With means;
An image forming apparatus comprising: In claim 1,
An image forming apparatus comprising means for changing the unit price of each piece of print medium information stored in the print medium unit price storage means. In claim 1 or claim 2,
An image forming apparatus comprising: means for printing a list of unit prices of each print medium set in the image forming apparatus. A printing medium unit price storing step for storing the unit price of the printing medium in a memory;
A unit price threshold setting step for setting a unit price threshold for the print medium;
A management information printing restriction setting step for setting whether to restrict printing of management information according to the unit price of the print medium;
When printing management information according to the unit price of the printing medium, if the unit price of the printing medium used for printing the management information is higher than the unit price threshold, printing of the management information is temporarily limited. A warning message display step for displaying a warning message for prompting replacement on the display means;
A management information printing restarting step for restarting printing of management information if a print medium having a unit price equal to or less than the unit price threshold is loaded in the image forming apparatus after displaying the warning message;
When the user instructs the management information to be printed without replacing the print medium while the warning message is displayed on the display unit, the management information is printed without replacing the print medium. Information printing forcing process;
A control method for an image forming apparatus, comprising:

Images