JP2008105770A - Image forming device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an image forming device capable of efficiently executing a manual feed printing job for feeding paper set in a manual feed tray accepted as a reservation job. <P>SOLUTION: This image forming device 1 is provided with the manual feed tray 14, a paper detection means 141 for manual feed for detecting the presence or absence of paper of the manual feed tray 14, a reservation printing job storage means 171 for storing reservations of the printing jobs, and a reservation printing job execution means 12 for successively executing the printing jobs stored in the reservation printing job storage means 171. The image forming device 1 is provided with a printing execution control means 174 for temporarily stopping the execution of the manual feed printing jobs by the reservation printing job execution means 12 when the manual feed paper detection means 141 detects that manual feed paper is removed from the manual feed tray 14 after the reservations of the manual feed printing jobs are stored in the reservation printing job storage means 171. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a manual feed tray, a manual feed paper detecting means for detecting the presence or absence of paper in the manual feed tray, a reserved print job storage means for storing a print job reservation, and a print job stored in the reserved print job storage means. The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus including a reserved print job execution unit that executes sequentially.

  Patent Document 1 discloses an image forming apparatus that includes a manual sheet feeding unit for manually feeding a sheet and forms an image on a sheet based on an image input, and requests the next image input request during image formation. Reservation accepting means for accepting, paper designating means for designating paper to be fed through the manual paper feed means in the reservation job accepted by the reservation accepting means, and paper used for each job designated by the paper designating means A sheet storage unit for storing, a sheet determination unit for determining the type of sheet designated by the sheet designation unit when an image forming job is executed, and an image in consideration of the type of sheet to be imaged based on the determination of the sheet determination unit An image forming apparatus having a control unit for executing formation output has been proposed. According to the image forming apparatus, a print job being executed and a plurality of reserved jobs can be used differently. It is possible to perform manual feed printing process for feeding.

JP 2001-235976 A

  However, in the image forming apparatus described in Patent Document 1, it is possible to reserve a print job with different paper set on a manual paper feed unit such as a manual tray. There is no way to check whether the set paper is the same as the paper to be set in the manual feed means in the reservation job, and it is necessary to wait for the operation from the operator before executing the reservation job. There was room for further improvement in efficiently executing print jobs.

  In view of the above-described problems, an object of the present invention is to provide an image forming apparatus capable of efficiently executing a manual print job for feeding a sheet set on a manual feed tray, which is accepted as a reservation job.

  In order to achieve the above object, the first characteristic configuration of the image forming apparatus according to the present invention is to detect the manual feed tray and the presence or absence of the paper in the manual feed tray as described in claim 1 of the claims. An image forming apparatus comprising: a manual sheet detection unit that performs a print job; a reserved print job storage unit that stores a print job reservation; and a reserved print job execution unit that sequentially executes print jobs stored in the reserved print job storage unit. After the manual print job reservation is stored in the reserved print job storage unit, the manual print by the reserved print job execution unit is detected when the manual sheet detection unit detects that the manual sheet is removed from the manual tray. A print execution control means for temporarily stopping job execution is provided.

  When an operator reserves a manual print job, if a paper different from the paper fed in the manual print job is already set in the manual tray at the time of reservation, at least by the time of execution of the manual print job. Therefore, it is necessary to remove the paper and set the paper fed by the manual print job again.

  Here, when the manual print job is already reserved before the operator reserves the manual print job, the paper set in the manual tray is a paper corresponding to the already reserved manual print job. If the operator is not aware that the manual print job has already been reserved and removes the paper set at the time of reservation and sets the paper to be fed in his manual print job, the operator When the reserved manual feed job is executed, the newly set paper is fed. Further, when the manual print job corresponding to the newly set paper is executed, the manual print job cannot be completed due to insufficient paper to be fed. That is, it is necessary to print again both the manual print job that has already been reserved and the manual print job that has been reserved this time, which may cause a significant reduction in productivity.

  According to the above configuration, when there is a possibility that the paper corresponding to the manual print job is removed and replaced with another paper, the reserved manual print job is temporarily stopped. After confirming the received paper, the manual print job can be performed, and execution of the manual print job in which the wrong paper is fed can be prevented.

  According to the second characteristic configuration, as described in the second aspect, in addition to the first characteristic configuration described above, when a manual print job reservation is stored in the reserved print job storage unit, a manual print job is displayed. It is in the point provided with the alerting | reporting means which alert | reports that it is reserved.

  According to the above-described configuration, since the notification means has already notified that the manual print job has been reserved, the operator who has attempted to set the paper to be fed in the reserved manual print job has already been set in the manual tray. It is possible to prevent a sheet fed by a reserved manual print job from being accidentally removed from the manual feed tray.

  According to the third feature configuration, in addition to the first or second feature configuration described above, the third feature configuration includes sheet confirmation requesting means for requesting confirmation of a manual sheet, and the reserved print job storage After executing one manual print job among at least two manual print jobs stored in the means, the print execution control means executes the next manual feed by the reserved print job execution means when the next manual print job is executed. The execution of the print job is temporarily stopped, and the sheet confirmation requesting unit requests confirmation of the manual sheet.

  When executing a print job of the image forming apparatus, for example, setting of a fixing temperature according to the paper thickness and setting of a bias voltage value related to transfer of a toner image, etc. When the sheet different from the setting is fed, the image forming apparatus may cause an unexpected failure. If the failure occurs, the print job is efficiently executed.

  According to the above configuration, since it is possible to confirm that the paper corresponding to the next manual feed print job is set in the manual feed tray and execute the next manual print job, the corresponding paper is fed. In addition, an unexpected failure of the apparatus can be prevented and a manual print job can be executed efficiently.

  The fourth feature configuration corresponds to the manual print job stored in the reserved print job storage means in addition to any one of the first to third feature configurations described above. Temporary storage means for storing paper information of manual paper in association with the manual print job, and one of the at least two manual print jobs stored in the reserved print job storage means and the next manual feed The paper information stored in the temporary storage means corresponding to each of the print jobs is the same, and after the execution of the first manual print job, until the execution of the next manual print job, the manual paper detection means If it is not detected that the manual paper has been removed from the manual feed tray, the print execution control means performs the next manual print by the reserved print job execution means. There is a point to be executed without having to pause the job.

  Among the reserved print jobs, when the paper to be fed is the same for a plurality of continuous print jobs as the manual print job, after one of the plurality of continuous manual print jobs is executed, it is set in the manual tray. If there is no paper replacement, there is no need to wait for the operator to confirm the paper in executing the next manual print job.

  According to the above-described configuration, a manual print job that does not require confirmation of the paper set on the manual feed tray is executed without pausing, so that the manual print job can be executed efficiently.

  In the fifth feature configuration, as described in claim 5, in addition to the fourth feature configuration described above, one manual feed of three or more manual print jobs stored in the reserved print job storage means is provided. After execution of the print job, the print execution control means sends the manual print job in which the same paper information as the paper information corresponding to the one manual print job is stored in the temporary storage means to the reserved print job execution means. It is in the point that it is executed preferentially.

  According to the above-described configuration, if a sufficient number of sheets are set on the manual feed tray, a plurality of manual print jobs corresponding to the paper can be continuously executed. A manual print job can be efficiently executed while saving time.

  As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to provide an image forming apparatus capable of efficiently executing a manual print job for feeding paper set in a manual tray, which is accepted as a reservation job. became.

  Hereinafter, a printer as an example of an image forming apparatus to which the present invention is applied will be described.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the printer 1 is connected to a plurality of terminal PCs via a network LAN, and is configured to receive and execute a print job from the terminal PC, that is, a print job. The printer 1 is configured to store a newly received print job as a reserved print job during execution of a print job, and sequentially execute the reserved print jobs after the print job being executed is completed. Has been. Here, the execution of the print job includes not only the time when the image is actually being formed but also a pause state such as a standby state due to running out of paper during the execution of the print job.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the printer 1 includes a data receiving unit 10 that receives a print job from a terminal PC via a network LAN, and executes printing on a sheet as a recording medium based on the print job. An image forming unit 12 that discharges to the paper tray 11, a transport unit 15 that includes a transport roller that transports the paper set in the paper storage tray 13 or the manual feed tray 14 to the image forming unit 12, and a liquid crystal screen or the like. It comprises a liquid crystal display unit, an operation unit 16 comprising hardware keys such as a stop key for stopping printing execution and a start key for starting printing execution, and a system control unit 17 for overall control of each unit.

  The data receiving unit 10 outputs the print job received from the terminal PC to the system control unit 17. Here, the print job is composed of print data composed of bitmap data or page description language (PDL), and the like, and paper feed source information and the number of printed sheets when performing printing based on the print data. Consists of print control data.

  The image forming unit 12 is controlled by the system control unit 17 and forms a toner image on the photoconductor 120a based on the print data of the print job received from the terminal PC, and transfers the toner image onto the conveyed paper. A toner image forming unit 120 for heating, a fixing unit 121 for heating and fixing the toner image on the paper, a discharge unit 122 for discharging the paper on which the toner image is fixed, and the like.

  The manual feed tray 14 is installed on the side surface of the printer 1 and, as shown in FIG. 4, is arranged on the left and right at equal intervals from the center line of the manual feed tray in a direction parallel to the paper transport direction, and a paper guide 140 for sandwiching the paper. And manual sheet detecting means 141 that detects the presence / absence of a sheet and outputs it to the system control unit 17, and includes various sheet sizes such as A3, B5, and postcards, thick paper, OHP, and glossy paper. It is configured so that papers of various paper types such as can be placed.

  The paper guide 140 is configured to be operable in a direction perpendicular to the conveyance direction of the paper placed on the manual feed tray 14, and an operator sandwiches the paper guide 140 to set a lateral placement position of the paper. The front end of the paper is brought into contact with the printer 1 to set the vertical placement position. The position information of the sheet guide 140 is output to the system control unit 17, and the system control unit 17 can detect the sheet size of the sheet placed on the manual feed tray 14 from the position information of the sheet guide 140. Further, the manual sheet detection unit 141 is not limited to a contact type sensor, and may be any unit that can detect the presence or absence of a sheet, such as a reflection type optical sensor.

  The system control unit 17 includes a CPU that controls each unit based on a predetermined control program, a ROM that stores the control program, a RAM that is used as a work area, and the like. The image forming unit 12 executes the print job output from the data receiving unit 10. More specifically, the system control unit 17 analyzes the print job, divides the print job into print data and print control data, controls the image forming unit 12 based on the print control data, and sends the image forming unit 12 to the image forming unit 12. Printing based on the print data is executed.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the system control unit 17 analyzes a reserved print job storage unit 171 that stores a print job reservation output from the data receiving unit 10 and the print job as functional blocks according to the present invention. The print job analyzing unit 170 to be stored in the reserved print job storage unit 171, the print execution control unit 174 for controlling execution of the print job by the image forming unit 12, and the print job on the liquid crystal display unit provided in the operation unit 16. And an operation unit control means 175 for detecting an operation input to the hardware key.

  The reserved print job storage unit 171 includes a print control data storage unit 172 that stores print control data of a print job, and a print data storage unit 173 that stores print data of a print job, each of which is the same print job. By storing corresponding print control data and print data in association with each other, a print job is stored in the reserved print job storage unit 171.

  The print job analyzing means 170 analyzes the print job transmitted from the terminal PC and received by the data receiving unit 10 via the network LAN, divides the print job into print control data and print data, and the print job is input. In order, the print control data is stored in the print control data storage unit 172, and the print data is stored in the print data storage unit 173.

  The print control data includes paper information such as which paper is supplied from the paper storage tray 13 or the manual feed tray 14 in addition to information such as the number of printed sheets in the corresponding print job. The paper information about a print job that feeds paper from the manual feed tray 14 (hereinafter referred to as “manual print job”) includes information such as the type of paper and the thickness of the paper. In other words, the print control data storage unit 172 is a temporary storage unit according to the present invention, and stores paper information of paper fed in the manual print job in association with the manual print job. In other words, when the paper information of the print control data stored in the print control data storage unit 172 includes information such as the paper type and the paper thickness, the reserved print job storage unit 171 includes the paper information. A manual print job for feeding the corresponding paper is reserved.

  When the reserved print job storage unit 171 stores a manual print job reservation, the operation unit control unit 175 notifies that the manual print job is reserved. That is, the operation unit control means 175 is a notification means in the present invention.

  More specifically, the operation unit control unit 175 monitors the paper information of the print control data stored in the print control data storage unit 172, and when the print control data of the manual feed job is stored, in other words, reserved printing. When the manual print job reservation is stored in the job storage unit 171, the fact that the manual print job is reserved in the reserved print job storage unit 171 is displayed on the liquid crystal display unit of the operation unit 16.

  The print execution control unit 174 controls the image forming unit 12 to execute a print job corresponding to the reserved print job storage unit 171 based on the order of the print control data stored in the print control data storage unit 172. Run sequentially. That is, the image forming unit 12 is a reserved print job execution unit according to the present invention, and sequentially executes the print jobs stored in the reserved print job storage unit 171.

  Here, the print job reserved in the reserved print job storage unit 171 is divided into the manual print job and the other print jobs as described above, and when the manual print job is executed, it is fed by the manual print job. The sheet to be printed needs to be placed on the manual feed tray 14. Therefore, the manual print job reserved in the reserved print job storage unit 171 is executed based on the following plurality of controls.

  The first control will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. 5. When the print job analysis unit 170 receives a print job from the data receiving unit 10 (SA1), it stores the print job in the reserved print job storage unit 171 ( SA2) When the print job is a manual print job (SA3), the operation unit control unit 175 displays that the manual print job is stored on the liquid crystal display unit of the operation unit 16 (SA4).

  The second control will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. 6. When the manual print job stored in the reserved print job storage unit 171 is executed (SB1), the print execution control unit 174 detects the manual paper in the manual tray 14. The presence / absence of a sheet from the means 141 and the sheet size placed from the position information of the sheet guide 140 when the sheet is present are detected (SB2), and the detected sheet size is the sheet size to be fed in the manual print job. When they match (SB3), the image forming unit 12 is caused to execute the manual print job (SB7). When the detected paper size is different from the paper size fed by the manual print job (SB3), the image forming unit 12 Execution of the manual print job is temporarily stopped (SB4), and the operation unit control means 175 is requested to execute the manual error To display a screen prompting the sheet corresponding to the print job to placed on the manual feed tray to the liquid crystal display unit of the operation unit 16 (SB5).

  When the operator places a corresponding sheet on the screen and operates the hardware key of the operation unit 16 to permit execution of the manual print job (SB6), the operation unit control means that has detected this is detected. In response to the output from 175, the print execution control means 174 causes the image forming unit 12 to execute the manual print job (SB7).

  Here, the second control is applied to the execution of the manual print job in any control from the third control to the sixth control described later.

  The third control will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. 7. After the manual print job reservation is stored in the reserved print job storage unit 171 (SC 1), the manual paper detection unit 141 is loaded from the manual tray 14. When it is detected that the placed paper (hereinafter referred to as “manual paper”) has been removed (SC2), the print execution control unit 174 temporarily stops execution of the manual print job by the image forming unit 12. (SC3).

  Further, the print execution control unit 174 displays a screen for requesting the operation unit control unit 175 to confirm whether the manual paper corresponds to the manual print job on the liquid crystal display unit of the operation unit 16. (SC4). When the operator who confirms the manual paper by looking at the screen operates the hardware key of the operation unit 16 to permit the execution of the manual print job (SC5), the operation unit control unit 175 that detects the operation prints the manual print job. Upon receiving the output, the print execution control means 174 causes the image forming unit 12 to resume execution of the manual print job (SC6).

  The fourth control will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. 8. When at least two or more manual print jobs are stored in the reserved print job storage unit 171 (SD1), one manual feed among the manual print jobs is stored. After execution of the print job (SD2), when the next manual feed print job is executed (SD3), the print execution control unit 174 temporarily stops execution of the next manual feed print job by the image forming unit 12 (SD4).

  Further, the print execution control unit 174 displays a screen for requesting the operation unit control unit 175 to confirm whether the manual paper corresponds to the manual print job on the liquid crystal display unit of the operation unit 16. (SD5). That is, the operation unit control unit 175 is a sheet confirmation request unit according to the present invention, and requests manual sheet confirmation via the liquid crystal display unit of the operation unit 16.

  When the operator who sees the screen and confirms the manual feed sheet operates the hardware key of the operation unit 16 to permit the execution of the manual print job (SD6), the operation unit control unit 175 that has detected the operation prints. Upon receiving the output, the print execution control means 174 causes the image forming unit 12 to resume execution of the manual print job (SD7).

  The fifth control will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. 9. At least two or more manual print jobs are stored in the reserved print job storage unit 171 (SE1), and one manual feed among the manual print jobs is stored. If the paper information stored in the print control data storage unit 173 corresponding to each of the print job and the next manual feed print job is not the same (SE2), the fourth control is performed (SE3).

  When the paper information stored in the print control data storage unit 173 is the same (SE2), after the execution of the first manual print job (SE4), and before the execution of the next manual print job (SE6), When the manual sheet detection unit 141 does not detect that the manual sheet has been removed from the manual tray 14 (SE5), the print execution control unit 171 pauses the next manual print job by the image forming unit 12. If the manual paper detection unit 141 detects that the manual paper is removed from the manual tray 14 (SE5), the third control is performed (SE7).

  The sixth control will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. 10. Three or more manual print jobs are stored in the reserved print job storage unit 171 (SF1), and one manual print among the manual print jobs is stored. After the job is executed (SF2), when there is a manual print job in which the same paper information as the paper information corresponding to the one manual print job is stored in the print control data storage unit 173 (SF3), the print execution control is performed. The means 174 preferentially executes the manual print job having the same paper information as the image forming unit 12 (SF4), and the same paper information as the paper information corresponding to the first manual print job is the print control. When there is no manual print job stored in the data storage unit 173 (SF3), the fourth control is performed (SF5).

  By the way, it is not necessary to execute all of the manual print job reserved in the reserved print job storage unit 171 from the first control to the sixth control, and at least the second control and the third control. Are necessarily executed, and these may be executed in combination with any one or combination of the first control, the fourth control, the fifth control, and the sixth control.

  Another embodiment will be described below.

  In the above-described embodiment, when a manual print job is reserved in the reserved print job storage unit 171, the operation unit control unit 175 displays on the liquid crystal display unit of the operation unit 16 that the manual print job is reserved. However, the data receiving unit 10 includes data transmitting means for transmitting that the manual print job is reserved to the terminal PC, and the data receiving unit 10 transmits that the manual print job is reserved to each terminal PC. It may be configured to operate as a notification means in the present invention.

  In the above-described embodiment, the reserved print job storage unit 171 includes the print control data storage unit 172 and the print data storage unit 173, and the print control data storage unit 172 stores print control data including paper information of the print job. However, the reserved print job storage unit 171 may be configured independently. At this time, the reserved print job storage unit 171 operates as a temporary storage unit in the present invention.

  The above-described embodiments are not limited to being configured alone, but can be appropriately combined within the scope of the effects of the present invention.

  Each of the above-described embodiments is merely an example of the present invention, and the scope of the present invention is not limited by the description. The specific configuration of each part is appropriately changed within the scope of the effects of the present invention. It goes without saying that it can be done.

Functional block diagram of the system controller Illustration of printer, terminal and network Illustration of printer Diagram used to explain the manual feed tray Flowchart used to explain manual print job execution control Flowchart used to explain manual print job execution control Flowchart used to explain manual print job execution control Flowchart used to explain manual print job execution control Flowchart used to explain manual print job execution control Flowchart used to explain manual print job execution control

Explanation of symbols

10: Data receiving unit 12: Reserved print job execution means (image forming unit)
14: manual feed tray 16: operation unit 17: system control unit 141: manual sheet detection unit 170: print job analysis unit 171: reserved print job storage unit 172: temporary storage unit (print control data storage unit)
174: Print execution control means 175: Notification means and paper confirmation request means (operation unit control means)

Claims (5)

Manual feed tray, manual paper detection means for detecting the presence or absence of paper in the manual tray, reserved print job storage means for storing print job reservations, and reservation for sequentially executing print jobs stored in the reserved print job storage means An image forming apparatus comprising a print job execution unit,
After the manual print job reservation is stored in the reserved print job storage unit, when the manual sheet detection unit detects that the manual sheet is removed from the manual tray, the reserved print job execution unit executes the manual print job An image forming apparatus including a print execution control unit that temporarily stops execution.   The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a notification unit that notifies that a manual print job is reserved when a manual print job reservation is stored in the reserved print job storage unit. A paper confirmation requesting means for requesting confirmation of manual paper is provided.
Among the at least two manual print jobs stored in the reserved print job storage unit, the print execution control unit executes the reserved print job execution unit when executing the next manual print job after executing one manual print job. 3. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein execution of the next manual feed print job is suspended and the paper confirmation requesting unit requests confirmation of manual paper. Temporary storage means for storing paper information of manual paper corresponding to the manual print job stored in the reserved print job storage means in association with the manual print job;
The paper information stored in the temporary storage unit corresponding to each of one manual print job and the next manual print job among the at least two manual print jobs stored in the reserved print job storage unit is the same. Yes, if the manual paper detection means does not detect that the manual paper has been removed from the manual tray after the execution of the first manual print job and before the execution of the next manual print job, the print execution is performed. 4. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the control unit executes the next manual feed print job by the reserved print job execution unit without pausing. 5.   Of the three or more manual print jobs stored in the reserved print job storage means, after execution of one manual print job, the print execution control means uses the same paper as the paper information corresponding to the first manual print job. The image forming apparatus according to claim 4, wherein a manual print job in which information is stored in the temporary storage unit is executed in preference to the reserved print job execution unit.

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